You’ve got your Walt Disney World vacation booked. You have a resort room reserved and your park tickets are set up, as well. All you need next is a taxi from the airport, a tube of sun block and “¦ oh, yea, dinner reservations.
It used to be that making dining reservations at Walt Disney World wasn’t imperative, unless you wanted to attend a character meal or dinner show. Those days, though, are as long gone as the Magic Kingdom’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction. Now, for most of Walt Disney World’s table-service restaurants and special meals, guests need to make Advance Dining Reservations (called ADRs by Disney aficionados) before they arrive at the resort to guarantee they will be able to eat at the restaurants of their choosing. This is especially true of the busier times of the year, such as the upcoming holidays, at Disney World.
It can be difficult, though, to determine where a family will want to eat six months beforehand. Because of this, some guests in the past routinely have double- or even triple-booked meals at various locations and then just let the reservations they didn’t use lapse. Unfortunately, this means other families who wanted those reservations couldn’t get them *and* Disney World restaurants lost money on unoccupied tables. (The reservation system does not set aside any tables for walk-ins, so if a restaurant is completely booked, guests who ask in the parks will be told it is full. This might not be the case, though, if parties don’t show up for their reservations.)
So, to tackle this issue of unused reservations, Walt Disney World is poised to expand its dining cancellation policy that took effect with signature restaurants two years ago — and it will cost indecisive guests. The policy change was scheduled to take effect last week but has been delayed temporarily.
Once in place, the dining policy for all sit-down restaurants will require that guests cancel their reservations one day prior to the scheduled meal. This means you have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the day prior to your reservation to make up your mind.
Guests who cancel after that time or who do not use their reservations will face a $10-per-person no-show fee for that dining reservation. Cancellations will be accepted by calling 407-WDW-CNCL, through the My Disney Experience website or app, and at Guest Relations in the parks and hotels.
The pre-paid policy for certain special dining experiences, such as character meals at Cinderella’s Royal Table, remains unchanged. Guests who have booked those meals have one day to cancel for a full refund.
Remember that an ADR does not mean that a table will be waiting for your party at the appointed time. Rather, it means that you will be the next seated. So, you may have a short wait after you check in. It’s not a perfect system, but it beats having to rely on Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe for your family’s fine-dining experience. (Sorry, Sonny Eclipse, but your cosmic burger and chicken joint is no Be Our Guest dinner dining experience.)
Guests can book reservations 180 days ahead of time; those staying at Disney World hotels can book 190 days in advance. The online system opens at 6 a.m. ET and 407-WDW-DINE begins at 7 a.m. ET.
When this cancellation policy is applied to all table-service restaurants, will it change the way you plan your meals? We want to know what you think! Please tell us in the comments.
I can’t believe the system let you make ADRs for the same time period–they were just asking for trouble with that one. Much in that I never thought to try to use my fast-pass after the time it expired (and never knew that you could), I am dinged now because you can’t. Inconsiderates always ruin for others.
As far as being ill, CA Grill and V&A had cancellation deadlines for a while, I believe. I got food poisoning at Jiko’s years ago and had to cancel my dinner at CA (same day cancellation) and V&A the next night, and didn’t get charged. I guess I must have sounded pretty pathetic on the phone.
However, Disney’s concern that they are losing $ is nonsense. I’ve walked up to restaurants that were supposedly totally booked and waited maybe 5-10 mins. before shown to a table. Of course, the super popular ones won’t have openings but they aren’t losing any $ whatsoever. Greed!
The question I’ve always had is what if just one member of your party can’t make it? Do you get charged $10 for that one person? Or do you lose your entire reservation? What happens?
My only concern is having to cancel, for example, through illness. We had the unfortunate experience once of having to cancel a ADR on the day as Snorky had been sick all night. I understand the need to do this, but it doesn’t take into account things like illness. Much better to only make people pay who don’t bother to cancel at all. As luck would have it we were able to reschedule our meal for a few days later but I would not have been happy to have to pay.
I have to agree with Jim. There has to be a way to not allow people to make more than one ADR per meal. Although, with multiple people in a group, or people having multiple credit cards and email addresses, it would not be easy. Guess it just comes down to guests not abusing the system when making ADRs.
This is a necessary policy. Too many people take advantage of the current system by making numerous reservations then not canceling the ones they have chosen not to keep. I hope that with this new policy (soon to take effect), it will make it easier for guests to make their reservations at the 180 day mark (Be Our Guest is a perfect example!)
I understand the need for the policy and why it’s going to help even out the ADR playing field. But I’m a local who sometimes doesn’t decide until the morning of where I want to eat and may change my mind a few times. I like knowing that I will at least have a reserved time, and then be able to cancel one to switch to another, should I change my mind.
I am glad they are doing this and honestly think it should be more restrictive and only allow one reservation per credit card per meal. They should also make the cancel policy 48 hours instead of 24. Allowing people to make 3 separate reservations because they cannot make up their mind and cheating another family out of the option for restaurants they don’t choose is arrogant and lazy. Commit to something — it’s not a big deal, it’s just a meal. Maybe now we will be able to finally get a table at BE OUR GUEST without having to plan 180 days out.
Unfortunately, I think this was necessary. As with many things, those that abuse a system mess it up for everyone else. To me it’s akin to folks who leave tags on clothing, wear them for an event, then want to return the clothes. Now the retailers have to keep track of how many times people are returning things etc. Thanks for the information, Kristin.
Scott