Do You Make Unlikely ADRs?

Hmm...the "contingency ADR" question. I've done this, but I do always try to cancel them at least a day in advance if I know we're not going or have chosen another meal.

I've heard reports that Disney will cancel two ADRs made for the same guest at the same time, but I don't see how that's possible. Sometimes people make ADRs for a party that's splitting up for dinner and they're under the same name.

Definitely an ethical dilemma.

Wow. I've never done this. It's really done a lot by people?

The other side of this coin, is that you may stand a chance of getting a walk-up ressie or short notice ressie if someone has to cancel their ADR.

I can honestly say NO we have never done this. We did cancel dinner at O'Hana's when we went last September. That was only because we decided to do the MNSSHP. We did cancel as soon as we bought the tickets though so they did have a day or two notice.

We don't do this...very much... . We have been known to make two dinner ADRs for the same day, but we usually cancel about a week in advance.

Yep -- every once in a while, we'll make a double booking at 180/90 days out. This is usually because the park hours aren't quite out yet. Once they come out, we cancel whatever we don't need.

We never have and I don't think we ever will - I think it is unfair to the other people who plan ahead really early. If we find out later that park hours don't match up or there is something else we want to do, we will call and change things right then. We tend to go during more crowded times, so we really wouldn't do it then when you call 160 days out and places are already gone.

This is a situation where I feel like Disney is just forcing everyone into bad behavior. As someone said, there's no penalty for cancelling, so other people are going to do this, even if I don't. So I'm left with either not getting to eat anywhere, or contributing to the problem.

While I know that's an overstatement -- if you look at a lot of other boards and how fired up a lot of them get about maximizing their vacation, I'm surprised there are any ADRs left at all. I don't think it's fair, but we do sometime grab an ADR that we might not make. We usually cancel as soon as we know it's not going to happen.

I wish Disney would just change the rules so that there was a fair way to make sure that everyone has a good shot of eating where they want, instead of rewarding "power users" who abuse the rules. I am guilty of being that power user occasionally though...

If you had to leave card details when booking and were charged a cancellation fee would that influence what ADR's you make.
It could be a lower fee if cancelling early (say 2 weeks before) up to the price of a basic meal for a no show.
I think it would make people think twice before booking everything and just not bothering to turn up and encourage those that know in advance they can't make a booking to cancel it and open up the slot for someone that could use it.

I think that's a good idea, but I also think it would greatly lessen the amount of ADRs made.

I would also probably be pretty easy to mandate it when people start booking online more often. I'd rather put my CC number in at the beginning of a booking session than give it to someone over the phone.

I think reducing the number of ADRs would probably be a good thing. It's too hard to get dining right now.