Will 180 dining res policy tick off first-timers?

[bicker]

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.

Good point, and that may be the motivation behind the change: reducing the insane and utterly unnecessary load placed on the reservations folks every morning between the time they open and no more than a half-hour later. While some folks will call at 180 days, clearly far fewer will do so than at 90 days, so the load will be spread out more evenly.

 

[Dorisk3]

When I heard that they were going to be taking reservations 180 days in advance it made me a little angry! How many people actually plan their vacation 6 months in advance- and I'm not talking about what parks on what days. I'm saying how many people know that they will be going to Disney 1 year ahead of time. We usually wait to see what kind of deal comes up- but that's usually 3 to 5 months ahead of time. Forget ever eating at Cinderella's castle again! I think it works against folks who might drop down to Disney at the spur of the moment. To be honest, even 90 days in advance is a bit nutty!

 

[InstImpres]

=Forget ever eating at Cinderella's castle again! !

I am not sure with the price increase I even want to!!

 

[bicker]

So the two cancel out, eh?

 

[Ducky4Disney]

As a DVC member, I'm used to planning trips way inadvance - 11 months out at times. But I like to plan where I'm going to eat with which park I'll be visiting that day. If they have the park hours out earlier, that's great, but how are they going to plan around events like MNSSHP or MVMCP? When I call in May to make an Oct ADR somewhere in MK, will they know that there is a MNSSHP that night, and the park is closing early? I can't remember when event dates like that come out.

I like to make 1 ADR a day, usually a late lunch or early dinner. Breakfast I do in my villa to save some cash and the third meal of the day is just snacking around the parks. With more time to make ADR's and the dining plan, do you think they will open more restaurants to accomadate more people? Or do you think they should?

D4D

 

[helenk]

I think that the majority of the people will not take advantage of the 180 days. I love planning a trip, but even I do not know where I want to eat 6 months before my trip, except for maybe Hoopdedoo.
I would guess that there will be some ADRs available at the 180 mark, then more released at the 90 day, then 60 day and the 30 day time frame like they are now.

 

[mickman1962]

Well I called today to make ADR's for Easter week hoping for 7:00 ressies and some them I had to go to 8:00 some 6:30 so either people are calling early or they are releasing them in stages. As for the park hours dictating where I eat it is never a factor as we usually leave the parks by 2 to go swimming and then go where we want to eat and spend the night in that park.

 

[Feralpeg]

As a person who lives close to WDW and takes advantage of spontaneous dining experiences, I hope it doesn't cause problems. I rarely have ADRs. With the exception of a few places, such as LeCellier and Sci-Fi, I usually have no trouble getting in. It is probably because there are just two of us and we are flexible as to when and where we eat. For instance, last night, DD and I attended MNSSHP. I hadn't made any ADRs. We went over to LTT about 4:30pm and asked if they could take two for dinner. We waited about 10 minutes and got in. I'm sure they were very busy later on. Going early really makes a difference.

 

[stacy347]

I admit I am one of the people that love this new system! I have been planning this trip for months ~ we aren't going until June 2006 and we already know every TS ressie we want to make so this just gives us one more thing to make our trip seem like a reality I get to make our first ADR on 12/29 and I'll be anxiously counting down the days!
That said, we can't just take a vacation at the the drop of a hat and I can honestly see how that would make a huge difference so I hope that all of you are able to get exactly what you are hoping for

 

[Soupermom]

I'm sorry...I"ve read this entire thread and cannot find the following answers. WHAT is a BPR and where can I read more about the 180 day system? Is it just rumor or is it going into effect sometime soon? I'm due to make my 90 ADR's next month and would like to know if I need to plan sooner. Thanks!

 

[TiggerInLBV]

This policy is already in effect!

 

[DaisyGirlAllTheWay]

To be completely honest I was sort of floored by the new policy. I had just started to get my restaurants together and plan seeing that my 90day mark was next friday...BAM here comes the new policy...I got my ADRs close to or exactly what I wanted but it was the quick scramble on friday night knowing that I was going to get up @ 7am on my assigned morning...that was a little bit frustrating... I'm happy that I got everything although I had to change them again due to the park hours...

The people I feel bad for are like what most people have been saying, those princesses that want to eat with cindy on their bday and can't because their parents weren't aware of the new policy...A little bit of a heads up would have been nice...Yikes I can't even imagine planning my next trips adrs 6months in advance....

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I think one group this will cause problems for is families with special dietary needs. I am diabetic and my daughter is a strict vegan. We can't eat "just anywhere" and one reason we love to go to WDW is because they are so good about meeting our dietary needs. But CS won't usually work - we need TS, and there are some TS that are more "veggie-friendly."

But I noticed when planning our upcoming vacation (Nov. 27- Dec. 9) that it was harder than usual to get the ADR's we wanted at the times we wanted. I think that with the dining plan, more people are booking ADR's. This is a bit of an issue for me as I need to eat at certain times - that's why we try to plan all our meals in advance.

So it worries me that if (for example) I see a good deal offered and want to book a trip, but it's less than 180 days away (as the deals usually are), then I may not be able to get the meals I need.

Teresa

 

[Soupermom]

When did this start? Where can I read about it????

 

[3princesses4us]

I agree. I'm a compulsive over-planner and even I hate this! We planned our trip last September on a romantic impulse and already didn't get many of the restaurants we wanted (CRT) because it was under 3 months out. Now that it's 6 months out- yikes! We're going with DH's family this fall and they won't even want to begin to talk about food until summertime- mark my words. I guess we'll plan and eat and they'll give us dirty looks...
OP is right about first timers getting the shaft on this plan. Hadn't even thought of that!

 

[Soupermom]

I still haven't found the official info regarding this, but I wanted to say thanks to the OP. Had I not found and read this thread, I never would have called to make our ADR's for March. I called Fri. afternoon to confirm my 90 day out date, and nothing was mentioned of this. I'm SO glad I read the thread, panicked and called a short time ago. We now have our ressies for 1900 PF and CP, the times/ dates I wanted. FYI...Grand/Magical Gatherings are still 90 days out. I still need to wait on that one.

THANKS AGAIN OP!!

 

[thptrek]

Having park hours come out earlier is the best news of this policy, IMHO.

 

[phisigprincess]

WE got an email from our travel agent telling us about it. Though I love it (since I'm not going till Dec. 2006), the control freak part of me is going nuts. The 180 system puts my ADRs the week of my wedding!!! I'm going to have to get the info to my travel agent and hope she gets my ADRs because I don't think I'll be too Disney focused that week.