Pondering about ADRs....

[jenf22]

I've been to Disney tons of times and this is my first time on the dining plan. We didn't make our reservations until August for our October trip, so I'm learning a lot about the ADR system. Some things I've learned or observed:

1) If you are running late or miss you ADR, you may still be seated and nothing bad happens to your other ADRs
2) You can book as many conflicting ADRs as you want as long as they are under different names
3) People actually plan their meals 180 days in advance
4) ADRs for the restaurants you want are EXTREMELY hard to get... it feels like winning the lottery to get a Chef Mickey at a decent time.

Ok, so here's my question to those seasoned veterans of the ADR system - what is your guess as to the number of people who book multiple ADRs for every meal and just show up to the time that works for them? i.e. Book a Chef Mickey breakfast at 7am, 7:30am, and 8am and then just show up to whichever one works for that day? (I am NOT doing this BTW). Wouldn't you think you would have a decent chance of walking in to any given restaurant? Are there any employees of these restaurants out there? How many no-shows are there at any given time? I'm just wondering if I'm putting WAY too much effort into getting our reservations (I have 5 of 8 set and we leave on Saturday!!!). I don't think a vacation is supposed to be this stressful

I started wondering this after I saw someone release 4 different reservations for the same restaurant over a 2 day period on the October Cancellations thread...

 

[vicki_c]

Your general topic (double booking) gets hashed out - usually violently - on the boards every few weeks, until the threads are closed by a moderator.

I don't think very many people do what you are suggesting at all.

 

[jenf22]

Your general topic (double booking) gets hashed out - usually violently - on the boards every few weeks, until the threads are closed by a moderator.

I don't think very many people do what you are suggesting at all.

I'm new to the boards, but I have noticed the tendency towards violent responses. I didn't want to do that. If I could delete the post, I would. I just wondered if anyone knew how often reservations are stood up. Thanks for your reply (and for being nice!)

 

[sukhakuli]

I think that people do book the same restaurant multiple times during their trip (as evidenced by the cancellation threads), and either cancel before they go, or just go to whatever they want. A lot of restaraunts have a credit card hold, so if you don't show up, they charge you, so be aware of that if you choose to just not show up. I don't remember at this point which places have a cc hold and which don't.

But you can't book 2 things at the same time. I have a pirate cruise booked for the older kids, and an Ohana breakfast for the littlest one booked at the same time, and I have had to explain why to CM's over the phone. It's clear when you see how many people are on the reservation how it is going to work out, but it has given them pause.

 

[4_canucks]

Original poster (OP): your comment about "someone release 4 different reservations for the same restaurant over a 2 day period on the October Cancellations thread..."

i noticed that too. i noticed myself doing it. but not because i've hoarded. Here's how :

3 days ago: I have Chef mickey's at 7:05am, not the best but it's better than nothing.

2 days ago: I checked the system and scored Chef mickey's at 9:00am. so i cancel the 7:05am reservation, i post on the Cancellation thread so people can grab

1 day ago: I checked the system and scored Chef mickey's at 8:30am, even better. so i cancel the 9am and i post on the Cancellation thread so people can grab

Today: I checked the system and WOW i scored Chef Mickey's for 8:00am. The most perfect time ever! so i cancel the 8:30am and i post on the Cancellation thread so people can grab.

All this, could happen over the span of 2 days (or even over 24 hours!), esp when you get close to travel time and people firm up plans, move things around, and you get a lot of transactions of booking/cancelling. I could have just booked new times and cancel old ones without posting on the thread - since broadcasting the cancellations would make me look like i've hoarded many reservations. But as you can see, it isn't because of hoarding. And i do want people subscribing to the thread to benefit from the fruits of my own obsessive stalking of the online reservation system....

anyway...just more food for your pondering (pun intended

(btw we're not going in October...i'm just giving you an example from experience

 

[jenf22]

Original poster (OP): your comment about "someone release 4 different reservations for the same restaurant over a 2 day period on the October Cancellations thread..."

i noticed that too. i noticed myself doing it. but not because i've hoarded. Here's how :

3 days ago: I have Chef mickey's at 7:05am, not the best but it's better than nothing.

2 days ago: I checked the system and scored Chef mickey's at 9:00am. so i cancel the 7:05am reservation, i post on the Cancellation thread so people can grab

1 day ago: I checked the system and scored Chef mickey's at 8:30am, even better. so i cancel the 9am and i post on the Cancellation thread so people can grab

Today: I checked the system and WOW i scored Chef Mickey's for 8:00am. The most perfect time ever! so i cancel the 8:30am and i post on the Cancellation thread so people can grab.

All this, could happen over the span of 2 days (or even over 24 hours!), esp when you get close to travel time and people firm up plans, move things around, and you get a lot of transactions of booking/cancelling. I could have just booked new times and cancel old ones without posting on the thread - since broadcasting the cancellations would make me look like i've hoarded many reservations. But as you can see, it isn't because of hoarding. And i do want people subscribing to the thread to benefit from the fruits of my own obsessive stalking of the online reservation system....

anyway...just more food for your pondering (pun intended

(btw we're not going in October...i'm just giving you an example from experience

Yeah, I'm doing that too... FINALLY have the perfect Chef Mickey. I have a workable 'Ohana, but still holding out for perfect I've also been posting when I release. The post I was referring to was all in one post - 4 cancellations all for the same restaurant, 2 for one day and 2 for the next day. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it - so long as you end up keeping the one you plan on attending. It just got me thinking about how you could just not cancel and go whenever you pleased. It is hard to determine when you'll be ready for breakfast that far out.

 

[melifeld]

I have done this too. With Le Cellier. We had a lunch reservation, then we decided to upgrade to DxDP. So we made a dinner ressie there instead and cancelled the lunch ressie. Then we changed our plans and decided to go to EPCOT on a different day. So we had to make a ressie for dinner for the new day and cancel the dinner ressie for the old day!

Whew!!! It is all quite complicated really.

 

[sukhakuli]

I get fiddling with getting the right time, and stuff. But I have seen countless people who will cancel, say, 4 Le cellier reservations in one post, and 3 Chef Mickeys, and so on. All in one post. That's not a, hey, I like this time better, I will take that one. That's grabbing every one you can until you figure out later what you want to do. It's not something I would personally do (or have done). It doesn't really affect me, since I got all the ADR's I wanted (except for the pesky CRT, lol), but I wanted to let the OP know that I have seen it as well, and I think it's odd.

 

[daisyduck123]

1) If you are running late or miss you ADR, you may still be seated and nothing bad happens to your other ADRs

We were behind a family checking into 'Ohana for dinner this past June. They were 30 minutes late for their ADR & the CM at the podium told them that their ADR was now gone, & they would be treated as a walk-up.