ADRs- selling?

[SL6827]

Theres no way Disney is going to let others get this change from thier purse. They will do something where they will be collecting the funds, not people on Facebook.

 

[Jacq7414]

I find the hoarding of the reservations to be terrible. I shouldn’t have to pay someone to book me dining when I’m already paying so much for the trip. It seems like more and more perks of staying on property are going away.

 

[mckennarose]

I missed this annoucement, but you're the second person (that I noticed) reference it. When/where was it? Also, what is meant by holding reservations for people staying at the resort? Like, for people who are physically there and trying to get a reservation (like "walk up")? Or, something else? Because it is within the 60 day window of my Poly stay and I had a heck of a time getting an 'Ohana reservation. Not a specific day/time, but literally any reservation at 'Ohana during my stay. I was finally able to get one today for my last morning (which, granted, was my prefered day/time, but I feel like I lucked out).

Disney Resort Guests to Have Access to Additional Dining Reservations Starting Today
That's the original story. I have not kept up with it to see what individual experiences have been.
There's also a thread on here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...ss-to-additional-dining-reservations.3899573/

 

[MrWreckless]

But did u pay for the Facebook coordination? There’s a place on the disboards where we coordinate too, but we don’t pay. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Helping each other out.

I used to find "playing the game" to be exciting. I remember getting so happy and calling my wife when i finally landed that Toppolino's reservation after getting an alert and jumping right on the website to book.

Now though, that doesn't interest me at all. I dont want to have to haggle with people on facebook who booked Chef Mickey every hour between them and the other adults in their group. Because in order to haggle with them i need to have something someone else wants, which means im now grabbing things not because i want them but because i think someone else may want it.

Instead of paying some ADR service 9-20 dollars a month to alert me to a reservation which i still may not grab or haggle with some hoarder on facebook, Id rather pay this new service that doesnt charge me anything unless i successfully get the reservation. I hate being tied to my phone and jumping to it every time it dings because it may be that reservation im looking for, and in reality its just some mass text reminding me to vote. Im tired of it.

I put 24 bucks in limbo for a Space 220 reservation and then i went to sleep. One week later i saw an email saying i successfully snagged the reservation at 2:30am. I was not going to be awake to grab that reservation myself so IMO the bot did its job and did it well. Happy Customer.

 

[lowlight]

Link? I stay CL every trip and I've never heard of it. Not saying it doesn't exist but I've never heard of it. Would love a link to the announcement/trial.

I’m at Disney and don’t want to Google it, but there’s a thread on Disboards that details it and people reviewed their experiences (mostly just so so).

 

[MinnieMSue]

Wow! I find all of this so interesting. We have been eating less and less table service over the last few years. I am definitely not paying to get a restaurant as eating there costs plenty. Last trip we got a walk up to 50’s prime time when my daughter decided she wanted to try that spur of the moment. Taking someone on their first ever trip this summer. Would like to get a fantasmic dining reservation and into Hoop de doo but if we don’t get it booking the normal way we won’t be doing it. I don’t like the bots and can’t compete with one and definitely won’t support one. We find plenty of variety in quick service to be fine.

 

[SL6827]

This is the most interesting thread on the Dis right now. (IMHO)

 

[lockets]

What restaurant or swath of restaurants in “real life” charge money per person for access to a simple *reservation* ?

Its not money in case of cancellation or money toward the meal. Instead it’s essentially buying the rights to eat there?

I mean… again in real life when does this happen? Maybe dinner theater? Or when someone pays a concierge service to book them into a hot new restaurant in LA? It’s for very specific reasons that are not commonplace.

So if Disney will allow the bots and/or launch their own version - when do some of these practices become straight up predatory?

 

[Disturbia]

Disney did hold back ADRs and if you chose from another resort the system froze. I have STK71 (staying at Poly) that is frozen and It can’t cancel so I have to pay no show and request cancellation

https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...ss-to-additional-dining-reservations.3899573/

 

[Jacq7414]

Disney did hold back ADRs and if you chose from another resort the system froze. I have STK71 (staying at Poly) that is frozen and It can’t cancel so I have to pay no show and request cancellation

https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...ss-to-additional-dining-reservations.3899573/

So you can’t book at another resort’s restaurant?

 

[MrWreckless]

What restaurant or swath of restaurants in “real life” charge money per person for access to a simple *reservation* ?

Its not money in case of cancellation or money toward the meal. Instead it’s essentially buying the rights to eat there?

I mean… again in real life when does this happen? Maybe dinner theater? Or when someone pays a concierge service to book them into a hot new restaurant in LA? It’s for very specific reasons that are not commonplace.

So if Disney will allow the bots and/or launch their own version - when do some of these practices become straight up predatory?

You are talking about a company that lies about ride wait times to push people to other areas of the park, lies about park capacity to force people to less popular parks, expands ads on parties so much they close their most popular park early over 50% of the time in some weeks, sells access to its most popular rides, is selling a ride reservation system that is often broken and doesn’t guarantee anything on busy days, uses line stacking to trick guests into skipping rides, is charging 900 bucks a night for Hampton Inn level accommodations, etc…….

In my experience paying a bot that actually guaranteed me something was one of the most transparent and least predatory experiences I’ve had with Disney.

 

[Disturbia]

So you can’t book at another resort’s restaurant?

You can, but twice it did this when I tried replacing STK71 with Ohana (chose one or the other). It now blocked a huge chunk of time around the ADR (at least an hour before and after?) where nothing can be booked. I can’t modify it, I cant cancel it, can’t search for an ADR at that time, it gives me an error.

When I called they marked the first one and during the update/maintenance when no dining was available for an entire morning, the one that I called about was automatically removed from my account. I didn’t realize there was another ADR with the same issue until I found a better ADR and couldn’t let go of the STK71 for that one.

I had a STK71 brunch but was able to let that go for CRT lunch.

CM are well aware of the issue (called it a magical extra that happens sometimes) and opened an IT ticket but she was not hopeful anything would be done. She specifically told me that maybe if they sent enough of these issues their way something will be done.

 

[jf256]

This whole conversation as enjoyable as it is - is making me very uncomfortable like having a crisis of identity at this point.

The only thing I really want to do on what will likely be our one-and-done trip (unless Disney sorts itself out).. is storybook dining.
I'm going to try and get it at 60+5 but its very unlikely.

I hate bot sites I think they are really unfair but like others have said this isn't a bot going onto a website and purchasing 10 pairs of collectables and then selling it for 5x The amount on ebay. This is just a concierge service essentially - I've used my platinum card in the same way before. People on here have managed to convince me of that

I'm very torn tbh. Part of me wants to stick my principles but the other part is very much - if i stick to my principles on this one I'm guaranteed to lose out.

I just dont know.

 

[Disturbia]

This whole conversation as enjoyable as it is - is making me very uncomfortable like having a crisis of identity at this point.

The only thing I really want to do on what will likely be our one-and-done trip (unless Disney sorts itself out).. is storybook dining.
I'm going to try and get it at 60+5 but its very unlikely.

I hate bot sites I think they are really unfair but like others have said this isn't a bot going onto a website and purchasing 10 pairs of collectables and then selling it for 5x The amount on ebay. This is just a concierge service essentially - I've used my platinum card in the same way before. People on here have managed to convince me of that

I'm very torn tbh. Part of me wants to stick my principles but the other part is very much - if i stick to my principles on this one I'm guaranteed to lose out.

I just dont know.

I’ve been able to coordinate Story Book dining with someone on the cancelled ADR threads. Also the morning of there were cancellations and I was able to move the ADR to a later time.

Another time I saw Story Book dining was when 2 weeks before the trip Disney adds evening hours. People let go of resort ADRs for in park ADRs (CRT opened up 9 pm onwards but you had to search by time ‘Dinner’ feature sometimes has a lag). I got a MD email alert but couldn’t grab it fast enough.

It is good but like with all character ADRs requires almost 2 hours (they have the same mushroom soup as CRT). We had to wait 40 mins in the lobby because we added a guest (apart from the 2 hrs to eat).

 

[js]

You are talking about a company that lies about ride wait times to push people to other areas of the park, lies about park capacity to force people to less popular parks, expands parties so much they close their most popular park early over 50% of the time in some weeks, sells access to its most popular rides, is selling a ride reservation system that is often broken and doesn’t guarantee anything on busy days, uses line stacking to trick guests into skipping rides, is charging 900 bucks a night for Hampton Inn level accommodations, etc…….

In my experience paying a bot that actually guaranteed me something was one of the most transparent and least predatory experiences I’ve had with Disney.

I'm in the minority, but I also agree with your thinking and found my two unicorn ressies for my grandson's first trip on FB (we go 2-3 times a year and DVC).
I booked Topolinos Breakfast, Tusker House Breakfast and Chef Mickeys dinner.

Since we go often, and usually not with little children, I always get what we want.

Although I didn't pay for my above ressies, I most certainly would have if it meant I knew I had them and didn't have to stalk, arrange drops, and pray to the ADR gods.
I did pay for the dining services that alert you if a ressie becomes available.
For me, I'll add the cost to my vacation and gives me less stress of looking and although maybe not for all, having these ressies was important to me for my vacation.

It is a choice I made and on vacation or planning vacation, I rather pay for convenience. YMMV.

 

[supersnoop]

The bots, both paid and free, are one of the few ways the average guest can grab in demand dining reservations.

And yet, the bots are also one of the reasons why average guests cannot grab reservations, since they create false demand. This turns into a self-sustaining problem. It's hard to get reservations so they make it even more difficult.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Disney Resort Guests to Have Access to Additional Dining Reservations Starting Today
That's the original story. I have not kept up with it to see what individual experiences have been.
There's also a thread on here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...ss-to-additional-dining-reservations.3899573/

Disney always did this, it's just new that they announced it. They would always hold a handful of tables at a resort's TS restaurant for guests of that resort.

 

[MrWreckless]

And yet, the bots are also one of the reasons why average guests cannot grab reservations, since they create false demand. This turns into a self-sustaining problem. It's hard to get reservations so they make it even more difficult.

Not true. The bots can only see resverations at the 60 day mark. The hoarders have snapped all the the in demand reservations well before then. Go on the FB groups, they are gaming the system by having every adult in their group grab reservations but not link each other on MDE. That’s the only way they are hoarding character breakfasts at numerous resorts at the same time. It’s eye opening when you get in those groups.

In other words, the bot is really only seeing reservations that are being dropped from people who grabbed them previously.

And as far as I know the bot that actually makes the reservation is new. The others only sent you an alert. So no, the bots were not creating false demand because they weren’t actually grabbing the reservations.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

And yet, the bots are also one of the reasons why average guests cannot grab reservations, since they create false demand. This turns into a self-sustaining problem. It's hard to get reservations so they make it even more difficult.

Honestly, I think the problem is mostly nonsense and entirely overstated.

For my Party of 11, I had no trouble getting reservations at:
- Boma dinner
- Rainforest Cafe breakfast
- Steakhouse 71 lunch
- Via Napoli dinner
- Oga's Cantina mid-afternoon
- Brown Derby lunch
- Ohana dinner
- Liberty Tree Tavern dinner
- Space 220 lunch
- Space 220 Lounge lunch
- Space 220 dinner
- Teppan Edo lunch
- Mama Melrose dinner
- Kona breakfast

None of these required special apps or tools or bots. The only thing we couldn't get was Tusker House breakfast.

 

[piccolopat]

I was very lucky to get the ADRs I wanted for our trip early next year but I understand the frustration and difficulties some people have. Bots IMHO present an unfair advantage and should be blocked. From someone that remembers running the mad dash to the kiosks under Spaceship Earth, there has to be a better, fairer way. Perhaps only allow booking one day at a time or require a deposit for each ADR that is refundable when cancelled in advance. Perhaps hold back a certain percentage of ADRs for day before or day of reservations. Maybe create a waitlist system so as ADRs are cancelled they can go to the next person waiting for that restaurant. Now that I can't reserve rides in advance, having ADRs makes scheduling Genie+ or ILL more complicated.