New cancelation policy for Walt Disney World restaurants

[2goofycampers]

I definitely agree with Auntie, there should be a certain amount of tables saved for walk ups.

 

[Teamubr]

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this has. I just received a pin for free DDP through the 1st quarter of next year. Hopefully it frees up the "empty" tables for walk-ins. I suspect Disney will keep the reserved tables at the same high level, but can now count on people actually showing up and spending money.

j

 

[RVMH]

There are several Boy Scout campout stories I could pass on from the last 15 years about zipper bags, raccoons, and sardines with green chiles that I could pass on.

But I will offer this opinion on the new policy...

In my professional opinion, the $10 per person penalty is too low. Yes, too low.

Since most of these ressies are made WELL in advance (months in advance), no one knows for sure WHERE the will be on the ACTUAL day of their vacation.

Just because you may buy a Dining Plan that give you a table meal per day doesn't mean everyone has to hyper-schedule, uber-schedule, or multiple schedule each day's meal opportunities.

Honestly, I feel sorry for the people who minutely schedule their itinerary MONTHS in advance. They are deserving of my pity.

I'd like to see something like a 2-4 ressie limit per week for table service (prorated) with a heavy penalty for no-shows. That way, there would be plenty of opportunity for walkup requests or 24-hours-or-less ressies to get people in.

The boneheads in WDW management would actually fill more tables with a policy like this.

And make more money.

For the average meals they overcharge for.

Of course, as I have revealed about them before, this opportunity may be TOO OBVIOUS for them to get their arms around.

Bama ED

PS - I've never bought the DDP, never would, I would pay OOP if I did eat a decent meal, and like tiggerdad am blessed to have a kitchen at my camper to cook food and avoid the overpriced swill that is served in most of the Disney restaurants. Occasionally I have paid for a sit-down lunch that is better than Counter Service but the DDP has dumbed down the menus on property. But that's like a ten-year old story, right?

Absolutely agree with you , Bama Ed. Good Plan but you may be stressing out again and losing the magic. There may not be any more videos to restore your normal sunny nature, so take care !http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/cheer2.gif

 

[Gwen in Illinois]

Sorry Scup, wife rules the nest...even the mobile one. While she likes the taste of fried bream and bass, homemade hushpuppies, and made from scratch coleslaw, she does not like the idea of her couch, curtains, or bed linens smelling like it. I had to make sacrifices. Camping might be a "man's" thing, but "woman" controls too many important things...

VERY smart man!

We got the dining plan so the kids(Really it's for me, but I am not telling them) could have character meals nearly every day. I am the planner. I made sure to schedule LOTS of down time but I know which park we will be at everyday. But I did get the Park hopper in case our plans change. Really I never even thought about making multiple dining ressies for the same day. That just seems wrong. ONLY 25 days before we leave home.

 

[mikek]

. . . the new system is meant to foil you and tactics like this
. . . using more than one ADR takes from others trying to pre-plan the trip
. . . basically, rude


. . . this is ONLY personal observation from watching families entering the hotel at night
. . . many parents do not give the kids enough time to rest and decompress
. . . they think just because it is vacation, kids will change their habits
. . . kids are used to sleeping, resting, playing
. . . in fact, many have an almost predictable schedule
. . . having a kid be on-the-go from early AM-thru-fireworks is a lot
. . . and, having them out in the hot Florida sun all day is stressful
. . . and such practices contribute to melt-downs

The thing is the root cause is Disney created this situation where THEY decided not to set aside anything for walk ups anymore. So some people learned to play the system.

We never made multiple ADR's, we just stopped eating in the parks as much- and honestly it never occurred to me till reading about here now on disboards that one way to work around the system of needing to know where you want to eat and when 180+ days out was to make multiple ADRS.

Now disney is 'mad' that people reacted in a "rude' way to try and work around the problem of no possible walk up dining.

Just becasue they charge for missed ressies doesn't mean they have any intention of setting aside some slots for walk ups. The only direct result for customers is that perhaps disney wont overbook (as much) anymore and so when everyone does show up there wont be 30-60 minute waits for an ADR table.

Hopefully this is coupled with a new policy that returns to the past and sets aside walk ups. But i dont see any indication just from the charging thing alone.

Sometimes meltdowns do just happen. I can say we've been lucky and it's never happened to us but i'm sure glad my kids never had an off day and then some stranger decided that we were bad parents and pushed the kids too far.

And it is at all likely that "all the bad parenting" is going to get fixed by charging 10 bucks a missed ressie? I'm pretty sure anyone that is tone deaf to their kids warning signals is only going to be more likely to drag them kicking and screaming into the restaurant becasue it's going to 40 bucks or more to walk away. It's not as if people that go to disney and plan 16 hour days with 3 ADR's are all of a sudden going to say at 180 days out "gee, seeing the potential for a no show fee makes me realize that i'm pushing the kids too hard, let me lay off the last reservation and play that one by ear"

 

[bama_ed]

Absolutely agree with you , Bama Ed. Good Plan but you may be stressing out again and losing the magic. There may not be any more videos to restore your normal sunny nature, so take care !http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/cheer2.gif

Thanks for the helmet tap, RVMH. I did post something in the other thread

See Post #8

to help me through this rough patch.

Bama Ed