Oh so THAT'S WHY I can't get a reservation at Be Our Guest (and every other restaurant in WDW)!!

[CandiceF]

Someone or something is scooping up BOG dinner reservations. I booked my ADR's at 180 + 10 days at midnight and BOG dinner was not available at any time for everyone of my 8 days! My DD wanted to see the castle and Belle. When she found out it was just the Beast she was happy with just going for lunch!

 

[BK2014]

There are two kinds of dining services. One (and that is few) actually books fake reservations and sells them to you, I suppose with a coordinated drop/pickup. Disney can so easily fix this by putting all cancelled ADRs into a holding location that randomly puts them back in the system over several hours time. No way to coordinate. This will also stop all the coordinating on here. These are the services that are legit scalping reservations and they will go after for sure.

There are several services that are nothing more than a concierge or TA for food. They watch for a time to become available and tell you. You have to do all the work to get it and maybe you won't. These services are not doing anything more than what any of us can do, they are just being paid a watch fee to do it for you.

I don't see any problem with the latter services that simply watch for an opening for you. They are not artificially increasing demand. With regards to services that create false reservations and then transfer them to someone else for a fee, why is transferring a reservation to another name even allowed? I agree with HopperFan, all canceled ADRs should be transferred back to Disney. They should require you to list at least one member of your party, who must be present at the time of the reservation, and make it non-transferable. If you cannot use the reservation, then it must be canceled, not simply changed to a different name. To avoid the possibility that the named person becomes ill or otherwise prevented from appearing for the reservation, they could allow you to list an alternate party member at the time of the reservation.

 

[LATJLP]

Disney is investigating this: http://www.inquisitr.com/2407753/di...t-disney-world-dining-reservations-to-guests/

 

[5DisneyNuts]

Point is no one really knows what these "look-up" sites are doing. They say they are only watching for reservations but who knows? Are they sending false alerts? Are they booking and releasing bulk reservations to bait people into using them? I still say having bots trolling on the WDW site causes overhead and strains performance on an already stressed outdated back-end system.

A TA is a person getting paid by Disney for a service. Disney should add a captcha to the search engine like ticketmaster to ensure a person is at the other end.

Where do you think this is going to lead? To say there are only a few reservations on the site for sale is short sighted, IMO. If Disney doesn't shut them down, how many more will crop up?

Fact is, the "God awful" reservation system (while extremely frustrating at times) books thousands of reservations successfully every single day 365 days a year for the average guest.

Be careful what you wish for - it is very likely this will lead to a non-refundable booking fee just like they added a $10 no show per person fee.

Disney now has the technology with FP+ to manage reservations based on staying on site or off, and having tickets or not. If you are on site your booking window is longer; if you cancel that reservation, you lose your FP+.

I posted this in another thread last week. Have never used any of the booking sites myself but have read over each of them pretty extensively. Regarding the one in question, it feels fitting to share it here again:

I agree with the TA comment. How is it different? A person is being paid by you to book an ADR for you. If they TA doesn't charge you, they get paid from the venue (Disney) who in turn charges you, so you are still paying.

Im only aware of one site that actually books the ADRs for you. If you look at that site, there are maybe 100 ADRs listed over the next 4 months. Given that Disney seats THOUSANDS of patrons a day, I seriously doubt this site is a problem. How many ADRs do you think DIS'ers (and others) have booked right now that they will never use and only release the day/week before the ADR time?

And lets take it a step farther, if that one site sold every single ADR they had for the next 4 months it would prob average around $1000. Thats $250 a MONTH ( $62.50) a week for someone to sit there booking those ADRs and getting them to people who want them. They are not making any money on this venture nor are they the cause for the lack of ADRs. Granted they are new and business will prob pick up but as it stands, its prob some TA doing this on the side for a little extra (and well earned) income.

I would also keep in mind that every time some blog or newspaper writes about the atrocities of this place, they are actually only providing free advertising. Wouldn't surprise me if the newspapers/blogs weren't getting a kickback of some sort. All in it together.

I am GLAD these places are popping up. It will FINALLY force Disney to do something about their God awful ADR system which allows ANYONE to horde for FREEE.

 

[constantstar]

That's so wrong! We're quite a while our from our trip and staying at a time with moderate crowds - so, we've been lucky to get all the ADRs we wanted (except an acceptable time for a toddler at Ohana). And the mentions of FP+ fraud worries me as our window for that hasn't opened and we need Elsa... :/

 

[SaintsManiac]

I got everything we wanted and even dropped some of that to add others way after 180 day mark. Are some of us luckier? Less picky? I don't get it.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Point is no one really knows what these "look-up" sites are doing. They say they are only watching for reservations but who knows? Are they sending false alerts? Are they booking and releasing bulk reservations to bait people into using them? I still say having bots trolling on the WDW site causes overhead and strains performance on an already stressed outdated back-end system.

Agreed. It is absolute fact that Scout, Buddy, Tools, etc cause way more problems than people realize. Ever been searching for an ADR and you see it, go to book it then the site times out or you get another error? There is a HIGH probability one of those bots are crawling the ADR system and bogging it down. They are bots, they crawl the system numerous times throughout the day. Its not like someone searching for 1 ADR and using X amount of system space (for lack of a better term). The text based bots search the entire database. THOUSANDS of reservations at a time. So while they aren't taking ADRs away by prebooking, they are definitely causing people not to get ADRS by overloading the site.

And generally speaking here...

How many times have you seen someone say the system was down at 6am when they went online? Thats not just because of regular people. Those bots crawl the site at that time too. They don't care if they send you a notice at 3am or 6am or whenever. If they send a notice, that makes their customers feel like the price is "worth it". They could send out random fake texts, you log on to get it and there is no ADR so you assume someone else got it. What makes you think it was really even there to begin with? But NOW you think Scout/Buddy/Tools is working because you got a text. Its a gimmick. Sure, they work. All the ADR places can and do work but they also create problems. Saying "well I use Scout because it doesnt prebook" is pretty lame when you turn around and hate on the other sites. You're still just as much of the problem. If you're gonna use the sites, own up to it and be fine with your decision. Its your money. But dont try to make it look like its ok because you use one over the other.

I have searched MDE a TON for reservations and have gotten an error message SO many times. Im talking about at odd hours like 3am when most ppl are in bed. Yes, Disneys site is outdated but to think these bots aren't causing issues is just silly.

Do all the ADR sites cause trouble? Yes
Will the eventually be shut down? Likely
Are they needed to book an ADR? Absolutely not
Do people have the right to spend their money how they want? Yes
Is it unethical for sites to prebook ADRS then transfer them to others? No, the same thing is allowed here on the DIS. While charging a fee for their time in transferring is not allowed, the action is the same. ADRS are being transferred from one person to the other via a scheduled time release.
Is it unethical for sites to prebook ADRS under false names? I am unclear on this one. Disney's current set up makes it completely allowable. No where does it state that the person who books the ADR has to be a friend, family member, or even show up for the ADR. Are those sites using fake names or their own names? If its a real persons name then whats the difference in that and Aunt Barbara booking your ADR while you're at work? She isnt going on the trip anyway, never intended to. The ONLY difference here is the exchange of money. I CAN justify charging a fee for your time when providing a service to another person. Thats what all of these sites do.

Interestingly enough, one of the sites Tweeted today that people (yes, regular people) were booking ADRs and then trying to SELL them to the company so the company could turn around and make money off of them.

At the end of the day, while these companies are aggravating, I think the biggest problem is staring back at some of us in mirror. PEOPLE hoarding ADRS and especially booking them to try and resell to one of these ADR places is pretty bad imo.

 

[rwdavis2]

Given that some people don't have many (any?) decent restaurants where they live, I just don't get the obsession with WDW dining. I do get that people have different tastes. We're fortunate to live in an area with tons of excellent restaurants and would rather splurge here.

Most of the dining is just average at best with a few exceptions. All of it is overpriced and some to an absurd degree but it is a theme park with a somewhat captive audience. I'm content with counter service most of the time and we make a few ADRs for dinner. We would never allow getting or not getting an ADR to make or break a trip.

Disney just needs more restaurants in and outside of the parks.

 

[WIcruizer]

I think 180 days out is ridiculous, I don't think it should be anymore than 60-90 days out. As many have said they horde until they can book FP's so that's a big part of the problem.

I don't think that's a big part of the problem. Even if you made it 30 days out, all that would do is cause the same problem at 30 days out instead of 180.

Disney just needs more restaurants in and outside of the parks.

I don't think they need more restaurants, many TS restaurants are easy to get into. It's just that no matter how many you have, there will be a handful that are very popular.

But I agree with you, the food at most of them is only "ok." You name it- steak, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc. there are restaurants back at home far better for less money. We only get the DDP when it's "free." Otherwise, we usually only go to one or two TS restaurant each trip. For us, it's not really the food that's the attraction, it's the "scene." Does the Biergarten in Epcot have the best German food? No, but it's a fun atmosphere and adds to the magic for us.

If it wasn't "free" there's no way I would pay for TS every day though, that's for sure.

 

[rwdavis2]

I don't think that's a big part of the problem. Even if you made it 30 days out, all that would do is cause the same problem at 30 days out instead of 180.


I don't think they need more restaurants, many TS restaurants are easy to get into. It's just that no matter how many you have, there will be a handful that are very popular.

But I agree with you, the food at most of them is only "ok." You name it- steak, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc. there are restaurants back at home far better for less money. We only get the DDP when it's "free." Otherwise, we usually only go to one or two TS restaurant each trip. For us, it's not really the food that's the attraction, it's the "scene." Does the Biergarten in Epcot have the best German food? No, but it's a fun atmosphere and adds to the magic for us.

If it wasn't "free" there's no way I would pay for TS every day though, that's for sure.

Good points. We go to some restaurants because they are fun vs. just the food. Agreed on the DDP. Got once due to a huge discount.

 

[ha1264]

We decided to book a trip for December (the busiest time of the year) at the end of August. We have a party of 7 and are staying at CR. It's costing over $10,000.00. My wife has been trying in vain since we booked to get ADR's. Everything every where is booked. We did pay Disney Dinning Buddy and we are able to get several reservations with the help. I don't know what the solution is but when you spend that kind of money and pay for the dinning plan you should be able to get a reservation somewhere. I agree about the food being just ok. We just like the atmosphere and the characters for the kids.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We have a lot of great restaurants where I live, too, so that's a good point. We mainly booked character meals and resort restaurants for the experiences. Our main reason for BOG was to get in that castle and meet the Beast I'm sure the food will be fine, but it's not why we wanted that one.

 

[Huggups]

I've never had a problem finding availability if I book at 180 days. It's the last minute, less that 30 day, June trip that was an issue for someplace like BOG. But every other restaurant reservation I wanted I was able to get.

 

[GreatLakes]

Disney will find a way to either close or sufficiently narrow the loophole if they want to. When you implement a system you always have people who find ways to circumvent controls you have in place until you alter those controls to close off their unintended uses.

 

[Cold71]

Not sure if anyone said this yet but you wouldn't even need to verify they have a park ticket. Force each Disney account to have a verified credit card on file, problem solved.

 

[dkrauss]

I think the idea that you can't make an ADR without a park ticket is a great one! Disney is expensive enough, we shouldn't have to pay more to get the reservations we want!

BTW park ticket holder would include all levels of AP's too.......

This would work for resturants in the parks........like BOG. However, you can't do this for restuarants in resorts or the Boardwalk. You can enter those locations without ever going to a park.....ask the locals . So in that case you can't limit it to park ticket holders only.

I like the idea.......lets hope Disney does too.

Doug

 

[Praying Colonel]

Wouldn't adding a Captcha to the search solve this issue? Stops (or significantly impedes) the bots, right?

 

[karrit2000]

Not sure if anyone said this yet but you wouldn't even need to verify they have a park ticket. Force each Disney account to have a verified credit card on file, problem solved.

In order to make reservations now you do need to guarantee with a credit card, it is part of the reservation process.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Funny, I didn't find booking ADRs at 180 days any worse this year than last. In fact, this year I was able to book two BOG dinner ADRs whereas last year, they were all booked up for my entire length of stay at 180 days.

I don't like Disney Dining Agent, but I really don't think it's really making that big of a difference with ADR availability. I think the lack of ADRs prior to vacation is due to individuals hoarding them just in case.

 

[eliza61]

They actually are not serving the market, they are the ones who created the frustrated customers. It's no different then a ticket scalper buying a ton of tickets and selling them at a ridiculously high cost. Except if the ticket scalper didn't dump the tickets in time, they'd get stuck with the face value costs. These "entrepreneurs" don't get stuck with any costs if they cancel in time. It's lazy entrepreneurship if anything. If they were smart they'd think of a service that helps people while making money instead of creating additional problems and chaos.

Totally disagree. Disney creates these monsters than people get upset when someone finds a way to circumvent the situation.
Disney created the fact that you have to get up at midnight and all the other loops.

I do agree that its like scalping but while scalping is illegal, it's also one of those crimes that is consumer driven.

The bottom line is that if there wasn't a demand for the service it would go under. plain and simple.

I'm in the minority I've see no problem with it at all.

Take my opinion with a grain of salt.

there isn't a restaurant on site that is fabulous. IMO none so no way do I get up at stress about getting an adr never mind paying some one to get one for me.