Do you ever Overbook ADR's "just in case"?

[Tammy296]

I have been finding myself booking literally ANY restaurant I can find right now. We just purchased our vacation for March 24 - 29 and have not been lucky enough to GET ANY of the original places we wanted to eat! Soooo I've just been booking anything and everything I possibly can. So discouraging but I wondered if anyone else ever experiences the same thing. When do you start cancelling your overbooked reservations?

So far I have 12 booked TS reservations and we're only staying 5 nights! I know that's terrible...

like I said we haven't been able to get ANY of these on DD(2) and hubby's (48) birthdays...
Cinderella's Royal Table
Fantasmic Dinner package
Chef Mickey's
Mickey's Backyard BBQ

 

[mickeysaver]

I have double booked before, but I cancelled everything that we didn't need before we were even 30 days out. I was going at the holidays with my MIL in tow. We had a lot of things to juggle that year with her dietary needs and had to wait for what seemed like an eternity for CP packages to come out.

I have also "tweeked" the system by claiming that our party of two is really a party of 4, which quite often has given us options that were not open to us as a smaller party size. When we do manage to snag an ADR for a larger party size, I feel a bit guilty about the wait staff's potential lost income, so we usually end up padding the tip by an additional $5 to $10 just to be nice.

 

[mousefan1972]

If you know it's terrible then why are you doing it? And for the record: no, I don't.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

You should start canceling your overbooked reservations as soon as you know you will not be going so that other families who are trying to book it can get a reservation.
Unfortunately, when you book your reservation 5 or 6 weeks before you leave, and ADR's are being booked 6 months in advance, you may find it difficult to get into your first choice restaraunts.

 

[drag n' fly]

I really understand the frustration of not being able to book at restaurants that we want to eat at. Out of courtesy I make sure that I never double book or over book.

 

[hotcarib]

No, I don't overbook.
FWIW a great birthday character meal would be Akershus. Also Cape May,1900 Park Fare.Crystal Palace have character meals and show availability.

 

[Mom2Elliot]

I am in a similar boat - I just booked for spring break. I wasn't able to get very many that I wanted at times I wanted. I have simply booked what I could and then as I found something better, booked that one and immediately cancelled the other.

 

[mommycrawford]

I book only where I plan to dine.

That said, it is hard when you are unfamiliar, or not thrilled with what is available, but I have heard of people losing ALL of their reservations because they double booked .

These boards are an amazing resource so you can know what the restaurants are like....Be open! When we've not gotten our choices and tried other things we've had nice suprises....Sometimes things open up, but don't get all stressed 'cause it's really just a few hours out of your trip!

 

[a1tinkfans]

IF your reservations are within 2 hours of one another, you run the RISK of losing BOTH. Disney cancels them,
And no, we cancel everything we do not use, we've canceled Le Cel when we were just too lazy to go there last year, boy were the CMs at guest services surprised and thanked us....its so hard for people to get in, so everyone should always cancel what they do not use. Just common courtesy!

 

[Gigi22]

No, I never do that. Somehow I would not feel that this was "playing nicely with others". Plus, I have enough paperwork and record-keeping to manage my Disney trips, without having to track multiple reservations for the same day/time!

 

[Tammy296]

Mom2Eliot that's exactly how I feel. Oh I plan on cancelling the ones I do not want, probably closer to 2 weeks out. I know other people who do the same thing in order to reserve "something" for fear that reservations are going to become more scarce as their date gets closer.

Seriously speaking though... booking 180 days out is RIDICULOUS. Who KNOWS exactly what they want to eat 180 days in advance???? I honestly think Disney's policy on that is foolish.

The online booking system really is the pits though. You cannot see "all of your ressies" made in one list under your resort confirmation number.

I plan on cancelling many of my ressies soon. I have not double booked any, just gotten more than I really need or plan to keep until my planning is COMPLETE.

Thanks all for understanding!
Tammy

 

[Princess Polamalu]

People double booking and overbooking is the reason we have this frenzy in the first place. I think its very selfish and shows no consideration for other guests. If you book a last minute vacation then unfortunately you must take whats left. I booked a trip in May a year in advance and had my ADR's all set. Then the monster snow storm hit the East and my son missed a week of school that now needs to be made up at the end of the year. Thus there goes the May vacation. I rebooked for late July and was bummed that I may not be able to get all of my ADR's but thats the way it goes. Luckily I was able to get everything back....but imagine how much more difficult it would have been if countless people had been over and double booking.

 

[Tammy296]

Well I will probably get slammed for saying this but I believe it's true. Call me whatever you like.... I am not going to play mother theresa or mother mary and "do no wrong" like many will. Instead I'll be honest...

I firmly believe that 90% of people do it already. That may be the frenzy and yes I would agree but it seems "to each his own" sorry to say...

And I think the online booking system has only made it worse.... Never in the past years was I ever so frustrated booking restaurants as I am this year and I always made my vacation plans a month or later away.

 

[Gigi22]

I respectfully beg to differ.
That said, I have the luxury of knowing exactly when I will be at Disney this year, and also the responsibility of making all the dining reservations for my family. If I fail to make dining reservations in a timely fashion, so that I do not get all the reservations I want, I have no one to blame but myself and not Disney's system, however flawed.

 

[JoePa4Ever]

Seriously speaking though... booking 180 days out is RIDICULOUS. Who KNOWS exactly what they want to eat 180 days in advance???? I honestly think Disney's policy on that is foolish.

I understand your point of view & can sympathize with your frustration. That being said, we have no problem making our adrs 180 days in advance - we know where we want to eat and we are anxiously awaiting our 180th day to make our adrs. In fact, we could have made our adrs months ago if it was necessary.

And FWIW, we do not overbook adrs.

 

[KristiMc]

I understand your point of view & can sympathize with your frustration. That being said, we have no problem making our adrs 180 days in advance - we know where we want to eat and we are anxiously awaiting our 180th day to make our adrs. In fact, we could have made our adrs months ago if it was necessary.

And FWIW, we do not overbook adrs.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I think its very rude to book reservations you know you're not going to be able to keep. This goes for car rentals too.

 

[Nadjalu]

No I do not over book, and why would you?

Here you are complaining about how you can't book what you want, but taking up twice as many ressies as you need.
YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Sorry, but honestly you need to look at the whole picture, not just yourself.....karma comes back on you.

I have to ask myself why anyone would complain they can't get a ressie and then go and make it twice as hard on the next person.
Just because you can't get what you want you want to make sure no one does?

YEP KARMA.

I would cancel the ones I don't want asap and see if that helps your chances.

 

[Ackermom]

We recently booked for an August trip and every morning my DD gets online and books that days ADR's. Works great!

 

[glasslipper]

I overbooked 2 weeks ago accidentally because while making my ADRs, my computer froze! I ended up calling Disney dining and they helped me sort it out as I didn't have any reservation numbers. It was a mess! I wouldn't do it intentionally, as I think it is rude and taking up reservations others could use.