Online vs Phone rez's (and an etiquitte question)

[Seabean]

For years we've been making our dining reservations by phone, but the CM I just spoke with swears the web-online system has the same reservations he's seeing. Is that true? Does one system have priority over another, or are they the same? (I know with some hotel rez systems they give web reservations priority over phone-in availabilities)

Second, I see that when making an online res, after you click "make reservation" you get a popup asking you to signin to a Disney account (or create a new account). I made the reservation without the account, and got my Confirmation #. But still I'm curious, is there any advantage to having a Disney account for doing this?

Third, an etiquette question... I would guess people hoard reservations and cancel them when they get the ones they REALLY want? I currently have 2 reservations at two difficult-to-get restaurants. But I would like to flip-flop the dates. Should I hold onto both reservations and keep trying to get the ones I really want?

(sorry this got so long)

 

[minnie mum]

ADR availability is technically totally available via phone or online. Meaning one does not have priority over the other and tables are not held in reserve for one site. The only exception I've seen is Fantasmic, and sometimes HDDR, where you can make ADRs by phone sooner than online (seems to take them longer to load the ADRs onto the online site). But I think that this is a technical thing, not an operational one.

Not sure what you mean by 'hoarding' ADRs. You cannot have more than one ADR for a given meal period any longer. People used to make multiple ADRs for 1 meal, then decide at the last minute which one they would keep. New booking rules, plus the use of credit card holds for many restaurants has pretty much put an end to that abuse of the system.

But people do make changes to their reservations all the time. Many people will early on make ADRs for all of their meals. They will take what they can get, in some instances, then wait for a cancellation for an ADR that was previously unavailable. When they get the ADR that they want, they must cancel the old unwanted one. Or they may just change their mind, and pick a new restaurant. But again, they must cancel the old ADR.

As to your last question: yes, hold onto the old reservations until you get the ones you want.