Disney Dining Buddy No More

[Jhondy210]

Everyone talking about scalping is seriously misinformed about what sites like Dining Buddy and Scout do. I agree paying a scalper is ridiculous but having a site run searches and alert me isn't ridiculous to me. I have a very stressful job that requires me to work more than 40 hours a week and I can not go online at work to check the Disney site for reservations. I book my trips at more than 180 days out, I get up when reservations first open but I don't always get everything I want especially if my trip is short. If Disney really wants to make things fair for everyone (which is not what they are wanting to do) then stop allowing guests to hoard reservations. I've seen too many people on this site releasing 5+ ARDs for hard to get ADRs. Not to mention, just cause Scout alerts me to an ADR I want, if you are searching at that time, you have the ability to get it before me so I don't see the harm in Scout. Also, Disney's site has been glitchy forever and I don't think it is just because of Dining Buddy, Scout, etc.

 

[jerseygirl82]

Everyone talking about scalping is seriously misinformed about what sites like Dining Buddy and Scout do. I agree paying a scalper is ridiculous but having a site run searches and alert me isn't ridiculous to me. I have a very stressful job that requires me to work more than 40 hours a week and I can not go online at work to check the Disney site for reservations. I book my trips at more than 180 days out, I get up when reservations first open but I don't always get everything I want especially if my trip is short. If Disney really wants to make things fair for everyone (which is not what they are wanting to do) then stop allowing guests to hoard reservations. I've seen too many people on this site releasing 5+ ARDs for hard to get ADRs. Not to mention, just cause Scout alerts me to an ADR I want, if you are searching at that time, you have the ability to get it before me so I don't see the harm in Scout. Also, Disney's site has been glitchy forever and I don't think it is just because of Dining Buddy, Scout, etc.

Thank you! It has been driving me crazy that people are posting their pleasure with this news without knowing anything about Disney Dining Buddy.

 

[TeresaNJ]

Everyone talking about scalping is seriously misinformed about what sites like Dining Buddy and Scout do. I agree paying a scalper is ridiculous but having a site run searches and alert me isn't ridiculous to me. I have a very stressful job that requires me to work more than 40 hours a week and I can not go online at work to check the Disney site for reservations. I book my trips at more than 180 days out, I get up when reservations first open but I don't always get everything I want especially if my trip is short. If Disney really wants to make things fair for everyone (which is not what they are wanting to do) then stop allowing guests to hoard reservations. I've seen too many people on this site releasing 5+ ARDs for hard to get ADRs. Not to mention, just cause Scout alerts me to an ADR I want, if you are searching at that time, you have the ability to get it before me so I don't see the harm in Scout. Also, Disney's site has been glitchy forever and I don't think it is just because of Dining Buddy, Scout, etc.

Thank you! It has been driving me crazy that people are posting their pleasure with this news without knowing anything about Disney Dining Buddy.

My thoughts exactly! I can't tell you how many times Disney Dining Buddy alerted me to a reservation, only to have it be gone by the time I log into the Disney dining page, which is fine; first come, first serve. What is not fine are the people who book multiple dining reservations within the same time frame, for instance 5pm, 6:15pm, 7:30pm, because they're not sure what time they'll be in the park that day, or which park they'll be in, so hoard the reservations until almost 24 hours before. I'm wondering how many gleeful people hurrahing the demise of sites like Disney Dining Buddy hoard reservations.

 

[Allison]

Thank you! It has been driving me crazy that people are posting their pleasure with this news without knowing anything about Disney Dining Buddy.

I completely understand how it works.

 

[Jennasis]

Again, the search sites over burden the Disney servers. Their IT is tenuous as it is without being over loaded by search services.

 

[jerseygirl82]

My thoughts exactly! I can't tell you how many times Disney Dining Buddy alerted me to a reservation, only to have it be gone by the time I log into the Disney dining page, which is fine; first come, first serve. What is not fine are the people who book multiple dining reservations within the same time frame, for instance 5pm, 6:15pm, 7:30pm, because they're not sure what time they'll be in the park that day, or which park they'll be in, so hoard the reservations until almost 24 hours before. I'm wondering how many gleeful people hurrahing the demise of sites like Disney Dining Buddy hoard reservations.

Yes! What is Disney doing about the hoarders? I'm sorry but if I need to decide 6 months in advance where I want to eat then so does everyone else. It is the hoarders who are creating the demand for these services.

 

[jerseygirl82]

Again, the search sites over burden the Disney servers. Their IT is tenuous as it is without being over loaded by search services.

It is Disney's own fault. There wouldn't be a need for these services if people could log in at 180 days out and make the reservations they want.

 

[Missyrose]

It is Disney's own fault. There wouldn't be a need for these services if people could log in at 180 days out and make the reservations they want.

There's an even bigger issue that Disney itself created. Because so many people won't know what their final plans are until they book their FP+ reservations, those folks will likely have to have multiple ADRs booked. Once their plans solidify after the FP+ reservations are made, they'll drop the extra ADRs. This is a problem of Disney's own making.

 

[Jennasis]

It is Disney's own fault. There wouldn't be a need for these services if people could log in at 180 days out and make the reservations they want.

Oh i agree. Disney created the monster, so its up to them how to deal with it.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Everyone talking about scalping is seriously misinformed about what sites like Dining Buddy and Scout do.

Many of them are, but you are also informed about the trouble caused by sites like Buddy and Scout.

I agree paying a scalper is ridiculous but having a site run searches and alert me isn't ridiculous to me.

Its not ridiculous to YOU, but that doesn't mean its not ridiculous to many others.

I have a very stressful job that requires me to work more than 40 hours a week and I can not go online at work to check the Disney site for reservations

There are millions of people just like you. They either get the ADRs, don't get the ADRs, or meet in the middle by getting a few of their fav ADRs and eating elsewhere too. A Disney vacation is not made by the places you eat.

I book my trips at more than 180 days out, I get up when reservations first open but I don't always get everything I want especially if my trip is short.

This is life. It happens to us all. It doesn't mean there should be bots allowed to crawl the system and slow it down. Have you ever thought that maybe part of the reason you didn't get what you want is because of the bots slowing the system down and causing errors?

If Disney really wants to make things fair for everyone (which is not what they are wanting to do) then stop allowing guests to hoard reservations. I've seen too many people on this site releasing 5+ ARDs for hard to get ADRs.

I agree with this 100%. When people stop hoarding, we'll see a slight increase in ADR availability. Nothing is going to change until that is done. Shutting down every single bot or scalper site will not change the availability we see right now. Mark my word. This whole situation is happening because of a false panic that Disney has created by making people think they can't enjoy a Disney vacation without eating at certain places. Its no ones fault but Disney's - and they are most definitely reaping the rewards from it.

Are people going to start complaining about hoarders once these sites are shut down? Will be interesting to see

 

[Dean Marino]

Again, the search sites over burden the Disney servers. Their IT is tenuous as it is without being over loaded by search services.

This. Jennasis gets the net.... the WDW servers, Web and DB back end, just can't handle the stress of automated systems hitting 'em. The whole thing is tenuous for basic human traffic - multiple automated systems yelling "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" would pretty much force WDW to seriously upgrade their computer infrastructure. This would be a COST to Disney, with no commensurate income . Just me - if I got a vote? I wouldn't go for this either.... Personal opinion - I believe getting rid of the scrappers is a sound business decision for WDW....

 

[jerseygirl82]

A Disney vacation is not made by the places you eat.

Which is the opinion of an adult who can think rationally. Try telling that to a 5 year old whose only request for a 7 day trip is to eat dinner at BOG and meet Beast. It won't ruin her trip, but she will be disappointed and won't understand why her singular request can't be met. I logged on at 180 days out and was still shut out of BOG dinner. What more could be done? Therefore I sought out the services that would stalk the reservation system so that I could cut down on my search time. I understand it is impacting Disney's servers, etc but that's the price they pay when their current system fails their patrons.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Try telling that to a 5 year old whose only request for a 7 day trip is to eat dinner at BOG and meet Beast. It won't ruin her trip, but she will be disappointed and won't understand why her singular request can't be met.

I "get it". Believe me, I do. I know these things are important to many children, and thus so to their parents. As parents we want to give our kids all the special moments we can. The reality is....not everyone is going to be able to meet the characters or dine in certain places in Disney. Someone is going to be the unlucky person. Its a good way to teach our children that sometimes life comes with disappointments.

Also, in many cases a 5 year old isn't even going to know that Beast is even at BoG unless their parents tell them. It may be better to wait until the ADR is secured before telling a small child they can meet their favorite character.

Therefore I sought out the services that would stalk the reservation system so that I could cut down on my search time.

And I'm not blaming you or anyone else for doing that. I think what most of us are saying is that these services need to go so that a fair and equal playing field is made for everyone, though shutting down these places is only a start. We're really not going to see changes until Disney limits the number of ADRs that can be made each day and somehow ties it to something like an account number or even SSN#. Otherwise, if they limit the # of ADRs made per MDE account, people will just make multiple MDE accounts to get around the system (they already do it). Disney has to find a way to strictly enforce this or the current problem at hand will only get worse.

All these people who rely on Buddy, Scout, Agent, Tools, etc.....now that they can't use those anymore there will be even more hoarding than before.

 

[Jhondy210]

Many of them are, but you are also informed about the trouble caused by sites like Buddy and Scout.



Its not ridiculous to YOU, but that doesn't mean its not ridiculous to many others.



There are millions of people just like you. They either get the ADRs, don't get the ADRs, or meet in the middle by getting a few of their fav ADRs and eating elsewhere too. A Disney vacation is not made by the places you eat.



This is life. It happens to us all. It doesn't mean there should be bots allowed to crawl the system and slow it down. Have you ever thought that maybe part of the reason you didn't get what you want is because of the bots slowing the system down and causing errors?



I agree with this 100%. When people stop hoarding, we'll see a slight increase in ADR availability. Nothing is going to change until that is done. Shutting down every single bot or scalper site will not change the availability we see right now. Mark my word. This whole situation is happening because of a false panic that Disney has created by making people think they can't enjoy a Disney vacation without eating at certain places. Its no ones fault but Disney's - and they are most definitely reaping the rewards from it.

Are people going to start complaining about hoarders once these sites are shut down? Will be interesting to see

I'm not disagreeing with you that whether I get a certain ADR is neither going to make or break my vacation but it seems a lot of people are happy that these sites are shutting down because they don't think its fair that someone can pay to get a notification while they do the searches themselves instead of paying. My point of the working 40+ hours was just to say no matter what the system is, it is never going to be fair to everyone because everyone can't search for ADRs 24/7.

Also, while an ADR may not make or break my vacation, a certain ADR can make a vacation more enjoyable.

Also, while these sites do cause additional stress on the system, I don't think we are going to see a huge difference in how the site functions when these sites are shut down.

To be honest, I'm actually happy with my ADRs and I made the majority of them without Scout. Scout was used when I changed my mind where I wanted to eat and I'm going during the horrible mid-Nov. time where there are little ADRs available for restaurants that I care to eat at.

Why is no one complaining about the Dibb website that continually checks for availability of FP+ and it appears on a site if you pay a fee you can have them notify you of changes in FP+ (at least that is how I read it because I've never actually used their paid service…isn't that just as bad as the ADR ones? I actually had a harder time with FP+ then I did ADRs. Again, it won't ruin my vacation to have to wait in line instead of FP but it Dibb appears to do the same thing as Scout just with FP+. Maybe there isn't outrage because if you don't get a FP+ you can still enjoy the attraction standby while that isn't true with ADRs. Idk. The only issue I had with Dining Buddy was it was expensive! I didn't use Buddy because the cost was way crazier than Scout.

Disney is continue to increase the number of guests that visit and as the increase continues it is going to be harder and harder to get all the ADRs people want at the right times along with all the FP+ people want at the right times. I think that is going to cause more and more people to hoard ADRs, which, in my opinion, is rude. However, as pointed out by others, Disney created this mess and I doubt Disney is going to do anything to fix the mess.

So, long story short, I don't agree with scalping reservations and selling them to others and I don't agree with Hoarding but I don't disagree with sites that search for ADRs for you…maybe Disney will find a way to cash in on people willing to pay for this type of service and create the service for their customers.

 

[Disneylover99]

My thoughts exactly! I can't tell you how many times Disney Dining Buddy alerted me to a reservation, only to have it be gone by the time I log into the Disney dining page, which is fine; first come, first serve. What is not fine are the people who book multiple dining reservations within the same time frame, for instance 5pm, 6:15pm, 7:30pm, because they're not sure what time they'll be in the park that day, or which park they'll be in, so hoard the reservations until almost 24 hours before. I'm wondering how many gleeful people hurrahing the demise of sites like Disney Dining Buddy hoard reservations.

Don't forget, Disney Dining buddy and other services like this were also alerting a thousand other people to the hard to get reservation you wanted.

 

[bjb1124]

I work with not for profits and the software that they use. Many have "wait list" capability available for events. Even QVC has a wait list for products that are popular. It isn't outrageous to think a similar system could be put in place at Disney to notify people when an ADR is cancelled. Obviously a lot of thought would need to happen for this - how many notifications sent per ADR, time frame, etc. but it is something that even OLD systems have had for a decade.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Why is no one complaining about the Dibb website that continually checks for availability of FP+ and it appears on a site if you pay a fee you can have them notify you of changes in FP+ (at least that is how I read it because I've never actually used their paid service…isn't that just as bad as the ADR ones? I actually had a harder time with FP+ then I did ADRs.

Interesting indeed. I discovered the site the other day and now that you mention it, you're right, the Dibb site does crawl the Disney FP+ openings, which would bog down the site/searches in the same way. DDB, DDS, DDA, WDWTm etc were fine until the media did a story on them and then it spread like wildfire. Maybe the media should be tipped off about the Dibb too.

 

[AngiTN]

So, long story short, I don't agree with scalping reservations and selling them to others and I don't agree with Hoarding but I don't disagree with sites that search for ADRs for you…maybe Disney will find a way to cash in on people willing to pay for this type of service and create the service for their customers.

This is my issue. Fine, shut down sites that search for ADR because they put an undue burden on resources. But how can people be happy about that when the people selling ADR made with fakes names are still operating? If anyone needs shutting down its them they should go first, the sites like dining buddy should go second

 

[Deb & Bill]

180+10 can also cause a problem because people who are arriving up to nine days before you can book those nights you want. Disney needs to go back to 90 days out. 90 days out for resort guests. 60 days out for offsite guests. (You pay a premium to stay onsite, so throw them a bone). And keep about 10% of the reservations open for 24 hours out reserving and allow them to be made no more than 24 hours out from the reservation - you want 5PM, you can book it at 5PM the day before; you want 9PM, you can book it at 9PM the day before. And if you cancel your onsite reservation, your reservations made at 61-90 days out are cancelled. Those at 60 days out would still be reserved.

 

[cigar95]

It isn't outrageous to think a similar system could be put in place at Disney to notify people when an ADR is cancelled.

I've wondered for a while if this would be feasible. There would be a lot of details to be worked out as to how such a system would work to make it plausible for a WDW vacation, with all the variables that go into that. (All I know for sure is that however it was set up, there would be complaints that it was unfair.)