Disneyland Resort Implements Cancellation Fees for Dining and Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
Starting May 9 for reservations on or after June 24, 2013, Disneyland Resort will charge a $10 per person fee to no-shows for dining reservations. We confirmed with Disney that this rule will apply to all Table Service restaurants in Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney, and the three resort hotels. The fee will also apply to cancellations at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Fantasyland.
A valid credit card will be required when making reservations. Guests must cancel at least 24 hours in advance of their reservations to avoid the new fee. Disneyland Dining may be reached at 714-781-3463 or dine@disneyland.com.
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Even though they say you should, you really don’t have to reserve in advance, depending on the time of year. I went with my six year old a few weeks ago with a reservation, but asked to be moved up, and they got us in a few hours early. Worth every penny, my little girl loved it.
What is odd about this is that I usually make my reservations the day before so it doesn’t effect me much.
Oops, one more thing really worth noting, too. Only select table-service restaurants at WDW charge a no-show fee at all. Usually only the Signature Dining restaurants require a credit card at the time you make the reservation. The majority of WDW table-service restaurants do not require a credit card, and do not charge for no shows. So why should the new DLR policy apply to all table-service restaurants across both parks, all three hotels, and Downtown Disney?
That’s a good question, I’m not sure why some in WDW and all in DLR would have this policy.
Keep in mind, folks, DLR is a much different animal than WDW. At WDW, you’re captive eaters and there aren’t enough table-service seats to go around. But most people who visit DLR live in the area and go out of their way to avoid eating in the parks, especially table-service restaurants. As a result, there are usually enough table-service seats to go around. You can almost always make a reservation the morning of your visit or even walk-up at most table-service restaurants unless it is an extremely busy period.
So I hardly think there was a problem with no-shows in the first place at DLR. This sounds to me more like another example of TDA adopting WDW policies that really don’t fit the California parks. The result will be that dining at DLR becomes much more rigid and less free-form.
My suspicion is that this new policy has to do with RFID admission media, FastPass+, MagicBands, etc. I would bet we’ll hear an announcement about an online dining reservation tool for DLR before long. But again, unless the visitor base for DLR suddenly changed when I wasn’t looking, it doesn’t seem to me there was any need for a new policy in the first place.
Also, it’s worth noting, the no-show fee at WDW is $10 unless you cancel the calendar day before (i.e. by midnight.) That means the DLR fee is harsher: $10 charged for each person in your group with a full 24-hour notice required.
Hands up Angeleno DLR visitors how many times you, your spouse, and your two kids got stuck in traffic on the 5 on the way to Disneyland? No imagine Disney adding insult to injury by charging you $40 on top of it? This is not uncommon. At WDW, you’re never more than five miles or so away from your ADR. But at DLR, you can easily be traveling from 50 miles away on the other side of the L.A. area. I’m getting the worrying feeling TDA is really losing touch with who their west coast visitor base is.
Do we know for certain that it’s “24 hours”? Because at WDW, “a day in advance” just means by the close of the dining system the day before. In the case of character breakfasts, that can be less than 12 hours out.
Disney will probably clarify when this policy is officially announced but for now we are just going off of what Disney dining castmembers told us.
Well.. I have only done this with WDW and it was great, since people didn’t make reservations they didn’t plan on keeping: the “just in case” people. IDK if DL sends email reminders or not; but online with WDW I could cancel, too instead of call… so that was EASY. Hope for the best!
GOOD! I just hope they go to an online reservation system so we get the reminders, too!
Can we have this at WDW for cancellations within 168 hours of the reservation? It would only be fair since you can make reservations so far out.