Parents called at 180+10 & nothing left????

[aristocatz]

OK, I'm overeggagerating a little with "nothing left", but my parents barely got any of their choice ADR's & they called 180+10 at 7am-?????

They are planning to go first week in December. I know it's the holiday season, but I don't think it's free dining (they got FD for this trip through a pin code). I never knew that week to be so busy that there would be slim pickings for ADR's at 190 days out.

Even my wedding/honeymoon, which was through Christmas, I was able to get pretty much every ADR I wanted when I booked early.

They were trying to make ADR's for:
Tusker House
'Ohana
Chef Mickeys
Crystal Palace

Earliest they could get for Tusker House was 6:15, which is fine for them. They are older & seeking a 5pm
'Ohana had nothing before 7:45pm. I get they are wildly popular, but they called at 7am (checked the website at 6am) 180+10 days out.
They got Chef Mickeys & Crystal Palace, but there were barely any times available.

I don't get it. Does Disney tend to only release a certain number of reservation times at a time & more might be released next week???

 

[sabcook]

Not sure what that is all about. We are going the same week (the 29th-Dec 8th) and had no troubles with our ADRs. I got every time I wanted (within 15 minutes) making them the evening of my 180 day mark including.....

Crystal Palace
Artist Point
Citriccos
Kona
V. Napoli
Grand Floridian Cafe
The Wave
Flying Fish
Raglan Road
Saana
Boma
Victoria and Alberts

I am still waiting for Cali Grill but that is about it.

Of course, Crystal Palace is the only overlap so maybe the others are really popular that week for some reason. That is our regular week in the World and we love it because it is so low key. Hopefully it won't be super crazy this year.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We are going Nov 30th to Dec 5th and got everything we wanted close to our preferred time, even BOG.

But I am surprised at how busy the first week of December seems to be. We are using a bounce back discount for this period. A lot of people have been receiving free dining pins. I don't know what will happen is free dining is released to the public.

 

[aristocatz]

Not sure what that is all about. We are going the same week (the 29th-Dec 8th) and had no troubles with our ADRs. I got every time I wanted (within 15 minutes) making them the evening of my 180 day mark including.....

Crystal Palace
Artist Point
Citriccos
Kona
V. Napoli
Grand Floridian Cafe
The Wave
Flying Fish
Raglan Road
Saana
Boma
Victoria and Alberts

I am still waiting for Cali Grill but that is about it.

Of course, Crystal Palace is the only overlap so maybe the others are really popular that week for some reason. That is our regular week in the World and we love it because it is so low key. Hopefully it won't be super crazy this year.

Are you doing CP breakfast, lunch, or dinner? My parents wanted dinner & the only available time was 6:30. Nothing earlier.

I don't understand how the people who got Ohana for dinner managed it? My mom said she got through to the ADR woman at exactly 7:01am

 

[amryn21]

I tried to get a crystal palace breakfast and couldn't get one before 9:40.

 

[dani77]

Same thing here..tried getting CP breakfast on my 180 mark...and the earliest time available was 9:50?! No chance to get a BOG adr, Tusker house breakfast was even worse than CP...earliest available time was 10:25. That is really weird since I had no problem getting pre-park.opening for CP and TH for my trip in april/may just about 3 months out.

 

[Tropics]

The first week of December seems to be really busy with ADRs this year. We'll be there Nov 29-Dec 7 and last Sunday I booked everything online right away at 6am. That might be part of the issue... Those of us booking online can do so at 6am whereas the call center doesn't open until 7am. Also, I booked the most popular restaurants...BOG, Chef Mickey and Ohana for the end of our stay. Even though I booked Ohana for the last night of our stay I wasn't able to get the time that I wanted.

For Epcot restaurants I think that part of the problem is that Disney is withholding times until they release the Candlelight Processional Dining packages.

 

[aristocatz]

The first week of December seems to be really busy with ADRs this year. We'll be there Nov 29-Dec 7 and last Sunday I booked everything online right away at 6am. That might be part of the issue... Those of us booking online can do so at 6am whereas the call center doesn't open until 7am. Also, I booked the most popular restaurants...BOG, Chef Mickey and Ohana for the end of our stay. Even though I booked Ohana for the last night of our stay I wasn't able to get the time that I wanted.

For Epcot restaurants I think that part of the problem is that Disney is withholding times until they release the Candlelight Processional Dining packages.

The thing is, my mom went online at 6am & the availability was the same as when they called at 7am. I guess they should have booked their trip the 2nd week of December instead. Just weird-for my wedding/honeymoon trip, I got everything I wanted & was even able to change things around several weeks later.....& I went during Christmas!!

 

[momplus3]

My 180+10 day was June 4 and I was done all of my reservations on-line by 6:20am. I was actually surprised how easy it was.
We are eating at:

O'hana dinner (6:20pm)
Yak and Yeti (4pm - so we can sit near the window and watch the parade!)
Chef Mickey breakfast
Chef Mickey dinner
Askerhus breakfast
Tusker House (8:30am before park opening!)
Be Our Guest (5:20pm)

We are very excited!!!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

First week of December is the taping of the Christmas parade also. There is a pin code for free dining and I think rumors of open free dining. So it is going to be BUSY that week!

 

[Mother Gothel]

This has been an issue with early Dec reservations for the last few years. More will open up, but it will happen slowly.

 

[smallblackstars]

We are going from the 17th November until 5th December and I had similar issues with booking on my 180+10 day. I called up and the CM advised me that sometimes on the 180+10 day the systems can have trouble making the reservations and finding times. She told me to try the next day which I was very nervous about but sure enough when I logged on for the 6am opening of the bookings I got everything I wanted (within 20 minutes) including BOG which had tons of availability on the day we had chosen to go so we got our pick of times. Since then I have been on daily and booked our remaining ADRs with no issue at all. Have a look tomorrow to see if there is any improvement in availability

 

[Minniesgal]

There are also a lot of people hoping for free dining so there may be a lot of ADRs that will get cancelled if free dining doesn't happen. Keep checking online some things will open up

 

[ktlm]

We have gone that week the last 3 years. At my 180 day mark, I have never had any trouble getting all the ADRs I wanted, and getting them at the times I wanted or at least within about 15-20 minutes of my times. This year I could not get lunch at CRT or even at Akershus for any day of our trip. This is the first time that has ever happened. I'm going to keep trying every day to pick up a cancellation at CRT, but if we don't get it, I am actually going to cancel our trip and we will just go at a different time because CRT is the "most important" Disney thing to DD. It is her No. 1 must do request on any trip.

 

[Amanda999]

OP: You (they) might want to try to reserve a table for 4 people, if they are booking online. I don't know why, but I have far better luck with 4 than 2 people. (Then, I call to adjust the number down.) My wild guess is that most tables are able to seat 4, so they hold out a bit to see if they can fill all chairs at it before letting 2 chairs be idle.
Good luck! Hope it works out!

 

[aristocatz]

OP: You (they) might want to try to reserve a table for 4 people, if they are booking online. I don't know why, but I have far better luck with 4 than 2 people. (Then, I call to adjust the number down.) My wild guess is that most tables are able to seat 4, so they hold out a bit to see if they can fill all chairs at it before letting 2 chairs be idle.
Good luck! Hope it works out!

Thank you everyone for your replies. My mom did try for tables of 2,3,&4, but no luck. I did not realize the first week of December is parade taping-I wonder if that is the reason.

 

[GinnerD]

I was lucky enough to get everything I really wanted for that week (Nov 30-Dec 6) except dinner at BOG. I will do lunch there, but every time I have checked for dinner, it has been booked for the date I wanted (Thus, Dec 5) I wanted to do dinner there before the MVMCP.

 

[ktlm]

Thank you everyone for your replies. My mom did try for tables of 2,3,&4, but no luck. I did not realize the first week of December is parade taping-I wonder if that is the reason.

I don't think so. It has been parade taping week our last 3 trips and I've never had this trouble before. I saw a report on here that slot of people got free dining pins for that week already. I suspect that may have caused it.

 

[DisneyElite4]

I was lucky enough to get everything I really wanted for that week (Nov 30-Dec 6) except dinner at BOG. I will do lunch there, but every time I have checked for dinner, it has been booked for the date I wanted (Thus, Dec 5) I wanted to do dinner there before the MVMCP.

This was our plan as well. Unfortunately there just wasn't anything available, so we are doing dinner at LTT that night instead before the party.

 

[ktlm]

Ugh, I was able to pull up a lunch at CRT today. It was for a day that we hadn't planned on setting foot in MK (Friday which is parade performance taping day), but I decided to take it anyway because if I can't pick up something else at CRT another day, then we will just have to rearrange schedules and deal with MK that day. After I input all my credit card info etc. and hit the button, it came up with that annoying busy server try again later message. Of course when I went back in and tried again it was gone.