Solo Availability Dining

[AngiTN]

I heard this about tables of 5 too but I didn't have any issues with getting reservations for 5 (or I should say, if a table for 5 wasn't available, there wasn't one for 6 either). I have heard many reports of it, but I didn't have that issue. It does seem to be an issue at certain restaurants though, based on reports here. Here are the ones I didn't have issues with an odd number:

T-Rex
Raglan Road
Be Our Guest (all meals)
Skipper Canteen
Liberty Tree Tavern
Chef Mickey
California Grill
Tusker House
Ohana (both breakfast and dinner)
Sci-Fi Dine In
Mama Melrose
Hollywood & Vine
Whispering Canyon

(no, I didn't keep all these, but these are all reservations I had at one point for this trip, for a family of 5).

It seems to be a bigger issue with 1 than with 3, 5, 7, etc.

 

[Colleen27]

I heard this about tables of 5 too but I didn't have any issues with getting reservations for 5 (or I should say, if a table for 5 wasn't available, there wasn't one for 6 either). I have heard many reports of it, but I didn't have that issue. It does seem to be an issue at certain restaurants though, based on reports here. Here are the ones I didn't have issues with an odd number:

Five seems to be easier. One and three seem to be the sticking points. I suspect Disney's system has an algorithm intended to cap the number of empty-seat bookings, either per time slot or per meal period, so only a small percentage of 2-tops can be booked for a solo or 4-tops for a party of three and once those are gone, that's it. Searching for the odd number will show no availability.

We're a family of five and haven't had trouble booking as such, but when I'm traveling with just my two girls, or with one kid and a friend, or solo, I often have to resort to the "rounding up" trick. Seven was rough too, though more in the end result than in the booking - at several restaurants, we got what was clearly a table for six with youngest DD's high chair added to an end, which made for a very tightly packed table.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I have been doing this for years.... Disney can just deal.

However, for several Disney Springs restaurants you can use Open Table which does not have the bias, has better times and lets you cancel at the last minute.

 

[CarolynU]

It seems that several other folks have found themselves in a similar position to me stretching back to 2015.
That's probably around the first time that I came up against it. I remember trying to get a last minute ADR for one at virtually any restaurant on property and there was nothing until what was clearly the end of service. I then tried again for every night of my seven night stay. Zero availability at any time between around 6.30-8.30. I was mystified as it wasn't even that busy, so that was the start of me going offsite to dine.
Then on my return trip next time I tried finding reservations 60 days out again with flexibility about which restaurant to go to, and that's when I also checked for two diners, and suddenly so many new times opened up, but I didn't reserve the table as I assumed that I would be charged for the additional no show on my booking, so back to eating offsite, which doesn't bother me, but it would have been nice not to have to drive.
Fast forward to my next trip in January and same problem, but thanks to this site I'm wise now. A booking for two it is!

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

There are some restaurants that their system simply will not let you book a table for 1, ever. Ohana and Trails End come to mind. I always book a table for 2 and just show up solo and never had a problem.

 

[gypsy_at_heart]

Honestly I check for all sorts of numbers when I'm going solo. 1,2,3,4,5 - it doesn't matter. Then if I book a reservation for five I go back in, modify it for 1 and volia. I always end up at a two table, even if the starting reservation was for 5. When I asked a CM about it once (because I was curious) she said it doesn't actually reserve all the tables like a sever with a table map, it's some sort of maximum occupancy algorithm that allows a certain number of different group sizes and staggers the timing

I totally don't understand it, I just try to work around it