Disney halts bookings for 2024 Walt Disney World vacations and the Disney Dining Plan open

May 31, 2023 in "Disney Dining Plan"

Posted: Wednesday May 31, 2023 7:40am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney has halted sales of 2024 Walt Disney World vacation packages and Disney Dining Plan just 20 minutes after opening this morning.

Guests attempting to book online faced the familiar virtual queue waiting room, which opened with wait times above one hour. At 7:20am, Disney provided an update to say that sales were paused.

Sales have also been paused for guests attempting to book via phone.

Message last updated: 7:20 AM ET
We have currently paused online bookings and will resume as soon as possible. Reminder: to retain your place in the waiting room, please don’t refresh the page or select the back button.

Message last updated: 7:38 AM ET We have currently paused bookings online and over the phone. Bookings will resume as soon as possible. Reminder: to retain your place in the waiting room, please don’t refresh the page or select the back button.

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DisneyHead12330 days ago

It does seem likely that TS in general will continue getting trimmed down to fewer (presumably) profitable restaurants like character meals or the highly themed prix fixe spots. Maybe a dining plan with more buffets as that’s generally been the tried and true method for feeding people at a lower cost. My guess is that snacks, festival food, and lounges do very well so we’ll see more movement in that direction.

Basil of Baker Street30 days ago

Disney does a pretty good job of turning people over and shaking any extra cash out of their pocket. Pretty sure they would rather have the LL revenue which is pure profit and have TS tables sit empty.

Splash4eva31 days ago

Another way they can imo generate more people coming is change the age of adults for these character meals…. Charging full price on an already over priced meal for a 10yr old is absurd. Always has been. Maybe change that age to 13/14 & see if that moves the needle then adjust accordingly. They still making out on the deal as most kids are eating chicken nuggets mac & cheese along w “pizza”. Heck most adults arent eating what they charge and no way a 10 yr old is

TrainsOfDisney31 days ago

so you love the 40% off deal coming up then right?

HakunaMatata8931 days ago

boy do i miss tables in wonderland

TrainsOfDisney31 days ago

or even better, simply give a really big discount when and where you need it. Like say… 40%!? :)

Touchdown31 days ago

You know who you could convince to go to table service restaurants and take a break from riding really easy? People who go there often, like APs, DVC, and Locals. Imagine if you had a discount club, where for an annual fee, you got 20% off anything at a TS restaurant (including alcohol) to make sure the servers aren’t robbed of their tip, have a 20% tip be automatically added. Then to encourage going to hotel restaurants throw in free valet. I’m sure some marketing wizz could come up with a great name for that card, it’s right on the tip of my tounge…

DisneyHead12331 days ago

I feel like the obvious solution for low dining reservations is to actually make the dining plan a discount, maybe 20% on average. I think this is what Great Wolf does. Yes you lose that hypothetical 15-25% but you lock people in when, at the moment, they’re choosing other options.

Animaniac93-9831 days ago

There must be some exceptions like character meals and 'Ohana, but it's not hard to understand why some people are skipping table service. Easy thing to cut back on if you feel you're already spending a lot on admission, lightning lane, hotel etc

DisneyHead12331 days ago

Will be curious to see what you think. We didn’t add the kids eat free dining plan because quick service at our hotel is already a pretty good deal, so with quick service entrees only being $8 - $13 we would have needed to “maximize” snacks and table service. We want to do Space 220 and Beak and Barrel (not on the plan) and even if we didn’t, the extra legwork involved seemed like unnecessary stress. For a young adventurous person willing to put in some extra time and steps you could probably come out ahead… again, will be curious what you think.

TrainsOfDisney31 days ago

At polite pig you are not allowed to sit at a table until you have ordered and have a pager. I’ve actually seen this enforced even when the restaurant wasn’t particularly busy. This is the same system they used at Beasts Castle when it was QS.