Someone or something is scooping up BOG dinner reservations. I booked my ADR's at 180 + 10 days at midnight and BOG dinner was not available at any time for everyone of my 8 days! My DD wanted to see the castle and Belle. When she found out it was just the Beast she was happy with just going for lunch!
We are on EST and we booked at 12:00am right when our window opened up. We are going the end of October and beginning of November. I called WDW to make sure of what time my booking window opened up. I think March might be easier to get ADR's because October, November are free dining and F&W. I got everything else we wanted Ohana's, 1900 Parkfare, BOG lunch and breakfast, Akershus. There was no BOG dinner available for any time during my 8 day stay. It did open up later for our Nov.1 MNSSHP but we didn't want to waist party time on TS!I just booked this morning for 2nd-3rd week of March. At 5:30am CST, I could find BOG for breakfast, lunch, or dinner for any days of my 10 days, including the very first day. These were for good times too, ie 8am (pre-park opening), noon, and 6pm. I am not saying that you couldn't get reservations. I am just curious when you tried. You say midnight. Did you mean 6am EST? Also, when is your trip? March is kind of busy, summer levels, but not Xmas levels, so time of year could make a huge different.
We are on EST and we booked at 12:00am right when our window opened up. We are going the end of October and beginning of November. I called WDW to make sure of what time my booking window opened up. I think March might be easier to get ADR's because October, November are free dining and F&W. I got everything else we wanted Ohana's, 1900 Parkfare, BOG lunch and breakfast, Akershus. There was no BOG dinner available for any time during my 8 day stay. It did open up later for our Nov.1 MNSSHP but we didn't want to waist party time on TS!
Sorry I was thinking of fast passes which I just booked at midnight a couple of weeks ago. It was 7am EST on the phone, maybe everything got booked up online in the first hour. The CM was surprised there wasn't a single dinner left for BOG my entire 8 days. My daughter really just wanted to see the castle and Belle. So we have BOG of lunch to see the castle and Akershus to see Belle so we are happy!Maybe you mistyped, but ADR windows open at 6am EST online and 7am EST on the phone. I know, because I actually was up before 6am EST this morning and saw my dates become available exactly at 6am. Plus, I aways book when they are first available. FP+ opens at midnight EST. If you did actually try at midnight, then you probably were 18 hours behind/after everyone else, which could make a big difference. Unfortunately, the CMs are not always the most knowledgeable or clear, or they may have misunderstood that you meant the ADR time. I know it's hard to think that CMs wouldn't know something so simple, but you would be amazingly surprised by the incorrect info I have gotten in the past
Free dining is a busy time. Also, that is party time, and I don't know how ADRs go during parties, whether they get really booked or not.
Are there particular restaurants people are having a difficult time getting in to? My husband and I are annual pass holders and we live about an hour and a half away. We usually make plans and reservations about 4-6 weeks out, and I can't remember the last time we had a difficult time making meal reservations. We can usually even get into Jiko or Citricos at about 6 weeks. Perhaps it is the time or the restaurant?
I don't think this service should be allowed. I believe something like this used to go on with people selling Cinderella's castle reservations a long time ago and Disney put a stop to it. However, I don't believe the difficulty to get reservations is necessarily Disney's fault. I think they actually keep trying to solve this dilemma but people keep finding loopholes. Unfortunately, it primarily the uber disney fans that are doing this. People are still finding a way to book multiple reservations because the just don't know what the will want at the time so they book an adr at BOG every day of their vacation so they have their choice. Also, the internet culture has blown certain restaurants out of proportion. Fans will see they have to eat at XYZ or their vacation will be ruined. I dont' agree with everything Disney does (ahem Osborne lights) however "we" meaning a selective group of disney planners need to take responsibility for the difficulty of getting particular adr's. The only times I could see that would and should be difficult is during free dining. Disney has a hand in that one. However, look at the resort boards once and see the awaiting free dining threads. If you are booking during free dining ( obviously dining is the draw). It should be obvious that dining reservations will go quickly.
i also just booked for March. We have a group of 14 going down and was able to get a dinner ADR for BOG with no problem. I was shocked.
In another article I read, the last sentence read: ""Disney created a market here of a lot of very frustrated guests who are trying to get into restaurants and are not able to do it," he said. "Good entrepreneurs have found a way to serve that market."
As a firm believer in entrepreneurship, I see no issue that one company has created based on the monster Disney and their dining has become!
I think people are hoarding reservations more so than a hoarding service. I think people are booking up a bunch of ADR's until they get there fast passes set or they decide which day they want to eat at a certain restaurant. I noticed around the time I was booking my FP+ that I would see 3 Akershus dinners show up at once on different days in the week I was going. It was the same for the Crystal Palace, 1900 Parkfare and Ohana, etc. It seemed like people got there fast passes and released the ones they weren't using. I also think people are holding on to more ADR's hoping they will find a better time.