Restaurants Full

[missnic]

I agree. I'm booked for 9/30-10/3 and have had a more difficult time getting reservations than I did last year during free dining. There's also MNSSHP going on, which could have an effect on reservations.

However, keep trying. I finally got my Ohana dinner on 10/2 this afternoon

 

[itchin2go]

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.

3 things, all in an effort to be helpful:

(1) Sarcasm is not allowed on the DIS.
(2) I have gotten a walk up at Sci-Fi before ... in October. (FWIW - we won't go back there.)
(3) I don't know how knowing the reason things are booked up will be helpful ... unless you're considering moving your trip to a different time frame. If things are booked up, there's very little to be done about it, and others have already chimed in with those suggestions.

 

[Ladyfish77]

Go to the Disney website and do a search on rooms for your travel dates. We are going at the end of October (FD) and there are very few room available. A number of resorts are sold out. I don't know if this is normal or not, but from comments on other threads, it seems more booked up this year than in previous years. Disney marketing is doing a good job filling rooms and restaurants.

 

[Dr Gevil]

3 things, all in an effort to be helpful:

(1) Sarcasm is not allowed on the DIS.
(2) I have gotten a walk up at Sci-Fi before ... in October. (FWIW - we won't go back there.)
(3) I don't know how knowing the reason things are booked up will be helpful ... unless you're considering moving your trip to a different time frame. If things are booked up, there's very little to be done about it, and others have already chimed in with those suggestions.

Really?!? Did you even read any of the hundreds of FP+ vs. FP- flame wars threads?

And just like those threads, a lot time of time was wasted (IMO) on why things changed and how the past was better instead of focusing on how should we adjust to a new reality.

 

[Misha72683]

I think this year has changed things a bit because of the park hopper requirement for free dining. It means a lot more people have park hoppers and that they can eat at multiple parks in the same day. Or go to MK on a party day and then eat dinner at a different restaurant.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

I think us as tourists are becoming smarter on how to ensure we get what we want. Phantom reservations, pre picking dining reservations etc. The 45 day window im sure you'll get everything you want

 

[kollerbear]

probably more knowledgable guests due to My Magic Plus. More guests know now that they need to have reservations for dining and FP.

^THIS. Everyone receives emails now reminding them to start booking their ADRs. I don't recall that happening in the past.

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

^THIS would also make things different from prior years, increasing the density of reservations.

Maybe I am confused about what restaurants are popular then. I have always seen openings for Sci-Fi Diner and Tony's. And I usually see Beaches and Cream in the afternoon. I also would think that Crystal Palace and other character meals would be booked up then and they are not. Also as one PP noted, they have looked from their 180 day and still nothing... That is odd.

Sci-Fi Diner, in my experience, goes from being wide open to booked solid pretty quickly. It's a pretty popularly themed restaurant. I think that they hold some of the tables in the back (not the cars) for walk-ups. I also have not been able to get Akershus and Beaches and Cream pretty far out (probably from the 3-4 month mark). Tony's is probably due to Liberty Tree Tavern being closed--if you don't want a character meal or a buffet (which is not everyone's preference) your options are a lot more limited without LTT, and this is while attendance at MK is up with New Fantasyland and those wanting table service is also up (because if you have table service on free dining you're more likely to use it on your MK day. I think a lot of people would otherwise skip table service at the MK.)

I understand why you find this to be atypical for you, but it seems in line to me with the advice I see on the boards. These ADRs just keep getting more unpredictable to get and if you can make some ADRs at the 180 mark--even before you know if you'll be making the trip or the exact dates--it's probably to your advantage. There is a tier of VERY hard reservations (CRT, e.g.) and then a tier of medium-hard reservations, and I think that most of the restaurants you're citing here would fall in that medium range. The lowest range is going to be like, Olivia's and Captain's Grille. Tokyo Dining. That kind of thing.

 

[Misha72683]

I'm a first timer, but I've spent a lot of time reading about the best strategy. I think a lot of newbies are now more educated and prepared than in the past and they know they need ADRs, etc. I also freely admit that I currently have more ADRs than I need and I'll finalize things after I make my FP+. I think as more people learn the tricks it should be expected that things will fill up faster.

 

[powellrj]

I am going the same time as you are. I booked our trip when free dining first came out except I used the 30% room only discount and added deluxe dining. I never did find an opening for Akershus and I tried every time and date we were going to be there. You may find some opening because I have been reading they are doing away with the app buffet and just bring a plate out of a few items and people don't seem happy so there may still be hope.

I'll be honest and say I cancelled all of our ADRs and the deluxe dining and the on-site room and booked a house with a pool off-site and we will eat a couple of days at the food and wine and then go with counter service and off-site meals. I wasn't going to pay that much and not get the meals we wanted.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Really?!? Did you even read any of the hundreds of FP+ vs. FP- flame wars threads?

And just like those threads, a lot time of time was wasted (IMO) on why things changed and how the past was better instead of focusing on how should we adjust to a new reality.

I'm fairly sure this is proving the point itchin was making.

 

[kandb]

We weren't even booked at 180 days. Nor have we ever been. Went the same time last year and got everything. One year, we booked 10 days ahead and got everything. This year is off. And it is not just because of FD.

The Yacht Club also goes back and forth between showing availability and being completely booked.

Wow, I find it hard to believe you booked 10 days out and got ALL the adrs you wanted, unless they were unpopular places at odd times, disney
has never been that slow in many years.

 

[LovesHauntedMansion]

FYI - Today was my 180 + 10 day mark. I was online at 5:00 am Central, and I still was not able to get ADR's for the time I wanted at Sci-Fi.

 

[Lovewinnie]

I agree this year has been more difficult for us this November trip. I do think it is a combo of factors. Definitely the introduction of multiple ADR watching sites that alert people to open ADRs. This makes some locations very difficult to book because as soon as one opens, it is gone as people are notified immediately.

 

[Amii]

I think a big part of the problem is that many people who didn't make multiple reservations before make them now. You have to book where you will eat 90 days before your trip. At that time you can't book your fast passes and the park hours are not set in stone yet.

 

[george131]

I'm going during the same time... took some time but we got most of the places we wanted

 

[MomtoDisneytrips]

I agree much harder during free dining this year than the last. I think they only release so many across all restaurants and maybe they didn't release as many so they could distribute people through out all the restaurants and make things less congested. Plus there are alot more tech savvy people now that internet phones are popular

 

[MomtoDisneytrips]

I also agree that I think more people book for multiple days until park hours and fast passes are set!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

I think people are just more hungry this year. I know I am.

 

[FTM22]

I don't know if you got a useful answer yet. I agree with all who have said things open up closer to your trip time. I stalked one restaurant last year and FINALLY snagged it like the week before we left. So I would not give up hope. I know some people are booking extras and then dumping reservations too.

Are you traveling during free dining this time? I didn't think that started until late October.

 

[Auntof2]

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.

How many days is your vacation? Jealous!