Starting on October 26 2011, guests will be required to provide a credit card in order to make a reservation for all signature dining restaurants on Walt Disney World property. If the reservation is not cancelled at least one day in advance, the credit card on the reservation will be charged $10 per person.
Guests have frequently complained that they are unable to dine at their favorite restaurant due to no available reservations. Many guests have complained/speculated that this is caused by other guests not attending reservations they held.
Recent changes to the online dining reservation system made it impossible to book reservations at more than one location at times that were too close together.
It seems that Disney does in fact listen when guests complain and have concerns. Well, it's either that or they were sick of seeing empty tables at their best restaurant. ;-)
The is a list of Signature Dining restaurants that require a credit card guarantee:
• Artist Point
• California Grill
• Tusker House Restaurant
• The Hollywood Brown Derby
• Victoria & Albert’s
• Yachtsman Steakhouse
• Cape May Café
• Chef Mickey’s
• Cítricos
• Hollywood & Vine
• Jiko – The Cooking Place
• Le Cellier Steakhouse
• Narcoossee’s
• ‘Ohana
• The Crystal Palace
• Flying Fish Café
• The Garden Grill
• 1900 Park Fare
• Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
Locations that have previously required full payment to secure the reservation will continue to do so. They will still keep the full pre-paid amount if the reservation is not cancelled one day in advance.
These restaurants are:
• Cinderella’s Royal Table
• Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue
• Mickey’s Backyard BBQ
• Disney’s Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
You can cancel your dining reservations at any table service restaurant podium, at any guest relations or hotel front desk, or by calling 407-WDW-CNCL. You may also change your dining reservations by visiting www.disneyworld.com/dining
Thank you to those of you who posted this across message boards and twitter in order to bring this to everyone's attention.
Will this change the way you make your reservations? Do you think this will help open up availability or simply cause less people to book at these locations?
Personally, I will be less inclined to book at these locations. I ALWAYS call to cancel a reservation if I know I will not be able to make it, however, there have been times where I need to cancel the same day or tweak our times based on how I am feeling and what the day has looked like. With my fibromyalgia I am never quite sure how I will be feeling come dinner time. Some days I need to push reservations back in order to take a break, and other days I need to eat earlier so that I can take a break while eating and not be out all night.
I'm really hoping to get a lot of feedback from others on this both prior to and after the change.
