I think the people who are concerned about not making their reservations (or not knowing within 24 hours if they can make it) should simply book at one of the long list of restaurants that apparently will not be subject to this policy. Problem solved.
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42924421&postcount=43
It's already been mentioned, but this then excludes these people from EVERY signature and EVERY character meal in Disney (and all the dinner shows, but that's already the case). As it sits now, they're excluded from 2 character meals, 1 signature, and all the dinner shows.
"Every" is a far different scenario than "just a few"
Now, if it were just 'Ohana dinner, in-park Character Breakfasts, Garden Grill, and Le Cellier Lunch (along with all current ones), that would be more than acceptable, as there are other options for those who do not with to be tied to a CC guarantee. But under this, there are no other options.
Disney should just only take ADRs 24 hours ahead of time. Why don't they do that? They could have kiosks set up in the parks where you could make an ADR for w/in the next 24 hour period and also keep the online and phone ADR resie systems, but you can't book until the 24 hour window.
Except, this would wreak havoc with more than a few things.
Dining plans. They take planning to make them work. Not knowing if you can/will get into x restaurant until the day before would make far fewer people good candidates for them. This, in turn, would lower the push to get people on site and in the restaurants, which is the reason they were invented in the first place. (They may be a positive for some, but I'd bet many of the TS restaurants would get fewer customers and smaller bills (thus fewer server T-words) than they do now).
Pre-planners. As it sits now, the pre-planners know where they're going to be, this part wouldn't change. What would change would be the ability to say "Tonight, we're going to dine at 'Ohana." We'd now be saying "Tonight, we'll try for 'Ohana, but may not get there, if not, we'll try for Kona. If that doesn't work, we'll try for..." putting all the ADR "stress" on the vacation time, rather than considerable time before that.
(The Disney biggie) Restaurant Management. Right now, they can estimate staffing and supplies they'll need based on ADRs provided. With a 24 hour reservation, they would not be able to do this at all. They could base it on past trends, but those estimates would be further off than what they get now. The current system is GREAT for restaurant budgeting, even with the current rate of no shows.
I know the calaber of Disney dining can not be compared to other restaurants in such places as NYC, etc. but this pay for no shows is not uncommon in the restaurant business.
Fees can range from $25 to $175 per person and from 24 hours notice to 3 days.
While many will not like, many will.
And Disney is obviously losing money over this, and/or a large number of complaints or it would not have changed.
Tourists to NYC or other major cities are not dining out at these places every day, sometimes twice a day. They'll typically make one or two special meals for them. The bulk of us here, and a good number that dine at Disney are making these reservations for nearly every day, and sometimes multiple times per day.
Add to that the fact that the exclusions are for "Extreme Circumstances" which goes right along with Disney's typical inconsistency in policy, and we don't even know that an illness would be excused. Many of us (myself included) assume it will, but they can flat out say it's not and that it only covers Disney generated issues (transportation, getting stuck on a ride, etc). Add to that the fact that each exclusion is considered "Guest Recovery" and it will go on record, thus potentially limiting you from future exclusions on future trips, or resolution of other issues (the more recoveries you have, the less likely they are to work with you), and it could create some real problems down the road.
Now, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I
do agree with the intent. However, I fear the implementation may be far from ideal and will cause headaches for the people following the system more than it will stop those who abuse it. A 2-3 hour window for would be more than sufficient for most, especially since it's not going to stop those ADR hoarders at all (kinda like the "auto-cancel" didn't stop them one bit).
As a test, I just confirmed an ADR for California Grill at 7:30pm on 04/03/2012 for 2 people, using an AMEX prepaid card with ~$5 on it. Granted, this is under the current system, not the new system, but it's highly doubtful they're going to revamp their CC hold system at the same time. At least, I'd hope not, given their track record of updating background systems... (Yes, I already canceled it too)
.....
In 12 trips I have cancelled one ADR. Sorry but anyone who goes with us knows the plan several weeks in advance. If they are that sick then $10 isn't going to break me and I knew that when I made the reservation.
