Changing ADR in same day

Jo-Anne

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 14, 2000
When I signed up for our ADRs I understand there is a penalty for no shows and we are to make changes 24 hours in advance. My last day I made a reservation at Yak, but I’m not sure we will actually be in that park that night (Friday Dec 14). I like to leave our last park day to catch up on things we haven’t done or want to redo. Is it ok if at noon we decide we want to be in Epcot that night and call them to book a restaurant there without a penalty. Is it usually ok to switch close to the time of our reservation and as long as we are dining at a Disney establishment there won’t be penalty?
 
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When I signed up for our ADRs I understand there is a penalty for no shows and we are to make changes 24 hours in advance. My last day I made a reservation at Yak, but I’m not sure we will actually be in that park that night. I like to leave our last park day to catch up on things we haven’t done or want to redo. Is it ok if at noon we decide we want to be in Epcot that night and call them to book a restaurant there without a penalty. Is it usually ok to switch close to the time of our reservation and as long as we are dining at a Disney establishment there won’t be penalty?
Your scenario is exactly the reason the $10/person no show fee was put into place. It is not ok to do.
Some folks have figured ways around it, but it is not allowed to discuss ways around Disney rules here on the DIS
 
Thats too bad - Disney sure taking the flexibility and relaxation out of holidays :( So maybe I'm best to cancel our Yak reservation and just hope we find a restaurant on the fly.
 
I make ADRs before our trips and the night before each reservation, we decide whether we want to change our plans or stick with what we reserved. Disney may have taken some flexibility out of our planning but I would rather be able to get reservations now than the way it was before when people would make several reservations for the same time period and wait until the last minute to cancel or just not show up. There is also a good amount of availability the night before and same day for ADRs since people know they have to cancel or get charged, so there is some flexibility.

As to your Yak & Yeti reservation, you have the option of getting a Landrys Select membership and not make an ADR since you can walk up and get priority seating. https://www.landrysselect.com/club-features/
 


They take out the flexibility because of guests in your situation.
If you know that your last day is a flex day then why would you even make an ADR in the first place?
You can easily find a restaurant on the fly as long as its not a super popular one.
Or eat QS that day since you don't know where you will be or when.
 
My suggestions about your dilemma:

Get a Landry's Select Club card. It will move you to the front of the line at Yak and Yeti, without the need for an ADR. It's $25, but they give you a $25 credit which can be used at any Landry property (Y&Y, Rainforest Cafe, TRex are at Disney). This is preferable to making an ADR if you don't know when you'll want to eat there.

As for the possible Epcot dining, I'd use the Disney phone app to make an ADR the day you want to eat. Unless you want some place super popular, you're bound to be able to find something using the app for same day dining.
 
My last day I made a reservation at Yak, but I’m not sure we will actually be in that park that night (Friday Dec 14). I like to leave our last park day to catch up on things we haven’t done or want to redo. Is it ok if at noon we decide we want to be in Epcot that night and call them to book a restaurant there without a penalty.
What you can do is make your decision the night before (before 11:59pm) you can cancel what ever reservation you don't want and find a reservation at a park you might be at. Keep in mind that there are plenty of QS locations at every park so you will not go hungry especially if you will be at Epcot --- there are many options in each country which require no reservations.
 


What you can do is make your decision the night before (before 11:59pm) you can cancel what ever reservation you don't want

I would not leave it that late.

We were on property about 3 weeks ago and at 11pm tried to cancel a breakfast for the next day. The app said I had to call to cancel, but of course at 11pm the phone lines were closed, so we had to keep our ADR.

This happened again during our trip at around 8pm, but at that point we were able to get on the phone and have it cancelled.

Just saying not to wait until 11:59pm... figure out when they stop taking calls and cancel it before then.
 
I would not leave it that late.

We were on property about 3 weeks ago and at 11pm tried to cancel a breakfast for the next day. The app said I had to call to cancel, but of course at 11pm the phone lines were closed, so we had to keep our ADR.



In a situation where you you're too late to cancel via phone, all you need to do is go down to the front desk in the hotel and they will cancel it for you and you will not be charged a fee.
 
No need to call anyone or ask to cancel.

Just modify the reservation to any other day then cancel. No penalty. This is completely allowed by Disney and isn’t breaking any rules.
 
Making that same-day switchout seems to work in many cases. But I’ve seen people report that it didn’t work at some restaurants. I haven’t tried it myself.
 
No need to call anyone or ask to cancel.

Just modify the reservation to any other day then cancel. No penalty. This is completely allowed by Disney and isn’t breaking any rules.

I did this twice last week when our plans changed and have done it in the past.

This is the easiest way to change and not be charged.
 
At 180 days, I excitedly made our ADRs and found that many restaurants already had no availability. On our last vacation, 5 years ago, I did not have this problem. The only thing is that we got the DDP and found that it was too much food and we found ourselves looking for the most expensive items and were tied down by our dining schedule. This time, we just came back on Saturday, we cancelled all of our ADRs, except for Hoop-Dee-Doo Review which is a tradition for us. When we looked on My Disney Experience it was showing 10 pm dinner times. We were able to walk up the restaurants itself and just make reservations for later that day, get right in, or for the next day. It was nice and relaxing and we got to eat where we wanted to.
 

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