Advice please on booking at 180 day Mark

[Nadia_disfan]

Hi!
Will be able to start booking ADR in a few weeks, we are not on dining plan, there are 14 of us, (we know we will not be seated together) ... My question is , of all these ressies I'm making can I wait a few days so I can book all in one hit, rather than ringing more than once as it becomes 180 day Mark for each? (hope that makes sense ...)

We are looking to book (end of oct btw)
Donalds breakfast AK
Fantasmic dinner at h and v
Prime time dinner
Wishes desert party (just for 6 of us)
Garden grill
Chef mickeys
Possibly Ohana

The reason I'm asking is I remember the fuss and stress of getting our last castle lunch with cindy, and the essential booking on the or lose it!

Also do I need to pay up front for any of these?

Thank youuuuuu !

 

[Eventer98]

Correct me if I'm wrong but if you are staying on property you should be able to book 180+10. Meaning you can start booking 180 from the day you checkin through ten days from there to cover your whole trip. I do not think it matters if you have the DDP or not. As for paying in advance..you will just need a credit card to "hold" the Fantasmic dinner res. I think you then have 48 hrs to cancel without being charged (which is a $10 fee pp) I would call everyday, if I am wrong and you can't book 180+10, with that large of a group. We had 12 in Oct and I had trouble getting reservations when I wanted to make changes down the road...better safe then sorry!

 

[cigar95]

There are very few places that need to be booked at 180 days. In particular, six months from now puts you in late September, one of the slowest times of the year.

Looking at your list, 'Ohana looks to be the only one that is likely to book up right away. While Chef Mickey is popular, it doesn't fill right away, specially at that time of year.

I will admit, though, that I'm not sure how booking a large party changes things - that's something I've never done. (It will affect the ability to book online, that much I know.)

 

[Nadia_disfan]

we are staying offsite, so the 180 day rule applies.... At least I think it does? Now I'm confused (happens regularly don't worry) .. Are you saying I don't need to wait till 180 days and can book some of these now? ... Our trip is end of oct, which is known for being fairly quiet I think (though everyone on here seems to be going then lol) the most important one for everyone is the AK Donald breakfast, if I only get that Im happy

Thank you for helping, really are some fantastic folk on here x

 

[squirrel]

I thought there is a special # to call for people who are booking larger tables (10 or more people).

 

[kat3668]

You have to have 80% of your party staying on site to be considered a grand gathering. Booking a group of 14 may be tough... The one piece of advice I can give you is to push the most popular restaraunts to the end of the week when you book.... For example if you are staying 7 days try to book Ohana for the thurs or friday of your trip there may be more availability toward the end of the week and thats a hard one to snag. Also get up BRIGHT and EARLY the day you can make ressies and book the hardest ones first. You can start at 7am and thats what I would do!
Good Luck!

 

[vicki_c]

The OP said they are staying off-site, so can only call / do online exactly 180 days or less from the date they want to eat (so she can't do the push things towards the end of the week approach suggested above).

I would definitely be trying for 'Ohana at 180 days from your dining date. And given that you have such a large party, I would try to do as many as possible at 180 days from your dining date vs. waiting until 180 days from your last dining date and doing them all then. If you were a party of 2 or 4, I would say it would be okay to wait.

And lastly, for large groups under one reservation (like your 14), you will have to call - the dining site states that.

 

[kat3668]

Not sure if my post was confusing but my advice was not to wait till the end of the week to book but to try to book the harder adrs for later in the week.
So start at 180 days @7am

1. book easier adrs for Mon Tues and Wed
2. Try for harder adrs for thurs and fri... ex Ohana and chef Mickeys

I used this technique when I booked my trip last Oct and got all of the hardest adrs..
Chef Mickeys for breakfast
LeCellier @ 6:00
Ohana @ 6:00

There also is an option if you do not wish to call that lists 14 people on the dropdown window when booking... many restaraunts showed up with open Ressies for 14 (I played around on the wdw website before posting this)so that is an option you have.

 

[vicki_c]

kat - I understood your post - or at least thought I did -

you are suggesting the standard advice of booking your harder ADRs later in the trip when less people have had a chance to book those dates when using the 180+10.

So basically, when using the 180+10, and calling 180 days out from your vacation start date, you can book 'Ohana for the last day of your 9 day trip, effectively booking it 189 days from your dining date. That works great. IF you can use the +10 booking advantage that on-site guests get.

The OP cannot use that since she is not staying on-site.

So unless you are just suggesting that harder reservations are easier to get for later days of the week (like Thursday and Friday - but I don't think that's true or what you were saying), she can't do what you're saying because she can only call 180 days away from each particular day she wants a reservation for.

That is good info about booking large groups on the website though - I didn't think you could do that at all.

 

[Nadia_disfan]

Ahhh I get it now..
Thank you!!! Brilliant feedback!
Can't wait to get started!! X

 

[cigar95]

I think kat is articulating the theory that Thursdays and Fridays tend to be easier to book than earlier in the week. That's one that I've only heard a few times, and I've no idea how much an effect it really is.

But if you figure that earlier in the week is when more people arrive, and human nature is that people will try for the popular stuff as soon as possible in their trip, I can see how it may be true. How *big* of an effect it might be remains to be seen.

But I'll return to my theory that it can't hurt to book on the first day, although it might be easier to find availability to book two separate reservations for parties of 8 and 6. And that except maybe for 'Ohana, getting in right when the system opens in the morning is likely not that critical.

 

[vicki_c]

Interesting - I've never heard anyone say that before, and as I said, I wouldn't think that to be true just because (in my mind) there's no logical reason for it. But maybe I don't think like a typical Disney tourist or something. Actually, I really hope I don't!