And just as a data point, many of the ones that use Open Table, you can also book directly with once you see reservations open in Open Table. IIRC, we had to do that with at least one (Raglan Road, I think?) due to the size of our party.
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My TA emailed me today to remind me that I ācan begin making ADRs on June 21ā. 
I did the leading all on my own and she doesnāt know about it, so I havenāt posted my victories on FB (weāre friends there) yet. I figure Iāll just do it on the 21st like āYAY! Look what I snagged!!!ā (And let people wonder how I snagged Space220 Lounge for Day 3. )
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A big advantage with Open Table is that - other than Raglan Road which required a credit card the last time I pondered it - you can cancel up to just before the reservation. And if the unthinkable happens and youāre not able to make it, there is no penalty and you donāt have to bump and run.
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Raglan does that sometimes, not always. They asked me for a credit card for a brunch reservation once.
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I guess Iāve looked at it at popular times - every time Iāve pondered Iāve gotten the request for a card.
When I booked Raglan through OpenTable a few days ago, they requested a CC. They even charged $1 and then refunded it back almost immediately to confirm validity.
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I wonder if they are doing it more often these days? I generally book them after 10pm and I have only been asked once (out of maybe a dozen times?).
My friend booked it so I do not know if she was asked for CC. (She has open table account, so I had her do the bookings)
We are going to Raglan on our first nightā¦a Friday. That should be interesting. I have never been, we have made reservations a couple times, but plans changed and we ended up cancelling.
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Completed things today.
Well, the initial getting of ADRs anyway. As always with me, subject to change.
Hereās the line-up
8/20 - arrival in the evening, no ADRs
8/21 - AK Day - 8:00am Tusker House (yes, changed backā¦Iāve got all day in the park this day, the other I have to leave by 4)
8/22 - Epcot Day - 11:30am Space 220 Lounge; 6:30pm Beaches & Cream
8/23 - MNSSHP Day (no park other than that) - 11:30am Boathouse
8/24 - Epcot/MK Day - 6:30pm Skipper Canteen
8/25 - Epcot Day - 7:30am Topolinoās Terrace; 2:00pm Space 220 Lounge; 6:30pm La Hacienda (one of those 2 will disappearā¦depends on the initial Space 220 experience and if a friend and her kids can come meet up so I can take the kids on Mission Space Orange - she is claustrophobic and canāt and theyāre not old enough to ride solo so I offered to take them since they want to and love space)
8/26 - AK/Departure Day - 7:30am Boma (added advantage of I can go back up to my room and brush my teeth before checking out and checking my bags - assuming of course AKL stays as the resort)
Once I can cancel my leading (Iām in my own actual window as of 6/21), Iāll look into Up Close With Rhinos. Iāve done it before, so itās not the end of the world if itās full, but it will be a bonus if I can get in. Just gotta wait for the leading deposit to go back on the gift card.
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I canceled my leading reservation today and had this pop up. I wasnāt worried, but it was reassuring to see this.
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My ADRs are all done. Except for a MK Dessert Party (day 7 or 9) and Rose&Crown fireworks (day 9 or 13) as they donāt seem to have any dates released after August 11th.
Day 0 : No ADR.
Day 1: AK, Wild Africa Trek 8:45am. DS T-REX 6pm. Cirque du Soleil 8pm
Day 2: MK. Hoop-dee-doo musical review 6:15pm
Day 3: EP. Garden Grill lunch 11:45am. H20 Glow/Typhoon Lagoon.
Day 4: HS. Saviās 10:25am Droids 11:30am.
Day 5: AK Rhinos 11am. Yak&Yeti 12:30. Beaches&Cream 7:40pm.
Day 6: Toppolinos 11:30am. MNSSHP.
Day 7: MK
Day 8: HS Ogaās cantina 1:45pm
Day 9: EP. Space 220 Restaurant 12:30
Day 10: AK Tusker House 12:30.
Day 11: HS Sci-fi Dinner 12:30
Day 12: MK
Day 13: EP
Day 14: departure for airport
I cancelled my leading reservation (that is the 2nd time I do that). Due to currency rates, I gained 0.83ā¬ for the deposit refund and I lost 0.57ā¬ for the 2nd one. I made 0.26ā¬ out of this 
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Now thatās winning!
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Today is my āofficialā ADR day, so Iāve now gone public with my ADRs (including a āI have NO clue how I snagged Space220 Lounge on 60+3! Someone must have let it go right when I hit search!ā response if anyone asks about it! )
Cancelled the leading and everything held. 
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My refund from my leading hit the gift card today!
Called right at 7 and got Up Close With Rhinos for 8/26!! I wanted the 21st but that was sold out. So it will wrap up my trip rather than starting it.
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Glad itās worked out so well for you!
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Thanks!
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I have a leading reservation and have been making my ressies one day at a time. Yesterday, I was able to make reservations for Wednesday, August 31. Today, I should be able to make one for September 1, but it is not even allowing me to move to September. Is this a calendar thing? Like maybe they havenāt loaded schedules for September yet?
All done, leading res cancelled and refunded and managed to get everything we wanted, nothing crazy but it was nice to get toppolinos, Beaches and cream and Storybook, al of which we couldnt get last trip.
thanks for the help everyone,
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Hello all,
There are so many messages and I am trying to understand this concept but having a difficult time!
Our check in is March 24, check out is April 1 (8 nights).
Could I just modify my reservation fo start March 22 and then once the 60 day window is passed modify it back to start the 24th?
If this would not work - do I make a new (second) reservation for March 22-April 1 or would it this second reservation just be March 22 - March 24?
Has this ever messed up for anyone? If so, I donāt know if I would be willing to take the chance of losing all our reservations especially since we are going for 8 nights anyways and should be able to snag a couple of our hard to get restaurants near the end of our trip.
I appreciate your help. We, like most others, are hoping for a few popular ones including Tusker House, Ohana, Homecoming, SciFi. We are travelling with friends who have never been so I would love to be successful in getting these reservations.
Thanks again!
I donāt personally keep up with demand for the various ADRs, so someone else will need to speak to how important it is to use a leading reservation to make sure you can get those specific ones.
I can explain the mechanics though. There is a spreadsheet here that will walk you through it and does all the calculations for you:
Changing your reservation to start on March 22 instead of March 24 would give you a little help, but not much.
The idea of the leading reservation is that it gives you access to book your ADR at the earliest possible time, not only making sure there are ADRs still available but also give you a wide selection of times.
So if you want to have that kind of access to book ADRs for March 24, you need your leading reservation to start 10 days before that, on March 14. If you use March 22, everyone with check-in dates between March 14-21 would be able to book March 24 ADRs before you.
And everyone with March 15-21 check in dates would be able to book March 25 ADRs before you. And so on.
Using a completely separate ADR has an extremely good track record of being successful. I donāt think weāve had a single person lose their ADRs using this method.
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