Dumb Question of the Day

I think 90 days out is reasonable. Allowing people to be able to make up to 3 ADRs (only 1 for popular ones) per visit. This would open up more days/times to others and more day of resises or standby tables.
P.S. I have a big peeve is ADR hoarders.

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I like both your suggestions.

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I do like having a reservation. I usually make them at home too because I hate waiting. No need to do it so far in advance though. And yes there should be limited walk-up space.

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I can totally understand the desire to do this though. If they haven’t announced any type of special payed event for SWGE access (like DAH or EMM) by November I can see myself doubling up on a really hard to get ADR (like AP or CRT) as an insurance against them added some sort of event on only one night of my trip in May. Does that make sense? We ended up cancelling CG during fireworks in February to attend DAH…DAH dates weren’t announced until like 60ish days out I think and I was really disappointed to miss out on that dinner.

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Oooh, now we’re introducing the fpp tier system to ADRs.

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I’m a bona fide member of the EONS AGO club (1976) and all this advanced scheduling has morphed into a wad of utter nonsense.

All of this fully lands on Disney’s shoulders because they are trying to serve too many different interests (off-site, on-site, AP, DVC, extra hard ticketed events). What we have gotten in return is the MDE debacle. In my mind, all of this has totally diminished the Disney Experience and I have personally written to the GMs at several resorts to express my opinions.

If Disney cannot fully schedule its operations longer than 30 days out, then that sets the extent of the reservation horizon, period. My preference is only making reservations (dining, attractions, etc), day-of and in the park, or with a concierge/reservation desk.

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This is what I’m thinking. Would they not be able to fill the restaurants with same day walk ins if people knew they’d be able to do it?

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I’m certainly no expert but I don’t think the length of the reservation horizon would impact the number of diners wanting to eat at the restaurants.

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:raising_hand_woman: I’ll admit to being a ADR hoarder but this will only be my second trip to WDW. At the 180 day frenzy, my park days weren’t that well thought out. I’m holding two evenings of reservations for both Story Book Dining and CA Grill, two highly coveted places. None of the times are what I wanted because we are not staying at a Disney Resort. Anyone want dinner at 8:40 PM or 9 PM? But that’s what we got at 180 days and we are grateful for them. They are the only two TS we wanted.

I’m at 94 days. After a marathon of TPs on Labor Day weekend, I finally feel that my park days are better thought out but park hours and schedules are still not out. I think it would be better to do ADR after FPP reservations. Plans would be much firmer rather than stressing out if we had enough time to make it to the reservation. Life happens. Reservations mean you don’t have show up early and get in line. Reservations don’t necessarily guarantee a seating at that time because guests may take longer than typical. I wouldn’t want to be kicked out because my kid is taking super long to eat. Lines are unavoidable and hard for a couple of generations used to instant gratification.

And there should like 50% of the reservations set aside for same day. I would like it even better if I can add my name to the wait list, closer to when I’m ready to eat and know what I want to eat. We wanted to eat at this restaurant that didn’t have reservations and had really long waits. But through Yelp, we added our name to the wait list as we were driving there. We only had to wait 15 minutes once we arrived. If we didn’t show up by the time they called us, we had to add our name to the bottom of the list.

I believe dining plans are partly responsible for the hording and Disney is responsible for the other part of the hoarding. Disney is very inconsistent with the quality of food for the money. If the quality of the food evened out across more restaurants, perhaps there would be more good options for guests to select from. And it would be even better if Disney added more air conditioned seating for QS!

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I love this question! It is fun to imagine what would happen without ADRs. Assuming you would enter a waitlist and be notified when your time is up, you have limited time to get there once it is your turn and there is some sort of no-show fee. Kind of similar to the old paper FP system when you think about it.

Would people RD restaurants?
How long would people be willing to wait? Would it vary a lot by restaurant?
How long would waits be?
So many questions, and it is very hard to predict.

My bet is that it would be a more pleasant experience on average then the current system.

Of course, if you take please on making the perfect ADRs, with backups, at 180+ days and using multiple reservation finders, that part of the fun would be gone. But for a lot of guests the process is stressful, and many others don’t find out they need reservations until it is to late. No ADRs would create a more equal playing field.

I am imagining walking by Crystal Palace, seeing “Oh, neat, lunch with Pooh!”, going to the front desk, giving my name and hearing “60 minutes wait, you have enough time to ride Haunted Mansion”. Doesn’t sound that bad.

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I agree

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Pre-park opening dining would be a little different without reservations in advance. People could line up early for available spots.

I think there is definitely an ideal balance between ADRs and having spots for walk ups.

I think the bigger issue for Disney is whether they would be able to appropriately staff their restaurants. That’s one reason they probably love having ADRs - they can gauge crowds and determine the needed capacity, not just at the restaurants, but also at the resort as a whole (especially when that data is combined with FP bookings).

That said, they probably don’t need more than 30 days to do this effectively, max 60.

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Dining plans are the problem in so many ways!

First: it is a psychological trick to get you to spend more on food. You don’t think “Is $200 (+tips) a day a reasonable price for food on vacation for my family”? (Assuming 2 adults, 2 kids). You think “Will I come up ahead?” and compare with sticker prices, which might lead you to the decision of getting it.

Second: once you get the DDP, you stop looking at the cost of a meal and thinking just in terms of “1 credit”. There are much more people willing to spend 1 TS credit at 1900 park fare dinner then there are people willing to pay $70 for it (that is the oop price after tax and tips, without any extra beverages).

Third: when you have the DDP, it becomes important to guarantee you are making a good use of it. So you will want reservations for all your TS credits, with maybe a couple to spare just to make sure you are not wasting any credits. So reservations become scarce, and the 180+ days madness starts.

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I think the tough part about doing away with ADRs vs. FPPs is that people are trained to eat at general ranges of time. Breakfast at park open let’s say until 10. Lunch boom from 11:30am- 1:30pm. The ADRs force people to trickle in over a larger range of time so you don’t have the inundation occur. So I would argue that doing away with ADRs would create crazy long waits at peak times and dead times at others. Now FPPs are a different story…

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I just would like to see it at 90 days out or 30 days.

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Oh, to dining plan or not…

We are in the not basket. Amusement food prices are super expensive for what you get. But for the experience, we pick 2-3 TS over a 10 day trip and hobble between QS and groceries in the room to feed ourselves. We are all foodies, so we are picky!

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I’m good with that!

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I agree that 180 days is ridiculously early but as someone who enjoys having the dining plan I am in favour of ADRs. I want to know that I am going to be able to go to the restaurant that I want for my 1 TS meal each day at something close to the time that I want. I don’t like walking up to a crowded restaurant and having to wait for upwards of an hour and I think that would be the case for most of the popular restaurants at WDW at dinner time.

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I’m in the don’t really dine at the restaurants crowd. I’ve never stayed on site, so never had a dining plan, I’m Canadian, a Vegetarian and a picky eater, so the thought of spending over $50 for a meal just sounds ridiculous to me. I’m fine with the counter service and love mobile ordering. I have done a few character breakfasts (CP, Tusker) and BOG dinner before it was price fixe. All booked same week as the trip. Instead I spend my money elsewhere, like tours, and my trip in January we are going to do the Star Wars dessert party. …and I’m in the love FPP crowd :joy: I’m the person that is booking the next FP the second I scan in for a ride.

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