I booked my ADR's this morning online with very few issues. Here's what I figured out or learned while doing it. (my dates are 10/7-10/12)
1. have your "plan" written down. (where and when you want to eat. Also, who has early openings...I didn't want to be at MK when MGM was opening at 8:0am)
2. have your CC with you
3. have your phone nearby (in case you want the Fantasmic package, it had to be done on the phone. Thankfully, I realized this at 7:03am....I was still able to get it.)
I was worried online wouldn't work, since last night 2 days before my trip were still gray. I read a post here this morning, before online opened, that said those days go gray for about 1 1/2 hours the night before the 90 days opens up. So I felt better....I did try to get something before 6:00am est and they were still grayed out.
I used a Safari browser. I'm not sure if it matters, but I have a Mac and Firefox has been acting weird, so I didn't want to chance it. I was logged into my account before 6:00am est, so I could open up 3 tabs. In each tab I had 3 different restaurants already on the "make reservations" page. I think I had to link each tab with my reservation, but am not sure. (another reason to be online before 6:00am est)
As soon as it hit 6:01am, I hit refresh on each window. The days were now open for me. I started with one window, chose what I wanted, then hit submit. While it was loading I went to the second window and did the same.
If the time was available, then it showed up at the top. If not, I got a list of other places. The Royal Table was given as an option when The Crystal Palace wasn't available.
Other things I learned:
I could never figure out how to "see" my cart, other than by putting another reservation in it.
Your cart can only hold 10. After than you have to check out or delete one.
If you have 10 and you get the message to check out or delete, when you are done deleting one, go and research your last search. Your successful search (which would have been reservation #11) should still show up. (It did for me)
The easiest way to find the dining reservation page is to go to the top (log in first) and click on "Book", then "dining" from the pull down. Or go to
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/. I didn't have a lot of time to review best how to use this system, so I struggled finding it sometimes.
I found the easiest way for me to search for a restaurant was to click on "restaurant" and click, sort Alphabetical and "view all". I used this once I got the top 3 I wanted. I closed the extra 2 windows, since I didn't want to risk loosing everything.
If you do the tabs or windows idea, be aware that after 20 mins of inactivity, it says you will loose your hold on that time. This is the main reason I closed the other tabs. It was easier to put them in the cart and analyze them later in the cart. They stay in the cart for 2 hours. Before I closed the tabs though, I made sure the places I wanted and had booked, showed up in the cart in the tab I kept.
For example, in tab #1 I booked Crystal Palace. In #2 Chef Mickey's. In #3 O'hana's. All were "put in my cart". Before I closed tabs #2 & #3, I went back to #1 and added my next reservation. When it was in the cart, I could see all 4 of the reservations. Only then did I close the tabs. (and held my breath, I'll admit)
When typing in the security codes/words, capitals don't matter.
If you do a search and the times/places you get offered don't work...don't click the "Make a reservation" link to the right. If you click that link, it takes you back to the same place. Go to the top above the picture of the restaurant and click on "restaurants". This will take you back to the beginning, where you can search "alphabetical" and "view all".
Alot of this seems confusing, but if you go in and search for places to eat before your 90 days comes up, you can find open days and see how the system works. I didn't think of this for me, so I had to just wing it.
Thankfully, it all worked out for me. I hope this helps someone else.
