Do people make double reservations?

[Maren1111]

Logarithms--- do I vaguely remember that word from math class or am I way off?

Yeah, statistics. Disney may know historically that it can overbook Garden Grill by 10% at 4 p.m. but you change a variable so that it's 6 p.m. and now it can only be overbooked by 4%...unless you change another variable and it's the Christmas season and now it can't be overbooked at all. Or take a different restaurant...you'd allow more overbooking at 8 a.m., when you know a predictable number of people will oversleep, than you would at 12 p.m.

Throw online booking into the mix & that's an unknown, because online bookers are going to behave differently. I think it's safe to say that online bookers are double- and triple-booking to a greater extent than phone bookers did.

Assuming there are number crunchers at Disney involved with analyzing the ADR system, I'd think someone is working out the kinks...which might simply mean opening up more reservations to be made. There's money lost if people get turned away for ADRs but restaurants end up empty. Of course there's also money lost if people are waiting an hour for a reservation. I'm a little nervous about my Le Cellier reservation turning out that way.

This is not to justify double-booking, but to say that a certain amount of it is probably expected and built into the system.

 

[n2mm]

I'm a little confused here. Yesterday while making some ADRs I made one for breakfast for 8:00AM and then continued searching. I then decided to make a different one for 7:30AM at WC and put that in my cart. I got a notice right away telling me I had 2 reservation within the same hour and I needed to delete one. I was planning to delete it out of my shopping cart once I put the different one in (and I did). So, don't people get this message in RED when they do this? I would like to see Disney delete double bookings for the same day within an hour of each other.....or do that do this as I've read before? I like having the online system to book ADRs at a whim. Heck, I take my netbook with me on my trips now and if we want breakfast the next morning I just get online and make an ADR for the next day. (Love free internet for DVC members!)

 

[whogirl'smom]

I'm so surprised at everyone's answers! Of course people book more than one and there is NOTHING wrong with that! If I'm willing to wake up at 3 in the morning the day of 90 days out, you better believe I'm going to book every place I think I might possibly want and every time that I think I might want to go. 90 days is too far out to know my exact plans but we all know that if we wait everything will be taken. I could care less about the people who book too late and can't get in. There's a reason I start planning my trip a year before. I know if I don't I would have to be flexible, just take anything that is available, and be glued to the computer up until the day before we left waiting for over-planners to cancel their extras - NOT my idea of a fun trip!

If you started planning your trip a year before, wouldn't you know where you wanted to eat by the time you make ADRs? Put a little more effort into those plans and decide where you will be before making those reservations. Lots of people are up at 3 am trying to make those same ADRs. It is very selfish and inconsiderate to throw everything willy nilly into the cart (like Black Friday shoppers at Walmart ).

 

[tami82]

Yes this does happen. During the time before our trip there were times something great would come along and i would jump on it. As soon as something worked for me i would make sure that i cancelled right away online which i always did. Most of the time i only hung on to them for a few days at most. At the end i noticed lots of cancellations so i know i was not the only one doing this. You take what you can in the beginning even though you know it may not really going to work for you and you work it out along the way, sometimes you have to double book for a short while until your schedule works out for you. Keeping the double bookings though until the trip without cancelling them is not right.

 

[bizeemom4]

Yes. I do. I do cancel the ones that I don't use when I finalize my plans. Sorry. Lots of judging on here. Thought some of us could stand for some honesty.

 

[Denmark]

I think Disney should trash the whole ADR system!

It would be much better for everyone, if you could only get a restaurant by simply showing up at the place where you wanted to eat!

Most of you guys is creating the problems for each other, because you overplan your trips with 10 or 20 planned meals during your vacation. If everyone does this, no wonder you have trouble getting the times at the restaurants you want.

Maybe you got away with it this time, while the online system is new, but in the near future you wont get even half of the places you want to eat, because even more people will realise that they too will have to book in advance online.

Charge people a few dollars for each reservation, for each member of the party. I guess that will make people book less restraurants in advance, and make it possible for most people to get a handfull of bookings with the restaurants they want most.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I don't think throwing out the ADR system would mean guests could still be seated at whim.
And heaven help any large group wanting to be seated. Get multiple large groups and some restaurants would be maxed out. I could esp see that at DVC resorts or during the holidays.
If double bookings, trading ADRs, etc turn out to be a big problem I can see Disney implementing a credit card hold. Any no shows be charged.
I am sure they don't want to do this, otherwise they would have done it long ago.
I think an ADR penalty would be like speeding tickets. Everyone would think it was a good idea until it happened to them.

 

[Denmark]

If Disney charged 3 dollars for each member of a party to book a restaurant, non refundable, then it would make people book less restaurants in advance.

If a party of 4 people wanted to book Tony´s Town Square, they would have to pay 12 dollars total for that booking. If they want it so bad, they can for sure afford the 12 dollars on top of the bill for their visit to this restaurant.

If the said family has made 10 bookings, then it will cost them 120 dollars extra for a vacation. Its their choice, it they think it would be too expensive, then book only half as many restaurants.

If they for some reason had to cancel their reservation, then they will have to cope with the loss of money for their restaurant bookings.

A vacation to Disney costs lots of money, but the restaurant booking fee would only be a small part of that.

It is necessary to regulate bookings, because if the dont, they will make a select few happy and the majority unhappy.

 

[Colleen27]

I think Disney should trash the whole ADR system!

It would be much better for everyone, if you could only get a restaurant by simply showing up at the place where you wanted to eat!

Most of you guys is creating the problems for each other, because you overplan your trips with 10 or 20 planned meals during your vacation. If everyone does this, no wonder you have trouble getting the times at the restaurants you want.

Maybe you got away with it this time, while the online system is new, but in the near future you wont get even half of the places you want to eat, because even more people will realise that they too will have to book in advance online.

Charge people a few dollars for each reservation, for each member of the party. I guess that will make people book less restraurants in advance, and make it possible for most people to get a handfull of bookings with the restaurants they want most.

Throwing out the reservation system would be a nightmare. I'm not sure what capacity is at MK, let's call it 50K (which I think is actually way lower than the real number). Now you have 50,000 people and 5 sit down restaurants. It is a given than many of those people will want to eat at the same time (typical meal times). What kind of waits would you expect to see for a table at Cinderella's Royal Table at 6pm?

Charging for reservations could work to reduce demand for ADRs, but in doing so it would also reduce demand for the dining plans and make people more likely to look off site for their evening meals rather than choose between paying for an ADR or waiting for hours to be seated.

 

[Colleen27]

If Disney charged 3 dollars for each member of a party to book a restaurant, non refundable, then it would make people book less restaurants in advance.

If a party of 4 people wanted to book Tony´s Town Square, they would have to pay 12 dollars total for that booking. If they want it so bad, they can for sure afford the 12 dollars on top of the bill for their visit to this restaurant.

If the said family has made 10 bookings, then it will cost them 120 dollars extra for a vacation. Its their choice, it they think it would be too expensive, then book only half as many restaurants.

If they for some reason had to cancel their reservation, then they will have to cope with the loss of money for their restaurant bookings.

A vacation to Disney costs lots of money, but the restaurant booking fee would only be a small part of that.

It is necessary to regulate bookings, because if the dont, they will make a select few happy and the majority unhappy.

Now let's look at a family on the DxDDP. We're going for 8 nights with the deluxe plan, and we're a party of 6. According to the current edition of my work-in-progress plan, we're going to have 16 ADRs. 16 x 6 x $3 to make those ADRs = canceling the DxDDP and possibly staying off site (Swan/Dolphin) because the dining plan is our main reason for choosing a Disney resort. Disney knows that, which is why they'll never start charging for ADRs.

If there were no dining plans, I could see a way charging for ADRs would work - to process the charge upfront but deduct it from the bill at the time of the meal. But those of us who are already pre-paying a large amount of money for a package that includes dining aren't going to pay hundreds of dollars more for the privilege of being able to use those package inclusions.

 

[wdwcoltsfan]

If you started planning your trip a year before, wouldn't you know where you wanted to eat by the time you make ADRs? Put a little more effort into those plans and decide where you will be before making those reservations. Lots of people are up at 3 am trying to make those same ADRs. It is very selfish and inconsiderate to throw everything willy nilly into the cart (like Black Friday shoppers at Walmart ).

I was going to post the same thing. How much planning can one be doing a year in advance and then not have any clue where one wants to eat? Most people by 90 days know which park they will be at and have researched menus and know which restaurant they would like to reserve.

Rachel

 

[mechteach]

I have to assume that Disney has logarithms in place & expects a certain number of overbookers/no-shows. Kinda like airlines that will oversell a plane, knowing there will be people who miss the flight. I also think that the online booking is going to throw off those logarithms.

I think that you might mean algorithms?

Yeah, statistics. Disney may know historically that it can overbook Garden Grill by 10% at 4 p.m. ...<snip>...
Throw online booking into the mix & that's an unknown, because online bookers are going to behave differently. I think it's safe to say that online bookers are double- and triple-booking to a greater extent than phone bookers did.

But I absolutely agree with you here - I know that my own behavior with the online system is very different from the last trip where it was phone-only. I really hope that someone is crunching all of the numbers at WDW to either update the booking algorithms or to modify the online booking procedures (or maybe both).

I also agree with some of the other posters that it is okay to be double booked for a short window of time - maybe 48 hours or so - while you iron out your new plans. However, holding onto multiple reservations and then just not showing up is very, very selfish.

And Denmark - please stop suggesting new fees for Disney! I don't think they need any help in that regard!

 

[lizzytizzy]

Yes, it happens, there's even people who have the nerve to post their adr's on this site, one person even made adr's for the same restaurant 5 times during their trip. And even admitted they made them but didn't intend to use all of them.

People like that ought to be charged for it on their credit card if they don't cancel.

 

[Sammie]

Originally Posted by sylw
I'm so surprised at everyone's answers! Of course people book more than one and there is NOTHING wrong with that! If I'm willing to wake up at 3 in the morning the day of 90 days out, you better believe I'm going to book every place I think I might possibly want and every time that I think I might want to go. 90 days is too far out to know my exact plans but we all know that if we wait everything will be taken. I could care less about the people who book too late and can't get in.

There's a reason I start planning my trip a year before. I know if I don't I would have to be flexible, just take anything that is available, and be glued to the computer up until the day before we left waiting for over-planners to cancel their extras - NOT my idea of a fun trip

Did you just not describe yourself in that last sentence. In other words you would hate for someone to do that to you, but you have no problem doing it others. And no it is not anyone's idea of a fun trip.

 

[Stellapedia]

I'd love a CC hold on reservations. How many people do you think are no-shows to HDD or Mickey's BBQ? I'm betting not too many.
I booked my son a pirate cruise for his birthday. He was so thrilled about it, all giddy and talking about it for weeks. Day of, I took him to the boat and he repeatedly begged me not to leave him. I knew if he didn't go, I was gonna pay anyway. I asked him one more time to go, told him if he didn't go now he didn't get to change his mind later, he still didn't want to go. So, I left, kid in tow. And I paid $30 for the cruise he didn't go on. No biggie. Sure, I was bummed I paid for something we didn't get, but that was the rule, and a very reasonable rule IMO.
If you don't show up for your reservation, you take it from someone else and take the revenue from Disney and the servers. You can't just decide not to show for your hotel reservation without paying, same for meals.

And yes, I know they overbook. I was at Chef Mickey at a 1950 reservation and wasn't seated until 2030. It was a madhouse, add to the fact that we had a dog with us and a lot of nosy people and rude parents letting their kids pester us, and we were oh so thrilled that the restaurant was overbooked to account for the people who don't show.

 

[Epcot4Me]

This is a really interesting discussion to read through.

I really see both sides. Luckily, our party of 6 includes no children so we don't have to scramble for the really popular places like CRT and Chef Mickey's and the like (though we are eating at Le Cellier and Crystal Palace in Dec). But I do see how wanting these places and hearing about people not showing up or making 4 reservations per trip can get annoying.

I'd be willing to bet a ton that Disney will never institute a credit card charge on all ADRs for no shows. They would lose a ton of business. And, it would be impossible to monitor and keep up. Because people would be outraged at having to pay 5 or 10 dollars because they missed their ADR due to a child with an upset tummy. And you can't force these people to go to a doctor- what a waste of medical expenses and time that would be.

Also, I don't want kids crying with upset tummies at the table next to me, just so mom and dad don't incur the cancellation fee.

Finally, I can't understand getting mad about people making ADRs and not sticking to them like glue once they are there. The fact is, if you want to have the option of a nice, sit down dinner in Disney, you need to make an ADR. I honestly do not see what is wrong with making one per night and then canceling if something comes up. I'm not stealing the ADR from someone else...I fully intent to make every single one (we have one per night). But life happens. Sometimes someone doesn't feel well, sometimes you are stuck in traffic, sometimes you forget to set an alarm, and sometimes you just aren't hungry. I agree that it is wrong to book 2 dinners for one night. But disney does not have a set policy for canceling ADRs in a certain time or fees for no shows, so no one is doing anything wrong by making a reservation and then not feeling like going. And like I said before, I prefer the person with the tired, cranky, crying children cancels than sit next to me at dinner.

Like I said, I do find the discussion very interesting though!!

 

[wdwcoltsfan]

For me, I totally understand peoples plans changing once they get there. That happens. I think the frustration comes in when people book restaurants at multiple parks for dinner for the same night because they can't decide where they want to be that day. It's also the people who book CM or Le Cellier each night of their trip because they can't decide which night to eat there.

Rachel

 

[DCDisney]

Assuming there are number crunchers at Disney involved with analyzing the ADR system, I'd think someone is working out the kinks...which might simply mean opening up more reservations to be made

This is not to justify double-booking, but to say that a certain amount of it is probably expected and built into the system.

That is certainly the way it works because there are so many people who cancel whole trips and never cancel ADRs, etc etc. I'm sure different places and dates have different percentages but it has all probably been affected by the online system hence hearing about some crazy waits in the past few weeks. At some point I wonder if they even put cancelled ADRs back into the system anyway like if you cancel an hour before type thing. I don't double book but I do book for more meals than we plan on eating because with the DDP if we somehow miss a meal early in our trip I need something at the end to use those credits. Normally I do a breakfast or lunch on our last day for this which we usually do end up needing to use at least a few credits. There has to be a balance making sure you have what you need to cover your dining plan payments and not hogging what you definitely aren't going to be able to use like 2 dinners at the same time.

 

[NorweJenNY]

Yeah, it's frustrating when you can't get a popular ADR, but with enough planning and trying and flexibility, you should be able to get something! And Disney has so many restaurant options with great chefs... why wouldn't you want to try a good variety of them? Worst case scenario, go to a place that doesn't accept ADRs... like ESPN Club or Beaches & Cream... sure you might wait 45 minutes for a table, but you're likely to wait half that time at other restaurants with ADRs anyway! Plus, you didnt have to stress about planning ADRs and making them fit into your schedule... and that No Way Jose just might make it all worth while in the end!

I highly doubt that the majority of vacation planners are booking three tables at Le Cellier at the same same time as three tables at Chef Mickey's with no intention of using them! For the few that are... shame! We can give them a big guilt trip!

But there's no harm in booking based on what's available and temporarily doubling up just to make sure you get a better ADR before you cancel the one you plan on replacing! Just be mindful and cancel your unnecessary ADRs in a timely matter for the courtesy of others. I trust that the vast majority of us would be this considerate.

Likewise, there's no shame in booking three meals a day at TS restaurants, as long as you plan on using them! You're the one paying for them after all! You are entitled to it!

I think that Disney should capitalize on the popularity of their restaurants... instead of closing old ones and replacing them with new ones, how about adding more TS locations? Like some CS (like Noodle Station), new TS locations don't even have to be open all year round! But have more options for the busy seasons! Disney is building new attractions and staging new shows all the time... add some more TS locations at the parks and Disney will be able to fill them a good deal of the time (especially if they're included in the DDP)... how about starting with a TS in the American Pavillion in Epcot??? I bet that one would be popular! Maybe even take some attention away from the popular-and-often-booked-to-capacity Le Cellier...

 

[Stellapedia]

I also reallyreally wish that your dining got canceled when you cancel your room, unless you specifically request to keep it (like if you decide to stay off site). I cancel mine if I cancel a room, but it's a headache to do so and I know most people probably don't.

On the double booking question... I'm wondering if I should book a back up for the BBQ in case we get rained out. But I don't intend to use it unless the BBQ is canceled... I just don't want to do it and prevent someone else from eating. I guess I could just revert to the hotel for the evening in that case.

I book 3 TS a day because we eat three TS a day. I'd never even think to feel bad about that, I'm paying for the meals and showing up, that doesn't take away from someone else. And there are so many restaurants that have tons of same day availability, I know people aren't going hungry. It's only the uber popular ones that really annoy me when people overbook or don't show. If someone doesn't show for a 1:30 lunch at Olivia's, I can't bring myself to get worked up over it.