How do people respond to reservation finder so quickly?
I apologize if this question/rant comes off as too whiny but I am frustrated with Reservation Finder. I think the reservation finder is amazing. This is my third consecutive year using it. This is also the first year I have had trouble with it. I wonder if I am picking more popular restaurants, or if reservation finder itself is becoming more popular. We leave for our trip in 34 days and I have had a reservation finder set for Ohana on both of my slots for about a month now. My wife has also signed up and paid for a subscription just so we could get two more slots, both set to Ohana. So a total of 4 reservation finders all set for Ohana with overlapping hours. This way we get alerts on our phone and respond immediately. In the month we have had 4 slots set to Ohana, we have had 4 alert pings. We have responded immediately but missed all of them. Not only that, every single time we have tried to get in using the link that comes with the alert, it doesnāt work and we canāt log in and by the time we do the reservations are gone. How are people getting logged in and getting the reservations so quickly? Do all of the alerts go out at the same time? Why does trying to use the link with the alert always seem to fail now? There is literally no way we could go any faster. I keep āmy disney experienceā open all the time and just hit refresh on Ohana. Of course we got our 4th alert today 10 minutes after I walked away from a ārefresh Ohana sessionā. What am I doing wrong? Give me some tips. This is the one reservation my wife really wants to do and we have never seen the Poly, ugh!! End rant. Thanks guys and sorry if this is too much complaining. There are some questions sprinkled in there. Thanks for the help.
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I had the same trouble with BOG. I got an alert at 1:00 am, so there was no way I was going to grab that one. But, after the third try, I was able to get it. However, I did not use the link, I just went into the app and was able to book it (I think it must have been sheer luck though!). Keep trying, I hope it works for you
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The link only works for the first person to use it. Donāt bother trying, just log straight in and search yourself.
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Really? That is very interesting to know. I wonder why it is set that way.
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It was probably explained at one point. I think so that 2 people donāt cancel each other out trying to use it at the same time, but Iām not techy and I donāt know if that even makes sense. Or actually, I think it may be because they assume the first person will book it, but in reality they donāt always.
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That is so good to know. The alert link is definitely quicker when it works but I might just start using the app and detouring the link. Thanks
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When Iāve gotten the text, I go directly to MDE and not the link thatās gotten sent with the text. Iāve only used it twice. Once I got a text for BOG at 5 AM and went directly to MDE on my phone. The other time I got the text and was sitting at my computer and logged in to MDE on the desk top and got the Ohana time I wanted.
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I get it! Believe me. Itās happened to me numerous times.
But unless and until they limit it to only one person searching that hour for that restaurant at a time (unlikely), especially for a popular place like BOG, there are going to be multiple people who have a search set up who all get the text.
Also, the finder only finds the ADR. It does not hold it for anyone, so between the finder finding it and sending out the text and ANYONE clicking on the link or going to MDE in response, anyone else could be searching in their own and find it and grab it. So even if the reservation finder was limited to one search per time period per restaurant, it could still happen that you donāt snag it.
Again, I totally get the frustration.
But to paraphrase Doryā¦ Just keep searching, just keep searching. It CAN come through!
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Somewhat related - Iāve had two finders set up for about 2 weeks and have yet to get a ping. Is that common? Iām ~100 days out so itās still early.
Are they definitely active?
Thatās something else you need to know. Once you get a text/email, you have to go back in and re-activate the search.
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There is no set pattern to when youāll get one. Iāve gotten one within 30 minutes of setting up an alert and Iāve gone a couple of months without getting one.
Itās not a bot that searches constantly - it is people doing the searching - so itās also to your benefit to search periodically on your own in case someone lets one go before the people checking get there.
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Yeah, theyāre definitely active but havenāt heard a peep. Interesting itās humans doing it - I assumed it was a bot!
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If they are hard to get reservations (or for PPO), itās not uncommon. I have been searching for Beaches and Cream since four months ago when I made my ADRs. No hit, not surprising.
I also was looking for an early AM for Tusker House that I didnāt get a hit on for months and finally gave up on that one and searched something else.
I am new and sorry to sound ignorant but what and where is this āreservation finderā ?
Okay fellow Hokie 
donāt give up
Iāll complain less now, got my Beaches and Cream reservation 
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