Yay!
3 Likes
After missing like 5 finally got an Earlier BOG reservation I had been hoping for. There is hope!
4 Likes
Not trying to challenge you but I am just curious if you have a source for that as I would like to read and understand the Reservation Finder more. I am shocked to hear its not a bot. Why wouldn’t it be a bot? That seems like the easiest and most logical way of doing it.
1 Like
I have read it before - I forget where.
But just from my experience, I have often found things before being notified. If it were a bot, I would assume it would be constantly checking and that would not happen.
1 Like
The source is @lentesta, who runs TP! He also worked with Disney to meet all of their other requirements to allow the reservation finder to continue to function, unlike the sites that did indeed use bots to do the work and would not compromise on other limitations.
They have a team who run searches at regular intervals through the day.
4 Likes
So sounds like Disney prohibits the use of bots if I am understanding you, which makes sense. Wow ok, well that just makes me appreciate the Reservation Finder that much more. Thanks for the info!
1 Like
3 Likes
This may have been said but this has worked for me now 3 times. The most recent was this morning. I was looking for an earlier reservation for one I already had though. When I received the text, I logged into my MDE app and modified my reservation. The time that the Reservation Finder found, popped up and I grabbed it. I’m so happy it worked. I wasn’t looking forward to an 8:00 dinner after being up since 4:30. We would have powered through though.
ETA: I hope you found the reservations you were looking for, it’s almost trip time. Yay, have fun!
2 Likes
I have a question regarding the Finder…why is there a notes field when it is ignored?
I’m still trying to get the ideal eating time for Ohana, and I have note saying “nothing before 5PM please”, THREE TIMES now it has come back with earier times than 5. Now I have to restart the thing again.
I appreciate the service, but c’mon…the notes are there for a reason.
Your request is not being done in isolation. There could be 200 people looking for Ohana on the day you are looking for.
Maybe the notes are for you?
If you search on MDE for a specific time, it searches for a reservation between an hour before and an hour after.
Therefore, if you want after 5pm, you enter 6pm as your time. The search will then be for 5-7pm. Do the same on the reservation finder.
4 Likes
Ugh, long day and I’m an idiot. I knew that’s how the system worked, but for some dumb reason I never thought to put the search at 6pm.
Still doesn’t really clear up the notes thing though. Are the notes for us or them? I don’t think it specifically says anywhere. Still… if they keep ignoring it: there is my answer.
1 Like
The notes are for you. Travel agents may have dozens of searches going on at the same time. The notes help them remember which clients they’re for.
1 Like
Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification!
We love O’hana we got our reservation after trying for months. Our trip was last week. Unfortunately the food wasn’t up to our last experience expectations. 
The mood and service was great (they set us at a table for 4 so we had to basically scream across the table at each other to hold a conversation and put the platter of food and we had to wait for 15 mins which I didn’t understand it was 9:40 pm and the restaurant was half empty). I hope your experience is better than ours.
1 Like
Ohana is our arrival day tradition. Sadly due to our experience a few weeks ago that tradition is likely ending.
1 Like
Well looks like SciFi is the elusive adr this year. 3 weeks til trip and no alerts still. I have search for both lunch and dinner w/o a bite, 4 & months now.
I’m thinking of leaving the search as is, but looking independently re 50s PT.
Counting on res finder to bail us out - totally forgot to include an 11-mo-old infant when we made dining res at 180 days!! I suppose he was left out because he won’t have a DDP, but still! We are 7 adults and FOUR children!
I wouldn’t worry too much about a baby. He should be included but I doubt they would turn you away.
Like @missoverexcited said, don’t worry about it. My understanding when we took our youngest at that age is that if they are under 12 months they don’t need a res. We operated as if that was the policy and never once had an issue and never had reservations for the infant.
That’s a relief! Thanks so much for easing my mind, but in future we’ll remember to include the babies!