This is huge, so if you’re making your advanced dining reservations anytime soon, please be aware of this. You probably know that anyone can make his advanced dining reservations 180 days from the date he wants to dine. If you’re a resort guest, you can make your reservations at 180 days to the date of your resort check-in plus10 days. This extra ten days gives resort guests a bit of edge when making ADRs and is a huge perk of staying on-site. I’m going to Disney on December 4th which means that tomorrow, June 7th, is the date and I can make my reservations for my entire stay, which is eight days on Disney property. I was getting a bit nervous about availability so I decided to go on Disboards and check out the latest news.
It turns out that people have been making their ADRs 190 days out rather than 180 and have been doing this since at least May 28th. No one knows if this is a glitch in the system or some change Disney is implementing. This is only for resort guests and it’s only for that one day, so it’s not 190 + 10, just a simple 190 days out. The only drawback is that you have to call each day to get your ADRs. Of course, the other drawback is that most people don’t know it’s going on, which is creating some frustration among Disney fans.
I was able to make all my ADRs (and yes, I felt a twinge of Catholic guilt getting in early) except Cinderella’s Royal Table and Fantasmic, neither of which would come up, which makes me think this is intentional. There wasn’t any availability the entire week for Le Cellier dinner, although I could get a lunch seating every day. Earlier dinner seatings for Boma were full every night but I could get in at around 6:45. Chef Mickey’s was available for breakfast every day of my stay. I got into California Grill and 1900 Park Fare easily as well. This makes me wonder if Disney isn’t holding back bookings at their most popular restaurants until the 180 mark. I’ll be up bright and early tomorrow morning to find out and I’ll update then.
Here’s theDisboards thread if you want to read more.
Let our friends at Destinations to Travel help you book your next Disney Vacation. They are the preferred Travel Agency of Chip and Company and Disney Addicts, and who we use ourselves.
Get started below for your FREE No Obligation Quote.
Book With our friends at Destinations to Travel
For the BEST in Disney, Universal, Dollywood, and SeaWorld Theme Park News, Entertainment, Merchandise & More follow us on, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. Don't forget to check out the Chip and Company Radio Network too!
Chris that's good to know about the points. I will make sure to do the same.
And I think you have an excellent point. Disney is not stupid and this would be a really nice perk for those staying on-site.
I also think that if I WAS staying on site and did not monitor boards or blogs to know about this little secret change, I would also be irritated when I went to make my ADRs at 180 days and couldn't get what I wanted.
Nancy, my reservation is on DVC points. I went last week and added it to “my disney vacation” so it came right up.
One thing I did see was that you sometimes have to put in the date yourself rather than use the Disney calandar. You also sometimes have to go back a page after you've made a reservation before you can make another (in other words, you can't use the reservation sidebar that's on the same page as your confirmation, if that makes sense).
I would be upset too. I wonder if this is somehow related to the projected trend of offering fewer discounts. If you make it so there's a distinct advantage to staying on site (one that can't be disputed as easily as say, “being in the Disney bubble” which is what a lot of us cite for our reason for staying on property or one that's more significant than something like package delivery back to your room), then you're going to have fewer problems filling rooms.
I read through some of the DIS boards thread, seemed like it was inconsistent, at least at the beginning. What I will be very curious to see is if it works for DVC reservations on points, since that reservation # is I believe different (not entirely sure). I couldn't find anyone to comment one way or the other, so I guess I'll keep an eye on the thread and see what happens around June 23 now…as opposed to July 3.
I have to say that if I were not staying on Disney property, I would be pretty irritated about this.
It only works online. If you call, the cast members can only book at 180 days. I got everything I wanted, but some of the times were not when I wanted them. I got CG when I wanted it, but could only get Le Cellier for lunch and Boma at later times for dinner (rather than a more kid-friendly 5:30).
The Disboard thread is just more of the same, people being able to get through. Some people have mentioned that the system is a little off. It will be interesting to see why they did this and didn't announce it. I suspect it's a test and may be limplemented in the future, which works for me, although it gives people staying on site a HUGE boost, even more so than 180 + 10.
What do you think? I was hoping you would see this.
Hmmm very interesting indeed. So you were able to do this online Chris? And you got all your ADRs for the week? I haven't read the DIS boards thread yet, but this would be SO nice if it's still in effect when I book for New Years: I would love to get a 10 day jump on the rest of the hoards.
Lisa, I couldn't do it over the phone either. The CM wasn't aware of any changes but you can still do it online. I wonder what's going on?
VERY interesting AND confusing. I happened to be on phone with Disney dining this very morning verifying some info. for the book and they confirmed that ADRs can be booked 180 days out. The rep. didn't mention 190 days (other than by confirming the 180 + 10 day rule).