Hey Howdy Hey Richard and welcome to planDisney!
It can be a very exciting as well as an anxiety-provoking time when it comes to getting your
advanced dining reservations. Making sure to be online at the right time on the right day to snag those hard-to-get reservations can be a fun and intense experience. Thank you so much for your question as sometimes you can do everything right and still come up empty with your dining reservations, believe me, I have been there! Let's go over a few things and then I wanted to share a few tips with you to see if we can come up with a plan to get you a dining experience you are looking for.
As far as availability goes, this has been a tough challenge for many for a good part of this year. Ever since the COVID-19 travel restrictions have been lifted, the resorts especially have been seeing an uncharacteristically high demand for an uncharacteristically long time. This has made it difficult for some to find availability for room accommodations as well as theme park availability and dining reservations. Not to worry my friend, let me show you the way to doing what you can to have the best shot at getting your dining reservations.
It sounds like you are already trying my first tip for dining reservations, try daily! If you can, try to continue to check on these reservations daily and even a couple of times per day to see if anything opens up. Try and check specific times rather than the general block "Lunch" or "Dinner" as I have had better luck with that strategy. When you are looking for times, you might have more luck looking at off meal times such as breakfast at 11:00 a.m. EST or Lunch at 3:00 p.m. EST as these times are not as busy. As you get closer to your dates of travel, if you still are not able to get the reservations you are looking for, Hakuna Matata, you still have a few options.
As you continue to look for reservations through your
My Disney Experience app, note that you do have an option to join a "
walk-up waiting list". You can use this when you are in the parks to join the walk-up list for meals similar to visiting the host stand and putting your name down. You do need to be in the parks for this option to work as this will allow you to join the list if you are close in proximity to the restaurant. You also might want to try going right up to the host stand and talking with the Cast Members about availability for your party for a meal. Sometimes, availability might be different with them compared to what is offered on the app. Always worth a shot to just inquire!
Best of luck as you continue to move forward in planning your upcoming trip. I will keep my fingers crossed for you that you will have some luck with getting at least a few of the dining reservations you are looking for. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out and let us know, we would be happy to help.
Have a Magical Day,
Nick