BIERGARTEN not available 11/19-11/24

[shopn24seven]

Anyone else not getting a Biergaren reservation?Always been Anne to secure a table, it's before PRofessional.

 

[DisMama5]

Mid November has been very tough to grab adr's for many this year. Even ones that typically are not hard to come by are this year. No one is sure on why, just seems like starting around the 13th and on is the trouble period for reservations, much is full. Just keep checking, people do rearrange plans and cancel

 

[dutchdisneyfamily]

It isn't open after the 24th either. Very weird. We decided to eat somewhere else anyway.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I helped a friend book dining on the weekend for Nov 8 - 15 and was shocked at how much was completely filled up just days after the 180 day booking window opens! Neither of the crowd predicting websites I use predict that it's exceptionally busy but I guess everyone who is going to be there has a dining plan!

I help many people book trips and express to them that if they can give me a heads up at least 8 months before their trip that it is desirable for helping them yet many don't take me seriously....until we try to book dining for them and can't get what they want.

Keep your eyes open, especially as you get within the 1 month window and closer before your trip as some cancel or change reservations. Hope you're able to get something for Biergarten!

 

[mare1203]

Candlelight processional, in Epcot at least. They will announce the packages and I would guess you'll start seeing some openings. MK will have the parties which also leaves fewer theme park dining options. It's also partly free dining (even if you don't have it others do depending on check in date). Fall is the worst for dining.

 

[midnightlouise]

There are a couple of threads floating around about this, so you're not alone! We can't get one for the 14th-21st either. Somebody else checked every day from September- November and it was supposedly booked sold. I call shenanigans. Just don't see that being possible, not booked solid for 3 months. Many people are getting errors or are being told it's full. I have never had a problem like what I've had this year, even when we've had free dining during Jersey Week and Thanksgiving Week, both of which have always been busier than the week we're going. Not to mention that it seems there are plenty of free dining packages available (even more than when we booked) so if it was going to be as crowded as we've been led to believe, I wonder why there are so many free dining packages still on offer?

If you're not buying that excuse (which clearly I am not lol), some have also been told it's because EPCOT restaurants are holding back reservations due to the dates for Candlelight Processional not being finalized, others told it's a glitch in the system, etc. etc. There's definitely a problem, and either no one really knows what it is or they're not willing to talk about it. (Which, when I worked in web support, was my company's modus operandi.)

 

[gregf71]

It has to be a system glitch...and a BIG one. I just tried random dates between July and late November and this is what I am getting every time"

"We were unable to check for available tables at this time. A problem occurred while looking for availability. Please try again later."

Has anyone tried calling? Our window opens in a about a week and Biergarten is on our list.

 

[nkereina]

Candlelight processional, in Epcot at least. They will announce the packages and I would guess you'll start seeing some openings. MK will have the parties which also leaves fewer theme park dining options. It's also partly free dining (even if you don't have it others do depending on check in date). Fall is the worst for dining.

Candlelight Processional usually starts after Thanksgiving, so that wouldn't be a concern with OPs dates. I just think it's the early announcement of free dining for the Fall, which has more people booking at 180 days. Those who normally wait to book after free dining is announced are usually booking after the 180 day mark.

 

[midnightlouise]

It has to be a system glitch...and a BIG one. I just tried random dates between July and late November and this is that I am getting every time"

"We were unable to check for available tables at this time. A problem occurred while looking for availability. Please try again later."

Has anyone tried calling? Our window opens in a about a week and Biergarten is on our list.

Same error for me every time. When I called, they said there was nothing available the entire week, neither for lunch nor dinner, regardless of party size.

 

[midnightlouise]

Candlelight Processional usually starts after Thanksgiving, so that wouldn't be a concern with OPs dates. I just think it's the early announcement of free dining for the Fall, which has more people booking at 180 days. Those who normally wait to book after free dining is announced are usually booking after the 180 day mark.

See this is my thought as well re: Candlelight Processional. It shouldn't affect my dates at all! I'm going the week before Thanksgiving week. Yet in some of the other threads, people going the same week as I have reported being given this reason by CMs. So weird.

 

[gregf71]

Same error for me every time. When I called, they said there was nothing available the entire week, neither for lunch nor dinner, regardless of party size.

What does "nothing available" mean though? All of the ADRs are booked or something else? This is so odd. I mean, I checked dates in July, October, and November and am getting the same exact error message. If all of the ADRs are booked, then the message is similar to this, "No tables available around 4:00 PM to 9:30 PM on Saturday, November 21, 2015."

I just emailed WDW Guest Services. Let's see what they say. Crossing fingers!

 

[midnightlouise]

What does "nothing available" mean though? All of the ADRs are booked or something else? This is so odd. I mean, I checked dates in July, October, and November and am getting the same exact error message. If all of the ADRs are booked, then the message is similar to this, "No tables available around 4:00 PM to 9:30 PM on Saturday, November 21, 2015."

I just emailed WDW Guest Services. Let's see what they say. Crossing fingers!

Exactly! If everything is booked, why am I not getting the usual message telling me there are no tables available? By being suitably vague they don't have to commit themselves lol. Hopefully you'll get an answer! Good luck!

 

[gregf71]

I received my first response from WDW Guest Services. They recommended clearing my cookies and restarting the browser or simply trying another browser. I did so on each of my three browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome), tried again (in each browser) and am getting the same result (in each browser). They added that I should be able to call as well, but gave no affirmation that there was any actual availability or not. I replied back to them reporting my findings, asking very specific questions, and requesting that they forward the issue to their technical staff for review because something is not working. We will see what they say this time.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We are going Nov 3-8 and at my 180, there was not a single ADR for any night available for Rose and Crown. I think there are some issues with the Epcot restaurants.

 

[Jaime4004]

I was able to get Biergarten for the week of Nov 8th, right at the 180 mark. In the afternoon, since I forgot about it until I received the friendly disney email reminder. I got everything I wanted except for pre park opening CP. I wanted to move a few things around (hadn't realized that MVMCP ate up a few days that week) a few days later and hardly anything good was left. I'll keep checking from now til Nov

 

[LATJLP]

Candlelight processional, in Epcot at least. They will announce the packages and I would guess you'll start seeing some openings. MK will have the parties which also leaves fewer theme park dining options. It's also partly free dining (even if you don't have it others do depending on check in date). Fall is the worst for dining.

Candlelight Processional has never started before Thanksgiving to my knowledge.....usually it's the Sat/Sun after Thanksgiving, a couple of years it has started on the Friday after T-Day, but I can't recall a year that it was before T-day.

The free dining for November was 8 to 19 I believe, so that has caused many people to make multiple reservations waiting to decide what they want to do. I have a Biergarten lunch on the 19th, our final day of free dining before we head to visit Grandma on the Gulf Coast and return after TDay for 2 1/2 more weeks of Disney (off site no dining plan). But I wasn't able to get the early lunch time that I was trying for.....but 2pm wasn't bad. We'll have a couple extra CS so we'll grab something early in the day to tide us over.

I have also noticed that routinely people will say this or that restaurant doesn't have any openings, and lo and behold a few weeks later there are suddenly multiple availability. My personal opinion is that this is not a case of everyone cancelling at once, but of Disney releasing them incrementally so that they can stop getting people complaining that everything is booked up if you don't plan 6 months in advance. I know the coveted BOGs book up quickly, and people lament, and suddenly they start showing up again.

So....keep trying, book something else that you can live with, but keep trying and change it when it becomes available. Planning a Disney vacation can be a full time occupation.

 

[midnightlouise]

I received my first response from WDW Guest Services. They recommended clearing my cookies and restarting the browser or simply trying another browser. I did so on each of my three browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome), tried again (in each browser) and am getting the same result (in each browser). They added that I should be able to call as well, but gave no affirmation that there was any actual availability or not. I replied back to them reporting my findings, asking very specific questions, and requesting that they forward the issue to their technical staff for review because something is not working. We will see what they say this time.

Thanks for the info! I have done the same thing as you (trying different browsers, clearing cache and cookies, etc etc.) and I'm still experiencing the error as well. Boo to that. I've even tried it from a completely different IP, logged in as my sister, tried on the app, and the website from my phone. No go. Glad you sent that second message. I guess I'll suck it up and email them as well. The more people letting them know it's an issue, the more likely they are to take it seriously. At least I hope that's the case. Crossing my fingers for good news for us soon!

 

[shopn24seven]

Its crazy, I tell ya. I was up at 5:00 am (CST) and it wasn't available from 11/19 - 11/24, at ALL. Lunch or Dinner, but I could see availability for CRT, BOG, LC, CR, and the other hard to get ADR. STRANGE, I TELL YA. I am checking every day to see if any show up.

 

[gregf71]

So, I heard back from my second email to WDW Guest Services, well...I thought it was going to WDW Guest Services. Unfortunately, their online Contact Us organization suffers from corporate disorganization. My emails, even though they were under the Dining header from their website all went to their eCommerce Sales and Service Team staff. Of course, they didn't know the answers to my specific dining questions, telling me to call WDW DINE. Not a very customer service friendly process in my opinion. Don't even get me started on my previous emails to them regarding the Poly poolside cabanas! Well, time to make a phone call I guess.

 

[artemis908]

I heard that since they haven't announced the dates of the Candelight Processional, even though they have HISTORICALLY been around Thanksgiving, they still hold out on dates before then in case they decide to start earlier this year. In another thread someone said she heard from two different supervisors over at the dining reservations line and they told her it was the mix of Candelight Processional and issues that haven't been resolved in the system.

I booked ADRs at 6:00am EST on the dot of my 180+10 and no BOG for our entire trip (was expecting that) and mostly late reservations for every dinner. Since it's the food and wine festival, we are doing every dinner at Epcot and traditionally my family and I have always done Garden Grill our first night, which has never been an issue. But this time I had to settle for an 8:15 reservation on our third night.

There are constantly people on here posting about November ADR issues which either tells me the parks are going to be more crowded than I thought they'd be (based on crowd prediction calendars) or just a lot of people going during this time happen to also be Disboards addicts.