Will WDW ever be the same again?

I said nothing about a walk-up.

I said that the window has changed for everyone - no one who had ADRs prior to the shut down has them if they are outside of their 60-day window.

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Guess it wasnā€™t you that was talking about not having reservations and having no problem getting in. I also see what you mean with the 60 day thing rather than 160. Hopefully this will still give people who are from afar a better chance at getting hard to get Reservations.

Iā€™m the one who said we got what we wanted for our Thanksgiving trip planned at less than 60 days out. I did reserve dining as soon as we finally decided on dates.

We rarely walk up to a restaurant as weā€™re usually a big group. I think we were only 7 at Thanksgiving.

However, unless itā€™s a holiday, there are a few restaurants that are probably available day of. Not Norway or Chef Mickeyā€™s to be sure, but places with good food just the same.

We will miss our favorite buffets. Until we can eat there again, weā€™ll try new places.

Tho Iā€™m still confused as to how far I am from WDW makes a difference in obtaining reservations?

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Iā€™ve not just walked up to anywhere (Iā€™ve seen people do it and more often than not they are advised to go in the app and make a reservation, even if they merely walk a few steps away and then come back with said ADR), but I have checked day-of and gotten ADRs (maybe not for 'Ohana but I donā€™t care for their dinner anyway) many times before.

As of now, everyone has the same 60 days regardless of if they are local or from the furthest possible place. The difference - as always - is that to be able to book for your length of stay (up to 10 extra days) at that point, you need to be on property (and as I understand it not doing a split-stay - I donā€™t believe in them, so I donā€™t know from experience but I understand that you would have to start over for the second (or third or fourth or whatever) part of your stay at the 60 day mark for that one). If you are off-property you are still needing to get up 60 days prior to every day of your stay. Nothing in the system has changed except the how far out date.

If anything, Iā€™d think it would make things more competitive since there seem to be a good number of people (not many on here, but I see it on other boards) who decide to go between 180 and 60 days before leaving, so there may actually be more people with reservations vying for those ADRs at 60 days. Just speculation on my part, but Iā€™d think itā€™s possible.

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I would expect there to be probably twice as many if not more trying to get ADRs at 60 days. The 180 really suited us as coming from the UK we always book over a year in advance as thatā€™s when our offers are out.

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Iā€™m still confused how you think someone far away canā€™t get ADRs. I live in PA and I have the same chance at getting Sci Fi as someone from Florida at 60 days, if both of us are staying onsite. Same was true when it was at 180 days.

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I definitely feel like there would be many more people vying at 60 - I feel like there are a lot more people (typically not from other countries, though I suppose there are always some) who make their vacation plans much closer to the time. I know even among colleagues at school many of them are shocked when I already have my Feb break plans in place on the first day of school. My thought is ā€œYou already know we get that week by contract. Weā€™ve learned from the past (Sandy) that if they take days, if you already have plans in place they cannot penalize you for taking your whole vacation - you lose the days, yes, but you still get your pay and you cannot be penalized for taking them.ā€

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Agreed. I donā€™t understand that thinking. Even if youā€™re in different time zones, if it is that important to be on the computer at 6am Eastern, you figure the time out and get yourself up (or block out the time as a meeting (Iā€™ve heard of people doing that before if the time falls midday) or stay up depending on your time zone). It might take a little more thinking on the advance end, but you have the same chance as everyone else to be on at 6am eastern.

The slighter disadvantage would be if you donā€™t have access to the internet or cellular data for the app and have to wait until 7 to book on the phone. But even then itā€™s only an hour plus hold time behind.

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People at my work are always amazed when I can book my holidays for a year in advance too. I just book school holidays but Iā€™m the only one with kids!

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A few things on our calendar change - Spring Break is always over Passover, but when Easter overlaps (it usually does but not always) it can be a tad longer depending - but other things are set, like our Feb Break. Itā€™s always Presidents Week. No reason NOT to book a trip if you know you want to escape!!

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DocHopper, I am with you on that. I donā€™t eat that much but I love having a huge variety on my plate. You donā€™t get that with family style, which just gives you an unlimited (maybe) amount of a very limited selection of food. The Akershus breakfast comes to mind.

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First off on my comment on difficulty getting ADRā€™s 60 days out rather than 160. I think that has been answered to some degree. There are going to be a lot more people vying for ADRā€™s 60 days out rather than 160. Secondly and I know some will disagree and I cannot prove otherwise, I feel that the locals and those of higher status are going to get first picks that early. I know I have tried on occasion at 160 days out and found the reservation to be non-exist. How does that take place? Like many things if you got the pull you get the reservation. Some will disagree with this and it is only my feelings. I believe if you are local you stand an advantage but I may be wrong. Now that should answer that question about being from a different part to the US. Still having a hard time understanding why people believe they are getting there monies worth with are the changes. I do not mind less people but the place looks absolutely deserted and whereā€™s the magic in that. If what I am saying about lack of previous things then where are all the people including me. Coarse for me and mine it is more the virus thing and even though Disney and Universal try their best, I am seeing that things are what they seem. Few wipe downs and thing like that. With Florida booking 10 thousand plus new cases a day, I wish you all luck when you get home. For me and mine NOT a chance.

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If you were trying at 160 days, then you probably did miss out on ADRs. It was 180 days. And if you stay onsite, you can book the length of your trip. So if you tried to book 180 days exactly for the first day of your trip, there were people booking that day before you, as that may have been at 180+ for them. But if your trip is a week, on your 180th day you could have booked out to 180+6 days and Iā€™ve never had difficulty getting ADRs towards the end of my trip. It works the same way with 60 days as well. Hereā€™s an article that explains some of the process. The only adjustment that needs to be made is that ADRs are currently at 60 days rather than 180 days.

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I think where the shorter booking window put locals at an advantage is they likely have more flexibility in scheduling when they visit.

So, if they really want to eat at elusive restaurant X around a certain month, they can start trying for the reservation and then arrange a long weekend to take advantage of it without having to worry about airfare and whatnot.

Someone coming from further away is probably taking a full week off work, which some employers require be done more than 60 days in advance, which locks them into a limited set of dates to try for a reservation. Or their dates are limited by airfare deals. In the past they could try for a reservation starting at 180 days and then build the trip around it more easily, have more time to watch for a corresponding good airfare, etc.

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My guess is that WDW will get enough back to normal at some point that it will seem like the ā€œgood old daysā€ and weā€™ll need to stop and think about the differences that remain.

Like after 9-11. Immediately thereafter, there were no flights. None. And then there were extreme restrictions. No butter knives. No nail clippers that had files attached. At some point, things seemed mostly normal again. Part of that was some things truly returning to pre 9-11, but some was just us getting used to it.

We used to meet people at the gates as they deplaned, for instance. IDs werenā€™t always checked before boarding. We could check luggage at the last minute and theyā€™d just toss on the next flight if it didnā€™t make it (but it usually did).

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We may be in the minority. We donā€™t care for buffets. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: We feel that the food is subpar, it looks unsanitary, and we donā€™t eat that much anyway. Plus, I donā€™t like having to hop around to get my food. So, I hope buffets will be gone for good.

Fireworks, parades, and stage shows must come back, someday, hopefullyā€¦

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Yes, it will be the same again.

The pundits love to refer to ā€œSpanish Fluā€ when declaring that we must/will have a second (or third or 4th) wave. But none of them mention the Spanish Flu was done in a year & a half when they declare ā€œTHE WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!ā€

And yet weā€™ve managed to put on over 50 Super Bowls and countless concerts, conventions, and theme park visits since Spanish Flu.

A little perspective. :slight_smile:

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