Dining Reservations Time

[disneychrista]

I know you can start making reservations for dining 60 days out. Tomorrow is day 60 for my first day. What TIME do they generally open reservations? Ive heard midnight, 3am, 6am. I am trying to get a Trader Sams for my arrival day and at 7am the reservations for the day before are all gone.

This is giving me flashbacks to waking up in the middle of the night while on vacation to make Cinderella’s Royal Table reservations for WDW.

 

[Pluto468]

The reservations drop at 6am PST. Trader Sam's goes super fast. Make sure you're signed in and ready to go at 5:59. If I'm looking for a specific restaurant I go to that page and choose "Check available days." I just keep reloading starting at 5:59 and can grab one the second they're available.

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland-hotel/trader-sams/

 

[disneychrista]

Thank you. I thought it was 6am but worth so many other conflicting reports I thought I’d double check. I’ll set my alarm for 545 to wake up. And hope for the best.

If I get it great. If I don’t it won’t ruin my trip.

 

[DizMe]

For some reason, I occasionally find Trader Sam's reservations randomly available before the official 6 AM PST. But it isn't consistent! so I will try between 3-6 am at the 60-day mark and sometimes the day before. For my Dec trip, I found that WOC dessert party was available a day early. Other times I've found TS's open at te 60-day mark but at an earlier time, like 2 AM.

As Pluto said, be ready to pounce on it the minute it opens because they go fast. There isn't a lot of capacity at TS's.

If you don't end up able to get a res, you can try a dining alert. Those have worked for me. And if that doesn't do it, you can do a walk-up when you're there.

 

[disneychrista]

For some reason, I occasionally find Trader Sam's reservations randomly available before the official 6 AM PST. But it isn't consistent! so I will try between 3-6 am at the 60-day mark and sometimes the day before. For my Dec trip, I found that WOC dessert party was available a day early. Other times I've found TS's open at te 60-day mark but at an earlier time, like 2 AM.

As Pluto said, be ready to pounce on it the minute it opens because they go fast. There isn't a lot of capacity at TS's.

If you don't end up able to get a res, you can try a dining alert. Those have worked for me. And if that doesn't do it, you can do a walk-up when you're there.

I thought about the alerts but I have limited access to my phone during the work day so not sure how helpful they’d be.

 

[maleficent55]

some had had other experiences, but for me, Trader Sams is always at 0600 PST 60 days out. There was one time I experienced a glitch and it released at 9pm the night before...but every other time its 0600 60 days out

be very ready. payment info loaded already.be on the trader sams page in app, then the second out hits 0600, choose date,(it pops up at 0600) and go!

 

[maleficent55]

I thought about the alerts but I have limited access to my phone during the work day so not sure how helpful they’d be.

I get those alerts when I’m after some thing I really want. I use Mouse Dining and you have to be on them because they go seconds after the alerts go out.

 

[DizMe]

I'm going to paste a reply about converting your cell number into an email so you can get text alerts from Mouse Dining and still use the free version (usually, you can only get dining alerts by text if you use the paid version).

Many prefer to just get the paid version, but I'm cheap! So, here's how to do it.

When you use the free version, you only get emails, not texts. I'm much more likely to see a text come up quickly than an email, but there is a way to have Mouse Dining emails sent as text messages! When you sign up on Mouse Dining, where it asks for your email, put in the following: your cell number (10 digits)@your mobile carrier. Each carrier has a different email ending, so you'll need to know what your carrier's is. I have Verizon, which is @vtext.com.

Say my mobile number is 555-111-3333. To convert my emails from Mouse Dining to text messages, I give Mouse Dining this email address: 5551113333@vtext.com. So when MD sends me an alert, I get a text message and not just an email. If you have a different carrier than Verizon, here are some others: https://www.pcmag.com/archive/how-to-send-email-to-sms-cell-phones-by-carrier-276407

The drawback is that there isn't much info in the text message, so what I learned to do was have my MD account open so when I saw a text alert, I could quickly see the date/time and book it on Disney Dining. It's a bit of work, because you have to be able to get into MD and DD quickly, but it has worked for me several times (I've also missed several, but eventually got everything I wanted).

 

[disneychrista]

I get those alerts when I’m after some thing I really want. I use Mouse Dining and you have to be on them because they go seconds after the alerts go out.

Which is why I don’t know how useful they will be to me. If I check my email at lunch but an alert went out at 10am, it’ll likely be gone by 12:15 when I check. I am just as likely to get lucky just by checking.

Thankfully the other things I want aren’t so difficult and will likely have no trouble getting.

I do have a back up of the next day if necessary. But plan B works just as well for me.

 

[disneychrista]

One additional question. Is trying for a reservation better/easier on the app or the website better? Does it make a difference?

 

[disneychrista]

I was lucky and got a 9pm reservation. I was hoping for 830. So I will just head over there at that time and see if I can get in early. Being a party of 1 it will either be easier or more difficult.

 

[ironband74]

I was lucky and got a 9pm reservation. I was hoping for 830. So I will just head over there at that time and see if I can get in early. Being a party of 1 it will either be easier or more difficult.

I suspect easier - they can use you to fill in the bar.

 

[disneychrista]

I suspect easier - they can use you to fill in the bar.

The bar would actually be my preference anyway. I don't intend to eat a meal just get a drink and soak in the ambiance.

 

[imbelle]

For some reason, I occasionally find Trader Sam's reservations randomly available before the official 6 AM PST. But it isn't consistent! so I will try between 3-6 am at the 60-day mark and sometimes the day before. For my Dec trip, I found that WOC dessert party was available a day early. Other times I've found TS's open at te 60-day mark but at an earlier time, like 2 AM.

As Pluto said, be ready to pounce on it the minute it opens because they go fast. There isn't a lot of capacity at TS's.

If you don't end up able to get a res, you can try a dining alert. Those have worked for me. And if that doesn't do it, you can do a walk-up when you're there.

I was having the same sort of experiences when I was daily checking for my 60 day out reservations. I was seeing Trader Sam's availability at 4:30 am EST. But Blue Bayou wasn't coming up until the official 6am PST.