So are you just SOL if you book a trip < 180 days?

galnar

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
I have a party of seven arriving on 11/26 and can't book 99% of the meals we want. So far I have only been successful scoring lunch at 50's Prime Time at 11:00 AM on a day we're supposed to be at MK. Give me some encouragement! My wife thinks this is a sign the place is going to be miserably packed and we should just cancel now .
 
Keep looking!! I know many reservations are released as a trip gets closer. Once people are able to make their FP+ picks, many times that will mean an ADR gets released if it no longer fits. I have been successful in getting ADR for BOG closer to our trip, just by checking almost every day. Reservations will also be dropped the day before, as that is the cutoff for being charged, so it's always a good idea to look even during your trip!
 
You aren’t out of luck. It is just going to take some time. I’ve always been able to get what we needed eventually, even for large parties. Here are my suggestions.

Check out the Touring Plans reservation finder. It is free. You sign up for the meals you are looking for, and they send you an alert if they come available. Some people really love it. I’m not a big fan as I never make it to the computer fast enough when I get the alert, but it doesn’t hurt to try it.

What I do instead is the refresh method. You basically pick an ADR, and then try repeatedly to get it until you do. Open a page and leave it in the background. Periodically throughout the day refresh it. Sometimes it takes a few days, but you can usually pick up someone’s cancellation eventually. This strategy works well if you have an office job because it’s easy to pull the screen up and refresh during breaks, or while another program is loading, or you are waiting on something else, just keep hitting refresh.

The other thing to keep in mind is not to get discouraged. People are bad about hoarding ADR. They will make multiple ADR 180 days out that they do not plan to use. Then when they book their fast pass at 60 or 30 days, they will drop the ones that don’t fit in their schedule. Some people hold extra ADR right up until before the no show fee will go into effect to make sure their plans aren’t going to change, so sometimes the best time to book ADR is last minute.

You can also try splitting your group up and searching that way, a table for 3 and one for 4.
 


I booked a December trip 35 days out last year and managed to get some decent ADRs.

I actually had trouble with Touring Plans because no matter how quick I was, someone snatched it up before I had a chance.

I got the ADRs through frequent checking on the app as well as the cancellation thread here.

I booked 35 days out, and these are the restaurants we ate at: BOG dinner and lunch, Liberty Tree Tavern, Tony’s (even if there were infinite ADRs available we won’t do that again :crazy2:), Ohana, Coral Reef, Via Napoli, and Tusker House.
 
I second TP reservation finder. I booked my December trip about 70 days out last year. Even though it was busy we got BoG dinner, LTT, and everything else we wanted. I don’t think TP works on special event dining (I.e. BoG or CT during Mvmcp or candlelight package) so for those keep checking! Tons of people hoard reservations until they choose their FPs and firm up their schedule. So check frequently around 60/30 day marks when people start dropping extras. Do not be discouraged!
 
Keep checking. People change their plans daily so there are restaurants popping up right until you travel.
 


I booked a trip under 180 days last year and I just booked our "backup" ADR options and continued to look each day (as other people are saying to do) until I eventually got every reservation that my family wanted.

We actually got our BOG and Akershus reservations the day of/day before while on our vacation. Even if you can't get everything, you should be able to get a majority of what you're looking for if you check back regularly. I wouldn't give up!
 
People cancel ADR's all the time, so you will eventually get the ones you are hopeful for. Over the years I have learned that persistence pays off when it comes to Disney dining reservations. I check all the time and have always ended up getting what we wanted at some point. Even when you are there, you might have even greater luck, as people cancel due to the cancellation policy. We have gotten a lot of popular ADR's the day before we wished to eat there. Good luck!
 
Keep looking. As you get closer, people will cancel.
Another vote for touring plans reservation finder. Has helped us several times.
 
This was my first year using touring plans reservation finder and i thought it was awesome! I was able to get everything i wanted for my upcoming Nov trip at all the times i wanted. I would suggest using them.
 
We are almost always inside of 180 days for our trips and we usually get what we want. I use mouse dining, also free to help find ADRs. Touring plans is also free, the trick is to be diligent with your search and when an ADR does open up via the search finders, you have to be lightening fast and book it ASAP. And as PP mentioned, people will remove some of their ADRs based on what FP+ they get and of course, people change their plans so ADRs will open up. Good luck
 
Another vote for Touring Plans reservation finder! About a month ago I booked a Sept vacation for our family of 5. At first, I couldn't get anything I wanted. Now, I have reservations for every restaurant we hoped for! It's all about persistence. I managed to even snag a BOG ressie (QS) for both of our MK days! It's totally possible.

Another tool is Mouse Dining. You can have up to 6 free reservations at a time. It has also worked for me and it was this tool that found a PPO BOG reservation for me!

Have a great time! Keep those backup reservations until you can get what you want!
 
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I've booked at less than 2 days and have gotten our favorites, including 2 ppo breakfasts. 11pm the night before is a great time to snag ADRs
 
No way are you "SOL"! First you did pick a very busy time of year -lots of people at WDW around the holiday season so reservations go quickly. TBH though, the vast majority of our trips are booked with 2 months or so. What we've noticed is that there are large numbers of cancelled ADR's during that time, particularly as things get closer. I honestly cannot recall a single time where we were not able to eat where we wanted by just checking MDE daily.
 
First off, things open up all of the time. There are many approaches to this...whether you want to stalk over the next 5 or so months or use the Trip Advisor tool...or even wait until last minute since lots of good stuff often opens up a day or two before as people drop things to avoid the no show fee...you are not out of luck.

Secondly, some things ... especially in Epcot, may be showing limited availability while they wait to push all of the Candlelight Processional dining packages. Things often open up a bit more once those spots go live.
 
Just a quick side note—we've booked a few trips well within the 180-day window the past few years. Granted, twice we've gone during Flower and Garden, but I think there's so many restaurants now, and the quality of many QS spots is so good, that you will never be SOL.

Will you get Cali Grill or BOG or CRT without canvassing the site every day (sometimes twice a day)? Probably not... but we were very happy doing Polite Pig, Contempo Cafe, eating at an Epcot QS, etc.
 
I did all my ADR's for my early May 2018 trip in late January/early Feb. I actually got pretty much everything I wanted. A few places I checked were booked (Brown Derby, Cinderella Castle) but we got breakfast at BOG (totally not worth it imo :rolleyes1), dinners at Boathouse, La Hacienda, Yak and Yeti, MM and HDDR and lunch at R&C. A few were not quite the times I wanted but I just kept checking back and ultimately got everything pretty much when I wanted it. Maybe being a party of 7 is impacting things, we were only 4. Good luck.
 

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