Tips for Large Group Dining Reservations ADR

[Doingitagain]

This has been a successful strategy for me in getting multiple reservations for a large group, using the website:
1. Sign up for notifications from the Cancelled ADR thread for the month you are traveling. They are in the Disney Dining Reservations forum.
2. Make sure your log in is "current" so you don't have to type the ID and password when you refresh.
3. Click on "Check Availability" for the restaurant so the "Make Reservation" box appears. Have the date, time closest to the reservation (do not use the generic Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner option -- that seems to miss reservations) and the party size ready to go so all you have to do is continually click "Search Times".
Note: if the message is that "we were unable to check for available tables" it means your login expired and you need to sign in again. If it says "Sorry!" it means there are no reservations that meet the criteria specified.
4. Use exactly the number of people on the reservation being canceled. You can show up with less people, and it is a gamble to try for more people.
**One way to mitigate the gamble is to open two types of browsers (Chrome, Edge, etc.) and have all the information logged in for both browsers. Try the higher number on one, and if it doesn't work try the other one immediately. Helps to do this on a desktop with two monitors.
5. If you are trying for more than one reservation within 2 hours of each other, you will have to use multiple accounts in your travel party. The two browser tip above works well for that, too.
6. Do not select the other members of the party, leave them as “guest”. That leaves those accounts eligible to grab additional reservations, The ADR will still show on MDE for everyone.

If this is the day your reservation window opens, use the above tips and have multiple tabs open on your browser, one for every combination of date/party size and time. Order the tabs in the order of priority (I do this based on how popular the restaurant is and how important it is for us to get it). Then starting at 5:45 EST start checking availability. It opens at 6 EST, but sometimes people have been able to get them earlier. It is important that you keep your log in current so you don't end up signing in again. I keep a separate tab for this as well.

Good luck!

(Apologies to mods, I posted this in the wrong place initially).

 

[Neverbeast]

Super helpful. If I book this way for 6 and 5, do we just expect to sit separately or is there any hope to be seated near each other/together?

I know for some places (SciFi, Ogas) it’s not possible to sit together and that’s fine, but I was hoping for Ohana and Liberty Tree and Tusker house to maybe have at least tables next to each other?

 

[Doingitagain]

You can ask to be seated at one table or near each other, but it is not likely that most restaurants have tables for more than 8. We currently have a party of 9, but one is an infant so maybe it will work. I plan to swing by restaurants earlier in the day if I can and ask in case they can plan for us.

It never hurts to ask, but don't be disappointed if they cannot accommodate you.

 

[Neverbeast]

That’s a good idea to stop by when possible. Thanks for all this!

 

[CarolynFH]

That’s a good idea to stop by when possible. Thanks for all this!

We had a party of 9, booked in parties of 7+2, 6+3, 5+4, and believe it or not, 8+1. We made sure everyone was there 10-15 minutes before the earlier ADR, checked in with the CM, not via MDE, and asked to be seated together if at all possible. Sci Fi was the only one that didn’t seat us at the same table. Homecomin’, Biergarten, LTT, Mama Melrose and Beaches & Cream put us together. They’ll do their best, just be prepared to wait a little.

 

[Kazi7]

3. Click on "Check Availability" for the restaurant so the "Make Reservation" box appears. Have the date, time closest to the reservation (do not use the generic Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner option -- that seems to miss reservations) and the party size ready to go so all you have to do is continually click "Search Times".

Thanks for the info. So just making sure I understand, if I have the window pulled up with the "Make Reservation" box before 5:45am, I just keep clicking on "Search Times" and it should refresh so that my on-site window opens? I need ADRs for 8 people, so I'm going to have my computer and my laptop both logged into different MDE accounts so I can quickly split into 4+4 if need be. Two computers with multiple open tabs is going to be tricky.

 

[Doingitagain]

Or use two browsers, I used Chrome and Edge.

if it says unable to check times, it means your login expired and you need to login again. I kept a tab open to the sign in page ready to go just in case.

 

[Halle]

You can ask to be seated at one table or near each other, but it is not likely that most restaurants have tables for more than 8. We currently have a party of 9, but one is an infant so maybe it will work. I plan to swing by restaurants earlier in the day if I can and ask in case they can plan for us.

It never hurts to ask, but don't be disappointed if they cannot accommodate you.

I've been traveling with infant grandchildren for the past 12 years (14 grands) and have always been told that the infant has to be included in the number of people in your party.

 

[Doingitagain]

I've been traveling with infant grandchildren for the past 12 years (14 grands) and have always been told that the infant has to be included in the number of people in your party.

We included the infant in the count. I stalked reservations and was able to get another one and then had them combine the reservations.

 

[cindala]

5. If you are trying for more than one reservation within 2 hours of each other, you will have to use multiple accounts in your travel party. The two browser tip above works well for that, too.
6. Do not select the other members of the party, leave them as “guest”. That leaves those accounts eligible to grab additional reservations, The ADR will still show on MDE for everyone.

Some of my Friends & Family guests haven't purchased/added their park hopper tickets to their MDE accounts yet.
I'm afraid they won't get their tickets in time for me to include them in our dining reservations.
If I do as you suggested in #6 above and just list them as "guests" and not specifically check their names off my Friends & Family list when making ADR's, should that circumvent that issue?
Thank you for any suggestions!

 

[Doingitagain]

Some of my Friends & Family guests haven't purchased/added their park hopper tickets to their MDE accounts yet.
I'm afraid they won't get their tickets in time for me to include them in our dining reservations.
If I do as you suggested in #6 above and just list them as "guests" and not specifically check their names off my Friends & Family list when making ADR's, should that circumvent that issue?
Thank you for any suggestions!

You don’t need tickets to reserve dining, you just need them to actually enter the park to go to the dining.

I left the names off the ADRs, but you can go back and edit it later to add them if you want.

 

[CarolynFH]

Some of my Friends & Family guests haven't purchased/added their park hopper tickets to their MDE accounts yet.
I'm afraid they won't get their tickets in time for me to include them in our dining reservations.
If I do as you suggested in #6 above and just list them as "guests" and not specifically check their names off my Friends & Family list when making ADR's, should that circumvent that issue?
Thank you for any suggestions!

The only effect of adding them to the ADRs would be so that they could see those ADRs in their MDE accounts. They don’t have to have tickets for that, and OTOH you don’t have to list them either.

 

[Doingitagain]

The only effect of adding them to the ADRs would be so that they could see those ADRs in their MDE accounts. They don’t have to have tickets for that, and OTOH you don’t have to list them either.

If they are in your travel party, they will see the ADR even if they are not specifically on it. That part does get messy if you have a large group who are splitting up and doing things.