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Walt Disney World Resort reservations opened up today, and guests flooded the site. So much so that Disney’s website was overwhelmed, and new bookings were paused just 20 minutes after they began. I was along for the crazy ride.
Yesterday, I gave my best advice to make sure you scored your reservation. That advice included getting online earlier than 7:00 to get your spot in line. I took my own advice and was up and in the queue to book at 5:45 am.
Credit: Disney
That wasn’t early enough to be first in line. When booking g opened at 7:00 am, I had approximately a 20-minute wait, which wasn’t terrible. I was OK with that. Except, the site crashed at 7:20, just as it was almost my turn (because that’s just my luck).
Still, I wasn’t too terribly concerned. As I told you yesterday, site crashes are expected when Disney has a big release. Usually, it’s back up and running quickly. Except this time, it wasn’t. Disney updated the site several times throughout the course of the day. First bookings were only paused online, meaning guests who had called in were still able to book. Then they paused new reservations on the website and by phone.
Credit: Disney
Around 11:00 am, the waiting room informed me that it was my turn, but I still was unable to book due to the pause. I continued to wait, hoping for a change. Any change. I should have been more specific. At 12:40 pm, the message changed once again. This time it simply informed those waiting that they could call if they wanted to book a 2023 vacation. Everything else would have to wait (and wait and wait….)
Around 1:00 pm, I was beginning to wonder if everything was full. Could they really have sold out for the whole year in 20 minutes? There was just no way I could wrap my mind around that. They simply couldn’t have. Right? 
After 8 hours, it was finally my turn. The story doesn’t end there, though. It took nearly an hour once it was my turn to navigate through site lags and temporary crashes.
Credit: Disney
After nine hours, I was finally able to book my son’s very first Disney trip. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely. Would I ever do it again? Absolutely not.
