Double/Triple Booking Ressies?

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Yes but dining at DLR is not the same so that doesn't really apply. I called less than 30 days out and got a primo ressie at Minnie & Friends Breakfast at 10:30am. They don't even need confirmation numbers. And taking it back to 180 doesn't solve it either. I say shorten it even more. 30 days or 60 days...at least til well after park hours are done changing and crowd flows can be predicted a bit more accurately. I had my whole itinerary planned 100 days out got all my adr's at 6am est 90+10 and now I want to change one day due to Fantasmic and in order to do that I've got to lose 2 days worth of my primo adr's I struggled to get! That's just taking a lot of the magic out of it for me. I'm a planner and if I'm getting peeved with having to map out every freakin moment I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people really peeved come Sept/Oct etc etc. who are standing around upset they have to eat at the Noodle Station because that's all that has availability. Either that or they're going to be the lucky winners of all these double booked adr's that free up last minute. Let's just hope the double bookers DO free them up at some point. Or else you're going to have some half-empty restaurants. excuse my rant please

 

[kxs401]

That still does not help those 1st timers who are totally unaware of the booking procedures, those who do not hold CC's.
As far as I am aware Disneyland does not accept reservations for table service and neither does EuroDisney, does that make them any less magical

Disneyland definitely does ADRs because we made them before our trip last January. I don't know about DLRP -- I only ate one TS meal there, and I was able to walk up and be seated, probably because it was the obscenely early hour of 6pm.

But both DLR and DLRP are less... destination spots, I guess? than WDW. They're the kind of place you visit for a couple of days at most, as part of a longer trip (obviously, exceptions exist). I think that does influence the whole ADR thing.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes but dining at DLR is not the same so that doesn't really apply. I called less than 30 days out and got a primo ressie at Minnie & Friends Breakfast at 10:30am. They don't even need confirmation numbers. And taking it back to 180 doesn't solve it either. I say shorten it even more. 30 days or 60 days...at least til well after park hours are done changing and crowd flows can be predicted a bit more accurately. I had my whole itinerary planned 100 days out got all my adr's at 6am est 90+10 and now I want to change one day due to Fantasmic and in order to do that I've got to lose 2 days worth of my primo adr's I struggled to get! That's just taking a lot of the magic out of it for me. I'm a planner and if I'm getting peeved with having to map out every freakin moment I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people really peeved come Sept/Oct etc etc. who are standing around upset they have to eat at the Noodle Station because that's all that has availability. Either that or they're going to be the lucky winners of all these double booked adr's that free up last minute. Let's just hope the double bookers DO free them up at some point. Or else you're going to have some half-empty restaurants. excuse my rant please

But shortening up the window STILL does not add extra tables and there will just be MORE people fighting over the same limited number of spots.

The bottom line is that if that particular venue is THAT important to you, then you will plan your park touring around it. If it's not, then you won't.

I still say 180 days is WAY better. People will slowly confirm their plans over the course of the year. They more important an particular event is (like lunch at the castle on a birthday or anniversary) the earlier they will commit to being in the park that day.

It should be a linear realtionship: Those for whom the ADR experience is more important will likely plan earlier, and have a greater likelihood of success.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

But shortening up the window STILL does not add extra tables and there will just be MORE people fighting over the same limited number of spots.

The bottom line is that if that particular venue is THAT important to you, then you will plan your park touring around it. If it's not, then you won't.

I still say 180 days is WAY better. People will slowly confirm their plans over the course of the year. They more important an particular event is (like lunch at the castle on a birthday or anniversary) the earlier they will commit to being in the park that day.

It should be a linear realtionship: Those for whom the ADR experience is more important will likely plan earlier, and have a greater likelihood of success.

Dining shouldn't run your trip, it should be an element but I'm not spending these $$$ and flying all this way to eat at a certain place at a certain time. Dining is secondary and editing my plans to fit my adrs is ludicrous.

 

[LimoFam5]

You were always able to double book even by phone, especially after the 90 day mark when you did not need a reservation number to make reservations. I know people who have said they use different names and different phone numbers to make multiple reservations at different places for the same time and date just because they were not able to decide at that very minute.

I personally think that is so rude! By doing this is takes away from somone elses magic!!

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Double Booking. . .an interesting idea

I haven't really had much difficulty getting ADR's before. We usually plan our trips only a month in advance and we usually get the restaurants we want for the times we want.

I think Disney would prefer to have people show up for their reservations. Reservations allow restaurants to plan for the evening. If the restaurant knows how busy it will be they can schedule more servers, order more food and in general be better prepared. If Disney gets stuck with half empty restaurants then they will change their system.

It's interesting to me that they changed it to 90 days but that packages have to be paid by 45 days out. If Disney changed the system so that only those with paid packages could book, and guests in the parks for that day they may be able to lessen some of the demand and this would free up some ADR times. Just a thought.

 

[mom2rtk]

Dining shouldn't run your trip, it should be an element but I'm not spending these $$$ and flying all this way to eat at a certain place at a certain time. Dining is secondary and editing my plans to fit my adrs is ludicrous.

But it's really not the same for everyone, and you can't make that assumption.

Since dining is secondary for you, then I imagine changing things around to get to the Fantasmic was not a big deal.

 

[dioxide45]

I am sure that Disney has some computer models that are able to tell it a no show rate and fallout rate, they are then able to over reserve based on these rates. No one is being shorted an ADR due to double bookings. If a double booked person did happen to cancel at the 10 day mark, it wouldn't likely open up a table for someone to book as there would already be someone with an ADR to slot in there.

 

[mom2rtk]

I am sure that Disney has some computer models that are able to tell it a no show rate and fallout rate, they are then able to over reserve based on these rates. No one is being shorted an ADR due to double bookings. If a double booked person did happen to cancel at the 10 day mark, it wouldn't likely open up a table for someone to book as there would already be someone with an ADR to slot in there.

I'm sure they do too. But I'm also sure it's not right to hold 2 ADR's for a given meal, even if you do give it up at the 10 day mark. It's not at ALL fair to the person who wanted it months earlier and and has been checking for one every day.

I'm also pretty sure they have computer models that will tell them who DOES have a double booking. And I bet they won't warn anyone when they start cancelling ADR's. The ones who have reported here on the boards already had NO warning. They were just cancelled.

Good luck to all!

 

[maddiesmom0116]

Double Booking. . .an interesting idea

I haven't really had much difficulty getting ADR's before. We usually plan our trips only a month in advance and we usually get the restaurants we want for the times we want.

I think Disney would prefer to have people show up for their reservations. Reservations allow restaurants to plan for the evening. If the restaurant knows how busy it will be they can schedule more servers, order more food and in general be better prepared. If Disney gets stuck with half empty restaurants then they will change their system.

It's interesting to me that they changed it to 90 days but that packages have to be paid by 45 days out. If Disney changed the system so that only those with paid packages could book, and guests in the parks for that day they may be able to lessen some of the demand and this would free up some ADR times. Just a thought.

I like the idea that your trip must be paid for before booking ADRs. That would cut down on the cancellations of ADRs due to trips cancelled and stop alot of the calling back to see if aresiie opened up due to cancelled trips.

They should also change the dates a little more for resort guests vs. non resort guests. The 90+10 should be enhanced for resort guests, maybe 90 days from check in date for entire vacation if vacation is paid in full and then non resort guests at 45 days out for 10 days.

 

[Tricia1972]

Not sure how double booking became a debate about 180 days vs 90 days? However it may be worth remembering that these threads happened last year as well, (Can't get any ADRs Threads as well as Double Booking Threads) when the booking window was 180 days.

A huge part of the issue that people are running into now is Free Dining. As Pumbaa_ said, though park attendance numbers are down overall, virtually everyone is fighting for at least 1TS location per day. Add to that the small percentage that may double book, and it is much harder to get reservations in the fall. Especially coveted reservations.

I think that since Free Dining makes reservations harder to get, we should just get rid of Free Dining. (Just kidding!)

 

[dioxide45]

I'm sure they do too. But I'm also sure it's not right to hold 2 ADR's for a given meal, even if you do give it up at the 10 day mark. It's not at ALL fair to the person who wanted it months earlier and and has been checking for one every day.

I'm also pretty sure they have computer models that will tell them who DOES have a double booking. And I bet they won't warn anyone when they start cancelling ADR's. The ones who have reported here on the boards already had NO warning. They were just cancelled.

Good luck to all!

I have yet to see a specific post from someone saying their ADR was cancelled. I see a lot of hearsay posts saying "my friend" or "someone I know", but no first hand experience.

 

[Hoyt31]

I booked my reservation on my 90th day. I was only able to get 2 of 10 reservations that I wanted in supposedly one of the slowest time of the year. I'm in favor of putting a CC down on your reservations. Don't use the reservations or cancel in time and get charged. People will learn quickly. I have never had problems getting what I want for ressie until this year. Just hoping it is not that as busy as the ADR system is showing. The IPO couldn't even get us into anything. Still trying and hoping.

 

[MarkinNM]

Not sure how double booking became a debate about 180 days vs 90 days? However it may be worth remembering that these threads happened last year as well, (Can't get any ADRs Threads as well as Double Booking Threads) when the booking window was 180 days.

GREAT POINT!!

Add to that "Online Reservations" and things can get crazy......
It is NOT an 90 day issue...........
Besides planning for 3 mths out is crazy muchless 6 mths!!!!!

 

[tami82]

I have yet to see a specific post from someone saying their ADR was cancelled. I see a lot of hearsay posts saying "my friend" or "someone I know", but no first hand experience.

I have only seen one and that was a while ago. It was probably someone who had two TS booked near each other. Other than that no one specific has said anything, some people say they know someone who it happened to I guess to scare the other person off against doing it.

 

[DoBug]

I am sure that Disney has some computer models that are able to tell it a no show rate and fallout rate, they are then able to over reserve based on these rates. No one is being shorted an ADR due to double bookings. If a double booked person did happen to cancel at the 10 day mark, it wouldn't likely open up a table for someone to book as there would already be someone with an ADR to slot in there.

I think they have made predictions for a % of no shows but that it may be different this year (i.e., more no shows) due to on line booking especially at the start of free dining. Less guilt involved in making those double bookings online than on the phone even under a different name.

And also people aren't really talking about it as much because its not really double booking but booking extra meals because its free so why not go ahead and do a breakfast here or lunch there that we wouldn't normally do with the plan to pay OOP. But the intent may be the same - oh we may be too tired to do lunch and dinner. lets just decide what to skip later.

And I'm not sure that double booking doesn't take away someone elses ADR. if a restauarnt knows they can turn 200 tables a night and in the past they have 20% no shows so they book about 245 ADRs but now its 40% so only about 147 tables show up maybe they can fill the remainder with walk ups but I'm not sure. Just making these numbers up so may be way off.

I suspect they are more likely to adjust their predictions to the new % of no shows than try to get CC reserv for everything. The few legit reasons for double booking (split parties or whatever) would make that a nightmare.

just my thoughts and obviously spent too much time thinking about it! I am enjoying peoples thoughts on the subject anyway.

 

[mom2rtk]

I have yet to see a specific post from someone saying their ADR was cancelled. I see a lot of hearsay posts saying "my friend" or "someone I know", but no first hand experience.

I'm guessing you think the ones on the boards reporting that they had actually cancelled some double bookings were not cast members .....