Just experienced several WDW disappointments

[frank2271]

Just saw this on the menu website:

"When you arrive at Cinderella Castle for your reservation,
a photographer will be on hand to take pictures of your group in the lobby,
before you are seated in the dining room.
A package with four 4x6 prints and one 6x8 print of your photo,
as well as one 6x8 print of Cinderella Castle,
in a Cinderella photo holder (valued at $29.95 plus tax)
will be delivered to you during your meal,
which will be from a fixed-price, set menu.
(One photo package per party of 1-4;
two photo packages for parties of 5-8, etc"

Is this photo package included in the price of the meal?

 

[H20Babie]

I was surprised by Le Cell, too, since I also have dinner reservations at Narcoossee's, which I thought for sure would require a credit card but they didn't ask for that one at all :shrug:

 

[Master Yoda]

Even with the Dining Plan, I had to put a deposit down for Cali Grill....I don't remember having to do the same for Le Cellier, though....

dave

Like our buddy Clemsontigger said more and more resturants on property are going to this policy as a way to stem the no shows. Le Cellier is nearly as popular as Cindy's so it really surprises me that it took them this long for them to require a CC number.

Really and truly the only people that are going to be effected by this are the one's abusing the system. In turn us regular guests that only book one restaurant for breakfast lunch and dinner and make it a point to be at an ADR on time or cancel it ahead of time will able to make an ADR less than 6 months out once again.

 

[wannab@dis]

Yes, one package for each group of 4 in your party.

 

[Monty]

Just saw this on the menu website:

"When you arrive at Cinderella Castle for your reservation,
a photographer will be on hand to take pictures of your group in the lobby,
before you are seated in the dining room.
A package with four 4x6 prints and one 6x8 print of your photo,
as well as one 6x8 print of Cinderella Castle,
in a Cinderella photo holder (valued at $29.95 plus tax)
will be delivered to you during your meal,
which will be from a fixed-price, set menu.
(One photo package per party of 1-4;
two photo packages for parties of 5-8, etc"

Is this photo package included in the price of the meal?

Yes, you get the photo package included with the meal.

 

[Monty]

The DDE is not operated by Disney, so they don't have hundreds of operators 'standing by'. Call back, but you should be aware that your membership will be good for one year from the end of the month you purchase the card [If you buy it today, it'll expire at the end of October '08], so you might want to wait until just before your trip to order it. They can have a temporary card waiting for you at Epcot front gate GR the day after you order it.

DDP is only worth it as an AP holder if it's free, otherwise get the DDE, it gives you more flexibility that DDP and usually saves you more [depending on how you eat].

Pre-pay is the way of the world unfortunately. If you are planning on using DDE or DDP, let them know when you book your ADR. If you're on DDE they'll apply the discount when they charge your Credit Card, if on DDP they'll only charge your card if you're a no-show or cancel too late.

 

[EpcotServo]

Yep. The dining plan screws you comin' and goin'.

:lol:

 

[wdwfan22]

effective February 1, 2006, payment in full is required at time of booking for breakfast(and lunch and dinner, too) at Cinderella's Royal Table. If you do not have a credit card, the reservation cannot be made.

taken from allears.com
Dinner will become a fixed-price, set meal, also, hosted by the Fairy Godmother, who will lead the observance of special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. You will also have the chance to have your photo taken before dining, with a photo package similar to that mentioned above offered to you during the meal. In addition, you will receive a special, unframed, unmatted lithograph (worth $50), given exclusively to diners at Cinderella's Royal Table Dinner.

Dinner: $40.99 ages 10 and up; $25.99 ages 3-9.



Here is a listing that was also posted on allears.com of the restaurants requiring a credit card guarantee.

Victoria & Albert's
Cancel 24 hours in advance
$25 per person penalty for same day cancels and no-shows

Chef's Table at Victoria & Albert's
Cancel 48 hours in advance
$25 per person penalty for cancels within 48 hours and no-shows

Citrico's Chef's Domain
Cancel 48 hours in advance
$100 penalty for cancels inside 48 hours and no-shows

Fantasmic! Dining Experience
Cancel 48 hours in advance
$10 per person charge for cancels within 48 hours and no-shows

Grand Floridian's Grand Adventures in Cooking
Cancel 48 hours in advance
$10 per person charge for cancels within 48 hours and no-shows

Grand Floridian's Pirate Cruise
Cancel 48 hours in advance
$10 per person charge for cancels within 48 hours and no-shows

Grand Floridian's Wonderland Tea Party
Cancel 48 hours in advance
$10 per person charge for cancels within 48 hours and no-shows

Princess Storybook Breakfast
Cancel 48 hours in advance
$10 per person charge for cancels within 48 hours and no-shows

as always information is subject to change.

 

[frank2271]

Well, I made a ressie.

They DID charge my card the full price, $149.76 imediately. AND they could not apply my 20% off for the DDE because they said that the 2008 DDE prices have not been released yet. How can they not be released yet? My January ressie is only three months away. If people can make ressies six months out shouldn't the prices be released at least six months out??

I swear, sometimes Disney acts like they don't have a clue what their doing.

But as I said in one of my prior rants, it's for my wifes happiness on our anniversary.

All I can say is that the "Cheese Tortellini with julienne vegetables, garlic marinara Sauce and fresh Romano" better be good.

Thanks for your help and for letting me chew your ears.

Frank

 

[DisneyGigi]

I don't really see anything wrong with this policy, it just keeps people from booking and then changing their minds last minute for whatever reason. CRT has been that way awhile hasn't it? As well as the Fantasmic packages?

 

[mary219]

Just FYI, because I am not on the dining plan, I did have to prepay my CRT breakfast ressie with a credit card. I also had to give my credit card for my ressies at California Grill and Le Cellier. If I don't cancel 24 hours or more before my ADRs, they will charge $20.00 to my credit card for California Grill and Le Cellier and I will lose the whole shebang at CRT.

Even with the DDP ,the cm taking my adr's told me a credit card was required for crt and cali grill

 

[Thelazer]

I'd Skip Cindy's....

It's not really that great of a place to have a wedding anniversy at if you ask me. Try something outside of the parks, not as many screaming kids around and for the price, much better food.

Give the Artist Point a try.

 

[Monty]

Even with the DDP ,the cm taking my adr's told me a credit card was required for crt and cali grill

They still take your information to secure the reservation, but they're not supposed to charge the amount to your card unless you're a no-show or cancel too late. I've had them charge my card when I'd told them I was using DDP and a quick call got the charge reversed immediately.

 

[Chezman1399]

You always have to get tickets in order to get the Dining Package. Cinderella's does require a Deposit most of the year because it is so busy. I have never heard of them charging full price like that right off the bat. It was better when it was a steak house anyway.

 

[Monty]

You always have to get tickets in order to get the Dining Package. Cinderella's does require a Deposit most of the year because it is so busy. I have never heard of them charging full price like that right off the bat. It was better when it was a steak house anyway.

It's been full price right off the bat since February '06

 

[stmize]

last year I wasn't on the dining plan and I had to pre-pay for CRT and they did charge my credit card prior to arrival. This year even tho I was on the dining plan I still had to give my credit card info and was told if I was a no-show or didn't cancel timely I would then be charged a fee of around $20

 

[Jerm]

So Frank you are upset with Disney because they told you the correct info and you didn't do your home work? I don't mean to point a finger, but your aggravation should not be at Disney or the CM's because they did their jobs and told you all the right info.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQTicketsPage#q22

Q. How can I get the Disney Dining Plan?

A. When you stay at a Disney Resort and purchase a Magic Your Way Base Package (additional options available), you will always be able to select the Magic Your Way Plus Dining Package, which allows you to add the Disney Dining Plan and choose the meals you and your family want for up to 30% savings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-vcANJoexY

 

[Rob562]

I'm not going to get into the entire history of it, but another reason for the CC (either as pre-payment or just to secure the reservation) was abuse by groups of Guests a number of years back.
Large groups of people would call in order to try and get breakfast reservations for people they knew through an online forum (not this one). Many times they would end up with many more reservations than what they really needed, and they would then dole them out to members of the group rather than cancel them.
Names wouldn't necessarily match on the reservations, or certain names would become known to the CMs at the restaurant after showing up over and over, with a different family each time. Disney decided to head off the issue by requiring a credit card guarantee for breakfast. At some point it was expanded to ALL meals in the castle.

Do an online search for "Howie's Angels" or "Breakfast Club" on MousePlanet and you'll find a series of articles about the controversy, or do similar searches on rec.arts.disney.parks

EDIT: Forgot to comment about the DDP with an AP. I've done the calculations for myself, and unless the DDP is free (such as the September specials the past couple years, in which case you buy a 1-day,1-park ticket as part of the package) , the DDE discount was *always* a better deal. I plotted out a hypothetical trip and which restaurants my group would go to. I then chose the applicable menu items that *I* would order and laid it out in a spreadsheet. Then I factored in the DDE discount on the table restaurants (and the AK counter service), tax, tips. The bottom-line money spent for buying meals with the DDE discount was noticably less than the price of buying the DDP for the trip. (even before taking into account that I'd most likely be getting an AP discount ON TOP of the dining savings)

-Rob

 

[wdwmomof3]

You are right it doesn't, but the huge number of no-shows are one of the reasons why Cindy's went prepaid. It was the only way Disney could reduce them to a more reasonable level.

I guess they could have gone prepaid for only certain times but that would have been mass confusion. Going all prepaid was a simple solution.

It wouldn't bother me if they did this for all PS times. I can't tell you how mad that I got when I read that some people booked two different times to eat so that if they couldn't make one they would have a backup. This is not very considerate for the other families that would like one of those times.

 

[MickeyFan77]

They still take your information to secure the reservation, but they're not supposed to charge the amount to your card unless you're a no-show or cancel too late. I've had them charge my card when I'd told them I was using DDP and a quick call got the charge reversed immediately.

When I tried to reserve CRT they charged my cc immediately when I decided to go on the dining plan a week later IT TOOK THEM A MONTH to credit it back. I literally called 5x's to get it done. Each one had a different answer. I figured it would take a week or so but a month was a little long.