I think many people DO know the details of their trip 180 days out. They know where they're staying, what time they're arriving, and where they'd like to eat.
Shouldn't people who plan more benefit? The number of days is arbitrary. No matter how many days out, someone is going to be upset because they called two minutes late and didn't get any of their restaurants.
Maybe Disney does this already, but they should limit how many restaurants you can reserve in a day, and what times you can reserve. So you can reserve one restaurant (anywhere in the World) between 6a-10a, one between 11a-2p, and one between 5p-9p. You can also make a cancellation policy... 24 hours, 72 hours, or a week from the reservation, you're "locked in". If you cancel anytime after that, you lose your deposit.
The problem with that is the more restrictive it gets, the more unhappy guests you're going to have. To use the current moment as an example - with Hurricane Irma lurking in the Atlantic, many people will likely be changing plans a day or two in advance as short-range weather forecasts become available. A one-week hour rule means that if you see massive rain forecast for the day after tomorrow, you can't swap your AK plans for Epcot or Studios where all the top attractions are indoors without incurring the penalty. And if you're going to get hit with the penalty either way, there's little incentive to cancel and free up that reservation for someone else.
Likewise with the two bookings in one meal period - the tighter that is enforced, the more guests with legitimate plans have to jump through hoops to make the plans they want. Plus there is always the work-around of setting up a second (third, fourth) Disney account to book multiple meals within one time period. I hated when we had to do that on days when we were splitting up. If I want to book princesses for my daughters and I and a resort breakfast for my husband and son, or if my husband and I want a date night while my teens take their little sister to dinner, I shouldn't need to juggle multiple accounts and multiple payment methods to reserve the ADRs.
Shortening the booking window would be a painless way to make the planning easier. I'm booking ADRs right now without knowing exact travel dates or where we're staying - that'll be settled when the winter discounts come out, probably near the end of this month. A 90 day window would take all that uncertainty out of the mix. A 30 or 45 day window, aligned with the payoff date on packages, would get rid of all the "maybe" bookings that people reserve and then cancel for financial reasons. But Disney maintains the 180 window for their own reasons. If the consequences of the policy are interfering with a good guest experience, they should reevaluate the policy, not implement ever more guest-unfriendly "fixes" to keep it in place.
What are the restaurants that you love that you can also make same day ADRs?
The vast majority of non-character resort restaurants can be booked same day, as can most of the World Showcase restaurants. I've personally booked Kona, Yak & Yeti, Beaches & Cream, and several Epcot restaurants same-day from the
MDE app. But booking is an essential step - it isn't unusual for a restaurant to be turning away walk-ups but open to almost immediate ADRs on MDE.
Do a quick search on the Disney site right now - I'm seeing everything from 50s Prime Time to Akershus and even Chef Mickey and Le Cellier available for tonight, using a 6pm search time/party of 2. Similar availability for 4ppl. Only Be Our Guest, CRT, Teppan Edo, and Ohana appear to be booked solid. The rest of the "unavailable" list is special dining events, chef's tastings, and Disney Springs restaurants that only release a portion of their capacity into the Disney system. And we're at the tail end of a holiday weekend - a nice time to travel if you're looking to minimize vacation days - in the middle of
free dining season.
