Anyone else playing The Reservations Refresh Polka?

[DisneyPhanDoor]

Booked a solo trip for the 29th and 30th that I now want to turn into a duo trip, as a friend can now join me. Just buy one more ticket! Simple, right? Well....

Park Pass Reservations are changing every few minutes for the last weeks of June; there is even discrepancies between what's available on the website, and what's available on the app. So far, my dates have both been available separately, but not together.

I know there's probably nothing I can do, except continually refresh and hope the right days (and the right combo of parks) pop up at some point; I just wanted to see if anyone out there is in the same boat. (or if anyone has any hacks or tricks to play, PLEASE let me know!)

 

[twodogs]

The only trick I know is to book a room at an onsite hotel. Those draw from a different "park reservations" bucket that seems to have much more availability than the 1 day or multi-day ticket buckets.

 

[DisneyPhanDoor]

The only trick I know is to book a room at an onsite hotel. Those draw from a different "park reservations" bucket that seems to have much more availability than the 1 day or multi-day ticket buckets.

Can you cancel the hotel and keep the tickets?

 

[twodogs]

As I understand it, if you cancel the room, it cancels the park reservations. You still have the ticket but no reservations. So that would not help you unfortunately.

 

[pharmama]

I can't tell from your post- are you waiting for both days to be available in the right combo? If so, I'd just book what you can when you see it and know the other one will come up eventually for you to grab too. I was doing this a few days ago for our semi-last minute July 4th trip and was able to get what I needed within a few hours of frequent checking by booking each day individually.

 

[DisneyPhanDoor]

I can't tell from your post- are you waiting for both days to be available in the right combo? If so, I'd just book what you can when you see it and know the other one will come up eventually for you to grab too. I was doing this a few days ago for our semi-last minute July 4th trip and was able to get what I needed within a few hours of frequent checking by booking each day individually.

Yes. I'm trying to get both days. How can I book a two day ticket and only assign one of the days? Or did you buy two one day park hoppers?

 

[avalon451]

I did this polka. For a few days I was just continually checking, every few minutes when possible. I did get what I wanted, after 2-3 days. Then I found out that they sometimes release more dates mid-to-late day on Tuesdays. Suddenly everything showed up as available on a Tuesday afternoon, and I snatched what I wanted and got a ticket and reservations for my DD to come, too. They were mostly gone by that evening, though.

So be on the lookout especially on Tuesday the 22nd, if you haven't gotten what you want by then.

BTW, I believe you can book a ticket for however many days-- after all, you don't have to use them consecutively, just within a two-week window from your first day of use. Then you book the reservation days individually.

 

[pharmama]

Yes. I'm trying to get both days. How can I book a two day ticket and only assign one of the days? Or did you buy two one day park hoppers?

You can book the days individually-actually, that's the only way to book them. Even if you're booking multiple days you go through the reservation process for each day separately. Once you have booked at least one day of a multiday ticket it will restrict the days you can book for the same ticket to within the two-week window around the day you have already booked.

 

[DisneyPhanDoor]

UPDATE:
Waited an hour and a half to speak to a rep on the phone. Here's what I found out:

Disneyland's system is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from WDW: There are NO separate buckets of reservations for any group, on-site hotel guests included.

You MUST pick a park for each day of your ticket, or you can't buy it. Meaning, you can't buy an "open ended" two day ticket and "hope" your park opens on the day you actually want. At WDW, you can buy now, reserve later, but Disneyland is ticket and reservation combined at point of sale.

Once you make reservations, you can only change them by canceling your current reservation and hoping you can change for a different day/park. If you don't, your original reservation is now up for grabs; you can't go back.

She also said that there are a finite number per day, and once that's reached, there are no more reservations. The "refresh polka" is only caused by people canceling their existing reservations, so you "just have to keep trying". (not sure if I completely believe her. The fine print says reservations are subject to rolling availability, but that's what she said.)

If anyone is dumping DCA on the 29th and DL on the 30th, please let me know so we can coordinate!

 

[twodogs]

I am not going to try to argue with the CM, but here is the link to the "buckets"

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/av...gments=ticket,ph,resort&defaultSegment=resort
As you can see, there is substantial variation in the availability from the Hotel Guests bucket and the others. You must have the hotel booked first, then link that to your account, then do the tickets and reservations. It sounds like this won't work for you since you aren't staying onsite, but wanted to share it for others.

For your situation, what I think OPs are suggesting is that you buy the tickets, and perhaps reserve days for a future time that are available to reserve, say in July. Then you check several times a day to see if a reservation opens on the days and parks that you want, and you change the reservation. Now the CM is correct in that you can't "modify" your existing reservation, only drop the one you have and hope you are fast enough to grab the one you want. Hopefully this works for you. If the reservations never open up, you could cancel the July reservations, and the ticket would just sit on that person's account until they are ready to make park reservations with it in the future (or until reservations are no longer needed, someday!). It is a risk because they would be buying the ticket without knowing that they could get the desired park reservations.

 

[pharmama]

You MUST pick a park for each day of your ticket, or you can't buy it. Meaning, you can't buy an "open ended" two day ticket and "hope" your park opens on the day you actually want. At WDW, you can buy now, reserve later, but Disneyland is ticket and reservation combined at point of sale.

This is either a misunderstanding or just plain wrong information and I'm really sorry you had to spend so much time on hold to be told this...actually several of the pieces of info you were given don't seem to be correct/align with how others have observed things working.

You can most definitely buy a ticket without reserving dates. I just did this last week. Purchased my 2 day park hoppers from aRes travel (as their tickets are slightly discounted) without specifying any dates. E-tickets were sent to me, I loaded them in my account and then began the process of booking reservations. I was able to grab my first day right away. Had to keep refreshing until the day and park I wanted for my second day became available.

It does look like if you buy the tickets directly through Disney the system forces you to make reservations during purchase. I'd just make some reservations for a future date and then either cancel them right away so you just have the ticket available to book new reservations or cancel/rebook when the right days became available. Though probably the simplest is to buy your tickets from one of the many third party sites where you aren't forced to make a reservation when you buy the ticket. People do appear to be cancelling/changing reservations all the time (and Disney has definitely added availability several times over the last few weeks) and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get what you want, though I do understand being uncomfortable with not 100% securing this ahead of purchase.

ETA: So, I guess what you were told about tickets without reservations is technically true for purchasing directly through Disney... but it's not nearly as cut and dry as the CM seems to have suggested.

 

[avalon451]

This is either a misunderstanding or just plain wrong information and I'm really sorry you had to spend so much time on hold to be told this...actually several of the pieces of info you were given don't seem to be correct/align with how others have observed things working.

You can most definitely buy a ticket without reserving dates. I just did this last week. Purchased my 2 day park hoppers from aRes travel (as their tickets are slightly discounted) without specifying any dates. E-tickets were sent to me, I loaded them in my account and then began the process of booking reservations. I was able to grab my first day right away. Had to keep refreshing until the day and park I wanted for my second day became available.

It does look like if you buy the tickets directly through Disney the system forces you to make reservations during purchase. I'd just make some reservations for a future date and then either cancel them right away so you just have the ticket available to book new reservations or cancel/rebook when the right days became available. Though probably the simplest is to buy your tickets from one of the many third party sites where you aren't forced to make a reservation when you buy the ticket. People do appear to be cancelling/changing reservations all the time (and Disney has definitely added availability several times over the last few weeks) and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get what you want, though I do understand being uncomfortable with not 100% securing this ahead of purchase.

I think this must be where my experience differed as well. I didn't buy through Disneyland; I bought through Last Minute Travel.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

UPDATE:
Waited an hour and a half to speak to a rep on the phone. Here's what I found out:

Disneyland's system is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from WDW: There are NO separate buckets of reservations for any group, on-site hotel guests included.

You MUST pick a park for each day of your ticket, or you can't buy it. Meaning, you can't buy an "open ended" two day ticket and "hope" your park opens on the day you actually want. At WDW, you can buy now, reserve later, but Disneyland is ticket and reservation combined at point of sale.

Once you make reservations, you can only change them by canceling your current reservation and hoping you can change for a different day/park. If you don't, your original reservation is now up for grabs; you can't go back.

She also said that there are a finite number per day, and once that's reached, there are no more reservations. The "refresh polka" is only caused by people canceling their existing reservations, so you "just have to keep trying". (not sure if I completely believe her. The fine print says reservations are subject to rolling availability, but that's what she said.)

If anyone is dumping DCA on the 29th and DL on the 30th, please let me know so we can coordinate!

Unfortunately, as is often the case, this phone CM was inaccurate. As outlined by the helpful PPs, there is definitely a "hotel bucket" that can be viewed by anyone, and also, new reservations have hit the system every Tuesday afternoon (many people think this is "moving around buckets" in addition to adding capacity). Also, I currently have tickets with no reservation attached sitting in my account. If they are making you reserve when you buy them now, just cancel the reservation as soon as you're done with the purchase. The CM was correct that you have to cancel and lose a reservation to get a new one (you can't "modify"), but you can cancel and have them unattached, ready to book a cancellation the second you spot one.

You actually will get access to the "hotel bucket" for something like 10 days prior to your hotel booking. It's kind of an ethical gray area, but it is theoretically possible to book as a hotel guest, go to the park, and then cancel the hotel. Just as a point of information.

 

[DisneyPhanDoor]

This is either a misunderstanding or just plain wrong information and I'm really sorry you had to spend so much time on hold to be told this...actually several of the pieces of info you were given don't seem to be correct/align with how others have observed things working.

You can most definitely buy a ticket without reserving dates. I just did this last week. Purchased my 2 day park hoppers from aRes travel (as their tickets are slightly discounted) without specifying any dates. E-tickets were sent to me, I loaded them in my account and then began the process of booking reservations. I was able to grab my first day right away. Had to keep refreshing until the day and park I wanted for my second day became available.

It does look like if you buy the tickets directly through Disney the system forces you to make reservations during purchase. I'd just make some reservations for a future date and then either cancel them right away so you just have the ticket available to book new reservations or cancel/rebook when the right days became available. Though probably the simplest is to buy your tickets from one of the many third party sites where you aren't forced to make a reservation when you buy the ticket. People do appear to be cancelling/changing reservations all the time (and Disney has definitely added availability several times over the last few weeks) and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get what you want, though I do understand being uncomfortable with not 100% securing this ahead of purchase.

ETA: So, I guess what you were told about tickets without reservations is technically true for purchasing directly through Disney... but it's not nearly as cut and dry as the CM seems to have suggested.

Thanks for your replies. I appreciate your trying to help!
Actually, the CM gave me no misleading or wrong information. I tried to make a hotel reservation and the availability was exactly the same as for the park-hopper bucket. If there are indeed hotel specific reservations, then they are sold out for my dates. In which case, hotel guests and day guests are now in the same bucket. (i.e. Disney holds no reservations back to accommodate their hotel guests. Florida? Where they have 30,000 rooms? Yes! DisneyLAND? No. The CM specifically brought this up when I asked about 'buckets'.)
Of course, she did not mention third party ticket sellers. Disney wants you to book through them. And when you DO book with Disney direct, you MUST choose dates.
I see no advantage to buying a ticket first and then trying to get the dates I want. Seems like a lot of the same: "refresh refresh refresh..."

 

[pharmama]

FWIW, the "Hotel Bucket" on the calendar linked above does indeed show that one of your dates (6/29) does not have availability even for hotel guests.

Others have been successful with getting park reservations associated with hotel bookings when the regular ticket availability was gone though official line from Disney has been all along that hotel guests did not have priority (or more specifically, that a hotel booking did not guarantee a park reservation... which can be true even if they do have a "hotel bucket")

I hope you're able to get what you're looking for one way or another.

 

[Piglet99645]

Ugh. I recommend getting tickets from somewhere else (I like U. T.). Then you can go over To the Disney app and book your reservation dates at your leisure.

I just did this for me and my two kids. It was very easy once I figured out the first day (5 day PH).

 

[DisneyPhanDoor]

Update!
After about 15 hours of refreshing every few minutes, the heavens opened and both days were open! I had to change my first park to match what was open, but it all worked out! Now my solo trip is officially a duo and now I can start the Refresh Polka on table service reservations! Thanks for all the support and good thoughts! Good luck to my fellow refreshers!!

 

[MermaidMommy]

Ugh. I recommend getting tickets from somewhere else (I like U. T.). Then you can go over To the Disney app and book your reservation dates at your leisure.

I just did this for me and my two kids. It was very easy once I figured out the first day (5 day PH).

Brilliant!!!

 

[Winnowill]

Update!
After about 15 hours of refreshing every few minutes, the heavens opened and both days were open! I had to change my first park to match what was open, but it all worked out! Now my solo trip is officially a duo and now I can start the Refresh Polka on table service reservations! Thanks for all the support and good thoughts! Good luck to my fellow refreshers!!

Not that this is helpful now, but you could have been reserving dining from the get-go - there is no restriction on reserving dining, and there is no checking whether or not you have a ticket or park reservation when you make dining reservations.

 

[DisneyPhanDoor]

Not that this is helpful now, but you could have been reserving dining from the get-go - there is no restriction on reserving dining, and there is no checking whether or not you have a ticket or park reservation when you make dining reservations.

Oh, I've been trying since buying my solo ticket! I think it's because I decided to go within that 60day window, so all my favorites (which apparently are everyone else's favorites) were gone already. I'm still playing the polka for cancellations!! Oom-Pah-Pah Oom-pah-pah...