New dining reservation rules--will this change how you plan?

[jtowntoflorida]

I think it's a great idea. Hopefully it will free up space for walk-ins, so ADRs won't be absolute necessities the way they are now, and thus allow guests more flexibility.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Disney Dining Reservations board.

 

[bdklein]

Its a hold on a credit card. People will still hold mutilple'reservations and cancel closer to their stay

Like me. But if they charged $10 up front, that would be a different story. Might not make multiple ADR's for same meal/time.

 

[Sirtet]

This won't affect me at all. We have picked up a few more reservations than we will need, but I am trying to give the extras to people on this board. We are still 5 weeks out and have our trip mostly scheduled. I think this is a good change, as I have seen people book multiple reservations for the same restaurant on the same night and hold them for a long time while they plan. That's inconsiderate and disrespectful to the other guests who are trying to make their plans special.

 

[geckodani]

I both like and dislike this policy. On the one hand, it will make walk ups a lot easier. On the other, most of my ADRs are dinner. If we decide mid day that we're not up to staying for dinner, I'm out the deposit even if I call several hours prior and cancel? That rubs me the wrong way.

 

[aubriee]

I think having to cancel the day before is a bit excessive. If the weather is terrible and we can't handle it at the parks, I hate being forced to stay for our dinner ADR or forgo the deposit when I can still provide 3-4 hours notice which is very far from a no show!

No issue with billing no shows or even those that don't give an hour or 4 hours notice...but same day cancellations for dinner seem like a more reasonable approach.

We are pretty faithful diners but our family of 4 will probably start to eat fewer TS meals as a result of this - even as a MAJOR planner its just too hard to predict how my kids, the weather , and the crowds will be for the next day to always have a ressie...

I agree the day before is excessive. I was never one to make multiple ADRs and always try to make every one I do make. However, if it's pouring down rain or lightening I would like the option to cancel. Also if I wake up sick that morning I would like the option to cancel. If you don't call and cancel then I would have no problem with them charging the fee, but sometimes you may legitimately need to cancel less than a day out.

For example, when I was there last month (Sept 14th-22nd) I was on the Friendship boat from Morroco over to Canada. As soon as I got on the boat it started raining, so I just decided to stay on the boat as it went back and forth across the lake, until the rain stopped. Several other people decided to do the same thing. After the boat stopped in Canada, it started to go back to Morroco, but almost immediately after leaving the dock the captains turned it back around and docked it in Canada, telling us lightening was too close. Sure enough just a few minutes later it was pouring sheets of rain and lightening. No way, was I going anywhere, until that storm passed. (I was close enough to Le Cellier, that if I had had an ADR there I could have made it, but to do so would have had to walk through pouring rain and lightening. This woman is not walking anywhere in a lightening storm. I don't care how many lightening rods WDW has up. lol) After almost an hour the lightening stopped and the rain had slowed to just a very, very light drizzle, so I got off the boat and headed to the car. Unfortunately I was about halfway between the boat dock at the beginning of World Showcase and Spaceship Earth, when with no warning the bottom fell out again. I was completely soaked and freezing by the time I got to the car. No way, would I have kept an ADR at that point. I just wanted to get back to Bonnet Creek, take a hot bath, get dry and comfortable, and eat dinner in.

A few years ago, on another solo trip, I had an ADR for California Grill. I got soaked and round up with a bad URI (cough, wheezing, aches, fever, chills, etc). It came on very suddenly and I spent the next several days in bed there at Coronado Springs Resort, not wanting to even move, much less go to a park. No way would I have made an ADR that first night.

I agree that something needed to be done about guests making multiple ADRs and not keeping them, but sometimes you have a legitimate excuse for not making it to an ADR. I don't think those people should be penalized, but am not sure what the answer should be either.

 

[momof2n2]

No - I actually like the idea. I will go ahead and book whatever I think we will need and then just cancel the day before if we've changed our minds. I never was one to skip out on an ADR. I think we did it once, sort of. We stopped by a different TS restaurant about an hour before our ADR and told them. They said no problem.

 

[bdklein]

I agree the day before is excessive. I was never one to make multiple ADRs and always try to make every one I do make. However, if it's pouring down rain or lightening I would like the option to cancel. Also if I wake up sick that morning I would like the option to cancel. If you don't call and cancel then I would have no problem with them charging the fee, but sometimes you may legitimately need to cancel less than a day out.

For example, when I was there last month (Sept 14th-22nd) I was on the Friendship boat from Morroco over to Canada. As soon as I got on the boat it started raining, so I just decided to stay on the boat as it went back and forth across the lake, until the rain stopped. Several other people decided to do the same thing. After the boat stopped in Canada, it started to go back to Morroco, but almost immediately after leaving the dock the captains turned it back around and docked it in Canada, telling us lightening was too close. Sure enough just a few minutes later it was pouring sheets of rain and lightening. No way, was I going anywhere, until that storm passed. (I was close enough to Le Cellier, that if I had had an ADR there I could have made it, but to do so would have had to walk through pouring rain and lightening. This woman is not walking anywhere in a lightening storm. I don't care how many lightening rods WDW has up. lol) After almost an hour the lightening stopped and the rain had slowed to just a very, very light drizzle, so I got off the boat and headed to the car. Unfortunately I was about halfway between the boat dock at the beginning of World Showcase and Spaceship Earth, when with no warning the bottom fell out again. I was completely soaked and freezing by the time I got to the car. No way, would I have kept an ADR at that point. I just wanted to get back to Bonnet Creek, take a hot bath, get dry and comfortable, and eat dinner in.

A few years ago, on another solo trip, I had an ADR for California Grill. I got soaked and round up with a bad URI (cough, wheezing, aches, fever, chills, etc). It came on very suddenly and I spent the next several days in bed there at Coronado Springs Resort, not wanting to even move, much less go to a park. No way would I have made an ADR that first night.

I agree that something needed to be done about guests making multiple ADRs and not keeping them, but sometimes you have a legitimate excuse for not making it to an ADR. I don't think those people should be penalized, but am not sure what the answer should be either.

What would you do if there was lightning?? I would think if the rain was lightening you would have been fine

 

[bigbabyblues]

I will not change anything for us.

 

[dlo1027]

This policy will free up more reservations for people that would like to dine there, I know people make reservations and never keep them because they decide to stay at parks longer or plans change.

 

[UK Princess]

I can't see this making any difference to us - only that I might avoid an arrival day reservation now?

There are only 2 of us though so $20 would not be a disaster if there were an unforeseen reason that we couldn't make it to our ADR - I think for larger families it's tricky. We usually get the Free Dining with our UK package and tend to do signatures as we find the DDP so much food so we have had to have credit card held reservations anyway.

I am not surprised by this policy but I think that the people it will really benefit are those who don't plan as I for one will not be leaving slots in our timetable in the hope that a last minute ADR opens up.

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

Will make no more than 4 or 5 ressies for entire vacation next year at our absolute favorites. Dont like the credit card guarantee. People have reported that they were charged the fee when they showed late but were seated. We have found great places to eat off property and also stay in a villa so maybe will start buying lunch food and relax there once in awhile. We have been coming to Disney for a long time so we dont need or want to be bound by too many dining ressies.

 

[Colleen27]

Unfortunately it will change my planning. Hopefully last-minute availability will be better and I am thrilled beyond words that they finally updated the MDE app to support searching and booking restaurants that have a CC requirement, but I won't be booking ADRs for every day of our trips any more. We used to do DxDDP and two TS meals per day, but once in a while plans did change. One trip we all got sick. If it turns cold (because we travel almost exclusively in the winter) we don't want to be stuck traveling through miserable weather to an ADR. If a restaurant is running ridiculously behind, I don't want to be told I'll be penalized for walking away. And with a family of 5 and a travel party of up to 7 at times, $10 per person adds up to more than just a token amount.

We quit doing the DxDDP when the signatures added the cancellation policy because I won't pre-pay meals unless I'm comfortable making ADRs for most of them, and now we do a lot more walk-ups/last minute app bookings than pre-planned meals. For our coming trip I have only two reservations - one for the princess tea party and one for the Candlelight Processional package. The rest of the trip we'll wing it and hopefully not get stuck with too much counter service in the process.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

I think having to cancel the day before is a bit excessive. If the weather is terrible and we can't handle it at the parks, I hate being forced to stay for our dinner ADR or forgo the deposit when I can still provide 3-4 hours notice which is very far from a no show!

No issue with billing no shows or even those that don't give an hour or 4 hours notice...but same day cancellations for dinner seem like a more reasonable approach.

We are pretty faithful diners but our family of 4 will probably start to eat fewer TS meals as a result of this - even as a MAJOR planner its just too hard to predict how my kids, the weather , and the crowds will be for the next day to always have a ressie...

I agree. I have no problem with charging for no shows, but I have changed one of my ADRs on each of our last two trips. In 2012, we got stuck in a downpour and only wanted to go back to our resort and change. We ended up rating at our resort instead. On our last trip, we moved our ADR at Chefs de France back to give our kids more time to rest. I don't think either of those qualifies as abusing the system and I'm concerned about how these changes will affect our next trip.

 

[bastos]

Frankly, I would like to see a more tiered approach. Guarantee with a credit card, and charge a fee 30 days out if cancelled after that point. More if charged 10 days before, and full amount in the last few days. As long as it's standard - I could book and cancel to get benefits - then others COULD take the reservations as they wanted or needed.

My problem has been not being able to get reservations.

A bit of me gets offended at the 'not wrong - but wrong' kinds of things - like multiple bookings on the same day.

 

[btk2333]

Won't change the way we plan- only make ADRs where we want to eat anyway.

Disney is also good about not charging you if you give them a reason (stop by the restaurant and say-sorry we can't make it but it's raining, someone's sick, etc) We've done this several times and never been charged for cancellation

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

I think having to cancel the day before is a bit excessive. If the weather is terrible and we can't handle it at the parks, I hate being forced to stay for our dinner ADR or forgo the deposit when I can still provide 3-4 hours notice which is very far from a no show!

No issue with billing no shows or even those that don't give an hour or 4 hours notice...but same day cancellations for dinner seem like a more reasonable approach.

We are pretty faithful diners but our family of 4 will probably start to eat fewer TS meals as a result of this - even as a MAJOR planner its just too hard to predict how my kids, the weather , and the crowds will be for the next day to always have a ressie...

I agree with this. As long as you cancel ahead of time, they should not charge you. In May, I canceled my 50s Prime Time ADR on the day of. We were swimming at the resort and we just were hungry and wanted to eat at the Resort rather than rush to DHS to make the ADR. So, I canceled it on my app. If someone else wanted the ADR they could have gotten it.

With 3 little kids, I need a bit more flexibility than that, but I also don't want to NOT have ADRs because we like to do sit-down meals for dinner most nights.