New credit card guarantees. Restaurant list, policy & common questions in 1st post

[cluvsdisney]

I think Disney's ultimate goal is to require a credit card hold on all ADRs. It doesn't make sense that there be a cancellation/no show fee on their most popular meals. Guests wake up at the crack of dawn, 6 months in advance to get one of these coveted ADRs - they are not really going to be the guests that just wake up a decide to skip the meal. Some of these restaurants have notoriously long wait times for seating. I know I have never walked past Crystal Palace without seeing dozens of people waiting to be seated. On the other hand, tired guests may decide to pass on heading over to POR to check out Boatrights at the last minute. Once guests are used to the idea of there being a cancellation/no show fee, I think Disney will include other restaurants that probably do have more no shows.

 

[BroganMc]

So...why is it an issue that they now lose $40 for the ADR that they were not able to cancel, but is not an issue that they're losing appx $50 (that's a very appx number due to the variety of tickets) x 4 people = $200 in park tickets? I don't see them pestering Disney for a refund of that money?

Apparently that family has never heard of "No Expiration" passes then.

 

[always]

Wow, there are some fallacious arguments up in here.

You can thank me later for pointing that out to all of you. :eyeroll: (what is that all about anyway??)

Not liking this change does not = hoarder

Missing a dinner reservation does not = a missed day at the park and out hundreds of $$$

Way to jump to conclusions.

 

[ScoJo15]

Wow, there are some fallacious arguments up in here.

You can thank me later for pointing that out to all of you. :eyeroll: (what is that all about anyway??)

Not liking this change does not = hoarder

Missing a dinner reservation does not = a missed day at the park and out hundreds of $$$

Way to jump to conclusions.

Ok...so can I ask why do you not like the change?

 

[BroganMc]

I just find it hilarious that people think this policy will mean increased availability at restaurants or a better dining experience.

Can you not see all the tired, cranky, sick kids (and adults) being dragged to that table beside you because they were too late to cancel their reservation without paying Disney money for nothing?

I see this policy and I immediately think "Well those are places I don't want to go near in future".

This is not the way to handle a "no show" problem. It is probably the very worst thing Disney could have done. I foresee a lot of angry Disney visitors fighting with Disney CMs to get their money back and even more Disney guests having a miserable time at dinner.

If they wanted to increase availability to walk-ins, then all they had to do was limit the percentage of ADRs allowed for a given time period.

 

[ScoJo15]

Can you not see all the tired, cranky, sick kids (and adults) being dragged to that table beside you because they were too late to cancel their reservation without paying Disney money for nothing?

I see this policy and I immediately think "Well those are places I don't want to go near in future".

But this is exactly Disney's point!

 

[trainingupmy4princes]

Then speak with your wallet and stop going to Disney. Or continue going and only do counter service. ADRs are not mandatory. You don't have to make them and you don't have to eat at table service. Yes, you can't get into many places without an ADR, but that's not Disney's fault for having very popular venues.

I don't understand why anyone is complaining about this new policy. If you make an ADR, stick to it. If you can't, don't make it. But if you already know or believe or expect that your child is going to become deathly ill within 45 minutes of your Le Cellier dinner, then you've got bigger problems in the world and you should probably cancel that rez right now and seek some medical help. I'm not joking. It amazes me how people are already forecasting a death in the family, an ill child, or a broken down car to prevent them from making to an ADR that they were not forced to make.

If you can't keep your promise, don't make one. There, I just solved everyone's problem. So simple. You can thank me later.

How very nice. So my family should not enjoy a character meal because we do occassionally have illness in our family? No I am not sure my kid will be sick that is the point with kids you never know and yes they could get sick at WDW on a day we have an ADR. So l will keep my
ADR no matter what. Now how will you feel eating next to a sick kid or a kid having an autistic meltdown. If people want to be cold and unsympathetic towards others then I guess I shouldn't be concerned in sparing their family when I trek my family in. So now problem solved yep we will keep our promise and all those around can suffer.
And obviously part of this is with sarcasm as I wouldn't drag a really sick kid but I might now risk a kid who may seem slightly off and if he loses it on Mickey wel oops.

 

[ScoJo15]

Are there really that many sick kids every single day??

If so...I think there are bigger issues than ADRs.

 

[Cafeen]

Good. Because many of the Disney CMs are unionized; plus I can't see a company that needs the daily level of staffing WDW does, regularly changing schedules on a daily basis.

First thing, each individual restaurant determines its own staffing needs, so the size of WDW doesn't come into play. The size of Le Cellier (employee-wise) does.

Secondly, union or not, since I am not privy to their contracts, may not matter a whole lot. I've personally been in jobs where I, or others, were either called and told not to come in, told to come in late, or sent home early, all due to it being a slower day than normal. Of those, one was indeed a union job.

The full day can allow them to simply say "Hey Bob, we're not going to need you tomorrow."

So, again, it's conjecture, but it's actually something that any rational business would consider and it's the ONLY thing that makes sense to me for the "full day" deadline (e.g. cancel Tuesday for Thursday's meal as was reported by the articles calling up Disney itself). A shorter window would accomplish the SAME EXACT stated goals of the "full day". They would know, well ahead of time if people were canceling and be able to judge the number of walk-ups they could absorb.

Again, I could be wrong, and I hope so, but it's nagging me in the back of my head.

How very nice. So my family should not enjoy a character meal because we do occassionally have illness in our family? No I am not sure my kid will be sick that is the point with kids you never know and yes they could get sick at WDW on a day we have an ADR. So l will keep my
ADR no matter what. Now how will you feel eating next to a sick kid or a kid having an autistic meltdown. If people want to be cold and unsympathetic towards others then I guess I shouldn't be concerned in sparing their family when I trek my family in. So now problem solved yep we will keep our promise and all those around can suffer.
And obviously part of this is with sarcasm as I wouldn't drag a really sick kid but I might now risk a kid who may seem slightly off and if he loses it on Mickey wel oops.

TBH, no you shouldn't. Of course, all those other diners who aren't cold, harsh, judgmental, etc will end up having a reduced experience, and that's bad. Maybe we can request to sit right next to them!

I guess I'll be advocating to take sick and melting down children into restaurants now, since we don't want to break the rules do we?

Are there really that many sick kids every single day??

If so...I think there are bigger issues than ADRs.

I'd estimate that there are several kids who don't feel well at some point in their vacation every day. Not talking anything serious, but overstimulation combined with exposure to a climate they aren't used to combined with different water and air quality than they're accustomed to can make anyone not feel well for a day or so. Doesn't mean they'd be running out to the doctor, but it could alter their plans for a few hours, enough so that the 5:30 ADR they made doesn't sound so appetizing now. Of course, they should have planned for all that their first time there and magically known how their own bodies, or the bodies of their kids will react. After all, we all intimately know this stuff, so it should be no problem!

I'll make sure to use the sneeze guards for you next time I'm there .

 

[MSLRAC]

Wow, there are some fallacious arguments up in here.

You can thank me later for pointing that out to all of you. :eyeroll: (what is that all about anyway??)

Not liking this change does not = hoarder

Missing a dinner reservation does not = a missed day at the park and out hundreds of $$$

Way to jump to conclusions.

I agree...we are NOT ADR hoarders (I make 1 ADR per meal and out of 24 meals last trip, we missed 1) and I do NOT like this change simply because of the 24 hours because we have had a child get sick in the park in the middle of the day. It does happen. It did not mean that we missed a whole park day but even if we did miss an entire park day, that would not have cost us hundreds since we got 8 day passes.

Are there really that many sick kids every single day??

If so...I think there are bigger issues than ADRs.

Why do some people seem so shocked that kids get sick on vacation? It happens and plans have to be altered with little notice but it is not the "issue" that some of you are trying to make it out to be.

My DS ended up with an ear infection while we were there...2nd time in his life. We missed half an AK day to go get his meds and our CP breakfast ADR (which I called and canceled) because we overslept after being up with DS most of the night. It was not a big 'issue' but it did throw a kink into our plans for a couple of days.

I guess I'll be advocating to take sick and melting down children into restaurants now, since we don't want to break the rules do we?

Oh rest assured, we will never be evil rule breakers again...we'll be at every meal no matter how sick the kids might be or how bad DS is melting down (he's recently been diagnosed with Autism and boy can that child meltdown at times). Sorry, in advance to anyone that we ruin your meal but $50 bucks is $50 bucks to us.

No actually, we won't take that approach although many will! If one of our kids is sick, tired, melting down or whatever to the point that we think that we need to miss a meal then we will. Since Disney feels the need to charge us for that (most of our meals were going to be character or signature meals) then we are going to have to sit down and totally reevaluate our entire WDW vacation.

 

[maxiesmom]

Why do some people seem so shocked that kids get sick on vacation? It happens and plans have to be altered with little notice but it is not the "issue" that some of you are trying to make it out to be.

I, for one, am not shocked that kids get sick on vacation. But from the way that is being mentioned here, you would think that the parks are just full of kids who are practically on death's door!Kids get sick, but it is not the common thing that some are making it out to be. However, it is the easiest thing to bring up if you want to complain about the fee.

It is a shame that Disney has to go this far, but I applaud them for doing something. I am honstly stunned by all of the drama from a few posters over a very small fee. Would it suck to have to pay it? Yes. I don't think any of us enjoy throwing money away. But I place the blame for that on all of the people (and you know who you are!) who make more ADRs than they can possibly need or really want.

I know that if I owned a chain of restaurants that were constantly booked solid, but had a large amount of no-call no-shows every night, I would do something about it too!

 

[Marthasor]

As a former CM (who worked at a very popular table service restaurant) and HUGE Disney fan, I can see how this is really going to benefit a lot of us. So many times where I worked we would have to start our night off not taking walk ups, purely based on the number of reservations we had. Then when these people did not show up, we sincerely felt bad about having to send people away. Even if this new policy keeps just a small percentage of people from making multiple ADRs, it can make a HUGE difference in the restaurant's chance of taking walk ups.

In the end, Disney will still be Disney, and will make exceptions when it needs to. I think they will be strict in the beginning so people take the new policy seriously, but I cannot see any manager telling a family whose child got sick that morning that they need to pay $50 for an unfortunate circumstance. THAT is NOT the Disney Guest Service!!

I am a fan of the new policy.

Thank you for your insight!!!!

As a guest who experienced a timing glitch in a recent vacation, I have to vouch for the flexibility and courtesy of the CM's dealing with not only room, but dining reservations. Did you know if airlines start canceling flights (as they did recently during Hurricane Irene), WDW throws their room deposit cancellation policy out the window and gives people their money back. They don't insist that you drive, take a train or walk to make it to your room reservation. We also had tickets to HDDR and my DS started taking marathon naps during our trip - I was afraid we weren't going to make the early show. I called the reservation line on the day of the show, explained my dilemma and asked if we could switch times. Although we fell within the cancellation fee time period, the CM checked later times and told me he would try to bypass the cancellation fee if there was availability. There wasn't availability and my son woke up in time for the show, so we did not have a problem, but this is just an example of how Disney tries to work with you, if you make a good faith effort, to help accommodate you when unforeseen issues arise while you are vacationing.

As another PP posted, I also have a feeling the 24-hour cancellation policy has something to do with staffing the restaurants and would love to hear from a CM if that is the case.

 

[mom2rtk]

In reading through this thread...I also don't get why it's an issue if people get sick. Ok..so let's assume a party of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) is vacationing...someone wakes up sick in the morning and they cannot make their evening ADR because of the illness.

I'm further assuming that if they cannot make their reservation, it probably means they cannot do any park touring and are probably hanging at the resort.

So...why is it an issue that they now lose $40 for the ADR that they were not able to cancel, but is not an issue that they're losing appx $50 (that's a very appx number due to the variety of tickets) x 4 people = $200 in park tickets? I don't see them pestering Disney for a refund of that money?

The 'need to cancel same day' is really a very one off and minor issue in my opinion.

Of course I'm sure now that I'll get sick on my next trip LOL but hey...losing $10 for my ressie is nothing compared to the $2000 or so I spend for the vacation.

Except that most families are on a multi-day ticket. And the price of an extra day for a multi-day ticket is not $50. It's $8.

And just because there are already "financial penalties" for being sick and missing park time does not mean that someone should just be OK for lumping on more financial penalties. Why would anyone think that? It's sort of like someone suggesting your taxes be doubled. Well, you already pay 25%, so why would you have a problem with 50%. You pay taxes already, right?

And consider this........ if they are on the dining plan, they are already losing use of one of their dining credits. (Even if they are on free dining, they are paying rack rate to get that "free" meal, so they are in essence paying for it).

The funny thing here is that you are saying I'm the person who should be angered by this policy and I am not.

I do not hoard, and I intend to use the system as it's designed.

I have no problem with Disney charging me $10 if I don't cancel 24 hours out. If I'm that sick, $10 is the least of my worries.

I don't know what size party your travel and pay for, but a $10 for one person may not be a big deal. For a family of 5 or 6, it really becomes a different level of financial hit.

 

[MSLRAC]

I, for one, am not shocked that kids get sick on vacation. But from the way that is being mentioned here, you would think that the parks are just full of kids who are practically on death's door!Kids get sick, but it is not the common thing that some are making it out to be. However, it is the easiest thing to bring up if you want to complain about the fee.

I've not seen anyone making it out like that. We have simple sick rules in our house and we use the same ones while on vacation...fever, vomiting and/or diarrhea and plans get canceled. To us, that is common courtesy because chances are high that the child (or adult) is contagious.

Does Disney really want people with any of this issues at there restaurants? I wouldn't but I guess that is just me.

 

[SmallWorld71]

I have to say that I find it laughable that some posters think that those who are against this policy must be ADR hoarders when in fact, the opposite would make more sense. This policy will potentially HELP the hoarders since some people (mostly those with families or large groups) are going to be reluctant to book these meals. So - more openings for the hoarders! The only difference is the hoarders will have to decide a day in advance to cancel those that they reserved with credit cards. (For the record, I am not saying that those who are for the policy are hoarders, only that this policy helps the hoarders)

I also think this policy could possibly create new problems where there aren't any. I think those places that are pretty popular, but not as hard to secure as the character meals are going to start getting used for multiple bookings by the hoarders (hoarders will still hoard) and as a result places like Coral Reef etc... are going to become the new must haves.

 

[maxiesmom]

I've not seen anyone making it out like that. We have simple sick rules in our house and we use the same ones while on vacation...fever, vomiting and/or diarrhea and plans get canceled. To us, that is common courtesy because chances are high that the child (or adult) is contagious.

Does Disney really want people with any of this issues at there restaurants? I wouldn't but I guess that is just me.

It seems to me that that is how many posters are making it out, that sick kids are soo common at WDW.

I hightly doubt Disney wants sick people in the restuarants. I bet they hope, as I do, that if a child is sick that a parent would value their health and well being over a $10 cancellation fee. But maybe we are both over-estimating the care and common sense of some people.

It has already been posted that if part of the family shows up, the fee for the missing (if ill) would be waived. So nothing is stopping mom or dad from taking the rest of the family, and leaving the other parent in the room to care for the sick child. If for some reason a family simply won't consider that, then that is the choice they are making. No one is forcing anyone to take a sick child into a restaurant, it is just an easy way for people to try to make a week argument against the fee. Odds are no one in your family will get sick.

 

[SmallWorld71]

I see back on post #10 that there is a probability that there will be a charge for partial parties if someone does not show up but I'm curious about the reverse...what if I made a reservation for one, hedging my bet that DW may or may not come to dinner with me? Currently, there is virtually no problems adding a second guest to a single (or adding a fourth to a party of three, etc.) as most of the tables sit an even number of guests. Does anyone expect Disney to get stickier with undercounting guests on a reservation?

I was wondering the same thing. If they still allow for an extra people like they have in the past (in most cases), it would make more sense for large groups to book for slightly less than they have since their odds of a problem are higher than a small group. Yes, you might have to wait extra, but I'd rather do that than pay $ for nothing.

 

[SmallWorld71]

It has already been posted that if part of the family shows up, the fee for the missing (if ill) would be waived. So nothing is stopping mom or dad from taking the rest of the family, and leaving the other parent in the room to care for the sick child. If for some reason a family simply won't consider that, then that is the choice they are making. No one is forcing anyone to take a sick child into a restaurant, it is just an easy way for people to try to make a week argument against the fee. Odds are no one in your family will get sick.

I must have missed this in this very long thread. Is it part of the policy on the first page or is it just speculation like we are all doing? I know they haven't refunded for part of a party at dinner shows (per the thread where the child threw up at the beginning of Hoop De Doo).

 

[DisneyFamily123]

Every trip, I've had to change some ADRs... we simply changed our park plans while there. Sometimes, that did mean canceling an ADR less than 24 hours. 24 hours is too long... things happen, plans change. As long as you do cancel, I don't understand why it's a problem.

People (and agents) who book multiple ADRs for the same time are not acting fairly. But no need to punish everyone else. That's how management acts at my job.

Example, at MK... realize we want to come back to MK the next day instead of HS. So we cancel an ADR at HS, and schedule different one for MK. Another example... we spur of the moment decide we want to stay at MK late and won't make a character breakfast the next morning... so we cancel at 7pm.

These are reasonable changes that Disney should be able to adjust to....but can't because of problems with the dining reservation system....

(1) Trying to cancel a reservation is frustratingly slow... This last trip, I tried to cancel and reschedule ADRs using my iPhone.. The Disney mobile web site and regular web site rarely worked quickly and often just backed me out. I can't take 30 minutes of my vacation time to cancel 1 ADR. Calling to cancel is a problem too. I can't stand trying to get through the lengthy automated menu and speak to a human. This last trip, the phone line did have an automated cancellation option. Maybe the new dining cancellation phone line will help.

(2) Neither the dining web site or the phone agents can make reservations less than 2 hours before. So, if at 10am, I want to make an ADR for 11:45am... it can't be done. One morning, we woke up late and tried to make the ADR later but couldn't. If people could make reservations 1 hour before the time they want, the restaurant could fill last minute cancellations.

Here's another idea... have a place in the parks where dining reservations can be made or changed. I don't want to make restaurant check-in process longer... but if someone walks up to a restaurant and can't get a walk-in, maybe the restaurant could book them for a different restaurant.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I think its a good policy, it should help open up more dining spots for people like me who don't book 180 days in advance. And its not that I don't want to book that far out its just that we never plan our trips that far in advance. However, I hope that maybe if someone is having an emergency of some sort they can be allowed to modify their reservation without penalty? For example, if my son was sick (which always happens to at least one of us every time we go) then I could call and modify my reservation to only 3 people instead of 5 so that I could stay back in the room with him. Do you think that would be allowed?? Or maybe allowing me to modify the name on the reservation, so if my brother-in-law's family could take our place we wouldn't get a penalty? I'm just throwing out ideas here.