Multiple dining reservations during the same day -- ethical or not?

[wdwmomof3]

I'm a planner when it comes to my trips. I figure which park I will be in for that day and plan on the reservation to be in that park. I never have made mulitiple reservation, nor would I. My wife likes to be the fly by the seat type person and would rather not do reservations, but I don't want to wait either.

They need to start charging a small fee for no shows to stop the reservation abuse.

I agree! I would gladly give a credit card to hold my spot and if I didn't cancel they could charge me a fee. So far, I have never missed an ADR. I plan, I book one per day and I stick to it.

 

[dvcnut39]

I think if you're well prepared ahead of time with your dining list and you call exactly on the 90 day mark, you should be fine. Just have an alternate restaurant ready just in case your first choice is taken, but don't make multiple ressies, not cool.

Agree. If we happen to change our reservations, we always secure a new confirmation number before we cancel our original one. So I guess we are guilty for a few minutes.

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

Agree. If we happen to change our reservations, we always secure a new confirmation number before we cancel our original one. So I guess we are guilty for a few minutes.

Oh, I wouldn't declare you guilty for that. Sounds practical, actually. What if you cancel one ressie, but can't get another? Then you're left with nothing. Makes much more sense to do it your way.

 

[dxwwf3]

I think something needs to be done about ADR's. We went to the parks in December on a trip with our high school basketball team. We weren't for sure what park we would be in on each day so we couldn't make ADR's. We were not able to get into any table service restaurant that we tried on a walk in. And a lot of the places we went to had mostly empty tables when we tried to eat there. I think they either need to book less ADR's and open it up more for locals/normal walk ups or at least use common sense when running the restaurant. It's not good when people are trying to eat at a non crowded restaurnt and aren't able to because of the ADR system.

I can remember going to WDW less than 10 years ago and deciding where we wanted to eat the day of going to the park and calling that morning from our resort to get our priority seatings. I'm not saying it should be like that, but an ADR shouldn't be the only way to get to eat at the restaurants in the parks.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

When ADRs were available at 180 days - I made multiples but then ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS cancelled the ones I didn't use (WAY in advance), but now that the booking window is only 90 days - I usually have my schedule figured out so I only have to make 1 ADR at a time.

 

[DisneyRunner]

I agree with Captain Hook. That is what I do, make a plan and stick to it. I'm not saying I don't work systems to my advantage, but I think tying up reservations for others is wrong. Cancelling a reservation not being used is just a courtesy to others.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

I agree with Captain Hook.

I'm an obsessive planner - On our last trip we had a provisional itinery worked out well ahead of the December Park Hours being released - the Park Hours were published a matter of days before our 180 day window so with a little bit of tweaking we were set.
Its simple for us - we book a breakfast and an evening meal and pick up a snack for lunch wherever and whenever we feel hungry

 

[DougK]

The results of the poll so far, with 73 people saying they would never make multiple reservatons at the same time, and 1 person saying they would do so and not bother to cancel, proves...

people lie when taking polls


This has been one of my biggest complaints ever since the popularity of the Dining Plan has gotten so huge. That and the fewer dining choices, worse food, more expensive food, having to know where I want to eat 90 days in advance, etc.

Just for the record I do not make multiple reservations, in fact I hardly make ANY at WDW anymore. We eat offsite alot more often now. The lower prices offsite help to pay for the rental car, and we get the convenience of having a car when we need it.

I miss the old days when I could really look forward to many different types of meals at WDW, now most of them are average or worse.

 

[wdwmomof3]

I voted, and I told the truth. I don't book more than one a day. I personally think that most of the people here don't do this either. They know what a pain it is for others including for them when others do it.

 

[BiggerTigger]

Maybe because we have lucked out the few times we have gone to Disney that we make a few reservations for our trip (one a day). As we tour around, if we find a restaurant we wished to enjoy, we see if they have availability, which they usually do. But we also eat at odd hours of the day so we can find these reservations.
Our lives a too scheduled to have schedules when I am on vacation.

 

[Lance]

As passholders, we go to Disney quite frequently and often on short notice. Never have we been sitting at home 90 days in advance considering our dining options. We usually call about a week in advance and book everything that is open. We usually have about two lunch reservations and two dinner reservations to ensure that we can eat at table service. We also don't cancel the unused reservation and have never even given a second thought to feeling guilty. Are you serious Guilty? Unethical? The last time I was at Disney, no one who was there seemed to care about anyone else who was there, so I am having trouble believing that you cancel reservations out of consideration for others.

 

[eddiemcgarrigle]

Multiple reservations is just plain wrong. It's arrogant, ignorant and goes completely against the spirit of WDW.

 

[Lance]

If it is so arrogant, ignorant and against the spirit of WDW, why do they allow you to do it?

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

If it is so arrogant, ignorant and against the spirit of WDW, why do they allow you to do it?

There will always be people choosing to do the selfish thing and I'm sure Disney realizes that there is no point in arguing with them about reservations since most people would cancel duplicate reservations once they have made up their minds.

Personally I don't hold numerous tables at the same time...not when i lived in Florida and went to the parks on short notice and not now when I only visit every year or two. It's simply not necessary...you can cancel the day prior or even the day of and allow someone else to use the table.

I believe people that are that selfish are so few and far between that it doesn't greatly disrupt the reservation process anyway so I'm not worried to much about it.

 

[yankspy]

One thing to remember as well is that if you have a large party some restaurants will physically hold a table for you so if you "no call, no show" the server gets hurt by having an empty table in their section waiting for that party.