Reservation calendar real-time?

[vgd07]

Hi all, so it turns out the person who made our park reservations didn't make them for me as well, my fault for not double checking. I grabbed the "wrong" parks in a panic because everything was sold out next week, the 25-27th. Is it worth me frantically checking the calendar throughout the day to see if availability opens? If it does open, is it worth cancelling my reservation and getting the new one, risking losing both? Thanks in advance!

 

[brightlined]

In my experience, the calendars are not in real time. When I was trying to plan my last trip, I had several times that a "sold-out" day would display as available on the calendar, but was sold out when I logged in to try and book it. (I lost one day because I gambled that it was available and it wasn't. Fortunately, they opened up more space, and I was able to snag it again a few days later.)

If there's a reason to keep looking - they do seem to open up more space from time to time.

If you check the calendar and see that both parks are available for the day in question, that might be worth a gamble - it'd suggest that they opened up a block of reservations. Otherwise, I might just stick with what you have and make do. (I really really wish they'd implement a "Modify" button like WDW does to ease the stress.)

 

[kristensideaoffun]

Yes, the calendar does update in real time. When you see an opening, do not hesitate to take it. When you see availability on a sold-out day, it’s because someone canceled a reservation. Which means there might only be 1 spot available and, by the time you click reserve, it might already be gone (this is what happened to the poster above). Likely, cancelling your reservation and then trying to book it will take too long. You will have to cancel your reservations now, and then be ready to book at a moments notice. My daughter’s friend invited her to go to DL a week before their family was going. The Saturday they were going was sold out. I spent about an hour diligently refreshing the reservation calendar. The day became available several times, but it wasn’t until the 5th time that I was fast enough to snag a reservation.

Disney does occasionally release large blocks of reservations. I believe some DISers have figured out about when this happens. Maybe someone else will chime in that’s in the know.