More Cali Grill Brunch questions

[FSU Girl]

Awesome! One more question... what time do you set for the alert? I had 11:30 am, but realized I will miss out on 10 am or after 12:30 reservations. Right now I have one alert set for 3 for 11 am (to cover between 10 am and 12 pm) and then one alert set for 4 for lunch to cover until 1 pm

When I pick the times for an alert I try to have it cover as much time as possible, so I think your plan having it at 11am works. If you use Mouse Dining you can have up to 6 alerts set at once which is what I normally use.

 

[marikujawa]

We planned a last minute trip (under three weeks) and I set up Touringplans alerts for Cali Grill brunch using two times. About 10 days before the trip, I received several alerts and found that there were many times available - so many that it was evident Disney released a bunch of reservations at almost the last minute. I reserved immediately but checked back over the next few days and there were still times available for our date. I don't know if this was an anomaly or if it happens frequently.

 

[FSU Girl]

We planned a last minute trip (under three weeks) and I set up Touringplans alerts for Cali Grill brunch using two times. About 10 days before the trip, I received several alerts and found that there were many times available - so many that it was evident Disney released a bunch of reservations at almost the last minute. I reserved immediately but checked back over the next few days and there were still times available for our date. I don't know if this was an anomaly or if it happens frequently.

I don't think it was Disney releasing the reservations. Most likely it was people hoarding reservations and trying to figure out their plans and then dropped everything they didn't need before getting charged. Especially since you don't have to prepay this one I could see booking a couple on the same day.

 

[marikujawa]

I don't think it was Disney releasing the reservations. Most likely it was people hoarding reservations and trying to figure out their plans and then dropped everything they didn't need before getting charged. Especially since you don't have to prepay this one I could see booking a couple on the same day.

I guess anything is possible. If it happened the day before, I could see that being the case. But I checked several times a day for weeks with nothing available, and then on one day many, many times became available all at once and remained available for days. It's hard to believe so many people canceled reservations all at the same time.

 

[FSU Girl]

I guess anything is possible. If it happened the day before, I could see that being the case. But I checked several times a day for weeks with nothing available, and then on one day many, many times became available all at once and remained available for days. It's hard to believe so many people canceled reservations all at the same time.

I'm just guessing but I think it was one person with all those reservations. I just can't see Disney holding back reservations so unless they added time to the restaurant day it just doesn't make sense. With the dining you can have a reservation every hour and it won't cause a conflict. Or maybe a huge group was planning on going and then they changed plans?

 

[NYCgrrl]

We planned a last minute trip (under three weeks) and I set up Touringplans alerts for Cali Grill brunch using two times. About 10 days before the trip, I received several alerts and found that there were many times available - so many that it was evident Disney released a bunch of reservations at almost the last minute. I reserved immediately but checked back over the next few days and there were still times available for our date. I don't know if this was an anomaly or if it happens frequently.

What time of the year was this? High season or low? I'm hoping for luck finding a brunch reservation on December 23rd.

 

[rdiver]

We planned a last minute trip (under three weeks) and I set up Touringplans alerts for Cali Grill brunch using two times. About 10 days before the trip, I received several alerts and found that there were many times available - so many that it was evident Disney released a bunch of reservations at almost the last minute. I reserved immediately but checked back over the next few days and there were still times available for our date. I don't know if this was an anomaly or if it happens frequently.

I had a similar experience. The morning of Nov 1 got the alert for Nov 4. I was able to initially reserve for 11:10am, then pushed back to 11:30am, then finally settled on 12:15pm. It seemed like either several times were released, or a large party cancelled and they spread the times evenly through the morning/afternoon.

 

[marikujawa]

What time of the year was this? High season or low? I'm hoping for luck finding a brunch reservation on December 23rd.

November 18, 2018

 

[sponica]

November 18, 2018

I think there was a weather system moving through that weekend, they're could have been a fair number of stranded travelers.

 

[marikujawa]

I think there was a weather system moving through that weekend, they're could have been a fair number of stranded travelers.

All the reservation slots opened up on Monday November 12, though, so I don't think it was stranded travelers canceling. Also, others reported the same type of opening up of reservations several days before the previous Sunday, November 4. Whatever the reason, I wouldn't give up hope on getting a reservation.

 

[The13thLetter]

Soooo this post has started to get me a little paranoid (with a slight glimmer of hope though) that if I do not make my reservation right at 180 days at 7am on the dot I will be out of luck. Is that the case? I plan on trying right at my 180 days and right at 7am so I am hoping they are all not gone withing a couple of minutes.

 

[FSU Girl]

Soooo this post has started to get me a little paranoid (with a slight glimmer of hope though) that if I do not make my reservation right at 180 days at 7am on the dot I will be out of luck. Is that the case? I plan on trying right at my 180 days and right at 7am so I am hoping they are all not gone withing a couple of minutes.

It's at 6am, but I don't think this one gets grabbed first. I do think it goes quickly because it's only on Sundays, but I've gotten a reservation less than 180 days out. It also depends if it's a busy time that you'll be there and if Sunday is the beginning of your trip vs later.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Soooo this post has started to get me a little paranoid (with a slight glimmer of hope though) that if I do not make my reservation right at 180 days at 7am on the dot I will be out of luck. Is that the case? I plan on trying right at my 180 days and right at 7am so I am hoping they are all not gone withing a couple of minutes.

People make reservations and then drop them for a variety of reasons. I just picked up a long-awaited CG brunch for December, today by "stalking"(Whooooo hoooooo!). Got it even before any of the reservation finder sites could register it (they only check about once an hour). Just be diligent and if you are booking at the start of your ADR window begin with your most wanted and popular restaurants first and take it from there.

 

[marikujawa]

We’ve been to Cali Grill brunch three times. The first we booked about two months out, the second at 180 days (for six people) and the third at six days out.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Has anyone had recent success with CG brunch last minute cancellations? I've had a TP alert set for 12/2 brunch since the summer. The first alert I got, I was in the middle of the Caribbean Sea on a cruise last month and couldn't get the internet to work fast enough to grab it Well, the second alert came through last night and of course I was sound asleep! Ugh, I'm so frustrated. I refreshed ALL day yesterday at work. The 2nd is my dad's bday and I really want him to experience this! How are the cancellations the day before??

This is probably an unpopular opinion... but I kind of wish they would change this reservation to be prepaid like CRT since it seems to be super hard to get and so limited

Today, at approximately 12:08 PM, I scored a reservation for 12/23/18's CG brunch. I would like to take this opportunity to thank whoever threw it back into the pot and hope that they at least got a double FoP ride in return.
My wish is that DWD's Food and Beverage department would reopen the Narcoossee's Sunday brunch to take the crush off of CG's Sunday offering.

 

[The13thLetter]

It's at 6am, but I don't think this one gets grabbed first. I do think it goes quickly because it's only on Sundays, but I've gotten a reservation less than 180 days out. It also depends if it's a busy time that you'll be there and if Sunday is the beginning of your trip vs later.

6am? Everywhere I read says 7am. I thought dining and fastpasses come online at 7?

 

[FSU Girl]

6am? Everywhere I read says 7am. I thought dining and fastpasses come online at 7?

No, dining is at 6am eastern time and fast passes are at 7am eastern time. I book at 180 days a lot it's for sure 6am

 

[Lehuaann]

Has anyone had recent success with CG brunch last minute cancellations? I've had a TP alert set for 12/2 brunch since the summer. The first alert I got, I was in the middle of the Caribbean Sea on a cruise last month and couldn't get the internet to work fast enough to grab it Well, the second alert came through last night and of course I was sound asleep! Ugh, I'm so frustrated. I refreshed ALL day yesterday at work. The 2nd is my dad's bday and I really want him to experience this! How are the cancellations the day before??

This is probably an unpopular opinion... but I kind of wish they would change this reservation to be prepaid like CRT since it seems to be super hard to get and so limited

We were able to score 12/2 this past Monday night via TP. I took it, but reset the alert for an earlier time and another opened on Tuesday night. This was for a party of 4.

I had our alert set for 11:30 am, instead of “brunch.”

Hope to see you there!

 

[NYCgrrl]

We were able to score 12/2 this past Monday night via TP. I took it, but reset the alert for an earlier time and another opened on Tuesday night. This was for a party of 4.

I had our alert set for 11:30 am, instead of “brunch.”

Hope to see you there!

Just a heads up: TP doesn't have a "Brunch" listing for CG which is a tad annoying. I set up 2 searches on the same day; one for "Breakfast" and the other for "Lunch" to cover all my bases.

 

[AllThingsMickey4]

We were able to score 12/2 this past Monday night via TP. I took it, but reset the alert for an earlier time and another opened on Tuesday night. This was for a party of 4.

I had our alert set for 11:30 am, instead of “brunch.”

Hope to see you there!

I also had the alert set for 11:30 am. The one that came through Tuesday night was for 11:25 am but I went to bed early that night and missed it. I think my mistake was setting the alert for 3 instead of 4. Even though we only have 3 it looks like it’s easier to get a table for 4. I now have 8 alerts set for a variety of times and party sizes through 2 websites and have yet to get anything. Fingers crossed something opens by tomorrow!!