New FP+ and midnight at the computer

[Amy]

Would Be Our Guest really not have reservations available by 6am of the 180 day in advance time line??

It's definitely a possibility. Online reservations open at midnight, plus people staying on property can book up to 190 days out (the first day of your trip has to reach 180, but you can book for up to 10 days after that). If you don't get what you want, keep trying. Things almost always open up as people change thier mind about their reservation, cancel their trip, etc.

Hmmm...we are definitely staying on property and 180 away is today and even at 2:45am when I was up with my son, I could not find one reservation for Be Our Guest. I cant' even find a reservation for Chef Mickey's for that day either. Am I missing something?! Does EVERYONE stay up until midnight to make these reservations??

From the posts I have seen online on Facebook, there are a lot of travel agents that do the booking for their clients as soon as the ressies open up.

[Polynesian Princess]

Would Be Our Guest really not have reservations available by 6am of the 180 day in advance time line??

It's definitely a possibility. Online reservations open at midnight, plus people staying on property can book up to 190 days out (the first day of your trip has to reach 180, but you can book for up to 10 days after that). If you don't get what you want, keep trying. Things almost always open up as people change thier mind about their reservation, cancel their trip, etc.

Hmmm...we are definitely staying on property and 180 away is today and even at 2:45am when I was up with my son, I could not find one reservation for Be Our Guest. I cant' even find a reservation for Chef Mickey's for that day either. Am I missing something?! Does EVERYONE stay up until midnight to make these reservations??

Are you looking later in your trip? Keep trying different days and different times - especially for odd meal times (really early or really late reservations). It may be worth calling the reservation line when they're open. I'm not sure if they can do a generic search and tell you if anything at all is available during your trip, or if they have to plug dates and times individually as we do.

Keep checking every day if you don't have any luck. While there's never been anything official ever said, many people suspect that they don't release all of the available reservations at that 180 day mark and more come open as you get closer. In many ways, it makes sense. It's easier on the restaurant to have a steadier flow of customers than being booked solid at peak meal times and empty the rest of the day. By spreading out when those spots open up, it effectively force people to choose less popular times and/or restaurants. It also gives people booking closer to their trip an opportunity at some of the nice places. However, if they even really do this, who knows if they do it at places like BOG that will end up booking to capacity regardless.

Also, if you're traveling with a large party, you might have better luck splitting up the party into two smaller groups and booking reservations at the same time/within a few minutes of each other. Then when you arrive, explain that you're actually one party and see if they might be able to seat you close together. Of course if you do this, you have to accept that there's a high probability that they might not be able to accommodate you and you might be dining on opposite sides of the restaurant that night. Especially at such a popular option, I would expect to dine separately if you book two smaller parties and be pleasantly surprised if they can put you near each other. This trick managed to get my party of 11 into Citricos. We weren't able to sit at one table, but they did place us at two tables across the aisle from each other - too far to talk between the tables, but close enough to see each other. It was a nice chance to talk in smaller groups.

Make backup plans in case you can't get in, but don't lose faith. We really wanted to stay at Wilderness Lodge, but there were zero rooms so we booked at AKL. I checked daily (sometimes multiple times a day) for months with nothing opening up. I had given up and just accepted that we'd be at AKL after all. After weeks of not checking, I accidentally clicked on the price my vacation button when I was trying to check the park hours. It had all of my information saved from before and what do you know - we got into Wilderness Lodge after all.

[Belle1082]

Great advice and information, Poly Princess! I will continue to check (probably daily) because I'm determined to get all of our reservations booked! It just kills me that even last night I was on my phone around 1am and couldn't find anything. And I'm not even searching for a specific time...just searching for a meal time and still couldn't pull up anything for BOG or Chef Mickey's for that matter. And I know those ressies aren't even as popular as BOG. I even tried to split up the party into smaller groups and nothing pulled up!
Either way, I'll keep plugging away! What an ordeal just to make a couple of dining reservations! Hope it is all worth it!

Yay for getting into WL! We stayed there last time and it was nice. I really enjoyed being able to take the boat to MK.
We are staying at Saratoga Spring things time...not thrilled, but it will still be an amazing trip! if only i can get these ressies booked. hehe

[Polynesian Princess]

I just thought of something that may be giving you problems. Each restaurant has a party size cut off for booking online. If I remember correctly, some start as low as 8 or 9. Once your party hits that limit, you have to call the restaurant directly to make the reservation. For some strange reason, it varies based on the restaurant. So when I was booking for our party of 11 last year, on a week long trip with 1 sit down per day, I think I had to call directly about 3 places and I was able to book 4 online. With a party of 10(?), you might be hitting this limit.

The crazy thing is that if I remember correctly, it doesn't tell you this when you're trying to book online (as in, it simply tells you there's no availability without directing you to call the restaurant). I think I only found out about it when trying the trick I mentioned to book 2 smaller parties. Then when I read the terms and conditions you agree to, I saw the clause about parties of x or greater.

[Belle1082]

I just thought of something that may be giving you problems. Each restaurant has a party size cut off for booking online. If I remember correctly, some start as low as 8 or 9. Once your party hits that limit, you have to call the restaurant directly to make the reservation. For some strange reason, it varies based on the restaurant. So when I was booking for our party of 11 last year, on a week long trip with 1 sit down per day, I think I had to call directly about 3 places and I was able to book 4 online. With a party of 10(?), you might be hitting this limit.

The crazy thing is that if I remember correctly, it doesn't tell you this when you're trying to book online (as in, it simply tells you there's no availability without directing you to call the restaurant). I think I only found out about it when trying the trick I mentioned to book 2 smaller parties. Then when I read the terms and conditions you agree to, I saw the clause about parties of x or greater.

Huh --- Interesting! I didn't realize that either. And definitely weird considering it let's you choose that big of a party too! I'll have to give them a call soon! I hope we didn't miss the boat to get rezzies for Be Our Guest! A must do for our trip in October.

Thanks for the heads up! I'm trying not to stress especially since I've been looking every single day and nothing is popping up! Will call soon!

[Polynesian Princess]

Good luck! I woukd definitely call asap. Free dining was released today, so anything remaining will be disappearing quickly.