Tomorrow morning my 180 day window opens for booking my ADRs. I’m staying on property so I’ll get up to 180+9.
On the one hand I’m relaxed because I’ve booked ADRs much closer to arrival day and not had difficulty — I’ve had BOG, CRT, CG, V&A . . .
Nonetheless, I have a plan I’m in love with and I want to get what I want.
Can anyone speak to general booking strategy (multiple browsers? multiple machines — desktop, iPad, etc) and specific strategy for the following (in terms of which I try to book first).
Day 0 Dinner Monsieur Paul
Day 1 Breakfast 1900PF Dinner Narcoossee’s
Day 2 Brunch Sci-Fi Dine-In Dinner Flying Fish
Day 3 Breakfast Boma Dinner Tiffins
Day 4 Brunch California Grill Dinner Flying Fish
Day 5 Breakfast Garden Grill Dinner Hollywood Brown Derby
Day 6 Breakfast Tusker House Dinner Jiko
Day 7 Breakfast Ohana Dinner Cindarella’s Royal Table
I’ve seen people suggest multiple browsers set up ahead of time but when I tried that they all timed out and I had to log in again, so I abandoned them and just used the one. Not sure what I did wrong but I’m pretty useless with technology. I think multiple devices is probably a good idea as sometimes the app won’t work and sometimes the website won’t.
That’s the only one that can’t be moved — it has to be on that day because they only do it on Sundays. So it certainly makes sense to go for that first. I’m shooting for 11.30am.
I ended up using a combo of my laptop, home pc and my phone because all 3 bugged out at one point or another. It was very stressful . I was extremely grateful for the time difference so I didn’t have to do it while sleep deprived!
I wonder how many tables for one each restaurant allocates? If you can’t get a table for one maybe try getting a table for two? Imaginary friend time😉.
I have some experience with this. I find that you often get different (but similar) times if you change from 1 person to 2 (or vice versa). If I do book a table for 2, I usually then go to the app and change it to 1. This has always worked.
I actually always book for 2, even when going solo. For the vast majority of the TSs, a solo is going to be put at a two-top anyway, so I’m not really depriving someone else from getting an ADR - and on several occasions I have invited other solo travelers that I have met to join me for a meal. BG is one of the few places that does “community” seating, so when I check in I make sure to tell them that it will only be 1 person.
'Ohana will never find a table for 1. You have to search for 2 there. It’s a glitch for 'Ohana.
I usually just search for 2 anyway since I don’t have any that I pre-pay. If I feel like changing to 1 (other than 'Ohana), I will, otherwise I don’t bother since other than the counter at Beaches & Cream the tables are minimum 2-tops.
I would search for ‘Ohana, CRT, Sci-Fi, and CG first. Not necessarily in that order. They are all high-demand.
I had the entire list open on one tab and used the page search (CTRL-F) to find the one I needed and then opened the search for date and time into a new tab. That way I could close when I was done and the main listing was still there. Then I’d search for the next one. It didn’t take long.
I don’t have any advice, just wanted to say that your trip looks awesome. I’m sure I’ve said that already. Probably more than once. Good luck with your ADR strategy. I will be following along.
Here’s what I’ve come up with, based on: how important the reservation is to me, how critical the timing is, how popular I perceive the restaurant to be, how late into my trip the reservation is.
I just booked all of ours this morning at 180 days out and got everything we wanted (including an 8:00am PPO CRT breakfast) with the exact times we wanted with the exception of a Fantasmic dining package - I don’t think they’re available yet. I had my laptop, ipad, and phone all open. Ended up using the laptop and the phone.
. I was extremely grateful for the time difference so I didn’t have to do it while sleep deprived!