What I Learned With My ADRs This Morning

[Maureen123]

Having made ADRs countless times in the past I'm still not afraid to admit what I don't know. Here goes...

1. No matter how many times you've made ADRs - READ PREVIOUS ADR TIP THREADS on DISboards! I scanned a few. I asked a few questions (thank you for the answers - they helped) but I should have studied more. For example, one person recommended opening tabs for each restaurant in order of difficulty (brilliant!) on your computer the night before. I thought, "Ehhh. Overkill." Besides, I prefer the phone app and it hasn't failed me in the past (Ha!). I should have listened to you, fellow DISboard fan.

2. I thought I preferred the phone app. Until it didn't work. I woke at 5:40am. Made sure the app was up to date. Shut down and restarted my phone. And started trying at 5:45am. Error messages until 6am. No biggie. Got a Space 220 on our "last" day for 3:30. Excitedly mash the button to continue and the app crashes. Try again. Get one. No dice. Try again - they are all gone that day. Go to another day, find one and the app crashes. This goes on for about 5 minutes (what can I say - I have a stubborn streak) before I finally get out of bed and go to my computer. Check availability on my computer. Nothing for my current window. Rats.

3. Speaking of current window, I was painfully reminded of why I hate split stays. Our last two days are at a Deluxe resort. It's my sister and I - a very sentimental trip in honor of our grandparents. We wanted to make it special and couldn't afford a deluxe the whole week. As a result, our ADR window is 60+5 instead of 60+7. Keep that in mind if you are considering a split stay.

4. Never, under any circumstances, lend your laptop to your teenage son the night before. All I asked is that he leave it as he found it. But at 6:10am, frustrated and exhausted, I found my computer where I left it and that is all. The tabs I had open were closed. Bluetooth was shut off so my wireless mouse wasn't working and I didn't know why. And didn't even try to figure it out. Just gave up and used the cumbersome pad. Because I was frustrated and exhausted. Made for added stress this morning, for sure.

5. Sometimes searching "dinner" times and "lunch" times are really helpful. Sometimes you need to plug in an exact time. I was struggling with Cinderella's Royal Table when I'd put in "dinner." But got a table at 6:55pm when I put in 6:30pm. Then, for Storybook Dining, I put in "7pm" and got 8:20pm -later than we wanted. But when I put in "dinner" I got a 7:10pm slot. Be flexible with your searches and try multiple strategies for those hard to get reservations.

6. I practice beforehand. Meaning, I jump onto the app, a few days before my window opens up and play around. See what's available, what's not. Try to get a feel for what I should go for first. I only did it the night before this time. And I only checked a couple uber-popular dining spots. As a result, a few of my dining times are less than ideal. I'd forgotten how popular Sci Fi has gotten. And who knew Biergarten would only have ONE dinner slot available on a particular night. I've never had difficulty with Biergarten before - it's why I saved it for last. Lesson learned.

I wish I had...

...read more DISboard posts to get a better feel of what others were experiencing NOW instead of relying on my past experience.
...followed the person's suggestion of opening restaurant tabs the night before. Brilliant idea!
...gotten myself out of bed and sat at the computer with my phone AND computer ready. The app failed me big time this trip.
...consider split stays only during off season. Especially if certain popular dining experiences are very important to you.
...made sure my computer was as I like it BEFORE going to bed.
...practiced with ALL of our dining reservations instead of just a couple. It's a great way to see what is in demand and what isn't.

Hope this helped for future ADRs. Good luck!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

This is terrific advice! I hadn't heard the "tabs" advice before and agree, it's a great idea and will definitely try that next time! Hope you were able to get the majority of what you wanted. If you didn't, definitely keep checking and consider one of the free reservation finders that alert you when something you're looking for opens up (still up to you to log in and book it). Touring Plans is the finder I seem to have the most luck with, personally. I hope that your special trip with your sister to honor your grandparents is incredible!!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Glad it seemed to work out for u. It’s Exhausting trying to get things done with the Awful, antiquated, always seeming to be in Glitch mode Disney app… and this is how one Starts a Disney “Vacation”…
Until u get to the park and spend Endless time looking Down
At ur cell to get on rides Ugh… Walt is turning…
Disney Vacation is Not what it Used to be… Escape, it’s just another Work … day, lol.

 

[Pookie9922]

The tip I learned yesterday - finish one reservation all the way through. I was impatient and I thought since I had one started, I could select the next one while finishing up the first. The 2nd one overwrote the 1st one and I had to start all over to make sure I had the right times on both.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

The tip I learned yesterday - finish one reservation all the way through. I was impatient and I thought since I had one started, I could select the next one while finishing up the first. The 2nd one overwrote the 1st one and I had to start all over to make sure I had the right times on both.

I've had this happen to me, too. If you're doing multiple tabs to save time, still only search and complete reservations one at a time!

 

[chicagodisfan]

My window was today and I concur with many of your experiences! We are staying at BCV and I booked an extra night on the front end at Caribbean Beach for our travel day and forgot that Disney would consider that a split stay so I’ve had to do this twice!

1. Both yesterday and today, I was at my computer with phone in hand at 4:40 am (CST). Both days nothing went live until 5:00 am. I even googled to see if this was just a pixie dust kind of thing to have it open up early, but sure enough it says 5:45 am on the Disney site. The constant refreshing for 15 minutes isn’t fun when you are already up in the middle of the night.

2. I saw the suggestion to open several tabs at the same time but was worried that would crash my old computer. I wish I had tried though, because I think you fared better than me. I didn’t see Space 220 at all for 60+5 which was the latest day we could check (and when we were hoping to go) and didn’t see Artist Point at all (60+3 and 60+4, one random late time at 60+5 that wouldn’t work for us). Cinderella’s randomly popped up at 60+4 for 8:20 pm which is later than we had hoped but I grabbed it because there was no other times for any meals any of the days I was searching.

3. I had the same experience with the app - super glitchy! I saw a 12:30 pm La Creperie ADR that I tried to grab. I got through the first couple screens and got an error message. I tried (and lost) 5 different times, each a bit later, before I switched to my laptop and by then it was at 2:30 pm! I booked it and ironically when I checked later in the afternoon I saw a 12:30 pm so I just booked it then and cancelled the other. I was able to book others on the app while simultaneously booking on the laptop but by then I had thought to turn off my wifi on my phone so it wasn’t competing with my computer and I think that might have helped.

4. As OP noted, some of the hot times/places were unexpected. Hollywood and Vine was at 4:50 pm and 7:00 pm at 60+2 by 5:03 am. And Tiffins is only serving dinner from 4-5pm in late March right now so if you want dinnerish times, move that one up. I got 4:40pm but by the time I was done it was at 4:00 pm and now there are no dinner times.

Overall, we are pretty happy. We got Be Our Guest, Cinderella’s, Via Napoli, La Creperie, Hollywood and Vine, Tiffins and Brown Derby. We didn’t get Topollinos (60+1, expected), Artist Point (60+3) or Space (60+5), but we’ll use a reservation finder and see what pops. After these last two mornings though I’m thinking I need to start getting into a vacation destination that requires little to no planning! Ha!

 

[SLC913]

I feel you about doing more research! We used to be AP's and lived in Florida but moved to the other side of the country, so we obviously don't go as often as we once did. We are going in February with family (7 total) and we were able to get all our dining reservations that we wanted except the Boathouse, and I couldn't figure out why all of a sudden this was impossible to get! I was even able to get Ohana! Then I get on here and find out they have an Opentable page, and it doesn't matter if you're in your 60-day window or not. I just don't keep up as much on here as I once did because we aren't going as often. Now, I'll know for next time.

 

[mernin]

Great tips! The tabs one is the first time I’ve heard it and wished I had that last week when I was booking. Also the tip about searching for a time or dinner and switching is another good one. I’ve used that and have been successful with it.

Touring plans reservation finder has worked for me in past trips and already for my upcoming one. They’ve found 3 ones I couldn’t get originally since I booked 1 week ago.

My app also didn’t work for me (and still doesn’t work to book dining). And when I came down to my computer, it had the hard drive crash overnight, meaning I was using my work laptop without anything ready Super fun at 4:45 am (I’m in CST).

 

[SLC913]

Great tips! The tabs one is the first time I’ve heard it and wished I had that last week when I was booking. Also the tip about searching for a time or dinner and switching is another good one. I’ve used that and have been successful with it.

Touring plans reservation finder has worked for me in past trips and already for my upcoming one. They’ve found 3 ones I couldn’t get originally since I booked 1 week ago.

My app also didn’t work for me (and still doesn’t work to book dining). And when I came down to my computer, it had the hard drive crash overnight, meaning I was using my work laptop without anything ready Super fun at 4:45 am (I’m in CST).

I'm in MST...I hate how early it is!

 

[Maureen123]

Wow. It is so nice to hear of all of your experiences and to know I'm not alone. And thanks, too, for contributing other tips and tricks to this thread. I'm not going to give up. I REALLY want to snag a Space 220 reservation so I'm going to keep trying.

Good luck, everyone! And thanks for commiserating! ♥

 

[Pookie9922]

I'm in MST...I hate how early it is!

Lucky! I'm PST! I was up @ 2:30. And I went to bed at 12:30!

 

[SLC913]

Lucky! I'm PST! I was up @ 2:30. And I went to bed at 12:30!

Our family who is going with us actually live in FL but my MIL isn't as quick as I am on getting these and my SIL/BIL had just had their 2nd baby the week before...didnt think it was fair to have them wake up another time to do these. It always sucks bc its on a work morning and then I can never fall back asleep due to the adrenaline

 

[mernin]

I'm in MST...I hate how early it is!

Lucky! I'm PST! I was up @ 2:30. And I went to bed at 12:30!

so early for you both!!! I feel less bad about my early wake up call now!!

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I feel your pain. When its important, my PC will fail me everytime. USER FAULT, but thats not the point!!! I love that you and your sister are going to honor your
grandparents. My sister and I did a remembrance trip a year after our dad passed. It was nice. He loved WDW so much and passed that passion to us!!

 

[bambialways4ever]

We booked this morning 3 FLEEPING AM for the second night in a row because split stay.

Nabbed: Ohana, Steakhouse 71, Beaches and Cream, Sanaa, and Chef Art Smith's. I also booked Big River Grille via open table a bit back. We are on the fence about La Creperie in Epcot, so I may go back and add one. And, at 9 PM our time we got our Capture Your Moment photo session.


Neither night opened until 6 am. The app never worked for me. Night one, my laptop did not work and only our desktop with ethernet worked. Night two for both capture your moment AND dining reservations it only worked on my laptop and not our desktop.

Due to glitchiness and general chaos, we did not get Ohana at the time we preferred, nor did we get our Capture Your Moment session on our preferred day. I'll be hunting for an Ohana reservation closer to our dates, and we just arranged our park touring plans for our photo session.

But I see tonight dining reservations are down on the webpage for "maintenance" which makes me think some fishiness has been awry these last few days and it now getting fixed.

 

[Pumbaa_]

I love hearing about successes and bummers. And how things change! Even from veterans, things can need modifications.
we have the best folks here, thank you for sharing Maureen and I hope you have a great trip.

Side question-how do you like 60 vs 180 day window?

 

[AP235]

just curious if anyone over here has been able to make reservations for chef mickey, cinderella, storypoint, sci fi and space 220 and on what days (60+4,5,6 etc.)

 

[Disturbia]

My booking window opened yesterday and I had to deal with the same frustrations. I did see CRT available (5th day) but family decided against it in favor of BOG (surprisingly had availability on day 2). I saw nothing for Storybook dining (2nd/5th). We were able to book lunch Space220 for the 7th day (I show dinner is available today for day 6 - 4/2?). Lounge is only reservations for 2 (I see April 1st dinner for 2 at 7:40 only; April 2nd all times available).

Dessert after party (booked for 3/31; 3/28-3/30 are blocked; available 4/1 and 4/2) opened at 5:30 am (I was refreshing on different tabs and knew some reservations opened early). For Nov 2021 reservations, Space220 had opened at 5:30 am, so I knew this, but this time around it didn’t open till 6 am. My app kept crashing. I was only able to book via desktop and on specific restaurant tabs. If I refreshed two tabs, I would get an error, so keep the tabs open but only work on one.

 

[chicagodisfan]

Side question-how do you like 60 vs 180 day window?

I don’t love it but we are DVC and always have our trips planned 11 months out. I feel like I never had problems getting the hard to get restaurants we wanted before (Cinderella’s, Artist Point, etc.), maybe not at our preferred date or time but we always got something. I know there is some pent up demand for travel but we’ve gone at spring break before and the whole thing has been smoother and less stressful.

just curious if anyone over here has been able to make reservations for chef mickey, cinderella, storypoint, sci fi and space 220 and on what days (60+4,5,6 etc.)

I was able to get Cinderella’s at 60+4, but that was after searching/refreshing on several days for all different times. An 8:20 pm popped up which was later than we want but I grabbed it anyway. I think it must have been a cancellation because I had been searching all over and nothing. No Storybook at 60+3 or 60+4. I did see a late one (8:45 pm) at 60+5 but we couldn’t make it work. No Space at 60+5 at all which was the latest I could search. I was searching for 5 people so you may have more luck with a smaller number.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

It is always great to learn from others!

Back in November at my 60 day mark, I got up made all my reservations, in my haste, I booked La Hacienda de San Angel instead of San Angel Inn. After stalking the openings, I finally got the right restaurant. Then 4 days before we were scheduled to leave my son tested positive for covid. We were able to move our trip to February, but yep, all my ADRs, gone, out the window.

So then I had to rebuild all of them. I started by taking what I could find, and sometimes not even the restaurants we wanted, but at least we could sit down and eat. I signed up a couple of the free dining websites that message you when there are openings. With a lot of patience, I have been able to rebuild my MK reservations at The Plaza and Skipper Canteen, my HS reservations at Sci-Fi and Oga's. (these two were my biggest priority, they are on my birthday!)

I like the APP to MODIFY my reservations but to start the booking process, I find the browser works better, for me.

What I have also found, be patient, the closer to your dates, the more changes start happening and you can often find what you want. (Well maybe not Space 220)