Wow! I entirely underestimated ADRs-- it's May and I can't get what I want for Sept!

[JennyMP03]

I am kicking myself. For our whole week in late September, the only Ohana dinners aren't available until after 9 PM. No Crystal Palace at 8 AM either.

I didn't book the trip until Thursday, when free dining became available. How I wish we had booked in time to make reservations 180 days out now! I guess I'll just have to stalk the system and check every day for cancellations. We're just two adults so I'm holding out hope some tables will open between now and then!

Have any of you had luck picking up cancelled reservations in the past?

 

[mickeynut1]

I am kicking myself. For our whole week in late September, the only Ohana dinners aren't available until after 9 PM. No Crystal Palace at 8 AM either.

I didn't book the trip until Thursday, when free dining became available. How I wish we had booked in time to make reservations 180 days out now! I guess I'll just have to stalk the system and check every day for cancellations. We're just two adults so I'm holding out hope some tables will open between now and then!

Have any of you had luck picking up cancelled reservations in the past?

I have had luck getting what I wanted just a few weeks before a trip when it wasn't available a few months out. Keep checking every day as you never know what/when something might become available. Good luck .

 

[maria's_mommy]

As a last resort check last minute cancellations-48 hours before the day you want. I got Ohana at 7pm doing that in October.

 

[amccu18007]

You will get what you want....just keep checking

 

[MAD4EEYORE]

Before FD was announced those were available after not so much. I am kicking myself for not grabbing them when I had the chance. I didn't know what days we were going to which park yet.

All the popular ones were available except BOG. I was thinking wow they aren't all gone and they poof they were gone.

 

[JennyMP03]

Before FD was announced those were available after not so much. I am kicking myself for not grabbing them when I had the chance. I didn't know what days we were going to which park yet.

All the popular ones were available except BOG. I was thinking wow they aren't all gone and they poof they were gone.

I feel your pain! I decided to drop Crystal Palace since there aren't any 8 AMs available for our week and booked Tusker House for a character breakfast instead, and also picked up a very late 9:35 Ohana dinner. Best I could manage it right now, but I got everything else we planned at a decent time. I suppose it could be worse! A lesson learned for me.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement on snagging canceled reservations! I'll keep my eyes peeled for an earlier Ohana time for sure.

 

[kethry70]

I feel your pain! I decided to drop Crystal Palace since there aren't any 8 AMs available for our week and booked Tusker House for a character breakfast instead, and also picked up a very late 9:35 Ohana dinner. Best I could manage it right now, but I got everything else we planned at a decent time. I suppose it could be worse! A lesson learned for me.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement on snagging canceled reservations! I'll keep my eyes peeled for an earlier Ohana time for sure.

I booked hotels yesterday morning- we were originally planning on going in Novemeber and changed our minds. I haven't snagged 8am - but I have snagged 8:25 ressies for Tusker and Crystal Palace as well as an 8:35pm for Ohanas. Obviously, I would prefer all of them to be a bit earlier; but, just keep looking cause I am proof that they can still be gotten Only one I am worried about is Ohana- don't know if we'll get seated before Wishes starts with that late a ressie. But, I am also going to try for the wishes dessert party in which case I won't care nearly as much

 

[disneymom0811]

I hear ya- I tried to get be our guest restaurant and they were booked till November- they say to check back for cancellations and hopefully you can time it right to get what you want-

 

[Fivemuggles]

Keep checking! We are going in September (126 more days lol!!) and I was able to grab a 6:40 BOG last week! I just kept trying- several times a day lol- and one popped up!!

 

[Mom2Stitch]

I am right there with you!! We always do CP at 8 AM-no go this time!

We weren't even going this year, DS is starting college in the fall. Free dining came out and after talking about it, DH and I decided on taking our very first adults only WDW vacation

I managed to get everything we wanted except CP and BOG. I'm ok with that though, we are taking a later seating at CP and will have QS at BOG. I did manage to get an 8:10 AM at CRT for our other MK day so I'm happy with that.

I was actually surprised to find CRT for breakfast lunch and dinner most days and LeCellier was not a problem either for lunch or dinner.

I'll keep checking for BOG, fingers crossed it will pop up!

 

[JennyMP03]

Good luck to you all on getting your preferred reservations! You've made me feel confident I'll be able to find an earlier Ohana dinner with some persistence.

We are just doing QS lunch at BOG, too. I am dying to see the restaurant because it just looks incredible inside and out, but from what I understand, the food isn't stellar either way. I can forgive subpar counter service for a great Beauty and the Beast atmosphere though!

 

[CandiceH]

we booked a few days ago too, when FD came available. I was able to get pretty much what I wanted. . .for breakfast we have CP 2x Boma 2x Kouzzina 1x and O'hana 1x . . still need two more but don't know what to choose. We like to eat a little later, around 9 to 9:30 so we had no problem getting reservations.

we upgraded to DxDDP, because we like the nicer places, so most days we will use snack credits for lunch and eat a signature dinner. narcoosee's, o'hana, Le Cellier, Sanaa, Citrico's, and HBD and mamma melrose's for one evening. . .still need one more though. I had to be flexible about the times and kept checking and re-doing them until we got the times we wanted.

 

[Ariel Wanna-be]

My upcoming trip was completely spur-of-the-moment...I literally had 5 weeks to plan!

I was able to get every single ADR that I wanted (12 in all*), all within 30 minutes of the times that I wanted them. We're going the week of Memorial Day, so my time will be more crowded/busier than yours....which means you should have no problem getting the ADRs you want.

Good luck!


PS - *including a 7:00 BoG reservation

.

 

[Mariannekay]

Don't give up! We were planning to go in October and switched to 9/4 thru 9/11 and had to start over with our adr plan. I got an 8:05 am for CP, a 5:10 pm for 'Ohana, and a 9:30 pm for CRT (at first I was bummed at the late time, until I realized Wishes would be going on when we were dining!). On another note, I've never ever even seen what a BOG adr looks like! LOL!!

 

[xxliz28xx]

I feel your pain. We just booked our trip last week for Sept. 21-28th and I knew Ohana and BOG would give me trouble. Can't get BOG at all and Ohana is only available at 9:30 all week. We're settling for lunch at BOG and dinner at Kona but that doesn't mean I'm not checking everyday still!

However, I wanted to get an early morning breakfast at CRT for this trip. I didn't think I would have a chance. I found a 9:05 online for CRT but I called this morning and got an 8:10am. Doesn't hurt to call everyday and check.

 

[jimandami]

I am kicking myself. For our whole week in late September, the only Ohana dinners aren't available until after 9 PM. No Crystal Palace at 8 AM either.

I didn't book the trip until Thursday, when free dining became available. How I wish we had booked in time to make reservations 180 days out now! I guess I'll just have to stalk the system and check every day for cancellations. We're just two adults so I'm holding out hope some tables will open between now and then!

Have any of you had luck picking up cancelled reservations in the past?

Be sure you subscribe to the September cancelled ADR thread...we picked up several for our last trip that way!

 

[melissafox18]

I totally agree! Don't give up hope. I planned our trip in about 6 weeks last April (not a super popular time to go, but most of the the hot ticket locations were completely booked). I was super diligent and checked the handful I couldn't get reservations for every morning when I got to work and ended up getting everything we wanted close to a time we wanted as well including a very late afternoon lunch at Le Cellier (before it went to a 2 credit lunch) and Crystal Palace at 8:15 when MK opened at 9 am. I think I had the most success 3-4 weeks before and then again about a week before. People (including myself) book more than they need for ADRs and then release them or change their minds as time comes closer.

 

[DramaQueen]

So sad about O'hana....have you guys had luck trying back multiple times? CM told me that there was NOTHING available Sep 6-14!
Hoping to keep trying back to grab a canceled res! *fingers crossed*

 

[Disneyaddictz]

Canceling o'hana 815 for 9/22/13....I will cancel at 9am this morning!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Just keep stalking...I've always had lots of luck upgrading ADRs or changing them around if I keep at it. Those last 4 weeks before travel are the best time.

Ultimately,lots of people book their trip before the discounts come out just for the 180+10 perk plus many people were anticipating free dining, so they booked at the 180 mark even w/o discounts being annouced at that point. It's so easy to rebook when the discounts hit that it makes it totally worth it. Still, this also factors heavily into why availability is more slim.