Why's it gotta be so hard?

That would force people to give up some of their valuable park time planning meals, though. It would also keep people from being able to make dinner reservations at the best restaurants if they weren't rope droppers.

You'd still have plenty of people who'd reserve & then ditch, as everyone would feel the need to reserve in the morning, and then lots of families would hit a wall before dinner time & leave...
Not really, you could still do a credit card guarantee and there is no canceling once booked, period, end of story unless there is a true emergency. It doesn't take any time to open the app on the phone and hit reserve now. An alternative might be a virtual queue, open the app when you are near the restaurant and check in...no reservations at all, they just tell you what the wait time at each restaurant is.

Seriously this requires no planning at all, if the reservation route is used for same day, open the app while standing in line for a ride and book the reservation. All you need to do is tell what restaurant, what time and how many people. Since credit card info is saved in the MDE app, it is super simple and you don't even have to enter that information.

Now for those without smart phones it would be a little harder, they would need to go to one of the FP kiosks and book from there, but you can only do so much.

I know to people who are used to booking at 180 days out this seems crazy, but really it can work quite well, especially with all of the modern tech we have and really it would make everything far easier. Make FPs day of only as well and it works much, much better, you don't end up with local people booking FPs in case they decide to go to the parks in 30 days, which reduces the number of FPs available. If everything is day of only and in park items are restricted to just those that have been scanned into the park (or any park if they have park hoppers), all of the sudden there will be availability for almost everything throughout the entire day.
 
I book my dining and if that park doesn't have EMH that day then oh well. So far I have a near perfect record of picking all the days without EMH.
 
At the end of the day, it's dinner in a theme park.

Yes, I was on the phone at 7 am on our 180 day mark. And, yes, I eventually got what I wanted.

But if I hadn't, we would have eaten somewhere else.

I love those family dinners. But Disney would still be Disney if, somehow, I hadn't gotten BOG.
 
I do actually like all the planning that goes into a Disney trip.
My wish is that, at some point, Disney comes up with a better way to reserve your dining & fastpasses so that they will work together without revisions to plans.
I make my ADRs 180+ days out & those go out the window if there are priority FPs that need to be booked.
I would prefer to secure my fast passes first & make my ADRs around those.
 


Not really, you could still do a credit card guarantee and there is no canceling once booked, period, end of story unless there is a true emergency. It doesn't take any time to open the app on the phone and hit reserve now. An alternative might be a virtual queue, open the app when you are near the restaurant and check in...no reservations at all, they just tell you what the wait time at each restaurant is.

Seriously this requires no planning at all, if the reservation route is used for same day, open the app while standing in line for a ride and book the reservation. All you need to do is tell what restaurant, what time and how many people. Since credit card info is saved in the MDE app, it is super simple and you don't even have to enter that information.

Now for those without smart phones it would be a little harder, they would need to go to one of the FP kiosks and book from there, but you can only do so much.

I know to people who are used to booking at 180 days out this seems crazy, but really it can work quite well, especially with all of the modern tech we have and really it would make everything far easier. Make FPs day of only as well and it works much, much better, you don't end up with local people booking FPs in case they decide to go to the parks in 30 days, which reduces the number of FPs available. If everything is day of only and in park items are restricted to just those that have been scanned into the park (or any park if they have park hoppers), all of the sudden there will be availability for almost everything throughout the entire day.
That is planning day-of. Having to take your phone out while at the park, and search for available reservations, takes you out of the moment, and is something I'd rather not do. I like to arrive at the park, knowing my reservations are set & I only have to relax and enjoy. Feeling the need to start making reservations the moment I enter the park & see Cinderella's Castle, would be a serious downer. That moment should be about enjoyment, not planning.
 
That is planning day-of. Having to take your phone out while at the park, and search for available reservations, takes you out of the moment, and is something I'd rather not do. I like to arrive at the park, knowing my reservations are set & I only have to relax and enjoy. Feeling the need to start making reservations the moment I enter the park & see Cinderella's Castle, would be a serious downer. That moment should be about enjoyment, not planning.
I obviously have a different viewpoint, really I don't want to have to plan anything in advance, let alone 6 months out to know where you want to eat is absurd. But this is from a vatnage point of living near Disneyland where we can often even get same day reservations for most restaurants, so we get spoiled to a point where we don't want to mess with it.

We also don't mess with advance FP out here, day of makes it simple, you get a FP and go on the ride, get another FP, go on the ride, etc. Many even have return times that are available right then.

Having seen both systems in action, day of makes much, much easier.
 
I obviously have a different viewpoint, really I don't want to have to plan anything in advance, let alone 6 months out to know where you want 5o eat is absurd. But this is from a vatnage point of living near Disneyland where we can often even get same day reservations for most restaurants, so we get spoiled to a point where we don't want to mess with it.
Yes, I think people often have a different perspective when they live close to a park, and therefore know they can easily go back. Visiting WDW always ends up costing us a few thousand dollars at least, as it is by no means close (and neither is DLR), and requires flights, hotels, etc.

If I go through all of the trouble & expense of booking a WDW trip at all, you'd better believe that I want to get to eat at the restaurants that we most want to eat at, & not leave it to last-minute chance. Since so many people travel a long way to visit WDW, many of them feel the same way. Hence the need to reserve things in advance there more than you do at DLR, where a lot more guests are locals who can easily come back another time...
 


But that's the point, it wouldn't be leaving anything to chance and would be fair to everyone. The current system penalizes those not in the Eastern Time zone. For example, we have to be up at 3 AM to book online when reservations open. Hawaii has it worse, day of would eliminate this disparity. And ultimately there would be substantially more availability at all restaurants.
 
It's horrible trying to get an ADR when you're only 3 hrs away and never know 180 days out that you're going to go. I was there last weekend and while there decided I was coming back the last week of July. This is how most of us that live close do it. That screws us when we want to go somewhere to eat. It's a joke trying to get into somewhere popular. I can remember 20 years back, you walked up to the podium and told them you wanted to join them for a meal. You may have had to wait 20 minutes but you were seated. Now if you aren't looking 180 out, you're not getting it. I don't even get Tables in Wonderland, years ago it was the Disney Dining Experience and well worth it for me. Not anymore :(
 
Exactly and you still wait 15 to 20 minutes to get seated even with a dining reservation, eliminating reservations would actually spread the crowds out more and the waits would be shorter, the availability would be better as well.
 
It's horrible trying to get an ADR when you're only 3 hrs away and never know 180 days out that you're going to go. I was there last weekend and while there decided I was coming back the last week of July. This is how most of us that live close do it. That screws us when we want to go somewhere to eat. It's a joke trying to get into somewhere popular. I can remember 20 years back, you walked up to the podium and told them you wanted to join them for a meal. You may have had to wait 20 minutes but you were seated. Now if you aren't looking 180 out, you're not getting it. I don't even get Tables in Wonderland, years ago it was the Disney Dining Experience and well worth it for me. Not anymore :(
I agree. We used to be the same. Imagine my distress when we went and couldn’t get in anywhere. Free dining saw to that.
 
I'm casually checking for some changes I'd like to make to my ADRs but in the end, I've decided I will dump my dining in favor of FPs, (later) dessert party booking success and being in which parks I want to on which day (MVMCP) etc.

The 2 family favorites are Sci Fi and Ohana.... I have each booked a few times but it's looking more and more like we will not be able to make the times work around other desired activities.
That being said, I looked earlier this morning and could have booked Sci Fi, Ohana, Cali Grill, Chef Mickey, Coral Reef, Akershus, BOG, 1900 PF, various dining packages etc and so on for today or tomorrow or Monday if I was flexible on times. Just about the only thing that I did not see was CRT. I currently have that one too, but not even sure anyone cares about it. It was more of a random "find" that I booked when it popped up.

Think we are winging it this year.
 
I'm casually checking for some changes I'd like to make to my ADRs but in the end, I've decided I will dump my dining in favor of FPs, (later) dessert party booking success and being in which parks I want to on which day (MVMCP) etc.

The 2 family favorites are Sci Fi and Ohana.... I have each booked a few times but it's looking more and more like we will not be able to make the times work around other desired activities.
That being said, I looked earlier this morning and could have booked Sci Fi, Ohana, Cali Grill, Chef Mickey, Coral Reef, Akershus, BOG, 1900 PF, various dining packages etc and so on for today or tomorrow or Monday if I was flexible on times. Just about the only thing that I did not see was CRT. I currently have that one too, but not even sure anyone cares about it. It was more of a random "find" that I booked when it popped up.

Think we are winging it this year.
We have pretty much done the same thing. I did keep the Bon Voyage because I'd rather have one than not, the Halloween BOG and the PPO Garden Grill because that's part of our strategy for rides, but pretty much dropped everything else. I have just recently learned that part of the reason for the obvious lack of reservations is between the marathon and Jersey week, so we'd rather focus on getting around the parks than dining.
 

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