ADR System Upgrade - History

[TillyMarigold]

Just found this in the dining FAQ ...

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/dining/

What if I need to cancel my Walt Disney World Resort restaurant reservations?

Each Walt Disney World Resort restaurant maintains its own cancellation policy. When making your arrangements online or by phone, be sure to check the restaurant′s cancellation policy. This will help avoid charges that may apply for cancellations or no shows.

It must be coming ...

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to make anyone angry or upset. If I had not used a TA, I would be angry right along with you. I was merely agreeing with the other poster who said what I was trying to say, that there does seem be an advantage to using a TA right now when it comes to ADRs. But given that anyone can use a TA for free, it's not like I, or anyone else whose TA makes their ADRs for them, did something wrong. (Edit:just saw the post about DVC members, sorry!)

I agree it's unfair for anyone to have a headstart-I was upset earlier this week when only some people were able to get ADRS at the 100 day mark, and would have been furious if that had gone into my ADR window. I will just hope for everyone to get what they want and for all of us to have great vacations.

TA for free...? wow, around here its min $50 per person for a reservation, and many will charge for extras (like ADR's) when I was an agent, 8 years ago we were starting then to charge fees per person on the file!

 

[ga9497]

TA for free...? wow, around here its min $50 per person for a reservation, and many will charge for extras (like ADR's) when I was an agent, 8 years ago we were starting then to charge fees per person on the file!

Most TA's that specialize in Disney travel do not charge fees for using them and most make ADR's as part of their service for booking with them.

 

[jana616]

Most TA's that specialize in Disney travel do not charge fees for using them and most make ADR's as part of their service for booking with them.

I am using an agent through Small World Vacations, and am not being charged in any way, and am not paying anything to have her make my ADRs. I assumed this was standard, perhaps I was wrong.

 

[ga9497]

I am using an agent through Small World Vacations, and am not being charged in any way, and am not paying anything to have her make my ADRs. I assumed this was standard, perhaps I was wrong.

A lot of TA's that are local in towns, not internet based, started charging fees. Most offer that the fee will go towards their total amount owed. If the person doesn't book or cancels the agency keeps the fee. Brick and mortar agencies started this when the internet started being the way a lot of people would book vacations. What a lot of people started doing is going to an agency, picking their brain, asking loads of questions, have the agent look up a bunch of different options and prices which totalled quite a few hours of work, if not days. Then go and book the vacation themselves.

Travel agents do not get paid until the person actually travels. If the client doesn't book even after loads of questions, pricing, etc the agent did the work basically for free and didn't get a dime for it. To separate the shoppers from people that were serious the "fee" process began to eliminate the shoppers.

Most internet based agencies do not charge a fee.

Agents do not get a commission from the supplier, in this case Disney, for making ADR's most offer it as a free service for booking your vacation through them.

 

[simplymama]

Just found this in the dining FAQ ...

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/dining/



It must be coming ...

Probably, but that little blurb has been on there since they originally had a link on the FAQ page two weeks ago tthat said something like " or you can make reservations online" that was later removed. (The link never actually worked, just took you back to the top of the FAQ page)

I think it's coming but I doubt it will be until they figure out all the kinks that seem to cause the system to go down when it's busy.

 

[Paradise East]

Just to add to the confusion .....

We are booked from 11/30-12/4 at POFQ including DDP.

We have made several changes to the ressie over the last several months and had received from Disney the trip planning packet several times after the changes.

One of the inserts is for the DDP.

It states we can make our dining reservations at 180 days !!!

I suspect they have a bunch of inserts on hand and did not want to reprint so they just send them out.

I wonder how many people are calling between 180 and 90 days to make ressies only to be told to call back at 90 days.

Check your insert to see if yours states 180 days.

 

[mom2rtk]

Just to add to the confusion .....

We are booked from 11/30-12/4 at POFQ including DDP.

We have made several changes to the ressie over the last several months and had received from Disney the trip planning packet several times after the changes.

One of the inserts is for the DDP.

It states we can make our dining reservations at 180 days !!!

I suspect they have a bunch of inserts on hand and did not want to reprint so they just send them out.

I wonder how many people are calling between 180 and 90 days to make ressies only to be told to call back at 90 days.

Check your insert to see if yours states 180 days.

Well, if they were smart, they would go back to 180 days so the system usage would be more spread out instead of being hit like a ton of bricks every morning at 7 AM eastern!

 

[pmiranda]

Well, if they were smart, they would go back to 180 days so the system usage would be more spread out instead of being hit like a ton of bricks every morning at 7 AM eastern!

How would that spread it out? Whether everyone calls at the 90 day mark @ 7am or everyone calls at the 180 day mark @ 7am, they are still getting hammered. It doesn't matter if they are getting hammered for an adr on september 1 or and ADR on November 30, generally the same number of people are still calling in @ 7am. I think generally speaking it's likely they get quite a few more no shows when people make reservations 180 days out, when they don't even know park hours yet, and consequently whether they will even be in the right area at the ADRs time.

I really hope they get things sorted soon, I'll be making my ADRs towards the end of next month.

 

[mom2rtk]

How would that spread it out? Whether everyone calls at the 90 day mark @ 7am or everyone calls at the 180 day mark @ 7am, they are still getting hammered. It doesn't matter if they are getting hammered for an adr on september 1 or and ADR on November 30, generally the same number of people are still calling in @ 7am. I think generally speaking it's likely they get quite a few more no shows when people make reservations 180 days out, when they don't even know park hours yet, and consequently whether they will even be in the right area at the ADRs time.

I really hope they get things sorted soon, I'll be making my ADRs towards the end of next month.

I guess we'll just have to disagree on that point.

I don't think nearly as many people KNOW their travel plans and dates at 180 days out as know them at 90 days. I think people would just naturally start calling over that period as they firmed up their plans.

 

[KiminChicago]

Did they even announce the free dining before the 180 day mark? We DVC members can make our room reservations at our home resort 11 months prior to our travel dates and many of us do, so I wish that they could open up the ADR window at the same time I booked my villa. Barring that, I would definitely have liked the 180 day window -- I think it would spread things out a little since not everyone plans that far ahead. Some would call at 150 days, some might wait until the 90 days, there would even be a few calling at 120 days. There would be less of this feeding frenzy mentality that's occurring now.

 

[Colleen27]

How would that spread it out? Whether everyone calls at the 90 day mark @ 7am or everyone calls at the 180 day mark @ 7am, they are still getting hammered. It doesn't matter if they are getting hammered for an adr on september 1 or and ADR on November 30, generally the same number of people are still calling in @ 7am. I think generally speaking it's likely they get quite a few more no shows when people make reservations 180 days out, when they don't even know park hours yet, and consequently whether they will even be in the right area at the ADRs time.

I really hope they get things sorted soon, I'll be making my ADRs towards the end of next month.

It spreads it out for two reasons. First of all, many people don't know their vacation dates or plans that far in advance. We hated the 180 day window because we rarely book travel that far in advance. 90 days is much more in line with our ability to predict our schedules and make plans.

Second, since discounts usually don't come out more than 4-5 months in advance, folks who are traveling just to take advantage of special offers aren't booked 180 in advance. Free dining is a great example of that - the offer comes out in April for booking through June. With a 180 day window, ADRs can be made for Aug-Sept in Feb-Mar, well before the offer is available. With 90 out, the deal is available before the ADR window opens so everyone - free diners as well as DVC guests and other folks who booked for that time of year without the special - is calling at the same time.

 

[mickeystoontown]

It spreads it out for two reasons. First of all, many people don't know their vacation dates or plans that far in advance. We hated the 180 day window because we rarely book travel that far in advance. 90 days is much more in line with our ability to predict our schedules and make plans.

Second, since discounts usually don't come out more than 4-5 months in advance, folks who are traveling just to take advantage of special offers aren't booked 180 in advance. Free dining is a great example of that - the offer comes out in April for booking through June. With a 180 day window, ADRs can be made for Aug-Sept in Feb-Mar, well before the offer is available. With 90 out, the deal is available before the ADR window opens so everyone - free diners as well as DVC guests and other folks who booked for that time of year without the special - is calling at the same time.

I was just about to say the very same thing. So...just Ditto!

 

[mom2rtk]

It spreads it out for two reasons. First of all, many people don't know their vacation dates or plans that far in advance. We hated the 180 day window because we rarely book travel that far in advance. 90 days is much more in line with our ability to predict our schedules and make plans.

Second, since discounts usually don't come out more than 4-5 months in advance, folks who are traveling just to take advantage of special offers aren't booked 180 in advance. Free dining is a great example of that - the offer comes out in April for booking through June. With a 180 day window, ADRs can be made for Aug-Sept in Feb-Mar, well before the offer is available. With 90 out, the deal is available before the ADR window opens so everyone - free diners as well as DVC guests and other folks who booked for that time of year without the special - is calling at the same time.

This is exactly my point. The 180 day window would just naturally spread the ADR callers out, making for less of a feeding frenzy and hopefully fewer computer crashes......

 

[ntsammy5]

This is exactly my point. The 180 day window would just naturally spread the ADR callers out, making for less of a feeding frenzy and hopefully fewer computer crashes......

Maybe not though - the people with the advantage then are those who can make their plans well in advnce - planners tend to obsess and change dining plans several times so the end result is the number of calls end up being the same with many people making multiple calls to make reservations and holding multiple reservations for individual days. JMO but ......

 

[doconeill]

This is exactly my point. The 180 day window would just naturally spread the ADR callers out, making for less of a feeding frenzy and hopefully fewer computer crashes......

From a guy who runs servers and networks for a living...

Computers crash, occasionally. They do not do so very often, and if they do, the hardware is usually bad and needs to be replaced.

Services, however can crash - but a properly designed system should not crash often, and even if it does shouldn't affect everyone using it for any length of time.

They CERTAINLY shouldn't crash when every on-duty CM is working. The volume of calls does not in any way affect the load on the system in that regard - only so many CMs are handling those calls and using the system.

Unfortunately, the term "crash" I think is getting used for far too many situations in which the computer is simply not responding as quickly or in a way that the person using it thinks it should.

That said, Disney IT doesn't seem to know how to support its systems very well either...

 

[simplymama]

Unfortunately, the term "crash" I think is getting used for far too many situations in which the computer is simply not responding as quickly or in a way that the person using it thinks it should.

That said, Disney IT doesn't seem to know how to support its systems very well either...

Well if you have tried to make reservations in the last week, I think you might feel the term crash is appropriate. 3 days in a row, for hours on end, we were told either the system was down, or that it was off line for enhancement. I'm not sure I beleive that Disney IT, whom has all night to enhance it's computer system, would choose to do so at 8:00 a.m. during Free Dining reservations 90 day ADR window, especially 3 days in a row I think the computer system was crashing or not working, whatever you wish to call it.

 

[ntsammy5]

That said, Disney IT doesn't seem to know how to support its systems very well either...

Understatement!

 

[Mom of 2 Wife of 1]

This is exactly my point. The 180 day window would just naturally spread the ADR callers out, making for less of a feeding frenzy and hopefully fewer computer crashes......

I'm with mom2rtk on this one and the proof is in the pudding.

Never in the history of having to call for ADRs have there been so many complaints as in the past two months. It's the result of three things: 1) Implementation of the new system 2) the booking window being reduced from 180 days to 90 days and 3) Free Dining. All of these issues have compounded the situation, however returning the booking window to 180 days would indeed stretch things out and make the situation more "breathable". It's clear the CMs are being slaughtered with 3x the calls in this 90-day crunch period. Some people think Disney changed this policy because of the economy -- to better gauge how and when people were coming to WDW. I don't think so. I believe Disney did this in case there were problems -- they'd risk only ruining 90 days worth of ressies vs. 180.

Let's face it. The new system is here to stay. Free Dining may or may not happen every year -- we'll have to wait and see. However, once the system is in place and they've worked out the kinks, it's in Disney's best interest to go back to 180 days. There is no logical or functional reason for it to be 90. There are more negatives than there are positives. It needs to go back.

 

[BelleBway]

There is no logical or functional reason for it to be 90.

Well, actually.... the fact that they are releasing park hrs slightly less than 90 days in advance is a logical reason to have the window for dining reservations closer to the same timeframe.

If they change the dining reservations back to 180 days, they'd better go back to releasing park hrs 6 months in advance. (at least I'm pretty sure we used to have park hrs a lot earlier than we do now...) I can plan where I want to eat 6 months in advance, but only if I have some clue about EMH/F!/Spectro scheduling.