New WDW Dining Reservations Policy

[Cheshire Figment]

Disney has just announced that effective October 31, 2013, the reservations guarantee policy that has been in effect for selected restaurants will be in effect for all table service restaurants in the Parks and Resorts, and will include operating participants as well as Disney owned and operated.

Here are some questions and answers:

Why was my credit card charged?

As of October 31, our cancellation policy expanded to all table-service restaurants at Walt Disney World Resort (including operating participants). When booking a reservation at these restaurants, Guests are required to provide a credit card to hold a reservation and will be notified they will be charged $10 per person if the cancellation isn't made at least one day in advance. Other locations, such as Hoop-Dee-Do Musical Revue or Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, require pre-paid reservations. Guests are reminded that the restaurant will charge the full pre-paid amount for each person in the party if the Guest is unable to cancel the reservation at least the day in advance.

What is your cancellation policy?

Beginning October 31, all table-service locations will begin using the cancellation policy already in place at select restaurants on property. When booking a reservation at these restaurants, Guests will be required to provide a credit card to hold a reservation and will be charged $10 per person if the cancellation isn't made at least the day in advance. Pre-paid locations will continue to retain the full, pre-paid amount if Guests are unable to honor the reservation and are unable to cancel the reservation one day in advance. Special dining events and packages such as Fantasmic! packages, New Years Eve dinners, Victoria & Albert's reservations may have different cancellation requirements.

When is the latest I can cancel my reservation without being charged a fee?

Guests can cancel up to 11:59 p.m. the day prior to their reservation without being charged.

Why have you expanded your cancellation policy?

Our policy reduces the number of no shows at our restaurants and ensures all of our Guests will have more opportunity to dine at our table service locations.

I am dining at a location after Oct. 31, but I booked it prior to the location utilizing the cancellation policy. Will my credit card be charged if I do not cancel within the cancellation window or do not honor my reservation?

Reservations booked on or after October 31 will be required to adhere to the cancellation policy. Guests who booked reservations before Oct. 31 were not informed of the policy or asked for their credit card information; therefore, these Guests will not be charged if they do not honor their reservations or cancel outside of the cancellation window. However, if the Guest makes modifications to the reservation on or after October 31, he or she will be informed of the cancellation policy, asked for credit card information, and must adhere to the cancellation policy.

How do I cancel a reservation?

A special phone line that only handles dining cancellations is available for Guest convenience: 407-WDW-CNCL (939-2625). Alternatively, dining reservations may be booked or cancelled by visiting any table-service restaurant podium, Walt Disney World Resort Hotel concierge or calling 407-WDW-DINE (939-3163) or DVC Member Services (for Members only). Guests may also make and cancel reservations by visiting www.DisneyWorld.com/Dining

 

[disneynutz]

Thanks for the heads up!

Should be worth about an extra million dollars per year for Disney.

Bill

 

[jennylyn_b]

Yay!

 

[Chuck S]

Interesting. I just re-arranged some dining for my trip in November yesterday, before the policy became active. I'm certainly not opposed to having the CC guarantee, and thank you for the heads-up on the change. I WAS surprised to find lunch reservations available for next month at restaurants I did not expect to have availability. But my trip is just before Food and Wine gets underway, so maybe that is why there was availability. Hopefully this will keep multiple bookings to a minimum.

 

[darkwing818]

Thanks for the heads up!

Should be worth about an extra million dollars per year for Disney.

Bill

Thx for the alert.

 

[luckyman_apd]

You know.. While this MAY bring revenue for Disney, I feel this is a good thing. I personally know someone who books multiple reservations well in advance and when they arrive, they cancel the ones they don't want as their schedule and plans change. Many people tie up a reservation and don't go or cancel last minute. This way people must be more firm in their plans.

 

[chalee94]

i like it, too.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

I have gotten to the point where I hate planning!! Planning what park I'm going to, when I'm going to eat...fast passes......etc etc......

Thank goodness for DVC and my kitchen...... Rather cook then deal with this hassle and the charges. That is why I own at BW and BLT, so I can take a break from the parks and cook my own dinner.

I realize people have abused it........but going to Disney is beginning to be too much work..... Disney ruined it for so many people who used to be able to walk up and get to eat where they wanted....they trained everyone into making ADR's and the heck with walk ups...........well........hopefully they will have more room for us walk up types now. I have no intention of making a ADR now. Got charged $70 for their mistake once.......in Norway.......IMHO, no disney restaurant is worth a $70 cancellation fee.......or the $40 buffet cost either.

I made plans to attend the F&W next week and was excited about it too (staying at BW) and was debating about mnsshp, but I'm going to Universal and Seaworld instead now. This just sealed the
deal.

 

[Kidanifan08]

I'm not surprised that this is happening. I'm sure Bill is right, they have probably made a ton of money on this policy with the signatures and character locations, and they probably filled those no-shows with standby guests.

We make ADR's for nearly every day of our stay, so it could have an impact on us, but in 5 years, we have only cancelled twice and we missed a reservation once. We kind of felt bad about that, but it was Restaurant Marrakesh for lunch, so I am sure they had plenty of other tables (not sure why we even make reservations there ).

With the MDE app, it is so easy to cancel a reservation on the fly that I doubt this will have a huge impact on people making more reservations than they need and then just canceling a day or two ahead. I just wish they would give a cancellation confirmation code on MDE. We usually get an e-mail, but they should be able to give a real-time code on the app.

Even so, it should free up more tables for walk-ups, so that probably is a good thing.

 

[castleri]

This is a good thing I believe. On our last trip I know of one group that had at least one meal that they just didn't show up for at Coral Reel and possibly one at Rose and Crown.
Is there any word on how this will work with free dining if it is available? I haven't done that in years but never had to give a cc number for any of the meals we booked such as Chef Mickey. If you had the Hoop dee doo would you have to give a credit card and then they would charge you if you didn't cancel?
It does seem as if it will stop some of the double booking people do.

 

[Sammie]

This is definitely a good thing especially for places like the Kona Cafe where people would book an ADR just to be able to get in the parking lot and then go to the MK, never even going to eat.

 

[AnnaS]

Thank you for the heads up!

 

[Hopefully]

I think it is about time. Good plan

 

[Kidanifan08]

I have to wonder what Disney is going to do about the restaurant reservation function of the MDE app. Currently, one cannot use the app to make ADR's at a location requiring a CC hold. With the new policy, the app won't be able to be used to make ADR's anywhere. I was looking at MDE online, and I have a CC on file. Why does the app not see that and just link it to ADRs at these locations requiring a CC? On our last trip, it was nice to be able to make and reservations using the MDE iPhone app, rather than having to call or be at a computer terminal. Hopefully they have a solution for this issue.

 

[RevKjb]

I have to wonder what Disney is going to do about the restaurant reservation function of the MDE app. Currently, one cannot use the app to make ADR's at a location requiring a CC hold. With the new policy, the app won't be able to be used to make ADR's anywhere. I was looking at MDE online, and I have a CC on file. Why does the app not see that and just link it to ADRs at these locations requiring a CC? On our last trip, it was nice to be able to make and reservations using the MDE iPhone app, rather than having to call or be at a computer terminal. Hopefully they have a solution for this issue.

I just made an ADR on MDE App and in putted my credit card for the hold without difficulty.

 

[Chuck S]

I have to wonder what Disney is going to do about the restaurant reservation function of the MDE app. Currently, one cannot use the app to make ADR's at a location requiring a CC hold. With the new policy, the app won't be able to be used to make ADR's anywhere. I was looking at MDE online, and I have a CC on file. Why does the app not see that and just link it to ADRs at these locations requiring a CC? On our last trip, it was nice to be able to make and reservations using the MDE iPhone app, rather than having to call or be at a computer terminal. Hopefully they have a solution for this issue.

I've used MDE to make reservations a few weeks ago at restaurants that currently require a CC deposit. It worked fine for both Brown Derby and LeCellier. And it worked fine yesterday when I cancelled LeCellier in favor of Les Chefs de France, when I decided to re-arrange my schedule...so much planning now with FP+.

 

[ttpawpaw]

I can certainly see were the present reservation policy is causing problems for WDW. We have been using the Disney Dining Plan since 2006. This has similar problems that every Disney program has. Concept is great but the execution sucks. Every year Disney closes loopholes that have been discovered. Problem is tat they use a sledge hammer to fix a minor problem. The present problem is guests overbooking restaurants and not showing up. Just a little investigation will show that most of those overbooking are locals. If you have a dining reservation you don't have to pay for parking. Which would you choose; $15 daily parking or a no penalty diner reservation? People from out of town, even those call frequent visitors have a very hard time determining which park they are going to be in 3 to 6 months. You may not know how crowded the park is going to be. Do you want to stay in the same park for your diner reservations when all of the popular ride "Fast Pass" are gone. To leave the park and come back could easily take several precious hours from you, and if you don't come back you loose, if you stay at the park you loose and I don't think that is fair. There is a relatively small group of guests creating a problem and the unimagineers create a fix that is worse that the problem.
Disney already knows how many people have reservation for any given time frame. They know at any given time if they are ahead or behind of reservations. I have yet to see a restaurant that didn't have an overabundance of walk ups that would be willing to fill those gaps. Also if the shortfall is that great why am I waiting between 15 and 30 min before I am seated.

 

[Disneycouple99]

I can certainly see were the present reservation policy is causing problems for WDW. We have been using the Disney Dining Plan since 2006. This has similar problems that every Disney program has. Concept is great but the execution sucks. Every year Disney closes loopholes that have been discovered. Problem is tat they use a sledge hammer to fix a minor problem. The present problem is guests overbooking restaurants and not showing up. Just a little investigation will show that most of those overbooking are locals. If you have a dining reservation you don't have to pay for parking. Which would you choose; $15 daily parking or a no penalty diner reservation? People from out of town, even those call frequent visitors have a very hard time determining which park they are going to be in 3 to 6 months. You may not know how crowded the park is going to be. Do you want to stay in the same park for your diner reservations when all of the popular ride "Fast Pass" are gone. To leave the park and come back could easily take several precious hours from you, and if you don't come back you loose, if you stay at the park you loose and I don't think that is fair. There is a relatively small group of guests creating a problem and the unimagineers create a fix that is worse that the problem.
Disney already knows how many people have reservation for any given time frame. They know at any given time if they are ahead or behind of reservations. I have yet to see a restaurant that didn't have an overabundance of walk ups that would be willing to fill those gaps. Also if the shortfall is that great why am I waiting between 15 and 30 min before I am seated.

FYI it has been delayed. http://www.wdwmagic.com/resorts/wal...ation-cancellation-policy-changes-delayed.htm