Padding reservations

[snarfblatt]

How much is too much?


I have seen a couple things recently that really got me thinking


Now maybe I am naive.... and not as gung ho as some.

But really, making a reservation at the same restaurant (for 2 -3 different times) for every single day of your trip until you figure out your schedule????

Don't you think that's a bit much? or is it?


All's fair in love and 'Ohana?

 

[charmedlife3517]

I think it is too much. Maybe a couple of ressies for different days or different times but booking a reservation for every day at several times is crazy. I planned which days I would be at which park before I made my adr's. Now I know Disneys final schedule doesnt come out until close to the actual month and we dont know park hours or emh until after the 180 day mark but it seems unfair to take up so many reservations when there are other ppl trying to plan their trip as well.

 

[LisaCat]

I've got a couple of duplicates. I have 2 different mornings for Crystal Palace. I figure if I make the first one at the start of the trip, I can cancel the second one if I decide I don't want to eat there twice. I had 2 Ohana ressies until I got my Wishes Dessert party booked. Then I let the second one go. I'm also only a party of 1, so I don't feel too bad about sitting on that second CP ressie for now. LOL

 

[20yBWDW]

I think as long as Disney is opening ADRs at 180 days, but making operating schedule changes within a few weeks of the dates, padding reservations is understandable. I canceled reservations when I made a new one, and completely regret that. After seeing the hour changes, which threw our bedtime/wake time schedule off with the plan I originally had, I had to completely switch our park days around and some of the reservations I previously canceled would have worked much better.

If Disney set the operating schedule firmly before they opened the ADRs, I may change my mind. But for now, I don't have a problem with it.

 

[sjs314]

I think it is totally crazy and very selfish. Anyone booking at the 180 day mark should have a basic idea of what parks they might want to visit when so making an ADR for the same Restaurant say on Monday and Friday is understandable as one may end up shifting park days around, BUT to book a popular restaurant on the same day 3 times staggering the times is just insane. To have the " I got mine, screw you attitude" we are seeing is just awful.

The CC hold was a step in the right direction in curbing overbooking but it is a shame they could not find a way to program the current ADR system to to require the cancellation of ADRs at the same place for the same meal period making it impossible to book dinner at 'Ohana @ 5, 6, 7 on the same night for example

 

[TJA]

I think if you have a must-do restaurant that it's okay to book it for maybe 2 different days just to make sure you can make it to one of the days. But I wouldn't do it any more than that because, to me, it's too hard on vacation to worry about cancelling a meal every day or almost every day, plus there may be others desperate for the ADR that I might be holding onto.

 

[CraigInPA]

Booking the same restaurant every day, multiple times a day, is just a bit over the top.

But, I can understand (and practice myself) booking the same restaurant on multiple days and then cancelling the extra reservations when Disney announces the park schedules or after I see a weather forecast for the period I'm going (who wants to go to AK in the rain?).

I constantly hear people on here complaining that they can't get reservations for 'Ohana. Yet, multiple times when I've gotten to WDW without a reservation in hand for it, I have been able to get one. Likewise, California Grill and LeCellier. And, these experiences pre-date the requirement to put in a credit card guarantee, where there was no penalty for not showing up for an ADR. Now that there is a credit card guarantee, you can be sure that "same day" reservations will be available, because people will be cancelling any reservations they don't need to avoid having to pay $10 per person.

 

[mom2rtk]

If Disney wanted to keep some times back for walk-ups, they would.

If you feel the need to book a certain place multiple days on your trips, then do so. There's nothing stopping you. But please don't act like you're offering a value-added service.

 

[20yBWDW]

I think it is totally crazy and very selfish. Anyone booking at the 180 day mark should have a basic idea of what parks they might want to visit when so making an ADR for the same Restaurant say on Monday and Friday is understandable as one may end up shifting park days around, BUT to book a popular restaurant on the same day 3 times staggering the times is just insane. To have the " I got mine, screw you attitude" we are seeing is just awful.

The CC hold was a step in the right direction in curbing overbooking but it is a shame they could not find a way to program the current ADR system to to require the cancellation of ADRs at the same place for the same meal period making it impossible to book dinner at 'Ohana @ 5, 6, 7 on the same night for example

I have never been able to book 2 reservations less than 2 hours apart. It always prompts me to cancel the existing one before it will confirm the second.

 

[1stvisit0909]

I think it is totally crazy and very selfish. Anyone booking at the 180 day mark should have a basic idea of what parks they might want to visit when so making an ADR for the same Restaurant say on Monday and Friday is understandable as one may end up shifting park days around, BUT to book a popular restaurant on the same day 3 times staggering the times is just insane. To have the " I got mine, screw you attitude" we are seeing is just awful.

The CC hold was a step in the right direction in curbing overbooking but it is a shame they could not find a way to program the current ADR system to to require the cancellation of ADRs at the same place for the same meal period making it impossible to book dinner at 'Ohana @ 5, 6, 7 on the same night for example

It does force you to cancel if you have a ressie in a 2 hour window. Unless of course you are using more than one account, which I am sure plenty do.

 

[Letsbgoofy]

And people get upset with Disney when they can't get the reservation they want. This seems like an unfair practice both to other guests who would like to be able to get a reservation and to Disney who is holding a reservation for you that you aren't going to use. And if you don't care about Disney losing money, what about the waiters and waitresses who work in the restraunts and don't make tips when the tables sit empty?

 

[LisaCat]

Anyone booking at the 180 day mark should have a basic idea of what parks they might want to visit

True, but at my 180 (and I'm staying offsite, so I was up at 4AM (West Coast) 6 days in a row to do my ADRs!) I had a general idea of what I wanted the itinerary to be, but there were 2 events I wanted to book that were not yet available - the Candlelight Processional and the Wishes Dessert Party. So I booked double dinners at Ohana, knowing I would drop one for Wishes and a dinner at Epcot I knew would have to cancel as well. Then I got another monkey wrench in my plans in the form of Be Our Guest which required yet another round of ADR changes. I may use both my pre-opening Crystal Palace ressies. I really do like a buffet breakfast. LOL And I couldn't get Chef Mickey early enough.

 

[LisaCat]

And people get upset with Disney when they can't get the reservation they want. This seems like an unfair practice both to other guests who would like to be able to get a reservation and to Disney who is holding a reservation for you that you aren't going to use. And if you don't care about Disney losing money, what about the waiters and waitresses who work in the restraunts and don't make tips when the tables sit empty?

I cancelled my extra Ohana 90 days out and it was gone within the day. The reservations that are truly hard to get are not going to leave empty tables. The number of walk ups that get turned away see to that.

 

[sjs314]

It does force you to cancel if you have a ressie in a 2 hour window. Unless of course you are using more than one account, which I am sure plenty do.

The window is actually much smaller 1 hour and 10 min difference in times and it does not give you the message about canceling the conflicting ADR so it is possible for someone to book ADRs 3 ADRs within a 3 hour period at the same Restaurant on the same day using the same email and same credit card and same phone #, although I am sure many use different info too to book multiple ADRs.

There have been times while tweeking my own ADRs it has not forced me to cancel

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I think that booking extra ADRs that you know will be cancelled should be kept to a minimum. Doing it with more than a couple ADRs is rude to other guests who are trying to book that meal and can't because you've "padded" your ADRs.

I've always been able to have my schedule of park days pretty well set before the 180 day mark. Only once have I scheduled the same restaurant for 2 different days because I wasn't completely sure which day would work best. It was Ohana, one of our absolute must-dos, and I made a decision and cancelled the second ADR within a week after booking our ADRs at 180 days out.

I'm glad WDW added the credit card guarantee to the more popular restaurants to curb this practice. Since they did that, ADRs have been much easier to get.

 

[WSLover]

The same restaurant on multiple days and times is nuts. I agree with the must do restaurant - OK to have a couple of ADRs until your itinerary falls into place. In defense of people who do this - it is basically Disney's fault. I think they need to move the time you can make ADRs up to 90 days instead of 180 days. I had a really tough time making ADRs not knowing the MVMCP dates and when the Food & Wine events were. We were able to make ADRs in May for our Nov trip but yet MVMCP, Food & Wine Events, and Dessert Party dates were not released until Aug/Sept. I think 90 days out for ADRs is plenty of time. 6 months out IS crazy!

 

[kellietony]

I didn't actually decide to come this fall until just before 90 days out. Nothing we really wanted was available. I called to get sometime to check in one glance and they couldn't see anything more than I could. The CM commented that "This close, it can be difficult." I went off a little! This close?!? I said, I didn't know we were going at 180 days, what would he suggest I do, start making random reservations throughout the year on the off-chance that I might go to Disney?

I then suggested that since people could still book the free dining plan they were offering for the next month, they should put an asterisk by the Free dining with a note "but only at places no one else wants to eat or unless you are willing to devote every waking hour to haunting our ADR system for the next 3 months"

 

[kellietony]

And I don't really think the $10 credit card guarantee prevents padding. I've seen a bunch of people on the threads holding/releasing 3-4 of the 'Ohana ADRs. Until the 24 hour point passes, it doesn't cost you anything to hold them. And that means I will call or log on the day before and get one of those cancellations for 'Ohana.

Now if Disney started to charge the fee upfront to hold the reservation, that would limit some padding!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

And I don't really think the $10 credit card guarantee prevents padding. I've seen a bunch of people on the threads holding/releasing 3-4 of the 'Ohana ADRs. Until the 24 hour point passes, it doesn't cost you anything to hold them. And that means I will call or log on the day before and get one of those cancellations for 'Ohana.

Now if Disney started to charge the fee upfront to hold the reservation, that would limit some padding!

The $10 cancellation fee doesn't prevent padding, but it has significantly reduced the problem. ADRs have been much easier to obtain since the $10 cancellation policy was implemented.

I didn't actually decide to come this fall until just before 90 days out. Nothing we really wanted was available. I called to get sometime to check in one glance and they couldn't see anything more than I could. The CM commented that "This close, it can be difficult." I went off a little! This close?!? I said, I didn't know we were going at 180 days, what would he suggest I do, start making random reservations throughout the year on the off-chance that I might go to Disney?

I then suggested that since people could still book the free dining plan they were offering for the next month, they should put an asterisk by the Free dining with a note "but only at places no one else wants to eat or unless you are willing to devote every waking hour to haunting our ADR system for the next 3 months"

You can get reservations at good restaurants at 90 days out, but not the most popular restaurants like Ohana. Be flexible with times and locations and you'll be able to find plenty of decent meals. I just did a search for Epcot restaurants on November 29th, which I believe is during your trip based on your ticker. It's 40 days out from that date and I found lots of restaurants with dinner ADRs available. I chose a party of 4 and got La Hacienda de San Angel, San Angel Inn, Biergarten, Le Chefs de France, Rose and Crown, Tutto Italia, and Via Napoli. All of those are very popular restaurants. I also got the less popular Epcot restaurants like Marrakesh but those are easier to get. So there are ADRs available at places plenty of people enjoy.

 

[mom2rtk]

Now if Disney started to charge the fee upfront to hold the reservation, that would limit some padding!

It would also stop me from buying the dining plan. I don't pad my reservations, but am just philosophically opposed to paying for my dining up front then also paying a fee just to hold the reservation. That would definitely be my jumping off point. I understand it would be refunded when I showed up, but I still would never do it.