Disney Dining Buddy shuts down...others to follow?

[doconeill]

Looks like Disney Dining Buddy got a Cease and Desist - from their home page:

Dear Loyal Customers,

Disney has requested that we discontinue our services as currently provided, and we have honored that request. We understand this may be disappointing to those of you who have found through us a solution to the stresses of dining planning. We share your disappointment.

We appreciate the grateful and positive comments we have received from you. Please know that we have truly enjoyed serving you.

If you have an active request for services from us, you will be receiving an email within the next week that contains information and instructions concerning refunds.

I expect the others have as well, but haven't shut down their ops yet.

 

[DemoBri1]

Is this the service that used to suck up all the dining reservations and then charge people for premium times? If so then I say it's about time.

 

[agwood123DLFerguson]

I didn't mind their service or the other ones that just search for openings. I've never paid to use them, but they didn't bother me. The only kind that need to go are the ones hoarding reservations for a price.

 

[Bellabully]

Finally! Thank you Disney.

 

[jknicholas]

Is this the service that used to suck up all the dining reservations and then charge people for premium times? If so then I say it's about time.

No, DDB is similiar to another website (not mentioning) that all they do is continuously search for your request and text you that it is available for your booking. They do not book it for you at all like the one you are thinking of.

 

[rteetz]

Not surprising one bit. Disney lawyers aren't easy to work with.

 

[Spacedog1975]

The ADR process is aggressive enough without 3rd parties muddying the waters. I hope this is swiftly followed by other such "services".

 

[ghoulardi]

Disney Dining Agent still up and running...

 

[mousehockey37]

There's more than just one or two.... there's a handful and Disney's hand is smacking them all hopefully.

 

[agwood123DLFerguson]

Part of the issue Disney has with them is they actually use "Disney" in their company name. I'm sure that is a big No-No.

 

[doconeill]

There's more than just one or two.... there's a handful and Disney's hand is smacking them all hopefully.

There are the three major ones...only one has officially closed so far but I expect all three have been given C&D letters, as they were mentioned by name last week in news reports.

Part of the issue Disney has with them is they actually use "Disney" in their company name. I'm sure that is a big No-No.

Not all of them did, and if it was just that they could just change their name.

 

[Spacedog1975]

I'm curious to see if (and how quickly) ADRs will be released for consumption.

 

[mousehockey37]

There are the three major ones...only one has officially closed so far but I expect all three have been given C&D letters, as they were mentioned by name last week in news reports.

Appears to be 4, not 3. But 1 down, a few more to go.

 

[Lisaosborne2]

I'm not sure why they specifically were shut down. They weren't actually booking reservations, they were just watching and telling you when one opened up. It says on their site that they don't guarantee you ever get a reservation. I thought about doing it but thought it was expensive. $8 per reservation, and not looking for the whole trip, just for the date and meal period you wanted. So if you wanted CRT for breakfast OR lunch, you had to pay for both searches.

 

[mousehockey37]

I'm not sure why they specifically were shut down. They weren't actually booking reservations, they were just watching and telling you when one opened up. It says on their site that they don't guarantee you ever get a reservation. I thought about doing it but thought it was expensive. $8 per reservation, and not looking for the whole trip, just for the date and meal period you wanted. So if you wanted CRT for breakfast OR lunch, you had to pay for both searches.

They're making money off of a Disney product without Disney's permission. Pretty simple. They know what they're doing in diving into those systems and setting up the bots to gather that info so they can "sell" you a text message or email. Is it a convenience for people? Yes, but the second one of them crossed the line and started booking under false accounts, that kinda was the bull in the china shop moment where Disney came out and said, ok, one just ruined it for everyone.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I know DDB wasn't hoarding ADR's, but I'm still glad they shut down. The bots they had continually pinging an already unstable system wasn't helping real users who were trying to book things.

 

[mousehockey37]

I know DDB wasn't hoarding ADR's, but I'm still glad they shut down. The bots they had continually pinging an already unstable system wasn't helping real users who were trying to book things.

I wonder if the "why is it so hard to get a reservation at 180+10?" threads will start to go away once all the sites follow through with the cease and desist? I'm thinking there's a connection there.

 

[Dean Marino]

THANK YOU DISNEY! Now, let's all see what happens to the ADR system - fewer timeouts? We can hope.

 

[han22735]

There will still be plenty of 180+10 threads as normal people continue to book ADR's every hour on the hour for their entire trip and then cancel 99% of them the week of.

 

[LittleDreamer]

There are the three major ones...only one has officially closed so far but I expect all three have been given C&D letters, as they were mentioned by name last week in news reports.

Not all of them did, and if it was just that they could just change their name.

I think Disney Dining Buddy was just the easiest to deal with. Since Dining Buddy used Disney in their name Disney can claim that it is trademark issue creating confusion in the marketplace. The others may take a little bit longer to sort out since I don't think Dis or WDW can fall under the same argument.