Disney dining buddy shut down?

[mcd2745]

Or how long until they charge us a $25 per person hold fee to make ADRs, and then credit that back to you when you show up?

I would love it if they did this.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I see your point, but the point I was trying to make was that with the system, even the people who DON'T have "full-time jobs and busy evenings with kids and families" were not getting ANY ADRs unless they were VERY lucky. These sites were scanning constantly, detecting the openings, and notifying their subscribers. Any openings were being snatched immediately by those subscribers. A person not using this service was just out of luck.

As a person who used one of these services, it wasn't a sure thing. Not once, not twice, but THREE times I had my phone in my hand when I received a notification and by the time I logged in, it was gone. From the overnight notices I received, it appears that at least the service I was using was scanning the system every 30 minutes. These services have saved me valuable time in the last year, and I'm bummed that the BOG ADR I was hoping for probably won't happen now that it appears the service I use has been shut down by Disney.

 

[Disneylover99]

I'm glad it's gone. I hope all these types of services go away.

 

[ldymcbth]

I loved DDB. It was well worth $8 to have a system check every X minutes for my reservation - I can't do that myself. I hope Disney realizes the need for something like this, or for some sort of change to the ADR process as it currently stands. It's ridiculous. I am sorry to see DDB go!

 

[dallastxcpa]

I'm glad it's gone. I hope all these types of services go away.

I am also glad this service is gone and I hope all the others follow. If you look at all the replies to their announcement on facebook it is obvious many many people were using this service and there is no doubt it was bogging down the system.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

I'm glad it's gone. I hope all these types of services go away.

Me too. Get your own adrs like the rest of us I say. You promote hoarding pay for services when patronize any of them. Good for Disney.

 

[mcd2745]

Question for those of you who have used the notification services...did they just notify you once? So say if you wanted a BOG 6pm on whatever date, and they notify you it's available, but by the time you get to go into the system, it's gone. Do you have to pay again to get another notification?

 

[InStitchesinNE]

Question for those of you who have used the notification services...did they just notify you once? So say if you wanted a BOG 6pm on whatever date, and they notify you it's available, but by the time you get to go into the system, it's gone. Do you have to pay again to get another notification?

No, DDB will keep notifying you of that reservation until you tell them not too. I had them for an 'Ohana reservation I still haven't been able to book (only 1 alert in 2 weeks too), it will be interesting to see how they handle the refunds.

 

[Elevationist]

Question for those of you who have used the notification services...did they just notify you once? So say if you wanted a BOG 6pm on whatever date, and they notify you it's available, but by the time you get to go into the system, it's gone. Do you have to pay again to get another notification?

Nope. They would continue to notify you until you told them to stop.

 

[bumbershoot]

I would love it if they did this.

Would you really?

So you have a 10 day stay. You have family with you that really likes sitdown meals, so you are doing one, sometimes even two, per day. 10 days of sitdowns...10-20 ADRs total, and you're cool with a $25 fee for each one, charged 6 MONTHS before your trip? Really?

 

[kabbie]

Me too. Get your own adrs like the rest of us I say. You promote hoarding pay for services when patronize any of them. Good for Disney.

If only Disney's website & 407-WDW-DINE were 100% reliable when it came to making reservations at the 180 day mark. For those that have played by Disney rules, only to have the website crash & take forever to successful make 1 ADR. Then to call the number and be put on hold for 45min, accidently disconnected by CM, call back, put hold on another hour to be answered that everything you want was gone.

I would grateful pay a deposit on Disney's website to make a reservation no problem.

 

[Skywise]

Frankly Disney should look at it as a revenue source and charge $5 for the monitoring service themselves if a place is sold out for a specific time.

What I would PREFER they do is treat it like FP+ and open up dining reservations at 60 days out for those staying on-site and 30 days out for everyone else which would almost eliminate the need for these services AND open up slots for people just walking in off the street. It's silly that I have to make a Be Our Guest reservation for Christmas Week back in June when I'm not even sure I'll get the FPs until October!!!!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

If only Disney's website & 407-WDW-DINE were 100% reliable when it came to making reservations at the 180 day mark. For those that have played by Disney rules, only to have the website crash & take forever to successful make 1 ADR. Then to call the number and be put on hold for 45min, accidently disconnected by CM, call back, put hold on another hour to be answered that everything you want was gone.

I would grateful pay a deposit on Disney's website to make a reservation no problem.

I've never gotten stress from these issues. Planning is fun. You have180 days to get a ressie. Enjoy the game.

 

[NJlauren]

I think part of the problem IMO is 180 days! I think people over book and hoard because they have no idea what they are doing 180 days out! FP is 60 (assuming on site), if they made ADRs 75 or 90 I think it would decrease some of the problem. I think after people book FP they change ADRs to match.

Also final payment is 45 days so that's 135 days someone could've unsure of there trip and hanging on to a bunch of reservations.

 

[Skywise]

If only Disney's website & 407-WDW-DINE were 100% reliable when it came to making reservations at the 180 day mark. For those that have played by Disney rules, only to have the website crash & take forever to successful make 1 ADR. Then to call the number and be put on hold for 45min, accidently disconnected by CM, call back, put hold on another hour to be answered that everything you want was gone.

I would grateful pay a deposit on Disney's website to make a reservation no problem.

Yeah, but don't forget that, at the 180 day mark, you've been superseded by those with stays 10 days before you. That's why people couldn't get Be Our Guest reservations even at the 180 day mark because they were already booked before you had a chance to even try! (Never mind the fact that people probably made 3 or 4 Be Our Guest reservations because they weren't sure which day would be their MK day! All Disney "encouraged")

 

[Skywise]

I've never gotten stress from these issues. Planning is fun. You have180 days to get a ressie. Enjoy the game.

Well yeah, that's what paying for the ADRs did... it was just another way to play the game... Enjoy it!

 

[Elevationist]

Also final payment is 45 days so that's 135 days someone could've unsure of there trip and hanging on to a bunch of reservations.

Side note: This is changing. Beginning with 2016 packages, the final payment date is 30 days.

 

[mcd2745]

Would you really?

So you have a 10 day stay. You have family with you that really likes sitdown meals, so you are doing one, sometimes even two, per day. 10 days of sitdowns...10-20 ADRs total, and you're cool with a $25 fee for each one, charged 6 MONTHS before your trip? Really?

We do sitdown meals for dinner almost every night when in WDW, and usually sprinkle in a couple of TS breakfast as well.

If it's treated as a deposit...where that $25.00 comes off the bill (or, if I'm on the dining plan and not paying OOP, it can become a resort credit), I have no problem with it at all.

When I make a reservation - I keep it and show up. So I have no worries.

I wouldn't be surprised if the percentage of all the ADRs that are out there from today to 180 days from now, where the party holding the ADR doesn't ultimately attend what is reserved (because they flat-out cancel, or change to something else, or no-show) was something significant like 30-40%. You don't want people making ADRs "just in case" they may want to eat at that restaurant at that time. They only should be made when you are certain that's the reservation you want.

If that fee/deposit were in place...I'd be willing to bet there would be little to no complaints about availability.

 

[NJlauren]

Side note: This is changing. Beginning with 2016 packages, the final payment date is 30 days.

So 150 days! Personally I like more time to make the payment but I think ADRs at 180s is far in advance!

 

[DisneyHardin]

I am sorry to see them DDB shut down. I used it to get a couple ADRs for our trip. I am a teacher - I can't be on the computer during the day searching for ADRs. It was well worth $8 to get harder to get ones.