No more 180 day out ressies!

[Smile4Me]

I think I agree with the rumored change too. One of my boyfriend's concerns planning last trip was that he didn't know what he was going to want to eat 6 months in advance! I am curious now to see what other changes they had in mind, along with the changes to Liberty Tree Tavern and Garden Grill!

 

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

Wow, um, did anyone think about what this means in terms of the economy and Disney's fear of needing to make cutbacks, if things continue to get worse? I see this as Disney being on less than sturdy ground when it comes to knowing what the future holds until the "last minute" aka roughly 90 days in advance. If the ADR's are pushed back to 90 days, you can bet the hours projections are also going back to 90 days. The trouble with getting the hours for November and December posted in a timely fashion as they "firmed up" their park hours plans speaks volumes about why this is happening.

I am fine with making my plans at 90 days out, but I am concerned that Disney is feeling the economy crunch.

 

[bicker]

Disney survived and prospered with releasing park hours and opening up ADRs far far earlier than 180 days. The push to 180 days was perhaps unwarranted by need, and/or unjustified by cost. I believe that that's the best explanation for this change, should it be actual. Often, decisions that many DISers disagree with are still good decisions, so when so many DISers (of all people) are in favor of a change like this, then it has almost surely got to be a good thing.

 

[lilyv]

Folks who fly in are finding subtle and not so subtle changes in their plane reservations. This has to impact their dining reservations resulting in more calls to Disney dining every time there is a needed adjustment. It probably makes little sense to have people make 180 day out reservations in the current situation. Additionally, the 180 day out policy is very annoying to many business folks who attend conferences at Disney. Lots of attendees either aren't informed about it, or ignore it (thinking 180 days couldn't be correct) and are unpleasantly surprised upon arrival.

 

[KYMickey]

Wow, um, did anyone think about what this means in terms of the economy and Disney's fear of needing to make cutbacks, if things continue to get worse? I see this as Disney being on less than sturdy ground when it comes to knowing what the future holds until the "last minute" aka roughly 90 days in advance. If the ADR's are pushed back to 90 days, you can bet the hours projections are also going back to 90 days. The trouble with getting the hours for November and December posted in a timely fashion as they "firmed up" their park hours plans speaks volumes about why this is happening.

I am fine with making my plans at 90 days out, but I am concerned that Disney is feeling the economy crunch.

Actually the economy could be a large part of the reason this is a occurring. I'm sure in light of all the changes going on with the economy many people who make reservations 180 days out end up canceling them or not showing up for them. Making the reservation window closer to the actual date of travel should help ensure that people will keep their reservation. Cancellations and rescheduling verification is an expensive use of resources with no financial gain.

 

[crazy4wdw]

Touring Plans is reporting this info:

Details have not yet been finalized, but Disney will begin transitioning to a new reservation system sometime in the late summer or early fall. As a result, Disney will only be accepting Advance Dining Reservations up to 90 days in advance starting around August 1.

The reservation window starts growing again once the move to the new reservation system is underway, and Disney expects to be back to the full 180-day window sometime in the fall of 2009.

We're told that this does not affect any existing reservations. We've also heard (but not confirmed) that Cinderella's Castle, Chef Mickey's and Victoria and Albert's will still have 180-day windows.

 

[raidermatt]

I don't think the economy has much to do with it. I doubt Disney wants to change the window very often because doing so creates a great deal of guest confusion.

If the window does indeed change back to 90 days I'd guess its simply because they have found that the 180 day window causes more problems than it solves.

Personally I think 90 days is probably better. The hardcore planners will call at the first opportunity whether it's at 90 or 180. But the more casual guest simply doesn't want to have to plan out their meals 6 months ahead of time. 3 months is probably a lot more reasonable for many people. I'm guessing there has been some frustration for guests trying to book several months in advance and finding some or all of their choices already booked.

For the record, I personally prefer the 180 day window because I don't mind making my ADRs that far in advance and I realize that being able to do so benefits me. But I can see where this might not be best for Disney or the majority of its guests overall.

 

[Mozart]

Just imagine for a moment. They go from 180 days and then down to 90 days.

Then, they announce that on Jan 1st, they're going back to 180 days.

Can you imagine what the phone lines would be like on Jan 1st?

 

[hannah's dad]

Touring Plans is reporting this info:


Quote:
Details have not yet been finalized, but Disney will begin transitioning to a new reservation system sometime in the late summer or early fall. As a result, Disney will only be accepting Advance Dining Reservations up to 90 days in advance starting around August 1.

The reservation window starts growing again once the move to the new reservation system is underway, and Disney expects to be back to the full 180-day window sometime in the fall of 2009.

We're told that this does not affect any existing reservations. We've also heard (but not confirmed) that Cinderella's Castle, Chef Mickey's and Victoria and Albert's will still have 180-day windows.

My reading of this is that the switch to 90 days is temporary, in order to alow for the installation of a new reservation system. Within a year the window wil be opened to 180 days. So, it seems there wil be some short term issues, but there is no change in the long term policy.

 

[edk35]

I guess 90 days is good for me too. I have a trip in 2 1/2 weeks and I am still calling dining about that one. I seem to get what I want most trips and I never call at the 180 window. Now for certain restaurants I think 180 is good. Better yet....I think a cc with the ressie is a great way to weed out people who over book.

 

[jar]

Yes -- as I read this, by next year, they are going back to 180 days. Thus, there's no real change and policy reason behind it other than working out the software on the new reservations system and thus not wanting to deal with 6 months of reservations until they have it fully up and running.

 

[doconeill]

I don't see how there could be any sort of economic impact of changing to the 90-day policy. However, breaking in a new system does make sense, allowing them time to work out the bugs without jeopardizing as many reservations make sense.

Also, it sounds like the increase in the window will be gradual. How we'll know about the increases remains to be seen.

 

[raidermatt]

If they go from 180 to 90 and back to 180 I take back what I said about them not wanting to cause guest confusion.

That's a pretty lame way to go about things.

 

[IMACM]

It will return to 180 but NOT 180 + 10 days as soon as the new res system is up and running. Be patient, there will be 2 res systems running at the same time depending on when you are arriving!! The reason the dates have to "grow" back to 180 is because the phone lines would be crazy if they just dumped all the availibility back in there.

 

[POTCaddictnumero2]

does that unclude no celebrations too?