Disney to expand cancellation fees to all table service restaurants at Walt Disney World

[jl2081]

As a side note, I'm curious, do those of you who are staunchly against this put as much emotion into the fact that your Doctor/Dentist etc. do the same thing if you don't give them enough notice that you can't make a scheduled appointment? Or is that different in some way?

Awesome point!

 

[Jimmy Thick]

While I understand where Disney is coming from with this development, for people like me who make multiple ADR's per day per visit this won't hinder or stop me from continuing to do this as I enjoy the ability to be able to pick and choose where and what I eat when I want to. Besides, having a 24 hour cushion is more than enough time to change and cancel as I see fit. In the long run this could possible benefit people like me making more ADR's against the people who can't afford the price to do so as more will be available to me.

This, as they say, is magical.

Jimmy Thick- Can we break a ten ADR record?

 

[Timekeeper]

As a side note, I'm curious, do those of you who are staunchly against this put as much emotion into the fact that your Doctor/Dentist etc. do the same thing if you don't give them enough notice that you can't make a scheduled appointment? Or is that different in some way?

Now that you mention it, going to up to a Disney ticket window is a lot like going to see the proctologist.

 

[devoy1701]

Got a few extra minutes to rant ... so ... understand that this is all tied to saving on labor. They want to know EXACTLY how many meals they will serve at every locale on every evening. (some moron please come in and remind us that Disney is a business and has responsibilities to increase shareholder value by ANY means they feel fit and blah, blah and BLAH!)

That means that, as others have mentioned, you can be paying $400-plus a night for a room (you likely have too much money if you are, but that's another subject), walk up to what amounts to the coffee shop of your hotel, like the Grand Flo Cafe, the Kona Cafe, Captain's Grille, Olivia's etc. and be told 'we're booked for the night' at 6 p.m. with a location that is 40% full. You should ALWAYS be able to get into a deluxe resort's coffee shop, even if you have to wait a bit.

They just flat out are so money-obsessed that they do not want to properly staff the locales.

In the real world, businesses like that would go out of business. That is an amazingly blatant F-U to guests. Yet, most of you will take it and WDW standards will slip further. Yes, your vacation really would be ruined if you dined at the Swan, Dolphin, Waldorf, Hilton ... or especially the Red Lobster LBV.

My advice, which you won't follow, is if you really don't like this (or anything) use social media against them. Don't simply here. Organize a group of 500 or even half that to all call George Kalogridis and/or others at the same time and keep calling. They will not like that. They will take notice.

Interesting position '74. You and I agree on most things over the past couple years here. I do see your side of this, and agree that you should at least always be able to have dinner at a restaurant in the hotel you are staying in when it comes to the Deluxe category. If I'm staying at the WL and I want to eat at Whispering Canyon or Artist Pointe that night, it shouldn't be an issue.

I also see how you see this as another money grabbing move by TDO, and how it might screw the average guest. But wouldn't you agree that most of those average guests deserve to be screwed anyway??

I also see how it's a staffing issue as well, TDO wants to run as lean as possible to make sure they don't have more servers or food than they need, and would rather operate to that bottom line than to a full restaurant.

All kidding aside, if this makes it slightly easier to get a same day/walk up reservation...even if it's for subpar overpriced food, I do think it's a positive step for those of us who can plan ahead and not freak out if we can't book 3 dinner reservations for the same night since we're too indecisive.

 

[BrerJon]

They've defined it as that for as long as I can remember but have always actually treated them as "reservations" in most cases. I think maybe the idea is they say that so that if you show up on time but they can't seat you for 30 minutes, they are covered y'know?

That's exactly it. At the start of each day, each restaurant's seat assigners will be given a list of reservations for the day and makes a plan, based on the average time people take to eat, which is probably why the new cancellation cut-off is the night before. While parties of up to 4 - which are the easiest to seat - will be given the first available table, they will sometimes hold tables for larger parties as it's harder to find room for them, but generally it is first available after reservation time rather than saved table.

People being late for reservations is the single biggest cause of overcrowded restaurants in Disney. Too many people show up late or get stuck in ride lines for them to hold tables for everyone, so the ADR system is a good compromise.

If you find yourself waiting 30 minutes after your reservation time, it's likely that many guests have arrived late and/or are taking longer than the calculated average time to eat and messing up the seating plan. Generally the earlier you arrive for a reservation the better.

The big issues come when lots of reservations don't show for an hour, so some walk-ins are allowed in, and then the ressies finally turn up and the CMs try to honor them anyway. If you see chaos in a Disney restaurant that's probably what's happened!

As for empty restaurants taking no walk-ins, often large parties not showing up are to blame (large parties are almost always late for reservations) and sometimes if the bean counters crowd estimates are off, or several CMs are off-sick, staffing might be low and Disney would rather turn people away from one venue knowing they will likely spend their money at another venue on property, than have people complaining they waited 2 hours for an appetiser and have to comp food, which is what can happen in restaurants when servers and kitchens are given too many people at once to deal with.

 

[COProgressFan]

It's about scheduling. If you don't have a booked room then why would you staff for it. Bringing in the wait and kitchen staff to accommodate some walk ups doesn't make sense, or they would do it.
There is a profitability line and the walk up demand isn't strong enough.

Having to get your CC out when booking will keep ADRs to those serious about being there.

I'm sure TDO appreciates the wonderful defense of their inability to properly staff restaurants.

Of course it costs money to staff extra servers, cooks, etc. But they can certainly factor in a percentage of walk-ups based on projected attendance that day. However, they are so afraid of "wasting" labor hours that they would rather turn down the potential income from what could amount to thousands of walk-up guests in a day.

Bottom line is, they would rather lose the thousands of dollars in income from walk-up guests than spend that money on labor. The real reason is that the lost, potential income from these guests doesn't show up on the books. It's intangible, and no one tracks how many times guests come to the podium and are turned away. Bob Iger and Wall Street don't know how much money they turned down. But Tom, Jay, and Bob do get to see how much they're spending on labor. And George K. gets show show them how efficient and productive WDW is in terms of labor hours.

Just because Disney does something does not mean it makes the most sense financially.

 

[Master Yoda]

That's exactly it. At the start of each day, each restaurant's seat assigners will be given a list of reservations for the day and makes a plan, based on the average time people take to eat, which is probably why the new cancellation cut-off is the night before. While parties of up to 4 - which are the easiest to seat - will be given the first available table, they will sometimes hold tables for larger parties as it's harder to find room for them, but generally it is first available after reservation time rather than saved table.

People being late for reservations is the single biggest cause of overcrowded restaurants in Disney. Too many people show up late or get stuck in ride lines for them to hold tables for everyone, so the ADR system is a good compromise.

If you find yourself waiting 30 minutes after your reservation time, it's likely that many guests have arrived late and/or are taking longer than the calculated average time to eat and messing up the seating plan. Generally the earlier you arrive for a reservation the better.

The big issues come when lots of reservations don't show for an hour, so some walk-ins are allowed in, and then the ressies finally turn up and the CMs try to honor them anyway. If you see chaos in a Disney restaurant that's probably what's happened!

As for empty restaurants taking no walk-ins, often large parties not showing up are to blame (large parties are almost always late for reservations) and sometimes if the bean counters crowd estimates are off, or several CMs are off-sick, staffing might be low and Disney would rather turn people away from one venue knowing they will likely spend their money at another venue on property, than have people complaining they waited 2 hours for an appetiser and have to comp food, which is what can happen in restaurants when servers and kitchens are given too many people at once to deal with.

You are new here so you might have not heard that logic and reason are not allowed in threads like this.

 

[beachlover4444]

Unfortunate, but at the same time unfortunately necessary. Due to people making multiple reservations and not bothering to cancel ones they don't end up using.

My sister works at Mama Melrose. She said the number of no shows is ridiculous. Then they are turning away people left and right who could have gotten in. So I think this will maybe open up more chances to get a reservation and to get a walk in because lately its almost impossible to walk into a sit down at WDW anymore.

 

[beachlover4444]

I'm sure TDO appreciates the wonderful defense of their inability to properly staff restaurants.

Of course it costs money to staff extra servers, cooks, etc. But they can certainly factor in a percentage of walk-ups based on projected attendance that day. However, they are so afraid of "wasting" labor hours that they would rather turn down the potential income from what could amount to thousands of walk-up guests in a day.

Bottom line is, they would rather lose the thousands of dollars in income from walk-up guests than spend that money on labor. The real reason is that the lost, potential income from these guests doesn't show up on the books. It's intangible, and no one tracks how many times guests come to the podium and are turned away. Bob Iger and Wall Street don't know how much money they turned down. But Tom, Jay, and Bob do get to see how much they're spending on labor. And George K. gets show show them how efficient and productive WDW is in terms of labor hours.

Just because Disney does something does not mean it makes the most sense financially.

My sis works at a sit down at Hollywood studios. she said some days 20% don't show up for reservations and they turn away walk in business to hold those tables. so yes, they should get charged something. even golf courses in Ohio are asking for CC to hold a tee time nowadays.

 

[beachlover4444]

Interesting position '74. You and I agree on most things over the past couple years here. I do see your side of this, and agree that you should at least always be able to have dinner at a restaurant in the hotel you are staying in when it comes to the Deluxe category. If I'm staying at the WL and I want to eat at Whispering Canyon or Artist Pointe that night, it shouldn't be an issue.

I also see how you see this as another money grabbing move by TDO, and how it might screw the average guest. But wouldn't you agree that most of those average guests deserve to be screwed anyway??

I also see how it's a staffing issue as well, TDO wants to run as lean as possible to make sure they don't have more servers or food than they need, and would rather operate to that bottom line than to a full restaurant.

All kidding aside, if this makes it slightly easier to get a same day/walk up reservation...even if it's for subpar overpriced food, I do think it's a positive step for those of us who can plan ahead and not freak out if we can't book 3 dinner reservations for the same night since we're too indecisive.

If you have to hold a tee time, a hotel and other things with a cc guarantee, why not a restaurant. They are having 20-30% not show up. That's a lot of revenue lost. And they are turning people away who could have been sat had they not held that table. So I'm all for this so maybe I can get a dang reservation when I come in February.

 

[willtravel]

I can see this being a big complaint at high time. Christmas and Spring break.......

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Now that you mention it, going to up to a Disney ticket window is a lot like going to see the proctologist.

Why in the WORLD do you bother then? Geesh if I felt that way I most certainly wouldn't be spending my hard earned money there!

 

[WDWFan_Boston]

Why anyone would want to dine at that crapateria is another subject.

Because everyone's not like you. Thank goodness.

 

[lebeau]

Most of the "good" restuarants already have the policy...has it been easier to walk in since implemented?

Exactly!

This isn't a customer friendly policy. It benefits Disney, not guests. People who really want to abuse the system are still going to do it. They will just cancel 24 hours earlier. But now, Disney can get cancellation fees out of people who legitimately had something cause them to change their plans unexpectedly.

 

[ThemeParkJunkee]

I wonder if this is the "big announcement" for the new fiscal year.

 

[draybook]

Got a few extra minutes to rant ... so ... understand that this is all tied to saving on labor. They want to know EXACTLY how many meals they will serve at every locale on every evening. (some moron please come in and remind us that Disney is a business and has responsibilities to increase shareholder value by ANY means they feel fit and blah, blah and BLAH!)

That means that, as others have mentioned, you can be paying $400-plus a night for a room (you likely have too much money if you are, but that's another subject), walk up to what amounts to the coffee shop of your hotel, like the Grand Flo Cafe, the Kona Cafe, Captain's Grille, Olivia's etc. and be told 'we're booked for the night' at 6 p.m. with a location that is 40% full. You should ALWAYS be able to get into a deluxe resort's coffee shop, even if you have to wait a bit.

They just flat out are so money-obsessed that they do not want to properly staff the locales.

In the real world, businesses like that would go out of business. That is an amazingly blatant F-U to guests. Yet, most of you will take it and WDW standards will slip further. Yes, your vacation really would be ruined if you dined at the Swan, Dolphin, Waldorf, Hilton ... or especially the Red Lobster LBV.

My advice, which you won't follow, is if you really don't like this (or anything) use social media against them. Don't simply here. Organize a group of 500 or even half that to all call George Kalogridis and/or others at the same time and keep calling. They will not like that. They will take notice.

If I ever see you in person I will gladly buy you a beer, tea, rain water or whatever the heck it is you drink. You and @marni1971 are saying EXACTLY what needs to be said and what I've been seeing and thinking since this last trip.

 

[GFD613]

Do I have to preorder my meals in advance now too?

Are they going to fix the fact that the average time to get seated is well over 15 minutes?

We have bailed on ADRs because it has taken more than 30 minutes to be seated.

Now you are held prisoner?

Fantastic.

Funny you should say that. DH and I keep kosher, and for our trip in Jan 2010 we actually did have to pick our apps and entrees for each meal when we made our res.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Fantasmic!.

Fixed that for you.

It will be interesting to see if they try to charge you if you were to leave because they didn't seat you in a reasonable time....

 

[ToTBellHop]

Funny you should say that. DH and I keep kosher, and for our trip in Jan 2010 we actually did have to pick our apps and entrees for each meal when we made our res.

Soon WDW will be as obnoxious about pre-ordering as wedding venues. But, there will be no bridesmaids to hit on while you work thru the chicken dish you thought you wanted six months ago...

 

[Sl8500]

I think this is long overdue. There are too many people who book multiple reservations, then decide at the last minute which one to use, but never cancel the others.

However, there needs to be some leniency to allow for unforeseen situations.