Feeling frustrated with Disney--anyone?

[Disneylover99]

I keep hearing that from people defending the current system yet when I suggest reducing 180 to 90 or 30 or simply doing away with ADR's altogether, those same posters say "WOAH NOW WAIT A MINUTE." lol

Availability at lots of great restaurants, yes. Will it be the time you want? Maybe. Will it be for the number of people in your party? Maybe. Will it be for BOG or Ohana? If you get lucky and log in as someone releases it. Lots of variables.

I really don't care if it goes from 180 days to 30 days. I just want to have the +10 day advantage which you earlier referred to as "garbage."

 

[sam_gordon]

I keep hearing that from people defending the current system yet when I suggest reducing 180 to 90 or 30 or simply doing away with ADR's altogether, those same posters say "WOAH NOW WAIT A MINUTE." lol

I haven't read that. Reducing the time to 90 days or 30 or 1 isn't going to change the problem issue. There will still be not enough tables for everyone who wants one.

As far as the "not knowing what I want to eat 180 days from now", I don't think people are picking the restaurants based on what they serve but more so HOW they serve it. If you did away with the character interactions and the "theming", people wouldn't care where they ate. THAT'S why people are trying to get in certain restaurants.

I do agree with PP who said if you cancel a resort reservation, all ADRs should be cancelled. Find the holes in the system that people are exploiting and close them down. Being able to book for your entire stay based on your check in day is a perk. If you have 5 days booked at YC for 6/1, and someone has 3 days booked at GF starting on 5/31, they should get their choice first. But, you have an advantage of those who booked 10 days at AS starting on 6/2.

 

[PollyannaMom]

sam_gordon said: ↑
Maybe Disney does this already, but they should limit how many restaurants you can reserve in a day, and what times you can reserve. So you can reserve one restaurant (anywhere in the World) between 6a-10a, one between 11a-2p, and one between 5p-9p. You can also make a cancellation policy... 24 hours, 72 hours, or a week from the reservation, you're "locked in". If you cancel anytime after that, you lose your deposit.

I am a planner as well. I plan usually for 9 people and we all go to different restaurants at different times throughout the trip. I am the one who books them so if there was a "Limit" I would be up the creek. I have no idea what the answer is, but I already need to use my DD MDE to book two restaurants around the same time if I want to take the kids to one restaurant while the other go elsewhere about the same time. If I want to book meals for the entire bunch and they have different plans that day, well, YIKES!

I definitely think they need to do something to prevent people from hoarding ADR's, but I agree that just limiting people to one would mess up big groups that wanted to split up.

I would say to limit them by number of people, but that would mess up guests in the opposite scenario - meeting up to eat together, but traveling separately.

I can't see a good answer here. But I'm pretty sure that people doubling (tripling??) up on reservations when only meaning to keep one is why ADRs disappear so quickly and then show up at the last minute.

I think that it is interesting that people think it would be easier if they didn't have to plan 180 days out. That it would be better if Disney didn't open reservations until 70 days before, or like local places, 30 to 40 days out. Or even held back a bunch of tables.

I just don't get it. People would still be on the phone or computer the exact moment the slots opened...

I do think it would cut down on the above scenario - people booking multiple ADRs at 180, so they can keep plans flexible to try to match FP+ reservations made later. Why not open them both at the same time?

 

[MKCP5]

Mine just came up again yesterday on touring plans. I went on the second it pinged me. Gone. No ressie :/ Whatever. It will be a great trip no matter where we eat!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

what? how does that make sense? hmmm? cant squeeze in 2 but can place 4 ?

Because they don't like to pre book a four top for just two.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Please explain. Let's say you have the YC booked for 5 days starting on 6/1/18. I have All Stars booked for 10 days starting on 6/1/18. How do I have an advantage over you? Doesn't our 180 days start the same day (December 2, 2017)?

umm, if everyone can book 180 days out, why can't locals?

To quote my parents... and if everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you? Why does it matter what other people think of some different planning item?

Someone that books a 10 day trip starting December 1 has an advantage every single day over someone that booked a four day trip starting December 5. Someone local that isn't staying at Disney has to book 180 days out from the day they eat. Everyone staying at Disney got to book 180 + their length of stay and all of them who had a stay that day that started before that day had an advantage over that local.


As for the jumping off the bridge thing, parents always say that kind of stuff. The object is for the kid to say no and then you can guilt trip the kid. But if you really do the hard think the answer is very likely yes. Now why is it everyone would be jumping off a bridge? It must be because something catastrophic is in progress and jumping off is probably their only hope. So if we're in the middle of it too we'd probably have to be jumping also.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've read on here of folks having multiple resort reservations until they decide where they want to stay or what they can afford. With room only they have 5 days before check in to cancel. To me that's worse than the multiple ADRs people book.

 

[sam_gordon]

Someone that books a 10 day trip starting December 1 has an advantage every single day over someone that booked a four day trip starting December 5. Someone local that isn't staying at Disney has to book 180 days out from the day they eat. Everyone staying at Disney got to book 180 + their length of stay and all of them who had a stay that day that started before that day had an advantage over that local.

That's more a benefit (IMO) to when you check in, not how long you're going to be there. As far as advantage over locals, Disney gives people staying on the grounds perks to entice folks to stay with them. EMH quickly come to mind. I guess those should go away also because they're not "fair" to locals or those staying offsite?

As for the jumping off the bridge thing, parents always say that kind of stuff. The object is for the kid to say no and then you can guilt trip the kid. But if you really do the hard think the answer is very likely yes. Now why is it everyone would be jumping off a bridge? It must be because something catastrophic is in progress and jumping off is probably their only hope. So if we're in the middle of it too we'd probably have to be jumping also.

If "because everyone else did it" is the SOLE reason someone decides to do something, I don't care what the decision is, that's a bad reason. If something catastrophic is happening and jumping off is their only hope, they're not doing it because everyone else is, it's because "it's their only hope" (why do I hear Star Wars music when I type that phrase?).[/quote][/QUOTE]

 

[Pacolovestacos]

That's more a benefit (IMO) to when you check in, not how long you're going to be there.

Difference without a distinction.

As far as advantage over locals, Disney gives people staying on the grounds perks to entice folks to stay with them. EMH quickly come to mind. I guess those should go away also because they're not "fair" to locals or those staying offsite?

Not sure why you're winking because that's a horrible analogy. EMH has no impact on locals because they're still able to access the parks any day of their choice. The current ADR system does impact locals by making certain dining options nearly impossible to get. BOG Dinner ADRs come to mind. Locals should be able to eat a dinner at BOG as well. And I don't want to hear any nonsense about BOG dinner not being that great because that's irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

As I said, get rid of the +10 rule. On your 180 day mark, you can make your ADRs for the first day of your trip. The next day you make ADRs for the 2nd day of trip, so on and so forth. Is it slightly inconvenient? Yea I guess a little but it's not the end of the world. This way, everyone competes on an even playing field.

FP+ doesn't have the +10 rule so there is no reason why ADRs need to either.

 

[Cinderella94]

Difference without a distinction.



Not sure why you're winking because that's a horrible analogy. EMH has no impact on locals because they're still able to access the parks any day of their choice. The current ADR system does impact locals by making certain dining options nearly impossible to get. BOG Dinner ADRs come to mind. Locals should be able to eat a dinner at BOG as well. And I don't want to hear any nonsense about BOG dinner not being that great because that's irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

As I said, get rid of the +10 rule. On your 180 day mark, you can make your ADRs for the first day of your trip. The next day you make ADRs for the 2nd day of trip, so on and so forth. Is it slightly inconvenient? Yea I guess a little but it's not the end of the world. This way, everyone competes on an even playing field.

FP+ doesn't have the +10 rule so there is no reason why ADRs need to either.

What's so blasphemous about on site guests being given a perk? I'm not getting something here. It sucks for locals but Disney's always doing something that sucks for someone. Not everything is fair.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

What's so blasphemous about on site guests being given a perk? I'm not getting something here. It sucks for locals but Disney's always doing something that sucks for someone. Not everything is fair.

On site guests get lots of perks such as MDE, EMH, DDP availability, and FP+ reservations at 60 days as opposed to 30 days for everyone else. I'm really sorry if you don't think that's good enough.

It's also not just about the locals and I've already said this multiple times so this will be my last time saying it since I don't feel like wasting any more of my time. People who book 10 day trips are being given an advantage over people who book 9 day, 8 day, 7 day, and shorter trips, even though those folks who are staying shorter trips may actually be spending more money. That makes absolutely no sense and nobody will be able to convince me otherwise on this particular point.

 

[Disneylover99]

As I said, get rid of the +10 rule. On your 180 day mark, you can make your ADRs for the first day of your trip. The next day you make ADRs for the 2nd day of trip, so on and so forth. Is it slightly inconvenient? Yea I guess a little but it's not the end of the world. This way, everyone competes on an even playing field.

FP+ doesn't have the +10 rule so there is no reason why ADRs need to either.

Well it does if you have 10 day tickets. The thing is, FP has a host of different rules that benefit onsite stays and longer stays even more so than ADR bookings.

As an example, I book +10 ADR's and then make them daily up to day 14. If I have a split stay, added on, I have to wait til day 180 of check in day of my split stay to make the rest of my ADR's.

With fp's I can make all my fp's 60 days out with an ap and onsite stay.

 

[Cinderella94]

On site guests get lots of perks such as MDE, EMH, DDP availability, and FP+ reservations at 60 days as opposed to 30 days for everyone else. I'm really sorry if you don't think that's good enough.

It's also not just about the locals and I've already said this multiple times so this will be my last time saying it since I don't feel like wasting any more of my time. People who book 10 day trips are being given an advantage over people who book 9 day, 8 day, 7 day, and shorter trips, even though those folks who are staying shorter trips may actually be spending more money. That makes absolutely no sense and nobody will be able to convince me otherwise on this particular point.

In regard to the bolded, my post said nothing to give you that impression and I'm not sure why you're getting so heated. Regardless, it seems pretty basic to me that the longer you stay on property, the better it is for Disney and the more advantage they'll give you. But I don't want to debate it with you since I don't expect to convince you. And that's really fine.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

In regard to the bolded, my post said nothing to give you that impression and I'm not sure why you're getting so heated. Regardless, it seems pretty basic to me that the longer you stay on property, the better it is for Disney and the more advantage they'll give you. But I don't want to debate it with you since I don't expect to convince you. And that's really fine.

Sure it did. Your exact words were "What's so blasphemous about on site guests being given a perk?" Your phrasing makes it seem like the on site guests don't get much. If that's not what you meant, then okay, but your phrasing gives that impression. So I pointed out to you 4 of the big ones that on site guests get. I'm not heated, I'm having an internet discussion.

 

[Disneylover99]

It's also not just about the locals and I've already said this multiple times so this will be my last time saying it since I don't feel like wasting any more of my time. People who book 10 day trips are being given an advantage over people who book 9 day, 8 day, 7 day, and shorter trips, even though those folks who are staying shorter trips may actually be spending more money. That makes absolutely no sense and nobody will be able to convince me otherwise on this particular point.

Well, the longer I stay, the more I eat and food is expensive, but okay, let's get past the spending aspect for a moment and look at the bigger picture. Longer stays onsite create jobs....maids, maintenance workers, lifeguards, waiters, chefs, etc...Maybe we are being rewarded for creating Disney jobs. Partly anyways.

The bottom line is, Disney wants our money. Chances are, the longer we stay, the more we'll spend in food, tickets, rooms, souvenirs, etc....Will everyone who stays 10 days spend more then someone who stays for 6 days? Probably not. But I bet most people do and that's what Disney is counting on.

 

[sam_gordon]

It's also not just about the locals and I've already said this multiple times so this will be my last time saying it since I don't feel like wasting any more of my time. People who book 10 day trips are being given an advantage over people who book 9 day, 8 day, 7 day, and shorter trips, even though those folks who are staying shorter trips may actually be spending more money. That makes absolutely no sense and nobody will be able to convince me otherwise on this particular point.

I've already said this multiple times, but it's the date of check in, NOT the length of stay that gives the advantage. Someone staying for 5 days checking in on 6/1 has an advantage over someone checking in for 10 days on 6/2. Second, if I remember correctly, wasn't the original plan that once you get into the parks, the amount of money you spend doesn't get you special privilege? That someone who stays at a value is treated the same as someone at a deluxe?

Since you spend more money than other folks, what other special treatment do you want? Special parade and fireworks seating? Front of line access (independent of FP)? More FP?

 

[Pacolovestacos]

I've already said this multiple times, but it's the date of check in, NOT the length of stay that gives the advantage. Someone staying for 5 days checking in on 6/1 has an advantage over someone checking in for 10 days on 6/2.

Already responded to this

Since you spend more money than other folks, what other special treatment do you want? Special parade and fireworks seating? Front of line access (independent of FP)? More FP?

I'm not asking for any special treatment. I'm actually doing the opposite and advocating for the elimination of special treatment for others. Get rid of the +10, everyone goes day by day for their ADRs just like they do with FP+. Everyone has an equal chance at scoring ADRs.

 

[Cinderella94]

Think about it from Disney's POV. A family who's staying on site for 7-10 days presumably has a very finite number of vacation days to use from their job in a calendar year, and they don't have to use them at Disney. Disney wants those people to become repeat visitors. Calling one time to secure ADRs for their whole trip is, obviously, a huge perk. Locals, for example, (even though I know it's not just about locals), are already a captive audience. Is it fair? No. But I can see how it makes sense.

And to an earlier point, I don't think people booking ADRs for 7 days have much of an issue getting what they want because of the 10 day people. I'm sure someone will comment with an exception to this but I think generally, the disadvantage starts when your trip is around 5 days or fewer. (We checked in on July 1 and ate dinner at BOG on July 3. Only two days in and one of the most crowded times of year).

 

[sk!mom]

It's a theme park visit and it's just gotten to be so far removed from relaxing it isn't even funny.

I agree that it's a lot of planning if you choose to plan it all out but when is/was a theme park vacation ever relaxing?? I've been going since before FP's were a thing. Actually before the internet was a thing. Back then your only planning choice was buying a book for advice. Still not relaxing. Hawaii is relaxing, my trip to Sonoma was relaxing, theme parks are fun with maybe some relaxing moments by the pool.

OP here.
We are a party of 5. Three of the five have never been back to WDW since we all worked there together on the college program in it's very early days. I've been back several times but as I said some of the others havent and may not get there again. I really wasn't looking for all that much. I really wanted them to experience BOG. I have looked/watched for anything during lunch or dinner at BOG on the day we will be in the MK. No specific time needed. That's the biggest one. Nothing. Maybe it will open up when we are closer to the date.
I really wanted to start our trip with Cali Grill our first night for a special celebration together. Nothing unless I wanted to eat in the late afternoon. We won't all have even arrived by that time.
Wanted to go to the Rose & Crown in the evening. Nothing.

It will work out. Food and Wine is going on while we are at EPCOT, so that will give us some fun options without ADR's. Maybe the others will open up as well as a FP for Pandora. We will have fun no matter what, it just really seems this trip like it's been very tough to make a couple of reservations and get things settled. Maybe it's because others make 3 dining reservations each day and then don't use them...I don't know. It's just been very frustrating. Thanks for all your thoughts.

I would encourage you to keep trying. We didn't decide on our upcoming October trip until after the dining window had opened. The places we wanted to eat were either unavailable or inconvenient times. We went ahead and booked and then commenced a summer of booking and canceling as the touring plans robo search found better times or what we wanted. Yes, we missed a few alerts but we got BOG on two different days. Each time we got a better day or time we immediately cancelled the extra so a=someone else could snag it. We know have dinner at BOG on our MK day. We quit looking several weeks ago with our trip still 8 weeks away because we had what we wanted. We are a party of 5 also.

As far as FP+, I was disappointed on our day when I was up at 6 and there were no FOP and I had to take times that I wasn't thrilled with for several others. Then last Saturday, I was doing another check and it popped up available. I had to cancel our Rivers of light FP but I got FOP. That made me revisit all the rest and I was able to change every single one to the times I had originally wanted so keep checking. I'm still checking a couple of times a day hoping for an earlier FOP.

Heck, I'm finally going to be at WDW during Food and Wine so I'll be happy no matter. People on this board are generally so obsessed with getting every experience exactly when they want it that they are set up for frustration.

 

[HarperLeigh]

On site guests get lots of perks such as MDE, EMH, DDP availability, and FP+ reservations at 60 days as opposed to 30 days for everyone else. I'm really sorry if you don't think that's good enough.

It's also not just about the locals and I've already said this multiple times so this will be my last time saying it since I don't feel like wasting any more of my time. People who book 10 day trips are being given an advantage over people who book 9 day, 8 day, 7 day, and shorter trips, even though those folks who are staying shorter trips may actually be spending more money. That makes absolutely no sense and nobody will be able to convince me otherwise on this particular point.

MDE isn't an onsite advantage. It is available to every guest.