Oh so THAT'S WHY I can't get a reservation at Be Our Guest (and every other restaurant in WDW)!!

[littleblackegg]

[QUOTE="Plaid Princess, post: 54449945, member: 17797



Yes. This. Always.



They're the "must do" restaurants that the sheeple think they can't live without: Be Our Guest, California Grill, Ohana, Cinderella's Royal Table, Le Cellier, Chef Mickey's, and anything with Princess Dining. All of them have mediocre food with a heaping side of hype, and a rushed appetizer.

.

You may think everyone who wants reservations at those restaurants are sheeple, but if you have a child who wants to eat with a princess, CRT becomes a must do. Trust me, I'd rather be at Morimoto or Blue Zoo this October, but with a small child, I'll be at CRT. We compromise by doing some of our favorite World Showcase restaurants, thank goodness.[/QUOTE]
Can you do both Cinderella once and Morimoto or Blue Zoo as well? That way everybody gets a little of their dream dining experience? I was listening to this nice lady out at the pool during our last trip and she literally ESCAPED her family to have some me time. Every meal sounded like this huge fiasco with cold buffets and princesses and tears. I just wanted to sweep her up and take her to an adult lunch. It hadn't even occurred to her that she could schedule part of her trip having nice meals that were what she wanted to eat. At least, not until she got here and was immersed in days of character dining.

 

[Aurora0427]

You may think everyone who wants reservations at those restaurants are sheeple, but if you have a child who wants to eat with a princess, CRT becomes a must do. Trust me, I'd rather be at Morimoto or Blue Zoo this October, but with a small child, I'll be at CRT. We compromise by doing some of our favorite World Showcase restaurants, thank goodness.

Can you do both Cinderella once and Morimoto or Blue Zoo as well? That way everybody gets a little of their dream dining experience? I was listening to this nice lady out at the pool during our last trip and she literally ESCAPED her family to have some me time. Every meal sounded like this huge fiasco with cold buffets and princesses and tears. I just wanted to sweep her up and take her to an adult lunch. It hadn't even occurred to her that she could schedule part of her trip having nice meals that were what she wanted to eat. At least, not until she got here and was immersed in days of character dining.[/QUOTE]

We are only doing CRT and CM this trip as far as character dining goes. We have about ten Disney trips under our belt, so we have been able to experience plenty of adult dining, thank goodness! We are doing several meals at World Showcase and Narcoossee's. Our 4 year old is good in restaurants but we also live in a large city with some of the finest dining in the world, so we don't feel like we have to do a ton of signature dining at Disney. We just aren't into spending $200 plus on a fancy dinner if we have to bring kids along. I was really just explaining to the poster who called people sheeple bc they think they have to dine at CRT etc, that for some with small kids those are some of the must do restaurants.

 

[littleblackegg]

Can you do both Cinderella once and Morimoto or Blue Zoo as well? That way everybody gets a little of their dream dining experience? I was listening to this nice lady out at the pool during our last trip and she literally ESCAPED her family to have some me time. Every meal sounded like this huge fiasco with cold buffets and princesses and tears. I just wanted to sweep her up and take her to an adult lunch. It hadn't even occurred to her that she could schedule part of her trip having nice meals that were what she wanted to eat. At least, not until she got here and was immersed in days of character dining.

We are only doing CRT and CM this trip as far as character dining goes. We have about ten Disney trips under our belt, so we have been able to experience plenty of adult dining, thank goodness! We are doing several meals at World Showcase and Narcoossee's. Our 4 year old is good in restaurants but we also live in a large city with some of the finest dining in the world, so we don't feel like we have to do a ton of signature dining at Disney. We just aren't into spending $200 plus on a fancy dinner if we have to bring kids along. I was really just explaining to the poster who called people sheeple bc they think they have to dine at CRT etc, that for some with small kids those are some of the must do restaurants. [/QUOTE]
Some people do get pretty hysterical about it, as if a child's whole Disney trip will be ruined if they can't get into Chef Mickey. I think most kids take their expectations from the parents. If the parents put out there that the trip is going to be awesome no matter what, it will be! It's not Elsa who makes the trip wonderful, it's PARENTS! I just hate to see people get so upset when there is so much that is great!

 

[Dean Marino]

First - there are no "sheeple". There are just people that want what THEY want, and to judge them is wrong. All personal opinion, contents may settle on shipping, and if you are the absolute perfect human.... please, share with us how you got there.

Sandy and I are older folks.... our FOUR children are grown. WE prefer Signatures, every night, and are leaning toward NON Disney owned Restaurants with FOOD QUALITY, vs the DDP "Disney Disaster Plan" offerings that destroy good restaurants. But we are one couple, older, and do NOT represent the entire demographic of WDW.

I raised four children. Children get very hungry - all the time. JUST like a number of folks with hungry children? I get feeding one's kids . It's not so much a quality thing.... it's a VOLUME thing . Often coupled with entertainment . And Disney IS for children - we are older, but half of our enjoyment is to see these wonderful little ones having the time of their lives .

My point... you folks need to get OFF each others backs. Really - do you want others, with different needs and desires DEAD? Please - stop this, and HELP people that might NOT be you. I'm 63 - I'm old. But if any parent with a very LITTLE child desires my advice? I will do my best to help them . Been there, done that .

 

[englishrose47]

First - there are no "sheeple". There are just people that want what THEY want, and to judge them is wrong. All personal opinion, contents may settle on shipping, and if you are the absolute perfect human.... please, share with us how you got there.

Sandy and I are older folks.... our FOUR children are grown. WE prefer Signatures, every night, and are leaning toward NON Disney owned Restaurants with FOOD QUALITY, vs the DDP "Disney Disaster Plan" offerings that destroy good restaurants. But we are one couple, older, and do NOT represent the entire demographic of WDW.

I raised four children. Children get very hungry - all the time. JUST like a number of folks with hungry children? I get feeding one's kids . It's not so much a quality thing.... it's a VOLUME thing . Often coupled with entertainment . And Disney IS for children - we are older, but half of our enjoyment is to see these wonderful little ones having the time of their lives .

My point... you folks need to get OFF each others backs. Really - do you want others, with different needs and desires DEAD? Please - stop this, and HELP people that might NOT be you. I'm 63 - I'm old. But if any parent with a very LITTLE child desires my advice? I will do my best to help them . Been there, done that .

You my friend are a young whipper snapper !! I have you by 5 years and am blessed to take a group of eternal children, my precious Intellectually challenged groups ,see Disney through the eyes of children , but with many years of practice and thankfully are thrilled with almost all my choices of restaurants . A Huge favorite is Sci Fi , they all love it and is consisitantly a favorite . Making ressies for 10 is a challenge , but next year I am definitely starting at the 180 mark. Wish me luck and many more years of Escorting !!!

 

[Plaid Princess]

Some people do get pretty hysterical about it, as if a child's whole Disney trip will be ruined if they can't get into Chef Mickey. I think most kids take their expectations from the parents. If the parents put out there that the trip is going to be awesome no matter what, it will be! It's not Elsa who makes the trip wonderful, it's PARENTS! I just hate to see people get so upset when there is so much that is great!

Yep. Always remember that the #1 thing kids like from their Disney Vacation is the hotel pool. It comes in first every year.

 

[kapstar]

I also resent the "sheeple" remark. CRT is a big deal to my DD and it is something that she genuinely enjoys. Is lunch at CRT going to be catagorized as "fine dining"? No, but it is a nice break after rope drop to sit and rest while watching DD beaming with glee at meeting the Princesses. Similarly, I am not going to confuse Le Cellier with Peter Luger or Benjamin in NYC, but after a long day at Epcot I'd prefer to duck in there rather than leave the property for a place only marginally better.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

This is clearly not the norm. While your intentions were good here you can see how the same scenario might be caught in the the 'hopefully' new world and not allowed.

I get what you're saying. My point is that on my last trip I was unable to be at a computer for a certain ADR. Called a friend and she went on to the Disney site and booked it for us in her name (she didn't know any better). She never had any intention of going on this trip, she was just booking an ADR for me that I was unable to get. There was no issue at all when we checked in at the restaurant and we just used her name since thats what the ADR was booked under. If this makes me a crook, lock me up. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[kaytieeldr]

http://www.eater.com/2015/9/9/9296645/disney-restaurant-reservations-fake-names?ref=yfp

Man, people are so so so sneaky.

What do you all think about this?

Jennifer

Well, I think the Disney Moms Panelist is wrong in stating anyone is trying to sail around anything: "It just infuriates me... They are doing something to circumnavigate the system..."

 

[Disneyliscious]

I think what interests me about the whole ordeal is how the only problem seems to be when money is involved. Is the act itself not issue enough? Hoarding ADRs was perfectly acceptable here until media started covering places that made money by doing so.

Oddly enough, no one really seems to care about the throw-away room fiasco or the "maximaxing FP+" charade. Is media not covering those loopholes because there is no money involved? To my knowledge, the throw away rooms have not created a "demand" issue but the FP+...are you kidding me?

Take a look at this thread: http://www.disboards.com/threads/throwaway-room-read-post-2041-before-posting.3218652/page-128

And one quote taken from that thread...

I had a throwaway campsite booked under a separate MDE. On that MDE I also linked MNSSHP tickets for our group, and used the tickets to made FP+ reservations for the afternoon 60 days before the party day. All of the MBs shipped and arrived, and then I went to the separate MDE to cancel the throwaway camp site. The cancellation went through with no problem and the FP+ all remained intact.

Where is the media at reporting on this? Is this any less of a grievous act because there is no exchange of money? I just dont get it. Those of you wanting those hard to get FP+'s, you realize this affects you a great deal?

Its kind of funny when you watch peoples behavior. They will become vocal about the things that affect them. Its not about whats right or wrong, Its about what affects them.

 

[tcherjen]

I could not make any ADR's for our upcoming trip. I decided to go late in the game about 74 days out. Someday, if I over plan we would like to eat at CRT.
This year we are going to TREX. I was able to call and get that one.

 

[jimim]

Ok here is my take on all this. Food is personal. I know people who think the places my wife and I like think they suck and vise Versa. You will never have a group of people agree what is food and what isn't.

We like what we like and that's it. Other like what they do and we don't like.

I will say it is a pain in the butt anymore for certain places on property and they all happen to be the family places. 1900 park for dinner, bog for lunch, Cindy castle. Do I want to eat there. Not reAlly, except for bog for lunch, I like it, but my daughter wants to go there so we go. She is young. I want to eAt at my places which are all sign and I never have trouble 180 days out. Lately it seems like the sign outside the parks are much easier to get compared to the family places that the kids want to eat at.

I dread trying to get that one character meal for my daughter. Even at 180 days out I couldn't get 1900 park or the bog. Thanks god she is getting older and she was ok with going to yatchsman. Lol prob because we know some of the staff now and she gets a kick out of it, but at least I get what I feel is a good meal.

All the talk lately about how there are places popping up to help make adr's is hard to take cause I am up right at dawn at 180 for that one or two places the kids want and I am striking out. I really don't like it but it is what it is.

 

[Aurora0427]

I also resent the "sheeple" remark. CRT is a big deal to my DD and it is something that she genuinely enjoys. Is lunch at CRT going to be catagorized as "fine dining"? No, but it is a nice break after rope drop to sit and rest while watching DD beaming with glee at meeting the Princesses. Similarly, I am not going to confuse Le Cellier with Peter Luger or Benjamin in NYC, but after a long day at Epcot I'd prefer to duck in there rather than leave the property for a place only marginally better.

 

[GaryDis]

I think what interests me about the whole ordeal is how the only problem seems to be when money is involved. Is the act itself not issue enough? Hoarding ADRs was perfectly acceptable here until media started covering places that made money by doing so.

Oddly enough, no one really seems to care about the throw-away room fiasco or the "maximaxing FP+" charade. Is media not covering those loopholes because there is no money involved? To my knowledge, the throw away rooms have not created a "demand" issue but the FP+...are you kidding me?
...

Where is the media at reporting on this? Is this any less of a grievous act because there is no exchange of money? I just dont get it.

Commercializing a loophole is indeed considered to be a different level. That's why, for example, Creative Commons has a set of shareware licenses that explicitly prohibit commercial use but allow non-commercial use. It's also why, under copyright law, one of the factors considered by a court for a fair use determination is whether it was a commercial use (though it's not a driving factor by itself).

It's a subjective view, so I'm not going to try to defend it other than saying that it's a commonly believed distinction.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Plaid Princes. I never m entioned less money. My preference is better quality of service and experience - for me the paying guest. You can fly business class or Southwest guess which one is more enjoyable?
More parks while allowing fewer people into the parks, results in less money/revenue for the theme parks. The business model for an airline is entirely different from that of a theme park.
I'm glad you mentioned "business". Business is a transaction between two persons. The consumer can also be a big idiot. Have you ever seen Disney sell items after October in December or 30% reduction of rooms. Is Disney losing 30%. Or paying you the consumer 30% to take these deals.
Not completely clear what's being asked here Any company might sell October merchandise in December, through any of a number of outlets.
When a hotel sells a room a less than the rack rate - i.e. 30% off , they're neither losing money nor paying the consumer . They're simply bringing in less revenue.
Just because it has a Mickey on it does not to make it a good deal. When we as consumers affect the demand, it will affect the supply. The quality of supply, the price of supply.
It doesn't appear we, the consumers, will negatively affect the demand any time soon. If we ever do, Disney will adjust. Been there, done that (see 9/11/01, 2008 recession...)
Right now Disney does not have a supply issue - but there are other places in the sunny Orlando that also have attractions.

Imagine consumers not placing dining reservations for a period of a month. Disney would have its characters handing out samples of food just like in the supermarkets to draw the crowds in - why? Because they need to pay cast members like you.

I hoped you learned a lesson today on supply and demand. There is always room for for idiots in business.

Barry

One would likely need an overly active imagination to think guests would not just not make dining reservations for a month, but that they also would actually boycott the restaurants for that month. Even in such a fantastical scenario, the characters wouldn't be giving out food samples.

 

[minidis]

Supply and Demand are the same regardless of the model.

This discussion thread started on the topic of dinning reservations. What I said was if the Dinning reservation system was not used for a month. Disney would be forced to get other ways to get customers during all hours into their restaurants. So if people were not walking in to eat at 3:30 they would have characters handing out food samples to draw people in.

In my opinion whats broke is the system where to eat at a restaurant style food service I have to plan 180 days in advance.

Magic Kingdom alone has grown from 1972 10,712,991 to 2014 19,332,000 that almost double the people Not every person will be able to eat at a restaurant however the ability to get in would be like any other place - first come first served which is way different than first planned first served.

I see MDE and ADR useful to show crowed levels just like they do for the rides so you can plan what you want to do next. Notice Fast Pass Line don't represent 80% of the ride level participants. You don't have rides where they say no fast pass no riding for you today. Its that level of balance which I would estimate at 20% that I want to see back in the ADR.

So with 2.2 Billion Profits for Disneyworld in 2013 (Thats after paying all the CM, maintenance, amortization of renovation and
enchantments) so 2.2B / 50M park visits is 44$ per visit per visitor. so for each person who visited per park $44 of the dollars spent on entry, merchandise, food, parking, hotels 44$ went to strait profits. Thus for a daily visit to a park for a family of 4 its 172$ per day that goes to pure profits.

One would likely need an overly active imagination to think guests would not just not make dining reservations for a month, but that they also would actually boycott the restaurants for that month. Even in such a fantastical scenario, the characters wouldn't be giving out food samples.

 

[scottashackleton]

Easy way to find out. And I'll bet you'll be disappointed to learn that the answer is "no" when you go to their site.

Not disappointed one bit. Got a reservation, just a tad later than expected. Hakuna Matata.

 

[Overexcited]

I think harsh penalties need to be in place for those showing up for a reservation and it is not their name. They have your info by magic band or card, or ask for ID. That would stop people from being able to use dummy names and holding ADR's.

 

[littleblackegg]

Ooooooooohhhhh (titillated)! Harsh? How harsh? I do love a good fantasy harsh penalty. I vote for a public tarring and feathering. We could go more medieval, but if there is anything I have learned from DIS, we must think of the children. I would think watching a parent go completely peanut allergy crazy on the concierge about a restaurant reservation would be far more traumatic that seeing mom in leg irons in Liberty Square.

 

[Dean Marino]

I think harsh penalties need to be in place for those showing up for a reservation and it is not their name. They have your info by magic band or card, or ask for ID. That would stop people from being able to use dummy names and holding ADR's.

I guess I would have to ask - were the situation the same.... what would a non-Disney owned restaurant do? You know, those THOUSANDS of places everywhere else . I don't know - I suspect their policies vary. What I AM fairly certain of is that those restaurants will seek something that does not cost them money, in the form of lost revenue.

Now we get to the funny part (Corporate Business Units). A LOT of businesses have a problem with over-segmentation. The idea is that each "business unit" should seek to maximize IT'S profits. The problem? This often leads to economic "business unit wars". The current situation could be a good example.

Third party booking is GOOD for the individual WDW restaurant Business Units - they just get more bookings (well, at least more EXPOSURE to bookings). THESE "Profit Centers" will do well. They really can't loose, regardless of HOW a person got a booking . If you rolled some guy on Grant St. in San Francisco, stole his booking, showed up & paid? What's the problem? . MY "profit center" gets the same booking .

Ahhhh - but the CORPORATION suffers. The "Experience" is now segmented, non-cohesive, and involves third parties turning a profit. It actually COSTS WDW, as a corporation, money - as it consumes IT resources.

That's the problem with the classic "Business Unit" model - as the management of a particular Business Unit is rewarded for their LOCAL success, the "Business Units" begin to go to war with each other... they no longer work for a Corporation, they work for a SEGMENT of that Corporation.

So - how to fix this? Well, there is a way. It involves CORPORATE level management - the people responsible for the ENTIRE ORGANIZATION. It's difficult, because it requires those folks to actually do their job . It's much more fun to attend meetings, look serious, and do very little .

In the end - this whole thing does not involve evil people. It involves SEDENTARY management. WDW is a large corporation - they a have a LOAD of upper level managers. Those people will either do their job, or they won't. Let's see what they do.... "job" or "donuts" ? .