Restaurants without cancellation penalties - just not show or call if you can't go?

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

What do you do, would you do if you had ressies to restaurants that don't charge you a penalty if you don't show? (for ex, Rainforest, Prime time, Plaza, Tonys, etc)

Do you still call or just not show? I would assume they can easily seat someone in that slot, and that's why they don't charge you a penalty. But just wondering what would you/do you do....call or just not show? And anyone know how long after your ressie time passes do they not honor your ressie (such as your time is 200 and you get there at 215?)

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Please call if you are not going to make it.

As far as being late, i am not positive. We were on time, but some friends of ours were late to meet us. The girl told me they normally allow 15 minutes. I was nervous when they were still a little later than that, but they still let us in.

 

[Anal Annie]

We make every attempt to arrive on time for all of our reservations. Sometimes the podiums where you check in are a zoo and you can't GET UP THERE without a wait. But I always call (usually by at least the day before if we know ahead of time we don't want to go). Why wouldn't you call? Just plug the phone # into your cell phone or even just go online. Sorry, but IMO that's so rude not to cancel if you know you're not going and that's exactly why they started charging the fee at some restaurants...tired of the no shows & the late arrivals that make seating those who are on time inefficient. Would you do this at home if you had a reservation someplace?

 

[carrie6466]

Last summer when we were there, in the beginning of the week we had a few reservations we decided we weren't going to do later in the week. We just went to the concierge desk and they were able to cancel them for us. Didn't even need to call anyone. He was very appreciative about it, actually, and said most people don't even bother.

 

[ccgirl]

What do you do, would you do if you had ressies to restaurants that don't charge you a penalty if you don't show? (for ex, Rainforest, Prime time, Plaza, Tonys, etc)

Do you still call or just not show? I would assume they can easily seat someone in that slot, and that's why they don't charge you a penalty. But just wondering what would you/do you do....call or just not show? And anyone know how long after your ressie time passes do they not honor your ressie (such as your time is 200 and you get there at 215?)

Put it this way....you are expecting and planned for friends to come to your house for dinner. They can't make it. Do you want them to call you or just not show up??

I believe it is 15 minutes after your time they can cancel your reservation but I'm not positive on that.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

Oh, I dont have plans to not call. I was simply asking if you are supposed to call. I am pretty sure when you make the reservation, it does not seem to address what to do if you want to cancel. So I just simply wasnt sure what they would like people to do. Thats why I was asking how quickly they seat your slot. Maybe they seat the time slots so quickly that whether you call or not, it gets seated fairly quickly so them receiving the call wasnt something they cared either way about. Again, I dont believe this is addressed when you make a ressie over the computer (I dont recall seeing anything about cancelling and what/how to do it). Thats all. I certainly wasnt implying thats what I want to do (not call) or prefer.Just wondering what people DO b/c it didnt seem clear to me what to do with those ressies if you cant make it.

 

[3pletprincesses]

I would call, I always call. The credit card cancellation fee appeared for a reason and I believe that people not cancelling and double booking was the main reasons.

 

[raidermatt]

It's always polite to call. Just put the dining number in your phone and call them from the park.

That said, comparing it to not showing up for dinner at somebody's house is a very poor analogy. Disney does not hold tables, they merely put you at the front of the line when you show up for your ADR. So if you don't show, all it means is the next group gets seated sooner.

If you know further in advance you will not make it, cancelling the ADR opens it up for somebody else. But when it gets down to a few hours, honestly it isn't going to matter much to the restaurant if you call or not.

But like I said, I would call anyway. It does help them a bit when it comes to estimating wait times, but the impact of any single group calling or not (unless it's a very large group) is negligible.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

Disney does not hold tables, they merely put you at the front of the line when you show up for your ADR. So if you don't show, all it means is the next group gets seated sooner.

If you know further in advance you will not make it, cancelling the ADR opens it up for somebody else. But when it gets down to a few hours, honestly it isn't going to matter much to the restaurant if you call or not.

But like I said, I would call anyway. It does help them a bit when it comes to estimating wait times, but the impact of any single group calling or not (unless it's a very large group) is negligible.

That's why I questioned this. When I made the ressie for Tonys, Plaza, Rainforest, etc...it never even addresses what to do if you want to cancel. So I just wasnt sure why they werent encouraging people to call to cancel?