Help! Reservations seem impossible to get for Nov 2015

Oh and my wife swears (conspiracy warning) that WDW is deliberately holding back dining reservations b/c this is a free dining week and saving some for profiles that are either not on free dining or will release later hoping people booking the TS restaurants are last minute and paying cash. I think that may be a stretch but interesting conspiracy.
Holding back ressies is likely true. A pattern has been forming over the past few weeks. Just what the rationale is . . . is known only to Disney. Keep trying over the next few weeks as it seems more ressies open up approx 2 to 2 1/2 weeks after the 180 +10 d-day. If no luck then, also try in the 24 hrs before your wanted time as people drop their reservation to avoid the cancellation fee. Good luck!


I have to agree about the conspiracy theory. Our trip is November 18-25th. Today our 180+10 started and I was ready at 4:45CST to make our ressies. We are doing QS dining so I was only looking for 2 ressies for BOG lunch on our 2 MK days. I knew from this thread that they would be hard to get (if not impossible) so I used the "book at the back of your trip" strategy. I was SHOCKED that there were tons of times available for lunch and dinner every day that we are there the week of Thanksgiving (November 22-25) but not one single time available for the first part of our trip (November 18-21). It definitely looks like they are holding back reservations during the free dining dates. I just checked now (sooo 10 hours later) and there are still a lot of available reservations at BOG for lunch and several for dinner.
 
"We were unable to check for available tables at this time."

Been checking for BOG for lunch since our window opened. Still no luck on Nov 16 or 18. Hoping they open some soon. :sad2:
 
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I have to agree about the conspiracy theory. Our trip is November 18-25th. Today our 180+10 started and I was ready at 4:45CST to make our ressies. We are doing QS dining so I was only looking for 2 ressies for BOG lunch on our 2 MK days. I knew from this thread that they would be hard to get (if not impossible) so I used the "book at the back of your trip" strategy. I was SHOCKED that there were tons of times available for lunch and dinner every day that we are there the week of Thanksgiving (November 22-25) but not one single time available for the first part of our trip (November 18-21). It definitely looks like they are holding back reservations during the free dining dates. I just checked now (sooo 10 hours later) and there are still a lot of available reservations at BOG for lunch and several for dinner.

The very fact that you're saying there were tons of ADRs for THANKSGIVING WEEK, which is one of the most crowded times of the year, makes me truly believe they are holding back reservations. That's just insane... I'll just keep on checking all day, every day. :P
 
If they are holding back reservations, I wonder when they'll release them? Seems ridiculous to offer FD and then not have enough ressies open for everyone to eat!! Maybe Disney really is heading towards phasing out FD? :confused3
 


What dates were you trying for? The cancellation threads will start building and you can coordinate times when people are cancelling to allow you to try to pick it up. I hope it works out!

I am so frustrated, and confused. One of my favorite parts of Disney is my son who has food allergies can eat easily at Disney. He can have dessert and have it be special and good. It is such a treat and pure magic for us. I followed all the rules to get the reservations we wanted - we booked early enough to make ADRs at 180 days, we are staying on property and I was up early ready to go. To have so many computer glitches and then pretty much everything booked solid is such a disappointment. My son asked if we got into his favorite restaurant, Ohana, and when I said no his eyes looked so disappointed before he said we would have fun anyway. I know he is right, we'll still have fun, but knowing I couldn't get one of the special things he asked for is disappointing. We haven't had this problem in the past, even with FD at the time we went, so I was not anticipating this level of chaos. It seems so out of character for Disney to have something go so poorly.
 
The very fact that you're saying there were tons of ADRs for THANKSGIVING WEEK, which is one of the most crowded times of the year, makes me truly believe they are holding back reservations. That's just insane... I'll just keep on checking all day, every day. :P

There are tons of ADRs thanksgiving week because most people's 180+has not opened for that week yet (not until next Monday or Tuesday for many). Anyone who stays 7 or more nights will have success getting reservations for the back half of the trip regardless of the time of year
 
Thanks! I am totally stalking that thread! We arrive on 11/15 and check out on 11/21. I hope I don't sound like a spiked kid who didn't get her way. Seeing DS's excitement when he was able to relax and enjoy eating out was pure magic and it is a little disappointing to have it be so difficult. Disney is so awesome at so much this just seems off.
 


I have made several phone calls regarding the dining issues and lack of reservations and have spoken with supervisors at Dining, Reservations, and Guest Services. I have been given bogus excuses from a couple of CMs at Dining such as, "It's always this difficult to book dining. Disney doesn't have an off season anymore," but I feel like I was given a more much legitimate and thorough explanation this afternoon when I spoke with a very nice man at guest services. He said (as some others have also reported on this board) that reservations are being held back due to the fact that the Candlelight Processional dining packages and dates have yet to be announced/finalized. This was only supposed to affect some TS restaurants in Epcot, but somehow the system malfunctioned and it affected numerous other restaurants in Epcot, along with some restaurants at the other parks. He said he thinks that since numerous reservations have yet to been released for November, people clamored and jumped on any reservation available at other restaurants which, in turn, created a shortage of reservations at restaurants that people normally have very little issues booking at 180 days out plus 10 (like Crystal Palace breakfasts, H&V, etc.) He said Disney realizes this is a HUGE issue, many are mad, they are working to remedy the problem, etc. He also said he does not have an exact date, but they are hoping this will be resolved within about a week, with numerous reservations opening at restaurants where reservations have yet to be released. (He couldn't go into detail as to which restaurants which was frustrating.) This CM also said that he believes the issues with dining has very little to do with Free Dining and more to do with Disney withholding reservations for the Candlelight Processional and the malfunctioning dining system. I received a very similar explanation by a different CM at guest services I spoke with the other day, although it was a bit less detailed.

Although we were able to get a lot of the reservations we wanted (going Nov. 15th to Nov. 22nd) I am still beyond frustrated by this situation not only for myself, but for all the others out there who may have gotten very few of their choices. It's incredibly frustrating this happened and I have spent so much time trying to get the reservations we want, talking with Disney on the phone etc. I really wish all CMs would be informed of everything going on because no I I spoke with at dining said anything even close to what the two people at guest services said! It really should not be this hard and it's utterly ridiculous. I am hoping that when these reservations that are being withheld suddenly become available, that people will pick these up and then cancel their reservations for places they didn't really want in the first place. Maybe a lot of reservations in general will free up and we can all eventually get most of what we want. Here's to hoping right?? : )

Anyway, I just thought I'd pass along this information. This board and the info you all have provided has been so helpful to me these past couple of weeks and I really appreciate everyone who posted about their experiences with this mess!
 
I have made several phone calls regarding the dining issues and lack of reservations and have spoken with supervisors at Dining, Reservations, and Guest Services. I have been given bogus excuses from a couple of CMs at Dining such as, "It's always this difficult to book dining. Disney doesn't have an off season anymore," but I feel like I was given a more much legitimate and thorough explanation this afternoon when I spoke with a very nice man at guest services. He said (as some others have also reported on this board) that reservations are being held back due to the fact that the Candlelight Processional dining packages and dates have yet to be announced/finalized...
Anyway, I just thought I'd pass along this information. This board and the info you all have provided has been so helpful to me these past couple of weeks and I really appreciate everyone who posted about their experiences with this mess!

Thank you for doing the research and making the calls! I guess we'll just need to keep our eyes on the website and see what happens. It's just frustrating since it pretty much requires us to constantly be looking and be online.
 
I have made several phone calls regarding the dining issues and lack of reservations and have spoken with supervisors at Dining, Reservations, and Guest Services. I have been given bogus excuses from a couple of CMs at Dining such as, "It's always this difficult to book dining. Disney doesn't have an off season anymore," but I feel like I was given a more much legitimate and thorough explanation this afternoon when I spoke with a very nice man at guest services. He said (as some others have also reported on this board) that reservations are being held back due to the fact that the Candlelight Processional dining packages and dates have yet to be announced/finalized. This was only supposed to affect some TS restaurants in Epcot, but somehow the system malfunctioned and it affected numerous other restaurants in Epcot, along with some restaurants at the other parks. He said he thinks that since numerous reservations have yet to been released for November, people clamored and jumped on any reservation available at other restaurants which, in turn, created a shortage of reservations at restaurants that people normally have very little issues booking at 180 days out plus 10 (like Crystal Palace breakfasts, H&V, etc.) He said Disney realizes this is a HUGE issue, many are mad, they are working to remedy the problem, etc. He also said he does not have an exact date, but they are hoping this will be resolved within about a week, with numerous reservations opening at restaurants where reservations have yet to be released. (He couldn't go into detail as to which restaurants which was frustrating.) This CM also said that he believes the issues with dining has very little to do with Free Dining and more to do with Disney withholding reservations for the Candlelight Processional and the malfunctioning dining system. I received a very similar explanation by a different CM at guest services I spoke with the other day, although it was a bit less detailed.

Although we were able to get a lot of the reservations we wanted (going Nov. 15th to Nov. 22nd) I am still beyond frustrated by this situation not only for myself, but for all the others out there who may have gotten very few of their choices. It's incredibly frustrating this happened and I have spent so much time trying to get the reservations we want, talking with Disney on the phone etc. I really wish all CMs would be informed of everything going on because no I I spoke with at dining said anything even close to what the two people at guest services said! It really should not be this hard and it's utterly ridiculous. I am hoping that when these reservations that are being withheld suddenly become available, that people will pick these up and then cancel their reservations for places they didn't really want in the first place. Maybe a lot of reservations in general will free up and we can all eventually get most of what we want. Here's to hoping right?? : )

Anyway, I just thought I'd pass along this information. This board and the info you all have provided has been so helpful to me these past couple of weeks and I really appreciate everyone who posted about their experiences with this mess!

Thank you for reporting what you found out. I had a feeling it was something bigger than free dining, though I don't doubt free dining was just the cherry on top of the sundae.
 
I have to agree about the conspiracy theory. Our trip is November 18-25th. Today our 180+10 started and I was ready at 4:45CST to make our ressies. We are doing QS dining so I was only looking for 2 ressies for BOG lunch on our 2 MK days. I knew from this thread that they would be hard to get (if not impossible) so I used the "book at the back of your trip" strategy. I was SHOCKED that there were tons of times available for lunch and dinner every day that we are there the week of Thanksgiving (November 22-25) but not one single time available for the first part of our trip (November 18-21). It definitely looks like they are holding back reservations during the free dining dates. I just checked now (sooo 10 hours later) and there are still a lot of available reservations at BOG for lunch and several for dinner.
This is actually making me feel better a little about tomorrow. We are booked 19-29 and was scared we wouldn't get anything after reading these posts. I am trying for all the big ones ( CRT, CM, OHANA, CP,BOG) I guess if we hav to we will just do all CS at the beginning of our trip and double up toward the end if needed.
 
Thank you Aggieamy for spending the time making calls and letting us all know. It is greatly appreciated!
 
The very fact that you're saying there were tons of ADRs for THANKSGIVING WEEK, which is one of the most crowded times of the year, makes me truly believe they are holding back reservations. That's just insane... I'll just keep on checking all day, every day. :P

I agree. I just went in to check again and BOG still has every time available every day Mon-Wed of Thanksgiving week (those are the only dates I can see since those are my reservation dates). There were also several BOG dinner time available each night and on Wednesday there are a lot of dinner times available. I checked all party sizes too. We are a party of 6 but I looked for parties of 10 and there were still a lot available.

This is actually making me feel better a little about tomorrow. We are booked 19-29 and was scared we wouldn't get anything after reading these posts. I am trying for all the big ones ( CRT, CM, OHANA, CP,BOG) I guess if we hav to we will just do all CS at the beginning of our trip and double up toward the end if needed.

I'm not sure if you are looking for breakfast, lunch or dinner but just scanning a little bit and I saw CRT and CP for breakfast lunch and dinner from 19-25 (those are the only dates I can see since those are the ones that are included in our trip dates).
CM, Ohana and BOG had plenty of availability on and after the 22nd and the later in your trip gave you even more options.

If I can give you one tip......get on line and get logged in about 10 minutes prior, start your search from you MDE, click on your name and go down to "find a table". Make all your ressies this way. This will give you the ability to see your dates. There have been many posts showing that they could only see one day of their trip when they tried to use the "things to do" and "make reservations" route.

I hope this makes sense.

:tinker:Pixie dust that you get all your ressies! Let us know what you get!
 
I agree. I just went in to check again and BOG still has every time available every day Mon-Wed of Thanksgiving week (those are the only dates I can see since those are my reservation dates). There were also several BOG dinner time available each night and on Wednesday there are a lot of dinner times available. I checked all party sizes too. We are a party of 6 but I looked for parties of 10 and there were still a lot available.



I'm not sure if you are looking for breakfast, lunch or dinner but just scanning a little bit and I saw CRT and CP for breakfast lunch and dinner from 19-25 (those are the only dates I can see since those are the ones that are included in our trip dates).
CM, Ohana and BOG had plenty of availability on and after the 22nd and the later in your trip gave you even more options.

If I can give you one tip......get on line and get logged in about 10 minutes prior, start your search from you MDE, click on your name and go down to "find a table". Make all your ressies this way. This will give you the ability to see your dates. There have been many posts showing that they could only see one day of their trip when they tried to use the "things to do" and "make reservations" route.

I hope this makes sense.

:tinker:Pixie dust that you get all your ressies! Let us know what you get!
Thank SO MUCH I'm getting ready now, wish me luck
 
I can't make any reservations this morning....the system will show me times to choose from and I pick one and then it goes back to the regular dining reservation page. Anyone else having this problem? I have tried from computer and the ap.
 
I was on at 6:00 and used the advice a couple of posts up and got everything I wanted with no issues at all. I got CM our first day. I got CRT, GG, BOG, TH, H&V, CP and some others. It took forever in between pages, but no errors other than it would not let me use my Disney debit, had to use my discover:confused3
 
After trying for almost an hour I was able to make one reservation by not logging in until after I chose the date and time, of course this didn't give me my 180 +10. However it did make me think maybe it was me being logged in that was the issue - so I logged in under my sisters account (luckily we had everything linked already) and I was able to make all of our reservations in about 10 minutes. Go figure!!!
 
Super slow processing time between pages this morning. First 2 ressies took over 15 mins, and we have some wonky times now. Left our Friday, Nov 20 completely open...can't get the CP breakfast that we and nothing else is really jumping out at me:(
 
After trying for almost an hour I was able to make one reservation by not logging in until after I chose the date and time, of course this didn't give me my 180 +10. However it did make me think maybe it was me being logged in that was the issue - so I logged in under my sisters account (luckily we had everything linked already) and I was able to make all of our reservations in about 10 minutes. Go figure!!!
It is strange how random the issues are. I hear some people saying that hey can't log in at all and the system seemed to be down completely, while others were having no problems. I logged on with my laptop, and ipad and had both searching at the same time from the same account and had no problems. But even with both of them booking different ones at the same time it took almost an hour to get 11 ADRS. I couldn't get it to link my card, so I had to put it in every time and it wouldn't let me use debit cards, just credit. It kept giving me an error with the debit cards including my Disney debit.
 
Is everyone looking for the same ADR's?:confused3 Ohana BOG CP Cali Grill CRT?? It is quite possible that these are booked up isn't it?:eek: I booked Jersey week with no issues but there is no Free Dining offered that week. I don't wanna be a Debbie downer but the only time I saw reservations released was for BOG when they decided to open up the 3rd section of the restaurant for Dinner and I was able to snag a ressie. As far as the less popular restaurants or the easier Ressies, i.e. Raglan Road are you sure they are all Disney Restaurants? THE Boathouse shows no availability but when I called the restaurant directly I got what I wanted. I really do wish all of you good luckpixiedust: and hope you all get what you want, we are a dedicated group here on the DIS:disrocks: and you should subscribe to the cancellation board for November it is a great resource
 

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