Terrible New Reservation Policy at California Grill

[crisi]

Not exactly. Disney books their restaurants full with ADR holders. Which means you can walk up at 4:30 as they open and be told they are booked solid. They actually ARE holding tables - we've walked into more than one more than half empty restaurant at opening - because they stagger the starting time for service.

I agree though that it won't speed up the situation for walk ups - what I suspect they are trying to do is reduce the number of no-shows to keep the restaurant running smoothly.

I suspect more restaurants will follow, and also other policies, like a per person table minimum equal to your deposit (i.e no grabbing a table for dessert and coffee).

And, yes, TammyJ, that means saving the seats for those that are willing to pay for them. Disney is first and formost a business and they have an obligation to run their business in a way that maximizes shareholder value.

 

[webray]

The only problem I see with this is the 24 hour rule...This is a bit extreme, IMO, as things do come up within a 24 hour period that couldn't be anticipated.

I agree..you should have maybe until 3pm day of reservation to cancel if there is a problem. That leaves plenty of time for a reservation book update

 

[Paul in CT]

Le Cellier really needs this.

Absolutely true. We just returned from WDW and were not able to get a resy or walk-up at Le Cellier for Thursday through Saturday for lunch or dinner. They said they were totally booked. We finally managed a Sunday lunch.

I think the dining plan makes it more important than ever to plan your reservations ahead of time.

 

[Peter Pirate]

The policy of filling the seats with ADR's must be very new because it was not that way just a couple of years ago.

It's a great business strategy to fill a restaurant to capacity each night but I'm not sure it's a great long term philosophy. Good will / bad will, good times / bad times are funny things. Fickle...

As you all know, I'm a great Disney fan and quite the foodie as well, but as Disney has made things less accessable for me I've found more than adequate replacements. Some which I wouldn't abandon now no matter what WDW's policy. I'm just saying...

 

[makinorlando]

While making a dinner reservation yesterday afternoon for the California Grill, I was told by the WDW-DINE cast member that my reservation needed to be guaranteed by a credit card. She told me that if I cancelled the reservation less than 24 hours from the appointed time, my card would be charged $20.
.

This same policy was quoted to me twice by WDW-DINE in the past (in 2004)when I was booking ADR on a holiday - New Year's Day and Mother's Day, and I had to give them a credit card.

 

[BCV23]

We love CG and go there 3 or 4 times a year but I'm going to have to talk this over with the troops. The nature of a WDW vacation sometimes leads to a change in the plan.

A 3:00 cancellation time seems more reasonable to me.

My guess on this is that locals are having trouble booking ARs at CG since they probably don't plan 180 days out.

 

[jann1033]

if they do this Disney needs to teach the cms to make cancellations...very few of my adrs that i canceled actually got canceled and since you don't get a cancellation number how could you prove it?

i think the comment about the desire to keep out dessert and free coffee lingerers/fireworks watchers was a little off base. you can have and keep an adr and just get dessert so don't see how makes someone who only goes for dessert less "worthy" of an adr.

and i wonder if anyone has actually gotten a refund with a medical reason like a flu. lots of families with lots of kids mean lots of upset tummies( just read the shocking thread about how many people toss cookies on the bus, on rides ,on the paths ) and not a real good likelihood of knowing that is going to happen 24 hrs out. doubt many parents would want to leave sick kids with a sitter so they could keep their adr

 

[Sammie]

While making a dinner reservation yesterday afternoon for the California Grill, I was told by the WDW-DINE cast member that my reservation needed to be guaranteed by a credit card. She told me that if I cancelled the reservation less than 24 hours from the appointed time, my card would be charged $20.

A long and heated discussion followed with a supervisor, who was perhaps the rudest CM I've ever spoken to. She tersely explained that the new policy is designed to prevent guests from double- and triple-booking reservations at the more popular restaurants. I certainly understand the problem, but people who double-book reservations are a fact of life in the restaurant business and certainly not unique to Disney. There's no other restaurant in Orlando that I know of -- not even wildly popular and tourist-centered Emeril's -- that has such a restrictive reservation policy.

DW and I love the California Grill and eat there fairly often, but I don't love it enough to allow Disney to charge me if I have to cancel a reservation if something unforeseen happens.

And I don't imagine that Emeril's has problems with guests double and triple booking reservations. Another example of don't blame Disney, blame the guests that caused them to make the change and many of them you know from the DIS.

 

[TammyJ]

i think the comment about the desire to keep out dessert and free coffee lingerers/fireworks watchers was a little off base. you can have and keep an adr and just get dessert so don't see how makes someone who only goes for dessert less "worthy" of an adr.

Thanks, that's all I was trying to say. I know Disney is a business and is trying to make money and that is fine...I am a capitalist. I just think it's a shame when everything becomes about who can pay the most for it.

 

[kittenkatt]

I think the dining plan makes it more important than ever to plan your reservations ahead of time.

I think this nailed it in one The dining plan is so affordable that most people are taking advantage of it, and most are booking their ADRs when they make the package reservation. It makes it really difficult to walk-up to or get last-minute ressies for the more popular restaurants.

 

[Mississippian]

While making a dinner reservation yesterday afternoon for the California Grill, I was told by the WDW-DINE cast member that my reservation needed to be guaranteed by a credit card. She told me that if I cancelled the reservation less than 24 hours from the appointed time, my card would be charged $20.

I personally think this is a wonderful policy. WDW has much more of a problem with double-bookers than do most restaurants, and this makes it more likely that those of us who really need a table will get one.

 

[MarkC]

I don't see what the problem is..it's only $20...for a restaurant as expensive as the Cali Grill, I'm surprised anybody is complaining about this fair policy. It's a popular restaurant and I'm sure has been abused by the liberal reservation policy at WDW. So now you simply put $20 down out of the $60+ that I'm sure 2 people would probably spend there. There should only be a SMALL 10% chance that something unforseen may happen where you would have to cancel your reservation, in which case, you really don't have to worry about losing your $20 (being that the odds are you won't not show up for your reservation). The only people who will get angry with this rule are those who double book or frequently cancel, in which case, I'm sure Disney could care less about the business of those.

 

[Markstudy]

The only people who will get angry with this rule are those who double book or frequently cancel, in which case, I'm sure Disney could care less about the business of those.

That is a good point.

How many people are double bookers at disboards?

I'm new here. Do you guys talk about this as a good idea? "Rules allow it so I'm not breaking the rules" spirit-of-the-law type argument

I never even thought of doing this.

 

[Uncleromulus]

We always end up wondering exactly why Disney does what it does--.

Not sure what the dress code issue might play in their decision, but since "jeans pants" and "dress shorts" are acceptable items of the code, all that really keeps out are mostly those with T's ,tank tops, and swimwear. So I doubt there are enough #'s of those folks to warrant this sort of policy change.

 

[bicker]

Well that does amount to the vast majority of folks coming back from the parks, so that would tend to support the policy change.

 

[Uncleromulus]

If the restaurant were full of "walk-ins".
But we're talking about folks who made ADR's and who (hopefully) would have been told about the dress code. Should only be a stray or two who didn't know of the code, or decided to "test it".
My guess is that the new policy is mostly concerned with double bookings and "no shows". But only Disney knows for sure!!

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Ahhh, save the good seats for those who can afford the splurge! Too bad for those who can only afford the desert.

Ahh. Gotta love the American sense of entitlement. Shouldn't we have some sort of National Distribution Center for Theme Park tickets. Why should those willing to pay go to Disney at all?

 

[bicker]

But only Disney knows for sure!!

That's for sure, and I agree with you that the new policy is mostly concerned with no-shows.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

Ahh. Gotta love the American sense of entitlement. Shouldn't we have some sort of National Distribution Center for Theme Park tickets. Why should those willing to pay go to Disney at all?

Very well put, MK's mom!

 

[TammyJ]

Ahh. Gotta love the American sense of entitlement. Shouldn't we have some sort of National Distribution Center for Theme Park tickets. Why should those willing to pay go to Disney at all?

You could replace that with the American sense of entitlement..."I've got more money than you so I deserve it."