Mom2Eliot that's exactly how I feel. Oh I plan on cancelling the ones I do not want, probably closer to 2 weeks out. I know other people who do the same thing in order to reserve "something" for fear that reservations are going to become more scarce as their date gets closer.
Seriously speaking though...
booking 180 days out is RIDICULOUS. Who KNOWS exactly what they want to eat 180 days in advance???? I honestly think Disney's policy on that is foolish.
The online booking system really is the pits though. You cannot see "all of your ressies" made in one list under your resort confirmation number.
I plan on cancelling many of my ressies soon. I have not double booked any, just gotten more than I really need or plan to keep until my planning is COMPLETE.
Thanks all for understanding!
Tammy
Seriously?? I know pretty much exactly where I'll want to eat and on what day, at the 180 day mark. I love the system the way it is now. Last year, while it was still at the 90 day mark, there truly was a frenzy as soon as hints of free dining came out. If you arrived a day after the first day of free dining, it was ridiculously difficult to get any ADRs that you wanted. Everyone checking in on that first day grabbed everything....and I'm pretty sure there was a lot of double booking or booking 'just in case'.
There is nothing wrong with the online system....it gives you confirmation numbers for all your ADRs...if you want, you can print out up to 10 ADRs at a time when it first shows your 'cart' with the confirmation numbers. I always have a sheet with all the info I need on it...I just run Scott Thomas's ADR report..works like a charm.
If someone is trying to book ADRs a month before their trip, they are going to have to realize that they are not going to get the more popular restaurants. A short story.....back in '99, I was headed to WDW for the first time. It was my dd's 6th birthday. My mom was going with us...a ladies trip. Well...I knew no better and used our local
travel agent. I told her the ADRs (priority seatings back then) that I wanted. I really wanted Cinderella's Castle for dd's birthday breakfast. Well, at that time you had to call 60 days before..that would have been on about August 25th...give or take. Well, on Sept 15th, I got a phone call from our TA telling me that she had no idea you had to call so early.....there was nothing available for our birthday breakfast, with the princesses!!! You would have thought that a travel agent would have been better informed. Now, I believe that anyone dropping thousands of dollars at WDW for a nice vacation, should be equally well informed.
I've heard many stories of people not believing that you have to make those ADRs asap...rather than waiting until just before the trip or even worse, waiting until you get there and get hungry.
So...to the OP, please cancel any ADRs that you know you aren't going to be using. Keep checking, daily, online to see if anything you really want opens up. Be sure to check out various resort restaurants...they don't seem to fill up as quickly as park places.