Will 180 dining res policy tick off first-timers?

[maxaroni]

I'm not sure how everything (and everyone) will be impacted by this change. I do think that it will have the CM's working more with changing ressies more often. It's funny that this came up today as we were thinking that in our next trip (hopefully, 8/06), we want to eat more CS's. We love the TS's and were fortunate to have free dining this past august, however, we want a vacation that is more spur of the moment, where do you want to eat tonite. Now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder if the people that don't book a vacation, 6 months out, will feel the crunch as prime restaurants and times will already be taken.

 

[rlduvall]

I guess one good thing from this new policy is that Disney is now supposed to have the operating hours/calendar completed six months out to assist in your planning, instead of this only 1-2 month out nightmare. Every little bit helps.

 

[CarolA]

OK...

Maybe it's just me, but I don't get why 180 vs 90 makes it harder on people like me who book at the LAST minute??? Either way I am always inside of 90 days Maybe your definition of "late booking" is different, but mine is "going tomorrow"

 

[bavaria]

Does anyone else think that maybe they are loading some inventory for ADR's at 180 days out, then loading more as they get closer?

Personally, I think that it's overkill, as I never plan ahead. Even when we had a group of 10 last year, we booked one month out and made only a few key ADR's.

This year, it was much tougher to find an ADR, and I do believe that it was due to the dining plan.

But it was also sad to be told that there were no ADRs available all night at Spoodles; show up in person a few minutes later to find an almost empty restaurant and be told by the server that they had been very slow all day. That leads me to believe that there were a lot of noshows for bookings, or something was wrong with the ADR system. This was on a Saturday night, when one would expect them to be very busy!

Remember, just a few years ago one made reservations on the day only, with few exceptions.... wonder if it was less stressful all around?

 

[mickeymost]

I may be in the minority, but I don't think it's going to impact things too much. As someone else stated, the same amount of people will be in the parks eating the same amount of meals. It's good for those who like to plan ahead, which I am a planner, but I think 180 days is too many days ahead. I also agree that one person should not be able to hold more than 1 reservation for each meal per day. That's the way it should be anyway. I guess we'll all see.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I love to plan my trips, but I agree with many others that 180 days out is a little tough to decide what/where/when to go.

I don't think it will have much impact on walk ups, some TS resturaunts will still be impossible to walk up at and others still won't. I don't think that there are many obessive planners (excluding us dissers, of course) out there that will call ahead 180 days in advance vs. the 90 days. I think people that call at 90 days now will call at 180 days and the people who don't call at all or wait until the week before they leave will continue to do that.

 

[Tinkbell]

I love planning my WDW trips. The planning is part of the fun for me. However, I think 6 months advance ADRs are a bit too much. I agree with those who say that the park hours should be posted sooner in order to make all the planning go smoother.

 

[crazelion]

I hard time decideing what I won't for breakfeast in morning let alone 180 days making ADR. That would elimate me from eating at WDW food places where how make ADR at.

I will be going offsite to eat dinner now.

 

[mickeysaver]

I honestly don't see this as anything other than a great way for the overplanners to get their stuff done with a minimum of difficulty. I doubt that everyone going to WDW will be taking every CRT, Le Cellier, Chef Mickey's, CP, and whatever other hot spot restaurant seats at 6 months out. I am sure that there will be folks, like me, , that will call with a fully planned itinerary on the 180 day mark. Planning for us, typically, is not a big deal. I can plan out an itinerary in a matter of hours, if I have park hours and the EMH schedule. I can see where some folks would have a devil of a time with this, but for me, it's a HUGE planning and stress reducing perk for staying onsite. I just wish they had implemented this 6 months ago. Maggie

 

[Adora]

This is will be my first time beign the planner for our Disney trip. (Last time it was as a family so parents did very little) We're 173 days away from our trip. I was planning to book the hotel this week and then slowly get ready for what day we'll spend where and figure out where to eat. now all of a sudden, I'm in a rush trying to figure out everything just so that I don't miss out on some places I erally wanna go. I thought I was so ahead of the game And I really don't know enough about park hours to predict and hours don't come out until like 2 seconds before. BAH! BAH I say!

 

[runner26.2]

I don't see what the big deal is about the change in reservation policy. The majority of people who visit WDW don't plan and don't really care about dining at WDW. They will eat wherever, whether it is on site or off.

while I don't have huge experience at this (probably 10 visits in last 15-16 years) we have almost never made ADR's except for some character breakfasts. There are a huge number of places to eat at WDW and those without ADR's before they arrive will find somewhere to eat.

Frankly, the change to a 180 day reservation period is a benefit to those who use this board. Just like many of the other secrets and tips learned here, this is just one more advantage.

 

[bytheblood]

I am not a first timer, but I sure can tell you that I don't like it.

I can see several issues with this.

1. Some may not have their entire budgets in order 6 months out.
2. If a discount code is released, it may affect the way some plan their meals. You may get a code 90 days before, but not 180.

I just think it is silly to have to plan your dinners 6 months before you arrive.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

Well, if it stays at 180 days, I suppose I'll never be eating at a TS restaurant again. I literally don't even find out when I'm going to Disney World until maybe a month or so beforehand because of work... never know when we can take time off for a vacation. Earliest you can ask for it is about a month ahead of time, and then sometimes they make you wait a week or more before it's approved. This June was the first time we weren't able to get into an TS restaurants aside from the soda area of 50s Prime Time, and I was highly disappointed. We can't really make reservations because we base where we go each day on how we feel (my family has a lot of back, feet, etc. problems, so if we need an "easy" day, we'd go to MGM as opposed to Epcot and all the walking that entails, for example). I guess it's all going to depend on whether or not Disney prohibits people from making 5 million ADRS for one day.

 

[InstImpres]

180 day hours are posted on Disney's Travel Agent Site so I am sure they will be up quickly on the main site.

The one advantage I see to this is now you will have park hours when making dining ressies instead of guessing which the old system required.

 

[jamzots]

Yes, yes, yes, yes , and yes, I agree with the O.P.. Before you know it they will have ADR's available- 1 year in advance (mark my words) and even us advance planners will be struggling to get ressie's. This is almost as bad as "biometrics" which I have to say does not work for nothing and caused major bottle necks to get into the parks when I was there last week. But that is another thread. Why, Oh WHY do they have to mess with the system????

 

[jamzots]

the one advantage I see to this is now you will have park hours when making dining ressies instead of guessing which the old system required.

Yes, however park hours are subject to change, and I can guarantee they WILL be changing them by the time 180 days has passed.

 

[waspnest]

I don't believe the change to 180 days will make any difference. The number of WDW visitors will not increase. Nor wil the number of diners. This will just spread out the time to make the ADRs an extra 90 days. Compulsive planners will make reservations sooner, and others will make them later, as they do now.

Exactly what I was thinking. I wouldn't like the change, because I know I wouldn't be able to plan 180 days out, then by the time 90 days was out, the best ADRs would be gone. But as you get closer to the date of the ADR, the difference between 180 day and 90 day will diminish. Walk-ups shouldn't be affected at all.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Compulsive planners will make reservations sooner, and others will make them later, as they do now.

Yea, but at 180 days out, I see people making more bookings, not being really SURE where or what time they want to eat six months from now, and being planners they will KNOW those park hours ARE gonna change, so they'll plan for that with extra ADR's and then they will be tying up more reservations that they won't keep and even though I know most DIS'ers are good about cancelling ADR's that they aren't going to use, there are alot of people who won't bother, therefore alot of un-used ADR's and alot of people unhappy they couldn't get that ADR's.

On our big family trip, I had a Disney "meeting" 100 days before we went mostly so I could figure out where everyone wanted to eat and what ADR's I needed to make......doing this at 100 days out, my family thought I was NUTS, I can just imagine if I'd done it at 170 days out, they would have locked me up!

 

[tidoublegger]

I don't believe the change to 180 days will make any difference. The number of WDW visitors will not increase. Nor wil the number of diners. This will just spread out the time to make the ADRs an extra 90 days. Compulsive planners will make reservations sooner, and others will make them later, as they do now.

I agree!

 

[disneytraveler]

How does this impact the platinium plan when someone from Ipo is supposed
to contact me within 100 days to plan my stuff?