Do cancellations happen?? any strategies?

[goofyme]

Haven't been to WDW in awhile(after going year after year) and one of the fun things has been the eating. but i have found out with the popularity of the DDP that to eat when you want to (or even "if" you want to) has become an exercise in futility. luckily when i first booked my trip a few months ago i made several reservations thinking in the last month i would add a few later ...impossible!!!!!! i guess what frustrates me is hearing/reading about people make numerous reservations and not even cancelling them...arrgghh!!

anyway, does disney "open up" any tables a few days out? i asked the reservations place if i should just try to keep calling back but they act like i would be wasting my/their time.

thanks for your input....

 

[durango kid]

It is NOT crazy to keep calling! I can almost guarantee that if you keep calling, you will get a rez. I do it all the time. Call when you are just sitting around watching tv, or when you are driving to the store, have the wife call. two weeks ago my DW and I wanted to go to Cali Grill that evening. I called in the morning, no luck, I called during lunch, no go. I called around 3:00 and loe and behold there was a couple of openings.

Don't give up, call often.

 

[minie_meese]

We ended up cancelling a table at Kona the day of our reservation. I am sure others do as well so cancellations do happen. We saw a number of people walk up to restaurants and get a table. The one exception was Le Cellier. We saw many people turned away. The host told one couple to try early at lunch time for the best chance.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

We only do 2-3 ADRs in advance. We do 2-3 more when we arrive in WDW, and we try some walk-ups. Except for exceptionally busy times of the year (Christmas to New Years and Easter week), this will usually work out.

And people do cancel, so it's worth it to keep calling.

 

[pixiemagic30]

Cancellations do happen, my dh and I had brunch at the castle b/c of a cancellation! Another thing that I have done that has worked is if you're looking for an early dinner and can't get a ressie then, try a late lunch. At the WCC that's exactly what I wanted -- an early dinner. Instead, I got a 2:40pm lunch. While it's quite a late lunch for us, we figured that a late lunch was better than nothing, especially on Christmas Eve!

 

[NJfamily2007]

When we were in WDW the last time we cancelled lunch in Epcot with the princesses because our son was exhausted and was very afraid of the characters. We cancelled the morning of. I think that you have to cancel earlier, but I imagine this happens and you can get reservations a few days before.

I think that it stinks that all of the reservations are 180 days now. It doesn't leave much room for last minute trips. My parents decided to come along on our December trip at the last minute, about 90 days ahead of time is last minute in Disney time, and I had a neck of a time booking a lunch. We are eating at 2:00. I did cancel a lunch to fit it in!

 

[Markstudy]

Is there a faster way to check ? 1-888 Disney Dine is so slow.

I call and give my resort number and go through the entire 5 minute proceedure to ask a 10 second question.

( I'm tempted to try the other option...when it ask if you are local or dining with-in the next seven days? )