Disney World now offers more time to cancel dining reservations without penalty

Nov 15, 2022 in "Walt Disney World Resorts"

Posted: Tuesday November 15, 2022 12:23pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney is modifying its Walt Disney World restaurant cancellation policy to offer more flexibility when dining plans change.

Guests can now cancel most dining reservations at Walt Disney World up to two hours before the booking without incurring a penalty. Before this change, guests had to cancel a reservation the day before to avoid a $10 per person cancellation fee.

This new dining cancellation policy does not apply to Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue, Victoria & Albert’s and Monsieur Paul. Each of these venues have their own dining cancellation policies that remain as is. Check with your dining reservation confirmation email for details of any specific restaurant policies.

Most Disney World restaurants now have the following cancellation policy:

There is a 2 hour cancellation policy. You must cancel at least 2 hours prior to the dining reservation time to avoid a $10 per person cancellation fee. If you fail to cancel at least 2 hours prior, or if you no-show, the credit card provided at the time of reservation will be charged $10 per person.

Your credit card will automatically be charged if you no-show or if you fail to cancel at least 2 hours prior to the dining reservation time.

Disney introduced the cancellation penalty at table service dining back in October 2011 when it began to enforce a $10 per person penalty for failing to provide 'day before' notice of reservation cancellation. Before the cancellation fee, some guests were booking multiple restaurants at the same arrival time, reducing availability for other guests and reducing Disney's income from the restaurants.

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nickysNov 16, 2022

I think you’ve missed the joke in @Kingoglow ’s post. 😎

Prince-1Nov 16, 2022

Sorry but that is just a dumb idea. People absolutely want to get up at 5am while on vacation to make dining reservations. Hard pass on this.

Hockey89Nov 16, 2022

Hardest pass ever.... Waking up at 5 no thank you.... Also, the WIFI SUCKED AT THE ANIMAL KINDOM.... I want to know where I'm eating and not have to deal with that....

UNCgolfNov 15, 2022

Asking people to wake up at 5 AM every day of their trip to make dining reservations would be insane.

KingoglowNov 15, 2022

They went about this the wrong way. Take dining reservations the way of Genie+. No more prebooking ADRs. On-site guests can make ADRs, day of, at 5 am. Off-site guests can make ADRs, day of, at 7 am. I had to move the time windows earlier than 7 am (the booking window for ILLs and LLs) because of some of the earlier breakfast times that are available.

JohnDNov 15, 2022

I think this partly done because of same day choices you get for G+ and LL. With FP+ you could schedule your first three 30 or 60 days ahead and dining reservations around them. Then the one at a time allowed you to choose a time which you had the ability to schedule outside of an ADR. Now with G+/LL, you get what you get. Either you pick the ride you want which conflicts with an ADR or you have to find something else. Now, you can choose an attraction just more than two hours out which conflicts with an ADR, then cancel that ADR if you want without a penalty.

dreday3Nov 15, 2022

Thanks!

dreday3Nov 15, 2022

Updated first post - seems this is true.

ceecee101Nov 07, 2022

PM me, the person who referred me to this place also had me PM her. Not sure about rules here.

phillip9698Nov 07, 2022

Which service finally landed for you?

ceecee101Nov 06, 2022

As someone who has been trying to get 1 specific ADR since my window opened for two months (we leave in a week to go) and who needed to use multiple of the reservation finders places to just get this ONE reservation, I totally agree. I finally got it today. So now we have 2 ADRs for our whole trip. Another difficulty of being On the West Coast and having to compete with hoarders who don’t have to get up at 3 am when the window opens

PolynesianPrincessNov 06, 2022

3 different meals a day is one thing. But no one needs to have 3 Chef Mickey breakfasts booked at 2 hours apart, 3 days of their trip. The lists of ADR's some of these people were dropping were insane. I don't know how they even managed to get so many, but they did. One woman was dropping 16 Oga's reservations a couple years back. Disney needs to force you to pick one and cancel the rest for each day, if only so others have a fair shot of getting what they want.

PolynesianPrincessNov 06, 2022

I was part of an ADR group on FB. People would post ADR's they were going to be dropping so they could potentially coordinate with someone who might need it. People were holding Ohana dinner ADR's 2 hours apart, 4 ADR's per night for 4 nights of their trip. I eventually left the group because I was disgusted with how many people do this. They 100% need to limit you to 1 per dining period. But that won't stop people from just putting ADR's under their spouse or childrens accounts, so not sure how they would handle that.... perhaps there is no way to stop the greedy my plans matter more than yours ADR horders.