Has anyone had any luck using Disney Dining Buddy or something similar, or did I just waste my eight dollars?
My 180 opened Tuesday. I was up and ready doing everything I thought I needed to do, but the website wasn’t working for me. I then sat on the phone for two hours when they opened up, only to be told everything was booked. I only got one reservation I wanted. This will be our entire family’s first visit and if we don’t find a way to get CRT we’ll be devastated. That castle and Cinderella ARE Disney to a five and eight year old.
Is it free dining or is there something else going on I don’t know about. I couldn’t even get House of Blues at 4:00 midweek. Are the reservations all released when they’re suppose to be?
I have not heard anything about Dining Buddy specifically, but I have heard good things about ADR Sniper. I believe that the same thing applies to both of them - you must be ready to jump on a reservation as soon as they notify you. I have also heard lots of success stories from people who just keep checking back on their own, especially around the 45-day mark when final package payments are due.
A lot of this is probably down to the 180+10 booking policy. People who are arriving earlier than you have probably snagged up prime reservations in their booking window, so they were not available when you hit 180. A good strategy is to go for difficult ADRs later in your stay, as there will have been fewer people eligible to make them then. Free Dining also makes things more competitive.
No, there are some reservation slots that are released later - not sure which ones, though. Perhaps someone with more experience here can jump in.
I ran into this problem with House of Blues in April. When I called them, they told me they only take reservations 30 days out. I had no trouble getting a reservation at 30 days.
A lot of people have been complaining this week, but have been able to get good ADRs later. I don’t think all restaurants or available times are being released at once. I’ve never seen so many problems.
Yeah, and of course I was involved in the free dining craziness. I was going free dining or not, plus intended to upgrade my dining plan, so I thought why not try for it. I didn’t have any trouble booking that exactly where and when I wanted it, but I know the insanity that followed. Now they’re still advertising free dining as we speak. I don’t mind all the advanced planning, but it’s beginning to feel a little Black Friday-ish which I’m not cool with. As I mentioned, this is our first trip. I was already planning trip two in my head, but this is really disheartening and makes rethink a future trip.
I’m hoping my mind will get changed once I’m there. This feels more like I’m preparing for competitive sport rather than a vacation, and I’m more on the weekend hobbiest level!! lol Anything to give my kiddies the magic I was never able to experience!
And thanks for the info. That’s good to know about House of Blues. I want to be close to La Nouba, the thing I’m most looking forward to. I don’t know why the CM couldn’t tell me that. She said I couldn’t book it because of MVMCP which didn’t quite make sense. Like the extra attendance in MK would make it that much busier at DD mid-day??? Maybe because people can’t dine in MK? I think you guys know way more than the CM.
I used ADR sniper with great success to get BOG for when I wanted. You do have to jump on it right away, but there were a bunch that opened that I could chose from.
I just using Dining Buddy and have been happy with it. Sure, I maybe could have found the slot myself, but that is a maybe. I found myself checking a LOT and figured it was worth the money for my time!
Just a warning, I didn’t get any notification for weeks, then suddenly I did, then silence, then a ton, then silence, then a ton, etc.
I am choosing to still get the notifications in case something even better comes along but I did get something that was pretty close to what I wanted, good enough and better than what I had!
