Disney dining buddy

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jhugo's picture
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Joined: 01/11/2014
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Disney dining buddy

Has anyone tried the site Disney dining buddy? It is suppose to help you get the reservations you want and you don't have to constantly check the Disney site. It does cost $8.00 per request. Wondering if it worth trying out?

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Joined: 03/22/2014
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Yikes! $8.00 seems steep to me. I always feel like I'm able to get the majority of ADRs I want and for the few I don't get I don't mind checking back. I like the planning portion of the trip, so I don't mind that I have something still left to try and get. On my first try there were no reservations left for BOG but after only trying a handful of times I was able to get a dinner AND lunch reservation.

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BarbaraB's picture
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Joined: 03/13/2014
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I haven't tried it. $8 seems a bit much just to make a dining reservation. They can't possibly guarantee that they'll get you the ADR you want. For example, I want dinner at BOG at 8:00pm on Tuesday because it's my anniversary. What if they can only get BOG on Wed at 6:00pm? Would I have to take that one? Would I get my $8 back if I didn't take it? I think I need more information on how it works.

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MrHub's picture
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jhugo wrote:
Has anyone tried the site Disney dining buddy? It is suppose to help you get the reservations you want and you don't have to constantly check the Disney site. It does cost $8.00 per request. Wondering if it worth trying out?

Actually a few of those sites have hit us with a lot of spammer posts. I think most of them are highly frowned upon. They are hitting the unsuspecting veteran guests with lots of charges and people think they are connected with Disney in some way and they start ditching Disney because of those sites. Many of them are scam sites also I have heard.

JMed's picture
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Joined: 02/16/2014
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I've seen them popping up in my Facebook feed, guess because of all my other Disney stuff. I just keep scrolling. I don't see how they can guarantee your ADR. I've always taken my chances and got everything I wanted. May not be the exact time I want but at least I got it. I pay enough to go, not going to give someone I don't know a few more bucks to do what I can do....

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crazycatperson's picture
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Joined: 09/19/2011
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Ther is no restaurant I want to eat at badly enough to pay someone $8 to make a reservation for me. If I can't get Restaurant #1, there's always #2, #3, #4, etc.

Kristen K.'s picture
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Joined: 09/01/2011
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MrHub wrote:
jhugo wrote:
Has anyone tried the site Disney dining buddy? It is suppose to help you get the reservations you want and you don't have to constantly check the Disney site. It does cost $8.00 per request. Wondering if it worth trying out?

Actually a few of those sites have hit us with a lot of spammer posts. I think most of them are highly frowned upon. They are hitting the unsuspecting veteran guests with lots of charges and people think they are connected with Disney in some way and they start ditching Disney because of those sites. Many of them are scam sites also I have heard.

MrHub is very right in that the sites are largely frowned upon in the greater Disney Online community. They don't do anything that you can't do yourself, and even if they don't get you the reservation most of them keep your money. Just do the research yourself an be dedicated to getting what you want. There really aren't any shortcuts.

Kristen K.'s picture
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JMed wrote:
I don't see how they can guarantee your ADR.

They can't, and if they say they can they're lying.

JoAnn C's picture
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Joined: 05/20/2011
Posts: 6757

new dining reservation app. There are a lot of restaurants I would like to try but wouldn't pay $15 for an ADR. Finding hard to get reservations is a great challenge.

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/new-disney-restaurant-app-stirring-up-controversy-128898742187.html

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MrHub's picture
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Disney is looking into all these apps.

NikkiMouse's picture
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crazycatperson wrote:
Ther is no restaurant I want to eat at badly enough to pay someone $8 to make a reservation for me. If I can't get Restaurant #1, there's always #2, #3, #4, etc.

This exactly!

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Mandy's picture
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I read somewhere that someone used dining buddy and they got the reservation they wanted. They got the restaurant they wanted for the time and day they wanted it. I don't forsee me using it.

MrHub's picture
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I have a feeling Disney is going to bare down on all these apps.

Brinbunny's picture
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Joined: 07/23/2014
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It's official Disney have stopped them....

'At Disney's request, Disney Dining Buddy has now discontinued their services. Their current clients should be receiving emails shortly with information regarding refunds.'

Can't post link as it won't work. Hope they are good enough to stick to refunding people.

MrHub's picture
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Yeah, saw that one coming!

alicemouse's picture
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There were a lot of TA's posting this morning that they are sad to see services like this go because they "helped" them to get a lot of hard-to-get reservations. I found myself very confused by the folks who were taking this position. Dining is expensive enough at Disney. Paying a premium to a service to even get the reservation? Not something I'm willing to do. I don't appreciate being iced out because some of these services had gone so far as to create fake user ID's to hold reservation hostage.

I hear people complain all the time that Disney is getting too expensive and that the average family can't afford to go anymore. Where is the outrage for third party services creating artificial barriers to entry by adding to the cost of your WDW vacation for something that you could otherwise get for free. Part of the catalyst for the Florida Project was Walt's desire to control the entire park experience and prevent people from profiting by simply riding his coattails. I'm glad to see Disney legal getting involved with this one.

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Kristen K.'s picture
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I'm glad this got shut down, it's hard enough to get the prime reservations when everyone is playing by the rules. Sometimes you just can't get the table you want, that's the breaks.