Reservations back to 180 days Oct 27th

[stitch's mom]

I personally am excited about this last year when I went at 90 days the time slots I wanted were already booked and since my family and I will be doing mostly character breakfasts I can book them and not have to wait my kids are early risers and the earlier breakfast is the better my kids are....:sohappy::sohappy:

 

[Master Yoda]

Master Yoda,

Wow, thank you for that update. I did not know. And this is the 1st I have read about this and I troll many forums.

Do you know if the ADR is canceled that the person who made the ressie is contacted at all? If they cancel and don't contact, that seems a bit harsh especially since this is a new feature.

Also, where did you find this info. I would like to communicate this to some mouseowner members as this has not been posted there yet.

Right now the official policy, rules etc are being kept pretty hush hush. All I know is what I have been able to piece together from a few people with indirect knowledge as well as reports from this and a few other forums. So far it seems like all reservations are being canceled and I have no information as to whether those parties have been notified but I can not imagine guests not being notified. But I can not confirm that one way or another. Double booking has been an issue for a while and Disney that was only made worse by the DDD and free DDP promotions and they have been looking for a way to solve it for quite some time.

Understood, but it's a blatant Keys to the Kingdom violation.
Courtesy beats Efficiency....or does it?:shrug:

This is one of those gray areas of show vs efficiency. While I would love to just be able to walk up and wait you have to admit that it is not the most efficient system for either the restaurant or the guest. The restaurants end up being ghost towns during off times and guests end up waiting an excessive amount of time to get a table during peak hours. Just think of a local chain restaurant that does not do call ahead seating or take reservations. If you arrive at 3:00 PM on a Tuesday you will get seated right away but if you try the same thing on Friday at 7:00 PM you are going to have to wait and hour plus. That is pretty bad show. Now put that restaurant at WDW. Every night is a Friday night. The solution take reservations. With a little planning you should be able to show up at a prearranged time and within a few minutes you are seated. That is good show but it come at a price. The spontaneous last minute diner is left out in the cold....or possibly at Peco's Bills. I hate to quote Star Trek but it is fitting. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one."

 

[prberk]

I also am a firm believer that they should always allocate X number of tables per hour for walk-ins. I'm not sure if they do this now, or ever did, but it would make good COURTESY, that's for sure. I feel bad for the locals who want to hop over to WDW and eat a nice dinner - only finding that they needed to book that "whim" dinner 6 months ago.

I cannot agree more. There should be an allocation of tables kept aside for walk-ins.

And, by the way, when exactly did "priority seating" (which they were careful NOT to call reservations because they meant only that you had priority over those waiting) become "advance dining reservations"?

Maybe this was the turning point -- no more room at all for walk-ins who might never have known about the restaurant before they visited the park.

Paul

 

[tare]

someone please tell me what 90 + 10 is i have been told conflicting stories on this!!!! thanks for the help

 

[Goofnut1980]

I like the 90 days out because you know what the park hours are for the times you are going before you book.. Last year we went in December and being my first December trip I had NO idea what the park operation hours were... At least 90 days out the calendars are posted!

 

[JWG]

To us, unless they also release park hours and EMH 6 months in advance 180 day dining reservations are useless :brick:

True. Can't plan without full disclosure.

How do you plan your days around Park Hours and EMH at 180 days if they aren't posted until 90 days out?

I will just circumvent the system and make (4) dinner reservations...one at each park...at 180 days and then cancel (3) around 90 days out once I know which parks have EMH as those will be the ones I will be at around dinner time.

And here lies the problem with ADRs and why I have never and will never get to eat in Canada... I've been trying for 10 years (seriously - no openings every trip and I refuse to show up at 4:00pm just to hopefully get a table - so partly my fault as I could do lunch, too.

And if you do what you said, then the system will cancel ALL your reservations, do you realize that right?

One can hope this if finally true...

someone please tell me what 90 + 10 is i have been told conflicting stories on this!!!! thanks for the help

Those staying on property get a 10 day jump on the dining reservation window, which really means anyone with the DDP (so everyone making a reservation for the most part) gets a jump on off property guests. I don't think it helps because those staying off property are either locals who don't plan that far out or a small population of others who maybe have timeshares or something else keeping them off property and still making dining reservations. Those staying off property because of cost likely aren't the same people making several dining reservations at overpriced table restaurants.

 

[WDW1974]

Very guest unfriendly policy based on only improving the bottom line.

Screw the locals. Screw people who can't make vacation plans (let alone meal plans) six months ahead of time. Screw anyone who just isn't versed in playing 'the Disney Game' and dares walk up to any park restaurant and expects to get in, even if they're willing to wait.

I'm sorry, but Disney doesn't need to book every popular place to 100% capacity. They could leave 10-15% open for walk-ins ... they'd lose nothing at most locations ... you think Le cellier wouldn't fill up? What about LTT? Or Brown Derby?

It is VERY BAD show when someone at EPCOT is told to go to Liberty Inn at 5 p.m. because no matter how long they are willing to wait, they won't get a table.

 

[joel_maxwell]

We can lock up that room 499 days out. Should I get you booked for September of 2010?:lol:

Ill be making the decision in Sept... the ill be calling Sir Richard.

Boo!
Hiss!
Death to the evil ADR and dining plan!

Once again, it will be even more difficult for a local or last-minute guest to get seated at a good restaurant at a decent time.

I long for the good old days of just walking up to a restaurant and being seated. Or even making reservations same day at guest relations.

Bad show, Disney.

Ill say that the ADR doesnt help Sam or I. We are a "day of" kind of people and we mostly dont decide on where to go eat until midday or even that afternoon. Now that is here local. I couldnt make a choice about dinner reservations that far out.... unless it was the Rose and Crown. I can always find something there. Fish n chips!

Now, on the dining plan, I hate to say it, but it works well with us. It is the perfect combination of meal sizes and in the end if it saves us a bit of money, then so be it. Disney gets it back in the stores.

 

[Slowjack]

With a little planning you should be able to show up at a prearranged time and within a few minutes you are seated. That is good show but it come at a price. The spontaneous last minute diner is left out in the cold....or possibly at Peco's Bills. I hate to quote Star Trek but it is fitting. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one."

The problem, though, is that there's only so many reservations to be had, and combined with Disney Dining, it doesn't matter how much planning is collectively done, many people are left out in the cold. No way that's good show. Look, if there were enough restaurants so that everyone could eat where and when they wanted if they had a little flexibility, then the earlier reservations would be a boon. But as it stands, during free dining periods, it means anyone who doesn't want to decide where to eat a half-year (!) ahead of time is going to be picking way down their list, or eating at a really odd time.

 

[yankspy]

Very guest unfriendly policy based on only improving the bottom line.

Screw the locals. Screw people who can't make vacation plans (let alone meal plans) six months ahead of time. Screw anyone who just isn't versed in playing 'the Disney Game' and dares walk up to any park restaurant and expects to get in, even if they're willing to wait.

I'm sorry, but Disney doesn't need to book every popular place to 100% capacity. They could leave 10-15% open for walk-ins ... they'd lose nothing at most locations ... you think Le cellier wouldn't fill up? What about LTT? Or Brown Derby?

It is VERY BAD show when someone at EPCOT is told to go to Liberty Inn at 5 p.m. because no matter how long they are willing to wait, they won't get a table.

I do not get this either. Most popular restaurants make it a point to not book to full capacity since they know that the walk-ins will fill the place. You also run into all kinds of problems when you book to full capacity, like people with ressies waiting 45 minutes or longer for a table.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

someone please tell me what 90 + 10 is i have been told conflicting stories on this!!!! thanks for the help

90 days is the earliest that ANYONE can make a dining reservation at a WDW restaurant.

If you're a resort guest , when you hit the 90 day window you can make your reservations for the following 10 days (effectively booking a table 100 days in advance). As an example - if you're vacation started on August 1st, when you hit the 90 day booking window you could book tables until August 10th.
However, if you're staying offsite you can only make the reservations at 90 days. So in the above example, you can make your dining reservation for August the 1st at exactly the same time as the resort guest BUT you must ring for August 10th at the 90 day mark - effectively 10 days after the resort guest.

Easy :shrug:

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

To us, unless they also release park hours and EMH 6 months in advance 180 day dining reservations are useless :brick:

This is very true! Because of this, I like the 90 day policy.

 

[DisGal]

To us, unless they also release park hours and EMH 6 months in advance 180 day dining reservations are useless :brick:

I agree 100% - if I made ADR's before knowing the park hours I would end up having to switch everything around and that could be problematic.

 

[DisneyJoe]

When the ADR window was at 180 days (between October 2005 and a few months ago) Disney DID release park hours and EMH roughly 180 days in advance - sometimes they even did it just before 180 days - imagine that!

 

[Brian Noble]

On a semi-related note, the Dining Plan is significantly more expensive in 2010 for many of the busier times of year---a 20% increase. That's (hopefully) going to help reduce the pressure on the restaurants a little bit, unless the menu prices go up by about that much too.

Also, it's easy enough to test the degree to which audit does or doesn't work. Double book something, and try to confirm it a week or two later.

 

[DisneyJoe]

On a semi-related note, the Dining Plan is significantly more expensive in 2010 for many of the busier times of year---a 20% increase. That's (hopefully) going to help reduce the pressure on the restaurants a little bit, unless the menu prices go up by about that much too.

For many of the weeks within those "busier" date ranges, even those paying out of pocket need to pay a surcharge at many Disney restaurants - and the increase in the cost of the dining plan is roughly the same as that surcharge...

 

[Brian Noble]

The extra cost to the plan in-season for adults is $6. The seasonal pricing bump on the AYCE meals (the only palce it applies) is $4 (unless they increase it again).

And, even so, I'm not sure most people think it through that carefully. They just see the "new" food prices of $48/person/day, and some will think that maybe they can cut back a little there.

I have to admit, I found the new plan prices a little odd given the downward trends in in-park spending.

 

[WDW1974]

The extra cost to the plan in-season for adults is $6. The seasonal pricing bump on the AYCE meals (the only palce it applies) is $4 (unless they increase it again).

And, even so, I'm not sure most people think it through that carefully. They just see the "new" food prices of $48/person/day, and some will think that maybe they can cut back a little there.

I have to admit, I found the new plan prices a little odd given the downward trends in in-park spending.

I find all of their business practices very odd considering the economy.

It seems to be raise prices on everything from rooms to steaks to Dole Whips, all the while cutting quality/size.

And-- AT THE SAME TIME -- discounting like hell to get people to visit.

It's just dumb. How about we not raise prices and not cut quality, maybe even raise it, but also not discount everyone's room by 40% and not give food away (even as we raise prices)?

It's all that overbuilding. In good or very good times, it is like having a cash printing press in your . But in times like these it's like having 30,000 albatrosses hanging around the neck of your shareholders.

Gee ... maybe they shouldn't have built Pop Century? Or Coronado ... or any of the last three DVCs that are now opening?

Wonder how better the bottom line would look ... I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have these kind of discounts, that's for sure.

 

[stitch's mom]

I dont worry about the EMH I rarely use them so to me I like this plan Because I always know where I want to eat.....

 

[Brian Noble]

How about we not raise prices [ ... ] but also not discount everyone's room by 40% and not give food away (even as we raise prices)?

The problem is that people are stupid. If you charge $100, but advertise "20% off", you'll sell more than the guy just charging $80.