I saw that yesterday and even commented on it. ; I hope that they are able to make some of these changes and make this work really well. ; I like the start that they are off too.
Personally I wish they'd scrap the whole thing...but that's just my own opinion. ; I'm not holding my breath for that to ever happen! ; But at the very least, I'd hope they'd stop allowing multiple reservations on the same evening. ; To be honest, I don't even know if this is still allowed - I know it was for a while, and it was all the rage for people to make 5 resses a night so they could decide which they wanted when they got there. ; For old-fashioned, crazy, insane, backwards, ignorant folks like myself who actually don't like to plan dinner 6 months from now, and like to stroll the parks casually and decide on a dinner last-minute, the ADR program practically shut us out. Gone are the days of putting your name in at the reception, getting a beeper, and being willing to wait a bit for a seat. ; Gone are the days of entering the park, heading over to the World Key kiosk, and throwing in a reservation at one of the World Showcase restaurants later that evening (I loved those kiosks!). ; Now, it's pulling out the Daytimer 6 months before the trip, deciding where you'll feel like eating in half-a-year, and scheduling in a meal at a precise time, which also means scheduling the rest of your day around that time. ; No thanks! ; I just end up having to find less popular places to eat, or heading out to resorts for smaller or more expensive restaurants that don't get fully booked in advance...which is fine, as long as I can keep my casual, unscheduled and relaxed pace. ; With meal plans, ADRs, free dining, and who knows what else, Disney is definitely challenging me by taking away ever more options, but I'll keep plodding away as long as I can. ; If they finally take the very last restaurants away from me, I guess I'll have to hire a personal chef to travel with me to my DVC villa, and head back there for meals! ;
Justin, do you have a newsletter? ; Because I'd love to subscribe! Your thoughts echo mine; the same ones I complained to Iger and Rasulo about. ; I think this is their first step towards that - except that this won't prevent people from making reservations under different members of their party. ; Nor will this stop people from being alienated by the fact they didn't know about the 180 day policy. Honestly the best way (I can think of) to stop this is to require credit cards to reserve! ; And then charge them if you don't show or cancel within a set time period. ; Or perhaps only allow 70% capacity on 180 day ADR, open up another 20% 30 days out, and the rest if not filled within 14 days? ; Base it on demand. ; If a restaurant is always filling up quickly, open more reservations earlier perhaps. ; Or build another one. ; (One of the big reasons why they are building a new character dining in Fantasy Forest) ; A perfect world would allow them to have a few opening for walkups or same day dining.....even during the busiest times at the park. I too remember the time when you *had* to go to the park the same day to make the reservation. ; First come first served. ; I went to rope drop on Mother's Day to make ressies at the Blue Bayou. ; And I went straight there to make sure I could get them. ; Even with those reservations people still were allowed to "Standby"; now restaurants turn guests away because they are fully "booked"; even if someone doesn't show.
I agree that the system needs work. ; But, I do like the idea of the ADR system. ; My family are picky eaters and have a small number of favorite restaurants that I like to go to. ; We also like to go to a park when it opens in the morning, stay until after lunch and then go to another park and stay until closing. ; For those reasons, ADRs work great for us. ; I think Roger's idea of requiring a credit card for reservations is probably the best way to end the double booking problem. ; Set the cancellation penalty date at either 7 or 14 days out and charge the cost of an average meal at that restaurant per person on the reservation if you cancel inside that window. ;
i have been saying that for YEARS. ; the people that brag about making 3-4 reservations per night with the intention of figuring out "day-of" which one they will use and then "no-showing" for the others is completely unfair to everyone. ; nothing like showing up to le cellier and finding it 1/2 empty but being told that they are booked solid. ; uncool.
This system should definitely decrease the number of double bookings. ; Messing around with it, it gave me several warnings, etc., when I tried to double book (note--we initially double book but ALWAYS cancel unneeded ADRs once we solidify our schedule). ; This is so much easier than the system in place 2 months ago when I booked our ADRs.
I have never been one for ADRs except for Character Dining when with College Friends and the Reserved Seating Dining Plan for Candlelight Processional. ; However, I almost have to book a couple if I ever want to eat at Sci-Fi of PrimeTime since I have never eaten there before. ; Other than that, I will probably continue with Quick Service.
I have said for awhile now that the ability to book 180 days out should come as a premium service (aka you pay for it) with a tier of prices based on how far out you want to reserve. ; Kind of like how Southwest recently offered the ability to pay $10 per person per direction to get booked 36 hours in advance instead of the 24 and they do it automatically for you so that you can get a guaranteed A boarding. ; It must be popular because on our trip out of John Wayne I literally checked in on the dot of 24 hours in advance and we were at the back of the A's. But, I digress. ; I'm in Justin's camp and that is the Walt Disney World I remember from my first trip in 1985. ; You could wander around and decide where you wanted to eat that day. I think all people should only be given 14 day window unless you pay for a larger one. ; Why should they pay, that money could be used to offset the strip mining the DDP is doing to once glorious and varied menus at the Walt Disney World Resort. BTW, when we go to Disneyland, we still can pretty much eat at any restaurant making reservations when we get there....Blue Bayou being the only exception but we don't normally eat there.
They're not as aggressive with their dining plan over there. ; Probably because you can walk off property 50 feet and go to another restaurant. ; Or walk to Downtown Disney.
Not to go on a tangent, but I was similarly surprised that Southwest's new service was so "popular" so I inquired about it, and come to find out, Southwest also offers the service free to certain "business" travelers (frequency qualifications) and there are some set asides. ; So even though you're at the back of As (as we were) there probably aren't as many people ahead paying for the service as it may seem. Back on topic. ; On its face, I like your idea (although I think doing a tiered system makes it unnecessarily complicated--doing a $10 charge regardless of when reserved is, in my opinion, is sufficient). ; It would seem that this works well for the Signature Dining options that use it (Cali Grill, etc.), as we've found it easier to make ADRs there. ; Although it may be easier regardless, since those restaurants require two dining credits, so people on the DDP are dissuaded from booking there regardless of the fee. ; From a business perspective, I would be wary of anything that is a "tiered privilege" as that often doesn't sit well with some guests (although we know so many things at Disney are exactly like this--the Grand Floridian costs more than Pop, V&A costs more than Cosmic Rays, etc.), privileges of this sort seem to rub against peoples' "fundamental sense of fairness" (I don't agree with it, but if you don't believe me, search popular Disney forums for discussions for buying Fastpasses or Night Kingdom (that boutique AK after hours park)). ; Taking steps such as that might do more harm for Disney's goodwill than they would positively affect the bottom line and experience for the park-goers as a whole. Other than that, I agree with everything you, Justin, and others have said. ; Although we have had some really positive recent experiences (and are trying Sanaa for our honeymoon, about which we've heard great things) I really just wish Disney would do away with the DDP. ; From a business perspective, I can see why Disney would not do that, but I can dream.
