New credit card guarantees. Restaurant list, policy & common questions in 1st post

[mom2rtk]

Btw this and now the FP enforcement thing they are talking about, I am getting really frustrated. We had touring WDW down to a science and now they are changing the rules, and not for the better, imho!

I agree. It's an unpleasant 1-2 punch. I wonder what other goodies they have in store for us. I have a hunch it will be the drying up of discounts which could be strike 3 for me. I love Disney, but I have to feel I'm getting value for my money. With 3 school age kids, my life is a series of deadlines and appointment. I go to Disney to escape that, not do MORE of it.

I think this is all about making cracking down to make a limited commodity (fun at Disney) available to more people.... that is..... packing more people into the parks. I don't like the way this is going at all.

 

[mom2rtk]

Just curious if anyone has been charged for only a partial party at a CCG restaurant (not including CRT or Akershus)? I know there was lots of speculation about this but not sure if it has happened yet...(may need to wait until spring for the full CCG effect...)

I could be wrong, but I think this varies. I can say that when we went to CRT in December, my husband wasn't feeling well and didn't come, and they did not charge us for him. But then I also think it's because she felt bad for charging me $60 for my daughter's chicken nuggets.

 

[mom2rtk]

Just curious if anyone has been charged for only a partial party at a CCG restaurant (not including CRT or Akershus)? I know there was lots of speculation about this but not sure if it has happened yet...(may need to wait until spring for the full CCG effect...)

Sorry, I missed the "not" in your question and answered about CRT. I don't have experience with the other locations. But I'd love to hear what others have to say.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

The new policy seems to be keeping people from booking ADRs just in case, or making tons of them they don't really want. And to me, that is a great thing!

I agree, and if this continues to make it easier to get into restaurants last minute, it will be a good thing. I remember fondly the days before the DDP became a must for so many, when we could walk up to LeCellier for lunch, or Narcoossee's for dinner. Good times.

The bad part, for me, is the rigidity of the policy; if I make it to my AR, and the restaurant says they can't seat us for 45 minutes, I should be allowed to go elsewhere.

If the process to cancel is so onerous that it is difficult to get into the system, that again is a big negative. If not, then I will be delighted, but we have had issues on more than one occasion. I am not one to make a reservation and then blithely ignore it at will - we have always tried to cancel. Sometimes, that has been an impossibility for us due to Disney's system shortfalls, which makes me nervous.

Time will tell. I guess in future we'll go without Signature or character reservations, and try to walk up. If we get in, great; if not, OK too. Our next trip is to US/IOA, and I have to admit, not needing to choose where we eat months in advance is a huge relief.

 

[Colleen27]

I agree. It's an unpleasant 1-2 punch. I wonder what other goodies they have in store for us. I have a hunch it will be the drying up of discounts which could be strike 3 for me. I love Disney, but I have to feel I'm getting value for my money. With 3 school age kids, my life is a series of deadlines and appointment. I go to Disney to escape that, not do MORE of it.

I think this is all about making cracking down to make a limited commodity (fun at Disney) available to more people.... that is..... packing more people into the parks. I don't like the way this is going at all.

I think that's it exactly and Disney is rapidly becoming a destination that I just don't think will work for my family. We don't like counter service but don't want to make CCG ADRs for every day so the signature dining we've enjoyed for years is out, and as a group of 5 or 6 we can't count on walk ups. Plus now we're going to have to add miles to every park day to use our FPs on time rather than having the flexibility to tour in a more geographic order, which makes touring with my mother infinitely more difficult, and we're going to have to juggle return times to make sure they don't conflict with ADRs, parades, or anything else that might get in the way.

I don't want to spend my vacation watching the clock but that seems to be what it will take to have the kind of experiences we enjoy, and that's making me second-guess even our May mini-trip to WDW, never mind our next whole family vacation. Disney will probably still get our money, though, at least for another year or two... It'll just be DCL and DLR instead of WDW.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think that's it exactly and Disney is rapidly becoming a destination that I just don't think will work for my family. We don't like counter service but don't want to make CCG ADRs for every day so the signature dining we've enjoyed for years is out, and as a group of 5 or 6 we can't count on walk ups. Plus now we're going to have to add miles to every park day to use our FPs on time rather than having the flexibility to tour in a more geographic order, which makes touring with my mother infinitely more difficult, and we're going to have to juggle return times to make sure they don't conflict with ADRs, parades, or anything else that might get in the way.

I don't want to spend my vacation watching the clock but that seems to be what it will take to have the kind of experiences we enjoy, and that's making me second-guess even our May mini-trip to WDW, never mind our next whole family vacation. Disney will probably still get our money, though, at least for another year or two... It'll just be DCL and DLR instead of WDW.

I'm feeling the same way. I don't feel the need to "punish" Disney by not spending any money there. I'm just not the sort to cut my nose off to spite my face. But picking the right parks on the right days becomes more of a necessity now than a bonus, even during traditionally slow times.

I too find myself looking west. I do want to see the FLE this year, then I thing our sites will be focused west.

One thing to keep in mind though is that they have oversold those southern California AP's, so it's very important to be sure you're there on blacked out days.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

The Fast Pass rule doesn't bother me at all, as we have never used one outside of the window stated on the ticket. I don't think anyone who did was immoral, we just never bothered. I also am really liking this change to the ADRs, as it has opened up a whole new world for us. Now I don't have to scramble and panic about making all my ADRs at 180 days out. We are going in a couple of weeks and I have been able to make changes to our ADRs. That would never have been possible before.

The new policy seems to be keeping people from booking ADRs just in case, or making tons of them they don't really want. And to me, that is a great thing!

Once again, I agree with you. We've never used a FP outside the window, & don't feel it negatively impacted our visits in any way. If we had ever used them late, I may feel differently. We just never felt we needed to.

I agree, and if this continues to make it easier to get into restaurants last minute, it will be a good thing. I remember fondly the days before the DDP became a must for so many, when we could walk up to LeCellier for lunch, or Narcoossee's for dinner. Good times.

The bad part, for me, is the rigidity of the policy; if I make it to my AR, and the restaurant says they can't seat us for 45 minutes, I should be allowed to go elsewhere.

If the process to cancel is so onerous that it is difficult to get into the system, that again is a big negative. If not, then I will be delighted, but we have had issues on more than one occasion. I am not one to make a reservation and then blithely ignore it at will - we have always tried to cancel. Sometimes, that has been an impossibility for us due to Disney's system shortfalls, which makes me nervous.

Time will tell. I guess in future we'll go without Signature or character reservations, and try to walk up. If we get in, great; if not, OK too. Our next trip is to US/IOA, and I have to admit, not needing to choose where we eat months in advance is a huge relief.

Most people on this thread know I love the new policy, but I do agree with you on this. If the wait is longer than 30 minutes, the guest should be able to leave w/o penalty. Waiting isn't a problem for us, but we don't have small children. To require those with small children to wait longer than 30 minutes is unreasonable, IMO. 30 minutes is pushing it for little ones. They really shouldn't require anyone to wait longer than 30 minutes though.

 

[Jubilee]

I love it! I also love the new FP rules...even though it is not as convenient for me, I think it is better for the greater good of fairness for all.

 

[Marshay]

Sorry, I missed the "not" in your question and answered about CRT. I don't have experience with the other locations. But I'd love to hear what others have to say.

no prob! THanks for your response. The only reason I excluded them is b/c CRT and Norway had been CCG for years now and I was wondering about the newer places.

 

[MolonLabe]

The only problem I would have with this policy is if they don't allow you to cancel w/o penalty, in person if the wait is beyond 30 minutes.

I encountered this twice at MK. Once at LTT for lunch. 45 minutes. I didn't try to cancel it as they said it would be 15 minutes initially.

The other was my fault as I waited for a patio table (again about 45 minutes) at Tony's. No fault on Disney there really.. although I did put it in my ADR and also stopped by earlier in the day in person to confirm, lol.

Anyway, I would think that a manager would be willing to waive the canx fee if there was a long delay. I would think so, Disney is usually pretty accommodating.

 

[MolonLabe]

I forgot my other point...

I do dislike having to do ADR's for virtually every location so far in advance. I can see CRT... anyway, it makes park hopping impractical and really kills the spontaneity.

Don't get me wrong when I show up and can have a seat in 5 minutes, I love it... but if you ahve to fork over a CC for a 30 minute+ wait for a 'reservation'... that's bull poop.

It's too bad they don't offer a 2QS and 1TS dining plan, lol.

 

[catne]

To answer the smaller-party showing-up question, I had to miss several ADRs last week due to illness (Feb 11-15) ...including Crystal Palace with the $10 charge. But hubby & son made it...so we had reserved for 3, but only 2 showed up. They did not charge the $10 fee at any of the restaurants -- even the character meal. I had told hubby to be prepared to pay...they told him the charge is only for total no-shows.

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

To answer the smaller-party showing-up question, I had to miss several ADRs last week due to illness (Feb 11-15) ...including Crystal Palace with the $10 charge. But hubby & son made it...so we had reserved for 3, but only 2 showed up. They did not charge the $10 fee at any of the restaurants -- even the character meal. I had told hubby to be prepared to pay...they told him the charge is only for total no-shows.

That's encouraging and makes this policy a little easier to accept. Now, if Disney will allow cancellations for really long wait times (45+ minutes) and fix the glitches they've had where they charge people who did show up, I think I might actually start to like this policy.

 

[Marshay]

To answer the smaller-party showing-up question, I had to miss several ADRs last week due to illness (Feb 11-15) ...including Crystal Palace with the $10 charge. But hubby & son made it...so we had reserved for 3, but only 2 showed up. They did not charge the $10 fee at any of the restaurants -- even the character meal. I had told hubby to be prepared to pay...they told him the charge is only for total no-shows.

That's encouraging and makes this policy a little easier to accept. Now, if Disney will allow cancellations for really long wait times (45+ minutes) and fix the glitches they've had where they charge people who did show up, I think I might actually start to like this policy.

Thanks for the info! I really was hoping they wouldn't charge for partial no-shows...agree that they should let people out of their ADR if wait is more than 30 minutes, too.

 

[cigar95]

Thanks for the info! I really was hoping they wouldn't charge for partial no-shows...

Just a caution - don't assume that because this party wasn't charged a "partial no-show fee", it means that no one will be charged this fee. Given the complexity of the system, we all know that consistency in any WDW automated system is not to be expected!

 

[DJFan88]

Forgive me if this has been said, I confess I didn't read the 101 plus pages. But, seeings as how we don't do sig. dining anyway, and I've just compiled a list of the ones that we may be interested in doing ADR's at, I just crossed maybe 1 or 2 off of my list of possibilities. And it doesn't bother me at all. I know everyone can't have that attitude as I have 2 older boys, so character dining is not an issue with us. But, for me I don't see the point in dealing with it. No restaurant is tempting enough for me to deal with the potential hassle. I've got enough other ones on the list. It's kind of like everything else in life where someone makes things more difficult on you versus somewhere where it's not -- "well, okay, see ya!" And we did not even cancel a single ADR on our last trip.
I do confess, however, that I was contemplating a fantasmic package, but now I'm not so sure. It could rain or whatever.
This could actually be a good thing for people who really want to get into some of these places, if there are alot more people like me. I doubt it would cause a decline in their sales, however.

 

[PrincessesX3]

I spoke to a CM the other day to make my ADRs and she told me, take a grain of salt, that it is up to that particular restaurant to charge you the $10 per person on a partial show party.

 

[jodifla]

Well, I think I have a new one....the CM I talked to told me you could modify your reservation to another day and you wouldn't get charged.

I said...are you sure? She said she had been doing it a lot the last month or so.

She also told me that if you were sick you wouldn't get charged. hmmm.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Well, I think I have a new one....the CM I talked to told me you could modify your reservation to another day and you wouldn't get charged.

I said...are you sure? She said she had been doing it a lot the last month or so.

She also told me that if you were sick you wouldn't get charged. hmmm.

It sounds like Disney's getting a lot of flack, so they are relaxing the policy? I show up for my ressies or cancel, although I have cancelled same day for illness (prior to new policy).

 

[angelmav]

It sounds like Disney's getting a lot of flack, so they are relaxing the policy? I show up for my ressies or cancel, although I have cancelled same day for illness (prior to new policy).

Why would they be getting flak? I thought everybody LOVED all the changes that punish the paying customer? Someone needs to explaing to these people that it's more fair somehow this way and then maybe they will see the light.