Restaurants Full

[kashzan]

Once again, why are you arguing with the answers. It is because of free dining, it is because of the time frame involved. Sorry, no one wants to insult you, but facts are facts

 

[PrincessJen09]

Sci Fi does fill up often. Especially this late.

Tony's is at MK. As noted, with the closure of LTT there is a dearth of restaurants space at MK.

I agree, but Crystal Palace is still open... And honestly, a month and half plus is not late. We are usually booking at this time.

Apparently I am one of the few noticing a difference this year though.

 

[PrincessJen09]

Once again, why are you arguing with the answers. It is because of free dining, it is because of the time frame involved. Sorry, no one wants to insult you, but facts are facts

All of the other trips we have taken at the same time during free dining must have just been a fluke then. Thanks for your help.

 

[kashzan]

OMG..You got it..A fluke. You are most welcome. So sorry I could not make up an answer that you would like. Have a great trip

 

[PrincessJen09]

OMG..You got it..A fluke. You are most welcome. So sorry I could not make up an answer that you would like. Have a great trip

fluke1
flo͞ok/
noun

1. unlikely chance occurrence, especially a surprising piece of luck.
   

All 6 trips since Disney Dining must have been a fluke. You got it.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Actually it is late. There are usually plenty of restaurants still open, sorry you can't get the ones you want. Keep checking, there may be space later.

 

[RossK]

Then I stand corrected on Sci-Fi. We have always been able to get that at the last minute. Character meals should be booked. And if you are going with expense, then some restaurants at EPCOT should be booked that aren't. I was thinking more of a system error or, as someone mentioned, people holding out on reservations.

Again - there could be many reasons for these oddities - character meals may not be quite as popular during September/October along with restaurants in EPCOT due to the Food and Wine festival. More adults will travel during this time. But as before, the main driver is free dining, plus a whole bunch of complicated secondary factors. If you can give some examples of which restaurants you find particularly bizarre, then I'm sure some other regulars can confirm their experiences. But availability dropping off and coming back on is very likely in free dining. For example, I have around 50 ADR's for this October (as in 50 different restaurant bookings). I have had the IPO changing things around all the time as the inventory changes, which causes a ripple effect. For example, a BoG reservation opened up for 08:05, so the IPO cancelled my Kona Cafe registration and booked the BoG reservation. Someone else probably then shifted their dining reservations around to snag my Kona Cafe registration, etc etc. So just 1 person changing their dining reservation can probably cause a ripple of about 20 other changes. If you think that just me (1 of many tens of thousands of guests on the dining plan) has 50 ADR's, this goes a long way to explain why there's no availability.

 

[PrincessJen09]

Actually it is late. There are usually plenty of restaurants still open, sorry you can't get the ones you want. Keep checking, there may be space later.

That is what our experience has been in the past. Maybe before I was trying after people had cancelled. I was just curious if other people had been experiencing the same thing.

 

[kashzan]

so silly and rude

 

[MakiraMarlena]

No, I can usually get the restaurants I want within a month, when I do make ADRs. Even now. I am not going this September though.

 

[holden]

FWIW, I've always had good luck getting reservations at hard-to-get restaurants 48-24hrs in advance. People who are planning to cancel sometimes wait until the last minute. I start checking at the 48hr. mark and then keep checking until the 24hr. mark.

 

[PrincessJen09]

Again - there could be many reasons for these oddities - character meals may not be quite as popular during September/October along with restaurants in EPCOT due to the Food and Wine festival. More adults will travel during this time. But as more, the main driver is free dining, plus a whole bunch of complicated secondary factors. If you can give some examples of which restaurants you find particularly bizarre, then I'm sure some other regulars can confirm their experiences. But availability dropping off and coming back on is very likely in free dining. For example, I have around 50 ADR's for this October (as in 50 different restaurant bookings). I have had the IPO changing things around all the time as the inventory changes, which causes a ripple effect. For example, a BoG reservation opened up for 08:05, so the IPO cancelled by Kona Cafe registration and booked the BoG reservation. Someone else probably then shifted their dining reservations around to snag my Kona Cafe registration, etc etc. So just 1 person changing their dining reservation can probably cause a ripple of about 20 other changes. If you think that just me (1 of many tens of thousands of guests on the dining plan) has 50 ADR's, this goes a long way to explain why there's no availability.

Sci- Fi Diner is one. Beaches and Cream I expect because it is so small, but even 2 people I cannot find anything besides after 10pm. Akerhus I know fills up, but no breakfast is showing for any day (I even looked a little before and after my trip because I was curious). I think those were the big ones. It is just an unusual thing for me, but what you are saying makes sense. I am surprised to see no movement though when I look.

 

[PrincessJen09]

FWIW, I've always had good luck getting reservations at hard-to-get restaurants 48-24hrs in advance. People who are planning to cancel sometimes wait until the last minute. I start checking at the 48hr. mark and then keep checking until the 24hr. mark.

I will keep checking until the moment we want to eat. LOL. I just thought it was odd this time.

 

[PrincessJen09]

No, I can usually get the restaurants I want within a month, when I do make ADRs. Even now. I am not going this September though.

That has been my experience as well. That is why I was asking. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a huge conference or something.

 

[maxiesmom]

They have crunched down the time frame for Free Dining, so more people are traveling those dates and booking the restaurants up. Keep checking. Good luck.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

In general I don't book the ultra popular restaurants either. Or character meals. If I know I will want those I book them ASAP. I've got an 'Ohana for 8 and I knew I had to book that one early unless I wanted to go at 9 PM.

 

[RossK]

Sci- Fi Diner is one. Beaches and Cream I expect because it is so small, but even 2 people I cannot find anything besides after 10pm. Akerhus I know fills up, but no breakfast is showing for any day (I even looked a little before and after my trip because I was curious). I think those were the big ones. It is just an unusual thing for me, but what you are saying makes sense. I am surprised to see no movement though when I look.

Beaches and Cream has gotten insanely popular lately. This is probably down to some fairly big YouTube 'stars' posting videos of things like the Kitchen Sink. Again, I wouldn't normally go for something like this, but having come across it on YouTube, this is one of the ones I booked. Coincidentally I watched a video last night of TheTimTracker trying to get a walk up at Beaches and Cream (shot a few months back) and he was turned away. He made a comment that its getting crazy busy there. I think this is just the Disney effect - it gets busier every year, more people find out about things like free dining, etc. As others have said, stuff will open up randomly as people change their plans. For example, just a couple of days ago I swapped Fultons Crab House out for Citricos. Citricos has had no availability for months for my dates, then suddenly a couple of times became available.

 

[kashzan]

OP, I just cancelled my BOG reservation and my Sci Fi reservation , in favor of other things I wanted. (Boma and Tusker House) BOG was for 9/27 and Sci fi was for 9/26

 

[Angel Ariel]

My family is traveling from September 25 to October 3. A lot of the restaurants that we would like to go to seem to be full. I don't mean on just one day or for one meal. I mean completely! And ones that I have never seen full like Sci-Fi Diner. I have tried different days, times, and number in the party. Nothing. Am I missing something?

I think the idea that you have to preplan things at WDW is becoming more widespread with MDE and MM+. I know I got multiple reminders via e-mail about booking FP+ reservations and IIRC ,there were some ADR reminders as well. I would not be surprised if this kind of communication has increased the number of people pre-planning, which could very well affect ADR availability as well.

Also, didn't everything crash this year when free dining was announced because of the volume of people calling in and going to the website? Knowing that, it's not surprising at all to me that ADRs are scarce. Things change at Disney year to year. Just because free dining didn't cause this much of an issue last year or in previous years doesn't mean it isn't the reason for this year's issues.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Not getting into Sci-Fi seems like a win to me.