OK this thing is officially horrible. From personal experience, which I will share in a moment, this "new" reservation system needs some serious help.
I work in the custom software development business and this thing is a classic IT project run amok. From what I can gather from dealing with multiple folks on the reservation line and front desk at the resorts Lilo has the right intentions but missed the mark. Disney IT forced a release at one of the busiest times of the year, did little to no training and has provided almost no support to the staff using it.
We were recently on property from the 23rd to the 30th staying at POP and thought about extending a day. A room was available even though we had to pay extra as they classisifed is as a "new" reservation since we hadbooked on a package. To be honest I saw this one coming from a mile away and had no issue with it. We were now checking out on the 31st and I expected to pay a premium. This was all on the 28th. Here is where the fun started.
They told me to come back on the 30th and get my new room keys but that my park days would be on the old room keys. New system was to blame. So the 30th comes and we were out late at the parks and were going back early so I go to the front desk on the 30th at about 2 in the morning. I let the nice woman know what the story is and she says no issue let me issue those to you now. She does something and it turns out that whatever happened she has issues new keys but I need to come back in the morning to make sure everything is alright. New system to blame. So my wife and i go for a run at 5:30 and I go straight to the front desk. The "system" has now created a second reservation for the entire length of our stay for only two of us and it show that we owe $1147 dollars even though we were fully paid save the one night extension. 2 HOURS LATER and the front desk manager, duty manager and the reservation manager we have been put right?!? All the park passes and keys are on the same things and away we go. We have now missed extra magic hours in MK but I am still calm. We arrive at the front gate about to put the mess behind us and we cant get in because.....the passes arent on the room keys! So off to Guest Relations for another half hour and finally things are righted. She apologizes and yep you betch blames the system again. I am still very upset so I go to City Hall to reprise the story while staying cool. The first words out of his mouth is sorry but we recently upgraded to a new reservation system....and my had nearly exploded. I kept it cool but reminded him that we were attempting to PAY more money by staying the extra day and that their new upgraded system obviously was not that much of an upgrade. They provided the "Golden Tickets" as my family called them for the remainder of the day (Fastpasses to be used wherever and whenever we wanted without having to get them from the machines) and the nightmare ended.
Disney, and we know you monitor some of these boards, here's a few tips. It may not be the best idea to "upgrade" your reservation system entering the busiest time of the year. If you do schedule sufficent training time for those of your folks who have to use it. Next stop making your lack of planning and bad programming my problem. And lastly I shouldnt know the name of your system but each and every one of your employees jumped on the chance to tell me how horrible it was and how difficult it is to use too quickly.
This is not the fault of any front desk or customer relations folks, it is Management and IT's fault and they need to know how difficult it makes those people's jobs.
I work in the custom software development business and this thing is a classic IT project run amok. From what I can gather from dealing with multiple folks on the reservation line and front desk at the resorts Lilo has the right intentions but missed the mark. Disney IT forced a release at one of the busiest times of the year, did little to no training and has provided almost no support to the staff using it.
We were recently on property from the 23rd to the 30th staying at POP and thought about extending a day. A room was available even though we had to pay extra as they classisifed is as a "new" reservation since we hadbooked on a package. To be honest I saw this one coming from a mile away and had no issue with it. We were now checking out on the 31st and I expected to pay a premium. This was all on the 28th. Here is where the fun started.
They told me to come back on the 30th and get my new room keys but that my park days would be on the old room keys. New system was to blame. So the 30th comes and we were out late at the parks and were going back early so I go to the front desk on the 30th at about 2 in the morning. I let the nice woman know what the story is and she says no issue let me issue those to you now. She does something and it turns out that whatever happened she has issues new keys but I need to come back in the morning to make sure everything is alright. New system to blame. So my wife and i go for a run at 5:30 and I go straight to the front desk. The "system" has now created a second reservation for the entire length of our stay for only two of us and it show that we owe $1147 dollars even though we were fully paid save the one night extension. 2 HOURS LATER and the front desk manager, duty manager and the reservation manager we have been put right?!? All the park passes and keys are on the same things and away we go. We have now missed extra magic hours in MK but I am still calm. We arrive at the front gate about to put the mess behind us and we cant get in because.....the passes arent on the room keys! So off to Guest Relations for another half hour and finally things are righted. She apologizes and yep you betch blames the system again. I am still very upset so I go to City Hall to reprise the story while staying cool. The first words out of his mouth is sorry but we recently upgraded to a new reservation system....and my had nearly exploded. I kept it cool but reminded him that we were attempting to PAY more money by staying the extra day and that their new upgraded system obviously was not that much of an upgrade. They provided the "Golden Tickets" as my family called them for the remainder of the day (Fastpasses to be used wherever and whenever we wanted without having to get them from the machines) and the nightmare ended.
Disney, and we know you monitor some of these boards, here's a few tips. It may not be the best idea to "upgrade" your reservation system entering the busiest time of the year. If you do schedule sufficent training time for those of your folks who have to use it. Next stop making your lack of planning and bad programming my problem. And lastly I shouldnt know the name of your system but each and every one of your employees jumped on the chance to tell me how horrible it was and how difficult it is to use too quickly.
This is not the fault of any front desk or customer relations folks, it is Management and IT's fault and they need to know how difficult it makes those people's jobs.
