Why 180?

[glvsav37]

this may have been discussed before, but why did they pick the 180 day mark for booking dining? It just seems so far away from your trip and realistically, if you are picking your dining locations, you are pretty much drafting your daily itinerary at the same time.

But to add to the issue, WDW will release special events a few weeks in advance and in order to partake in these, I need to move dining, which of corse is now not available

So is there a rational explanation on why dining is open so much further in dance then other WDW trip milestones?


and for the record, Im a wdw veteran, DVC member, AP holder...yada yada.....been there done that many times......its just a question that always vexed me.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I have no idea what the rationale is, but, I agree, it does put a kink in planning. I, for one, wouldn't mind that date being moved closer to the FP+ date so one has a better idea of park hours, special events, FP+ availability, etc. I'm working on a November itinerary right now and we'd like to attend the Frozen Dessert Party in EP but dates have not been released yet, so I have two days during our trip where I'm just guessing where we will be and where we will eat. If that party is ever released, I will probably be moving things around and hoping I don't have to sacrifice any reservations I've already made to make it work.

 

[Thiago Acquaviva]

I don't understand it either, this is so early and mess it up all planning sometimes when you're getting close to the trip and Disney changes schedules.
For me it should be 60-90 days for ADR and 30-45 days for Fastpass+

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Wasn't it 90 days at some point? I know it was pre-2010, but I could have sworn it was switched to 180 around 2008 or 2009 due to the growing demands for table service dining with the advent of the dining plan and the popularity of free dining offers. i.e. people cried out for more time to plan if they were going to buy into these add on's or special offers.

 

[glvsav37]

Wasn't it 90 days at some point? I know it was pre-2010, but I could have sworn it was switched to 180 around 2008 or 2009 due to the growing demands for table service dining with the advent of the dining plan and the popularity of free dining offers. i.e. people cried out for more time to plan if they were going to buy into these add on's or special offers.

IDK, but i do remember the days of walking into EPCOT and picking up a kiosk phone, see a CM on the screen and make your dining reservation for later that day.

 

[Brocktoon]

If I recall correctly years ago ADRs used to be 180 days. Then ~ 2008 it was switched to 90 days as people said 180 was too far out. Not surprisingly there was a bigger backlash to the 90 days as people said it's impossible to find availability at only 90 days out ... so they went back to 180 days.

After the last fiasco, I don't seen Disney shortening the 180 days anytime soon

 

[TiggerTrigger]

IDK, but i do remember the days of walking into EPCOT and picking up a kiosk phone, see a CM on the screen and make your dining reservation for later that day.

I always thought that was so neat. Funny story about that though...our first trip was in 1985 and I have these vivid memories of my dad going through his list of places he wanted to eat dinner (ranked in order of preference, of course) just to hear each one had no slots open. It added a whole new level of guest service having to see the CM on the screen say no in pleasant Disney fashion so many times.

 

[rwdavis2]

We don't plan our trip around dining. That's what makes it easier for us. The food in most places is just not worth getting excited about.

 

[crabbygal902]

Yes! I completely agree. I don't know what I want for dinner tonight much less 6 months from now. We've stopped making ADRs for the most part, preferring to eat at lounges and bars. We get better food (the apps are often the best choices on a menu), great signature atmosphere, lower prices, and we avoid the stress of ADRs and planning everything so far out.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

IDK, but i do remember the days of walking into EPCOT and picking up a kiosk phone, see a CM on the screen and make your dining reservation for later that day.

Yes! I loved that!

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We too - make a few ADRs - and plan as we are there. We had such a great trip one year when we would get on the app the day before and saw what was available. So we make 2-3 ADRs that we really want and the rest we wing it or book closer to the trip.

 

[KrazeeK120]

If I recall correctly years ago ADRs used to be 180 days. Then ~ 2008 it was switched to 90 days as people said 180 was too far out. Not surprisingly there was a bigger backlash to the 90 days as people said it's impossible to find availability at only 90 days out ... so they went back to 180 days.

After the last fiasco, I don't seen Disney shortening the 180 days anytime soon

That doesn’t make any sense though...if reservations opened at 90 days, there would be the same availability as the current 180.

I also don’t remember this switch, but I didn’t go in 2008, so that may be why.

I’d prefer 90 days for ADRs, but it is what it is.

 

[RPM1214]

I don't understand it either, this is so early and mess it up all planning sometimes when you're getting close to the trip and Disney changes schedules.
For me it should be 60-90 days for ADR and 30-45 days for Fastpass+

I agree with you the window should be shorter, I think it makes more sense to do the fastpasses first and and then dining so u have a better idea of where will be and what you're doing....it could also cut down a little on the multiple reservations as plans would be firmer.

 

[Brocktoon]

That doesn’t make any sense though...if reservations opened at 90 days, there would be the same availability as the current 180.

I also don’t remember this switch, but I didn’t go in 2008, so that may be why.

I’d prefer 90 days for ADRs, but it is what it is.

There may have been the same availability, but the argument was that there was more demand at 90 days out which made the ressies harder to get. At 180 days there were less people who knew if they were even going to travel to WDW that far out, so the super-planners had to fight less demand for the same availability. I'm not sure if it made a difference, but it appeared that the uber-planners won in that war ... but there were probably many other factors at play. Whatever the reasons, Disney tried a shorter window and decided to go back to the 180.

I even remember hearing stories of some people grabbing up all the hard to get ADRs and then giving them away as some sort of charity or good-will offerings if you were deemed worthy ... this was all before the MDE system.

 

[Kimberle]

It used to be 90 days. You had to call and the phone wait times were horrible. An hour plus wasn't uncommon.

 

[dachsie]

in 2006 it was 90 days.

 

[jarestel]

I don't know why they chose 180 days but I suspect if they moved it to 360 days people would insist on making ADRs at that point as well.

We've never made an ADR at 180 days and most likely never will. Obviously there are plenty of folks who do, but there just aren't any "must do's" we obsess over that are make or break, and quite honestly we've never gone hungry at WDW!

 

[smcabee]

180 is far too long to plan a week of food for us. We usually book one or 2 places which are not hard to get at about 120 days out and then we just pick whats available the day of or the day before when we are there.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

I really dislike the 180 days ADRs. If we want to spontaneously (by which I mean more like 2 months out as we do live quite a distance away) plan a trip to Disney as I was considering for DD’s birthday, there’s barely a chance we could get a reservation anywhere she wants to eat.

It’s just about impossible to guess where we want to eat 6 months out, and it forces me to do a whole lot more planning than I can realistically do at six months. Disney often doesn’t even have the park hours available. Then the schedules get changed, and my planning falls apart. Touring Plans reservation finder has found many reservations for me when I’ve needed to shift things around. I’m an obsessive over-planner and I dislike the 180 day ADRs!

 

[crabbygal902]

It used to be 90 days. You had to call and the phone wait times were horrible. An hour plus wasn't uncommon.

Yes!
...and you had to talk really fast and follow a script of to get your CM to book Cinderella's Royal Table quickly! Remember those days?