Hey everybody, I think you are misunderstanding what ConnieB was trying to say (and maybe she just said it the wrong way). I think the point she was making is that people who abuse the system end up ruining it for everybody else. In this instance, you'll have guests making up whatever sad excuse they can come up with to get out of having to pay the penalty for missing an ADR. If people abuse the new system enough then maybe Disney will require a doctors excuse to not get charged the penalty.
Then again, I could be wrong.
yep, that was exactly my original point. Those that abuse the system in whatever way make it worse for those who don't abuse the system....in Disney or out. It will likely take years for Disney to do much about the "my kid is sick" but eventually that too will likely be looked upon with suspicion by Disney and not be an easy out of the cancellation policy (if it even is allowed to begin with of course). I'm sure that Disney weighs it's losses due to abuse with it's tradition of being a friendly place. And lots of people DO get sick for real.
Want another example....the infamous refillable soda mugs. For YEARS people have bragged about buying one and using it at other resorts, subsequent trips, buying them off ebay to use on all their future trips...and for years, they've justified it by saying if Disney cared they'd have the CMsp be soda police. But Disney doesn't want CMs to confront guests and have to say no you can't do that....and very likely cause a scene and ugliness. That is just NOT Disney. So....now after all these years they've apparently gotten tired of the lost revenue and are doing something about it. I think it's only at one resort now (one of the All Stars I believe) but I'm guessing very soon all the resorts will have the little chip in their cup that will have an expiration date encoded and you won't be able to get the soda to dispense if your mug has expired....no one is sure yet, but the general thought is it will also know if you brought your mug from one resort to another. No CM confrontations, just technology that stops the abuse. But what about those that stay longer than the built in expiration reported to be 2 weeks...well, my family typically stays for 4 weeks, and we stay at more than one resort. So, I'd certainly feel entitled to ask for an exception....we're staying longer and the mug should be good for our entire trip, I shouldn't be required to buy two just because I'm staying longer! And we like to experience more than one resort, but Disney is still getting nightly money from us, so should I have to decide between the fun of multiple hotels in a trip or having to buy multiple mugs for the SAME trip? The general feeling is that Disney will be willing to extend the expiration for the longer trips....but will someone somewhere figure out how to get around that? Maybe a mug swap? DIS still has some fridge swaps...anyone remember when those first started. One fridge per resort...Disney graciously agreed to store the fridges but then it began to grow....I don't know how many fridges there were at it's height, but when we decided to try one there were quite a few to choose from for the resort we were going to and just as many more for each of the other resorts. Suddenly Disney was storing dozens of fridges for free, and for something that they DID provide but at a cost. Then coffemakers and toasters started being added. Then fridges were getting lost supposedly in the Disney storage, and Disney was having to take a lot of time looking for them when they were mislabeled or never ever found so possibly stolen or broken and trashed or who knows, lost in cyberspace? DIS was allowing money to be exhanged for this for several years as well...the idea was that the first person bought it, and left it for others who signed up to pick up, but charges were made to reimburse the original owner, and then to collect enough to replace the unit....once that much was collected it was SUPPOSE to be free, or you were to get your deposit back when the next person down the line made their deposit so there was always enough to replace, but if you returned it in good shape you'd eventually get your money back....well, as often happens with money it got ugly, and DIS eventually said only free swaps no money changing hands. I think Disney also changed their policies about all this, but as always, the system or really it was the generosity of Disney allowing this was abused and grew out of control, and changes were made that lessened or eliminated the original benefit. I participated and never got my deposit back, plus got the fridge 2 days late because the person in front of me extended their stay and refused to give up the fridge....so I had to make other arrangements for 2 days. PMs to the leader were ignored, eventually I gave up it was only $15 I think and renting it from Disney would have been $10 a day, so I saved plenty, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth that the leader could post but repeatedly ignored those of us asking for our refund (I never posted on the thread, but others did...that's what made me stop asking actually, cause it was obvious it wasn't going to happen and wasnt' worth my time or getting frustrated about it). I only used it for a week at POP, after that we've stayed at Mods that include a fridge, so I've never needed it again, but I also probably would never participate again, it was just too much frustration. But...again, another example of how abuse eventually hurts others.
There is technology out there that can help with the new ADR policy and it's potential abuse....and someday they will likely have it, if they don't already. Perhaps they just aren't announcing it and after October 26 people are going to get a rude awakening when using multiple credit cards to hold multiple ADRs isn't going to work either...and the technology to refuse to allow disposable VISAs is probably out there too, so they may stop that before it starts, lol. I have a friend with such bad credit she can only use disposable prepaid cards to buy things online...and some stores refuse to accept them, so it's out there to be able to know if it's a "real" or "prepaid" card. But someone will figure out a loophole for that one someday as well.
Not Disney related, but music and movies are another prime example of how the abusers have runied it for the rest of us.....DVDs have been copied for so long that the movie folk sought out new technology that can't be easily copied....and now we have Blue Ray...yes an improvement, but also so far not easily copied, but you know there are people working on breaking it too. And we all have to now covert our extensive DVD collection to Blue Ray eventually....just like VHS to DVD happened years ago. I still have probably 100 VHS movies. But one of my VHS players bit the dust and can't be replaced...so I'm down to only 1...when it's gone my investment in VHS is wasted. Ok...as I said, not Disney related, so I'll stop on that one, but I'm sure we've all felt that (ok, maybe just those of us old enough to have bought VHS (or worse, beta!) or cassettes).
And one I'll freely admit to abusing, because CMs have repeated told me it's ok, is the FP....using it well after the time span on printed on it. Hopefully that one will never change, but I suppose if everyone gets a FP in the morning and saves it all day until evening to ride it one last time like my family tends to do (we go during slow times so FP is not as important as other times)....eventually they're going to have to tweak that as well. I imagine that this one isn't going to happen anytime soon because the FP still seems to flow rather smoothly, but someday who knows. Especially when/if they bring out the "reserve your FP from home before your trip" scenario. Still curious about that one, lol. Hopefully they're working on a way to avoid the multiple email potential to have a hundred FP for a single day, lol.
So there are many instances of abuse hurting the folks that follow the rules, and it's just the tip of the iceberg.
