Why Disney Why...

[katyringo]

I usually stay fairly positive..

But why does disneyland seem to delay releasing highly sought after dinning options? Why say 60days and then just randomly drop them at 40 days or 54 days..
When people talk about "the experience" being more frustrating these are the things they are talking about. Back to stalking!

Sincerely,

A type A person wanting WOC dessert party and Blue bayou fantasmic and they aren't dropping at 60 days...

PS: don't take this post super seriously. It's annoying, but was typical before Covid..

 

[SteveH]

Sadly, I am totally convinced this continues to happen because Disney really doesn't care, they don't have to care. People will still throw money at them and sit at the computer day in and day out trying. Until Disney is forced to fix it I don't see them doing so.

 

[soniam]

Don't get me started. We got hosed by the Blue Bayou ADR vs Blue Bayou Fantasmic ADR. It's unfortunately just par for the course with the Disney parks.

 

[gelatoni fan]

It's really annoying.

I think Disney just has no respect for their customers because they really don't care about wasting other people's time like this. I assume they actually fill all their reservations so there's no push to actually make changes.

 

[Malcon10t]

I know I have posted this before, but most restaurants list the minimum number of tables available at 60 days. They don't know staffing that far out. Then as managers manage the schedule, they add tables at between 4 and 6 weeks, and sometimes even at 2 weeks. Fantasmic! ADRs and WOC party are usually set as soon as they are positive they will have a show that night.

 

[kirstyfly]

Oh I feel the pain of this big time.

I have been working out the day and time I need to be up from New Zealand at the 60 day time out which was a headache and took me far to long to work out.

I set the alarm for 12.50 am to be awake for a 1.00am drop. Woke up and NOTHING for WOC dessert party. I stayed awake till 2.00 am incase it was out by an hour then when I woke up on an off throughout the night I kept checking and nothing.

It is now 6.53 am on a sunday morining of the 14th August here and nothing still.

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

I definitely can understand hours or staffing not being ready/known at 60 days but at least have some kind of system, i.e drop the second half of availability at exactly 30 days and any remaining changes at 15 days.

Having it be random pushes fans to pay 3rd parties for dining alerts, don't do that to your fans!!! The alerts are fine for grabbing a cancellation but should not be needed for the original release dumps.

 

[katyringo]

Also just realized Savi's is behind too.. only through October 1st

 

[fly girl]

It is very annoying. Especially because WDW can drop at the allotted time with a lot more restaurants and somehow DLR can't.

West coast used to be much more laid back where you didn't have to be on as soon as they dropped, but not anymore. Disney needs to recognize this and have them open at the specified time like Florida does. It isn't this hard. It really isn't.

 

[starlite_]

I definitely can understand hours or staffing not being ready/known at 60 days but at least have some kind of system, i.e drop the second half of availability at exactly 30 days and any remaining changes at 15 days.

Having it be random pushes fans to pay 3rd parties for dining alerts, don't do that to your fans!!! The alerts are fine for grabbing a cancellation but should not be needed for the original release dumps.

No one is forcing you to pay anybody. There are free email alerts.

 

[Malcon10t]

West coast used to be much more laid back where you didn't have to be on as soon as they dropped, but not anymore.

West coast has always had places that sold out at drop. Ask anyone who used to try for Steakhouse 55 Tea. Then they dropped at 4am.

And no one has to pay for dining alerts, you can get limited numbers of alerts for free from most of the alerting companies. Everyone has complaints. My brother wants to be able to schedule a trip 5 days before, and wonders why they can't get a suite in the hotel or dinner reservations at Blue Bayou for 6. He thinks they should hold all reservations til 3 days before your trip so everyone can get a chance.

 

[Jnjtrio]

The late releases are terrible for me since we work nights, no way I can leave my phone with alerts going off in the room during the day. We still have a home phone that just family has the number for in case of emergency.

 

[DizMe]

It is very annoying. Especially because WDW can drop at the allotted time with a lot more restaurants and somehow DLR can't.

West coast used to be much more laid back where you didn't have to be on as soon as they dropped, but not anymore. Disney needs to recognize this and have them open at the specified time like Florida does. It isn't this hard. It really isn't.

I agree. Sure, things have changed and Disney has to adjust along with the rest of us, but that doesn't mean the guests should just nod and smile when Disney breaks their own reservation rules. It's a royal pain. It's a huge shift from the casual ease of the way they did dining reservations pre-covid. Yeah, I get it, we all have to adjust, but the least Disney can do is keep their end of the bargain with the times they drop reservations.

 

[fly girl]

West coast has always had places that sold out at drop. Ask anyone who used to try for Steakhouse 55 Tea. Then they dropped at 4am.

And no one has to pay for dining alerts, you can get limited numbers of alerts for free from most of the alerting companies. Everyone has complaints. My brother wants to be able to schedule a trip 5 days before, and wonders why they can't get a suite in the hotel or dinner reservations at Blue Bayou for 6. He thinks they should hold all reservations til 3 days before your trip so everyone can get a chance.

Yes, you are correct that certain places would be out fast, esp for larger parties. But my party of 3 was typically fairly easy. Although I do remember being online ready for Blue Bayou dining package. But IMHO, DLR reservations were no where near as tedious as WDW. Especially when you had a long trip planned at WDW and wanted to snag a reservation hoping to get it at the end of your vacation. (EX: staying on WDW property and getting the all the days of your vacation dropped for ADR's and you still couldn't get BOG or CRT on day 6.) DLR was always more forgiving because you had clean slate each morning.

YMMV but from my experience DLR used to be a heck of a lot easier pre Covid.

The free alerts are nice, but they are for email notifications. Since I don't want push for emails, I do pay the extra for the text alerts, but that is a personal choice.

 

[thenicefamily]

I know I have posted this before, but most restaurants list the minimum number of tables available at 60 days. They don't know staffing that far out. Then as managers manage the schedule, they add tables at between 4 and 6 weeks, and sometimes even at 2 weeks. Fantasmic! ADRs and WOC party are usually set as soon as they are positive they will have a show that night.

Thank you for this ^. It's the clearest explanation I've seen and makes total sense. At the end of the day, Disney is a business and it's not good business to over-sell and under-perform. Personally, I'd much rather stalk daily and eventually get a reservation that I know is backed up by the staff to fulfil it than to have Disney over-book by selling all tables 60-days out without knowing if they can even cook and serve properly. I feel for all managers, in all businesses, at this time of short-staffing.

I'll be trying for our wish-list restaurants for our upcoming November trip but, won't let it ruin things if we don't get a booking. I'm really encouraged by so many saying how positive their on-the-day walk-up and wait-list experiences have been.

 

[fly girl]

I know I have posted this before, but most restaurants list the minimum number of tables available at 60 days. They don't know staffing that far out. Then as managers manage the schedule, they add tables at between 4 and 6 weeks, and sometimes even at 2 weeks. Fantasmic! ADRs and WOC party are usually set as soon as they are positive they will have a show that night.

I am not talking about how many tables they drop I am talking about the time they open the reservation system for specific restaurants.

CASE IN POINT: Last Thanksgiving. Disney knows it is going to be a busy weekend. They may not know how much staff, but they know they will have some. Drop the initial table allotment at 6am at 60 days not at 61 days + 5 hours. I had to wait nearly 2 days for Blue Bayou and Napa Rose. Carthay dropped right at 6am EST on my 60 day count.

That is my issue. I get adding more with increased staffing. But drop the initial allotment at the said time. Not day(s) later. That is the frustrating part to me being online at 6am to not see anything for the restaurant I want because they didn't drop the reservations yet.

That is wonderful for you if you have no issue with it, and I wish I could be. My Type A wants to tell Disney to drop 'em at the said time.

 

[starlite_]

Has Disney ever promised on when they will drop reservations, like, is it in their writing somewhere??? I've never personally seen it if it is, and If it isn't then Disney isn't breaking their word on anything. If anyone has it in writing pls post it cause now I'm curious.

 

[Malcon10t]

]
CASE IN POINT: Last Thanksgiving. Disney knows it is going to be a busy weekend. They may not know how much staff, but they know they will have some. Drop the initial table allotment at 6am at 60 days not at 61 days + 5 hours. I had to wait nearly 2 days for Blue Bayou and Napa Rose. Carthay dropped right at 6am EST on my 60 day count.

That is my issue. I get adding more with increased staffing. But drop the initial allotment at the said time. Not day(s) later. That is the frustrating part to me being online at 6am to not see anything for the restaurant I want because they didn't drop the reservations yet.

That is wonderful for you if you have no issue with it, and I wish I could be. My Type A wants to tell Disney to drop 'em at the said time.

If I am remembering correctly, dates around Thanksgiving day dropped at about 60 days. Thanksgiving day was delayed as they were working on which restaurants were going to offer a Thanksgiving meal. Heck, they had hoped to pull off the Thanksgiving Feast in the ballroom until a week before they eventually dropped the reservations. It was.a pain for everyone.

Has Disney ever promised on when they will drop reservations, like, is it in their writing somewhere??? I've never personally seen it if it is, and If it isn't then Disney isn't breaking their word on anything. If anyone has it in writing pls post it cause now I'm curious.

Their wording is "Reservations are offered up to 60 days in advance at select restaurants throughout the Disneyland Resort and, due to limited availability, they are highly recommended."

 

[SteveH]

Has Disney ever promised on when they will drop reservations, like, is it in their writing somewhere??? I've never personally seen it if it is, and If it isn't then Disney isn't breaking their word on anything. If anyone has it in writing pls post it cause now I'm curious.

DL Q: How far in advance can I make dining reservations?
WDW Q. When can I make advance reservations for experiences at Walt Disney World Resort, such as dining reservations...

 

[alleighboo]

Also just realized Savi's is behind too.. only through October 1st

Savi's is my issue right now. I checked at 12 am est and there was nothing. I set my alarms for 9 am est and got Oga's for the day but still no Savi's. My fiancé is not a big Disney person but loves Star Wars and I'm trying to do some Galaxy's Edge time with Oga's and Savi's in the same timeframe. I panicked because Savi's would show me the date I want (10/12), immediately popped up as "unavailable", then send me to the calendar when only dates up to 10/1 are posted. After a lot of googling and seeing this is also happening in WDW, it looks like Savi's is posting reservations later because of supply chain issues with parts. Not confirmed, but totally makes sense and to me, totally understandable. But tell us that! I'm now checking every day since I have no clue when to expect the reservations to drop. This is my last bit of planning and we should be good to go...I just want it done!