Multiple Ar Rant!

[OhioTony]

We tried to switch from Whispering to Mama Melrose last week in Sept today & CM told us nothing available ANYWHERE in MGM due to people making "multiple" ressies for the SAME meal to keep their options open! ANYBODY doing this needs to realize they are hurting DISNEY, the SERVERS ( Empy ressie= empty table) as well as other people trying to plan a simple dinner. Please show some courtesy and DO NOT have more than 1 sit down restaurant booked for the same meal.....

WOW! did i just go off on a RANT

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I agree it's rude. The same people make multiple hotel reservations too. I won't be surprised if we have to put down a deposit for dining in the near future.

 

[InnerStrength]

WOW, I can't believe this "multiple ressie making" for the same time frame is actually allowed. It is so unfair to those who will be left out of an opportunity to dine at a WDW restaurant because someone is unable to narrow down their dining choices. I know its not easy to plan on where and when one plans on dining 90 days in advance, however that is what I have done and will do for our upcoming trip just to be fair to everyone else. We are paying for the MYW dining plan for our Dec. trip and I would not be too happy to have to waste a good TS credit on a cheaper CS meal just because restaurants were overbooked and people were no-shows if their itinerary changed.

Tony (OP) ~ I know this seems like a pain but if you can, keep trying now and again and perhaps someone will have a heart and cancel a ressie that they were not going to use, and you could grab one. Good luck.

 

[IloveWINNIEthePOOH]

I agree it is rude, but there are a FEW (and I do mean a FEW) who do eat twice at a restaurant. We are doing this at two, but that is it. Now I know some people do do it to leave options open, which I do disagree on.

 

[DawnCt1]

While it is unfair to those trying to secure AR, it does open a table for walk ins who may not realize that they have to micro manage every aspect of their vacation if they want to eat in a sit down restaurant. Check in is fifteen minutes prior to the seating so my guess is, that table won't be empty for long.

 

[Suzanne74]

I don't think it is hurting the servers, as those tables will ALWAYS be filled with walk-ins. The problem is people trying to make actual PS (oop, I mean AR's.) I think Disney should only allow two AR's a day at different times. I have found that they don't even care what else you reserved. I called and put a AR for LTT and only got 6:30pm. I called a week later and received 4:30, which is what I wanted. They didn't even question I had a 6:30pm and I had to tell them to cancel it. Really, if I wanted, I could have left both open for my advantage. I know they can pull the screens up with the ressies.

Anyway, I think you should have a credit card on file for every AR you make, if you don't cancel within 4hrs, you lose $5 a person - sorta like CRT's.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I agree it is rude, but there are a FEW (and I do mean a FEW) who do eat twice at a restaurant. We are doing this at two, but that is it. Now I know some people do do it to leave options open, which I do disagree on.

I think the OP is talking about someone making a AR for the same night/same meal at multiple places.

 

[IloveWINNIEthePOOH]

I think the OP is talking about someone making a AR for the same night/same meal at multiple places.

OOOH ok! Sorry. Yeah that can be ridiculous!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Tony? Are the later dining times at MGM released yet? Call back and ask. If they are not, that represents over half the dining times. They don't release later times until much closer to the date than 90 days. If they are not, keep checking and you'll be able to get a time when they are released.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Firstly, I am very sorry that that happened to you! I certainly hope that you will be able to find something. You're absolutely right about this, too. It's like taking three seats on a bus or three cookies and throwing two away! Some people just don't have common courtesy anymore. I agree that a financial penalty would definitely cut down on this practice. A small penalty fee for not cancelling within a certain amount of time is perfectly appropriate (done for CRT and GF Spa appointments currently)

As a participant in a recent thread about this very topic which was closed as insults began, I would just like to say that I hope those who were defending this inconsiderate and selfish practice will read this and see why people were so disapproving of their "choices".

My agreeing with you still doesn't get dinner on your table! I don't know your schedule, but you can take a quick boat ride to some of the Epcot resorts. Maybe you could dine at one of them? Or maybe get a lunch AR at Mama Melrose (or another Studios restaurant) and just do CS for dinner? Or get a very late lunch (either Epcot resort or Studios restaurant here) skip dinner and maybe get something when you get back to your resort (some have 24 hr places, some have restaurants open till 11, some deliver room service or even pizzas until midnight) Depending on your schedule this might help you out. You could keep calling everyday if its very important to you, as someone said, later dining times might be released and then you'd be in *business*! but I would still try to find an alternative (unfortunately). Good luck!

 

[mello]

I wasn't able to switch anything at MGM for the last week of Sept either. I wanted to switch days around so we could be in MK on the evening of Spectromagic, and I was able to switch my MK ressie, but not my Mama Melrose one - nothing was available.

Perhaps it's due to them not releasing later dining times yet?

It would sure simplify things if they would allow ADR's at the same time as the calendar is published - either 60 days or 90 days whichever, but standardize it - so it's not so difficult to change things once the schedule is out.

We tried to switch from Whispering to Mama Melrose last week in Sept today & CM told us nothing available ANYWHERE in MGM due to people making "multiple" ressies for the SAME meal to keep their options open! ANYBODY doing this needs to realize they are hurting DISNEY, the SERVERS ( Empy ressie= empty table) as well as other people trying to plan a simple dinner. Please show some courtesy and DO NOT have more than 1 sit down restaurant booked for the same meal.....

WOW! did i just go off on a RANT

 

[Epcotgal]

I remember about 3/4/5 years ago that it was recommended (on another Disney forum) to make multiple p.s. (ADR now) for the same times so the family could choose where they wanted to eat when lunch or dinner time came. I just believe in cancelling any adr's you know you aren't going to use so you can open up those tables for people calling in closer to trip time.

 

[OhioTony]

I'm not sure what you mean by this? They don't allow later ARs as soon as the 90 day window opens? Why is that? Does anyone know when this later time window opens?
Here's our plan for that day--Thursday Sept 29--We want to go to Ak in the morning / afternoon. Then dinner at MGM and get done in time to see Fantasmic. It doesn't help that we need a table for 6.
I'll do as suggested--call back every so often to see if anything changes.Any other ideas? Thanks for letting me rant.

 

[psar]

Usually about a month out, they release later times at the MGM restaurants. This has happened to us many times. 6 weeks ago the latest I was able to get at MM was 4:50. Last week I was able to get my original request for 6:00. They also seem to do this at the MK too. Same thing happpened with dinner at the castle. Had to book 5:30. Just got this changed to 7:00. We will be off in 19 days. Just keep trying. Later times do open up.

 

[DawnCt1]

Here's our plan for that day--Thursday Sept 29--We want to go to Ak in the morning / afternoon. Then dinner at MGM and get done in time to see Fantasmic. It doesn't help that we need a table for 6.
I'll do as suggested--call back every so often to see if anything changes.Any other ideas? Thanks for letting me rant.

If your children are old enough, consider asking for a table for 2 and 4. We are scheduled for the Fantasmic Dinner at the Derby and there was no table available for 5, but we have a table for 2 and 3.

 

[bicker]

I suspect that curtailing multiple ARs won't have any impact on AR availability, because the restaurants will likely decide to allocate the comparable number of slots for walk-ups. I don't believe any of the restaurants want to go to an all-AR scheme (though I'd sure like it if they did).

 

[tlev]

MGM is weird when it comes to late AR's. We tried last year to get a Fantasmic package and nothing was available after 5:00pm. I know you need to finish your meal and get across the park, but 2.5 hours? I wonder if the dinner package contributes to the unavailability of the MGM restaurants? We ended up eating at 3:30 at MM and then going back to the hotel for awhile to cool off and change, and then went back for the show.

 

[Suzanne74]

If your children are old enough, consider asking for a table for 2 and 4. We are scheduled for the Fantasmic Dinner at the Derby and there was no table available for 5, but we have a table for 2 and 3.

I agree with this. Disney dining only has so many slots for certain size tables at certain times. When I was booking for 9, the CM informed me I would be able to get a better time w/ 2 or 3 tables instead of 1 when I was looking at Chef Mickey's. He said they will either push the tables together or you can just wait (and have others go ahead of you) until the next larger table is available. So I did this but put in an earlier AR by 30min then what we really wanted. This will work out well.

 

[disneydaveb]

Good rant! I agree.
Some people are inconsiderate and think of only themselves. They must be able to have what they want, when they want it. Even at the expense of others.
Disney should be able to control this to some degree. For example, I can call Disney and give either my phone number or my resort confirmation number, and they can tell me every ADR that I have for my upcoming trip. If they can keep track of the ADRs, they should be able to prevent me from say booking at Crystal Palace at MK at 5pm on Monday and booking 50's Prime Time at 5pm on that Monday also.

Anyway, I was up early all last week making my ADRs and I am pretty happy with the times I was able to get.
Best of luck for those who are still trying!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I'm not sure what you mean by this? They don't allow later ARs as soon as the 90 day window opens? Why is that? Does anyone know when this later time window opens?
Here's our plan for that day--Thursday Sept 29--We want to go to Ak in the morning / afternoon. Then dinner at MGM and get done in time to see Fantasmic. It doesn't help that we need a table for 6.
I'll do as suggested--call back every so often to see if anything changes.Any other ideas? Thanks for letting me rant.

That's right. They don't release the later times until well after they know the park hours for those days. For October for example, the CM said they probably will release them some time in september.
As you're going in late September, I don't know the time line for you. And there's no real definite time line where I can say they release them x number of days prior.