A little rant about the 60 day ADR prejudice against DVC owners

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Twinglemom

Member
Original Poster
Sooo I have 2 DVC reservations for a 10 day trip (2 different resorts). And I am frustrated that they can't link the reservations so I can make all my ADRs at once. I called Disney and they said they can do that for a "regular" Disney reservation but not DVC. I called DVC and they said they used to be able to do this but "they" took it away a few years ago. I said to the person this really puts DVC members at a disadvantage especially trying to get a "hot" ADR (like Space 220). She agreed but said until they feel the frustration of the members it won't likely change. Kinda ticks me off:grumpy:
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
What a pain! Granted, I didn't even know they could link non-DVC reservation split stays for purposes of dining reservations now, so I'm a bit behind the times, but as a DVC member, you should at least be entitled to the same courtesy.

While you're waiting for Disney's technology to catch up with your reality, a workaround would be to make a "dummy" room-only reservation for the cheapest possible onsite hotel, spanning all of the dates of your upcoming split stay (you'll have to pay for the first night as a deposit), which will allow you to make all your dining ADRs at 60-days-plus-entire-length-of-stay. Then a few days later, after you're within the 60-day window for both of your upcoming DVC stays, cancel the dummy reservation and reclaim the deposit, and your dining reservations will remain in MDE.
 
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T

Twinglemom

Member
Original Poster
nickys said:
Pretty sure it entirely depends who you get on the phone.

Guest Services can use a workaround for any type of reservation. Whether they actually will or not depends on who answers and what else they’re dealing with.
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DVC is a separate system. I was on the phone with 3 people at DVC —2 reps and a supervisor
 
T

Twinglemom

Member
Original Poster
D
nickys said:
Pretty sure it entirely depends who you get on the phone.

Guest Services can use a workaround for any type of reservation. Whether they actually will or not depends on who answers and what else they’re dealing with.
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Disney guest services cannot touch DVC reservations it’s a separate system. I spoke with 2 reps and a supervisor
 
nickys

nickys

Premium Member
Twinglemom said:
D

Disney guest services cannot touch DVC reservations it’s a separate system. I spoke with 2 reps and a supervisor
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They don’t have to do anything with the reservations.

Member Services did, this by creating a dummy reservation.

Guest Services can book dining. They don’t need to touch the reservations. But it needs a little pixie dust comes into it. Sorry you were unlucky.
 
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Chip Chipperson

Well-Known Member
I'm dealing with the same issue now. We have an upcoming stay at Boardwalk sit between points and cash, but maintaining the same room type (1 BR Villa). When I called to link the 2 reservations so we don't check in 1 day, check out the next just to wait 5 hours for the exact same room type (and waste housekeeping time cleaning a room after 1 night when we could just stay in it without the need to turn it over), thebest they could do was put a note on the points reservation so the front desk staff know when we check in that we have another reservation for the same room - but no guarantee that we won't have to check out and check back in. I plan to call the resort myself a week or so before we arrive to let them know so we will hopefully have 1 smooth stay in the same room without needing to move our luggage, case of water, etc.
 
nickys

nickys

Premium Member
Chip Chipperson said:
I'm dealing with the same issue now. We have an upcoming stay at Boardwalk sit between points and cash, but maintaining the same room type (1 BR Villa). When I called to link the 2 reservations so we don't check in 1 day, check out the next just to wait 5 hours for the exact same room type (and waste housekeeping time cleaning a room after 1 night when we could just stay in it without the need to turn it over), thebest they could do was put a note on the points reservation so the front desk staff know when we check in that we have another reservation for the same room - but no guarantee that we won't have to check out and check back in. I plan to call the resort myself a week or so before we arrive to let them know so we will hopefully have 1 smooth stay in the same room without needing to move our luggage, case of water, etc.
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So you will have to check out & in again regardless, simply because they cannot merge cash and points reservations. But that can pretty much be automatic, since the system seems to be automatically checking guests out.

But when you arrive go to the front desk and ask if it is possible to stay in the same room. The CMs will try and sort it if they can, it’s in everyone’s interest interests that you don’t have to change rooms. Sometimes though it just isn’t possible since the rooms come from different inventory.

We’re 50/50 on that so far.
 
C

Chip Chipperson

Well-Known Member
nickys said:
So you will have to check out & in again regardless, simply because they cannot merge cash and points reservations. But that can pretty much be automatic, since the system seems to be automatically checking guests out.

But when you arrive go to the front desk and ask if it is possible to stay in the same room. The CMs will try and sort it if they can, it’s in everyone’s interest interests that you don’t have to change rooms. Sometimes though it just isn’t possible since the rooms come from different inventory.

We’re 50/50 on that so far.
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Thanks for the info. It seems like such a simple thing for them to figure out for DVC members that it's mind-blowing that they don't just do it when someone requests it. I remember having a similar split stay several years ago and this wasn't an issue, so it had to either be an intentional decision to change it or (perhaps more likely) they "upgraded" some software and lost the ability to do so and decided it isn't worth the cost or effort to have IT put it back. It's up there with still requiring a phone call to renew a DVC Sorcerer's Pass as far as irrational and unnecessarily bad service for DVC members (especially when new passes can be purchased online).
 
nickys

nickys

Premium Member
Chip Chipperson said:
Thanks for the info. It seems like such a simple thing for them to figure out for DVC members that it's mind-blowing that they don't just do it when someone requests it. I remember having a similar split stay several years ago and this wasn't an issue, so it had to either be an intentional decision to change it or (perhaps more likely) they "upgraded" some software and lost the ability to do so and decided it isn't worth the cost or effort to have IT put it back. It's up there with still requiring a phone call to renew a DVC Sorcerer's Pass as far as irrational and unnecessarily bad service for DVC members (especially when new passes can be purchased online).
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Are you talking about dining or merging reservations?

It used to be possible to book dining across a split stay. DVC simply created a dummy reservation for the whole time and then booked. It seems they no longer can or will do this.

Guest Services can book any dining, regardless of a reservation. So they can do it if they choose to do so.

The merging of cash & points stays has never been possible afaik. They cannot combine 2 reservations unless they are booked on the same membership.

A cash stay is booked using Disney’s membership so cannot be combined (or “merged”) with your own reservation.
 
Disstevefan1

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
Club Cooloholic said:
That does stink. I have tried to just chill on my restaurant reservations in recent years because otherwise I get too stressed. As an aside Space is just OK and if I were you try to get lounge seats.
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The thing about space, is I really want to get a "window" table.

Apparently, it's just up to chance you get a window table?
 
C

Chip Chipperson

Well-Known Member
nickys said:
Are you talking about dining or merging reservations?

It used to be possible to book dining across a split stay. DVC simply created a dummy reservation for the whole time and then booked. It seems they no longer can or will do this.

Guest Services can book any dining, regardless of a reservation. So they can do it if they choose to do so.

The merging of cash & points stays has never been possible afaik. They cannot combine 2 reservations unless they are booked on the same membership.

A cash stay is booked using Disney’s membership so cannot be combined (or “merged”) with your own reservation.
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Talking about linking room reservations. We had a stay split between points and cash years ago and didn't have to change rooms. It would be nice for Maki g dining plans, too, but for this trip I'm more concerned about having to choose between lugging a case of water to and from multiple rooms or waiting a day to buy that stuff and losing out on time in the parks. We're bringing our nieces with us and had points that needed to be used or else we'd lose them, so we booked Night 1 on points and the rest with cash. So the dining reservations are more of a minor inconvenience compared to having to move our stuff from our room to Bell Services and back again. I expect late-August to be a slower time so we shouldn't have too much trouble finding dining reservations we'll be happy with.
 
correcaminos

correcaminos

Well-Known Member
Club Cooloholic said:
Yes, and I actually think you see more not being right up against the window, think of it like a TV, you want to sit back a bit, and also there are several screens (windows) around.
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agreed! The screens are huge. We had a better view of it all in the lounge. Being right there is too close IMO and I'm glad we didn't do the restaurant and be stuck being right on it.
 
R

RamblinWreck

Well-Known Member
nickys said:
They don’t have to do anything with the reservations.

Member Services did, this by creating a dummy reservation.

Guest Services can book dining. They don’t need to touch the reservations. But it needs a little pixie dust comes into it. Sorry you were unlucky.
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You can do the dummy registration yourself anytime you want. I have done this for split stays.

I book a separate hotel reservation that spans the entire trip. Then I make all my reservations. Then, I cancel the dummy booking.

I don't know if this causes any problems on Disney's end but I figure it's not my problem. They should be able to figure out how to interconnect split stays for reservation purposes.
 
nickys

nickys

Premium Member
RamblinWreck said:
You can do the dummy registration yourself anytime you want. I have done this for split stays.

I book a separate hotel reservation that spans the entire trip. Then I make all my reservations. Then, I cancel the dummy booking.

I don't know if this causes any problems on Disney's end but I figure it's not my problem. They should be able to figure out how to interconnect split stays for reservation purposes.
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The hotel reservation system doesn’t recognise split stays, they see them as two separate stays. That’s the way it’s been coded., and changing it isn’t a priority for them. . I totally agree they should be able to do it., I’m just pointing out how it works.

Guest Services can’t access DVC reservations though, only Member Services can. Guest Services can do it for non DVC reservations. Both sets of CMs choose not to most of the time, probably because it’s time consuming.

Your solution works for you. Unfortunately I would be charged £50 per person if I cancel a hotel reservation - the joys of the Disney travel company aka the U.K. / Eire / European site.
 

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