what the heck?

[lovin'fl]

Like, this is so annoying. I like just checked November's availability for Lunch for Rose and Crown and there are TONS of availability....right up to the day after Thanksgiving. Then it all ends. No lunch. No dinner. For the entire month of December. All because of Disney refusing to release the dates because of the candlelight processional dining package. (I guess) That is so not fair. Some of us are OCD and just NEED to make all our dining reservations IMMEDIATELY at 180 days out. This is like, severely triggering to us. LOL.

This is what REALLY bugs me most about a WDW trip. Disney makes us guests do all this crazy pre-planning yet they, themselves, cannot do their own pre-planning. There is zero reason why they couldn't have the CP packages pulled out and open the venues for regular resies by the 180 day mark. NO FLIPPIN REASON! I am irked we, as DVC, have to book our BWV at 11 months out for F&W when Disney can't get the Eat to the Beat line up set until like 3 months out. They didn't even announce the F&W dates until like 5 months out or something ridiculous like that. Not to mention they're constantly changing park hours up to the last minute.

 

[crazy4wdw]

My first ADR window opens this Monday. Guess I'll try to call in verses trying to book online.

 

[Ecomommy09]

Like, this is so annoying. I like just checked November's availability for Lunch for Rose and Crown and there are TONS of availability....right up to the day after Thanksgiving. Then it all ends. No lunch. No dinner. For the entire month of December. All because of Disney refusing to release the dates because of the candlelight processional dining package. (I guess) That is so not fair. Some of us are OCD and just NEED to make all our dining reservations IMMEDIATELY at 180 days out. This is like, severely triggering to us. LOL.

Right! It’s like weird torture.

 

[chicagodisfan]

Like, this is so annoying. I like just checked November's availability for Lunch for Rose and Crown and there are TONS of availability....right up to the day after Thanksgiving. Then it all ends. No lunch. No dinner. For the entire month of December. All because of Disney refusing to release the dates because of the candlelight processional dining package. (I guess) That is so not fair. Some of us are OCD and just NEED to make all our dining reservations IMMEDIATELY at 180 days out. This is like, severely triggering to us. LOL.

Haha! I totally agree! Isn’t the point of obsessively planning and waking up at the crack of dawn six months out so that you can have it all done and not have to worry about anything for another four months?! Instead I’m frantically checking my phone whenever I get a text hoping it’s Mouse Dining about one of my six (!) alerts!
And i just noticed that along with the CP restaurants that I can’t get, my problems booking reservations at MK seem to be on party days for times before the party starts. I can find availability for those same restaurants on non-party days but we are purposely trying to go on party days to take advantage of the potentially lower crowds. I wonder if they are holding back bookings because of potential party packages?

 

[Andrewssix]

Try making your adrs at midnight est. instead of waiting until 6am. I am staying at a Disney Springs hotel, so I don't have the 180 + 10 window to make adrs. I've had to get up early each morning and I began to log on earlier each morning and have been able to make reservations. I started at 5:50am est, the next morning I went on at 5:40, followed by 4:15, finally the last few nights I've been logging on just after midnight est. (11:55 was a no go). I don't know what's going on or if there's a glitch, but you might want to give it a try tonight. I hope that helps someone.

 

[friendoffigment]

I'll try to call in

what time do phones open up

 

[crazy4wdw]

what time do phones open up

7:00 am EST

 

[crazy4wdw]

I certainly hope that December ADR's for Sci-Fi have not been loaded in their system. I been checking the last few mornings to see if I could get an ADR at the 180 day mark. Nothing has been available. However if I go back a few weeks in November and even in July, the restaurant looks to have lots of availability.

 

[RealBlast3]

I did see some Sci-fi when I checked on Friday for my window (12/4-12/13). Granted, it was only for slots of 1 (solo diner here), and I didn't see alot.

Also, Coral Reef slots did start appearing much later in the day for me, weirdly enough, just not in those first few hours. And I was toggling between the app on my phone as well as the website on my pc, and switching between picking lunch/dinner and specific times to get all possibilities as some dis-ers had suggested who noticed getting different things opening up when you did that.

What's funny is you end up getting so disgusted about what you can't get, that you end up realizing "Oh, well, it's Disney, I can really eat in so many different places and be happy" (at least I can), and you just pick something else and are happy with it.

Like, I do really want to eat at Rose and Crown but it's not the end of the world if I don't, and in my case I have eaten there before quite a few times, and in terms of the food, I can always get the fish and chips from the outdoor kiosk right by there or if I really want a sorta similar experience, I can also visit Disney Springs Raglan Road (which I enjoy very much, too).

So, you do force yourself to adjust. After you feel like it's the end of the world LOL.

And I do know that even like the week of that I'm in Disney, I always see slots opening up for these places, so literally between now and during my trip, I know I will be able to make changes if I really want to. It's frustrating because as some of you have said, we do like to get things set in stone at the 180 mark but this sorta thing has happened before, and usu sally I can always make changes and switch things up in the 6 month lead up. It's hard to be patient LOL.

 

[Andrewssix]

I did get a Sci-Fi earlier this week (for 6 people ), but it was the only time I've seen it since. Ohana (I've seen a couple times) and BOG have almost been nonexistent.

As an update to my earlier post. Last night I tried again at midnight but could not make an adr but at 3:45am was able to make reservations. So again it was possible to make them prior to 6am.

 

[Jennasis]

I got a Sci-Fi lunch but it was for a time much much later than I wanted.

 

[Ecomommy09]

I did get a Sci-Fi earlier this week (for 6 people ), but it was the only time I've seen it since. Ohana (I've seen a couple times) and BOG have almost been nonexistent.

As an update to my earlier post. Last night I tried again at midnight but could not make an adr but at 3:45am was able to make reservations. So again it was possible to make them prior to 6am.

I've seen all kinds of BOG lunches during my random searches. I've had the best luck in the evening around supper time

 

[Minniesgal]

First week of December is one of the busiest DVC booking seasons.

But not dining

 

[Jennasis]

But not dining

DVC peeps gotta eat.

 

[Minniesgal]

DVC peeps gotta eat.

Yes but they are a small percentage of the overall diners at WDW

 

[chicagodisfan]

I finally caved and called because the Tiffins ROL package said it had to be booked on the phone. I was pretty sure that wasn’t right and sure enough the phone CM couldn’t find it either so it’s fairly likely those haven’t been added yet. She was very helpful though and offered to run full restaurant availability searches for the entire day for several places I couldn’t get into to see if they were available for booking or just booked up. Looks like I’m out of luck with CRT and BOG dinner unless a reservation finder finds something because those have numerous bookings at all different times but O’hana breakfast didn’t have a single reservation yet for the morning we are looking so that gives me hope that it’s just not loaded yet.

 

[Ecomommy09]

I finally caved and called because the Tiffins ROL package said it had to be booked on the phone. I was pretty sure that wasn’t right and sure enough the phone CM couldn’t find it either so it’s fairly likely those haven’t been added yet. She was very helpful though and offered to run full restaurant availability searches for the entire day for several places I couldn’t get into to see if they were available for booking or just booked up. Looks like I’m out of luck with CRT and BOG dinner unless a reservation finder finds something because those have numerous bookings at all different times but O’hana breakfast didn’t have a single reservation yet for the morning we are looking so that gives me hope that it’s just not loaded yet.

This is just ridiculous. If I can't book my dining yet, then don't tell me 180 days. I'd be happy to wait until 120 days and have full availability then play the 'when will they release them' game...

 

[chicagodisfan]

This is just ridiculous. If I can't book my dining yet, then don't tell me 180 days. I'd be happy to wait until 120 days and have full availability then play the 'when will they release them' game...

I couldn’t agree with you more! And I think it would be nice if they had a “this restaurant isn’t available for booking at this time” message instead of the standard “nothing’s available.” At least now I’m just going to wait for the reservation finders to tell me it’s open instead of repeatedly checking in the hopes I might get a cancellation.

 

[RealBlast3]

I presume tons of spots will open for everything on the day the candlelight processional packages are released, I guess. What's odd is how this only affects a few Epcot restaurants to the extreme, this year really affecting Rose and Crown alot, probably because Rose and Crown dinners are also being held up for the darn final Illuminations dining package so people can sit on the patio outside the restaurant and have an excellent view of it.

And now this year I noticed a Mickey's Merry Christmas Party Dining package too, in Magic Kingdom, which is probably affecting those restaurant's availability as well. I'm not quite sure why one needs a "package" for these reservations, though? I mean, last year, I bought my Christmas Party ticket, and had an evening ressie at Be Our Guest. This year, I'm going to do the same. I already got a 5pm dining reservation for Be Our Guest that night and I'm going to buy my party ticket, as well. Why would I need a "dining package"? If you have the dining plan, either way I'll be using 2 credits and I don't understand the need for the package.

 

[lovin'fl]

This is just ridiculous. If I can't book my dining yet, then don't tell me 180 days. I'd be happy to wait until 120 days and have full availability then play the 'when will they release them' game...

This. I wish they would shorten the windows. Make dining ADRs at 2 months out and FP+ at one month out (one week for off site folks). But they want to encourage people to book rooms and all that at 6 months out. They should do that with pricing and free dining offers and whatnot. But then have ADR window open at 2-3 months out and FP+ 4-6 weeks out. That gets Disney's schedules more set and makes it easier for us to know what's what.