Are ADR cancellation coordinations really fair?

[LIFERBABE]

I have noticed alot more of this on the boards lately and no one has really questioned coordinating ADR cancellations with other Disers.

Im not normally confrontational, but won't this make it harder for all of us? It used to be, "keep calling for unavailable ADR's because people will cancel" Now we have the potential of a whole internet community "coordinating" cancellations, which could mean if you don't coordinate with someone, your chances of obtaining a cancelled ADR have decreased significantly.

I know we are all trying to help each other out, but let's not forget why CRT ressies were changed a few years back. People were booking and then selling the ressie on Ebay and you had groups booking for other people or "bartering" the ressie.

The potential for abuse is signifcant and some will feel justified in booking as many ADR's as they can and still feel like they are doing a good deed by coordinating the cancellation later with someone who may have not needed to coordinate if people just booked what they needed in the first place. Or like CRT in the past, sell/trade/barter the cancellation date and time. This cancellation information is very valuable during peak seasons.

IMHO, this is a slippery slope and we could all negatively impact our Dining choices and then be at the mercy of some kind/not so kind soul who is willing to "coordinate" their cancellation. I am not singling out any one poster, just my opinion on a growing trend I see on the boards.

I'll be the first to admit that technically this is not a loophole, but something that WDW did not anticipate occurring. They could prevent it by putting a delay on cancelled reservations, so that they are not put back immediately into the system thus making the rebooking more random.

 

[magic kingdom park]

I don't want to sound ugly either, but I sure hope that all of these people making allllllllllllll these adrs are really going to go and not be a no show, now that would be unfair also, booking all these adr's and not using them or cancelling them.

 

[Palendat]

I kind of agree with the OP. I have many ADRs, all of them I plan to keep, but if I do cancel, I probably won't post it here. There are MANY more people going to WDW than just those that post here, so I really don't think that those co-ordinated cancellations are really going to make much difference at this point. That may change!

 

[henrylovespooh]

Interesting thread and something to think about.

I would take the viewpoint that DISers are pretty honest people who are letting people know about ADRs they don't need anymore because they changed dates of their trips or had a change of plans affected by EMHS and other park hours. I've met some incredibly kind people on the boards who have helped me out and sent my kids postcards from Mickey, so in many cases they're just trying to help and have no ulterior or financial motive. The free dining program has also caused great difficulties in getting ADRs.

It's important to note that even if two people get together and try to coordinate a cancellation, there is no guarantee that the person who needs the ADR will get it. Disney Dining gets hundreds if not thousands of calls, so the person they coordinated with still has to be pretty lucky to get the cancelled ADR.

Because I found these boards before planning my family's first trip in 2001, I am actually more concerned about cancelling any ADR we cannot use because I know there are people out there that are looking for them. The sense of community keeps things from getting out of hand.

 

[erikthewise]

I sympathize with this viewpoint. I think it started as a few people just wanting to do a good deed, but you know what they say about that...

When there are organized threads, it takes on a different nature.

 

[CJBaby]

I personally don't see the harm in offering an ADR to a dis'er that you had originally planned to use, and no longer have use for. If anything, you are guaranteeing that someone who really wants an ADR will get it. Some slots may go to waste if noone happens to call and check for a cancellation, and why should that happen? As far as people making extra reservations,

"booking as many ADR's as they can and still feel like they are doing a good deed by coordinating the cancellation later with someone who may have not needed to coordinate if people just booked what they needed in the first place."

It is certainly an interesting point, but instead of overthinking it, I think that we should realize that most people accept times/days for ADRs that aren't ideal, but better than nothing, and then find a better time, or cancel their trip, and offer up their ADR to a very appreciative DIS'er.

I am one of these many, and will be offering up any unneeded ADRs to my new friends here at the DIS

 

[queenof2princesses]

When planning our Fall trip 6 months ago, I had no idea the exact dates, which park which day, what dates MNSSHP would be, etc. At 90 days out, before 90+10 started, I made ADR's for restaurants we wanted to try. Did not know if we could afford to do 2 parties, so I booked 2 LTT's, not knowing which night we would party. I had CRT for lunch 2 days in a row until I could find out park hours to plan which park for each day. Looong story short, we don't want to duplicate restaurants, plans have been finalized, and now we have some ADR's to cancel. I don't feel like I abused the system by booking too many ADR's, although I realize some naughty people would abuse the system. (My own mother-different moral system-questioned why I coordinated giving DIS friends my ADR's--'Why didn't you sell them on EBAY!' Some people don't think that's wrong, I DO.) I do feel, however, that my ADR's are very valuable and I am soooo happy to have found the DIS. I am happy to 'give back' to a fellow DIS'er. I have received sooo much great information from this sight to allow my family to travel to WDW more often. My DH, at first thought I had lost my mind because I thought we could afford to travel to WDW for so many vacations, now brags to his friends that if they ever think of planning a trip to WDW, talk to Angel and she'll find you a deal on DISboards! This is such a small thing to give, but as booked as the restaurants are, if fellow DISers can help each other out, more power to 'em! I actually wanted to do LTT at both parties and read in the cancellation post where someone REALLY wanted to take their kids there on a particular night and couldn't get an ADR. I gave up our 2nd LTT so a DIS friend could go!! If I can share my CRT with a little girl whose mommy's fingers don't dial as fast as mine (I have always been successful with CRT every trip, knock on wood ) no offense taken please, I will gladly give one up for her. Please forgive the length, I guess I feel strongly that this is not that big of a deal in the GRAND scheme of Disney Dining considering how many ADR's they actually make per minute, think about it guys, what is the actual percentage of ADR cancellations that are coordinatedly (funny word huh?) given to friends (DISers)?
Maybe I am writing so much because tommorow I am preparing for the next day to be single digit dancing

 

[Amyg]

I kind of agree with the OP. I have many ADRs, all of them I plan to keep, but if I do cancel, I probably won't post it here. There are MANY more people going to WDW than just those that post here, so I really don't think that those co-ordinated cancellations are really going to make much difference at this point. That may change!

This is true.

I bet the percentage is extremely low for those who "coordinate". I only see a handful of postings offering up to coordinate. Plus most people going to WDW either don't know about these boards at all and I would think that trying to coordinate would be very tricky with hundreds of people calling to make ADR's at any given time.

Scenario: DISer cancelling speaks with CM#2; DISer coordinated to reserve speaks with CM#13; meanwhile non-DISer speaks with CM#22 making reservations that "just opened". No guarantees this works IMHO.

 

[queenof2princesses]

No guarantees, but we had a little pixie dust when coordinating our transfers of ADR's for LTT and CRT even during a 'busy calling time'. I crossed my fingers for both of them, honestly just wanted to help out

 

[madge]

When there are organized threads, it takes on a different nature.

I started the October thread, and I admit...I had an ulterior motive in doing so. A week or so ago, it was starting to look like the Dining board was becoming one giant ADR beg-fest. There were probably a dozen requests on the first page alone. I hoped it would streamline things for those interested in sharing that sort of information.

As far as the coordination of ADR cancellations, I have mixed feelings on the subject. A general post that says, "I am cancelling such and such this afternoon, in case anyone is interested" is one thing. What an individual chooses to do with that information is up to them. I can certainly see where it would put a DISer at an advantage over someone unfamiliar with the internet, message boards, etc. Having said that, isn't the DIS an advantage in and of itself? If a person books a trip to WDW, and has never been...doesn't use a travel agent....they might not know to call ahead of time to set up a PS in the first place.

The internet is an interesting tool when planning a WDW vacation, I think that it raises expectations for people that might not know what to expect otherwise.

I cancelled all of the PS that I know for sure I'm not using for our trip this afternoon

 

[beattyfamily]

I totally disagree and I think it's totally fair. I think what's been happening here on the DIS is nothing like what happened with CRT a couple of years ago.

It's still the luck of the draw. IMHO, making a mountain out of a molehill.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

I totally disagree and I think it's totally fair. I think what's been happening here on the DIS is nothing like what happened with CRT a couple of years ago.

It's still the luck of the draw. IMHO, making a mountain out of a molehill.

 

[jann1033]

just wondering with all the cms taking res. what really are the chances of getting one someone canceled whether you know they are going to are not.

 

[jann1033]

yep my thoughts exactly. just hoping things are more normal by the time we go

 

[NCombs]

Grains of sand-the number of people trying to coordinate something like this is not enough to make a difference in the grand scheme of ADR's.

 

[Pedler]

This is an interesting question. On the one hand I don't think I would worry about a cancelled ADR going unused at any of the popular places even during the slow times. I think there are a lot of unaware guests that try to make day of ressies at these places and wonder why they are fully booked.

On the other hand I guess the question is that if you are cancelling an ADR is it appropriate to give another person or community a leg up on getting it as opposed to giving everyone an equal chance? I can see the argument for not giving an advantage but as someone mentioned the mere existance of these boards and other sources provides an advantage over others.

I am not sure that it is any more of an unfair advantage than all of the postings and all that has been written on how to get a breakfast ADR for CRT. The unaware are just going to have a big time disadvantage over people here.

I will say that it is a fine line. Its one thing to legitimately change plans and offer up the info here that you are cancelling an ADR. It would be an entirely different thing if people started tying up ADR's solely for the purpose of giving them to DISer's. That I would object to.

Of course my thought is that Disney could just establish some sort of wait list with a credit card guarantee. That would help them avoid the endless phone calls checking over and over again for availability. Then all this ADR coordination stuff would go away and the poor person that started dialing late for Breakfast at CRT would get the next spot as opposed to someone in a seperate Internet community. Of course I also think they should have a credit card guarantee for all ADR's and have a no show penalty.

Just my .02.

 

[jann1033]

. It would be an entirely different thing if people started tying up ADR's solely for the purpose of giving them to DISer's. That I would object to.


yes that would be totally wrong. they should cancel any ressis you have for that time slot in order for you to make a new one..if you need 2 you should have to make it in somone else's name.

due to my indecsion last time i canceled a number of adr( ps then) and changed places or time ect. when we got there the cms i spoke with had not canceled most of the ones i had as they were still on my ps sheet( like sometimes 2 or more for the same time). i wonder if that is happening now also and that is why it is so hard for some to get adrs( as well as the free dining but that would not account for problems 90 days out now)

really whose fault is it if someone doesn't try to research a vacation to any where .it's not these are secret sites. type in "wdw" and up they come

 

[Pedler]

really whose fault is it if someone doesn't try to research a vacation to any where .it's not these are secret sites. type in "wdw" and up they come

If people don't do thier research then that is thier fault.

The more I think about it a wait list would be a good thing though I doubt there would be a way to implement it properly. At least for breakfast at CRT. There are some people that no matter how much they want to may not be able to do the quick dialing at 7:00 AM eastern time. They could work the night shift or have just been slow in hitting the buttons. I do think they should get the next shot at a cancellation if one comes up. They made the effort but just were not quite quick enough.

I do think that if the dinning plan continues and ADR's do get booked up early for the popular places then more of them should require a credit card deposit with a 48 hour cancellation penalty. Right now you could book the Crystal Palace everyday for breakfast and just see what days you got up in time and felt like going there. While there are some places that I would try a walk up hoping for no shows there is no way I would do that with kids in tow for a character meal.

 

[kath1210]

Give me a break! Why is it that there is NOTHING that can be done on these boards without someone appointing themselves the "morality police" and finding something wrong with it?

We are a community, a "family" of sorts, so why not help each other out? It is true that Disney makes it tough on us, allowing ADRs 90 days out, but only posting hours 60 days out or less in many cases. In addition, it's almost impossible to add people to your reservations, and they won't let you reduce the number of people on a reservation without canceling it. I think most of us are doing the best we can under these restraints.

I did not make any duplicate reservations, but our plans changed. I coordinated two calls and was able to pass my reservations on to two Dis-ers and I also was able to get one reservation from a Dis-er.

I think the whole idea of coordinating calls is awesome - I was able to make someone happy and someone was able to make a family in my group gathering very happy! In fact, the family who will be using Angel's CRT reservation was just ecstatic last night - the kids were jumping and yelling "We got it, we're going to eat at the Castle with Cinderella!"

We all have equal chances to coordinate calls and help each other or get help, so what could be wrong? It's not like someone made lots of extra reservations so they could pick and choose who to give them to. Jeez - some people just need to chill out!

 

[Pedler]

In fact, the family who will be using Angel's CRT reservation was just ecstatic last night - the kids were jumping and yelling "We got it, we're going to eat at the Castle with Cinderella!"

No flames please. But to point out if the cancellation had not been coordinated another family unknown to you would probably been equally as happy. I am not saying it is wrong to give an advantage to a member of a cyber community but I do understand the view point that it does give DISer's a leg up over someone else.

Like I said the more I think about it a wait list of sort at least for the character meals and maybe some of the more popular places would be a good idea.