The Orlando Sentinel reports that the operator of Disney Dining Buddy is shutting down the service at Disney's request. Disney Dining Buddy was one of the services that monitored Disney's reservation system then notified clients when a desired reservation became available. Other services actually operated like a ticket broker ("scalper," if you prefer), booking reservations as soon as they opened, then holding them until clients paid to obtain the times. We reported on these third-party dining reservation services last month.
There's been no announcement from Disney about the shut-down, nor has there been word if Disney will be making any changes to its dining reservation systems to alleviate the frustration that drove many visitors to these third parties.
Disney World dining reservations open 180 days in advance, but that long window frustrates people whose vacation plans are not settled six months in advance. And tables dropping back into the system due to the inevitable release of cancellations and reserve inventory frustrate people who tried and failed to make reservations far in advance, since Disney does not put those guests on a wait list.
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Also, I know some wise guy is probably gonna say this, so I'll say it for them: "No one rips off our guests except me!"
-Iger
Nonetheless, it's great to see Disney address a real problem.
This is technically correct, but they were charging customers for something that should be free, and were controlling the marketplace to a certain extent by holding valuable ADRs and releasing them to the market at select times provided to their clients.
If the 3rd party people didn't exist, perhaps experienced guests wouldn't need to sit on multiple reservations only to cancel them at a later date. I'll admit that I did it on our most recent trip, because it was easier to have 2 reservations at the same time and adjust later than it was to have no reservations and then scramble at the last minute only to get stuck with something we didn't want.
Ultimately, the ADR system is a broken one that needs a serious facelift starting first with the amount of time guests have to book their reservations. However, getting rid of the 3rd parties that are profiting from their deliberate manipulation of the system needed to happen. Disney's probably about 10 years too late addressing this, but at least it's a start. Hopefully more changes are on the way.
Apart from maybe helping them gauge predicted attendance, ad even then I'm not sure how useful restaurant bookings would be for this. I can't see any advantage of accepting booking so far out. It simply penalises those who book late, or like to wait to firm up plans, or even the radical ideal of being spur of the moment - which park do you fancy on the morning.
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