Effective October 26th, Disney will now be charging a $10 per person fee for any no-shows or cancellations made less than a day prior. A credit card will be required to make reservations at select restaurants and charged the $10 cancellation fee for the following restaurants:
* 1900 Park Fare
* Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
* Artist Point
* California Grill
* Cape May Café
* Chef Mickey’s
* Cítricos
* The Crystal Palace
* Flying Fish Café
* The Garden Grill
* Hollywood & Vine
*Jiko
* Le Cellier Steakhouse
* Narcoossee’s
* Ohana
* Tusker House Restaurant
* The Hollywood Brown Derby
* Yachtsman Steakhouse
* Victoria & Albert’s (cancellation policy is $25/per person)
Cinderella's Royal Table, Hoop-de-doo Revue, Mickey's Backyard BBQ & Spirit of Aloha will continue to the same policy of charging the full pre-paid cost if not cancelled 1 day in advance.
It remains to be seen if this will help the whole reservation system, and ADR availability or not. Personally I like that the Signature restaurants are implementing this. With the longer dining times & limited seating, it makes a lot of sense. What do you think?
I think it keeps people liable for their reservations. No one wants to waste money and perhaps implementing the fees will allow either 1 of 2 things. More people will become cognizant of time and/or they will realize their are consequences to their actions.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that it should be considered a common courtesy to cancel a dining reservation if you change your plans, I seriously doubt that no-shows have a negative impact on WDW restaurants. If you have ever tried to dine at the most popular restaurants without a reservation, you know it is almost impossible. Even with reservations you often have to wait a long time to be seated, leading me to believe that they overbook. Our trip last December coincided with record-breaking cold weather and by the end of the week my husband and I were both sick. We ended up cancelling our last two reservations several hours before, after it started raining. Had we incurred the fees they are now implementing, I would have been one very unhappy, sick guest.
ReplyDeleteI really can’t see that it will make reservations easier to obtain. And if that is not the end result, it’s just another money-maker for Disney.
Hi Paperdoll,
ReplyDeleteThere are formulas most restaurants use to calculate wait times, but they often go awry. I imagine that happens more than not at Disney, simply because you have people who sit, wait for characters,& are downright exhausted and need to break lol. I often wonder if they are overbooking at time though...
You make a valid point about real emergencies popping up and being fair to folks. I think we were down there at the same time lol! It was 3 nights of hard frost and 30 degree weather. I ended up getting sick for a day & a half too. I would have been upset if they charged me for something basically out of my control.