Reservations hard to get - DDP?

[boomhauer]

We're going the 2nd week of December. Luckily, we made all our reservations months ago. I wanted to try and change a couple here and there is NOTHING avaialble. A friend of mine is going next week, and she's been able to get nothing. Granted, she's gong during Thanksgiving.

I thought I read somewhere that the lack of openings was due to the DDP. is this true? Do they hold a certain number of tables aside regardless if the reservation is made?

 

[jessieroo]

We are leaving this friday. Although I made all our reservations quite a while ago I decided to chankge a couple. I was able to make two different reservations for ten people yesterday. One for 11/17. Tell your friend to try for late lunches instead of dinners. That might work out better for her!!!

 

[fizz13]

I had the same problem today, very little wiggle room left for changing things around I was trying for Chef Mickeys and Ohana so i knew my chances were slim, but when i tried Kona cafe and others I had the same problem, luckily I had a chef mickeys already but there is no way I can change anything now. I think its gonna be busy

 

[solferino]

We're going the 2nd week of December. Luckily, we made all our reservations months ago. I wanted to try and change a couple here and there is NOTHING avaialble. A friend of mine is going next week, and she's been able to get nothing. Granted, she's gong during Thanksgiving.

I thought I read somewhere that the lack of openings was due to the DDP. is this true? Do they hold a certain number of tables aside regardless if the reservation is made?

According to the Unofficial Guide, no seats are held aside. Their goal is to fill up as many seats in advance as possible. I don't think the DDP has anything to do with it. There are thousands of visitors there every day that need to eat, many of whom are wise to the fact that ADR's are necessary.

 

[Hopefully]

I thought I read somewhere that the lack of openings was due to the DDP. is this true? Do they hold a certain number of tables aside regardless if the reservation is made?

I'm not sure that I understand your question. Are you asking if the restaurants are fuller because of the DDP? In my opinion yes, I think folks buy the DDP and are eating more TS meals than before the plan.
I do not believe that they hold any tables out of the ADR system. People report all the time of "walk ups" being turned away.

 

[MBELSANTI]

I am not going to WDW until 02/09-14 and they were already sold out for Le Cellier at any time for dinner on any of those days!

 

[j3mom]

we are going the second week of dec and had a hard time getting adr's as well. we are dvc members so this was made 11 months out from our arrival. everyone who i asked about this on the forums just politely said that i should have made adr's sooner. are you kidding me? last year when we were there this same time - did not appear to be too crowded. i am hoping to get into le cellier at least once. we'll see.

 

[Pumbaa_]

TS ADR's are getting harder to get. More people are doing TS than ever. Anyone doing the DDP is doing a TS a day. Many of those folks int he past would not do a TS daily. Plus the parks are busier than ever.

If there are must do's, people are now booking their ADR's as soon as they have made their plans.

Good luck getting a cancellation!

 

[dbmarie]

I wonder sometimes if people don't overbook ADR's.

 

[RACHELSMOM1]

I am not going to WDW until 02/09-14 and they were already sold out for Le Cellier at any time for dinner on any of those days!

LeCellier is hard to get even at 180 days out-you have to call first thing in the am on day 180 to get your chosen ADR time. Frustrating as it is, I have conditioned myself to this, and try to use the 180+10 for my ressies.

 

[KevinYee]

I think people definitely overbook ADRs. Why not - there is no punishment for it! I'd like to see them charge a cancellation fee of $5 or $10. That'll solve a few of the problems, though not all of them. The DDP needs to be less popular to 'fix' the problems. Of course, the 2008 changes to the DDP may well take care of that, by making things essentially more expensive.