Tally of Operations Designed or Changed Possibly Due to Abuse

[bicker]

Yet the Dining Plan is still loved by a great number of guests. It's surely not everyone's cup-of-tea, of course.

By the way, there is still no charge for dining reservations. They're free!

Also, they are no longer enforcing the requirement that all guests need to be present at check-in. You can again have just one person check the whole party in! :

 

[jodifla]

Yet the Dining Plan is still loved by a great number of guests. It's surely not everyone's cup-of-tea, of course.

By the way, there is still no charge for dining reservations. They're free!

Also, they are no longer enforcing the requirement that all guests need to be present at check-in. You can again have just one person check the whole party in! :

The California Grill ADRs are free?

 

[bicker]

Dining reservations are free. Some venues require credit card guarantees, because so many guests have abused the system in the past, making reservations and then being no-shows. Despicable behavior, I know. And we all suffer as a result. And that has nothing to do with the Dining Plan -- it applies for and is due to the past behavior of cash customers. However, it is only a minor issue to put some foundation behind your commitment to a reservation. And of course the security is applied to the cost of your meal, so if you're forth-right and responsible, you lose practically nothing.

 

[jodifla]

Dining reservations are free. Some venues require credit card guarantees, because so many guests have abused the system in the past, making reservations and then being no-shows. Despicable behavior, I know. And we all suffer as a result. And that has nothing to do with the Dining Plan -- it applies for and is due to the past behavior of cash customers. However, it is only a minor issue to put some foundation behind your commitment to a reservation. And of course the security is applied to the cost of your meal, so if you're forth-right and responsible, you lose practically nothing.

If I have to give a credit card, then the ressie ain't free. And when you have little kids, sometimes you don't make it to a reservation because they are sick, cranky, etc.

ANd that you don't know 24 hours in advance. Heck, you don't always 24 minutes in advance.

But the DDP forces everyone to make reservations, excacerbating the problem.

 

[TDC Nala]

The credit card guarantees were going on before the DDP, for the most popular restaurants and for groups of more than 8 people.

CRT required an actual cash deposit at booking. Now, the entire cost of the meal must be paid at the time of making the reservation.

Families with small children will have to consider the likelihood of their being forced to give up a guaranteed reservation before they make the reservation.

I recall that the requirement to check in your entire party at once was enforced only during the free dining period. For example, they'd get a couple adding third and fourth (nonexistent) adults to their reservation to get the extra free dining credits.

 

[Galahad]

If I have to give a credit card, then the ressie ain't free

Only if you don't show up.

 

[jodifla]

Only if you don't show up.

Gee, thanks for the helpful advice!

Never missed a ressie before DS was born. I've canceled a few a couple hours beforehand since he's been born.


This is terrible for families with small kids, and the DDP has made it worse becaues it forces everyone who wants a shot at a TS meal to make ADRs, even if they are wild guesses.

 

[TDC Nala]

Gee, thanks for the helpful advice!

Never missed a ressie before DS was born. I've canceled a few a couple hours beforehand since he's been born.


This is terrible for families with small kids, and the DDP has made it worse becaues it forces everyone who wants a shot at a TS meal to make ADRs, even if they are wild guesses.

You don't have to make ADRS at California Grill or CRT if you are worried you won't be able to get there for the meal.There are lots of other choices. They aren't trying to stick it to you because you have a child. The steps taken were to address the problem of people making multiple reservations and then just not showing up. At CRT they had a different problem; those reservations were being brokered.

And the free dining checkin enforcement is a pain for unrelated parties who are staying in the same room, who may be arriving at WDW at different times. Not everybody who travels to WDW is a nuclear family.

 

[bicker]

 

[jodifla]

You don't have to make ADRS at California Grill or CRT if you are worried you won't be able to get there for the meal.There are lots of other choices. They aren't trying to stick it to you because you have a child. The steps taken were to address the problem of people making multiple reservations and then just not showing up. At CRT they had a different problem; those reservations were being brokered.

And the free dining checkin enforcement is a pain for unrelated parties who are staying in the same room, who may be arriving at WDW at different times. Not everybody who travels to WDW is a nuclear family.

There are a lot of choices now, but if the abuse fueled by the DDP continues, there will be fewer and fewer choices for non-deposited ADRs.

 

[jodifla]

Such as yoursel?

My comments are on target with the thread.

 

[disneyfan67]

I know for certain that the finger scan was in part due to the fraud that was being done with the old left over park hoppers and all those slimy resale places around the outskirts of WDW. When I drove to WDW in 02 I was amazed at how many of those rip off places there was and why they were allowed to operate. You couldn't be sure the illegal used ticket you were buying had any days left on it or would even work. Same with people who bought those things off of Ebay years ago. How could you trust what you were buying?

I like this partial quote from Sammie and I'm posting it below.

Originally Posted by Sammie
As with many things sometimes the cure is worse than the illness. Abuse of the system results in the changes that affect everyone even those like me and you that never abused it.

To me, that why I disliked all of the "skirting the rules" type of people and why I participated on some of the pool hooping/mug reusing threads. It wasn't because I wanted to be a so called "Disney do gooder" or a "holier than thou" type of person. It was that I knew what the outcome would be, due to the continued abuse of subject being debated. How many changes have occurred in just the last couple of years at WDW to cut down on the abuse of guests who figured out how to "get more" or were only concerned with their own immediate desires and greed?

I never cared what people decide to do in private or how they live their lives. It's only when I have to make adjustments or pay for their actions in some way because they can't follow the simple rules and realize that there's more to life than just them and their children. I'm curious to see what WDW will look like and how they will operate in just a few years from now. One can only imagine the rules and changes that are in the pipe line that will comming to light shortly.

 

[bicker]

jodifla: Actually, your comments are not "on target" with the thread. It seems that you're co-opting many threads to spew your vitriol concerning dining at WDW.

This thread is about what operations have been designed or changed due to abuse by guests.

 

[jodifla]

Actually, your comments are not "on target" with the thread. It seems that you're co-opting many threads to spew your vitriol concerning child meals at WDW.

This thread is about what operations have been designed or changed due to abuse by guests.

I have mentioned nothing about children's meals on this threads. Only that the DDP encourages people to overbook ADRs, making us have to pay deposits for reservations for restaurants like CG that you didn't have to before.

 

[eclectics]

This is terrible for families with small kids, and the DDP has made it worse becaues it forces everyone who wants a shot at a TS meal to make ADRs, even if they are wild guesses.

It's not optimum for anyone, not just families with small kids. Adults get sick or change their minds too. I disliked having to decide I want to eat at LeCellier a month ahead of time but that's the way things are. As for missed ADR's, a phone call cancelling, even 20 minutes before, is better than blowing the call off altogether. As for having to pay in advance or paying a deposit, if you have any doubts at all, then simply avoid that restaurant in the first place or perhaps attempt a walk up at their least busy time.

 

[cardaway]

It's not optimum for anyone, not just families with small kids. Adults get sick or change their minds too. I disliked having to decide I want to eat at LeCellier a month ahead of time but that's the way things are. As for missed ADR's, a phone call cancelling, even 20 minutes before, is better than blowing the call off altogether. As for having to pay in advance or paying a deposit, if you have any doubts at all, then simply avoid that restaurant in the first place or perhaps attempt a walk up at their least busy time.

ITA. We ran into many people very agry they couldn't just walk up and get seated at the table service places. We ended up not using one of ADR's because our plans changed, but not in time to call and make any changes. At least that one more walk up that will get in.

Later in the trip we were on the other end of the issue. We felt like something different but knew better than to try and get in any of the better table service places without an ADR. That's the way it goes since I have to agree with the policy in the long run. Most of the time the ADR's really save us time and allow us to eat at the better places without waiting a long time for a table.

 

[mickeyfan2]

This one is mostly speculation I think: There was a lot of speculation about why the Skyride at MK was taken down, but one of the more distressing possibilities was the fact that there was concern about misbehaving guests deciding to use it to drop things on people's heads. (That didn't seem very plausible to me.)

We were at DL when there were kids spitting from the skyride. We were a few cars behind and saw it. Security was there when they exited and were going to throw them out of the park when a man approached and said he was their father. They released them to him. We saw all of this with our own eyes.

 

[TDC Nala]

I have mentioned nothing about children's meals on this threads. Only that the DDP encourages people to overbook ADRs, making us have to pay deposits for reservations for restaurants like CG that you didn't have to before.

You did have to before.

There were two reasons why you had to guarantee with a credit card at CG.
1) It was popular. 2) It had fireworks viewing. The abuse had to do with what people would do to get a view of the fireworks, not the dining plan.

A cast member was killed in an accident while operating the Skyway, might have contributed to their shutting it down.

 

[cardaway]

A cast member was killed in an accident while operating the Skyway, might have contributed to their shutting it down.

Having just seen what it takes to run the one still at Busch Gardens Tampa, I would believe it has something to do with the logistics and dangers in running it.

 

[TDC Nala]

New check in policy for California Grill: implemented June 2004.

Credit card guarantee policy: implemented October 2005.

I still think that if it was because of the dining plan, they would have implemented one for Le Cellier also. Maybe that's what jodifla thinks is upcoming.