Help! Reservations seem impossible to get for Nov 2015

[Aggieamy5]

My 180 (plus 10) days out is May 19 so I'm anxiously waiting to book my dining reservations. I've been playing around with the site the past few dAys and logged in at 6 am (5 am my time) this morning, May 14th, just to see what's available for Nov. 10th (the farthest out I'm allowed to see right now). There is practically nothing right now - nothing for CRT, BOG, Garden Grill, Hollywood & Vine, and zero breakfasts for CP.

My question is: when I log in May 19th for my 180 days out, will the reservations be a lot easier to get since I'll have more options of a few more days or should I just expect it to look bleak? (We have a party of 5.) What's so odd is when we went last June, the crowd level was much higher and we got almost every reservation we wanted with seven people, booking a couple of weeks after the 180 days (my MIL decided she wanted to take us last minute. I'm a total planner and would always book a trip more than 180 days out.) Anyway, am I worrying for nothing? There's just hardly ️anything available when I look at dates right now...I'm so stressed! Thanks in advance! : )

 

[jgraney106]

Today was my first day to book ( we are arriving November 10th) and I only got half of the reservations I wanted. Couldn't get BOG for dinner or lunch. No dinner ressies at Chef Mickey's or Hollywood and Vine for the Fantasmic deal either. I booked a couple of second choices. I was going to upgrade my dining, but with the selections I was forced to book, I may cancel them all and stick with just doing quick service dining. I will have to see if anything opens up in the future from a cancellation.
My best advice is, not to get your hopes up too high and have some alternate choices for dining. If you can't get your first choice, a cancellation may pop up later. Good Luck !
Wish they would do away with the 180 +10. That way we would all have an equal chance at booking some of the popular places. Kinda hard to get them when someone else, that is 10 days ahead of you had a chance to book it already and you can't yet ! Just doesn't seem really fair somehow.

 

[soar2014]

I do believe the free dining may have played a role in the lack of tables

 

[FTM22]

I've done free dining before and things change over the course of time. Don't worry too much.

 

[Funfire240]

Free dining time is different then say June or July. We've gone in July the past few years and have had no problem booking reservations, one year even 3 weeks before we arrived, even with the heavier crowds. I was lucky this year. We are arriving on Halloween and have a 9 day trip so I was able to get everything I wanted. I even got a Chef Mickey's for breakfast for a party of 9 on the third day of our trip along with Crystal Palace on the 4th day for before the park opens. BOG I went right to the 2nd to last day and was able to get it for our party. A lunch was available early on too that I was able to get for us.
Good luck!

 

[briggscreek]

I can book starting on Monday but I might just skip it and wait to see what pops up later. I don't have free dining and only wanted a few reservations, but I really don't want to get up at 3am and be disappointed if I can't get them! If I would have realized that free dining would make reservations such a hassle, I might have picked a different time to go.

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

I'm kind of in the same boat here... I get to start reservations on Tuesday morning. Hoping for some of what we're looking for.

 

[Dustifer]

Our 180 (plus 10) days out is May 19th too and I'm in the same boat! I'm glad I'm not the only one stressing! I was playing around with reservations last week and they didn't seem to go as quickly as it has for the days that opened this week. I'm hoping that there's an event that week that is driving the lack of reservations or something?

 

[ErinsMommy]

Start on your last booked date and work your way to your arrival date.

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

Probably not the best place to ask...but is the Beast the only character at BOG? I wanted to do Cinderella's Royal Table, but not sure my son is into the princesses enough - honestly it would be more for me than him, but i was a little underwhelmed when I was youtubing for videos of CRT. Wondering if BOG would have more of an awe factor. --though the point may be moot with having such hard to get reservations...

 

[joannamet]

I'm May 19th too.

On your mark, get set, CLICK.

Just kidding. This is one of the reasons we have QS dining. I only need a couple of ADRS so I don't have the stress but in the past I've had good luck if I just keep checking every day. Things tend to open up as people make changes to their itineraries. I also like the tip about starting at the end of the trip for the hardest to get places.

 

[robndani]

Probably not the best place to ask...but is the Beast the only character at BOG? I wanted to do Cinderella's Royal Table, but not sure my son is into the princesses enough - honestly it would be more for me than him, but i was a little underwhelmed when I was youtubing for videos of CRT. Wondering if BOG would have more of an awe factor. --though the point may be moot with having such hard to get reservations...

Yes, it's only the Beast. It's cool and the food is great! He may like Crystal Palace or Chef Mickey's better.

 

[RogueKnits]

My recommendation, having just done ADRs last weekend for my November trip, is to make reservations for your back-up if your first choice is not immediately available. And then, once you have at least something in place, check again for your first choice. I found when I was doing my ADRs, that the system was either super glitchy, or people were rapidly making and then dropping reservations. I initially saw no availability for Kona Cafe (which was my backup for not getting BOG), but when I tried again just a few minutes later there were plenty of openings. The same thing seemed to be happening for California Grill, 'Ohana, etc. I think with so many people doing ADRs first thing in the morning, sometimes the system hiccups and shows no availability when there actually is.

And, for the record, the only ADR that I wanted but wasn't able to get was BOG. I wasn't really looking for anything else super popular, though, and I expected that I wouldn't get BOG on my first try.

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

I hear that a lot about the website...that its not the most reliable and can be funny about only showing you availability for your specific number of people. Do you think its worth the risk of waiting until the phone lines open to just call in? We'll be reserving for a party of 6, i guess i don't know if that's considered a larger party, making it more difficult for reservations or not.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

I hear that a lot about the website...that its not the most reliable and can be funny about only showing you availability for your specific number of people. Do you think its worth the risk of waiting until the phone lines open to just call in? We'll be reserving for a party of 6, i guess i don't know if that's considered a larger party, making it more difficult for reservations or not.

I would not recommend waiting for the phone lines to open. I called since the system was glitchy and they were not able to find anything for me that wasn't showing up online. It was a waste of time (for me anyway) calling in the morning of. If and when you do call in, when the recording asks if you are in the Orlando area press 1 (or whatever the prompt is) as your hold time will be considerably shorter.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I also was nervous the day before my 180 day mark. It was last Saturday and on Friday, nothing for the last possible day to book had ANY openings showing. I went on at 6am and ended up getting everything I wanted and at the times I wanted them. I was done in 20 minutes. I was shocked because it seemed nothing had availability the day before when playing around. I do have a 10 day stay, and booked the more difficult adrs towards the end so that really helped. I started with the harder ones first and the easier ones last. Part of my trip does not include free dining so that could be why. Free Dining does make a difference every year and that is why I chose not to book during free dining dates this year. Last year it seemed like such a project to get ADR's during Nov free dining, but after repeatedly checking the site each day leading up to the trip and coordinating with others on the cancellation thread, we ended up getting everything we wanted to begin with. So don't panic right away. Things do open up and people do cancel.

 

[Funfire240]

I hear that a lot about the website...that its not the most reliable and can be funny about only showing you availability for your specific number of people. Do you think its worth the risk of waiting until the phone lines open to just call in? We'll be reserving for a party of 6, i guess i don't know if that's considered a larger party, making it more difficult for reservations or not.

On the 4th I did ADRs for a party of 9. I only had two I had to split up and then did 6 and 3 and still had no problems

 

[jb82]

November seems really busy

 

[moviegeekgal]

I'm having problems making reservations. I am going November 11th-17th and can only make reservations for the 11th today and nothing I want is available. Is anyone else having problems? My reservation at the Pop is linked and shows on my itinerary page.

 

[SecretPoohLove]

Pulling my hair out too. I got 3 ressies, but the success in intermittent at best