Truth be told, there isn’t much need for a leading reservation for ADRs these days. Other than perhaps a few hard-to-get exceptions, most ADRs have plenty of availability at 60 days. The harder to get ones, if you plan them for later in your trip (if you have a longer stay), should be enough to get the ADR.
In your case, the big problem was you created your leading reservation TOO far in advance. You really shouldn’t book it more than 10 days ahead of the end of your stay, or some level of overlap to allow getting a hard-to-get ADR toward the front of your trip.
Mostly, I just don’t recommend using leading reservations at all, so my comments are simply acknowledging the fact that it happens, regardless.
I primarily used it to get Space 220 Lounge for 5 on our check in day. I have been watching our other interests and I agree I don’t think it will be an issue to get the others we want so I will just wait it out. Thanks for your feedback!
I’m a little surprised you could book for 5. I thought all the tables were a 2- or 4-top! But, maybe they push a couple together.
In any case, that one is one of the harder ones to get. You probably could have done fine getting it at the END of your trip without a leading reservation. But getting it on your check in day, definitely would be tricky!
I was there Dec 2024 with three other Liners. We were seated at a rectangular table with 2 per long side. It could have been similar to one like this photo. It would be easy for a CM to add a 5th chair on the short end. Or maybe squeeze 3 on one long side?
Has anyone ever tried showing up to a Space 220 lounge reservation for two with three people? I went ahead and booked the table for two because there was nothing bigger available for my date in the lounge. I have a Mouse Dining alert set and hoping something pops up. If it doesn’t, I’m hoping we can just add a chair on the side end, but I know the two person tables are pretty small.
My friend made the ADR for two, but another friend joined us. The one who made the ADR went to the check-in host to change our group to 3. We just had to wait a bit longer (5-10 min?), but then we got seated. I think she had to do that another time, too.
ETA: The ADR was for mid-afternoon, so not at a busy mealtime.
I did this with my daughters (9 and 11) last July, assuming that it would be easy to squeeze in two kids, and was turned away.
In fairness, we were running late and I was intending to stop by only to cancel the reservation in person to avoid a charge, but then realized we were still (just) within the 15 min grace period - so I tried to check in instead. They called up to the restaurant to ask and then told me that unfortunately they could not accommodate us. I was surprised, as it didn’t feel busy either in the park or at the Space 220 check-in, but it was not a must do for us so I didn’t offer to wait or try to negotiate. I also figured that turning up right at the end of the grace period probably factored into that decision (and might have led to them giving our table away before we arrived).
It’s been a long time since I’ve thought about any of this. My initial thought is that they changed something with how they are enforcing this because it seems to gut the loophole? Or at least make it a lot more cumbersome?
Someone with more recent knowledge let me know if I should be changing the calculator or adding an additional note or something?
