That knife cuts both ways, there are people that plan 360 days in advance should they have access to the ADR's when they are ready? and to your point, you also have access to make adr's at 90 days right? why do you want them at 180? Is it just so you have an advantage over those that schedule their vacations later? But that is besides the point. what I was really trying to get to, I planned my vacation, and was able to get 80% of the ADR's I wanted for my kids without getting up at 7am on the 180+10 window. It may not be my normal dining time, but who cares im on vacation, so its not going to break my heart if they go back to the 180.
Actually, the above makes my point rather than refutes it. The availability of the system shouldn't take any small customer segment into account.
I would guess (though I don't have data to support it....I know Disney does) that they choose the 180 day window for a variety of reasons. At least some of them probably have to do with useage and resort booking volume. Also, their internal planning seems to jive with that time frame (park hours are right around 6 months out, party dates are usually announced right AROUND that point...certainly we can quibble about the specific availability in specific cases). In other words, they think that the LARGEST segment of their customers benefit from the window they've set AND it fits their business goals. For further evidence in that direction...they tried the 90 day window and (relatively) quickly changed back to 180 days.
See, the issue is that many people are looking at this personally. I get why that is, but It's NOT personal. What "I" want and what "you" want is irrelevant, really. I can (and have) exist within whatever system they provide for me and I'm perfectly fine doing it. Not so very long ago, when the window was 90 days, we STILL planned 6 months+ out. And we still called at 7 AM on the first day we were able (the 90 day mark).
It's (like almost anything at WDW, actually) a system. The system is designed to weight business goals and overall customer goals and work accordingly. It's not designed to ensure that EVERY customers "real life" factors can't prevent them from maximizing the systems useage. No system can do that. DISNEY isn't providing the 180 dayers with an advantage. The LIVES of the 90 dayers is providing them with a disadvantage. I don't see any reason why Disney should have an onus to balance that out. I don't see any system that could do that, and still work for the business, either.
To be honest...I would have no issue with Disney instituting a 360 day window, so long as it allowed equal access. I suspect, given what we know about their system, they wouldn't implement one because their OTHER systems don't, usually, provide that kind of leeway. Even the
DVC system only allows bookings 11 months out. But just by way of "for instance"....I'd either plan further in advance or live with the risks of planning closer to my departure date. I wouldn't ask (or expect) the system to change FOR ME. Now, I would expect that if Disney found that a large segment of their customers weren't using that window...they'd change it.
And, again, the 180 day window is an inclusive window. It tells customers they CAN do something (all of them). The 90 day window is much more EXCLUSIVE, telling a good sized customer segment they CAN'T do something. That's the difference. If there was little booking volume between the 180 and 90 day mark....Disney would probably change the window (and rightfully so). But we KNOW that's not the case. There is obviously ample demand (as evidenced by ADRsgetting filled up)...and since Disney's ultimate goal is to fill tables....I'm not sure what any change would accomplish. Given the evidence we DO have....it's tough to argue that the "90 dayers" are a sizeable enough market segment for Disney to make changes for.
Just for way of full disclosure, I've always said that, for my money, the "perfect storm" would be 120 day window for most customers. Park hours are definitely out. Party dates are definitely out. I suspect MOST people have planned their trip at 4 months-ish. It caters to the planners AND the non-planners, to a large extent. Obviously that idea doesn't rely on any real DATA, but just from a logic standpoint, it seems to fit. However I have more than a sneaking suspicion that THAT window, for whatever reason, doesn't meet Disney's business goals. Maybe it requires too much resource utilization from the IT and call center areas, maybe it doesn't allow them enough time for strategic planning...I don't know.