Dining Ressies... so hard to get in

[JWollman]

If you book in advance and dont show.. what do they do with your ressie?

I am asking because we did a last min trip.. and noticed how empty some places were that we had a hard time getting a dining reservation for.
Rose and Crown.. we had a 5:15... the place was pretty empty up until almost 645.. but 5:15 was the only time they had for me.

Garden Grill...435 ress.. but the place was quite .. and even at 6 when we left.. there was STILL no one waiting and lots of tables left open.

do they hold spots for walk ups? We were on the DP.
We were the only other couple at Tusker house on night... that was it.. but I could not get the reservation for 530.. because they said 445 was the only time they had.. The place was EMPTY!

If folks are stuck at another park.. dont make it to thier ressie.. what do they do? Do they wait and then give it to a walk up? Do they save 'tables' for people that dont have reservations?

 

[disneypolybride2008]

Generally there is no consequence for missing your ADR. However there are a few places that when you make your ADR you have to give your credit card number and are charged if you dont show, or a fee. This would be places like Akershush in Epcot, it's like $10 if you dont show, and Cinderellas Royal Table, and that's about it. I've had the exact same thing happen to me. Like when we ate in Mexico for lunch on our NYE trip, the line for check in was huge but going fast as people w/o an ADR were told no walk ups. However, the entire time we ate there were PLENTY of empty seats. Same in LeCellier, we booked for 4 since they said there were NO 2 person tables, yet there were two 2 person tables just in our view and no one sat there the entire time, lots of other empty tables too. Rose and Crown was busy and that was our favorite place, the surf and turf was great so was sitting outside under the heat lamps. I think they should make a fee for no shows b/c obviously plenty are not showing, i just dont understand then how come they dont open the tables up to the walk ups--they shouldnt be turned away!!

 

[TDC Nala]

There are no spots held for walkup guests. Unfortunately the only absolute way to make sure you are seated at a restaurant is to make a reservation.

 

[mickey916]

Unfortunately I think what you witnessed is a direct result of the online reservation system. People can now easily book ADRS at multiple restaurants in different parks and decide on the fly where they want to go. That leaves for a lot of missing people for ADRs and makes it harder for the rest of us to get the times we want. I think Disney's going to have to revamp their system and block people from having reservations at the same time in different restaurants. It's just crazy...

 

[Pakey]

Disney reservations are not like regular reservations. They are not holding a table for the reservation. You just get the next table available once you check in at your appropriate time (you get priority over the people checking in after you and the people who have no ADR). If you don't show, the next person on the list gets the next available table.

As to why the tables were empty, who knows. I don't think people are doing any more multiple bookings online than they did on the phone. It was easy enough to do it on the phone too. I used to see many vacant tables back then too when they were turning away walk ups.

 

[Joyful Pixiedust]

A lot of it has to do with resort occupancy and time of year. Disney always wants to give the impression of high demand. You know how sometimes you go through the lines for a ride and a whole room of queue area is roped off? Well, they do that with restaurants, too.

If bookings in the resorts are low and visitor numbers are down, you can bet they are not going to staff restaurants at maximum capacity. I worked as a phone rep for Arise last year, did Disney Dining reservations, and prior to my Feb '09 vacation, I was turning people down for Chef Mickey for the week of my visit. Lo and behold, we rode the monorail into the CR for our CG ressie sometime after 6 pm, and a whole section of Chef Micky was closed off and empty. I was very angry about seeing that, knowing how many people wanted those tables and couldn't get in, but logically, if business is down, staffing has to decrease, too.

How do we know when business is down? Look at all the discounts and specials. Yes, one can argue that there are always codes and discounts, but the free dining and huge perks for annual passholders and FL residents are better than they have ever been.

 

[JWollman]

All good points.. esp the ones that book MULTIPLE dining on the same night.
We actually overheard someone talking about booking 3 different dinners... for the same night.. depending on WHERE they would be at the time.
Thats not fair to the rest of us...

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

This complaint has been around since ADR's became available (priority seating back in the day) and it's really gotten worse w/ the DDP, espically when they offer it for free. Disney must not care b/c they do nothing to stop it, even before online ADR's came along you could always call and make multiple ADR's and if the CM questioned it just give them a different phone number to put them under. I guess it will take alot more no shows with no walk ups to take thier place before Disney thinks its a problem.