What Happened?

[LuvtheGoof]

It's the same thing with dining reservations. I understand that someone may decide they want to go to Disney for dinner after work, but they should understand they probably won't get a sit down dinner. Disney is a destination spot for tourists to go on vacation, not some place to meet up at after a long day at the office. To have that expectation is silly and you're setting yourself up to be disappointed.

For the most part I would agree, but there are plenty of places to eat - such as Shula's, that are rarely fully booked. You can easily get into many places at DS with a walk-up, even if you have to wait an hour. Walk around and enjoy the tourists while you wait. No, you won't get into LeCellier or CRT, but that wouldn't be what you are looking for anyway.

 

[rucifee]

It's the same thing with dining reservations. I understand that someone may decide they want to go to Disney for dinner after work, but they should understand they probably won't get a sit down dinner. Disney is a destination spot for tourists to go on vacation, not some place to meet up at after a long day at the office. To have that expectation is silly and you're setting yourself up to be disappointed.

What an awful point of view. Disney is absolutely not a destination spot that is limited to tourists and visitors only. The notion that, wow.

 

[WDWVolFan]

I just went to Disney for the first time in 3 years. Last time I was here, seven dwarfs mine train didn't exist. And I gotta say, so far, I'm disappointed. We used to be season pass holders and we tried out the magic bands before they fully switched. Now that I'm older, I see how stupid they are. First of all, the new fastpass+ system is the worst thing ever invented. It forces you to plan ahead, which is great for the people who like to do that, but for anyone who is local and just decides to come to Disney someday or at a time, it sucks. The app, has crashed on me twice. Disney was better when they had the previous system, first come first serve. If you want to get fastpasses then you can get them. If you don't but want to later they still might be avaliable. I tried to get fastpasses for toy story and the seven dwarfs mine 2 days before and they were fully booked. I will give Disney props for seven dwarfs mine though. That's a great ride and fits perfectly with the park. However, I just wish Disney would do what is best for the people more often. These magic bands are the worst invention Disney has ever come up with. The new lands they are building also have rides similar to what they already have. An avatar boat ride and a kiddie coaster in toy story land. You can find a kiddie coaster in Magic Kingdom and a boat ride at Epcot and Magic Kingdom. I have my opinions about what the new rides are. I personally think they should be more thrilling but that is just my opinion. (Kinda why rockin roller coaster is always packed) Walt Disney added rides at Disney land that were thrilling at the time (Matterhorn bobsleds) why can't they add thrilling rides now? Anyway that's just my opinion, feel free to state yours

Sounds like the OP had just had an entire bag of Sour Patch Kids...LOL
j/k

I actually love FP+ and the Magic Bands...it's awesome.
I've gotten tickets before the same day and gotten FPs...I think it all has to do with the time of the year.
This close to Christmas, you will be in trouble.

 

[thomas998]

It's easy to be an arm chair quarterback, but I expect there is probably way more going on with each decision being made. If you had to pay for a fastpass "badge" (for lack of a better term) like you do in Universal, the lines would probably be just as long as standby. Disney is just too crowded for that kind of system now, I think. The Fastpass+ system could have been in part because people were complaining that top rides were running out of fast passes after an hour of the park being open. In the end, you just have to make the best of what is available and enjoy your time in the parks (which are still a lot of fun in case anyone forgot!).

Actually Universal and Six Flags have already figured out the way to solve that problem... they simply limit the number of the premium passes.

 

[Sandurz]

FP+ rolling out over the same time frame as attendance has been surging over the past couple years has got a lot of people hating FP+ when it's the attendance to blame. Still not sure how getting a paper ticket that tells you to return at some point 5 hours in the future is more spontaneous than allocating all of 90 minutes of your twelve hour day to riding attractions you don't want to miss anyway. Choosing a certain park for part of a certain day is so far from being a chokehold on your freedom...you have like 80% of your day wide open to do whatever you want to do, and do it spontaneously.

I will say that FP, be it FP+ or the old system, does slow down the standby lines a lot. Hating FP+ for doing that is hating FastPass in general. Notice how quickly your line moves for most attractions during a party or EMH. Even if things are backed up far into the queue, th forward motion is so much quicker when there aren't any FastPassers getting filtered into the queue.

So many overall positives have come from the MyMagic/MagicBand rollout - no-swipe door locks, automatic picture association at certain rides, the photo touchpoints, NFC payment (which opens the door for contactless cards and Apple Pay, which are usually much faster than having to enter your PIN for the Band)...and the MDE app has provided a lot of great features - official posted wait times, instant PhotoPass picture viewing, automatic itineraries. I had nothing but a very useful relationship with that app and the whole system during my trip last week.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

For the most part I would agree, but there are plenty of places to eat - such as Shula's, that are rarely fully booked. You can easily get into many places at DS with a walk-up, even if you have to wait an hour. Walk around and enjoy the tourists while you wait. No, you won't get into LeCellier or CRT, but that wouldn't be what you are looking for anyway.

I'm speaking specifically about the parks. DS is different; my wife and I went there one night while on vacation without any dining plans and walked right into Portobello for a nice sit down dinner.

What an awful point of view. Disney is absolutely not a destination spot that is limited to tourists and visitors only. The notion that, wow.

It is not limited just to tourists, but tourists make up the majority of the population. The point is, it's not your local Applebee's or Olive Garden. You can't expecet to pull up to Epcot and grab a steak at Le Cellier and then be on your way.

 

[rucifee]

I'm speaking specifically about the parks. DS is different; my wife and I went there one night while on vacation without any dining plans and walked right into Portobello for a nice sit down dinner.

It is not limited just to tourists, but tourists make up the majority of the population. The point is, it's not your local Applebee's or Olive Garden. You can't expecet to pull up to Epcot and grab a steak at Le Cellier and then be on your way.

So, what you're saying here is that if you've paid for 365 access to Epcot, you shouldn't expect to be able to do the things that others who have paid for access to Epcot get to do. Got it.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

So, what you're saying here is that if you've paid for 365 access to Epcot, you shouldn't expect to be able to do the things that others who have paid for access to Epcot get to do. Got it.

What I'm saying is that you should not expect to walk up to a TS meal inside of a Disney park and expect to sit down and eat without a reservation. I pay for an AP just like you do and if I want to eat at a specific place, I make sure I have a reservation secured. If I leave for Epcot right after work today, I do not expect to eat a meal at Le Cellier or Chefs de France, or any other TS restaurant. I do however expect that if I went to DS, I'd be able to eat a dinner at a number of TS restaurants there.

 

[rucifee]

What I'm saying is that you should not expect to walk up to a TS meal inside of a Disney park and expect to sit down and eat without a reservation. I pay for an AP just like you do and if I want to eat at a specific place, I make sure I have a reservation secured. If I leave for Epcot right after work today, I do not expect to eat a meal at Le Cellier or Chefs de France, or any other TS restaurant. I do however expect that if I went to DS, I'd be able to eat a dinner at a number of TS restaurants there.

What I find interesting is that there's a new restaurant at MK that just happens to not accept ADRs or Dining Plan. Might be time to adjust those expectations, if enough people complain about a problem...

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I'm speaking specifically about the parks. DS is different; my wife and I went there one night while on vacation without any dining plans and walked right into Portobello for a nice sit down dinner.

It is not limited just to tourists, but tourists make up the majority of the population. The point is, it's not your local Applebee's or Olive Garden. You can't expecet to pull up to Epcot and grab a steak at Le Cellier and then be on your way.

If I show up at DHS at 2pm, I do expect there to be some table service options for Dinner that evening. Maybe not Sci-Fi or Brown Derby, some at least somewhere. The last time I went to DHS, dinner was a Turkey Leg and a Coke where I had to stand and set my drink on a trash can while I ate. That's not a $100/day theme park experience and it is unacceptible.

 

[rucifee]

If I show up at DHS at 2pm, I do expect there to be some table service options for Dinner that evening. Maybe not Sci-Fi or Brown Derby, some at least somewhere. The last time I went to DHS, dinner was a Turkey Leg and a Coke where I had to stand and set my drink on a trash can while I ate. That's not a $100/day theme park experience and it is unacceptible.

Many times this has been my experience as well.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

What I find interesting is that there's a new restaurant at MK that just happens to not accept ADRs or Dining Plan. Might be time to adjust those expectations, if enough people complain about a problem...

This is because that restaurant just opened. In time, it will be accepting dinner reservations and if it becomes popular, you won't be able to just walk up and get seated.

Again...this is the expectation, not saying that it's impossible to get a TS dinner the day of. I have been able to get seated at LTT, Tony's and Via Napoli that day of without reservations. I go back to my statement of if you want a certain restaurant, make the reservation and then there aren't any worries about it.

 

[rucifee]

This is because that restaurant just opened. In time, it will be accepting dinner reservations and if it becomes popular, you won't be able to just walk up and get seated.

Again...this is the expectation, not saying that it's impossible to get a TS dinner the day of. I have been able to get seated at LTT, Tony's and Via Napoli that day of without reservations. I go back to my statement of if you want a certain restaurant, make the reservation and then there aren't any worries about it.

That's an assumption, but all of their other recent openings accept ADRs and Dining Plan. As a local, and as a paying guest, I shouldn't have to know what I want for dinner 180 days before I go to the parks after work. They need to make accommodations for people who visit the parks on a whim, in addition to those who plan.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

That's an assumption, but all of their other recent openings accept ADRs and Dining Plan. As a local, and as a paying guest, I shouldn't have to know what I want for dinner 180 days before I go to the parks after work. They need to make accommodations for people who visit the parks on a whim, in addition to those who plan.

I'm not 100% disagreeing with you, but everyone is on equal playing ground and can make an ADR at 180 days out...so first come first serve. Just for the heck of it, I checked online now and for dinner for 4, you can go to Biergarten, California Grill, Artist Point, Coral Reef, Chefs de France and Garden Grill (just to name a few) TONIGHT; there were quite a few others as well. So again, I go back to my statement that it's not impossible to get a TS dinner the day of, it just shouldn't be the expectation and that you're going to get exactly the restaurant you want. If I wanted to do Crystal Palace tonight after work, I'm unfortunately SOL.

 

[rucifee]

I'm not 100% disagreeing with you, but everyone is on equal playing ground and can make an ADR at 180 days out...so first come first serve. Just for the heck of it, I checked online now and for dinner for 4, you can go to Biergarten, California Grill, Artist Point, Coral Reef, Chefs de France and Garden Grill (just to name a few) TONIGHT; there were quite a few others as well. So again, I go back to my statement that it's not impossible to get a TS dinner the day of, it just shouldn't be the expectation and that you're going to get exactly the restaurant you want. If I wanted to do Crystal Palace tonight after work, I'm unfortunately SOL.

I don't disagree with you 100% either, and yes you can get a reservation for same day usually. I strongly believe that there does need to be a facility for the "We're at the premium outlets, do you want to run over to the parks for dinner?" demographic. That used to be us, now it's not always that easy.

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

I don't disagree with you 100% either, and yes you can get a reservation for same day usually. I strongly believe that there does need to be a facility for the "We're at the premium outlets, do you want to run over to the parks for dinner?" demographic. That used to be us, now it's not always that easy.

It's still possible to do that...just have to accept what restaurants have availability. Though if you're at the premium outlets, I'm not sure why you would choose dinner at Disney over their food court...

 

[rucifee]

It's still possible to do that...just have to accept what restaurants have availability. Though if you're at the premium outlets, I'm not sure why you would choose dinner at Disney over their food court...

Uhh, eww? LMAO

 

[yedliW]

What I find interesting is that there's a new restaurant at MK that just happens to not accept ADRs or Dining Plan. Might be time to adjust those expectations, if enough people complain about a problem...

That's an assumption, but all of their other recent openings accept ADRs and Dining Plan. As a local, and as a paying guest, I shouldn't have to know what I want for dinner 180 days before I go to the parks after work. They need to make accommodations for people who visit the parks on a whim, in addition to those who plan.

When Spice Road first opened, they didn't take DDP or ADR.. they take both now..

 

[POLY LOVER]

if you can't find resturants reservation there are plenty of offsite places, branch out discover the area around 192, every resturant known to man is there. Stop complaining it will get fixed when they want it fixed. There is nothing they can do, the demnad is very high for WDW. Good problem to have if you are WDW.

 

[rucifee]

if you can't find resturants reservation there are plenty of offsite places, branch out discover the area around 192, every resturant known to man is there. Stop complaining it will get fixed when they want it fixed. There is nothing they can do, the demnad is very high for WDW. Good problem to have if you are WDW.

If people don't complain or tell them about problems how will they ever know that there could be a problem? What a silly thing to say. There's plenty they could do, as long as they're made aware that something is wrong.