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

[TDC Nala]

This is an official notice that was provided by Cheshire Figment, as it's no longer a rumor I'm going to put it up here on this board.

PLEASE BE SURE YOU READ THE QUOTE BELOW CAREFULLY. This policy applies to RESERVATIONS MADE ON OR AFTER OCTOBER 26, 2011 ONLY. If you have already made reservations before this date THEY WILL NOT BE AFFECTED.

At this time it is unknown what, if any, exigent circumstances will be permitted as excuses for cancelling a reservation at a restaurant on this list on the same day as the reservation. We do not know if Disney will have specific accepted excuses or if it will be up to the person who answers the phone whether or not to accept the excuse. We also cannot be sure at this time that any exigent circumstances for cancelling the day of will be accepted at all.

Per information from a poster who called Disney Dining, apparently if a partial party shows up at the restaurant there will still be a $10 charge for each person who didn't show up. This is the information given via one call to Disney Dining...we all know how consistent they are with their information.

It is also not clear at this time whether "a day in advance" means a calendar day or 24 hours.

"To provide consistent Guest service, adjustments will be made to the Walt Disney World Resort cancellation policy beginning October 26, 2011. At that time, additional table-service locations will begin using the cancellation policy already in place at select restaurants on property. When booking a reservation at these restaurants, Guests will be required to provide a credit card to hold a reservation and will be charged $10 per person if the cancellation isn’t made at least one day in advance.

Pre-paid locations will continue to retain the full, pre-paid amount if Guests are unable to honor the reservation and are unable to cancel the reservation one day in advance. Special dining events and packages such as Fantasmic! packages, New Year’s Eve dinners, Victoria & Albert’s reservations may have different cancellation requirements.

Dining locations participating in the credit card guarantee policy will be as follows:

Pre-Paid Locations

• Cinderella’s Royal Table
• Disney’s Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
• Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue
• Mickey’s Backyard BBQ

Credit Card Guarantee Locations

• 1900 Park Fare
• Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
• Artist Point
• California Grill
• Cape May Café
• Chef Mickey’s
• Cítricos
• The Crystal Palace
• Flying Fish Café
• The Garden Grill
• Hollywood & Vine
• Jiko – The Cooking Place
• Le Cellier Steakhouse
• Narcoossee’s
• ‘Ohana
• Tusker House Restaurant
• The Hollywood Brown Derby
• Victoria & Albert’s (cancellation policy is $25/per person)
• Yachtsman Steakhouse

A special phone line that only handles dining cancellations is available for Guest convenience: 407-WDW-CNCL. Dining reservations may be booked or canceled by visiting any table-service restaurant podium, Walt Disney World Resort Hotel front desk, concierge or Guest Relations, or by calling 407-WDW-DINE. Guests may also make and cancel reservations by visiting www.DisneyWorld.com/Dining.

Guests with questions about a cancellation policy for a dining reservation are encouraged to visit any table-service restaurant podium, Walt Disney World Resort Hotel front desk, Concierge or Guest Relations, or by call 407-WDW-DINE."

Note that it is all "signature" restaurants and all with Character Dining. With the exception of Akershus (with Characters) and Le Cellier it does not include any Epcot restaurants.

 

[LMO429]

Is this now the official thread to discuss this? It's seems this discussion threads keeps coming up closed and I just wanted to post a quick ?

 

[TDC Nala]

Yes, we are going to have one thread for general discussion on this topic, and this is going to be it. Otherwise we will likely end up with multiple threads just on this topic.

 

[LMO429]

Ok thank you for clarifying

My question is I already have reservations for some of the restaurants that now require a cc to hold it..however I did not have to supply a credit card when i originally made the reservations. We are going to be at the world oct 27 - nov 3rd. So I have reservations at Ohana and Cape May and I did not give a credit card to hold. My ? is does the 10 penatly fee apply to us or would it be any new reservations I make during that time frame that would apply

 

[lovin'fl]

So this begins end of Oct. My question is like LMO429's- I have Ohana booked for Dec...will they now call and ask for credit card info or will we be grand-fathered in (so to speak)?

 

[TDC Nala]

If you have already booked the reservations, based on a reading of the memo this will not apply. It applies to reservations booked on or after October 26.

Direct quote:

adjustments will be made to the Walt Disney World Resort cancellation policy beginning October 26, 2011. At that time, additional table-service locations will begin using the cancellation policy already in place at select restaurants on property. When booking a reservation at these restaurants

I don't think they have the time or the wherewithal to contact everyone who already had a reservation booked at any of these places and ask them for a credit card.

 

[havoc315]

I wonder, to what extent, Disney will waive the fee for "good faith" same day cancellations. Otherwise, you will have some very upset guests.
I can think of at least 3 types of good faith reasons to cancel the same day -

-- Sickness
-- Extreme weather. Wake up to a rain storm, and you might not want to spend the day at Animal Kingdom afterall.
-- transportation. While you should budget enough time to make it a non-issue, the unforeseeable does happen. If on arrival day, your flight is supposed to arrive at noon, I don't think it is irresponsible to make a dinner reservation. But there are times, especially in winter or with missed connections, where travel can be delayed by 6 hours, 12 hours, even 24 hours. And at times, Disney's own transportation can face a severe delay, putting you 30-60+ minutes behind schedule.

I suspect Disney will maintain an unpublished policy of waiving the fee upon request, as long as a reasonable excuse is offered, and as long as it's not habitual. (not your 3rd cancelled reservation of the trip)

 

[MusicMouse]

It looks like I booked just in time (although I already had to guarantee Akershus with a CC). I hope this cuts down on all of the no-shows - it must be very frustrating to be turned away from restaurants that are only 2/3 full!

 

[goingthedistance]

So what happens if I have a reservation for 4 people but only 2 show up? Am I charged $10 per person for the no shows?

 

[Cafeen]

So what happens if I have a reservation for 4 people but only 2 show up? Am I charged $10 per person for the no shows?

As it sits now, yes. Of course, some inconsistency will apply, but the official word (and how it's done now, for the most part) is that partial parties are charged for those that don't show up.

 

[angelmav]

My issue is the 24 hr cancellation policy. You need to plan so far in advance and if your plans change, even cancelling many hours in advance doesnt save the charge. Oversleep and miss that breakfast ADR, charged, someone drops out, cant make it etc, charged. They want to keep you confined to property and plan everything in great detail but then place this kind of restriction seems like some people will be caught with this that would have otherwise acted in good faith. Its not like most people have 1 meal to plan, its several. Some parties are quite large too, so it could be really expensive to risk making an ADR if there is any chance you cant make it. How many people make ADR's with the Deluxe then find out they dont have the appetite for that meal they were sure they wanted six months ago? Just wish this were more like a 2 hour cancellation to allow for walkups so the table isnt held.

 

[shoney]

I think it is a great idea. I recently started a thread "% of adr's that you keep" and most people here to keep them, but I have a hard time believing that the majority of people keep 100% outside of the dis.

I am planning my first onsite trip and have my adr's made. I am not crazy about the idea of planning when and where I want to eat months in advance. I prefer to be much more spontaneous on vacation. I am hoping that this policy allows for more walk-ups. I would rather pick a restaurant on the fly and wait for a table, then make my family "run" to the
ADR instead of riding a ride they want at the time.

I guess we'll see the policies effects sometime in 2012.

 

[nkereina]

I agree with PP. For those of us who don't like to over-plan but like to make a couple ADRs, this could throw a wrench in it. I could see it also negatively affecting first time guests. Even if a first time guest is on top of it and makes ADRs six months out, when they get there and are on their trip, they may find that at the end of the week they don't want to go back to Epcot or they may want to spend another day at DHS, etc. They don't know which park they will like and not like, it may differ from what they thought. This kind of happened to us last time and we canceled an ADR last minute because we did not want to go back to DHS one night. It does make it hard to do what you want and play things by ear.

Also as mentioned on the last thread, there are still people in the world who don't have credit cards. My brother, for instance, recently filed bankruptcy and has no active credit cards or debit cards. Disney is a great place for these people to vacation because you do not have to put a credit card down at check-in and if you book through a travel agent, you can pay in cash. I suppose, though, you could buy a Visa gift card or a pre-paid card at a drug store but now people will be forced to do this.

I will be interested to see how much of a noticeable effect this will have with ADR availability. People can still tie up ADRs until they make decisions, they just need to make the decision 24 hours earlier now which won't really help people.

 

[mcd2745]

To the "powers that be" at WDW:


Glad to see Disney finally addressing the problem. Clearly, they realized something had to be done to reduce the number of no-shows. The only people who should have a problem with this policy are the people who make ADRs knowing they are unlikely to use them. I hope they take a firm stance and not waive the fees for everyone who claims "junior just got sick" or "the bus never came", etc. If it becomes common knowlede that you can just give a lame excuse and they will waive the fee, then nothing will change.

What I wonder is...can Disney's system periodically verify the card info given at the time the ADRs is made? I can see the people who like to hoard ADRs trying to find ways around this by say, making their ususal multiple ADRs for the same nights at 180 days, giving Disney a valid CC for the "hold", then cancelling the card with the thinking they wouldn't be able to get charged after they don't show for a bunch of ADRs.

 

[AUDramaQueen]

It could potentially help walk-ups who we know often complain because they can't get a sit down meal anywhere (because they don't research anything before leaving).

I am betting they will be fairly lenient with their charges for cancelling b/c of weather, etc and are really hoping to cut back on those who make multiple ressies at popular places and then don't show. They can probably track who does that on a regular basis more easily this way.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I read somewhere they waive the fee for illness on the ones that already require advance notice, so I hope they extend it to the added restaurants. I had to cancel 2 last time due to illness.

I will be interested to see how the process goes online. I am wondering if I'm making reservations online, will I have to re-enter the card number every time or will it pre-fill after I do one like it does for your name and ph#. I kind of doubt it will assume you want to use the same number though.

Before I have only had Akershus that I had to enter my card for, but of the 9 I am hoping to do on our 10 day trip next June, 8 are on the list that now require a CC. I'm wondering if I will have to enter it for every reservation I make in a session. I've seen how even seconds can make a difference when going through the process online.

 

[TDC Nala]

I can see the people who like to hoard ADRs trying to find ways around this by say, making their ususal multiple ADRs for the same nights at 180 days, giving Disney a valid CC for the "hold", then cancelling the card with the thinking they wouldn't be able to get charged after they don't show for a bunch of ADRs.

Anyone who wants to play around with their credit rating like this for the sake of avoiding being required to show up for a character meal or cancel it a day ahead is welcome to try this, I'm sure.

 

[mcd2745]

I think it is a great idea. I recently started a thread "% of adr's that you keep" and most people here to keep them, but I have a hard time believing that the majority of people keep 100% outside of the dis.

Well...I'm sure there are plenty here on the DIS who don't keep ADRs (due to multiple-bookings and whatnot) - there probably just are only a few who will admit to it.

I could see it also negatively affecting first time guests. Even if a first time guest is on top of it and makes ADRs six months out, when they get there and are on their trip, they may find that at the end of the week they don't want to go back to Epcot or they may want to spend another day at DHS, etc. They don't know which park they will like and not like, it may differ from what they thought. This kind of happened to us last time and we canceled an ADR last minute because we did not want to go back to DHS one night. It does make it hard to do what you want and play things by ear.

True...first-timers may have trouble. I just hope all CMs on the dining line are very clear in explaining the policy and also hope on the ADR website that it stated very clearly, and not hidden in the "fine print".

 

[ccgirl]

I, for one, am thrilled with this. This is a great way to eliminate double (and triple) dining reservations. I know far too many people that werent' sure what park they were going to be at on which day so they just made reservations and each of them and never cancelled. I also know those that were just two people but there were no reservations available for a party of 2 so they just made it for 6 and showed up with just 2. Illness happens. I have found them to be most accommodating. My DD threw up out of the blue on the way to the BBB appt. I called and they cancelled without penalty.

 

[MisWal]

I can definitely see the upside to this is that people won't be making 2 or 3 reservations to different places for the same meal and waiting until they get there to decide what they feel like eating and then cancelling the others at the last second. I think this happens way more often than anyone will admit.