Got my preferred dining date and time at Topolino’s for day 1 of the second part of my three way split.
No leading res.
No paid search.
Just one free finder completed by a human, not a bot.
No hoarding.
No bartering.
No FB group required.
It’s possible. TP res finder has come through nearly every single time. Trust it.
I’ve been meaning to try it but always forget it’s there. Thanks for the reminder and glad you got what you wanted!
Whoop whoop!! That’s awesome!
I don’t believe this part is true. I just think they have an automatic frequency set that is limited enough not to be a problem for Disney.
Len has said it time and again.
When I read all the info about it, the wording comes across as nebulous, yet the description still comes across as automated. I think they can’t SAY it is automated, because Disney wouldn’t like that. Instead, they just keep the language such that they don’t say it explicitly. Behind the scenes, they stagger out the frequency of searches to be more in line with what a human would actually do.
At best, it might be a human pushing a button, so to speak, trigging the automated search. But I don’t see how they can offer this tool for free and have someone sitting there, paid, doing the searches.
ETA: I will say, I have used the finder successfully in the past…but if I for a second believed it was an actual person searching on my behalf for free, I would stop using it.
If I recall from previous discussion, the ADR searches are definitely done manually by humans from somewhere outside the US for a very low cost.
Okay. Good to know. I guess I will stop using this service then.
Can I ask why? That it’s done by a human is the very thing that makes this the only service I do use as, IMO, it amounts to a friend or another member of my family performing the very same search I would, using the very same tools I do, at times different than when I might be looking, and just letting me know - hey I found what you’re looking for if you want to snag it.
That makes no sense on any level.
LOL
I like how you just cut to the chase of the point of my response
I find the idea almost feeling like slave labor to me. Free service that no one has to pay for to accomplish something I can’t be bothered to do myself? They have to be paid very little, doing such a menial task. This isn’t the same as a friend or family member doing it as a favor.
I assumed all along this was always a kind of automated tool…and the description here makes it sound like it is…
I also believed they were following certain guidelines so that Disney didn’t take issue, unlike a system that hammers their servers constantly.
Yes. As bebe pointed out by our standards the wages are probably quite low. By the standards in their culture, perhaps not.
You’re right it’s not the same as family/friend doing it because I don’t pay my family/friends to do it. But TP pays the people doing the search. Even for people who don’t have a paid TP subscription.
I’m sorry you won’t use it anymore. But similarly I refuse to use BG1, Leading Reservations, Paid Dining Search Services, or that new thing the Skipper whatever it is. So I totally get that we all have our limits of what we find acceptable based on our own values.
That’s sounds like it applies to TA, too.
TAs earn commission off the price. They are paid almost directly for providing a service. Me choosing to use a TA to book, say, a cruise means they receive money from that booking. As such, I am actually directly benefiting them by using them.
By comparison, someone who is working for very little do this, and then I add my request to the mix, I’m increasing their work without providing any direct financial benefit to them or the company providing the service.
Honestly, I’m really horrified by this. I SO hope this just isn’t true.
Mic drop
And accurate because honestly, if you break down the per-hour rate a TA earns on any trip? it’s pennies. And that’s way less than whoever is being paid to do these dining searches is making.
The TA friend we are using said she stopped doing Disney stuff several years ago because this was true of Disney. She said she makes a lot more from other cruises and such. She does a lot of large groups as well.
To break it down for you for WDW in particular, an agency gets paid (not a lot) by Disney
The agent gets a (hopefully large) cut of that, and their host agency keeps a (hopefully small) cut of that
So if I sell an expensive-to-you trip, at the end of the trip (because we aren’t paid at ALL until AFTER travel is completed!), I will have spent many hours on your trip. And I promise you it’s not a living
I do it because I love to do it.
Honestly there are other companies out there that do pay more, but even an agent who sells a ton of other companies is going to struggle to make a living.
One of the other agents I know is a FULL TIME TA and sells a LOT of trips. She still has a second job to help her overall income
Group sales is a whole other animal. And no thank you to that.
They DO make a living off this. They are a husband and wife team. It is all they do.
