Feeling frustrated with Disney--anyone?

[robinb]

I also get the resort fee waived due to status

The Swolphin now charges resort fees to everyone (including Plats) since the merge with Marriott.

ETA: Apparently Plats do get a reduced resort fee of $20.

 

[amberpi]

The Swolphin now charges resort fees to everyone (including Plats) since the merge with Marriott.

ETA: Apparently Plats do get a reduced resort fee of $20.

Depends on your Marriott status too

ETA: we'll see in a couple of weeks!

 

[MKCP5]

There will always be plenty to complain about. We won't all agree with all of the policies. I am 4 days away from my check in, have hit refresh hundreds of times and still don't have a reservation for BOG lol Shame on ME for wasting all my time on that! lol

 

[DebbieB]

There will always be plenty to complain about. We won't all agree with all of the policies. I am 4 days away from my check in, have hit refresh hundreds of times and still don't have a reservation for BOG lol Shame on ME for wasting all my time on that! lol

This is the time you are most likely to get it, when people finalize plans and cancel to avoid the penalty.

 

[MKCP5]

This is the time you are most likely to get it, when people finalize plans and cancel to avoid the penalty.

That's what I'm hoping!

 

[Mokat76]

Let me ask this... you say you're frustrated at Disney, but what would you like them to do to fix the "problem"? The "problem" isn't Disney. It's the "uber planners" who have the reservations tied up. It's not like Disney can make more reservations. An attraction/restaurant can only go through so many people at a time.

I respectfully disagree. Disney and its push to control us all while jamming more people in with special deals for their "magical" vacations has forced us into this. FP+ requires advance reservations. Sit-down meals, in-park especially, require advance reservations. It's Disney corporate greed that pushed it to this point, not uber planners. If I'm coming to WDW once a year, you'd better believe I'm going to uber plan. I know I want to ride certain rides. I know I want to eat a certain restaurants in certain parks. If I don't uber plan, I spend most of my day standing in lines waiting. And waiting. That's not magical. That's boot camp.

 

[sam_gordon]

I respectfully disagree. Disney and its push to control us all while jamming more people in with special deals for their "magical" vacations has forced us into this. FP+ requires advance reservations. Sit-down meals, in-park especially, require advance reservations. It's Disney corporate greed that pushed it to this point, not uber planners. If I'm coming to WDW once a year, you'd better believe I'm going to uber plan. I know I want to ride certain rides. I know I want to eat a certain restaurants in certain parks. If I don't uber plan, I spend most of my day standing in lines waiting. And waiting. That's not magical. That's boot camp.

So what do you want Disney to do? Open up reservations (FP+ & ADR) 7 days out? Wouldn't that just make the problem happen at 7 days instead of 180 days? Should they do away with ADR & FP+?

 

[Colleen27]

So what do you want Disney to do? Open up reservations (FP+ & ADR) 7 days out? Wouldn't that just make the problem happen at 7 days instead of 180 days? Should they do away with ADR & FP+?

I think there's middle ground that could be managed. Having ADRs and FPs open on different days makes sense, but the reasoning on those windows being so far apart and ADRs so far in advance is less clear. ADRs could be done at 45 days, since that's when packages have to be paid off and cancellation fees start coming into play (and also, for bargain-hunters, at the tail end of the time when airfares are likely to be lowest to/from many cities). That would get rid of a LOT of the just-in-case ADRs and the hopeful-wishful trips that never come together. It would also allow FPs to be done first for on-site guests, which would make sense since rides are probably more important to most travelers than dining. In fact, it could even make the on-site advantage stronger because of that - off-site guests would have to make ADRs first and bank on being able to make FP around them, while on-site guests could know their ride schedule first and then fit meals around it.

Also, Disney could throw us a bone and finalize park hours a bit sooner, doing away with the scramble that comes when park hours are updated a couple of weeks in advance like happened this week for Oct. travelers.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

So what do you want Disney to do? Open up reservations (FP+ & ADR) 7 days out? Wouldn't that just make the problem happen at 7 days instead of 180 days? Should they do away with ADR & FP+?

As far as dining goes, I'd do away with the dining plan. It's been a huge negative on multiple fronts.

 

[Disneylover99]

As far as dining goes, I'd do away with the dining plan. It's been a huge negative on multiple fronts.

I don't think Disney will ever get rid of the dining plan. It's too much of a money maker for them.

 

[MKCP5]

I think there's middle ground that could be managed. Having ADRs and FPs open on different days makes sense, but the reasoning on those windows being so far apart and ADRs so far in advance is less clear. ADRs could be done at 45 days, since that's when packages have to be paid off and cancellation fees start coming into play (and also, for bargain-hunters, at the tail end of the time when airfares are likely to be lowest to/from many cities). That would get rid of a LOT of the just-in-case ADRs and the hopeful-wishful trips that never come together. It would also allow FPs to be done first for on-site guests, which would make sense since rides are probably more important to most travelers than dining. In fact, it could even make the on-site advantage stronger because of that - off-site guests would have to make ADRs first and bank on being able to make FP around them, while on-site guests could know their ride schedule first and then fit meals around it.

Also, Disney could throw us a bone and finalize park hours a bit sooner, doing away with the scramble that comes when park hours are updated a couple of weeks in advance like happened this week for Oct. travelers.

There is never going to be a totally "fair" way to do things. Everyone should have the same shot at it, but it doesn't stop me from being human and feeling like I should be able to get reservations where I want since I'm paying through the nose to stay at a deluxe resort on property. lol

 

[Pacolovestacos]

I don't think Disney will ever get rid of the dining plan. It's too much of a money maker for them.

I was just saying what I would want in a perfect world. Not necessarily what Disney would or wouldn't do.

 

[Colleen27]

There is never going to be a totally "fair" way to do things. Everyone should have the same shot at it, but it doesn't stop me from being human and feeling like I should be able to get reservations where I want since I'm paying through the nose to stay at a deluxe resort on property. lol

I'm not really thinking in terms of fairness as much as practicality - how best to reduce or eliminate the artificial spike in demand created when people make ADRs they can't or won't use. Shortening the window is still "unfair" in that it gives onsite guests an advantage over offsite, and is still difficult for locals and others who don't want to plan meals weeks or months in advance. But a shorter window would increase the percentage of that initial ADR rush that are held and used, rather than changed or cancelled over the months between the ADR date and actual travel.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

I'm not really thinking in terms of fairness as much as practicality - how best to reduce or eliminate the artificial spike in demand created when people make ADRs they can't or won't use. Shortening the window is still "unfair" in that it gives onsite guests an advantage over offsite, and is still difficult for locals and others who don't want to plan meals weeks or months in advance. But a shorter window would increase the percentage of that initial ADR rush that are held and used, rather than changed or cancelled over the months between the ADR date and actual travel.

$5 cancellation fee, doesn't matter when or why, you get billed 5 bucks per ADR cancel. Guarantee that will cut the B.S..

 

[Colleen27]

$5 cancellation fee, doesn't matter when or why, you get billed 5 bucks per ADR cancel. Guarantee that will cut the B.S..

It would. But I don't consider a lot of what happens to be BS. Disney puts guests in the position of having to do their dining planning with incomplete information, and that is largely because of the 180 window. It isn't BS when someone books dinner, only to have a hard-ticket event added that evening that causes a change in plans. It isn't BS when someone books a pre park opening breakfast to have access to the relatively empty park and then cancels if the opening is pushed up. That's not on the guests - it is on Disney, for not giving the information necessary to make solid plans from the start. And while a punitive policy of cancellation penalties might address the issue, it will do so at the expense of the guest experience.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

It would. But I don't consider a lot of what happens to be BS. Disney puts guests in the position of having to do their dining planning with incomplete information, and that is largely because of the 180 window. It isn't BS when someone books dinner, only to have a hard-ticket event added that evening that causes a change in plans. It isn't BS when someone books a pre park opening breakfast to have access to the relatively empty park and then cancels if the opening is pushed up. That's not on the guests - it is on Disney, for not giving the information necessary to make solid plans from the start. And while a punitive policy of cancellation penalties might address the issue, it will do so at the expense of the guest experience.

I think what you describe applies to a minority % of the Disney guests. I would bet that most people simply change ADR's because they suddenly feel like Mexican instead of Pizza. Or they're speculatively booking ADR's on the chance they go to Disney but they don't go through with it.

 

[Skippyboo]

If you are staying at Disney hotel, you should have an advantage over people staying off site and locals. You can do away with fast passes but then you are looking at a system like they have at Universal where you have to pay to avoid the line. Would you rather have to do a bit of planning or spend an extra 100 a day per person for some sort of Express pass.

I didn't book my ADRs 180 days out but when I booked my package in April. When I made my fass passes in July, I swapped around a Cape May on Friday with a Sunday Tiffins and moved a evening Yak and Yeti from evening to late afternoon. I didn't horde any extra ADRs. However, I would be super pissed if I had to pay 15 bucks to rearrange the times of my ADRs.

 

[Mokat76]

So what do you want Disney to do? Open up reservations (FP+ & ADR) 7 days out? Wouldn't that just make the problem happen at 7 days instead of 180 days? Should they do away with ADR & FP+?

While I would kill FP+ in a heartbeat, I don't expect Disney to do anything. They make rules and change rules to maximize their profits. They're a business; it's their right and responsibility to their shareholders. All I can do is complain here and visit WDW less. While neither is a satisfactory solution, they're all I've got. ;-)

 

[Colleen27]

I think what you describe applies to a minority % of the Disney guests. I would bet that most people simply change ADR's because they suddenly feel like Mexican instead of Pizza. Or they're speculatively booking ADR's on the chance they go to Disney but they don't go through with it.

I think the current cancellation policy probably did away with most of the "feels like" changes - you really can't wait and see what you're in the mood for at WDW unless you're comfortable winging it without ADRs. And the speculative bookings are a direct consequence of the 180 rule, just as much as cancellations because of park hour changes and other scheduling issues. If food is an important part of your travel style, you know you have to book that element way in advance... well before any discounts are announced, well before the window for getting a good price on airfare, and for many people, well before details like the budget and vacation time approvals are set in stone. Speculative ADRs are an entirely rational guest response to the system Disney has set up, in which dining has to be booked long before any of the more important and less changeable elements of a vacation.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

I think the current cancellation policy probably did away with most of the "feels like" changes - you really can't wait and see what you're in the mood for at WDW unless you're comfortable winging it without ADRs. And the speculative bookings are a direct consequence of the 180 rule, just as much as cancellations because of park hour changes and other scheduling issues. If food is an important part of your travel style, you know you have to book that element way in advance... well before any discounts are announced, well before the window for getting a good price on airfare, and for many people, well before details like the budget and vacation time approvals are set in stone. Speculative ADRs are an entirely rational guest response to the system Disney has set up, in which dining has to be booked long before any of the more important and less changeable elements of a vacation.

You and I have gone back and forth on this issue quite a bit on various threads and you know I've advocated for a return to the 90 day booking window. But at this point, it seems like you just want to argue with me on everything regarding ADRs.