ADR's, just book away? is it true, no rules, wild wild west?

[Roveer]

We set about to start booking our ADR's for our trip this summer and quickly realized that it was basically open season? By that I mean, no real commitment, just book as many as you want? My wife said, yea but don't try and book a Character Meal or they will want a credit card, well we booked Chef Mickey's with no credit card.

Am I missing something or is it totally unregulated meaning you can book as many ADR's as you want? I already found slim pickings for a bunch of meals for this summer. I have to think lots of folks are booking multiple reservations. Will these open up? Will people cancel the ones they don't want? This seems like the system is totally wide open and much abuse taking place.

Please set me straight so I understand a little better.

 

[centurythree]

Sure.

However, if you are booking more than one ADR for the same time frame Disney can cancel until you're back to one for that time . . . without telling you.

Summer is a busy time and lots of people are on the phone or online with Disney at their 180 day mark (or 180+10 if they are staying on site.) Popular restaurants go fast. Some will open up here and there as people cancel and rebook their reservations.

 

[DEA]

Yes, although "abuse the system" is a bit of a subjective term. People are working within the rules Disney has set, which are open to abuse. If you have a disney.com login and tie the reservations back to the account, then it will flag overlapping reservations and ask that you cancel one or the other, but it is possible to just make reservations online or over the phone and make multiple reservations for the same time.

Only a few dining experiences require you to pay in advance. Things like Cinderella's Royal Table, Hoop De Doo Revue, Princess Storybook Dining will require a commitment of a credit card number, but most reservations are held without such a guarantee.

Some reservations may open up, but it may be better just to be flexible with scheduling and eat at less popular times. This is why we ate dinner at Le Cellier around 4:30pm last May. Not too bad, but definitely earlier than we would have liked. But, we did get a nice meal.

 

[TheRealDrDisney]

There is a lot of abuse taking place, you're right.

I just wish Disney would charge 20.00 to a credit card right away that would (obviously) go toward the price of the meal when you show up. If you don't show up without cancelling first, it can go to the Make-A-Wish foundation instead.

Imagine - people having to book what they will actually use and lots of slots left open for others to choose from.

As the witch said to Dorothy - "what a world, what a world"

 

[Ramsfan28]

There is a lot of abuse taking place, you're right.

I just wish Disney would charge 20.00 to a credit card right away that would (obviously) go toward the price of the meal when you show up. If you don't show up without cancelling first, it can go to the Make-A-Wish foundation instead.

Imagine - people having to book what they will actually use and lots of slots left open for others to choose from.

As the witch said to Dorothy - "what a world, what a world"

I tend to agree and wish Disney would require a CC at the time of booking. There should be a penalty for those that do not show for a ressie.

 

[bumbershoot]

If you have a disney.com login and tie the reservations back to the account, then it will flag overlapping reservations and ask that you cancel one or the other, but it is possible to just make reservations online or over the phone and make multiple reservations for the same time.

It asks if you would LIKE to cancel one of them, as obviously Disney understands that there are reasons why you might have two righteous reservations at once (your group is splitting up, as the example that I did that on our trip).



I think summer is a busy time, and you can make ADRs 180 days out from the start of your reservation, and so people have been able to do that for June since December, if I'm counting months right. You're nearly 2 months behind, depending on when you are going, and that, I believe, is more likely the reason for not having a large selection to choose from.

 

[vicki_c]

I just don't see (or have ever had an impact from) this supposedly "rampant" abuse. Is there some? Of course. But to make it sound like the majority of people booking dining are making numerous reservations they won't use is way overstating it. Many visitors can hardly be bothered to book what they actually need and I certainly don't have the time to book multiple extra reservations. I really don't think it's a big problem at all.

I agree with Molly - summer is busy and you are 1.5-2 months past the start of the booking window and popular places book early.

 

[TheRealDrDisney]

I just don't see (or have ever had an impact from) this supposedly "rampant" abuse. Is there some? Of course. But to make it sound like the majority of people booking dining are making numerous reservations they won't use is way overstating it. Many visitors can hardly be bothered to book what they actually need and I certainly don't have the time to book multiple extra reservations. I really don't think it's a big problem at all.

As with everything, YMMV. However, as a local I can rarely get into very many restaurants even when booking quite a ways out. Admittedly, I am not stressing and trying to hit it at 180 days or whatever.

I spoke to someone fairly high in the food chain (ha-ha, get it?) of the Disney dining hierarchy and he agreed that it is definitely abused. More anecdotal evidence, of course, but at least from the inside as well.

 

[Roveer]

Thanks for all the really great replies. Now I know that this is actually how the system is set up to work. I believe we started going on-line right at the 180 day mark. Probably missed a few days (10), because we are staying on-site, but even missing 10 days we only had a bunch of 4:30 8:30 reservation opportunities at a bunch of places. Business must be good. Or people are booking freely. Maybe we can set up a secondary market here on DIS to buy/trade reservations. Oh wait, isn't that how our economy crashed. Never mind.

For anyone who doesn't believe people are abusing the system or because WDW is allowing multiple reservations that it's not actually abuse, I think you might be living in an alternate reality. Even my wife who usually plays by the rules was thinking of booking multiple dinners until she decided which one she wanted. I felt that was wrong because that would be one reason all I'm seeing available is 4:40 and 8:30. Within the rules? Guess so, but doesn't make it right. For the record we haven't booked any multi same time reservations. Make up your mind where you want to eat and stick to it.

I have to say, I'm getting tired of having to book things 1+ yrs or 6 months or 6 months+10 days in advance to get anything close to what you want. It's just such a PITA.

My wife could open a business tutoring WDW first timers. I hear her all the time talking to those folks who have the unknowing stare that say "we'll figure out where we want to eat when we get there". Yup, been there, done that. Counter service it is... Makes the vacation really special. Ever see the Filenes wedding dress sale. Video of ADR's at WDW! Yup, that's ADR's at WDW.

I have to say I would have thought WDW would have tightened up ADR's. After all forcing a reservation to make a commitment would really stop most of the multi booking right there. Can't understand why they dont' do it. They have the data, I wonder how many reservations never show up. I would think it's huge, you would think they would want to fix that.

Oh well, the one good thing for us is, we've done all the major spots enough times that we are now on to a lot of the out of the way places and are trying new things. We also know that if we don't get a good dining time how we have to adjust our family so that having dinner at 8:30pm won't become a disaster. I'm sure many DIS folks have seen or experienced that.

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

The CC idea is great, but for those on the dining plan, well why would you want to go through the hoops and hurdles to have Disney take and then have to refund your $20 to your credit card?

We knew when we were going to be going (March of this year) I had plane tickets booked first, almost a year in advance. Next, in September when I was 180 days out, I logged on for 10 days straight and made a dining reservation and go every place and time I wanted. I finally made my resort reservations back in November. For those who know when they are going and know that they should be looking for reservations at that 180 day window, you should not have too many problems at all. If you know you are going, it is worth the time and energy to plan ahead and get that 180 day window marked on your calendar.

 

[VeganCupcake]

You can always keep checking, for better time I always find a TON of openings the week before I go.

I also wish they would require a deposit.

 

[mickey&minniealways]

We have had some of our best time waiting till that morning or in the late afternoon. We call and ask what is available. Since people tend to wait till the last minute to cancel things. This way we get to try something that we might not have thought of trying before. Now you do have to be somewhat adventurous to do this. We have even taken that 8:80 reservation in the evening. If you do this for a character meal you tend to get the best character interaction. I is difficult though if you have real young ones with you.

 

[Wendybird55]

From my experience last year...

I made all my ADRs via phone at the 180 mark, but as things changed and other thoughts happened we wanted to make some changes....at times it was easier for me to make the change online which I did, but I still had the reservation I made over the phone. After making the on;ine reservations, I called to cancel the first reservation I didn't want , but mostly I wanted to make sure the new one was there before I cancelled and that it included the birthday celebration information (it was yes for both)

When talking to the CM I asked about the double booking and what would happen if I didn't cancel the first one. She said that as you get closer to the reservation date if there are multiple reservations for the same guest on the same day at around the same time both or one of the reservations will be dropped from the system automatically.

Your reservations are tied together...sometimes when I call by just giving my phone # or last name or reservation # they can call up all my reservations for the trip.

I understand how people want to hold 2 reservations for a few days while they make up their minds, but in the long run it's probably best to cancel one and keep the other.

Last year I was looking for Chef Mickeys (DS decided last minute he wanted to go). for days I kept checking online and nothing for the days or times I wanted. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue one day it seemed like a bunch of Chef Micky reservations opened up for when I wanted them like magic. It's hard to beleive all those people cancelled the same day at the same time...or could it be the system knocking out duplicate reservations and making them available again....not sure...but why take the chance.

 

[DisneyDreamer09]

What would be best is if Disney went and did a system like DCL does for is Port Adventures. It has a window for each adventure, which doesn't allow you to book another reservation within the time-span. So, if they kept a 3-4 hour window, per say, to each reservation for meal times, it would keep people from double booking.

I, for one, am a type-A personality. At my 180+10 window, I already know what parks we will be in, according to the shows and EMH, and have gone through the many menus and discussion boards over the restaurants. I also have back-ups in mind, such as another restaurant in EPCOT, if that is the park I am going for for that meal, so I can replace my first choice with my second choice. When that window opens, I know around what times I want reservations and I just type them in. Every time I have done this, I have come out successful.

After I do that, I forget about everything until we are a month or two out. Then, I re-examine my reservations and cancel/change what I am going to do, knowing that I may not get my second or third choice restaurant with the change I make.

I can see how people can abuse the system, but planning ahead is part of the key to success.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Please don't do this.

 

[cluvsdisney]

Have you tried calling for an ADR? Someone posted the other day that they tried to make some ADRs and was surprised that nothing was available. When they called Disney Dining the CM said there was some sort of glitch and there was in fact availability.

 

[Colleen27]

Yes, it is a free for all and yes there is abuse, though there's no way to know how much. There are even travel agents who advise clients to double book every meal so they have more flexibility in their trips!

I just wish Disney would charge 20.00 to a credit card right away that would (obviously) go toward the price of the meal when you show up. If you don't show up without cancelling first, it can go to the Make-A-Wish foundation instead.

Imagine - people having to book what they will actually use and lots of slots left open for others to choose from.

I'm glad they don't do that! We do the deluxe dining plan and make loads of reservations, none overlapping and all of which we intend to keep. Having to tie up hundreds of dollars for 6 months to get those ADRs would absolutely drive me to not booking a dining plan, and might even be enough to convince me to eat as many meals as possible offsite or at third-party WDW restaurants that don't book exclusively through Disney's ADR system.

 

[Colleen27]

What would be best is if Disney went and did a system like DCL does for is Port Adventures. It has a window for each adventure, which doesn't allow you to book another reservation within the time-span. So, if they kept a 3-4 hour window, per say, to each reservation for meal times, it would keep people from double booking.

That only works for cruising because you have to have a reservation to book the excursions. As long as the ADR system is open to everyone, there's no way to do that (and that's probably why they don't crack down on double bookings - because people would simply create a second identity to book their "plan B" ADRs). Besides, there are real reasons to have to ADRs simultaneously - we have three kids with a wide age gap between oldest and youngest. We do a lot of divide-and-conquer and sometimes that means we don't all eat every meal together.

 

[MSLRAC]

I'm glad they don't do that! We do the deluxe dining plan and make loads of reservations, none overlapping and all of which we intend to keep. Having to tie up hundreds of dollars for 6 months to get those ADRs would absolutely drive me to not booking a driving plan, and might even be enough to convince me to eat as many meals as possible offsite or at third-party WDW restaurants that don't book exclusively through Disney's ADR system.

I agree. We do the DxDP and it would have cost us $420 to make our ADRs for our last trip and $480 for our next trip. There is no way that I would tie up that kind of money for 6 months for meals at Disney.

That said, I would have no problem at all providing CC info like is required for Akershus, Cali Grill, etc. I think just having a card on file that is charged for no shows would be enough to curb the ADR system abuse.

 

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

"Video of ADR's at WDW!"

Too funny!