Candlelight Processional Dining packages are posted!

[whiteness]

the system obviously worked because enough people were able to get through for it to sell out (confirmation that Disney only cares about their $$$, they got what they wanted).

Absolutely. And a "system" where the strongest people could shove aside the weak and frail waiting in line for Space Mountain (or whatever) and board first would also "work" in the sense that Space Mountain's cars would be full of "happy riders."

Perhaps it wouldn't be an objectively "fair" or "just" system for most reasonable people, but, then again, Disney is pushing a system (Genie+) that encourages people with more money to shove aside people with less money, so...

Yeah, basically Disney just cares about what's "good" and "fair" for Disney. Guests are just wallets waiting to be harvested. As long as the crop continues to bear fruit, Disney has no motivation to charge it's farming practices.

 

[Sydnerella]

I just got through on the phone. The CM confirmed they are sold out for ALL dates. She said there was no 60 day window for this, and all guests had access to all dates this morning. She said this was just a mix of extremely limited availability and high popularity, and that the system obviously worked because enough people were able to get through for it to sell out (confirmation that Disney only cares about their $$$, they got what they wanted). I did ask her about the genie+ availability. I told her my friend (aka the poster in this thread lol) was showing availability on Genie+, and she said Ok now that’s a glitch. She also had the gall to tell me people were able to call in and book at 7 am when they were having problems online, and I was like how do you think I ended up on a 3 hour wait to talk to you?!?

It was frustrating because I told her I know she has absolutely nothing to do with Disney IT and that it’s not her fault, but that I hope someone in that department is aware that they did not make these reservations available when they said they would, where they said they would, and that was very frustrating for a lot of people who woke up early hoping to book these packages, and that they could have at least informed people they were sold out earlier. That went over her head as she kept implying that just because I didn’t look in the right place, other people did and were fine. I told her this was a widespread issue that is being discussed on Twitter and forums, not just a couple computer illiterates who didn’t know where to look.

So basically just typical Disney. Sigh.

Interesting....

So this is NOT the same response I received after being on hold from 7am to 815am ET. Note the automessage told me it would be a two hour wait.

My CM Kathy told me that they were informed the hour prior that there was an issue and all of the reservations were not loaded into the system yet and they were still having trouble doing so. She recommended that I keep checking throughout the day on my app.

She did check while we were on the phone as well and was unable to select a reservation but saw one time at Biergarten on my date.

I truly do not think that the phone CMs know what is going on...

 

[Alan1972]

the phone CMs are working out of their dining rooms in Kansas.
many have never been to wdw.
they have never been a reliable source of information and they did not start to be one today.

 

[Alan1972]

so now I have 4 reservations on one day, a breakfast we now don't need, a CP lunch, the dinner at Chefs we wanted, and a late dinner at Yachtsman because if we take the CP lunch at the restaurant we didnt want,on the day we didnt want,we can't have the dinner we wanted.
My wife doesnt understand why we can't just ask nicely and upragde our R&C dinner to the package
better tell everybody to eat up! Disney finds this acceptable.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I feel the same about Rose and Crown. It was the only I could get and the only one I absolutely didn’t want. I’ve checked out the menu before since it’s so popular and am always so confused about why people find it appealing. My SO and I decided we’re just going to go to get our tickets but not actually eat there.

I expect the only way that works is if you pay the full price of the meal without eating. You get the tickets for priority seating after the meal is paid for.

 

[whiteness]

I expect the only way that works is if you pay the full price of the meal without eating. You get the tickets for priority seating after the meal is paid for.

I bet someone would be willing to eat the meal and pay the tip for tiana1989

 

[CheeseheadDave]

I expect the only way that works is if you pay the full price of the meal without eating. You get the tickets for priority seating after the meal is paid for.

Yep. We did a Fantasmic package once at Brown Derby and we got our tickets when the server returned with our credit card after we paid the bill.

 

[lorimay]

Yeah, I know. We’re still going to show up and pay. I’m just not wasting time on a meal we don’t want, especially when we have to burn our night we had other plans for to come back to EPCOT for the show. Hopefully there will be a couple in the walk-up line when we check in and they can eat the food on us. Or if the standby line isn’t crazy the night we’re actually in EPCOT, it’ll be more than 24 hours before our res so we’ll be able to cancel our dining package. I’ll post in here if we do that so I can try to coordinate with someone who wants it.

Too bad its not your kind of food. Thats actually the restaurant we wanted, but all I could get was Garden Grill and happy I was able to get it. The food is okay there, but not our favorite.

 

[dennis o'toole]

nothing shows and when call says all solded out...can't stay on phone for 2 hours

 

[maryj11]

Too bad its not your kind of food. Thats actually the restaurant we wanted, but all I could get was Garden Grill and happy I was able to get it. The food is okay there, but not our favorite.

I would be happy with any. I wanted Garden Grill. I didn’t get any .

 

[lorimay]

I would be happy with any. I wanted Garden Grill. I didn’t get any .

I'm sorry. I hope something pops up for you.
I am happy I was able to get it!

 

[maryj11]

I'm sorry. I hope something pops up for you.
I am happy I was able to get it!

Thank you! Glad you got one.

 

[lorimay]

Thank you! Glad you got one.

This year is just nuts, in the past there was always something available for the dining package.
This four restaurant options is such a bummer.
I mean we say, "well they're trying to stop crowds." But when you look at the fireworks in the evenings it's bumper to bumper people every night.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

This year is just nuts, in the past there was always something available for the dining package.
This four restaurant options is such a bummer.
I mean we say, "well they're trying to stop crowds." But when you look at the fireworks in the evenings it's bumper to bumper people every night.

Not only less restaurants, but we used to be able to book them a few months in advance - not having 5 weeks worth of packages opening at exactly the same time! This was handled so poorly by Disney. Maybe next Christmas will be a bit more normal. And in our opinion, I don't think stopping the crowds is a goal any longer for WDW. That ship has sailed.

 

[sherlockmiles]

I feel the same about Rose and Crown. It was the only I could get and the only one I absolutely didn’t want. I’ve checked out the menu before since it’s so popular and am always so confused about why people find it appealing. My SO and I decided we’re just going to go to get our tickets but not actually eat there.

I also just got the wait time message. What a joke. How is this sold out when the website was glitching and most people couldn’t even access these? I’m staying on hold to ask about the couple dates that are outside the 60-day window to see if they’ll still pop up or if they’re also sold out to the 60+10 people. I wish the dining alerts could do one for these packages, but it doesn’t look like it. I guess I’ll just keep obsessively refreshing for the next two months hoping for cancellations. Sigh.

R&C is the ONLY one I want......and I only need a rez for 1..........i've tried different group #, different dates, etc....

SOO frustrating.....last thing I need to set before I can tackle the rest of my december trip

 

[lorimay]

Not only less restaurants, but we used to be able to book them a few months in advance - not having 5 weeks worth of packages opening at exactly the same time! This was handled so poorly by Disney. Maybe next Christmas will be a bit more normal. And in our opinion, I don't think stopping the crowds is a goal any longer for WDW. That ship has sailed.

When we first decided to go up for Christmas, we were looking to see which restaurant we wanted to try this year, saying lets try something new. Ha! Four options, didn't see that coming.

 

[sherlockmiles]

R&C is the ONLY one I want......and I only need a rez for 1..........i've tried different group #, different dates, etc....

SOO frustrating.....last thing I need to set before I can tackle the rest of my december trip

This really isn't helping......I can't get dessert packages for MK on the only night I'll be there - looking like a private thing or something as no one has them for that date (12/8)

 

[sherlockmiles]

Did Disney only release 5 reservations per restaurant?
SOld out? I've been hiutting refresh since 6:45am.....

 

[lorimay]

Did Disney only release 5 reservations per restaurant?
SOld out? I've been hiutting refresh since 6:45am.....

When I got on the computer at 5:30, they had a lot of different time available for The Garden Grill on December 10th.
But that was the only option for the day.
I checked from the 9th to the 12th only GG available those days and they went super fast.

 

[KLK622]

Did Disney only release 5 reservations per restaurant?
SOld out? I've been hiutting refresh since 6:45am.....

When I got mine for December 18th there were 3 times for GG and maybe 5 for Coral Reef…nothing for the other two. It looks like my reservation went through at 6:16 am Eastern time (I had been looking in the wrong spot the pervious half hour)…I also checked right away for the 20th and there was nothing. I wonder if what opened was based on general availability for that day? I really have no idea, but I’m general the whole situation doesn’t make sense.