Success with outside reservation finder?

[mihtaylor]

Have any of you used a reservation finder (like Unlocked Magic) with any success? Do they work? Trying to nail down some elusive reservations for an upcoming trip. Thanks.

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

I’ve used the Touring Plans reservation finder many times and it’s almost always been successful for me. On our most recent trip 4 months ago, I did notice fewer opportunities to get a new reservation… in 2017 and 2018 I was getting texts that reservations had opened fairly often, but this year I only got two texts. I did nab both reservations though, so two was all it took! I think that people change their plans less often now that fast pass is gone and dining reservations aren’t moved around fast pass availability.

When I used the Touring Plans reservation finder this year, I was able to get Sci Fi for lunch at 12:20pm and Cinderella’s for dinner at 6:05pm (on a night MK wasn’t closing early for MNSSHP, which made it much more crowded.) And, I ended up canceling a Space 220 dinner reservation for 6 people about 24 hours in advance… it made me happy to imagine someone else getting a text that Space 220 had opened up at the last minute

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

Many reservation finders, including touring plans, are now out of operation. Once Disney updated the dining portion of the app earlier this year, it was no longer compatible with whatever bots companies had programmed to search for available reservations. I've heard there are some companies that updated their programs to be compatible with the Disney update but not sure which ones they are.

This is from the touring plans site:

Reservation Finder Unavailable​

Unfortunately, our Walt Disney World Reservation Finder is unavailable due to technical problems. As you may have noticed, Disney has changed its dining booking process, and that has impacted our Reservation Finder service.

We apologize for this. We do not know when or if the service will be restored, and we cannot provide you with any estimate of when it will be fixed. We understand that is frustrating. We will provide updates here when we have more information. Until then, please assume the Reservation Finder is inoperable and explore other services for your reservation-finding needs.

 

[Marthasor]

I've never heard of the one you listed, but, yes, I use one that is still currently in use and it's been 100% successful. You just need to have the flexibility to jump on the reservation, usually, the day before you want to go or day-of - that's when most people cancel.

 

[mihtaylor]

I've never heard of the one you listed, but, yes, I use one that is still currently in use and it's been 100% successful. You just need to have the flexibility to jump on the reservation, usually, the day before you want to go or day-of - that's when most people cancel.

Great information; thank you. Care to PM me with the one you use, or to post it here? It seems that some are no longer working, and I don't want to use a bad one.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Mouse Dining has been my favorite lately. It’s free, still works.

 

[CoachBeard]

I've had success with mouse watcher at Disneyland. I had a subscription for Unlocked Magic and set up several alerts and never received a single notification of availability. I was able to just try on my own and score the reservations I wanted.

 

[nw6675]

Mouse Dining has been my favorite lately. It’s free, still works.

This got me V&A a week out. Yay!

 

[Runnergirl227]

I’m having good success with Mouse Dining. I paid the 9 dollars to get the text alerts for one month and it seems to be working great. I was able to get Space 220 lounge and Ohana just in the last few days.

 

[menotyou21]

I miss touring plans