Advance dining reservations: the good, the bad, and the inside scoop

[mkraemer]

Advance dining reservations...people strategize over where they want to eat and at what time during their Walt Disney World vacation. Timing and location are important. Having a reservation at a specific restaurant is critical to some folks (the Princess Breakfast in the castle comes leaping to mind). A reservation that's a little too late can make you miss the fireworks or Illuminations; that's not good!

Recently, Walt Disney World began allowing travel agents to make advance dining reservations online.

Yep, online. No waiting on hold, no having to navigate through the robo-phone system choices. A dream come true.

What could be better? Having this ability an hour before the phone system opens. (OK, I'll be honest, 'an hour earlier' means I have to be up by 3 am to make reservations because it's all geared to East Coast time, so that's the not-quite-so-thrilling part of this scenario.)

But. (You knew there'd be a 'but,' didn't you?)

Only travel agents can make online dining reservations right now. So, it's another plus for having an agent who will 'go the distance' for you, and you don't have to wait on hold, navigate the phone system choices, or find out that the princess breakfast is sold out...

[Drince88]

Can you make the reservations at 90+10, or just straight 90?

Will this include Food & Wine festival items (i.e.,Sweet Sundays, Food & Wine Pairings, Party for the Senses) when those items become available?

[mkraemer]

Can you make the reservations at 90+10, or just straight 90?

Will this include Food & Wine festival items (i.e.,Sweet Sundays, Food & Wine Pairings, Party for the Senses) when those items become available?

Agents can make the reservations at 90 days (for all the dates of a vacation), just as guests can do at the 90-day mark.

The webpage looks as if it will have the Food & Wine offerings available, but it's not there yet, of course.

[iHEARTtheMOUSE]

When did they start this? The dining phone lines open at 6am my time, so a travel agent could make ADRs as early as 5am my time? Would a TA even work that early in the am, or would they not do it until they go in at 8 or 9? If so, that would defeat the purpose. I've only ever used a TA once, and that was 6 yrs ago and not a wdw vacation. So, I really don't remember how it works. Thanks.

[Samrain]

Was it supposed to be open to the public at the end of May?

I had to reschedule our August trip to September, making our 90 day mark May 31. The CM who was rescheduling told me to check online a few days prior because they were going to launch an online ADR booking system on the Disney website. Boy did I scour the Disney website only to read that it crashed after being online for a short time and is in "trial" stages with CMs and TAs...sigh!

[Drince88]

Was it supposed to be open to the public at the end of May?

Oh, it's been 'supposed to be' a lot longer ago than that. They keep trying though. When they first changed the ADR date to 90 days (I think that was almost 2 years ago now?) the plan was to have it online by the time the 90 day came around.

If you think it's hard now with the ADRs - they were 'releasing' the dates in blocks, but without any notice - so you really had to keep on your toes if you had a trip scheduled.

ETA: Yea, a TA wouldn't do it until they started work - but a lot of the Disney-specializing TAs would be getting up and doing it at that really super early hour, for their clients (and then either crawling back in bed or taking a break to get the family ready for the day or whatever). That's something to ASK when you first select your TA - Do you specialize in Disney, will you make my ADRs for me, and what time of day would you be doing that at my 90 day mark?

[mkraemer]

ETA: Yea, a TA wouldn't do it until they started work - but a lot of the Disney-specializing TAs would be getting up and doing it at that really super early hour, for their clients (and then either crawling back in bed or taking a break to get the family ready for the day or whatever). That's something to ASK when you first select your TA - Do you specialize in Disney, will you make my ADRs for me, and what time of day would you be doing that at my 90 day mark?

Exactly. As a Disney-specialist TA, I am doing precisely that, and well, it's just my geographic luck that I'm three hours earlier than eastern time. The online system goes live at 6 am, phones at 7 am; for me, on the west coast, that means being up at 3 am to make sure my clients get the advance dining reservation they want.

[TinaMouse]

Have you had any problems with the system? My TA tried to use it when my 90 mark hit and it would only let her do day 90. After that, it kicked her out. So she went old-school and phoned. I think this new system is one of
THE reasons to use a Disney-specialized TA. It was GREAT not to have to do the ADRs.

[mkraemer]

Have you had any problems with the system? My TA tried to use it when my 90 mark hit and it would only let her do day 90. After that, it kicked her out. So she went old-school and phoned. I think this new system is one of
THE reasons to use a Disney-specialized TA. It was GREAT not to have to do the ADRs.

I had a problem with the system, but perhaps it's a 'safeguard': When I tried to 'double dip' on reservations for the same day at approximately the same time, it crashed the system for me. :O

It's possible to book for the duration of a reservation, when the first day hits the 90-day mark, but the reservation number has to be entered to make that possible.

[danyoung]

So I'm guessing that most of this thread is now somewhat obsolete, now that anyone can do the online thing. My big question - is it still true that the online booking opens up an hour before 7am eastern?

[Fantasmicgal]

Yes Dan, you can make your ADRs online 1 hour before the phone lines open. That's what I did last week & it was really nice to get everything I wanted at the times I wanted. I tried to get my 90 + 10 to work at 5:59 am & it wouldn't work then at 6:01 I did it again and it worked perfectly.

[danyoung]

Excellent! I hope this isn't a loophole that they'll try to fill before September, when I book my dining for my December trip!

[mkleinbe]

Excellent! I hope this isn't a loophole that they'll try to fill before September, when I book my dining for my December trip!

Same here! I'm booking in August for my T'giving trip so I'm hoping it will still be the same. Maybe it will change after the new year if it has to change at all.