Has anyone had success booking dining? I mean......for the love of churros!

[katyringo]

Still nothing for Fantasmic

Hungry bear is open!

 

[katyringo]

Day 5: this was an Fantasmic day. I want the blue bayou package. It continues to not open up. Someone mentioned that maybe they wouldn't open those up until August 27th. That could make sense. I don't think riverbelle has dropped yet either. Knowing it would most likely not open I went for the hungry bear on-the-go package and got it and did some refreshing just in case BB came up. Never did and never has for october.

I also booked a regular BB lunch. I don't really plan to keep it, but I'm holding onto options right now until Disney releases everything.

Tomorrow day 6 (I am making 8 days total) I am going for Princess Breakfast.

If you are saying to yourself "wow they are doing a lot.." the answer is "yes we are." We have 7 nights at DLH and we like to have a sit down most days and love character meals.

 

[BecBennett]

But I don't want Hungry bear!!

 

[katyringo]

But I don't want Hungry bear!!

Well me either but it's my back up plan..

 

[jenergy]

What's up with dining reservations opening at 5 am PST!? I didn't get my fantasmic dining package because I tried at 5:45 and was too late. Tried today at 5:15 for the day we're leaving and they were there but we won't be

 

[katyringo]

What's up with dining reservations opening at 5 am PST!? I didn't get my fantasmic dining package because I tried at 5:45 and was too late. Tried today at 5:15 for the day we're leaving and they were there but we won't be

Hummm they didn't open until 6Pst for me this morning..

If you were going for the blue bayou or Riverbelle they haven't opened at all for October. It says no times found because they haven't been loaded. Only hungry bear opened this morning.

 

[jenergy]

Hummm they didn't open until 6Pst for me this morning..

If you were going for the blue bayou or Riverbelle they haven't opened at all for October. It says no times found because they haven't been loaded. Only hungry bear opened this morning.

River Belle package for 10/15 was definitely there. I got all the way to the reservation confirmation page but didn't finish it because I couldn't use it. All of my reservations I got before 6 AM from 10/12-10/14

 

[katyringo]

River Belle package for 10/15 was definitely there. I got all the way to the reservation confirmation page but didn't finish it because I couldn't use it. All of my reservations I got before 6 AM from 10/12-10/14

Oh wow! Good to know! Seems to be the BB one that hasn't loaded then! Strange. None of them opened for me before 6am.

 

[jenergy]

Oh wow! Good to know! Seems to be the BB one that hasn't loaded then! Strange. None of them opened for me before 6am.

That's really weird! And not fair! I should have checked yesterday when I woke up but was like "they're probably just dropping 5 mins early" and then checked at 5:45 and they were already sold out for 10/14. Such a bummer. This is a screenshot for the res I made this morning at 5:17.

 

[katyringo]

That's really weird! And not fair! I should have checked yesterday when I woke up but was like "they're probably just dropping 5 mins early" and then checked at 5:45 and they were already sold out for 10/14. Such a bummer. This is a screenshot for the res I made this morning at 5:17.

The plot thickens..

 

[Sjwillia]

I wish I knew how people get reservations at the 60 day mark before 6:00 PST. I have been trying daily for weeks. Sometimes as early as 4:00 AM and NOTHING ever loads until right at 6:00 AM for me. And then Fantasmic shows nothing available except Hungry Bear. As my dates get closer I am starting to panic a little bit about getting the few reservations I want.

 

[brightlined]

That's really weird! And not fair! I should have checked yesterday when I woke up but was like "they're probably just dropping 5 mins early" and then checked at 5:45 and they were already sold out for 10/14. Such a bummer. This is a screenshot for the res I made this morning at 5:17.

Did you book that via the website or the app?

 

[jenergy]

Did you book that via the website or the app?

I made the 5:17 reservation today on the app, but I made reservations on Saturday on both the website and the app at 5:55 AM.
I assumed everyone could access them since obviously people are getting in before me still. It's weird that it's only some people. And annoying.

 

[brightlined]

I made the 5:17 reservation today on the app, but I made reservations on Saturday on both the website and the app at 5:55 AM.
I assumed everyone could access them since obviously people are getting in before me still. It's weird that it's only some people. And annoying.

So weird. The only thing I can think of - I'm wondering if they might have a misconfigured server.

(Warning: tech answer.)

Usually, systems like this use something called a "load balancer" to handle traffic. Multiple servers run the same functionality, and you're essentially "assigned" to one specific server when you visit.

In this case, for example, if one of those servers were set to WDW's launch time by accident, that would explain why some people could access it at 3am and others can't. It would essentially be like winning a small lottery - you'd have to luck out to catch that specific server. (And, off-hand, I can't think of any way to play this lottery multiple times - maybe if you clear your cookies on each attempt.)

Just a theory.

 

[jenergy]

So weird. The only thing I can think of - I'm wondering if they might have a misconfigured server.

(Warning: tech answer.)

Usually, systems like this use something called a "load balancer" to handle traffic. Multiple servers run the same functionality, and you're essentially "assigned" to one specific server when you visit.

In this case, for example, if one of those servers were set to WDW's launch time by accident, that would explain why some people could access it at 3am and others can't. It would essentially be like winning a small lottery - you'd have to luck out to catch that specific server. (And, off-hand, I can't think of any way to play this lottery multiple times - maybe if you clear your cookies on each attempt.)

Just a theory.

Could it be a regional server thing? It would be weird to win that lottery all 3 days I tried, wouldn't it?

 

[twodogs]

I was booking last week for October. Every day that I tried, certain things were available before 6am, but generally only on the website version. The app continously gave me an error (even though the date was "blue" on the calendar) until right at 6am. By then, many things were long gone. I think this system (or non-system as the case is) is terrible. I am a planner, and I will get up early, stay up late, set a stop watch, whatever, but please tell me what I need to do and then follow through on your end, Disney. This whip-sawing around is frustrating for all of us. I missed my BB opportunity because I thought, it can't be opening early every day....

 

[brightlined]

Could it be a regional server thing? It would be weird to win that lottery all 3 days I tried, wouldn't it?

Possibly, but I'd be a little surprised. The system at my company had east coast and west coast servers - it'd be a decent bet that Disney has theirs in California and Florida. But it's not out of the question that they might have proxies throughout the country. (I was East Coast when I booked mine last month, and it was 6am for me.)

If I were guessing - our system used a session cookie to keep someone on the same server for the duration of whatever they were doing. If Disney's system somehow kept the session open for a much longer period of time than normal, or used a browser/app cookie to keep you pointing at that server, that might explain it. Disney's been caching more things (and longer) than they used to.

But, honestly, you could have just gotten lucky those three days.

The truth is - we're such a small sample size that it could be anything. Any one of us could try it at 3am and get lucky. (In a work situation, this is where I would start collecting feedback about people's experiences and see if there were any commonalities.)


If I were aiming to test this out, I think my next plan of attack would be to get up at 5am and open up multiple (different) browsers in and out of incognito mode (maybe even on different computers/tablets) to see if one of them might give me early access.

 

[sweethannah]

Anyone in the Park need a table for 2 or 3 for Trader Sam's at 435? Tried to cancel it the day before but its 24hrs not the day before despite the vague description of the cancellation policy.

 

[kirstyfly]

it's sure is fun and games isn't it trying to get the reservations we need.

I check at 3.00am PST (it's 10:00pm here and I am still up so it's not a pain to check for me). I then go to bed to get a bit of sleep and wake up for the 6:00am drop)

I wake up at 12.50 am here in New Zealand which gives me time to have my eyes open and computer ready for 1.00 am (6am PST) time.

I have been getting my reservations at this time for what is open. They do however go very fast for the times.

I just take the time that shows and can't be to picky not exactly the time I would like but at least it is a time.

BBB who knows what is going on with that.

 

[Liane CR]

Just want to amplify a trick for using the dining reservation tracking websites. Someone posted this upthread or on a different thread and I wanted to report on it working for me too. To get the dining reservation alerts as a text, try using your phone number as an email. Google 'mobile gateway addresses' to find the email for your carrier. For example, I use tmobile and the email is your phone number@tmomail.net I was able to verify it and everything. Now on to stalking BB Fantasmic! packages!