Disney Expanding Cancellation Fees

[Cardinals314]

Disney announced today that they will now be applying the policy to all table service restaurants at Walt Disney World. Guests will be required to provide a credit card for all table service reservations. The charge is $10 a person. For pre-paid locations, the entire amount will be charged. The policy goes into effect October 31st. Any reservaton made before October 31st will not have the cancallation fee policy. I personally don't mind this at all

[Zillerzap]

While I understand the reasoning, I also think it's unreasonable in most cases since you have to book months in advance in order to get a reservation. I find myself having to do ADR's before planning the remainder of the trip.

[Belle1082]

I'm torn as well. It is tough for me to make reservations before the parks schedule is out. Plus, sometimes it is just a little scary to put your credit card number down a bunch of times when a trip to Disney (especially with small children) can be very unpredictable. Keeping track of everything....could be a bit overwhelming.

[boilerbabe]

I always wondered why they didn't charge a cancellation fee?! You could make a ton of ADR's and show for non or few of them, leaving people that really wanted to dine there, not able to. I'm o.k. with it!

[GoldenBear]

I wonder how close to the date you are allowed to cancel without the fee?

Surely they can't expect 100% of the people to be at their reservations, especially when they are made months in advance Like it was mentioned above, many things can change over the course of that reservation time.

Hopefully it's just a scare tactic and there is a 48 or 72 hour grace period before the reservation, as it is with most hotels and restaurants.

[Wizzard419]

I always wondered why they didn't charge a cancellation fee?! You could make a ton of ADR's and show for non or few of them, leaving people that really wanted to dine there, not able to. I'm o.k. with it!

I wouldn't be surprised if people used that tactic since the large window made it an option. So they book several places each night for dinner, and then would decide where to go that night based on the time and what they were feeling like.

I would say switching to one where you could only book once you are on site might help, but it would probably still have the same issue of people being turned away. That and also not being able to plan staff/food needs far in advance.

[dstrawn9889]

I wonder how close to the date you are allowed to cancel without the fee?

Surely they can't expect 100% of the people to be at their reservations, especially when they are made months in advance Like it was mentioned above, many things can change over the course of that reservation time.

Hopefully it's just a scare tactic and there is a 48 or 72 hour grace period before the reservation, as it is with most hotels and restaurants.

24 hours by what i have read, just enough time for the resort concierges to fill the tables with guests that did not know to set them up >180

[Cardinals314]

After thinking about this, I am now a bit split. I feel like it would be harder to have any walk-ups now to any restaurant. It seems that this is an attempt to save on labor as an exchange for having to beef up ranks in Guest Relations and front gate ops due to the roll-out of MM+. Anyway, how is it that Disney doesn't simply staff its restaurants based on crowds (like say UNI does and Disney used to) and since ADR's are NOT reservations, if someone doesn't show up within 15 minutes of their time, you simply replace them with a walk in and they move to the end of the line if they show up.

[Wizzard419]

In many cases, outside of Disney, "reservations" are also ADRs rather than true reserved tables, in most cases it is just bumping you up the list unless you are requesting a specific table. Disney still does take crowd levels into account, they now just added in reservation levels. Since sit-down establishments can only have so many seatings in a single time-span they also go by an estimate for how long each party will be there and when the park requires them to shut down for the night.

Are there places that are only open for dinner or close between lunch and dinner? I think V&A and California Grill might be, but not sure if any others, aside from dinner theater places, are.

[theBIGyowski]

I'm torn on this too. I have benefited from both "overbooking" and trying to walk-up to have dinner. During my honeymoon, there were a few ADRs we made but later decided we'd rather stay in the park we were in or go somewhere else for dinner. It wasn't that we were trying to game the system, but rather that we had changed our minds between the 180 days prior when we booked the ADRs. Like I said...we've also benefited from being able to walk-up to a table service restaurant and were seated within 5 minutes of waiting. So I hope it ends up being more helpful than hurtful over time.

[GoldenBear]

I wonder how close to the date you are allowed to cancel without the fee?

Surely they can't expect 100% of the people to be at their reservations, especially when they are made months in advance Like it was mentioned above, many things can change over the course of that reservation time.

Hopefully it's just a scare tactic and there is a 48 or 72 hour grace period before the reservation, as it is with most hotels and restaurants.

24 hours by what i have read, just enough time for the resort concierges to fill the tables with guests that did not know to set them up >180

That seems fair, plenty of lead time on both sides of the coin.

[cy1229]

I thought they already did this? Or was it just for parties over a certain size?

[boilerbabe]

I thought they already did this? Or was it just for parties over a certain size?

The only restaurants that I know of are the signatures ie. Flying Fish. They always required a credit card and cancellation notice. Now it sounds like all table services are going to this as well.

[Amy]

I thought they already did this? Or was it just for parties over a certain size?

The only restaurants that I know of are the signatures ie. Flying Fish. They always required a credit card and cancellation notice. Now it sounds like all table services are going to this as well.

Yup, they are expanding it. Must have worked well at the limited places they tried it...
I think it is a great idea as it might free up a table here or there for someone who wants to get a last minute ressie

[cy1229]

I could have SWORN that my stepdad had to give a credit card when he made our ADR's and didn't want to miss them AT ALL because he'd be charged $10 / person, $90 in total. That is one big fat bummer about ADR's, they do overlord your trip. But, try to get into a restaurant to eat where you want without one... Tres difficile!