Did anyone else get this email from MS?

[Ruttangel]

I'm 100% sure this is another way to nickel and dime us.
However it does make the AKV Concierge rooms that get this service for free a bit of an outlier.

Interesting that it also says RIV as I'm sure Disney are putting their best people in that resort. The difference in service between Topolinos and Citricos/Jiko/Flying Fish was amazing when I was there in last 2 weeks. Food wasn't better (pasta was horrible) but service top notch.

 

[J-Dog]

Like with travel agents I don't trust them to put the priority on my requests that I put on them. I would never trust them to do my day 60 reservations and I doubt they would be open to booking 2 or 3 times at the same restaurant so I can choose once the trip gets closer.

Meh. Maybe I'm not normal with ADR's, but I don't really care that much if I don't get a specific request. There are always other places to eat. I'm still in if it means that I don't have to wake up at 3am.

 

[Sandisw]

Meh. Maybe I'm not normal with ADR's, but I don't really care that much if I don't get a specific request. There are always other places to eat. I'm still in if it means that I don't have to wake up at 3am.

Have to agree! We don’t even do them every day but anyone who can help me with things when I go with different groups, especially with a big group would be nice!

 

[Ruttangel]

I find that if you check 24-36 hours before you want a restaurant loads magically appear, even Ogas/Space 220/Ohana
If concierge checked 7 days before it would be unavailable

 

[kes601]

I find that if you check 24-36 hours before you want a restaurant loads magically appear, even Ogas/Space 220/Ohana
If concierge checked 7 days before it would be unavailable

Yep, people cancel at the 24-36 mark as to not get hit with the cancellation fee. We find ourselves booking dining at 60 days but end up rarely using anything we book and end up booking day of reservations.

 

[RoseGold]

The difference in service between Topolinos and Citricos/Jiko/Flying Fish was amazing when I was there in last 2 weeks. Food wasn't better (pasta was horrible) but service top notch.

I'm no fan of Riviera in general, but I thought the Topolino's pasta was great, and I'm snobby about pasta.

 

[Ruttangel]

I'm no fan of Riviera in general, but I thought the Topolino's pasta was great, and I'm snobby about pasta.

I had Tortellini and partner had Rigatoni, it was way too thick, I could taste the flour. Lobster linguini was ok though.

 

[RivShore]

So soon we will have less availability and have to pay for reservations.

Pure speculation and yet you state it as fact? We don't even know if it will survive the testing phase and you already have a reservation requiring payment.

The same thing happened with Fastpass and naive people were saying " but they are free, why complain?" And now you have to pay

And FP was free for a decade or three. Can we just wait for the facts before all the over the top speculation...oh nevermind, I forgot that was the purpose of the internet...carry on

 

[J-Dog]

I find that if you check 24-36 hours before you want a restaurant loads magically appear, even Ogas/Space 220/Ohana
If concierge checked 7 days before it would be unavailable

It's my understanding, though, that having them check doesn't negate your ability to check. Why not do both?

 

[sethschroeder]

Meh. Maybe I'm not normal with ADR's, but I don't really care that much if I don't get a specific request. There are always other places to eat. I'm still in if it means that I don't have to wake up at 3am.

Thing is then where are you going to eat next? What happens when that is gone as well?

So back to why TAs are not the best IMO unless you don't care about anything. I know where I ate in the past, I did the research on what I will like, what places have improved or gotten worse recently, and if I want to change and make duplicate reservations I have the ability to do it. With a TA I am doing pretty much the same amount of actions but needing to craft an email then respond when something isn't available.

 

[sethschroeder]

It's my understanding, though, that having them check doesn't negate your ability to check. Why not do both?

You are going to be paying for this service likely long term. So if I am checking why have them check. Unless they have the ability to "save" inventory and then check it doesn't help much since you can set reservation finders to email/text you as soon as something opens up along with a direct link to the booking page.

 

[DaveNan]

Out of curiosity OP, are you in a GV? Back when club level at AKV had the option to buy 3 additional FP's for each day, and have concierge book you FP for you and make ADR's, they extended that offering to anyone staying in a GV at any of the resorts. Is this reintroducing that feature, minus the FP and fee? I did it once and got every FP I wanted - every day and every time. The concierge had a 90 day booking window for FP's versus the 60 day window for everyone else. With this program, do they have > 60 day booking for ADR's? This offer came about 90 days before the early Dec stay of the OP?

 

[J-Dog]

You are going to be paying for this service likely long term. So if I am checking why have them check. Unless they have the ability to "save" inventory and then check it doesn't help much since you can set reservation finders to email/text you as soon as something opens up along with a direct link to the booking page.

Okay. So...?

From my understanding, I send them a list of ADR's, then they book them at 60 days. I seriously doubt that prevents me from changing or adding ADR's after the fact.

I'm not seeing the disadvantage of doing this. Why is it a bad thing to let them book my ADR's? I already stated that I don't care that much if they don't get exactly what I want.

This pilot program is free right now. That's what the thread is about. I'm not making decisions about this email based on what might possibly happen to pricing in the future.

 

[J-Dog]

Out of curiosity OP, are you in a GV? Back when club level at AKV had the option to buy 3 additional FP's for each day, and have concierge book you FP for you and make ADR's, they extended that offering to anyone staying in a GV at any of the resorts. Is this reintroducing that feature, minus the FP and fee? I did it once and got every FP I wanted - every day and every time. The concierge had a 90 day booking window for FP's versus the 60 day window for everyone else. With this program, do they have > 60 day booking for ADR's? This offer came about 90 days before the early Dec stay of the OP?

Yes, actually we are. You might be on to something!

We have a 2-bed FW at RIV, but due to pandemic stuff, we had enough points to switch to a GV this year.

 

[New Mouse]

I'm 100% sure this is another way to nickel and dime us.
However it does make the AKV Concierge rooms that get this service for free a bit of an outlier.

Interesting that it also says RIV as I'm sure Disney are putting their best people in that resort. The difference in service between Topolinos and Citricos/Jiko/Flying Fish was amazing when I was there in last 2 weeks. Food wasn't better (pasta was horrible) but service top notch.

Disney doesn't cherry pick front line employees for specific resorts. You're just as likely to be told you will work at all star.

 

[RivShore]

Disney doesn't cherry pick front line employees for specific resorts. You're just as likely to be told you will work at all star.

I believe they do pick and choose when it comes to signature restaurants. And probably for new resort openings in the other front line areas, they put their most experienced to get it up and running.

 

[New Mouse]

I believe they do pick and choose when it comes to signature restaurants. And probably for new resort openings in the other front line areas, they put their most experienced to get it up and running.

It's seniority based not performance.

 

[Doberge]

Curious if they can get away offering to all members but charging guests on white card reservations to fund as a membership extra for blue card reservations? Membership extras are paid from marketing budgets, and that comes from dues so I'm unsure if it's even broadly allowable for DVC to charge separately for something that's paid by a dues bucket.

 

[Sandisw]

Curious if they can get away offering to all members but charging guests on white card reservations to fund as a membership extra for blue card reservations? Membership extras are paid from marketing budgets, and that comes from dues so I'm unsure if it's even broadly allowable for DVC to charge separately for something that's paid by a dues bucket.

Membership extras are funded by the developers marketing budget which has nothing to do with dues. Things like the Epcot and TOTWL lounges are paid via that..and can not come out of dues.

Dues cover the operation and management of the vacation ownership plan and resort. We pay a set fee to DVCMC to manage the program.

This type of service could have a fee, but technically that fee could be waived for those eligible for membership extras because DVD pays that fee for them

However, IMO, that gets very muddy, so I think it’s more likely you would see this type of service to be just part of membership extras, or offered to all under the same terms and conditions.

If I had to guess, it will become part of membership extras and only eligible for those owners, even if it becomes a fee based perk.

 

[justadreamaway77]

I guess I see it differently because plenty of programs out there that give you extras when you pay extra.

I pay extra to fly Southwest Anytime or Business so I get the advantage of being one of the first on the plane since I have certain preferences on where I want to sit.

So, if they want to enhance the membership by offering some extras, even if some cost, I am all for it being a choice.

I mean even the extra night hours for deluxe guests has been a pay to play system…you spend more on your room and you end up enjoying the park with less crowds and fewer wait times.

But, if I could pay something to have someone book my dining reservations for me like I used to have my travel agents do? I sure would love that.

Difference is, that even if you pay a little extra to have the seat of your choice, everyone on that plane is going to get a seat, it just may not be the seat they wanted. If they did a paid Concierge for special ressies, then that puts others at a disadvantage to getting a table at all. I'm all for paid perks like extra hours, lightening lane, etc but paying extra to get a dining ressie seems a little much to me.