Have you all heard about the new dining rules? Get aload of this:

[DisneyKidds]

As for making PS's.......................we make a lot of them. We are the DVC/AP/DC/two-trips-per-year type and we make advance PS's for probably 60% of the meals we plan on eating.

As for this "change"...................I'm with Matt and I'll wait and see how bad this does or does not affect me when I make PS's for our next trip. I guess I'll know more about how I feel next week.

 

[jlambrig]

Scottwdw who posts frequently on the restaurant board sent out this email

>>>>>>>>>>>>
IMPORTANT CHANGES to the Priority Seating Policy!! Beginning August 4, the booking window for most WDW dining locations will be 180 days out for guests with a paid deposit on a Walt Disney Travel Company package and 90 days out for all other guests. The only exceptions to this will be specialized dining locations such as dinner shows, Lunch With a Disney Artist, Bistro de Paris, and Victoria & Alberts. A valid WDW Travel Company package booking number (with paid deposit) will be required when calling for a Priority Seating for more than 90 days out.

I've also found out that only 50% of each restaurant's table space will be available at 180 days and the rest will open up at 90 days out. No mention of how they will handle Floria residents, AP Passholders or DVC owners in this policy.

****************************************************************
NEW INFO: Looks like anybody booked at a WDW Resort will be
able to call 180 days in advance. This is not fully confirmed
yet so stay tuned!!!!! So, this should cover the above groups
I just mentioned but again, this is not confirmed.
****************************************************************

Okay, notice only restaurants seem to be affected. Unless I find out otherwise, recreation like fishing, water sports, horse back riding, golf and tennis will remain the same. As does the Grand Floridian Kid's Programs, Illumination cruises and, as noted above, the dinner shows.

What is a Walt Disney Travel Company (WDTC) package? That is any package booked directly with WDTC that includes not only your room but park passes. They may have meals and other "wishes" included. WDTC has various names for them like the recent Fantasy package, the Magic package, etc. Do you have a WDTC package? If your deposit was $200 and the balance is due 45 days prior to your arrival and your reservation number is 8 digits long you have a Walt Disney Travel Company reservation.

If you have booked through a local or online travel company, make sure they booked a package via WDTC.

And, yes, this does gives people who are on these packages first shot at character meals and other popular WDW resort restaurants not only for everyday but holidays, too. I'm all for simplifying the PS rules, but I'm afraid WDW Dining might be in for a serious backlash. Time will tell.

People on the WDTC packages must have put down the deposit to be able to book restaurants at the 180 day mark. You must have your package confirmation number ready when they call to book. WDW will be verifying the reservations and if they can't the PS won't be accepted.

For now, only the PS Calculator at http://pscalculator.net/ has been updated. I will announce when a new PS Report is ready. This will include a way for WDTC package holders to get the new 180 PS day rule on their reports.

And, lastly, WDW is still deciding about things like if Cinderella's
Royal Table will be included or not. Until August 4th, everything is
subject to change.

Oh, as long as I was sending this out, I've attached the the August newsletter and put up the next PS Spotlight.

Scottwdw
>>>>>>>>>>>

Scott runs a great website for people who are in to getting PS. I have found him to be on top of things most of the time.

The 50% restriction is interesting. Sounds like an attempt to appease the frequent guest crowd (whether a good attempt or not).

My family doesn't make a lot of PS, we often make them on site but I am not happy about the possible change either. I think it is very unfortunate. However, and I am sure this will come across as apologist or Disney Defender or whatever, but I have similar experiences at places other than Disney. Getting a ressie at Nobu is NYC was harder than any PS at Cindy's by a long shot. The same goes for NOLA and Delmonico in New Orleans. At Nobu, they hold back ressies or make room for the reservations made by the concierge at The Plaza or wherever. And it isn't because they have frequent customers, it is because they expect huge sums of money to flow from that Plaza guest at that sitting. I see Disney is thinking along the same lines. The WDTC package is higher priced than others so they are trying to get people to fork out the cash by providing perks.

That being said, I think it is a bad decision to give out perks to attract new customers by reducing opportunites for existing.

 

[raidermatt]

We have a couple "must eat at" restaurants and have alway gotten in when making PS's while at the resort. Guess I'm just lucky.

We make them for a few reasons.

One is making sure we get any "must eat at" choices. I know its not always necessary, but its one less thing to deal with once we arrive.

Another reason is that there are so many restaurants we want to try, planning out the meals allows us to make sure we are trying new ones and working in the "old favorites".

Yet another is not having to wait long for a table, which saves time for other things.

All that said, we do sometimes cancel one here and there if we decide we want to go to a different park, or just eat somwhere else.

 

[miko]

I don't like the change but from Disney's viewpoint it has the potential to add revenue. There is now another "perk" to staying onsite and using WDW Travel. Disney knows they have most AP holders hooked and already a nice amount of their money. AP holders return frequently and they are almost a guranteed revenue. New or less frequent visitors are an "ooprtunity revenue" for WDW and that is probably why they did this following the reasoning behind their "postcard" dicounts that in general are focused on travelers that have not been back recently.
If all AP holders would not renew for just one year a loud and clearmessage would be sent!

 

[Lesley]

I saw information somewhere indicating that the change did also effect things other than dining...like the children's programs.

Honestly, I don't know that this strategy would really sell more packages....and I suspect that if it does sell more packages it probably would not be enough to counter the effect of alienating repeat, non-package guests. Probably just another "spreadsheet decision" that doesn't take into account the way people really react. Much like the original ending of early entry.

Still waiting to see how this really plays out....I need to make some PS's for October soon so maybe I can get some additional info (and maybe not)

Oh, does anyone recall the days when only WDW resort guests could make advance reservations at restaurants? That was before the whole Priority Seating system. Everyone else had to go to the restaurant the day they wanted to eat to get a seating time... But this was also before CRT and Illuminations Cruises. It's not something I minded because we were staying at a WDW resort...it was a further incentive to stay on property. But then again, it was rather awful for off property guests or locals!

 

[beattyfamily]

For those of you who don't know yet, over in the restaurant board, this major update was posted by the PS Calculator programmer, Scott!

Originally posted by Scottwdw
Folks, you need to read my latest update.

New PS Policy

You will find that WDW did listen and, yea, they spun it in their favor. You got to love PR people!!

 

[DaveO]

On other boards it has been 'confirmed' that due to the feeback this tiered WDTC 'perk' will not be implemented.

The new changes will be ALL PSs for EVERYONE will be available at 90 days except for a few exceptions like the Luau and HDDR which are still 2 years, etc.

Good to hear they listened to their loyal customers.

Although I would like to see them go back to all 'onsite' guests geting an extra 30 days to book.

Dave O.

 

[daannzzz]

I always make PS for my favorites or new places. I would assume that people who return every few years are aware of all the restaurants at WDW and if booking through WDTC would understand about "reservations". I know that people here in California who have never been ( I would also assume this includes people who have been to WDW once or twice but never ate in a full service restaurant) know nothing about how many full service restaurants there are. I have assisted ( attempted to in a couple cases) people who were going on their first trip to WDW and most of them were shocked at how many places there were to eat and were adamant about having to make that decision until they were actually there, even when I explained that they would need them during Easter week if they wanted to get it or to not have to wait for a very long time. Many of them didn't want to even choose what park they were going to until that morning. Others got into it and got excited and some made PS's. If the 180/90 day rule had gone through I wonder how many people using WDTC would actually utilize the perk.

 

[mitros]

There are a lot of folks on these boards that know a lot about things that go on at WDW. Will one of you guys {gals} please explain how this will affect a local Disneyite that goes at least 2 days each month {DVC} and usually goes during off seasons, and makes all PS arrangments from the resort room upon arrival or each morning before setting out for the day? Does this mean I can't do that any more? I'm in the fog on this one.

 

[HB2K]

Good for Disney....it's a good thing they dropped this stupid plan.

But (you knew it was coming)....

I wonder how much damage has been inflicted here...this ruffled a lot of feathers and opened a lot of eyes. Very similar to the discontinuation / re-introduction of EE. I know of a couple of long time posters who's attitudes towards Disney changed mightly (using the hated car referrences, they dropped from Car 1/2 to Car 3). It will be interesting to see....

 

[eeyore0062]

The squeeky wheel gets the grease, and if they are flooded with letters, emails and calls from those of you who are concerned, you may see a turn around, much like happened when they discontinued EE mornings.

Instead of grumbling here, put your pen to paper, fingers to keyboard or mouth to phone and let TPTB know how you feel!

 

[beattyfamily]

Just got a reply from Disney regarding my complaint letter about the impending changes to the PS policy!

August 1, 2003

Thank you for your email with reference to Priority Seating reservations at the
WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort. Effective August 4, 2003, bookings for all Walt
Disney World® Resort dining locations that offer priority seating times will be
available 90 days in advance, with the following exceptions:

Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review can be confirmed 2 years out
Disney's Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show can be confirmed 2 years out
Bistro de Paris can be confirmed 30 days out
Lunch with a Disney Artist can be confirmed 30 days out
Victoria and Albert's Chef's Table can be confirmed 180 days out
Mickey's Backyard Barbecue can be confirmed based on availability

This change will result in a more easily understood process for our guests, with
a consistent policy for our dining locations that accept priority seating,
except for locations with unique situations. The new policy will be in effect
for all WDW Resort guests, including Disney Vacation Club Members. As always,
we will continue to evaluate enhancements to these policies to best serve the
needs of our guests.

Sincerely
Jackie Lueders
Member Satisfaction Manager

 

[MelissathePooh]

"I wonder how much damage has been inflicted here...this ruffled a lot of feathers and opened a lot of eyes. Very similar to the discontinuation / re-introduction of EE. I know of a couple of long time posters who's attitudes towards Disney changed mightly (using the hated car referrences, they dropped from Car 1/2 to Car 3). It will be interesting to see...."

Considering that the rumored policy never saw any life and the number of people that were privy to the rumor ahead of time (being the small percentage of internet users in relation to total number of guests) and that not everyone was upset by it - I doubt many feathers will be that ruffled.

I really don't think this was anything intentional - just poor planning that was corrected before it was a problem. Seems like a plus to me - they found out it was a bad idea and fixed it before it ever even went public.

 

[HB2K]

I really don't think this was anything intentional - just poor planning that was corrected before it was a problem. Seems like a plus to me - they found out it was a bad idea and fixed it before it ever even went public.

Then isn't that scarier? That the powers that be are so clueless that they almost implemented a change that drove what is left of their loyal customer base to flood them with letters, emails, phone calls, etc complaining about the change?

Considering that the rumored policy never saw any life and the number of people that were privy to the rumor ahead of time (being the small percentage of internet users in relation to total number of guests) and that not everyone was upset by it - I doubt many feathers will be that ruffled.

Doesn't that run contrary to the concept that the proposed policy was abandoned due to customer revolt?

If it wasn't the customer revolt, if not as many people were informed of this change as you say....what made Disney abandon the change?

 

[Mooobooks]

I well recall, in the mid 1980s, my father racing from the Contemporary hotel over to a kiosk in Epcot to make "reservations" for our dinner that very evening. What a nightmare!

 

[frannn]

Isn't it time for us DIS'ers to band together about the AP rates (what AP rates?) for the upcoming months, and the new policies they are looking to inflict (yes, I said inflict) on people trying to book room only ressies in the near future (forgive me if I'm not understanding the objectives of the Disney companies properly. Please correct me if the impact is not that great). Will complaints & emails work to get us AP rates and the same room only cancelation policies? Probably not, but it was definetly worth the vent...

 

[d-r]

Then isn't that scarier? That the powers that be are so clueless that they almost implemented a change that drove what is left of their loyal customer base to flood them with letters, emails, phone calls, etc complaining about the change?

do you really think a dozen or so people on the dis is "what is left" of disney's loyal customer base?

 

[HB2K]

do you really think a dozen or so people on the dis is "what is left" of disney's loyal customer base?

So is it your stance that:

A) This policy was changed due to a dozen or so phone calls, letters, etc sent by hardcore ONLY disney fans from this or other sites?

or

B) The policy was changed due to a massive write in campaign by a large number of Disney customers?

I'm sorry....I don't see this policy being changed by a few Disney fan boards. There had to be some type of wide ranging impact that caused Disney to change this policy mid-implementation.

 

[DVC-Landbaron]

do you really think a dozen or so people on the dis is "what is left" of disney's loyal customer base?

If HB2K is NOT correct, and you are correct, then one wonders what compelled them to change their plan.

Hmmmmmmmm. Do you think they went to see the wizard about a heart? (or more likely a BRAIN!!!!!)

 

[MelissathePooh]

Originally posted by frannn
Isn't it time for us DIS'ers to band together about the AP rates (what AP rates?) for the upcoming months, and the new policies they are looking to inflict (yes, I said inflict) on people trying to book room only ressies in the near future (forgive me if I'm not understanding the objectives of the Disney companies properly. Please correct me if the impact is not that great). Will complaints & emails work to get us AP rates and the same room only cancelation policies? Probably not, but it was definetly worth the vent...

Perhaps if anything other than admission was guaranteed to accompany AP's.

What new policies have you read about?