Frustrated about wait list for dining.

[poohs4me]

I check everyday (which I know makes it worse but I have a problem) to see if I have been moved to the earlier dining but nothing yet. Does anyone know if there is a hierarchy to the assignment? For example, concierge gets top priority (which I expect) then what is it based on castaway cay status or is it more on when you booked your reservation.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I check everyday (which I know makes it worse but I have a problem) to see if I have been moved to the earlier dining but nothing yet. Does anyone know if there is a hierarchy to the assignment? For example, concierge gets top priority (which I expect) then what is it based on castaway cay status or is it more on when you booked your reservation.

Concierge may well get priority, but I would hope that the earlier you ask to be placed on the wait list then comes into play. But I don't know for sure how they do it.

I do know that every time we've been on the wait list, it's come through. Sometimes earlier, most times later. I would think that many of those assignment changes would happen when they finally get around to doing the rotation/table assignments, which I've been told usually occur within the last 2 weeks.

 

[DisneyNurse19]

How long have you been waiting?

 

[Bella29]

There's a good chance you won't know until you arrive at the port.

We have only been on the waiting list a few times, once concierge was the reason we got moved, another we had early seating but my in-laws didn't book in time and were wait-listed. Since our reservations were connected we thought they had a good chance of being moved to be with us and they were. With concierge we knew a few weeks ahead, but when it was just my in-laws they didn't know until we checked in. I was sure it would work out but my mother-in-law was a bit stressed.

So, if it is make or break, consider upgrading to concierge or connecting reservations with someone else on your cruise who has early? Or move your reservation to one further out that still has early seating available?

Also I will say that our first cruise, our kids were just turned 4 and 6 and we had late dining and it was totally fine. But you know your family's needs/schedule best.

 

[terramei]

I requested early dining wait list about 8 months before my cruise. It went through right at the 5 week mark.

I got a random reservation confirmation email but couldn't figure out why as we had been paid in full for a while. It was because of the dining change.

 

[Little Doe]

I would not worry, every time I have asked for the early seating I have finally gotten it. I think the order of filling the requests is based on the order of the dates people made their reservations. ( I think)

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I definitely understand it can be frustrating to wait and you feel like it won't ever happen I think we've been wait listed 2-3 times for Main dining and we've always received it. I have been personally called from DCL who followed up with me and each time I have been advised the assignments are typically done the week of your sailing. For example if you leave on a Saturday, they might not be done until that Monday or Tuesday of the same week. So I mention that to say it's not likely you will know for awhile or until you get your KTTW card at check in and even if you get your KTTW and it says LATE, then don't worry - just go to the assigned location to request a change. I've had to do that twice and they've accommodated us. Many do find out by checking their reservation online to see if it's changed but don't fret if you never see the change.

Your chances of being assigned what you want are pretty good so think positive

Heather

 

[poohs4me]

I requested early dining wait list about 8 months before my cruise. It went through right at the 5 week mark.

I got a random reservation confirmation email but couldn't figure out why as we had been paid in full for a while. It was because of the dining change.

That is good to know.

We have been waiting about 7 months I think

Twice I have not received my requested dining times. We ended up not eating in the dining room at all because of it. It was a shorter cruise so it was fine. One time we didn't find out until we showed up for dinner to only find out we had missed our dining time cause we had been moved to early lol They made room for us and apologized for not notifying us earlier. We had gone out on walk about and saw the show, etc and missed the call.

Everyone in our group is in the same position so I cannot link reservations with them

 

[pearljammer]

We were originally on Main, switched to late and called back to go back to Main. I was advised we were on the waiting list. So I was thinking we had 8:15 dining but when we got there and looked at our cards, we had 5:45. Nice surprise! I never called and checked. You can possibly ask if you get on board and it's not been switched already.

 

[emilymad]

Is there somewhere online you can check on the status or do you need to call?

I am wait listed for first seating. I also want to request a table for 2. Will requesting a table for 2 hurt my chances of getting first seating?

 

[poohs4me]

I login to my reservation and just check my dining

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Is there somewhere online you can check on the status or do you need to call?

I am wait listed for first seating. I also want to request a table for 2. Will requesting a table for 2 hurt my chances of getting first seating?

You can just check your reservation online and see if the change has been made. There's no way online to know where you are on the wait list. Don't know if calling DCL will garner that information.

Requesting a table for 2 may or may not hurt your chances for main seating. Since that seating is the more popular of the two, tables are generally fuller.

 

[emilymad]

I checked my reservation and it now says Main dining under dining preference so I guess that means the waitlist came through.

 

[2P2W]

The second you get on board go to the dining room and ask for it to be changed. it has worked for us at least 3 times. Good Luck!

 

[texas disney mom]

We have been on two cruises (well about to go on the second) and wait listed for main both times and got our request both times. We found out around the final pay date both times. The second time we were wait listed for almost a year before finding out. (Yes we booked the cruise and didn't realize until a month after that we could pick a dining time at which point main was somehow already not an option).