I know that DLR dining reservations are made a bit differently that WDW reservations, but I can’t find the details anywhere. For DLR it’s just one day at a time 60 days in advance, right? Also, anyone know what time the reservations open up? I’m hoping that I don’t have to do a west coast 3 AM wake up to try to score my reservations!
1 Like
Theoretically it’s one day at a time 60 days in advance with the time being a moving target, but usually sometime around 6am EST (so yes 3am PST).
In actuality they drop little chunks of dining randomly within 60 days. It could be ready to roll right at 60 days and get released all neatly, but could be that 4 days in a row have passed with no new 60 days in advance opening up and then all of a sudden the next day, 5 days of availability drop to catch up to 60 days in advance being available.
If there’s a change of season coming up (and especially if any TS place will be offering some sort of seasonal package), it can be as close as 10-14 days before restaurant schedules are finalized to the point they release the ADRs. This is really hard to be patient for if you like to just get your ADRs set and be done with that piece of the planning.
And the time really is the hardest one to figure out. I’ve seen them release 12am PST, heard tell of lots of availability opening up at 3am PST and seen some later in the morning too. It’s random. I will say that I mostly hear about the the 3am-6am PST range.
One encouraging thing I have noticed that for a lot (not all, but quite a lot) of places, they seem to be holding back from releasing all the ADR’s they could leaving more room to accommodate a more flexible walk-up system. The restaurants in the app that have the walk-up feature will release times daily and depending on how busy multiple times a day for you to be able to make some on the ground dining decisions. And you can go to the hostess stand to get help being added to the walk-up list for the day if the app is giving you grief or if you just don’t want to bother with it. Obviously this isn’t how you get a Blue Bayou ressie, but for most anything else, the walk-up list seems to work out fairly well.
2 Likes
@ 6 weeks ago, Disney changed the drop time for dining reservations to 6am PST (9am EST). Those times still seem to be in effect: I checked just this morning and the newest date (60 days out) became available 9am EST.
2 Likes
I just booked Oga’s for our June trip, and both days it opened at 9 AM Eastern and the reservations were gone within seconds. Today I’m waiting for the dessert party to become available (the news said April 20!) and no sign of them yet (9:40 AM Eastern).
I woke up at 6 AM Eastern both days looking for Oga’s and there were no dining reservations yet, so it wasn’t just Oga’s that got released at 9. I’d still check at 6, because I figure the one time I don’t, they’ll release them then. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
2 Likes
On a related note, I just saw a post over on disboards that WOC Dessert Party drops have been happening earlier than 6am:
“Just an update from my experience today. Today was 60 days for me and I checked at 2:45 AM Pacific Time (using the browser, not the App) and was able to book the Dessert Party at that time. But also note that when I checked later out of curiosity around 5 AM Pacific Time, both showings were still available to book so it may not be super-critical right now to wake up in the middle of the night.”
Another user posted afterwards:
“I have an update, too. I checked at 2am and they weren’t available, but at 3am they were. I checked out of curiosity around 6:30 and there were reservations for the 9:00 dessert party, but they sold out fast. I’m so glad people have been reporting about this, because I assumed they would drop at 6am and I would have missed it.”
1 Like
Interesting to know. I’ve been hunting for an Oga’s ADR since my 60 day mark (I’m just 2 weeks out now), and have never seen a single slot available. I assumed they just didn’t release ADRs.
Anyone who has been recently and used the walk-up list system: How did that work? I’m interested in the process in general, doesn’t have to be for Oga’s.
A friend if mine went a couple weeks ago without reservations and they were able to get into Oga’s via standby. Same with Blue Bayou, twice! Just keep asking!
1 Like
I never once made an ADR for Disneyland. We went twice a couple years ago and just walked up and waited. Just two of us though, so that helps.
We used the official walk-up feature in the app last in June last year and it just required hitting “Join Walk-up List” while in proximity of the restaurant. If you’re too far away when you hit “Join Walk-up List” it will tell you once you try to join. If you’re close enough you can then enter the number in your party and it will tell you an appoximate wait time. They’ll ask you to come to the restaurant 15 min. before that time so you’re close by in case they can seat you any sooner.
Not all restaurants have a “Join Walk-up List” option built into the app but if there’s something you really want to try it’s always worth going up their hostess stand or CM manning the doorway with the iPad to ask for availability.
1 Like
I saw on a different site that Blue Bayou is going to open back up on June 24, which means we will miss it by a week. 
But anyone going after that is in luck. I’m not sure what that means for Pirates.
1 Like
I was pretty devastated when I discovered POTC was under refurb, and have been keeping my fingers crossed for 1st week of June. I guess its not meant to be for me on this trip. But that gives me at least one reason to come back.
Same. It was part of the reason we were going at all on our way to Hawaii. I’m trying hard to chalk it up to first world problems, but I’m pretty disappointed.