TLSnell1981
Tiny bubbles... make me happy... make me feel fine
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2006
I don't think, ADRs or even the occasional walk-up, were an issue..BEFORE "free" dining.
I don't think, ADRs or even the occasional walk-up, were an issue..BEFORE "free" dining.
No kidding, right -- It's amazing to me more people don't see it this way. They've dranken the Kool Aid. We play the game when we want to, but I'm not getting all rah! rah! about it.
I guess the way I look at it is their park, their rules. I wish we could all go back to the days where we walked into the park that morning, and made our dining reservations right there and then. But it isn't going to happen, and we all have to make the most of our vacations with the way things are set up now.
And while I wouldn't drive down the road and throw $10 out of my window for each person in my car, I do think that is a fairly small sum of money. Small enough that I don't panic at the thought of having to cancel an ADR at the last minute. Would it make me happy? No. But in the grand scheme of a Disney vacation it isn't that large of an amount. And to me, it is a small risk.I'm not trying to be snotty when I say you have to decide for your own family if it is worth the risk or not. It is a bummer that it has come to this. But I am loving the fact that now I don't have to have my ADRs set in stone, there is some flexibility. I honestly think many people were booking ADRs they really didn't want all that much, and many of them have stopped doing that. Which is great!
Um, I do.
I almost never make dining reservations outside of WDW.
When I do make them, I nearly always make them hours before I plan to eat, not SIX MONTHS.
However, if I don't feel well enough to attend a fancy dinner, I feel at liberty to cancel. The few places I make dining reservations at home ALSO take walk ups and ALWAYS have walk ups waiting for tables. So I don't ever feel like I'm leaving a place high and dry.
I don't eat at the kind of places that are 'reservation only'. I make reservations at the kind of places that have an hour wait for walk-ups every weekend, and where half the time we are among the folks waiting for a table. (although, at least one of the places we go every week knows us well enough that I think they quietly give us a table ahead of our real place in line- over the 'non-regulars.' )
At WDW, we usually get the DDP. We have prepaid for our meals. That's quite a commitment on my part to spend LOTS of money on food at WDW. Disney knows we will be eating somewhere on property. I truly think we should have the flexibilty to eayt what we feellike eating, when we feel like eating.
To me, being an adult means I get to choose what I want to eat, when I want to eat it. Being at WDW does not mean I forfeit that freedom.
The availability is definitely improved. Interestingly, it seems to have improved across the board, not just at CC hold places. (At least from what I've seen.) We actually stopped at DTD this past Friday on our way home from relatives in SW FL and we were able to get a walk-up at T-Rex Cafe for lunch and were seated almost immediately. I was quite surprised as DTD was packed.
T-Rex tends to be a special case because they only release a fraction of their tables into the WDW dining system to begin with, and many people don't know that even if it shows as unavailable on Disney's site there may be tables available. They're also very new to the dining plan; 180-out planners travelling right now didn't know T-Rex was going to be a DDP participant when they made their ADRs and while some might change plans to try it, many will stick with their plans as already set.
That aside, I suspect that the combination of the inflexible CC policy and the DDP/DxDDP price increases have worked to lower overall DDP participation and thus reduced total demand for TS dining. At current pricing, one cancellation fee for a family can all but wipe out the small potential savings of the basic DDP which makes the plan far less attractive to travelers savvy enough to do the math, and it is virtually impossible to utilize the DxDDP without committing to a large number of CC-held ADRs.
We used to do the DxDDP every trip; we won't use it again with the new policy. That means we eat less TS than we used to, and we no longer limit ourselves to DDP participants. Those changes open up availability, not only at the signature restaurants that we're not booking because of the CC guarantee but also at places like T-Rex, Liberty Tree Tavern, Chefs de France, and others that we'd have had lunches at if we were still on the DxDDP.
The other "Disney created" problem that causes people to make multiple ADRs is the multiple schedules they release stuff on. For the trip I'm planning, I want to do a meal at LeCellier. I want to do a Wishes Dessert Party. I want to see the Candlelight Processional and am willing to do the dining package, especially if it means I can combine Le Cellier and the Processional, but if all they do is a lunch at LC, I'll pass because I want a later viewing of the Processional. My 180 day was over a week ago. Candlelight won't go on sale until most likely sometime in mid to late July. The Wishes party won't be available to book until probably the end of August. So to make sure I get the other "must do" meals (Ohana and Crystal Palace), I have dinner at Ohana three nights of my stay and 2 breakfasts booked at Crystal Palace. I will end up canceling two Ohanas and one Crystal Palace, but not until I can get the Candlelight and Wishes booked, so we're talking possibly September. Now, that's still 60+ days out, so I'm sure someone will pick up those bookings. While I feel kinda bad about hogging 2 extra Ohana tables, this is a beast of Disney's own making. Throw into the mix the mess of cancellations and dining shifting that's going to occur when Be Our Guest starts taking reservations.....
The other "Disney created" problem that causes people to make multiple ADRs is the multiple schedules they release stuff on. For the trip I'm planning, I want to do a meal at LeCellier. I want to do a Wishes Dessert Party. I want to see the Candlelight Processional and am willing to do the dining package, especially if it means I can combine Le Cellier and the Processional, but if all they do is a lunch at LC, I'll pass because I want a later viewing of the Processional. My 180 day was over a week ago. Candlelight won't go on sale until most likely sometime in mid to late July. The Wishes party won't be available to book until probably the end of August. So to make sure I get the other "must do" meals (Ohana and Crystal Palace), I have dinner at Ohana three nights of my stay and 2 breakfasts booked at Crystal Palace. I will end up canceling two Ohanas and one Crystal Palace, but not until I can get the Candlelight and Wishes booked, so we're talking possibly September. Now, that's still 60+ days out, so I'm sure someone will pick up those bookings. While I feel kinda bad about hogging 2 extra Ohana tables, this is a beast of Disney's own making. Throw into the mix the mess of cancellations and dining shifting that's going to occur when Be Our Guest starts taking reservations.....
Youre' right, it is a "Disney Created" problem - all because of the 180-day rule (yeah I know, I'm bringing it up for the umpteenth time). Just sayin...if it were a 45-day window, all those event schedules and everything else would be set and the extra ADRs would be unnecessary. Of course, they could also do a better job in finalizing those schedules earlier than they do, but they would never have them done 180 days out.
Youre' right, it is a "Disney Created" problem - all because of the 180-day rule (yeah I know, I'm bringing it up for the umpteenth time). Just sayin...if it were a 45-day window, all those event schedules and everything else would be set and the extra ADRs would be unnecessary. Of course, they could also do a better job in finalizing those schedules earlier than they do, but they would never have them done 180 days out.
Ok I'm sure this clarification question has been asked and I read several pages but do not have time to read 92 pages. We are traveling with a party of 10 with 2 additional local family members joining us. I made our ADR's for 12 but the 2 locals may not make all the reservations. Will I be charged the $10 fee for the two of them if only 10 of us show up to a reservation for 12.