New Reservations Cancellation Policy

[maxiesmom]

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.

Why not split up and have the cranky ones go back to the resort with an adult, and the others stay for the meal?

I can't help but think that some parents are going to use this as an excuse for their kid's bad behavior in restaurants. NOT meaning the poster I quoted. In general. The rules of parenting don't change when Disney charges a fee for no show. You do what is best for the child, even if it costs you a bit of money. Or you give it the old college try, and if the child doesn't settle down, one parents takes them out, or you all leave. It is my understanding that if you at least show up and are seated the fee is waved.

Not to mention, if we all haven't noticed a huge jump in cranky children at the many restaurants that have already had the policy in place for a few years, I don't think we will notice it much now.

 

[Mkrop]

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

And we have been unable to get walkups at the first 4 on your list In fact I think DHS is the hardest place to get a walkup, we usually wind up leaving and taking the boat to BW area if we really want a TS.

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.

Money is not more important than my children...which is why I resent this policy so much. This is a family oriented place, it should realize that little ones can be quite unpredictable in such an overstimulating place.

My kids are older but I could definitely see us taking that gamble and hoping for the best when they were younger.

I think it is insulting for WDW to do this...here I am trying to do the right thing by taking my sick and or cranky kids back to the room and they are slapping me with a fine for doing the right thing.

Why not split up and have the cranky ones go back to the resort with an adult, and the others stay for the meal?

I can't help but think that some parents are going to use this as an excuse for their kid's bad behavior in restaurants. NOT meaning the poster I quoted. In general. The rules of parenting don't change when Disney charges a fee for no show. You do what is best for the child, even if it costs you a bit of money. Or you give it the old college try, and if the child doesn't settle down, one parents takes them out, or you all leave. It is my understanding that if you at least show up and are seated the fee is waved.

Not to mention, if we all haven't noticed a huge jump in cranky children at the many restaurants that have already had the policy in place for a few years, I don't think we will notice it much now.

Because this is a family vacation, we rarely split up if we can help it. I dont like that for the family dynamic. If that works for your family, so be it but it does not work for ours. All for one and one for all. When my mom was with us a very long time ago, she got sick on the trip, we had to have the Dr come to the room. We had left her for much of the day so she could sleep, but we felt really bad about dinner, so we went back to the hotel, not sure if we had an ADR or not, this was 12 years ago, but we ordered room service and enjoyed at least a meal with her that day. If we had an ADR, we would have been charged for doing the right thing by my mom.

Another trip right at the end of a meal at Garden Grove, DS10 started to feel really sick and we were on our way to Fantasmic. DS16 and DH could have gone onto Fantasmic but they didnt, we all went back to the room and called it a night.

We split up for the occasional ride but OUR trips are about family and the family meal is important to be together, esp in everyday life, it is hard to coordinate schedules.

 

[Allison]

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.

It is 9:15 now and I am able to make a reservation at Boma for 10:30.

 

[momof2n2]

I love this idea. It *should* open up more walk-up opportunities for those who couldn't make ADRs.

 

[maxiesmom]

Because this is a family vacation, we rarely split up if we can help it. I dont like that for the family dynamic. If that works for your family, so be it but it does not work for ours. All for one and one for all. When my mom was with us a very long time ago, she got sick on the trip, we had to have the Dr come to the room. We had left her for much of the day so she could sleep, but we felt really bad about dinner, so we went back to the hotel, not sure if we had an ADR or not, this was 12 years ago, but we ordered room service and enjoyed at least a meal with her that day. If we had an ADR, we would have been charged for doing the right thing by my mom.


We split up for the occasional ride but OUR trips are about family and the family meal is important to be together, esp in everyday life, it is hard to coordinate schedules.

I would think a sick child's need would trump either having to all stay together, or all going to the ADR to get out of paying the fee. We like to stay together too! We also rarely split up. But as you say, sometimes you do have to split up occasionally. And as any parent knows, sometimes doing the right thing by everyone is not easy or cheap.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

I love this idea. It *should* open up more walk-up opportunities for those who couldn't make ADRs.

Actually it should do just the opposite. Less people will be cancelling last minute, which allow for walk ups, since they will be banged for a fee if they do.

The popular places will have the "day before" cancelled reservations snatched up before walk ups have a chance.

I don't see the logic of those saying this will help walk ups or decrease the number of people holding multiple reservations for 180+ days since they will only have to cancel one day out. None of the arguments that I have seen here really explain that.

I do see how the policy will stop no shows and I am all for that, but I think that could have been achieved by just charging for no shows - walk ups are happy, WDW is not losing out on revenue, people will be more responsible. Anyone saying WDW has had success with charging a fee for cancellations made less than 24 or 48 hrs is making a somewhat misleading statement since we’ll never know if a no show fee would have accomplished the same result.

 

[Mkrop]

I would think a sick child's need would trump either having to all stay together, or all going to the ADR to get out of paying the fee. We like to stay together too! We also rarely split up. But as you say, sometimes you do have to split up occasionally. And as any parent knows, sometimes doing the right thing by everyone is not easy or cheap.

Exactly which is why a family oriented place like WDW should make it easy and less expensive to do the right thing as a parent. They should be helping parents, their bread and butter, not penalizing them! Charge for the no shows who are being irresponsible, dont charge the parents or other people who are doing the right thing by not showing up sick or cranky. This doesnt just apply to parents either...we already had a poster claim that she did not miss an ADR even though she was sick. Shouldnt she hold some responsibility on the other end, for not infecting the rest of us? This isnt going to be just a parent thing...I see MANY guests of all ages trying to make these ADRs now instead of heading back to the hotel.

Actually it should do just the opposite. Less people will be cancelling last minute, which allow for walk ups, since they will be banged for a fee if they do.

The popular places will have the "day before" cancelled reservations snatched up before walk ups have a chance.

I don't see the logic of those saying this will help walk ups or decrease the number of people holding multiple reservations for 180+ days since they will only have to cancel one day out. None of the arguments that I have seen here really explain that.

I do see how the policy will stop no shows and I am all for that, but I think that could have been achieved by just charging for no shows - walk ups are happy, WDW is not losing out on revenue, people will be more responsible. Anyone saying WDW has had success with charging a fee for cancellations made less than 24 or 48 hrs is making a somewhat misleading statement since we’ll never know if a no show fee would have accomplished the same result.

 

[AmyB2006]

Actually it should do just the opposite. Less people will be cancelling last minute, which allow for walk ups, since they will be banged for a fee if they do.

The popular places will have the "day before" cancelled reservations snatched up before walk ups have a chance.

I don't see the logic of those saying this will help walk ups or decrease the number of people holding multiple reservations for 180+ days since they will only have to cancel one day out. None of the arguments that I have seen here really explain that.

I do see how the policy will stop no shows and I am all for that, but I think that could have been achieved by just charging for no shows - walk ups are happy, WDW is not losing out on revenue, people will be more responsible. Anyone saying WDW has had success with charging a fee for cancellations made less than 24 or 48 hrs is making a somewhat misleading statement since well never know if a no show fee would have accomplished the same result.

I think less reservations overall will be made, as is evident by a lot of people claiming "I just won't make ADRs now"... and statements of the like. Also, people are less likely to double book.

I think more people will be cognizant of cancelling the day before instead of just waiting till the last minute. So where you may have had only 20 people cancel their reservation, maybe now 50 will cancel. (Just throwing numbers out there). PLUS... they are still going to have no-shows. Just hopefully less.

I don't think you'll see the number of people attempting to make day of reservations increase by too much to take up all of these cancelled ADRs, which will allow for walk ups hopefully.

I have said this several times, on this thread. Again, this is just my opinion though.

 

[Nancyg56]

Actually it should do just the opposite. Less people will be cancelling last minute, which allow for walk ups, since they will be banged for a fee if they do.

The popular places will have the "day before" cancelled reservations snatched up before walk ups have a chance.

I don't see the logic of those saying this will help walk ups or decrease the number of people holding multiple reservations for 180+ days since they will only have to cancel one day out. None of the arguments that I have seen here really explain that.

I do see how the policy will stop no shows and I am all for that, but I think that could have been achieved by just charging for no shows - walk ups are happy, WDW is not losing out on revenue, people will be more responsible. Anyone saying WDW has had success with charging a fee for cancellations made less than 24 or 48 hrs is making a somewhat misleading statement since we’ll never know if a no show fee would have accomplished the same result.

I doubt it will impact walk-ups, but I do believe that it may curb multiple ADRs. Up until this new policy,it was possible to book multiple ADR's and not unless the restaurants were on the CC list, there was no reason to panic if you forgot to cancel. I believe that if someone needs to make lists and cart around their dining ADR's in order to cancel before the cutoff, some will just bit the bullet and commit to one. Vacations can be busy so maybe people who have had nothing to lose by "forgetting" to cancel, will think twice.

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.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I think a lot of people do that already, and not becasue of that pesky fee. I remember sitting in the Yachtsman trying to enjoy a meal while a clearly sick tween was stretched out on two chairs, and her family was "encouraging: her to eat. That same night a baby screamed for what seemed to be an eternity. When we were walking out after dinner, the family had that child perched on the table trying to sooth her. What I found troubling in both cases, on the same night, was that neither family wondered if perhaps the children would be better off anywhere else. And this was before any penalties were in place for any restaurant.

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.

I am not sure that this is fair. What I think happens is that families think that a meal or a change will be the magic bullet that makes things better, and many times they are right. When you dangle a financial penalty in front of someone, it is not always possible to look for the rosy outcome.

 

[maxiesmom]

Exactly which is why a family oriented place like WDW should make it easy and less expensive to do the right thing as a parent. They should be helping parents, their bread and butter, not penalizing them! Charge for the no shows who are being irresponsible, dont charge the parents or other people who are doing the right thing by not showing up sick or cranky. This doesnt just apply to parents either...we already had a poster claim that she did not miss an ADR even though she was sick. Shouldnt she hold some responsibility on the other end, for not infecting the rest of us? This isnt going to be just a parent thing...I see MANY guests of all ages trying to make these ADRs now instead of heading back to the hotel.

$10 a person is a small enough fee that it won't bankrupt anyone, but it will hurt enough to make people think twice about cancelling at the last minute or not showing up. It has to hurt a little, or it wouldn't do any good.

I also think it is accommodating of Disney to only charge the fee if no one shows up. So if a child is sick it is possible for one parent to take them back to the room, without paying the fee, and the rest of the family can enjoy their meal. If someone chooses to not take advantage of that, that is their choice. But Disney is not forcing anyone to bring a sick child out to eat in order to avoid the fee. They are giving an out for it. They are doing what they can to help parents, without making them special and exempt from the rule.

Note too that this policy has been in place at the vast majority of popular restaurants and character meals for quite some time. I haven't noticed an increase of sick people dining out. But maybe I have just been lucky.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

I think less reservations overall will be made, as is evident by a lot of people claiming "I just won't make ADRs now"... and statements of the like.


Possibly, but that has not been the case with the places subscribing to the 24/48 hour cancellation fee. We are just a small part of the population that goes to WDW. When most people are told they need to make reservations in advance, they think they need to make them a few days/maybe weeks in advance - not 180+10 days.

I think more people will be cognizant of cancelling the day before instead of just waiting till the last minute. So where you may have had only 20 people cancel their reservation, maybe now 50 will cancel. (Just throwing numbers out there). PLUS... they are still going to have no-shows. Just hopefully less.

Agreed, but I still hold to the fact that people will cancel if they are going to be charged a no show fee, some 24 hours in advance, some a week in advance and some at the last minute. A good number of people will not know 24 hours in advance that they will need to cancel their ADR. Instead, as pointed out by a few here, they will drag themselves to their ADR regardless of the circumstances which doesn't help anyone IMO.

I don't think you'll see the number of people attempting to make day of reservations increase by too much to take up all of these cancelled ADRs, which will allow for walk ups hopefully.

Maybe, that's a good point, we'll see.

I have said this several times, on this thread. Again, this is just my opinion though.

Me too!

As I've said before, this policy won't really impact my family. I do however see a number of unhappy guests in WDW's future and feel bad for the CMs they will take it out on.

I feel as though WDW is taking a baseball bat approach to fixing the problem without trying the less painful approach first.

 

[5DisneyNuts]

I doubt it will impact walk-ups, but I do believe that it may curb multiple ADRs. Up until this new policy,it was possible to book multiple ADR's and not unless the restaurants were on the CC list, there was no reason to panic if you forgot to cancel. I believe that if someone needs to make lists and cart around their dining ADR's in order to cancel before the cutoff, some will just bit the bullet and commit to one. Vacations can be busy so maybe people who have had nothing to lose by "forgetting" to cancel, will think twice.

Agreed and could be accomplished with a no show fee.

 

[AmyB2006]

Instead, as pointed out by a few here, they will drag themselves to their ADR regardless of the circumstances which doesn't help anyone IMO.

I agree. I do hate to see people miserable on vacation dragging themselves to dinner, just because they have to. Or sick people coming to a restaurant just because. I do hope over time Disney will reevaluate this policy. I do think there is a better way to do it.

As I've said before, this policy won't really impact my family. I do however see a number of unhappy guests in WDW's future and feel bad for the CMs they will take it out on.

Agreed 100%. It won't (hopefully) ever impact me either. It hasn't up until now. Anything can happen.

I feel as though WDW is taking a baseball bat approach to fixing the problem without trying the less painful approach first.

I do see both sides of this. We all agree something has to be done. I, because like you it won't affect me, don't have a problem with the policy change. But I can see why others do. As I said, hopefully in 6 months they can reevaluate.

 

[Mkrop]

$10 a person is a small enough fee that it won't bankrupt anyone, but it will hurt enough to make people think twice about cancelling at the last minute or not showing up. It has to hurt a little, or it wouldn't do any good.

I also think it is accommodating of Disney to only charge the fee if no one shows up. So if a child is sick it is possible for one parent to take them back to the room, without paying the fee, and the rest of the family can enjoy their meal. If someone chooses to not take advantage of that, that is their choice. But Disney is not forcing anyone to bring a sick child out to eat in order to avoid the fee. They are giving an out for it. They are doing what they can to help parents, without making them special and exempt from the rule.

Note too that this policy has been in place at the vast majority of popular restaurants and character meals for quite some time. I haven't noticed an increase of sick people dining out. But maybe I have just been lucky.

Maybe $10/pp is not a big deal for you but it is to me! And WDW can make it "hurt" by charging the people who truly are inconsiderate and dont show. Dont charge the people who are being considerate and taking their family back to their room.

We went out to Vegas a couple of years ago to see the Grand Canyon. We got to do that but DH got either food posioning or a stomach bug. He was really sick. I was left with two kids to roam around Vegas with, and luckily we had a suite so they kids were not super exposed to DH. But we can back to the hotel for every meal, and he was sick late Tues-Sat to check on him, and bring him gatorade and crackers and water. We ate many meals either on site or got take out or room service so we could be with him. I had to cancel a few reservations. Not one place gave me a hard time about it. Most were super accomdating and told us to come back when he felt better. And one of them I cancelled at 2 for 7pm bc he got sick after we had lunch at the Venetian food court. If places in Vegas can understand sick people and the need to cancel, why cant WDW which caters to kids and families who probably statistically get sicker than adults.

 

[hoosll]

This is not a typical restaurant scenario. I have no doubt disney can fill every table that cancels with walk ups. ... There is no lost revenue from cancelled reservations at these super- popular places. That is the part that gets my goat. They are just being greedy. The bottom line is they fill that table yet still have the nerve to charge for the no show. Equals double revenue for Dinsey. The other issue here is that Disney knows exactly what their reservation to show ratio is down to a science for every single restaurant. They could easily create a no-lose formula where they took x # of bookings that would account for the % of no shows. They just prefer to penalize the guest.

My behavior will most definitely change. I alreaady made far fewer table service reservations for our last trip and will make even fewer now if I have no flexibility to enjoy my vacation as it comes. If that means I decide to cancel a meal a few hours before. If I decide on a TS, I'll try it as a walk up. If not, I'll eat elsewhere or off property.

I so agree with PP. We are headed to FW in Feb '14. I have no desire to put my CC down for table ressies AND I have always cancelled my ressie if I couldn't make it in the past. We will probably use the Disney app to check for same day reservations.

I think Disney will find that their restaurant usage will become less predictable and I hope that it doesn't lead to running out of certain menu items in the future. In fact, I expect that there will be some crazy times when this new policy starts up with unhappy kitchens and customers.

I hope they continue to review this policy as it is implemented and determine if the cancellation policy is working as they hoped.

 

[maxiesmom]

I so agree with PP. We are headed to FW in Feb '14. I have no desire to put my CC down for table ressies AND I have always cancelled my ressie if I couldn't make it in the past. We will probably use the Disney app to check for same day reservations.

I think Disney will find that their restaurant usage will become less predictable and I hope that it doesn't lead to running out of certain menu items in the future. In fact, I expect that there will be some crazy times when this new policy starts up with unhappy kitchens and customers.

I hope they continue to review this policy as it is implemented and determine if the cancellation policy is working as they hoped.

Remember that they have had this policy at the more popular restaurants for a while now. It is not new to WDW, so I would think they have looked at all of the data they have collected from that, and have come to the conclusion that it is the best thing to do. I wouldn't expect it to change a whole lot.

 

[maxiesmom]

I have noticed on this, and the other thread about the subject, a lot of cries of Why Disney? The only one who can say for sure why is Disney. I don't think anyone here can answer that question to anyone's satisfaction. Maybe someone should e-mail and ask them why. My guess? They want people to book ADRs who know they want them. Not people who may want them, but are not sure, and if it is too cold they won't show up. They want to guarantee as much as they can people will book and then actually show up.

I have to say too, that I'm not sure kids are statistically more likely to get sick than adults, especially when you are using Vegas as a comparison point. Remember too Vegas is not a bunch of hotels and restaurants operating for one corporation, as is true of WDW, but many businesses out for their own share of the pie. Every restaurant on Disney property is out for Disney. Even the few that are not Disney owned. Cesars could care less if you cancel a dining reservation at the MGM.

 

[sndral]

ADR "NO-SHOW" CANCELLATION FEES:

5) Trial Period Backstory
. . . this was done on a trial-basis for 4-weeks in Epcot
. . . cut down no-shows by over 75% at Epcot eateries
. . . Le Cellier cut daily no-shows to 1-page from 2-3 pages
. . . now a policy, as no-shows greatly can reduce eatery revenue
. . . a no-show takes a ressie someone else might have kept
. . . the policy was then trialed for charcter meals and signature meals
. . . being so successful, it is now across-the-property [/i]

... Anyone saying WDW has had success with charging a fee for cancellations made less than 24 or 48 hrs is making a somewhat misleading statement since we’ll never know if a no show fee would have accomplished the same result.

I don't think it's misleading to say it is successful - based on the numbers reported it does work. That doesn't mean other solutions might not work too. Disney's park so they can pick the solution they think works best for them.
My only complaint when they expanded the CC guarantee to all signature restaurants a couple of years ago was that I had to enter my CC number for each ADR and since I was making 1 signature ADR per day for 10 nights it was a lot of typing and it took a much longer time than the previous year when I didn't have to type in CC numbers w/ each Signature ADR. I was worried that the ones I did at the end would be gone or horrible times - I found that I got everything I wanted and at better times than the previous year.
BTW Las Vegas gives booze away and offers cheap food to entice people into their casinos so people will lose $ gambling - not sure that's the best comparison to WDW. In fact I don't think there is a company that deals w/ the huge numbers that WDW deals w/.

 

[Eastern]

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.

My kids are adults now. But I was thinking about young parents, with this new rule, and how they might be tempted to at least try dinner rather than giving up $40 or $50, when they will have to feed the kids eventually. I think that it does make it more likely that someone will try, rather than just cancel and get a snack somewhere.

I hope you're not going to dinner tonight because you sound pretty crabby yourself

 

[5DisneyNuts]

I don't think it's misleading to say it is successful - based on the numbers reported it does work. That doesn't mean other solutions might not work too. Disney's park so they can pick the solution they think works best for them.

I think it is a bit misleading to say that the cancellation policy was successful since a no show fee might have been just as successful and less traumatic had they decided to try it.

Of course WDW can decide on their policies, any profit driven company can. In this case it would be nice to see policies driven by customer accommodation and service levels in conjunction with needing to try to fix the current broken system.