Should Disney Impose Penalties for missed ADR's

[JPL]

I was talking to a friend today who booked their trip to WDW through a travel agent. They are on the DDP. The agent suggested they make atleast 2 Dinner ADRs per day so they have flexibility in their planning. She went on to explain that there was no penalty for simply not showing up but if they remembered they should call and cancel but if they didn't it was no big deal. Now my question is how travel agents are giving this suggestion to their clients on the plan. I would be interested to see exactly how many shows Disney gets. I would really like to see Disney impose the policy the use for the dinner shows and Fantasmic Package. I fyou fail to show up and don't cancel they have your credit card on file and charge you $10 a person.

[Goofeygal]

I agree. They should put a penalty on no show's. Some ADR are to hard to get so people I assume do reserve early and then do a no show if time does not permit. So I do agree with you 110%.

[tinkerbelle75]

I absolutely think they should charge for no-shows.It's no wonder people can't get the times they want if people are "leaving themselves a choice" by making multiple ADRs. Maybe even a drop in commission for those travel agents who suggest it? $10 per person sounds good to me, for EVERY restaurant that takes ADRs.

[wi_kel66]

I agree, but not exactly sure how it should be handled?? It is easy to loose track of time, etc..... and not make an ADR, but having numerous ADR's and blowing them off is very inconsiderate to other guests!
Also for the record.....not all travel agents give out this sort of BAD advice!
Being a travel agent myself and a frequent WDW visitor, I know all too well how hard it is to get some of the most popular ADR's!

[BMan62]

Personally, I don't like penalties or fines for that kind of thing, but if it would get people to be a little more courteous about their ADR's, it would be a good thing.

Any agent who would suggest scheduling multiple ADR's and NOT specify that the person should call and cancel the one(s) they are not using should lose their right/ability to book Disney trips!!

I brought up, in another thread, the fact that people are making multiple ADR's and taking those opportunities away from other guests, but I did not realize that travel agents would suggest such a thing.

One other possibility is to set up the reservation system to check if someone has already scheduled an ADR an not to let them schedule another within a certain time frame - 1 hour or so. This would not be extremely difficult as you need to leave information for scheduling the ADR anyway.

[KylesMom]

I could be mistaken since I've never tried to do it myself, but I thought it was posted here on Intercot quite some time ago that Disney Dining was not allowing guests to book two conflicting ADRs within the same timeframe?

[Figment!]

I could be mistaken since I've never tried to do it myself, but I thought it was posted here on Intercot quite some time ago that Disney Dining was not allowing guests to book two conflicting ADRs within the same timeframe?

This was my understanding as well.

There had been several reports that the reservation system has been upgraded to no-longer allow this.

[tinkerbell04]

I also thought that they, the ADR CM's, were trying to stop guests from doing this now when booking. With the DDP in place and with it being more popular then ever, people need to stop this practice and really just book where you want to eat

[Sharon1026]

People who make multiple reservations for the same night/time are RUDE and SELFISH. Me, me, me. What is wrong with people?!

I think they should nick people a few bucks for doing that.

As for people who don't want to make ADR's and like to walk up - I understand not wanting to have to plan out what time you'll eat and where you'll eat 6 months in advance - I don't like it either. However, that's how disney is going - it helps to level the crowds at the restaurants which helps the kitchen and waitstaff run things smoother. They can get people to come in at 4pm for dinner with an ADR instead of turning them away at 6pm, etc.

Maybe disney needs to keep some walk up tables open, but obviously it works better for the park to go with the ADR system.

[SurferStitch]

ADR's are tracked via the phone number you give when you book them. So, theoretically, you could book a couple ADR's for the same time if you do one under one number, and one under the other. This DOES NOT mean it's allowed.....just possible.

I know when I was moving a couple ADR's around for our last trip, the CM on the phone couldn't book another dinner ADR for the same time I already had one booked. I wasn't trying to do that....he was just trying to book the new ADR before cancelling the old one. He simply cancelled the first one, then booked the new one.

I don't know if I agree with a penalty for no shows....Like mentioned ealier, they are not reservations, just priority seatings. Besides, more than once I've heard CM's at the front desk saying things like, "Thank goodness we've have some no shows tonight...it's crazy here". I don't think the restaurants really care about a few no shows here and there, even though many people here do.

[mjaclyn]

I definitely agree that there should be some penalty for not showing up. I don't believe they should penalize you if you call in advance to cancel though. It kind of irritates me that even if I call to cancel certain places within 48 hours they still charge my credit card. What would happen if DD got sick the day of our ADR and we couldn't go? It irks me that I would still be charged between $10 and $20pp depending on where we were supposed to go.

[merlinmagic4]

I agree 110% too! I think a penalty for not showing up at all is reasonable but not for canceling. If you call ahead, even that day, you should not be penalized. I can't imagine who would book two meals at once; seems very selfish to me

[Jasper]

I do not like the idea of a penalty because things change too often once you get there.

However, I would like to see them change their computer system to catch people with more than one ressie for a given meal period. For example, right now I can call for one at 5:00 and another one at 6:00 at two different restaurants and it won't flag them. I think the computer system should be set up to take into account any time that falls into dinner lets say. Of course, if you give a fake name or reserve under different members of your party there is still no way to prevent multiple bookings.

[bicker]

There are good arguments both ways. I don't really care -- either way is okay with me. I think, though, that a far greater number of guests would be upset about penalties for missed reservations than are upset about how hard it is to get reservations now.

[Marilyn Michetti]

I'm not sure that the ADR's are as simple as priority seatings - not anymore. They're reservations if you have virtually no chance of being seated without them.

Yes, I think there should be a time line for cancelling without penalties, but that there should be a monetary penalty. It's a given with rooms that you have to cancel within a reasonable time or lose your nights deposit. Even not showing up at the dentist cost's $25, and that keeps me from missing it, so why not $5 a person for blowing off a seat that someone else couldn't get at a Disney restaurant?

This is a touch subject, but a valid one.

[Rick Blaine]

...I think, though, that a far greater number of guests would be upset about penalties for missed reservations than are upset about how hard it is to get reservations now.

I think you hit the nail on the head. The upside of this is that Disney will free up a few tables. The downside is that people will get really mad if they forget to cancel reservations. You also know that some people will complain they were on their way to the restaurant when their child or whatever got ill and they did not have time to cancel, etc, etc.
In a related subject there was a thread here a few months ago where someone said they had ADRs and they were canceled due to someone reserving the whole restaurant for a special function. I wonder if Disney would be willing to monetarily compensate all people who have ADRs cancelled due to Disney greed. I won’t hold my breath.

[Tinkermom]

We have missed an ADR on occasion due to issues with trying to get out of a park and waiting longer than we should have to for a bus. The transportation system is not very reliable when you are trying to get somewhere at a certain time. We know to leave plenty of time (I usually allow 1 hour) but even that does not work all of the time. This happened to us while at Animal Kingdom. We were trying to get out of the park and get to Epcot for our ADR and it was just so crowded we could barely move. By the time we got our bus and then change buses to get to Epcot we realized we were just not going to make it. I did not have a way to cancel our ADR. I am sure this has happened to others besides us. I do not think it would be fair to charge people in this type of situation. I do not think it is fair for people to make multiple ADR's and Disney needs to make sure their system does not allow this. I do not think the answer is charging for no-show though.

I had a reservation for my DD5 at the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique last week. Luckily, I left the Beach Club 1 1/2 hour prior to my ressie as I thought my daughter and I could walk around a bit at DTD before her appointment. I did NOT think it would take an hour to get there but it did! I waited 30 minutes for the bus and then we had another stop so it took another 30 minutes to get there. We got to BBB just in time. You just never know when relying on Disney transportation...

[cgriff]

I could be mistaken since I've never tried to do it myself, but I thought it was posted here on Intercot quite some time ago that Disney Dining was not allowing guests to book two conflicting ADRs within the same timeframe?

This was my understanding as well.

There had been several reports that the reservation system has been upgraded to no-longer allow this.

If the new ADR system works per Figment's and KylesMom's understanding, then the point of this thread is now moot. I would hope that technology could be used to solve the problem in this way, because the idea of Disney imposing fines on guests seems wrong to me.

[JPL]

I don't know if I agree with a penalty for no shows....Like mentioned ealier, they are not reservations, just priority seatings. Besides, more than once I've heard CM's at the front desk saying things like, "Thank goodness we've have some no shows tonight...it's crazy here". I don't think the restaurants really care about a few no shows here and there, even though many people here do.

It's not so much the restaurants it's other guests that are getting blocked out by no shows. I walk up they say sorry we are booked for the night. A party of 5 doesn't show and noone else gets that table. They are giving all available seats to ADRs now so it is more than just priority seating.

[BellewanaB]

What if they just imposed small "no show" fees for the more difficult to book places? Dinner shows do it. My sky diving reservations did it.

It would be interesting to run the numbers of limiting the # of ADR seats and leaving some open, "walk up" seats. Would this then make the ADR problem worse with less seats available or would they start bluring the line between which side is which to accomdate overwhelming numbers on either side anyway?

What if the parks put confirmation numbers on guest passes? You need those numbers to make an ADR? No, that's like phone numbers, if you have two guests that's two numbers to make two reservations at the same time...

What if we hooked up lie detector tests to phone lines for when people call in? Or may be we can bail Ms. Cleo out and have her "predict" who's made multiple same night ADRs...
I don't know, tough call, guys.