nighttowll
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2013
I don't have an issue with people holding onto a couple of reservations while they get their schedules figured out. 6 months is way too far in advance to make realistic guesses about when to eat. There a just too many unknown factors, park hours, dinner packages, FP+ reservations, and parade and show schedules. Eventually, those "hoarded" ADRs will be released, and people like me who only decided to go at the 3 month period will have a chance to scoop them up.
This is my issue. How can I plan where I'm eating when, when I don't know which FP I'll have? I never booked any ADR we weren't planning on using before FP+ started. Now, I feel like I have to book more than one option because I'm not sure what my schedule is going to look like.
For instance, I booked a dinner that opened up at Sci Fi I was trying for. However, I really wanted lunch instead. When lunch opened up, I booked that, but kept dinner as a back up in case my FP ended up interfering with lunch. We will only be in the park a half day that day, so I didn't have much time to work with, especially with all the shows in that park. I was about 2 weeks out from my 60 days. Once I got all my fast pass booked, and knew the lunch time was ok, I let the dinner go.
I learned my lesson from past trips when I used to never book any extra, and it ended up causing us to have to choose between must do meals and must do rides. This time, I wasn't going to let a must do meal go until I was sure my plan was set. If that made me a hoarder for those two weeks that I hung onto both reservations, well then I guess I'm a hoarder. I didn't do this for every restaurant I wanted, but I did do it for my must do restaurants on a couple of the days I was unsure of.
I'm perfectly fine with someone doing this. It isn't the same to me as booking a meal every hour of every day.
Yes, I think this is a little extreme as well. I don't see a problem with booking a couple of extra meals for the few days you don't have completely figured out, but I wouldn't feel comfortable grabbing everything in sight.
The issue is where do you draw the line? Some will feel it is unethical to book even one meal you don't plan on using. Others, like me, will feel it is ok to book a couple as long as it isn't in excess, and others will feel that all is fair in love and war so to speak.
I figure. I'll worry about me, and they can worry about them. I feel like there are a lot of other injustices and problems in the world I can spend my energy worrying about then if some stranger is hoarding a few ADR.
This is another issue I've run into. We didn't plan our upcoming trip until 3 months out. It was supposed to be a Universal Trip, no planning needed. Last minute, it gets turned into a Disney trip. So, I'm scrambling for adr from the beginning. I know I booked many meals and cancelled them this time which might make it look like I was hoarding them, but wasn't.
For instance, we want to eat at restaurant A for dinner at 7. The only thing I can find 3 months out is restaurant A at noon, so I take it. I'd rather eat at lunch than not at all. Then, a few days later, I find a dinner at 4:00. Then, a few days later, I fine one at 7:30. This causes me to cancel the first two reservations quite close together. It might appear to others that I had 3 reservations made for the same restaurant same day from the beginning, but I didn't. I'm just booking and rebooking constantly as things become available, trying to get as close to my desired schedule as possible.
I've also had times that people backed out on trips that caused me to cancel all their meals at once, again making it appear like I was hoarding those meals, but wasn't.
You never know why a person is getting rid of a meal, or how long they have had it for, so maybe just be glad a cancellation opened up, instead of assuming they've been hoarding it from 180 days out.
I wonder if they move the ADR closer to the Fast Pass window, it would cut down the hoarding.
This is my issue. How can I plan where I'm eating when, when I don't know which FP I'll have? I never booked any ADR we weren't planning on using before FP+ started. Now, I feel like I have to book more than one option because I'm not sure what my schedule is going to look like.
For instance, I booked a dinner that opened up at Sci Fi I was trying for. However, I really wanted lunch instead. When lunch opened up, I booked that, but kept dinner as a back up in case my FP ended up interfering with lunch. We will only be in the park a half day that day, so I didn't have much time to work with, especially with all the shows in that park. I was about 2 weeks out from my 60 days. Once I got all my fast pass booked, and knew the lunch time was ok, I let the dinner go.
I learned my lesson from past trips when I used to never book any extra, and it ended up causing us to have to choose between must do meals and must do rides. This time, I wasn't going to let a must do meal go until I was sure my plan was set. If that made me a hoarder for those two weeks that I hung onto both reservations, well then I guess I'm a hoarder. I didn't do this for every restaurant I wanted, but I did do it for my must do restaurants on a couple of the days I was unsure of.
I can understand the desire to book multiples when Disney makes changes to the park hours much closer than 180 days prior. Say a family wants to do BOG for breakfast and lunch. They reserve a PPO breakfast as early as they can get, and a lunch 4 hours later. However, knowing that Disney could decide to open the park an hour earlier or add EMH that day, they also reserve a breakfast for as late as possible (to better take advantage of early touring) and then a second lunch reservation as late as possible.
Now they have 4 reservations for the same restaurant for the same day. They intend to use two of them. They'd be THRILLED to finalize their plans and release the unneeded ADRs but can't until they know what Disney is going to do.
I'm perfectly fine with someone doing this. It isn't the same to me as booking a meal every hour of every day.
This is how I used to run my trips as well. My original frustration point was around someone that might have the following:
8:30 am BOG
8:45 am Tusker house w/ Donald
9:15 am BOG
9:25 am 'Ohana
9:35 am BOG
10:45 am Chef Mickey's
Exaggeration a bit, yes I know (but not by much). I know it's a widespread issue, but it doesn't make me any less frustrated. It also doesn't ruin my trip because I get to go often enough and I don't plan my vacation around food. I think I really just shake my head at it now.
Yes, I think this is a little extreme as well. I don't see a problem with booking a couple of extra meals for the few days you don't have completely figured out, but I wouldn't feel comfortable grabbing everything in sight.
The issue is where do you draw the line? Some will feel it is unethical to book even one meal you don't plan on using. Others, like me, will feel it is ok to book a couple as long as it isn't in excess, and others will feel that all is fair in love and war so to speak.
I figure. I'll worry about me, and they can worry about them. I feel like there are a lot of other injustices and problems in the world I can spend my energy worrying about then if some stranger is hoarding a few ADR.
If you even try to plan 3-4 months out, you will be scraping the bottom of the barrel for ADRs. Maybe a better fix to the system would be to change the ADRs to be 60 days out like the FP+. Then you could do all of your planning at once and people wouldn't have to decide where they want to eat a half a year out....
This is another issue I've run into. We didn't plan our upcoming trip until 3 months out. It was supposed to be a Universal Trip, no planning needed. Last minute, it gets turned into a Disney trip. So, I'm scrambling for adr from the beginning. I know I booked many meals and cancelled them this time which might make it look like I was hoarding them, but wasn't.
For instance, we want to eat at restaurant A for dinner at 7. The only thing I can find 3 months out is restaurant A at noon, so I take it. I'd rather eat at lunch than not at all. Then, a few days later, I find a dinner at 4:00. Then, a few days later, I fine one at 7:30. This causes me to cancel the first two reservations quite close together. It might appear to others that I had 3 reservations made for the same restaurant same day from the beginning, but I didn't. I'm just booking and rebooking constantly as things become available, trying to get as close to my desired schedule as possible.
I've also had times that people backed out on trips that caused me to cancel all their meals at once, again making it appear like I was hoarding those meals, but wasn't.
You never know why a person is getting rid of a meal, or how long they have had it for, so maybe just be glad a cancellation opened up, instead of assuming they've been hoarding it from 180 days out.