Loving the new ADR policy...

[Colleen27]

Actually the main problem people seem to have from reading the thread on the policy is the 24 hour restriction. That is exactly my issue with it. On our first trip I cancelled 2 reservations due to illness (stomach bug). I cancelled each one 5 hours before the scheduled time, which I feel is plenty. Now, if I did that I'd be charged the fee as I hear they are only willing to waive it for illness with a doctor's note.

Actually, even the doctor's note thing has been called into question since the policy has gone into effect - there was one report of a poster cancelling an ADR while waiting for transportation to urgent care and she was told that if she'd booked after 10/26 she'd be charged, no exceptions. Maybe that is something a determined guest could fight up the ladder with guest services, but it appears the front line CMs have absolutely no option to waive the fee for any reason.

 

[mom2rtk]

Actually, even the doctor's note thing has been called into question since the policy has gone into effect - there was one report of a poster cancelling an ADR while waiting for transportation to urgent care and she was told that if she'd booked after 10/26 she'd be charged, no exceptions. Maybe that is something a determined guest could fight up the ladder with guest services, but it appears the front line CMs have absolutely no option to waive the fee for any reason.

That's my issue with the whole thing. If you're traveling with a sick child, life is complicated enough. why the need to add another "fight up the line" to the whole thing? I don't envy those dealing with this now. I'm guessing they will come out of the gate being firm, then loosen up when people get the message that they are serious about this. Still, I find it all pretty distasteful from a company that has a reputation of great customer service.

 

[1girln3boys]

I agree. We just made all of our ADRs for first week in June and was able to get everything we wanted even Chef Mickey's. Last year I had trouble making CM and had to keep checking everyday till one finally popped up.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

Nervous about 180 days? Try 23! We decided 3 weeks ago to go to WDW next month. ADR'S have been changed multiple times (mostly recently 4 days ago). And guess what? I've gotten everything that I've wanted. I love this new policy too.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

That's my issue with the whole thing. If you're traveling with a sick child, life is complicated enough. why the need to add another "fight up the line" to the whole thing? I don't envy those dealing with this now. I'm guessing they will come out of the gate being firm, then loosen up when people get the message that they are serious about this. Still, I find it all pretty distasteful from a company that has a reputation of great customer service.

I agree. I just watched the original Miracle on 34th Street tonight. Once upon a time, Disney believed in customer service the way that Kris Kringle believes. Unfortunately, those days are forgotten at the moment. I hope the pendulum swings the other way again soon.

 

[maxiesmom]

I agree. I just watched the original Miracle on 34th Street tonight. Once upon a time, Disney believed in customer service the way that Kris Kringle believes. Unfortunately, those days are forgotten at the moment. I hope the pendulum swings the other way again soon.

While it may not be the most customer friendly policy ever, I do place most of the blame for it on the park guests, not on Disney. Too many people felt no obligation at all to cancel ADRs if they decided to not use them. And too many people didn't feel one shread of guilt if they booked multiple ADRs, knowing full well they were not going to use them all.

Part of it is because of how easy it is to book ADRs by phone and on-line. Years ago it wasn't quite as easy. And I really believe years ago people didn't have the same Who Cares as long as I get what I want attitude.

 

[mom2rtk]

While it may not be the most customer friendly policy ever, I do place most of the blame for it on the park guests, not on Disney. Too many people felt no obligation at all to cancel ADRs if they decided to not use them. And too many people didn't feel one shread of guilt if they booked multiple ADRs, knowing full well they were not going to use them all.

Part of it is because of how easy it is to book ADRs by phone and on-line. Years ago it wasn't quite as easy. And I really believe years ago people didn't have the same Who Cares as long as I get what I want attitude.

But you make the mistake that many make. Just because there was a problem that needed a solution does not mean that the current policy was the ONLY solultion. Back in high school as a debater, we had to do 2 things to win an argument. 1) We had to make our case (the need for change) and 2) we had to prove that THIS proposed solution was the right one.

Nobody here disagrees with your CASE, the need for this to be addressed. But MANY of us disagree that THIS solution was the right one. First, they made changes a few months ago to discourage double booking, but never waited to see if those would make any difference. They didn't give it enough time to play out. Second, there are other incarnations of this CC guarantee that would get the job done but not be so punitive. A shorter cancellation window would have gotten MANY of us on board with this policy. If you want to dig through 11,000 or so posts, you will even find me calling for a CC guarantee on most ADR's before this occurred. You just would never see me calling for such a long cancellation window.

 

[maxiesmom]

But you make the mistake that many make. Just because there was a problem that needed a solution does not mean that the current policy was the ONLY solultion. Back in high school as a debater, we had to do 2 things to win an argument. 1) We had to make our case (the need for change) and 2) we had to prove that THIS proposed solution was the right one.

Nobody here disagrees with your CASE, the need for this to be addressed. But MANY of us disagree that THIS solution was the right one. First, they made changes a few months ago to discourage double booking, but never waited to see if those would make any difference. They didn't give it enough time to play out. Second, there are other incarnations of this CC guarantee that would get the job done but not be so punitive. A shorter cancellation window would have gotten MANY of us on board with this policy. If you want to dig through 11,000 or so posts, you will even find me calling for a CC guarantee on most ADR's before this occurred. You just would never see me calling for such a long cancellation window.

Where did I say I thought it was the only solution?It just happens to be the one Disney has decided to try, and none of us know if they will keep it, or change it a bit, or throw it out alltogether.

I do agree something had to be done, and I have no problem with the new policy. Out of more than a dozen trips to WDW I can use 2 fingers to count the ADRs I have cancelled or missed. Maybe I am just lucky. But I do beleive a lot of people who are against this policy are just people who have no real intention of keeping their ADRs to begin with. They just make them to have them, not because they really want them and are excited to be eating at a certain restaurant.

 

[mom2rtk]

Where did I say I thought it was the only solution?It just happens to be the one Disney has decided to try, and none of us know if they will keep it, or change it a bit, or throw it out alltogether.

I do agree something had to be done, and I have no problem with the new policy. Out of more than a dozen trips to WDW I can use 2 fingers to count the ADRs I have cancelled or missed. Maybe I am just lucky. But I do beleive a lot of people who are against this policy are just people who have no real intention of keeping their ADRs to begin with. They just make them to have them, not because they really want them and are excited to be eating at a certain restaurant.

Perhaps I misread your post. But every time someone posts something saying they don't like the policy, the answer is "but they had to do something." I'm only saying that may be true, but it didn't have to be THIS thing. The need for change does not make THIS change right.

And I think you'd be surprised at how many of the non-supporters jumped on board if they shortened up this window. I don't think the non-supporters I've seen posting here are abusers. Just the cautious worry-wart sort like myself who have had one or two things go wrong on a trip before and hate to see themselves charged for something they didn't receive even ONCE....... because of the abusers.

 

[heartse]

But, if it keeps people from making reservations, it makes life a lot easier for everyone. People aren't forced to make reservations 6 months out. You can go to a park and have a chance of scheduling a meal that you would be interested in doing THAT DAY. I didn't like having to make reservations at 6 months out, but knew that for my party of 8 or 10 that I was booking meals for (depended on what the meals was) it needed to be picked or we would have nowhere to eat together. We didn't miss a single reservation... and that was with 8 to 10 people including 3 kids, and MIL who has stomach problems that can derail any early morning plan.

Yes, I understand that things do come up... illness, getting in a line that has issues, transportation problems. But they will hold your reservation for at least 30 minutes past your ressies for you... we almost had issues with our reservations for the CP package. It was on our arrival day, and the train was about 3 hours late getting in... so we were cutting it kinda close.

 

[pmaurer74]

I have been to Disney twice now on the DDP and was on the DXDP last time with 17 ADRS, I made all but 2 of them due to illness in our party. I canceled one a few hours before but the other one I was literally about to board the monorail to Chef Mickey's when my DH called to say they were discharging him from the hospital. Life does happen and I would hate to think about being penalized. Right now I have 3 CC ADRs and I was surprised to see Le Cellier and CRT available for my trip in 2 months but ya it does make me nervous to have those ADRs. We had two people in out party in the hospital last trip and a DD that seems to get tummy problems when we travel.

 

[arthuruscg]

I say forget the whole 180day out thing and just allow on side guest to book 24hrs out and off site guest to book the same day.

I go on vacation to not be ruled by my dam calander / watch / schedule. I have enough of it at work. let vacation stay vacation.

 

[mom2rtk]

I say forget the whole 180day out thing and just allow on side guest to book 24hrs out and off site guest to book the same day.

I go on vacation to not be ruled by my dam calander / watch / schedule. I have enough of it at work. let vacation stay vacation.

I understand that. But I don't want to devote time every morning of my trip working out my dining plans for the night. Nor would I purchase the dining plan ever again not knowing if I could indeed get into our preferred dining locations.

 

[Colleen27]

I say forget the whole 180day out thing and just allow on side guest to book 24hrs out and off site guest to book the same day.

I go on vacation to not be ruled by my dam calander / watch / schedule. I have enough of it at work. let vacation stay vacation.

The problem with that is needing to devote time every single day to making those dining arrangements. For people who don't travel with a wi-fi or 3G capable device with the ability to run Disney's mobile site (which is just as well planned as their main site... that is to say it is resource intensive and causes problems on many devices) that means 30+ minutes on the phone with WDW-DINE in the mornings. And from Disney's perspective it means a need for more phone agents because fewer people will be able to book online.

I'd like to see the window shrink to 45 days, to be in line with the package payment deadline and cancellation penalties, so that fewer people are booking ADRs on spec or making a million changes as park hours and events are announced/changed. But given the choice between planning 6 months out and having to take time out of my trip to make dining reservations, 6 months out is the lesser evil.

 

[arthuruscg]

Why do you need phone agents. People screw things up and are not consistant. Just give me a computer that can handle multiple commands in 1 sentance.
Example:
I call: WDW-DINE,
the computer asks: what can i do for you?
I say: Dining reservation in MK for today for 6 adults and 1 child. What character buffetts are available between 4pm and 6pm?
Computer: The computer spits back the times and locations
I pick one and we are done.
This could all be done while standing waiting for the buss.

Or they could add reservation kisos in the hotel loby and by the buss stops.

 

[Colleen27]

Why do you need phone agents. People screw things up and are not consistant. Just give me a computer that can handle multiple commands in 1 sentance.
Example:
I call: WDW-DINE,
the computer asks: what can i do for you?
I say: Dining reservation in MK for today for 6 adults and 1 child. What character buffetts are available between 4pm and 6pm?
Computer: The computer spits back the times and locations
I pick one and we are done.
This could all be done while standing waiting for the buss.

Or they could add reservation kisos in the hotel loby and by the buss stops.

Good luck with that, seriously. Disney's voice recognition programs now are so fussy that I have to turn off the TV and make sure my 3yo isn't in the room to navigate it, and God forbid the dog bark or someone knocks at the door because the slightest noise is all it takes to confuse the system. There's no way you could navigate it from within the parks, at a bus stop, or anywhere else with a high level of background noise.

Reservation kiosks would be more feasible, but then you're talking about standing in line to make dining reservations in the morning which I think most people would find far less convenient/desirable than making reservations from home.

 

[nkereina]

Why do you need phone agents. People screw things up and are not consistant. Just give me a computer that can handle multiple commands in 1 sentance.
Example:
I call: WDW-DINE,
the computer asks: what can i do for you?
I say: Dining reservation in MK for today for 6 adults and 1 child. What character buffetts are available between 4pm and 6pm?
Computer: The computer spits back the times and locations
I pick one and we are done.
This could all be done while standing waiting for the buss.

Or they could add reservation kisos in the hotel loby and by the buss stops.

I've traveled to a lot of all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, and in order to eat in any of their restaurants that aren't their buffet, you have to get up bright and early and go to the concierge to reserve your lunch or dinner time and restaurant for that day. So, same-day reservations do work fine in other places. Kiosks in the hotel might not be so bad. But I would probably hate having to worry about ADRs all week, not knowing if I'll get into the one I want. Like PP, I wouldn't want to do DDP not knowing if I'll get any TS places I like.

I agree with PP - an earlier time than 120 days would be much better. I would like maybe 60 days out because then if I can't get the ADRs I want, I can choose to remove (or add) DDP. At the 45 day mark, I can't make that decision anymore. Anyone know why they ever changed it from 90 days? Even that would be better, for the people who do last minute trips. Just curious why it was changed?

 

[arthuruscg]

Good luck with that, seriously. Disney's voice recognition programs now are so fussy that I have to turn off the TV and make sure my 3yo isn't in the room to navigate it, and God forbid the dog bark or someone knocks at the door because the slightest noise is all it takes to confuse the system. There's no way you could navigate it from within the parks, at a bus stop, or anywhere else with a high level of background noise.

Reservation kiosks would be more feasible, but then you're talking about standing in line to make dining reservations in the morning which I think most people would find far less convenient/desirable than making reservations from home.

I do agree with you that Disney's VRS is from the stone age.
Touch screen tablets are cheep and can be used for the kiosks. So, if they put 8 in the lobby/ buss stop with card readers to bring up the party# to reduce manual entry the total time per would be small. Even Wawa and Sheets uses them, and those things can take the abuse dished out by the 2am drunks.

 

[BDL]

I'm sorry. I got here late. I looked through all the posts on this thread. I am trying to nail down the differences between the old policy and the new.

From what I can gather, instead of the 24 hr cancel policy, it is now a full business day + cancel policy. And that for certain ressies, you need to secure the time with your credit card even if you are going to use the meal (am I right so far?)

What else do I need to know? Or can you send me a link that spells this whole thing out? I looked at the Disney site and I couldn't find it.

Thank you.

 

[TDC Nala]

There is a sticky thread on this board with the full policy and what is known about it so far.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2836290