Large number of restaurants with no availability???

[DisFox]

I am approaching my 180 day mark for our post Thanksgiving trip. I am looking at various restaurants where booking is currently open (11/19/18 and earlier). There seems to be a large number of restaurants with no availability whatsoever. I could see this at CRT or BOG but when we went in early March there were plenty of slots available at most restaurants though maybe not the prime ones? I can't imagine Sci Fi Dine in is booked completely in early November? Any ideas?

 

[nkereina]

Depending on the dates you are looking at, it could be the effects of free dining which is offered most of September and parts of November. The folks who booked free dining have already had their 180 day window come and go, and since they have TS credits to use, they tend to make more ADRs.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Sci Fi is often booked solid on day 180. For our last few trips, I have tried to book it at 6am ET on the dot and nothing. I've had to stalk for it and many others have reported similar issues.

 

[KenHutch]

You will have to make touringplans your friend. A lot of people haven't made up their minds yet what park and or where they want to eat. So many book ADR's one or more per park until they decide. As people cancel all of those extra ADR's you should be able to get a lot if register on touringplans and keep checking.

 

[ptlohmysoul]

There is the possibility that they haven't loaded a lot of the dinner reservations yet. CRT is not available for dinner reservations at +10 days out and this is not normal at 6am in the morning. Others have reported the same for Tusker House. In the past, I know lots of EPCOT restaurant availability is late due to waiting for the Christmas Candlelight Processional Packages to come out. However, I was able to get all my reservations except for CRT dinner (including a BOG dinner). And CRT is available for breakfast and lunch. Have you checked various days to see if your preferred restaurant is available on another day of your vacation. If it is, then it is likely sold out.

 

[kittyab]

Touring plans is the only way I got a few of my ADRs.

 

[cgmac121]

I am having a terrible time getting the reservations we want for our November trip! We are off site and I am having to do it day by day. So far I haven't managed to get a single reservation for my entire party of 10 together and haven't found a single Ohana reservation at all.

 

[momto4obkids]

November is always brutal for dining reservations. We tend to go just after Thanksgiving and everything has always been a struggle to book.

We are going in July this time and it was a much better experience booking dining then I am used to.

 

[CynBeth]

I just booked a lot of ADRs last Sunday for Thanksgiving Week and got everything we
wanted. I have family members with food allergies so we pretty much eat all meals TS. Not sure if it makes a difference but we tend to have lunches 11:30 or 12 and dinners are usually 4:30.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

It could be that the time/meal you want hasn’t been released yet. I was online bright and early at 180+10 trying to get CRT dinner the day after Thanksgiving. Breakfast and lunch had plenty of availability. Dinner, though, was showing as zero availability for any party size at any time. Unbelievable at 180+10 that dinner was completely booked. I guessed, and others have agreed, that CRT dinner times had not been loaded yet. I don’t know why Disney can’t seem to get it together here. The advantage to staying onsite and booking a restaurant like CRT 10 days ahead of the crowd loses its meaning when Disney doesn’t get the times loaded.

 

[verleniahall]

don't look for a genetic bk, lun, don - look for a time - works much better

 

[DisFox]

Thanks for the responses. I think what I am seeing is a combination of the free dining promotion as well as reservation times not loaded in the system yet. Will be relying on touringplans and *********** for those alerts. They worked great for March trip - snagged a 6pm CRT and a 6:30p BOG the week before the trip. BOG was overated and we decided to pass on CRT for a quiet early evening at the pool.

 

[OneinThree]

This has become a very busy time of year. Still, you should be able to pick up cancellations as needed in most cases. We rarely book ADR's very far in advance because we prefer the freedom. It's rare we can't get in somewhere. Never used the touring plans reservation finder but supposedly it works well for a lot of people.

 

[melissa723]

I agree with the others about the Touring Plans reservation finder. I used it for our trip this past October and was able to snag a few ADR's that I was having trouble getting, including one for BOG on the exact day and time I needed...1 month before! I'm a little past my 180 day mark and decided a few days ago that I wanted to make a lunch reservation for Hollywood and Vine (hoping it turns into Minnie's Holiday Dine). Well, wouldn't you know that the only day I needed it for was the only day there wasn't any availability! So I headed over to Touring Plans and put my faith in their hands. They haven't let me down yet and I have plenty of time for people to adjust their plans and open up that time for me.

 

[WorldWalker18]

I agree with the others about the Touring Plans reservation finder. I used it for our trip this past October and was able to snag a few ADR's that I was having trouble getting, including one for BOG on the exact day and time I needed...1 month before! I'm a little past my 180 day mark and decided a few days ago that I wanted to make a lunch reservation for Hollywood and Vine (hoping it turns into Minnie's Holiday Dine). Well, wouldn't you know that the only day I needed it for was the only day there wasn't any availability! So I headed over to Touring Plans and put my faith in their hands. They haven't let me down yet and I have plenty of time for people to adjust their plans and open up that time for me.

Good luck!

 

[Runnsally]

For instance, Disney just released Tusker House dinner reservations for early November.

 

[omniscientmommy]

You will have to make touringplans your friend. A lot of people haven't made up their minds yet what park and or where they want to eat. So many book ADR's one or more per park until they decide. As people cancel all of those extra ADR's you should be able to get a lot if register on touringplans and keep checking.

OMG I didn't know people could do that!

 

[Disneyliscious]

OMG I didn't know people could do that!

It is illegal for any program to crawl Disney's Dining system, even if they do not charge for it. It will only be a matter of time before this is shut down.

 

[NYCgrrl]

You will have to make touringplans your friend. A lot of people haven't made up their minds yet what park and or where they want to eat. So many book ADR's one or more per park until they decide. As people cancel all of those extra ADR's you should be able to get a lot if register on touringplans and keep checking.

I agree with the others about the Touring Plans reservation finder. I used it for our trip this past October and was able to snag a few ADR's that I was having trouble getting, including one for BOG on the exact day and time I needed...1 month before! I'm a little past my 180 day mark and decided a few days ago that I wanted to make a lunch reservation for Hollywood and Vine (hoping it turns into Minnie's Holiday Dine). Well, wouldn't you know that the only day I needed it for was the only day there wasn't any availability! So I headed over to Touring Plans and put my faith in their hands. They haven't let me down yet and I have plenty of time for people to adjust their plans and open up that time for me.

OMG I didn't know people could do that!

It is illegal for any program to crawl Disney's Dining system, even if they do not charge for it. It will only be a matter of time before this is shut down.

Trying to keep the info trail in line....now what is it that is being done illegally? All companies like Touring Plan are doing is informing you that a reservation opened up at a restaurant you want an ADR for. They aren't holding the ADRs en masse just making it easier for you to get a reservation w/o living on your computer.
Still boils down to the reality that if you are slow, you blow.

 

[melissa723]

Trying to keep the info trail in line....now what is it that is being done illegal? All companies like Touring Plan are doing is informing you that a reservation opened up at a restaurant you want an ADR for. They aren't holding the ADRs en masse just making it easier for you to get a reservation w/o living on your computer.
Still boils down to the reality that if you are slow, you blow.

You've hit the nail on the head. They're alerting you that a reservation has opened up for the time you've requested. It's up to you to then go online and book the restaurant. Do you know how many times I've gotten a notification in the middle of the night but didn't see it until I woke up? Was that time still available for me? Nope. I then went back to Touring Plans and started all over again. There's absolutely nothing illegal about it.