Mouse watchers and resos going in <20 seconds

[Mousetopia]

Touring Plans is free for dining reservation notifications. A subscription is required for hotel room requests.

TP has worked for me..if you can have an alert that wakes you late like midnight or so is a good time to have less competition.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Does Touring Plans not provide alerts for the Fantasmic! dining packages? I’m not seeing it listed as an option in their Dining Reservation Finder. Unless I’m missing it?3

Try Mouse dining- they have fantasmic dining packages for DL and WDW listed and you can set up a free alert. You can also pull up a month's view of availability.

 

[gorjus121]

My friend and I both used Mouse Watchers early last year for Spring Break ADRs. We both encountered the same issue. Didn't matter how fast we were the ADRs were gone. I felt we were getting delayed notifications. I am trying a different service for our December trip.

 

[Tanya Tink]

My friend and I both used Mouse Watchers early last year for Spring Break ADRs. We both encountered the same issue. Didn't matter how fast we were the ADRs were gone. I felt we were getting delayed notifications. I am trying a different service for our December trip.

Which service are you going to try this time?

 

[Lumpy1106]

To OP - just stay flexible while you are on your trip. We set a Topolinos alert while we were there. The day before we got quite a few alerts. They started out with pretty lousy times (almost lunch rather than breakfast, then VERY early) but eventually the times got more reasonable. We'd chosen to eat somewhere else by then. Still, if Topolinos is important to you and you can be flexible with the times your chances are pretty good. I just listened to the DDP Today podcast Ep. 269 (tips on travelling with a large group) and they are saying pretty much the same thing.

 

[gorjus121]

Which service are you going to try this time?

I've signed up for a Touring Plans dining alert.

 

[MillauFr]

If the dining plan ever returns look for the higher priced offerings to have greater access to reservations.

 

[gorjus121]

I like that Disney has changed the cancellation window for ADR's but I think two hours before is too short. I fear guests will hang onto extra ADRs even more now, whereas before you might be able to pick up a hard to get ADRs the day prior. We tend to go on busy weeks but I have to say for our upcoming December trip and our spring break visit last year it was very difficult getting ADR's staying off site or being able to make a change in time from your initial selections. Hopefully the alerts I signed up for will help.

 

[Pens Fan]

If the dining plan ever returns look for the higher priced offerings to have greater access to reservations.

Sadly, I agree.

 

[MillauFr]

I like that Disney has changed the cancellation window for ADR's but I think two hours before is too short. I fear guests will hang onto extra ADRs even more now, whereas before you might be able to pick up a hard to get ADRs the day prior. We tend to go on busy weeks but I have to say for our upcoming December trip and our spring break visit last year it was very difficult getting ADR's staying off site or being able to make a change in time from your initial selections. Hopefully the alerts I signed up for will help.

Disney should charge a $50 deposit when you make the reservations.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I was desperate for a reservation for Space 220 for our recent trip and subscribed to every notification service. I noticed that some would notify me anywhere from a few seconds to 30 minutes before the others, it would depend on when they were scanning the site for available ADRs. Ironically, the one that I snagged was one where I missed an initial notification from MD, and then saw another notification from a different service when it somehow was still available 30 minutes later. It's very much luck, and there are also pros who offer concierge services to book the reservations for others, and they just sit by their phones all day because they flip them for a fee. It was worth it in the end, because we really loved our meal and the experience there, but I feel badly for folks trying to book it with the new 2-hour cancelation window. There were a lot of ADRs that popped up the day and night before our Epcot day, and I bet that won't be the case any longer.

 

[CarolynFH]

Disney should charge a $50 deposit when you make the reservations.

Or maybe charge the $10 pp no-show fee at time of booking and credit it against the bill when you do show up.

 

[mistysue]

Or maybe charge the $10 pp no-show fee at time of booking and credit it against the bill when you do show up.

I would totally go for this, but they would need to let people make some kind of cancellations or modifications with some reasonable time frame...
And then we'll be right back where we started because people are going to have no problem booking $1,000 worth of dining reservations and canceling them two days before to get the money back anyway.

 

[CarolynFH]

I would totally go for this, but they would need to let people make some kind of cancellations or modifications with some reasonable time frame...
And then we'll be right back where we started because people are going to have no problem booking $1,000 worth of dining reservations and canceling them two days before to get the money back anyway.

Sigh. You’re probably right.

So I guess now I’ll be advising people to keep trying for that hard to get ADR or join the Walk Up Wait List on MDE the day of (and be planning to eat QS if they don’t get it). OTOH, if the restaurants find out they have too many late cancellations and not enough Walk Up Waitlist guests to fill them, they’ll change the policy again.

 

[mistysue]

Sigh. You’re probably right.

So I guess now I’ll be advising people to keep trying for that hard to get ADR or join the Walk Up Wait List on MDE the day of (and be planning to eat QS if they don’t get it). OTOH, if the restaurants find out they have too many late cancellations and not enough Walk Up Waitlist guests to fill them, they’ll change the policy again.

I'm really hoping that's what happens- we have a lot of food allergies and in my family if we don't plan our meal, we risk not being able to eat.

We have had way too many horrible table service encounters where they've offered us things like $10 for only the turkey that would have gone on a plain turkey sandwich... Also known as a couple slices of lunch meat.

What ends up happening is we have to have a reservation for our lunches and dinners in the Parks, so we are stuck taking whatever the heck they will let us book at 60 days. Then we are getting to this reservation we had to book at 60 + 4 for some super awkward time and finding the restaurant is half empty because they didn't release any of the reservation slots. But if we don't make a reservation we might literally not be able to find a meal. Our last three trips I've wanted to smack someone in corporate for creating a weird issue like this. Why the heck am I in my fourth choice restaurant at 4:00 p.m. for dinner when my first three choices are all wide open at 6:00 when I wanted to go?