Following the relaunch of reservations last night for The Beak and Barrel, all available dates sold out quickly. Within an hour, most dates were sold out for most party sizes. In less than two hours, all dates were sold out for all party sizes. In this article, we’ll recap what Walt Disney World did to manage demand, and how it worked in practice last night when reservations finally opened up.
The Beak and Barrel Bar Sold Out Quickly
As you may know, Walt Disney World had to pull the plug on the first attempt at opening up reservations. While Disney wouldn’t say why exactly they had to postpone (only offering “technical difficulties”), it seems like there were demand-related strains on the reservation system.
To remedy that, Disney took some time to regroup and delayed reservations by nearly a full week as they prepared their systems for a redo. In terms of what Disney did, we tracked that closely yesterday. Early in the day, Disney removed the ability to search for and make dining reservations from the My Disney Experience app. Instead, they forced all guests to use a web browser.
From there, Disney implemented a virtual waiting room to manage demand on its website. The virtual waiting room opened about 30 minutes before the planned go-live time of 7pm yesterday. While not explicitly stated by Disney, it appeared that the virtual waiting room was a first-come, first-served situation based on some of our testing. I could be wrong.
Shortly before 7pm, reservations for The Beak and Barrel were loaded into the dining reservation system. The first waves of guests were able to make reservations pretty close to the stated 7pm start point, and then it was off to the races.
Disney appeared to heavily throttle the number of guests allowed to enter the website at first. During the first few minutes, reservations were being snagged slowly. By my watch, opening day was available to book for about 8-10 minutes. Within another 5-8 minutes, the entirety of opening weekend was booked solid.
Over the next 20 minutes or so, Disney appeared to be letting more guests into the website, leading to an increased pace of sold-out dates into September and October. Reservations are only available to book up to 60 days in advance, plus some other length-of-stay rules for guests staying at a Walt Disney World hotel that extend that timeframe past the strict 60-day mark.
During the first hour, we saw wild fluctuations in reservation availability. Based on my experience, it looks like Walt Disney World was loading more reservations into the system at two or three different points during the first hour. While we always expect to see some changes in reservation availability due to guests not completing the reservation process or canceling, entire blocks of dates were popping up at random times.
Either way, many dates were gone within the first hour or so after reservations opened up, and all dates were sold out shortly thereafter. Or, effectively sold out. There is a possibility that you may get lucky and find reservations, even now, should guests cancel. Other than that, The Beak and Barrel is booked solid.
While the Pirates of the Caribbean theme certainly did a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to generating interest and hype, there is another unique aspect about The Beak and Barrel that could create interest among fans. The Beak and Barrel is the first-ever bar at Magic Kingdom. Or rather, the first-ever public bar in the park.
Magic Kingdom has, historically, been a “dry” park. For decades, that meant that there was no alcohol served anywhere within the gates. In 2012, that changed, and Disney started to offer beer and wine at table-service meals. More recently, Disney has expanded the selection of drinks to include liquor at its table-service restaurants. Now, there is a bar, but there’s a catch.
This isn’t the type of bar that other theme parks have. No, it’s not BaseLine Tap House (Hollywood Studios), Restaurantosaurus Lounge (Animal Kingdom), Regal Eagle (EPCOT), or any number of bars located around the other three theme parks. Instead, this will be a highly-controlled bar-style setting. Disney calls it a tavern to stay in theme, but it’s really more like a restaurant without the expansive food menu.
Guests will not be able to walk away with their drinks; there will be a 2-drink maximum, and guests will be limited to just 45 minutes at The Beak and Barrel. So, while it’s a bar in name, The Beak and Barrel isn’t going to produce the pirate-like behavior that purists worry about. For that, you’ll have to visit EPCOT.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!