Are reservations hard to get now with new 60 day window?

[acarsme123]

Next March will be our first trip to DW since they reduced the reservation window from 180 to 60 days. My coworker who goes to Disney a lot said he was finding reservations very hard to get now. Has this been everyone else's experience? He also gave me a tip when it comes to trying to find reservations....he said even though my family is a party of 3....to look for reservations for a party of 2 and that it typically will show a lot more open spots and that the restaurant won't care if you show up with 3. Is there any truth to this trick? It seems odd Disney would have more open spots for just 2 people, considering I can't recall ever seeing just tables set up for only 2....most tables are set for 4 at a minimum from what I can remember. Thanks.

 

[jimandami]

In general, yes, I would say they are harder to get now than previously. Some of it has been capacity issues, and I think some of it is that more people are able to plan 60 days ahead than they are 180 days ahead. As far as that advice, I would not count on them allowing MORE people than you book, but it isn't an issue to show up with fewer people. I have had some success booking parties of 4 when I really needed 3 and it showed no availability. The other thing to realize is their system is insanely glitchy right now. It took me 3 hours to book our ADRs the other day and the only reason I was ultimately successful was because I logged in to my mom's account instead of mine, even though I am the lead on the reservation.

 

[CynBeth]

We are 3 and never have a problem when putting in party size and searching for a specific time. Do not select lunch or dinner but an actual time. I was so worried after hearing all of the horror stories but it went pretty well. We booked on the 20th for our November Thanksgiving trip and except for the beginning with website issues where I had to go on my work laptop for Chrome we got everything we wanted. We did have to slightly change things around when we could not get dinner at Space220 on our first Epcot day but was available on our second Epcot day. Also the first few reservations it would not recognize that I had a saved credit card so had to put it in but then it showed up after that for the rest.

 

[acarsme123]

Is it purely just 60 days, or 60 days + length of your stay?

 

[CynBeth]

If you are staying on property you can make at 60 days for 10 days unless you are doing a split stay where they count it as 2 separate reservations and at 60 days you can do for all of the days of the first resort plus switch day and then have to wait until 60 days of the second resort to make for the rest of the trip.

 

[ZeeWP]

Is it purely just 60 days, or 60 days + length of your stay?

60 + length of stay

 

[kristenabelle]

Regarding the party size, not sure if he's referring to the new-ish mobile check in. You can check in for your reservation via MDE now, and when you do it usually asks if you need to add one person to the reservation. At least, that's how it was in June. Not sure if it's changed.

 

[Jdmoody]

Next March will be our first trip to DW since they reduced the reservation window from 180 to 60 days. My coworker who goes to Disney a lot said he was finding reservations very hard to get now. Has this been everyone else's experience? He also gave me a tip when it comes to trying to find reservations....he said even though my family is a party of 3....to look for reservations for a party of 2 and that it typically will show a lot more open spots and that the restaurant won't care if you show up with 3. Is there any truth to this trick? It seems odd Disney would have more open spots for just 2 people, considering I can't recall ever seeing just tables set up for only 2....most tables are set for 4 at a minimum from what I can remember. Thanks.

We are in our 60 day booking window as of Sunday. I’ve noticed that reservations are a little bit more difficult for dinners. Lunches have had pretty good availability. However, it seems certain places are nearly impossible like BOG, Chef Mickey’s, and Topolino’s Terrace. It’s ok though that’s when you employ ADR watchers. In fact, I just got Homecomin’ for the time we really wanted on our first day instead of an off time while reading this thread. Also, do NOT book ADRs for less than number of your party. The restaurants have set total numbers for occupancy. They make sure not to go over those numbers by the number of people in bookings. So booking 4 people but really only having 3 is fine, but booking for 2 and really needing 3 is potentially conflicting with their fire codes so they *could* turn you away or ask you to rebook for your full party. Besides, I’ve noticed way more availability for a party of 4 than for 2.

 

[Dug720]

We are in our 60 day booking window as of Sunday. I’ve noticed that reservations are a little bit more difficult for dinners. Lunches have had pretty good availability. However, it seems certain places are nearly impossible like BOG, Chef Mickey’s, and Topolino’s Terrace.

To be fair, those have ALWAYS been hard even at 180+10.

 

[Jdmoody]

To be fair, those have ALWAYS been hard even at 180+10.

That’s what I’ve heard. Our last visit was Jan 2019. Before that it was Oct 2018 and Oct 2017. All 3 times I was able to get a BoG lunch fairly easily. Chef Mickey’s was available each time as well. I guess it’s just been luck of the draw for us so far. I’m hoping to snag another Chef Mickey’s this trip, but I have my doubts. I do have Goofy and Pals breakfast reserved at Ravello as a backup though. So at least we still have a character meal. I HATE that they changed the quick service BoG lunch. So unfortunately we won’t be going there this time.

 

[mmcoleman1]

Your luck will depend on the party size if its less than 60 days but with persistent daily checking if you really want a specific place it could pay off. I find looking in the middle of the night if you cant sleep as a great time to snag hard to get reservations. Keeping in mind sometimes you can get one the day prior because people have 24 hours to cancel before they are charged so a couple always open up the night prior. I was able to get Topolinos terrace and Oga's Cantina a couple days prior to the date. Persistence is the key!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Personally I would not get ADRs for 2 if you actually have 3 people. Yes, they’ll be easier to get, but you run the risk of being turned away. They are under no obligation to seat 3 people when you only have a reservation for 2. Imagine if everyone did that “trick”… the restaurants would all be so overbooked.

 

[Tigger's ally]

So. what time of day do these start? Been hearing 6:45 and even 6:30 EST. Is it 7 eastern or before that?

 

[Jdmoody]

So. what time of day do these start? Been hearing 6:45 and even 6:30 EST. Is it 7 eastern or before that?

ADRs start at 6am EST on the app and 7am for calling in.

 

[ConnMan]

I've booked ADRs for two trips in the past month and a half and my experience with them has been that ADRs are definitely harder to get now than they were previously. My take is it is because there are fewer spots available due to labor shortages and distancing measures. I'm not convinced the switch from 180 days to 60 days is much of a factor in it.

 

[minie_meese]

We’ve actually had pretty good luck with our upcoming 10 days in October. I was able to book a few for our group of 5-7 at 60 days. Those we didn’t get I was mostly able to get by checking back. The one exception was a Boma Sunday reservation for 7 which I got using a website that texts when they find availability. I was able to book direct for Chef Mickey prior to BooBash, another evening for Boma, T-Rex, Sanaa, Tusker House, Jaleo and Via Napoli. All but 2 are for dinner. I checked each morning a few times.

 

[annacali]

We haven’t been in a while but are going back Thanksgiving week. I have been looking since our window opened up but not having a ton of luck. But today, all of a sudden, Boma was available for multiple dates and times when it hadn’t been previously available at all. Do they release them in batches or something?

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Next March will be our first trip to DW since they reduced the reservation window from 180 to 60 days. My coworker who goes to Disney a lot said he was finding reservations very hard to get now. Has this been everyone else's experience? He also gave me a tip when it comes to trying to find reservations....he said even though my family is a party of 3....to look for reservations for a party of 2 and that it typically will show a lot more open spots and that the restaurant won't care if you show up with 3. Is there any truth to this trick? It seems odd Disney would have more open spots for just 2 people, considering I can't recall ever seeing just tables set up for only 2....most tables are set for 4 at a minimum from what I can remember. Thanks.

Did your friend have a couple drinks before he told you this? It is the exact opposite. You can reserve for 4 people, and show up with 3, but you cannot reserve for 2 and show up with 3. Someone will not be seated, even if it is a baby. The fire marshall will not allow more than capacity. You recall correctly, there are very few 2-tops per restaurant. Lots of 4-tops. People say "oh, but it is a tiny baby". But again, Fire Marshall rules, don't you want that tiny baby saved in case of fire? So they have to know there are 3 of you, not just account for 2 of you and the other does not matter if they perish in the fire and are unidentified.

 

[Dug720]

Personally I would not get ADRs for 2 if you actually have 3 people. Yes, they’ll be easier to get, but you run the risk of being turned away. They are under no obligation to seat 3 people when you only have a reservation for 2. Imagine if everyone did that “trick”… the restaurants would all be so overbooked.

This. As others have said, nothing wrong with looking for 4 if you have 3 - you'd be at a 4-top anyway, and there's no penalty for the ghost not showing up. The system can have issues with odd-numbered parties. Those of us who go solo have been searching for ADRs for 2 for years. (Fun fact: for walk-up waitlists as a solo, put in 2. In my experience in July, if I put in 1 the wait went from 5-15 minutes to 45-90. Put in 2 and when you check in just shrug and say "The system". One day they'll figure out that not all parties are even-numbered.)

 

[GSLand]

Just made our reservations for Dec trip. Couldn't get Space 220 (no surprise) but got mostly what we wanted for lunches, including Oga's Cantina.
We like to have our big meals at lunch time and light dinner.
I did find the reservation system on-line slow and was cut off completely a few times and had to restart. Plus it did not always hold my credit card info.