Finding reservations by availability?

[McNic]

Hello all,
I know the reservation system is down at the moment, but for when it is up, is there a place where you can search ADR's by availability? Maybe I'm just clueless but when I was searching I had to pick the restaurant and then keep going in time frames...long story short, it took a long time!!

Is there a faster way to check this stuff out?

Thanks for any tips you have!

 

[AJKMOM]

I think if you click on a few filters at the top and put in your dates, numbers, etc., the available restaurants come up.

 

[shortnsassy730]

You should be able to select your date, time and party size at the top. Then it will show you all restaurants with availablity.

 

[ktlm]

It is a bit hidden, but if you look above the line where you put in your date, time and party size, you will see a heading "All Parks and Resorts". If you click on that you can pick specific parks to seach and then when you put in your date, time, and party size in the area below, it will only seach the parks/resorts you have specifically picked and will pull up all availability at the locale you want. You can also pick your time as "breakfast, lunch or dinner" instead of a specific time if you prefer that.

 

[HON2WDW]

Not sure if this is what the OP meant, but I had a similar question. Is there any way to pick a restaurant and then view what times are available for reservations for a whole day (or even a longer period)? I have been trying to 'catch' a cancellation for CRT for a week long trip. We are willing to take anything that we can get (we have park hopper tickets) and it is so frustrating to have to do at least 24 individual searches that cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 8 different days. And these do not even cover some narrow time slots.

 

[ravendas]

DH and I were just talking about this. They really need to have a way that, if you have your reservation dates loaded, you can see all available ADRs for your that time frame, rather than just having to go day-by-day and meal-by-meal.

 

[HON2WDW]

I ended up just calling the reservation line tonight. I was on hold for a long time, but it was totally worth it. Not only was it easier to just say 'What can I get at this restaurant during this week?', but I actually got a great time ADR for Cinderella's Royal Table on June 23rd at 8:35 am. I couldn't believe it! I was also able to move my Cape May Cafe ADR that I had for that morning to the next morning.

The agent was also super helpful with helping me to think through the other reservations that I had made through the system and which ones I might want to cancel or change. I am pretty much at the point that I just need to sort through what I have and which ones I am not going to keep, so might use the online system again for checking back on some specific restaurants/time periods that aren't currently available, but if I need anything major, I will definitely call again.

 

[honeybunches]

I ended up just calling the reservation line tonight. I was on hold for a long time, but it was totally worth it. Not only was it easier to just say 'What can I get at this restaurant during this week?', but I actually got a great time ADR for Cinderella's Royal Table on June 23rd at 8:35 am. I couldn't believe it! I was also able to move my Cape May Cafe ADR that I had for that morning to the next morning.

The agent was also super helpful with helping me to think through the other reservations that I had made through the system and which ones I might want to cancel or change. I am pretty much at the point that I just need to sort through what I have and which ones I am not going to keep, so might use the online system again for checking back on some specific restaurants/time periods that aren't currently available, but if I need anything major, I will definitely call again.

Wow, that is so great that you were able to get that ressie. Perfect time and everything! You were meant to have it.

 

[bluejasmine]

Actually you can... I just put date, time & party & it pulls up all available restaurants on the right with the available times within two hours.. Is that not what you want?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[CuteAndFluffy]

I think the OP is asking if you can choose the restaurant and then view availability for that restaurant for an expanded time frame.

For example, I want to get into Be our Guest. My trip is Sept 1-Sept 7. It would be much easier and efficient to search if I could plug in our trip dates, that one restaurant, and it would search the whole week at once.

Unfortunately, I don't think the user interface is that helpful/flexible. I think you need to trudge through day by day or call.

Is that what you were asking, OP?

 

[bluejasmine]

Didn't the old system let you look at a range of dates? This new system is definitely not better!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[CuteAndFluffy]

Didn't the old system let you look at a range of dates? This new system is definitely not better!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Amen, Sister!

(ETA: I think you could, but I don't have the link to the old interface. Anyone got it, can you see if this search is available?)

 

[Cafeen]

Didn't the old system let you look at a range of dates? This new system is definitely not better!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Amen, Sister!

(ETA: I think you could, but I don't have the link to the old interface. Anyone got it, can you see if this search is available?)

The old old system (the v1/v1.5 of the online ADRs) did have functionality to search date ranges (though still within about a 2 hr window). This functionality was removed on the old new (v2.x) system, though it remains on the Dining CM side of things (as far as I know).

It was likely removed due to changes with how the reservations were done at the time, instead of picking a restaurant then searching (v1.x), the old new system (v2.x) then allowed you to search multiple restaurants on a given date/time. I'm assuming that the designers figured that showing all available ADRs over a date range across up to 170 or so restaurants was a bit too much info and didn't think that users would be smart enough to narrow it down .

The new new system (v3.x, aka My Disney Experience) further limits functionality by making the "show me all available on this date and time" much harder to navigate to, while flooding the UI with useless bits and keeping things way too big and not in a sensible order (note: if I'm searching for an ADR... don't show me CS restaurants in the results...)

IMO, the old old system's date range functionality was good, but the old new system was 100 times better even without it. Unfortunately, that wasn't correct for Disney and they had to go and break something that was working quite well and replace it with the ugly, oversized, poorly planned, slower than dirt system we have now. No, I'm not bitter .

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

The old old system (the v1/v1.5 of the online ADRs) did have functionality to search date ranges (though still within about a 2 hr window). This functionality was removed on the old new (v2.x) system, though it remains on the Dining CM side of things (as far as I know).

When I made a CRT reservation over the phone a couple of weeks ago, the CM told me he had to search each day separately, and could not check availability for multiple days in a single search.

 

[capegirl]

When I made a CRT reservation over the phone a couple of weeks ago, the CM told me he had to search each day separately, and could not check availability for multiple days in a single search.

Oh my! I always thought the CM's could check availability in a single search...who knew? The fact that they are unable to do this, is really counter productive.
I recently completed the 'My Disney Experience ' survey, and in my comments I did mention that the system would be much more efficient if you could enter a 'range of dates' for a particular restaurant. I don't understand the reasoning behind it, but then again I don't work for Disney.

 

[Mazz519]

Just go to dining and put the date in that ur looking for and time... It will give u every rest that has availability on that day in that timeframe

 

[mickey1968]

I think one of the problems, maybe the main problem, is that Disney assumes guests are searching from the standpoint that "I need a TS meal at this time on this day but I don't know or care about which restaraunt." But we seem to actually want to search more like "I want to eat at BOG during my visit. Show me when a spot is open." Airlines and hotels can do it, why can't Disney do it for dining?

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

I think one of the problems, maybe the main problem, is that Disney assumes guests are searching from the standpoint that "I need a TS meal at this time on this day but I don't know or care about which restaraunt." But we seem to actually want to search more like "I want to eat at BOG during my visit. Show me when a spot is open." Airlines and hotels can do it, why can't Disney do it for dining?

I'm sure they can... But, by making you search for day and time, you're more likely to book the lower demand TS restaurants.

Say you were on the dining plan: If staying a week, you would need 7 TS meals. You'd pick your top 7 restaurants, put them in 1 at a time, and pick available times. Everyone would pick (more or less) the same ones.

But, by making you search by day/time, you're more likely going to pick "other" options.

So, I am actually suprised that, when your search comes up "nothing available" they don't automatically give you "nearby" restaurants available at your time.