Remind me about dining reservations.

[AdamsMum]

I understand that now since covid (I think) the dining window opens at 60 days as opposed to 180. 60 + 10 means you can start making reservations from 60 days prior to your resort reservation, plus you can book the following 10 days. If my reservation is for 7 days (split stay) can I still book dining for up to 10 days from the start of my trip?
Also I thought that there was an advantage given to resort guests and non resort guests could only book later. I was just on the website and it's giving me access to reservations 60 days from now with no resort stay.
I wish they'd go back to 180. Sigh!

 

[Sandisw]

With split stays it’s 60 days plus number of nights including check out day. 60 day window then opens for second part of the split stay.

 

[CarolynFH]

Resort guests get the advantage of the 60+length of stay booking window, while non-resort guests have to book at 60 days day by day.

 

[sndral]

I understand that now since covid (I think) the dining window opens at 60 days as opposed to 180. 60 + 10 means you can start making reservations from 60 days prior to your resort reservation, plus you can book the following 10 days. If my reservation is for 7 days (split stay) can I still book dining for up to 10 days from the start of my trip?
Also I thought that there was an advantage given to resort guests and non resort guests could only book later. I was just on the website and it's giving me access to reservations 60 days from now with no resort stay.
I wish they'd go back to 180. Sigh!

I had problems w/ the site not recognizing that I had a stay booked & not giving me any days beyond 60 several months ago. It was a glitch, the work around was to not use the ‘search’ tab see this thread https://www.disboards.com/threads/my-adr-experience-what-to-do-not-do.3894957/ or just call MS. But w/ a split stay you‘re currently stuck w/ 2 60+ windows.

 

[Minniesgal]

I understand that now since covid (I think) the dining window opens at 60 days as opposed to 180. 60 + 10 means you can start making reservations from 60 days prior to your resort reservation, plus you can book the following 10 days. If my reservation is for 7 days (split stay) can I still book dining for up to 10 days from the start of my trip?
Also I thought that there was an advantage given to resort guests and non resort guests could only book later. I was just on the website and it's giving me access to reservations 60 days from now with no resort stay.
I wish they'd go back to 180. Sigh!

It’s not 60 plus 10 it’s 60 plus length of stay up to a maximum of 10

 

[AdamsMum]

Thanks all! I used to complain about the 180 day window, I imagine the 60 day window is even more competitive. I'm not going until Jan 2024, but I've got that planning bug since I got my reservation set. Now to wait!

 

[BamaGuy44]

Thanks all! I used to complain about the 180 day window, I imagine the 60 day window is even more competitive. I'm not going until Jan 2024, but I've got that planning bug since I got my reservation set. Now to wait!

HATE the 60 day window. We are book way ahead kind of people, we always booked 11+ months out even before we owned DVC, and it was a big advantage for ADRs. Much less competition at 180 days.

 

[Chuck S]

I miss the 180 days+, but at the moment I'm glad it is limited to 60+, as I have some indecisive people going in June. It used to be I just booked dining and said "Here's where we're eating." Now at 60 days I feel like they should have some choices, though we have similar tastes, two of them just decided to go on the trip. I also wish instead of "park reservations" they's just cull the info from dining to realize you'll in a certain park a certain day. But, unfortunately, not everyone likes planning far in advance.

I really miss being able to schedule Fast Passes before and after dining. Genie +, last time I used it, didn't take your dining reservations into consideration. I'd be willing to pay for the old FastPass+ system rather than Genie+.

 

[sndral]

We were disappointed w/ our ADRs last Nov/Dec - it was such a struggle to get them & we didn’t get some of our long time favorites at 60+. However, once we were there w/ the new day of 2 hr. cancelation we were able to switch things around & to grab those favorites & cancel our less wanted back ups, based on that experience even if your 60+ bookings are a disappointment chances are you can adjust once you arrive.

 

[AdamsMum]

So my 7 days at BW can be booked 60 days out, but my last few days at another resort, I have to wait for 60 days on that one? Okay

 

[CarolynFH]

So my 7 days at BW can be booked 60 days out, but my last few days at another resort, I have to wait for 60 days on that one? Okay

There have been reports of success by calling the Dining line and asking politely for help in booking across a split. There have also been reports of being turned down. So it might be worth a call.

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

There have been reports of success by calling the Dining line and asking politely for help in booking across a split. There have also been reports of being turned down. So it might be worth a call.

Pre-covid, DVC’s member services always took care of split-stay ADRs. I think they only stopped doing it bc of staffing issues. Now that things are mostly back to normal, I wonder if they’ll be willing to take on that job again??

 

[CarolynFH]

Pre-covid, DVC’s member services always took care of split-stay ADRs. I think they only stopped doing it bc of staffing issues. Now that things are mostly back to normal, I wonder if they’ll be willing to take on that job again??

I don’t think I’ve read of success recently via DVC MS, but as always it’s worth a call (now that wait times are back to normal).

 

[prncssjas]

We were disappointed w/ our ADRs last Nov/Dec - it was such a struggle to get them & we didn’t get some of our long time favorites at 60+. However, once we were there w/ the new day of 2 hr. cancelation we were able to switch things around & to grab those favorites & cancel our less wanted back ups, based on that experience even if your 60+ bookings are a disappointment chances are you can adjust once you arrive.

I would like to echo this right here! It's an excellent point. We just returned from the Princess Run Disney weekend and I was super bummed when I was booking dining reservations right at the 60 day mark because it felt like slim pickings to me. So I reserved what I could just to have a plan in place. Now that you can drop ressies with a 2 hour notice, once we arrived, new openings were popping up daily at great places. I saw Space 220 come up three times! I know it's tough but if you can build some flexibility into your trip, you will likely snag some great options once you arrive. Good luck @AdamsMum and I hope you are able to get what you want.