Hi Katherine!
Welcome to planDisney! We are Guests just like you who are frequent Disney vacationers, here to offer our experienced Disney planning tips, tricks, and advice!
I’m sorry you had difficulty making your
Advance Dining Reservations last week. I double-checked your dates, and it appears that November 25 would have been the correct day for booking, and since Ohio is in the same time zone as Florida, that probably wasn’t the issue either. Those are typically the two biggest mistakes that Guests make. I have to admit, I am not sure why you had trouble. In my experience, sometimes the Disney sites glitch more than I would like. I am hopeful you have your reservations made, but if you are still having issues, I do have a few tips.
First, your party size can make a difference. Currently, most locations aren’t seating groups larger than 6 to 8 Guests. If you are trying to seat a large party and search for a group of 12, you are likely to see no results. If you have a larger group, you’ll need to book two or more tables at a similar time. Make the first reservation and assign an alternate party member as the lead Guest. Then make a second reservation within 15 minutes of the first and make yourself the lead Guest. Alternately, two members of your travel party can book two tables on two separate accounts. Usually, my husband books one table, and I book another when going with a large group.
For the
My Disney Experience Mobile App, make sure you have it updated to the most recent version. Especially with the addition of Genie+, there have been several app updates recently. Running an outdated version can cause issues. Next, I find that searching by a specific time such as 5 PM yields better results than searching for “dinner.” And sometimes the site will have a glitch and return zero results, but if I search again, or switch the time just a little bit, results will come up.
If you are using a desktop computer and having trouble, try using a “new private window” on an Apple computer, or use “incognito mode” to use your browser on a windows based device. When doing a lot of planning on Disney websites, you’ll tend to build up “cookies.” This can cause issues and my pages won’t load or show results. Using a new private window typically fixes the issue for me. Also, try the same technique by searching for a specific time and not a meal period like breakfast or lunch.
Katherine, I hope one of these ideas helps, and that you were able to book at least some of your dining reservations. Wishing you a magical visit to the
Walt Disney World Resort!- Kate