What Do You Think of This ADR Rumor?

[bgohre]

If Disney doesn't wany duplicate ADR's, how about not making people make them 6 months before their trip. Personally, this is one of the most ridiculous things about Disney.

If I'm in Disney for 7 days or so, how in the world do I know which day I'm going to the MK so I can go to Crystal Palace? What if I want to go to MGM for their character breakfast? Well, I better decide six months in advance what park I want to go to on which day otherwise I won't be able to get an ADR for that day.

I'm sure some of you plan crazy Dis'ers love it, but not me. Did I say it's ridiculous?

 

[Condorman]

If Disney doesn't wany duplicate ADR's, how about not making people make them 6 months before their trip. Personally, this is one of the most ridiculous things about Disney.

If I'm in Disney for 7 days or so, how in the world do I know which day I'm going to the MK so I can go to Crystal Palace? What if I want to go to MGM for their character breakfast? Well, I better decide six months in advance what park I want to go to on which day otherwise I won't be able to get an ADR for that day.

I'm sure some of you plan crazy Dis'ers love it, but not me. Did I say it's ridiculous?

It's not a matter of some people wanting to plan that far in advance. WDW is the #1 tourist destination in the world. There aren't that many TS locations to begin with. Nobody goes on vacation to spend two hours on a waiting list for Le Cellier, and if they do they're not really on vacation. You would be just as upset if they did away with ADRs, you and your family woke up one morning, rushed to DHS, and tried to get a table at a character breakfast only to find they weren't taking names anymore. Giving guests the option to book 180 days in advance guarantees them a table and avoids that disappointment. Also, if the idea of planning out every minute of a vacation six months in advance seems bothersome, go for counter service instead. Disney provides something for everyone.

But the option of just walking into Chef Mickey's whenever you want doesn't exist anymore. WDW is just way too popular. Disney is helping you to acknowledge that. Thank them, don't blame them.

 

[bgohre]

It's not a matter of some people wanting to plan that far in advance. WDW is the #1 tourist destination in the world. There aren't that many TS locations to begin with. Nobody goes on vacation to spend two hours on a waiting list for Le Cellier, and if they do they're not really on vacation. You would be just as upset if they did away with ADRs, you and your family woke up one morning, rushed to DHS, and tried to get a table at a character breakfast only to find they weren't taking names anymore. Giving guests the option to book 180 days in advance guarantees them a table and avoids that disappointment. Also, if the idea of planning out every minute of a vacation six months in advance seems bothersome, go for counter service instead. Disney provides something for everyone.

But the option of just walking into Chef Mickey's whenever you want doesn't exist anymore. WDW is just way too popular. Disney is helping you to acknowledge that. Thank them, don't blame them.

I think you're reading some things into my post.

I never asked to have them do away with ADR's, I'm saying planning them out 6 months in advance doesn't make much sense (to me). If I'm going to Disney in September, I have to start figuring out what park I want to go to in March.

Unfortunately I haven't seen many charactor breakfast/dinners at Pacos Bills so even if we don't do the dining plan, we're still going to need ADR's, even if it's only once or twice which is no big deal. Buf if we do have the dining plan then thats when the whole planning 6 months in advance seems a little ludacris. 90 days or maybe even 60 is more reasonable (to me).

Oh, and I know WDW is very popular, but thanks for the reminder.

 

[mom3sonstt]

... if they did away with ADRs, you and your family woke up one morning, rushed to DHS, and tried to get a table at a character breakfast only to find they weren't taking names anymore. ...

Does anybody remember when you had to do exactly that at the Diamond Horseshoe Revue??? Instead of rushing to fastpasses I remember on our honeymoon (1988) going to Magic Kingdom and hubby telling me we had to rush over to Frontierland to sign up for a seating for the show and lunch. Of course, lunch wasn't much to speak of - ham sandwiches mostly, but you wanted to get there early to get a good table. He was waiting for the day that his bald spot was big enough to attract Miss Lilly!! Well, it's there now and she's gone! My youngest son (now 16) was a magician's assistant there once too when he was about 3. He was mortified when the stuck they hankies in his pockets and pulled them out to find undies tied in between them. Had him on a magic kick for years! I miss that show

 

[heartofdisney]

I think a Credit Card guarantee should be required and penalties assessed for ALL NO SHOWS or cancellations not made within 24 hours (48 would be preferred).

I don't agree with what you said about ALL NO SHOWS being penalized if they don"t cancel within 24 hours,or as you prefer 48 hours.
I was just in Disney a month ago,and I had 2 ADR's that we were just unable to make due to my daughter getting sick. We woke up one morning,went to a park,and after awhile,my daughter began to feel sick.So we went back to the resort.I called and cancelled our ADR,and just went to the food court for my own dinner that night,as she wasn't up to eating. The next morning,my daughter felt a little better,but still wasn't up to eating breakfast,and so I cancelled the ADR I had for Chef Mickey's that morning.
I am sure this does happen alot,especially as some people have a harder time dealing with the change in temperatures and humidity at first. I always cancelled my ADR's so that they could take in walk ups,but I don"t think I should be punished for not cancelling 48 or even 24 hours in advance.How could I have done that if I didn't know my daughter would get sick?
Maybe just stick to penalizing for not cancelling an ADR at all,that is more understandable then.

 

[heartofdisney]

It needs to be at least 24 hours to allow for people who actually plan ahead to make a reservation for a restaurant they really wanted but were unable to get it because of all the others who wanted it. The free-dining plan has really filled the restaurants beyond belief most times. If they could come up with a solid way to prevent people from making duplicate ADR's reservations cancellations wouldn't be such a problem. Also, how do you verify somebody calling and saying a child is sick or grandma died? Require a doctor's note? If you don't find that there would be a lot of sick children and dead grandmothers with people canceling duplicate reservations! 24 hours is plenty short enough, probably too short.

This is just ridiculous in my opinion. I honestly feel that if Disney World would go as far as this,my family would just choose to vacation elsewhere. I love Disney World, don't get me wrong , but there are many other places to vacation at and I think the fact that I choose to spend my money at Disney World means I deserve some consideration as thier customer(guest).
It is one thing to have to make ADR 6 months away,as even this forces our vacation to run on a schedule centered around our food,but it is completely something else to penalize anyone for for not cancelling an ADR 24 hours in advance,no matter what thier excuse is. So what if a family decides they don't want to do a certain park one day and decide to cancel the ADR they made for there 6 months prior on that morning? This is thier vacation,in which they paid thousands of dollars for already,they should be free to make changes to thier plans if they so choose. I am completely against double booking and not cancelling ADR's ,but to penalize me for cancelling 10 hours before my ADR, no matter what my reason is ,is just not my idea of vacation. I will just decide to vacation elsewhere,or if I do go, I will take my money off property and eat at the many other restraunts in the Orlando area.

I suppose though,if Disney does decide to go ahead with this plan,then when I arrive for an ADR, if I have to wait 46 minutes on top of the already 20 minutes I waited when I arrived early,then that means I can charge Disney for the time I lost in the parks then, as I would be going off the forced schedule I needed to make when I planned my ADR's? Or how about when I plan the hour transportation time to get to my ADR and it takes longer then that,as this has happened to me because of various problems with Disney transportation? Or simply waiting 25 minutes in a thunder storm for a bus to take me where I need to go? These little things are what I expect here and there when I decide to spend a vacation at Disney World,and for the most part, they don't bother me. Disney World needs to expect that there will probaly be a percentage of thier ADR's that may cancel,due to sickness or whatever. Most people also realize this as well,and will try for a walk up and succeed in getting one. If they aren't able to get one, then apparently that means the restraunt isn't hurting quite as badly from cancellations and no shows after all.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

This is just ridiculous in my opinion. I honestly feel that if Disney World would go as far as this,my family would just choose to vacation elsewhere. I love Disney World, don't get me wrong , but there are many other places to vacation at and I think the fact that I choose to spend my money at Disney World means I deserve some consideration as thier customer(guest).

What I think you'll find is many restaurants are starting to require credit cards for reservation guarantees. I wanted to go to Tao in NYC for my birthday this past July. A credit card was required, the fees for cancelling were at least 24 hours and the penalities were clearly defined.

It's about economics, and I realize things happen but from an overbooking and economics perspective, it makes 100% perfect sense, and honestly, from Disney's perspective, if they lost a few guests from implementing this program, they'd make it up in fees for a few no shows, less guest complaints due to overbooking and more predictable levels of capacity at the restaurants.

 

[bgohre]

this is just ridiculous in my opinion. I honestly feel that if disney world would go as far as this,my family would just choose to vacation elsewhere. I love disney world, don't get me wrong , but there are many other places to vacation at and i think the fact that i choose to spend my money at disney world means i deserve some consideration as thier customer(guest).
It is one thing to have to make adr 6 months away,as even this forces our vacation to run on a schedule centered around our food,but it is completely something else to penalize anyone for for not cancelling an adr 24 hours in advance,no matter what thier excuse is. So what if a family decides they don't want to do a certain park one day and decide to cancel the adr they made for there 6 months prior on that morning? This is thier vacation,in which they paid thousands of dollars for already,they should be free to make changes to thier plans if they so choose. I am completely against double booking and not cancelling adr's ,but to penalize me for cancelling 10 hours before my adr, no matter what my reason is ,is just not my idea of vacation. I will just decide to vacation elsewhere,or if i do go, i will take my money off property and eat at the many other restraunts in the orlando area.

I suppose though,if disney does decide to go ahead with this plan,then when i arrive for an adr, if i have to wait 46 minutes on top of the already 20 minutes i waited when i arrived early,then that means i can charge disney for the time i lost in the parks then, as i would be going off the forced schedule i needed to make when i planned my adr's? Or how about when i plan the hour transportation time to get to my adr and it takes longer then that,as this has happened to me because of various problems with disney transportation? Or simply waiting 25 minutes in a thunder storm for a bus to take me where i need to go? These little things are what i expect here and there when i decide to spend a vacation at disney world,and for the most part, they don't bother me. Disney world needs to expect that there will probaly be a percentage of thier adr's that may cancel,due to sickness or whatever. Most people also realize this as well,and will try for a walk up and succeed in getting one. If they aren't able to get one, then apparently that means the restraunt isn't hurting quite as badly from cancellations and no shows after all.

10-4!

 

[Bob Price]

If Disney doesn't wany duplicate ADR's, how about not making people make them 6 months before their trip. Personally, this is one of the most ridiculous things about Disney.

If I'm in Disney for 7 days or so, how in the world do I know which day I'm going to the MK so I can go to Crystal Palace? What if I want to go to MGM for their character breakfast? Well, I better decide six months in advance what park I want to go to on which day otherwise I won't be able to get an ADR for that day.

I'm sure some of you plan crazy Dis'ers love it, but not me. Did I say it's ridiculous?

I don't think they are forcing you to make the reservation 6 months early. It's an option.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

What I think you'll find is many restaurants are starting to require credit cards for reservation guarantees. I wanted to go to Tao in NYC for my birthday this past July. A credit card was required, the fees for cancelling were at least 24 hours and the penalities were clearly defined.

It's about economics, and I realize things happen but from an overbooking and economics perspective, it makes 100% perfect sense, and honestly, from Disney's perspective, if they lost a few guests from implementing this program, they'd make it up in fees for a few no shows, less guest complaints due to overbooking and more predictable levels of capacity at the restaurants.

I have to agree here.

If your dining reservations are that important that you have to make your reservations in advance, a credit card should be part of the reservation process to secure your choice. Perhaps this will help eliminate people who want to make 2 or 3 reservaitons for the same time because they aren't sure what they will want to do......6 months out. When someone does this, it means others may not have their choices available.

I know...I know...some will protest that it will be so unfair ---- I made my plans first ---- I'm entitled to make as many reservations as I want for dinner on a single evening. If it's really that important that you make duplicate reservations, than you can have a duplicate charge on your card.

Perhaps DH and I have been lucky....we have always been able to grab the reservations we want. We make 3 or 4 ADR's ahead of time for our 10-day trips and then decide the others when we are there.

For us....having every meal so regimented would not be fun....but that's just us.

 

[Disneynut6]

I just booked our spring break trip with WDW and the disney travel agent said the 180 day window begins Oct 23. I asked her again to confirm. Just a FYI for those going in the spring and you thought Oct 27 was the start date.

 

[WDWKOOK]

I just booked our spring break trip with WDW and the disney travel agent said the 180 day window begins Oct 23. I asked her again to confirm. Just a FYI for those going in the spring and you thought Oct 27 was the start date.

Thanks for the 180 day ADR update

 

[mickeysbestfriend]

those tables will go empty at Disney World you have to be kidding. Every time we have dined at a TS restaurant in the World there are tons of people walking up hoping to get a table. So if they can fill every seat, why would there be a penalty for someone with ADR's that no shows?

I'm not really happy having to pay in full for dinner shows and certain TS restaurants 6 months in advance but we never change our plans on these restaurants unless something prevents us from going on the trip at all.

Bill and Faith

 

[Stewy]

I don't double book and I don't have a problem with a CC guarantee but Disney needs to step up the technology they use if they go to this.

I love being able to make a reservation online but hate that I can't get a complete list of all of them (and email it) and I can't cancel them without having to make a long distance call and spend my time waiting on hold or going to guest services and waiting in line. Maybe they have added this functionality since I used the online system the last time but until they do add it, they should not charge for no shows. They have made it a total pain to cancel/ change your ressies.

 

[DizzyStitch]

Since it appears that Disney overbooks ADR's already, I could count on one hand the nubmer of times I get seated at my ADR time, I can't see no show's doing that much harm. At some point maybe they even out the overbooking. Shoot last month I messed up the time at Ohana and missed out ressie. So there was ano show and they were still seating over 45 minutes past the ressie. Of course they told us if we wanted to wait it would be three hours with no guarantee. Yikes!