New Reservations Cancellation Policy

[BenbowInn]

You may want to watch the sarcasm. It is actually against the rules of the Disboards, and you don't want to end up in time out because of it!

Sorry, I forgot about the no humor policy. I've been so busy trying to schedule every moment of our trip this December that the rules of the board slipped my mind.

Now if you will excuse me I'm off to decide if I will have to use the restroom on December 4th between 3-4pm or if I should save that time slot to fastpass+ the Dole Whip line. Decisions decisions...

 

[AmyB2006]

Cool, though for the record, I wasn't the one who made the comment.



I think there's some room for moderator discretion, still... letter of the law vs intent of the law, and all that.

Not disagreeing with that.

 

[AmyB2006]

Sorry, I forgot about the no humor policy. I've been so busy trying to schedule every moment of our trip this December that the rules of the board slipped my mind.

Now if you will excuse me I'm off to decide if I will have to use the restroom on December 4th between 3-4pm or if I should save that time slot to fastpass+ the Dole Whip line. Decisions decisions...

Definitely the Dole Whip FP+

LOL

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Disney's system will not allow a Guest to make a table service reservation (even by phone) less than two hours before the reservation time.

 

[Colleen27]

Now, could they have made different changes? Sure. We can (and pretty much have) debate that until the cows come home. But people trying to turn around the blame toward Disney (and I've seen many posters do this) for such selfish and reprehensible behavior just doesn't fly. I certainly don't expect anyone to feel sorry for Disney and worry about their lost revenue or anything, but people should have a little courtesy and respect for their fellow guests who would have loved that ADR that was hoarded and went unused.. That's just how a civilized society should work - where, while hokey and all, the old "Golden Rule" influences everything we do. However, today's rule seems to be "As long as I get mine, I couldn't care less about anything else".

Sure it does. There's plenty of blame to go around - both directed at the ADR hoarders and and at Disney for not developing a more guest-friendly solution. I acknowledge that there is a problem - I don't think this is the most appropriate response to that problem.

 

[Colleen27]

Disney's system will not allow a Guest to make a table service reservation (even by phone) less than two hours before the reservation time.

Is this new? We've done it in the past without a problem.

 

[Tamiami]

I somewhat agree that Disney created their own problems when it came to the rampant no-show rates at their restaurants. Mostly, because of the 180-day rule...and then to a lesser extent, the dining plan (free or not).

We all understand the challenges the 180-day rule presents. However, it does not justify the things that went on - particulalry the double and even triple-booking, the haording of ADRs at popular places like 'Ohana for every night of your trip until you decide which night you want to go, etc. And then it got compunded when none of the extra ADRs would be cancelled because there was no penalty. There was/is just no excuse for it. It left Disney with absolutely no choice but to make changes. No-show rates were out of control. Almost all of us had seen restaurants that were completely booked sitting half-empty.

Now, could they have made different changes? Sure. We can (and pretty much have) debate that until the cows come home. But people trying to turn around the blame toward Disney (and I've seen many posters do this) for such selfish and reprehensible behavior just doesn't fly. I certainly don't expect anyone to feel sorry for Disney and worry about their lost revenue or anything, but people should have a little courtesy and respect for their fellow guests who would have loved that ADR that was hoarded and went unused.. That's just how a civilized society should work - where, while hokey and all, the old "Golden Rule" influences everything we do. However, today's rule seems to be "As long as I get mine, I couldn't care less about anything else".

EXACTLY!! Thank you. I don't understand why other people don't get that by hoarding and double booking, and then not canceling until the last minute (or not at all), it is hurting their FELLOW Disney-goers, NOT Disney. I applaud Disney for taking this step, whether their reasoning is to help out us 'little people' who can never get reservations (because others have grabbed more than they will use), or to put money in their own pocket (as some people believe). Matters not. It forces people to be CONSIDERATE for a change, and I, for one, LOVE it.

 

[Lizzim]

Disney's system will not allow a Guest to make a table service reservation (even by phone) less than two hours before the reservation time.

Interesting. I know for a fact I made a reservation for Sanaa with less than 2 hours notice on my recent Sept trip using the MDE app....

 

[aaarcher86]

Is this new? We've done it in the past without a problem.

Sort of. It will trigger a pop up asking you to cancel or not book your new reservation if it's within 2 hours of each other, BUT, it's still possible. I book reservations within an hour if each other expecting the pop up to make me cancel the first one and it never came up. People can make reservations with multiple emails and accounts.

It's SUPPOSED to work that way, but, you know...

 

[Redcon1]

Sorry, I forgot about the no humor policy. I've been so busy trying to schedule every moment of our trip this December that the rules of the board slipped my mind.

Now if you will excuse me I'm off to decide if I will have to use the restroom on December 4th between 3-4pm or if I should save that time slot to fastpass+ the Dole Whip line. Decisions decisions...

Now if the Dole Whip line would only extend into the restroom, you could do both!

 

[kristenrice]

Can anyone explain why the 11:59pm cut-off time will decrease NO-SHOWS. I cannot figure out why Disney chose to impose a deadline for cancellations instead of just charging guests who truly do not show up. If you can book multiple reservations at 180 days out, what difference does it make if an ADR gets canceled the day before or 3-4 hours before? That reservation has still been tied up for several months and prevented someone else from getting it. I don't know how many folks are going to be scouring the website or app for ADR's every morning. I would imagine most will either try for a walk up or skip it entirely. If this proves to be the case, how has the fee accomplished the goal of eliminating NO-SHOWS? I think they should charge if you don't show up instead of charging you for a late cancellation. I think having certain (signature) restaurants with a longer cancellation policy is still acceptable, but to apply it to ALL TS restaurants across the board seems a little excessive.

Here's a can of worms to open...when can we expect a penalty for no-showing for our FP+ selections?...

 

[Tanyabeth8]

Can anyone explain why the 11:59pm cut-off time will decrease NO-SHOWS. I cannot figure out why Disney chose to impose a deadline for cancellations instead of just charging guests who truly do not show up. If you can book multiple reservations at 180 days out, what difference does it make if an ADR gets canceled the day before or 3-4 hours before? That reservation has still been tied up for several months and prevented someone else from getting it. I don't know how many folks are going to be scouring the website or app for ADR's every morning. I would imagine most will either try for a walk up or skip it entirely. If this proves to be the case, how has the fee accomplished the goal of eliminating NO-SHOWS? I think they should charge if you don't show up instead of charging you for a late cancellation. I think having certain (signature) restaurants with a longer cancellation policy is still acceptable, but to apply it to ALL TS restaurants across the board seems a little excessive. Here's a can of worms to open...when can we expect a penalty for no-showing for our FP+ selections?...

I know that I often have gone to the front desk at our hotel in the morning before heading to a park to see if I could get seating at a certain restaurant. Maybe other people do this too.

 

[Colleen27]

Sort of. It will trigger a pop up asking you to cancel or not book your new reservation if it's within 2 hours of each other, BUT, it's still possible. I book reservations within an hour if each other expecting the pop up to make me cancel the first one and it never came up. People can make reservations with multiple emails and accounts.

It's SUPPOSED to work that way, but, you know...

I didn't read CF's statement as being about double booking but rather about last minute bookings... something I know I've done as recently as March. I booked from the app just before getting on Space Ranger Spin, and had just enough time to ride, leave the park, and monorail over to the Poly to check-in for our lunch ADR with about 10 minutes to spare, so I'm sure it was less than 2 hours from booking to dining.

 

[disney1990]

If this is a bad policy and it causes tens of thousands of people to not make any more reservations, then eventually Disney will change it (or maybe make it a window - like 4 hours prior).

If, however, people are just complaining, but will continue to make reservations, then the policy will stand.

Only the public, with the way they actually "act" and not just "complain here on the DIS board" will cause Disney to take notice.

To continue to complain here will cause no changes.

 

[eeyoresnr]

If this is a bad policy and it causes tens of thousands of people to not make any more reservations, then eventually Disney will change it (or maybe make it a window - like 4 hours prior).

If, however, people are just complaining, but will continue to make reservations, then the policy will stand.

Only the public, with the way they actually "act" and not just "complain here on the DIS board" will cause Disney to take notice.

To continue to complain here will cause no changes.

well since Disney has already been testing this "bad" policy for the last couple of years they must be pretty satisfied with the results or they wouldn't have included the rest of the restaurants in this policy... for every one that doesn't make any more reservations there are probably 2 or more that will now make reservations... I personally am happy they are doing it... and I am sure the servers are happy about it too

 

[rharper1496]

Last trip he was 9 months old, this coming trip he will be 16 months. Some nights we just can't guarantee he's going to be pleasant at a table service restaurant - not just for us, but for everyone else around us trying to enjoy their meal.

Most of the time I can see where the day is going and cancel in advance if I don't think the day is going to work out. We had to do this one night in May. We had a reservation at a park restaurant but my son was having a rough day so we spent more time in the hotel (Kidani) than we normally would have. We thought he could handle the dinner, but the travel back to MK, check-in, wait, travel back sounded like too much given the day he was having. So I cancelled that reservation on the MDE app, got another one for Sanaa (just two floors down) and we had a decent dinner, though by the end it was really time to get back to the hotel room. No way he would have survived a trip back out to MK just for dinner.

Why do I feel like the "Obnoxious Children in Restaurants" posts are about to triple? Right now parents with small kids who are clearly just done for the day have the option of cancelling the TS meal, grabbing QS or TS at the resort and calling it a day. How many of them are going to think about the cancellation fee on top of the cost of the food and decide to just soldier on with the original TS meal anyway? No judgement here, there have been plenty of times when I could have been the parent of the obnoxious restaurant child but thankfully most restaurants in the real world will happily take my cancellation if it means I'm not inflicting my cranky butt child on everyone else.

 

[DisneyWalle]

I actually love the new policy but we don't make reservations. We are the family that walks up knowing that many people canceled or didn't make it for their reservations. In fact, we have never been turned down as a walk-up at any of the following:

Garden Grill
Liberty Tree Tavern
Prime Time Cafe
Sci-Fi Diner
Biergarten
Nine Dragons
San Angel Inn

 

[Eastern]

Why do I feel like the "Obnoxious Children in Restaurants" posts are about to triple? Right now parents with small kids who are clearly just done for the day have the option of cancelling the TS meal, grabbing QS or TS at the resort and calling it a day. How many of them are going to think about the cancellation fee on top of the cost of the food and decide to just soldier on with the original TS meal anyway? No judgement here, there have been plenty of times when I could have been the parent of the obnoxious restaurant child but thankfully most restaurants in the real world will happily take my cancellation if it means I'm not inflicting my cranky butt child on everyone else.

If I had 2 or 3 young, cranky kids and I was going to lose $40 or $50 dollars if I cancelled, I'd go and hope for the best. That's a good amount of money.

 

[Granny square]

If I had 2 or 3 young, cranky kids and I was going to lose $40 or $50 dollars if I cancelled, I'd go and hope for the best. That's a good amount of money.

Interesting. Money is more important than your kids well being. If you have crabby kids you need to learn how to deal with that effectively.

 

[Tarzan]

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