Dining reservation cancellation policy

[DMA832]

Is the restaurant reservation cancellation unofficial policy the same for DL as it is for WDW - no charge as long as you cancel before the actual day of aka 11:59pm the night before?

 

[Lillebelle]

It's 24 hours before, not midnight the day before. I tried to cancel a reservation 23 hours before (so well before midnight the day before) and couldn't do it -- not in the app, not in person at the actual restaurant, and the phone line they give is unstaffed and hangs up on you after a recording.

 

[figment_jii]

As Lillbelle said, after the 24-hour mark has passed, you can no longer cancel via the app (I did not try going to the restaurant or calling the phone line). However, if you log into the Disneyland website via a web browser, you can still cancel the reservation (I had to do that a few weeks ago).

 

[pharmama]

FWIW, I missed a couple dining reservations at visits over the summer and was never charged anything. Curious if anyone has ever actually been charged for a missed reservation?

 

[cruisehopeful]

FWIW, I missed a couple dining reservations at visits over the summer and was never charged anything. Curious if anyone has ever actually been charged for a missed reservation?

I was before Covid. Totally forgot that I had a reservation for Afternoon Tea. I was really bummed when I saw the charge .Not because of the $10 fee but because it was so hard to get reservations for Tea.

 

[wfjny]

FWIW, I missed a couple dining reservations at visits over the summer and was never charged anything. Curious if anyone has ever actually been charged for a missed reservation?

Yes, I was charged $40 for a missed reservation for 4 people. It was a bunch of years ago.

If my memory is correct, I think we had double booked. Changed the reservation to another place in another park. I called Disney, explained the situation, and they were very nice and reversed the charge. I don't doubt that they saw how much we had spent on that vacation, and that may have played a role in them reversing the charge.

Not sure if any of these things will work today, but they have in the past:

I have called the restaurant on the day of the meal and stated that someone in the party was sick, and we would need to cancel. Never been charged for those.

My wife has been able to change a reservation to a later day (and even a later trip a few months ago). I am not sure how she did that, but it was via the app.

 

[Whistlebee]

If it is too late to cancel a reservation, you can still modify it on the app by changing the reservation to a different date. Once the date is changed, you can then cancel the reservation.

 

[Wesley815]

Disneyland Dining CM's have been fired (or endless furlough?), so doubtful you'll ever get phone assistance again. Just a pointless recorded message that says they can't help.

Thankfully I was also not charged cancellation fee for a res that I couldn't cancel online or in app, and it said to call an unstaffed phone number. Hopefully they'll keep waiving the fee for now.

 

[pharmama]

Thanks for the confirmations they have charged in the past. Interesting if they really are secretly not charging now even though they have in the past.

I've done the reschedule (and then cancel) hack too but couldn't even do that for one of the reservations we were going to miss over the summer because dining reservations are so tight now I couldn't find another day with Cafe Orleans availability to reschedule to.

 

[serendipityaey]

No phone help but yesterday I used the chat on the app and got help right away and got my problem fixed.

 

[DLgal]

In my experience, the Downtown Disney restaurants don't charge a fee, but the Disney owned ones do.

 

[dis444me]

removed - n/a

 

[sophy1996]

Edit: no longer relevant

 

[dis444me]

You posted on the Disneyland (California) board, but are asking about WDW restaurants. You may want to post on the Florida restaurant board for better information.

thank you - I removed the post - sorry : )