ADR CANCELATION PENALTY A SCAM?

I cancelled Ohana day of (which to me was already rude). The app won't let you cancel day of so I called and they cancelled it immediately, they even asked if I wanted them to make a reservation someplace else.

It's frankly common courtesy and it's not a Disney thing. Even my doctor won't see patients who keep missing appointments without calling to cancel.
 
I remember the days of hoarding ADRs. Not good. I actually think the current FP system has also maybe helped with people planning their ADRs better. In the past paper FP you could wing it and not have to be in a specific park on a specific day. Couple that with having no cancellation fees. What a mess. Now you pretty much know where you’ll be on a given day so you pick from that parks restaurants. Obviously you can hop or go to a resort restaurant, but it simplifies it for some people for in park dining.
 


It's not a scam to get as much business out of the restaurant as possible... what, you think they would pull tables and put them in the back because they don't have enough ADR's?
 


They are very good about not charging the fee if you have a good reason. My daughter was the organizer of her group on her 8th grade trip and the girls all agreed on Biergarten, which I booked using my credit card. When they arrived there, suddenly one of the girls refused to eat there. The reservation was canceled and we never got charged the fee. As the mom who would have gotten stuck with an $80 bill, I really appreciated that flexibility!
 
Disney is all about making money but this is one case where I would argue the fee is not designed as a money maker. As others have said it is to discourage double booking ADRs or making ones you don't intend to keep. It isn't efficient for Disney to fill no shows with walk ups.
 
I don’t think it’s a scam but I get what you’re saying in that it’s not an actual reservation where the table is saved for any particular party, we just get a spot on on line. If someone doesn’t show, it goes to the next person on line.

I suppose it does deter people from making multiple ADRs. But if someone is determined to make multiple reservations, it’s still very easy to do and as long as they are cancelled the day before there would be no penalties.
 
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We still book like crazy....you just have to remember to cancel.....Thats what iPhone reminders are for...
We may book 5-8 but only actually use 1. Which is fine..we just cancel.
 
We still book like crazy....you just have to remember to cancel.....Thats what iPhone reminders are for...
We may book 5-8 but only actually use 1. Which is fine..we just cancel.
The problem before was that people would hang onto two ADRs at the same time and not cancel the one they're not using. They'd just not show up. It happened way too often. Im glad they implemented this $10 pp no show fee.

Like you said, you can still hang on to two ADRs...you just have to remember to cancel the day before at least. Otherwise you'll be charged. ;)
 
I agree that the word scam is extreme. Yes, they are cashing in, but if you're rude enough to simply not show up when there are plenty of opportunities to cancel, then I think that's your loss.

It's bad enough that people book multiple restaurants just in case and others can't get reservations, and then they cancel them at the last minute.
 
I've found as long as you don't no-show and actually talk to Disney if you can't make your reservation, they don't even enforce the fee. Our last trip we were there and had a Tusker House reservation in two hours and two of our party decided it was too much to pay for a buffet. Because I called Disney and let them know we needed to cancel, they didn't charge me the fee: even though from a business standpoint, that's a terrible reason to cancel within 24 hours -- the prices were listed online ahead of time. Disney will work with you. They're definitely not trying to set it up so that they can make double money on tables -- just keeping people from making a dozen reservations and only showing for one while the 11 other people who wanted those reservations end up not being able to eat anywhere.
 
They make cancelling ahead of time easy enough, and have a 15 minute grace period on the day of the reservation (in some cases people have been able to move thier reservation on the same day without penalty) so I'd hardly call it a scam. They give you plenty of ways to avoid having to pay this fee. I also don't think they're raking in a lot of money by doing this but rather trying to keep it a little more fair for everyone.

What is the 15 minute grace period?
 
What is the 15 minute grace period?
Restaurants will still honor your reservation and not charge you the no-show fee if you arrive within 15 minutes of your ADR time. So if you have a 6 pm ADR and you arrive by 6:15, you would not be charged a no-show fee, and your ADR would still be honored.

They do have the right not to do this, so I don't advise anyone to plan on being 15 minutes late to all of their ADR's (more so out of consideration to others and the fact that if it's routinely abused then it will eventually be taken away). It's nice that they do understand that sometimes the bus/ monorail/ ride line/ bathroom break/ distance to walk across a park is a little more than someone may have prepared for and they don't automatically assume you are a no-show and charge you the fee. I've seen them do this even past the 15 minute mark (but this is really going to vary by location/ situation).
 
Do you get charged if you bring fewer people than the reservation is for? I made all our ADRs for 6 people, which includes my in-laws. But they aren't sure they will make it. Do I need to change it to 4 people 24 hours in advance, or can they decide depending on how they feel?
 

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