ALLDining plans and packages and adrs canceled, future 60 day adr window

[hlb9600]

Then they should have given people an option to cancel their own Dining plan if they choose to. Seems crazy for them to cancel all dining plans.

Only problem I see with that is if not enough DDP people cancel, then how do you pick and choose who can have it? Kinda same logic i believe they used canceling all the reservations. I personally would have kept mine if i could have.

Only Disney knows the numbers but im sure they ran the numbers and said if everyone that has a dining plan needs to eat dinner, do we have enough capacity? Then add in everyone who doesnt have it. Its putting everyone on an even playing field and not having pissed of people who have "prepaid" for table service meals that they cant fufill.

Also I think its doing exactly what they want/need it to be doing. Its making people cancel coupled with the fastpasses canceling. We are personally sticking with it even with our deluxe dining plan be canceled.

 

[cherokeemamma]

Is the Quick Service dining plan cancelled, too?

 

[terrylily]

.

 

[daisy2013]

Yes, all dining plans have been cancelled.

The email I received does not say my dining plan has been cancelled

An Important Walt Disney World Update​

As we plan for the reopening of our Disney Resort Hotels and Theme Parks, we are keeping the wellbeing of our Guests and Cast in mind. And we’re here to help you as we introduce new procedures focused on delivering an enjoyable and magical experience for everyone who visits. ‌ To manage attendance and foster physical distancing during this unprecedented time, we’ve changed—and even suspended—some dining and other experiences. In addition, we will also be introducing a new Theme Park reservation system as well. We’ll send you details on this new system shortly. Unfortunately, these new measures have required us to cancel dining reservations and experience reservations you may have made. We recognize the inconvenience this poses and we’re deeply sorry. There’s nothing you need to do at this time. We’ll be contacting you soon with details on the process of re-booking dining and other experiences—now available 60 days prior to arrival to allow for planning closer to your visit. ‌ At this time, while systems update, we are temporarily suspending all modifications. However, you have the option of canceling your entire reservation. ‌ We’re putting great thought into helping you return to the magic and appreciate your patience. ‌ For more information, please visit disneyworld.com, call 407-W-DISNEY (934-7639), or contact your travel professional or Member Services. ‌ Select third party operated restaurants and certain other experiences may not be cancelled.​

 

[terrylily]

.

 

[daisy2013]

Unfortunately at this time it is definitely stated on their website all DDPs are cancelled. I wish it wasn’t true. I’m not sure if we are allowed to link their site or not, but it’s there if you want to go check it out.

We’ll see what happens. Until I hear from Disney it has been cancelled I will go with it. Im not living or dying by a dining plan or even a vacation.

 

[Shellbells]

We're not supposed to go until December but my husband wants me to cancel. He was fine with everything else but the cancellation of the dining plan was his final straw. We always get deluxe and it saves us a ton of money. Without it, we'd eat CS the whole time and part of the fun for us is the nice sit down restaurants.
I'm heartbroken over cancelling and couldn't bring myself to call today.
I wish they wouldn't have canceled the plan. If they are reducing capacity and everyone there will have to eat, I'm not sure how having the plan makes a difference. I'm sure it's a cost cutting measure somehow.
Ugh, I'm just sad.
And I feel guilty about being sad when so many horrible things are happening in the world right now.
I was using our trip as something to look forward to to keep my spirits up. I know that sounds shallow. *more guilt*

 

[tinkerbell1991]

We’ll see what happens. Until I hear from Disney it has been cancelled I will go with it. Im not living or dying by a dining plan or even a vacation.

But you can hear from Disney ... On their website like someone else has just posted

 

[rdaky]

My guess is that it would make zero sense to have a dining plan if they're going to limit the restaurants that open.

 

[daisy2013]

But you can hear from Disney ... On their website like someone else has just posted

We all know how accurate the Disney website has been. The email I received does not match what the website says so like I said I’ll wait and not spin up for something that may or may not happen. It was a extra trip because my girls’ school was opening late this year.

 

[sharonabe]

We're not supposed to go until December but my husband wants me to cancel. He was fine with everything else but the cancellation of the dining plan was his final straw. We always get deluxe and it saves us a ton of money. Without it, we'd eat CS the whole time and part of the fun for us is the nice sit down restaurants.
I'm heartbroken over cancelling and couldn't bring myself to call today.

Is there any way you can convince your DH to hold off on cancelling for now? December is a long time away and things could change before then. I would be even more heartbroken if I cancel now, and they bring back the DDP later in the year.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

My guess is that it would make zero sense to have a dining plan if they're going to limit the restaurants that open.

Exactly. Dining plans do two things that are tough for pandemic operations:
1) Make guests entitled to a certain number of TS meals (because they're already paid for) when TS capacity will be greatly reduced. How could they handle people saying, "I only used 4 of my 6 TS credits because we could not find anywhere to eat!" Now no one is entitled to a certain number of meals of any kind.
2) Make guests make different dining choices than they would OOP. If we go under these conditions, now going OOP for the first time ever and no character meals, my family might only eat one or two TS meals and eat a lot more QS to save money, have more outdoor dining options, and make more choices on the fly based on crowding at a restaurant. If we had a dining plan, it's a TS meal everyday. And I would be unhappy if I found only "undesirable" choices for those TS meals to use my credits.

I've been laughing today because before my princess was born, we were DLR people because it required less planning and plans could be put in place closer to travel dates. Now that we've converted to WDW for proper princess experiences, my next WDW vacation has become just a DLR one!
In other words, it's new, different, not what we planned, but I know it can work.

 

[Shellbells]

Is there any way you can convince your DH to hold off on cancelling for now? December is a long time away and things could change before then. I would be even more heartbroken if I cancel now, and they bring back the DDP later in the year.

I'm working on. He seems pretty set on going to Hawaii instead. But with Hawaii still locked down and requiring a 2 week quarantine I have my doubts about that one.
I'm thinking we should wait a year and see what happens.
(I'm trying to talk myself into being ok with cancelling, lol)

 

[Tissa]

I received an e-mail from Disney last night about 7pm. It had the same info on needing to cancel fastpass+ and dining. It also says " As a result of physical distancing, capacity in restaurants and availability of dining experiences is very limited and experiences such as character dining cannot be provided. Because of this, we have also made the difficult decision to cancel and temporarily no longer offer Disney dining plans. We will be modifying your package to remove the dining plan. The price of the package will be adjusted accordingly and your modified package and price will be provided in a new confirmation."

 

[lady danger]

My guess is that it would make zero sense to have a dining plan if they're going to limit the restaurants that open.

This is my understanding of the situation too. You can’t offer a product if there’s a good chance that a significant number of the people who have it will be unable to use it because the table service restaurants have slashed their capacity. We don’t know yet just by how much capacity at TS restaurants is going to be down by, by it could end up being by enough to make running the DDP unsustainable if Disney not only cuts the capacity of each restaurant but doesn’t even have all of their restaurants up and running when the parks reopen. As understandably upset as people are right now to have had their plans cancelled, it’d be a drop in the bucket compared to the furor Disney would face if most of their DDP guests had dining plans that they were unable to use at table service restaurants because of the capacity issues. I don’t see this as a greed thing. If it were, only the free dining packages would have been cancelled. The dining plan allows Disney to collect more money from their guests up front than they’d be able to collect otherwise, and that injection of cash is something they could probably use right now.

I do find it interesting that the quick service plan was cancelled along with the other plans though. Unless they’re planning on people skipping meals in the park (which seems unlikely), there should still be enough capacity in the quick service locations to handle every guest staying on property/visiting the parks, multiple times a day. Running that program shouldn’t have the same logistical issues as the traditional dining plan.

 

[rdaky]

[QUOTE="lady danger, post: 61950460, member: 117179"

I do find it interesting that the quick service plan was cancelled along with the other plans though. Unless they’re planning on people skipping meals in the park (which seems unlikely), there should still be enough capacity in the quick service locations to handle every guest staying on property/visiting the parks, multiple times a day. Running that program shouldn’t have the same logistical issues as the traditional dining plan.
[/QUOTE]

I think the quick service plan is tricky, too, especially if guests are expecting the same experience. Drinks are probably no longer self serve (at least they are in my State) so what happens with the souvenir cups and refills? That has to be some kind of health violation. And then if the choices are limited and someone has prepaid, it's going to be frustrating to spend money on places/food you don't want to eat because in my experience some counter service is very good, and others are mediocre at best. And then you have the snack situation which would probably also very limited based on everything else being limited. I'd rather just pay out of pocket and know when I get there what I'm actually going to be eating.

 

[NMPensFan]

I'm hoping someone can help me figure this out. I keep on seeing that all dining plans are canceled through September 2021, but I cannot find this stated anywhere officially. Can anyone post the link? We were going to reschedule our resort reservation for 2021 but won't bother if there is no dining plan. We would be paying oop for the plan, not any kind of free dining offer if that matters.

 

[Moliphino]

I'm hoping someone can help me figure this out. I keep on seeing that all dining plans are canceled through September 2021, but I cannot find this stated anywhere officially. Can anyone post the link? We were going to reschedule our resort reservation for 2021 but won't bother if there is no dining plan. We would be paying oop for the plan, not any kind of free dining offer if that matters.

Disney Parks Blog:
Dining and Experiences: In order to foster physical distancing during this time, upon reopening, our offerings, restaurants and other experiences such as behind-the-scenes tours will be limited in capacity, and other experiences may remain closed. As a result of limited capacity, we have made the difficult decision to cancel all existing dining reservations and experience bookings, including Disney dining plans included in packages. We will reopen dining and experience bookings with more limited numbers closer to when the parks reopen. We will also shift from a 180-day booking window to a 60-day booking window for dining and experience bookings going forward to allow Guests to make their plans closer to their visits.


There is no date on it there, I don't remember where that was from.

 

[NMPensFan]

Yes, I originally read this post when it said this would last through the end of this year. I’m hoping its available in 2021 but I guess we won’t know for sure for a while. Just wish I could track down the September 2021 part.

 

[julietsstars]

Anyone think that the dining plan options would be restored in the Fall?