Making Advanced Dining Reservations at Walt Disney World seems to be an endless process. You do research on the restaurants, check the menus, check your schedule, make a draft, re-draft (countless times!) and then wait with baited breath for your 180 day mark.
It’s not unusual for your choice restaurants to be unavailable, even as early as your 180 day mark. Disney has discovered this is most likely occurring from guests who make dining reservations and don’t show up.
There are a handful of restaurants that already require a credit card hold or advanced payment; Cinderella’s Royal Tale, the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue and Mickey’s Backyard Barbecue. These will continue to hold the full amount of pre-payment and require a 1-day cancellation notice to avoid being charged. No shows on these reservations will result in your card being fulled the full amount, yikes!
October 26, 2011 the list of restaurants requiring a credit card hold will expand to the signature dining locations and other popular picks.
Guests will have to provide their credit card information to make a reservation at 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 – The Cooking Place
• Le Cellier Steakhouse
• Narcoossee’s
• ‘Ohana
• Tusker House Restaurant
• The Hollywood Brown Derby
• Victoria & Albert’s – $25 per person
• Yachtsman Steakhouse
Reservations at these restaurants that aren’t cancelled 24 hours in advance will be charged a fee of $10 per person, yikes!
We are still awaiting clarification about the process, but it’s our understanding that reservations booked before October 26, 2011 will still be held. Reservations made after October 26, 2011 will require the credit card hold for the restaurants listed above.
Using your dining plan shouldn’t be a problem, it’s our understanding the credit card will not be billed unless you don’t cancel 24 hours prior to your reservation time.
We will keep you updated as more detailed information is released and will be updating you on the booking process (and its glitches) as things develop!
If you need to cancel your dining reservation call 407-WDW-CNCL, or go to www.Disneyworld.com/dining or visit guest relations at the park.
I suppose time will tell if this solves some of the problems with ADR’s or if it simply allows Disney to make extra money on people who change their minds! What’s your take on the situation?
Related articles
- Making Your Dining Reservations at the 180-Day Mark. (disneyfoodreport.com)
- Disney Dining Plan-How to Plan Your ADR’s (pixiemichele.blogspot.com)
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What happens if you already have these reservations? Does anything change?
This may also curtail people who make multiple reservations for a single meal, then choose the most convenient when that mealtime arrives without cancelling the other reservations. This happens more often than you’d think.
I think this is a good idea and I’m glad Disney is doing it. So many people make reservations that they know they won’t use and don’t bother cancelling them, so people who really do want to eat there can’t. We usually book our vacation at the last minute and we can never get into any of the popular restaurants. I hope this will improve things.
Right now we’re being told that if you made your dining reservations before October 26th things will remain the same. If you make your reservations after October 26th that’s when you’ll have to put a credit card on file for the restaurants as listed above. I’m sure the process will have revisions as it’s instituted…we’ll keep you updated!
It’s our understanding that the credit card will simply be “on file” so if you don’t cancel 24-hours prior to your reservation you’ll be charged a $10 per person fee. If you do show up for your reservation, you’ll be able to use your dining plan (if you have one) or choose your method of payment at that time.
I made a reservation for Akershush almost a month ago, and they asked for my credit card number then. The lady said that they wouldn’t charge my card unless I didn’t show up.
For these restaurants will you have to do a full payment in advance or just the $1 CC hold that some of them currently do? It is going to be tough if you have to pay in advance to hold a reservation especially if you will be using your DDP.
I think it is a good idea. How many people make reservations and then don’t show up, depriving someone else of the chance to have a dinner they’ve dreamed about? (Of course, in hindsight, I would NEVER have gone to my reservation at Tony’s Town Square if I had known what horrible food there would be waiting for me. It was one of the worst meals I have ever had in my life. Actually squeezed the lemon from my water glass over my food to make it have some taste. And then had to PAY for the privilege. We almost canceled our dinner at The California Grill because of the experience at Tony’s. Thank goodness we didn’t, since THAT was one of our best meals ever. 🙂
If you already have reservations, do you need to call and give them a credit card to hold your reservation?? We are going in February and I already have our 7 days planned.