News My Disney Experience and website to become the only way to make dining reservations

[ninjaprincesst]

I have a feeling no restaurant in the world would modify a reservation for this type of scenario. If I make a reservation on Open Table and I get a flat tire on my way to a restaurant, the restaurant is not going to 'hold' my table. It is what it is.

Our last trip we got stuck on the monorail, I called they held our table until we got there.

 

[mhaftman7]

So I have a stupid question. Can you do the Dining Package (Fantasmic, RoL, etc) online? I’ve never been successful with it on the app and just did all my regular ADRs then called for the packages.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Oh, I can certainly see how you would have more options in terms of payment, but what I’m really curious to know is whether phoning can get you reservations that appear to be unavailable online.

In many of my past trips it has. I've gotten a CM on the phone and somehow they were able to find an open table for us. So when I started using the MDE for my ADR's I would use the online booking feature first and then call if it didnt come through for me. AND like so many other guests I have found the system still has enough glitches that its unreliable. Get up at an ungodly hour to get ready to make reservations and ... Whoops, unable to assist at this time.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

The last time I went, it was my young daughter's birthday. I plastered her from head to foot in birthday stuff so that she'd get a lot of attention from the CMs, but to my surprise, almost no one said anything. I found myself prodding people -- hey, it's her birthday today! -- and then they'd often say, 'happy birthday, princess' (although she hates being called 'princess,' but anyway). I wonder if the special attention thing is dying out. I was really disappointed. Didn't really inspire me to do it again.

I mentioned my daughter's high school graduation in a phone conversation, that was not even about dining at all, and almost every table service meal brought her a special desert and a card and Garden Grill also gave her a plush stitch with a graduation cap and gown on.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

So I have a stupid question. Can you do the Dining Package (Fantasmic, RoL, etc) online? I’ve never been successful with it on the app and just did all my regular ADRs then called for the packages.

I have always done them one line, I have a Fantasmic one made right now for December that was made online.

 

[ThatMouse]

So reading all this, this is a really dumb decision by Disney. Make it harder to spend your money. Makes no sense at all. What if ADR goes down? I know many people who don't even have the app installed. Mom can't even install MDE because it doesn't support her old iPhone. Going to a kiosk and trying to type in a complex 12 character password that we probably don't have memorized is no good either. You do have strong passwords I hope! Lucky for us we don't make many ADR's since we know plenty of places to eat that take walk-ups and usually is cheaper.

 

[LittleBuford]

In many of my past trips it has. I've gotten a CM on the phone and somehow they were able to find an open table for us. So when I started using the MDE for my ADR's I would use the online booking feature first and then call if it didnt come through for me. AND like so many other guests I have found the system still has enough glitches that its unreliable. Get up at an ungodly hour to get ready to make reservations and ... Whoops, unable to assist at this time.

Thanks. I’ll have to try this trick while
I still can!

 

[esskay]

So reading all this, this is a really dumb decision by Disney. Make it harder to spend your money. Makes no sense at all. What if ADR goes down? I know many people who don't even have the app installed. Mom can't even install MDE because it doesn't support her old iPhone. Going to a kiosk and trying to type in a complex 12 character password that we probably don't have memorized is no good either. You do have strong passwords I hope! Lucky for us we don't make many ADR's since we know plenty of places to eat that take walk-ups and usually is cheaper.

This is going to come across as brutal. I can't really word this any other way but hope you'll understand that I'm not trying to be an .

This is your problem. The world has moved on, and the majority of people use computers, mobiles etc and 'get it'. It's no longer a vendors problem if a select few either refuse to learn, or can't learn how to use technology that is not new anymore, or hard to use, or hard to access, or expensive.

At some point they must move on.

Obviously the immediate thing we all assume is that this is cost cutting. It means they can give all those reservation CMs different jobs and reduce numbers a bit. This is most likely the reason, which is an inevitable part of business.

This all being said, you get ample time before your trip to sort this sort of thing out. Even if you do for some reason leave it till you get there, or do a last minute trip, all you need to do is go to guest services at your resort, or at a park and ask for help.

Put another way; the loss in bookings from those who can't/won't use MDE will be non-existant, as the restaurants are virtually always at the capacity they want them to be, plus there's almost always space for walk-ins. Unless you decide to rock up on the busiest few weeks of the year you rarely need a reservation at most anyway if you don't mind waiting 10-20 minutes.

The sky's not falling at all here I'm afraid.

 

[peter11435]

So reading all this, this is a really dumb decision by Disney. Make it harder to spend your money. Makes no sense at all. What if ADR goes down? I know many people who don't even have the app installed. Mom can't even install MDE because it doesn't support her old iPhone. Going to a kiosk and trying to type in a complex 12 character password that we probably don't have memorized is no good either. You do have strong passwords I hope! Lucky for us we don't make many ADR's since we know plenty of places to eat that take walk-ups and usually is cheaper.

You don’t need to install MDX to use the website to make your reservations. I doubt many were using the call center for dining.

 

[Goofy Ninja]

Great, it may go at a snail's pace now instead of a turtle's.

 

[Clyde Birdbrain]

I wish the website and app would show the actual price of character meals / buffets. For instance Tusker House currently says “$35 to $59.99 per adult”, which I believe depends on the season. That’s a large range. Could be $100 more or less for a group of four. The only times I’ve called the dining phone number in recent years is to ask how much the actual price would be.

You can often find the price on third-party sites. For instance Touring Plans has Tusker House dinner at $42 right now. But why doesn’t Disney list this price?

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I wish the website and app would show the actual price of character meals / buffets. For instance Tusker House currently says “$35 to $59.99 per adult”, which I believe depends on the season. That’s a large range. Could be $100 more or less for a group of four. The only times I’ve called the dining phone number in recent years is to ask how much the actual price would be.

You can often find the price on third-party sites. For instance Touring Plans has Tusker House dinner at $42 right now. But why doesn’t Disney list this price?

AMEN.

 

[xdan0920]

I wish the website and app would show the actual price of character meals / buffets. For instance Tusker House currently says “$35 to $59.99 per adult”, which I believe depends on the season. That’s a large range. Could be $100 more or less for a group of four. The only times I’ve called the dining phone number in recent years is to ask how much the actual price would be.

You can often find the price on third-party sites. For instance Touring Plans has Tusker House dinner at $42 right now. But why doesn’t Disney list this price?

Because then people might balk at it. It’s very hard to justify $60pp for a food trough. If it was staring you in the face, you may choose a different option.

 

[Tanna Eros]

Except for items like Dining packages, i.e, ROL Dining. You can't modify it in the app. It is not optimized for that.

I'm sorry, I'm going to have to say this- when reading your posts, I hear Holly Hunter's voice. It's not you, it's me.

 

[Tanna Eros]

Things like that are supposed to be extra surprises on a trip. If a CM gives you something for your birthday then it's just a welcomed addition, it shouldn't get to the point where people are trying to manipulate pixie dust.

Nothing worse than going to the Whispering Canyon and you are sitting next to the family that is systematically going down the list of phrases to maximize interactions and then gets upset when anything is missed.

Frankly, I was wondering that myself. When I was young, a lot of magical wonderful things happened at the park, and I didn't realize it was part of Disney. I couldn't believe how strange and kind these people were.
Now with blogs, vlogs, tips, and cheatsheets, there seems to be this mathematical formula for magical moments, and I'm pretty sure the CM's are over it, by now. What was once a spontaneous allowance given to the CM's at their discretion now comes across as an entitled demand from the patrons. "I said this, so now you must do this." That's not magical, that's just ordering demands from a list.

 

[Clyde Birdbrain]

Because then people might balk at it. It’s very hard to justify $60pp for a food trough. If it was staring you in the face, you may choose a different option.

But people might balk at seeing $59.99 now, when it’s actually ‘just’ $42.

In any case, it’s not nice to make people commit to a reservation without telling them the actual price. By the time you see the price at the restaurant it’s too late to cancel.

 

[mdcpr]

I'm sorry, I'm going to have to say this- when reading your posts, I hear Holly Hunter's voice. It's not you, it's me.

I'm sorry, I'm going to have to say this- when reading your posts, I hear Holly Hunter's voice. It's not you, it's me.

I'm sorry, I'm going to have to say this- when reading your posts, I hear Holly Hunter's voice. It's not you, it's me.

LOL! This is hilarious, because my accent is closer to Gal Gadot’s accent.

 

[Jenny72]

I was just hoping some of the CMs would wish her a happy birthday -- I wasn't looking for anything free or for some pre-planned interaction that I found online. Didn't the CMs used to wish people happy birthday? They just mainly seemed frazzled and busy. I'm not blaming them personally, and we still had a great time. It's just not how I remembered the CMs previously.

 

[ThatMouse]

This is your problem. The world has moved on, and the majority of people use computers, mobiles etc and 'get it'. It's no longer a vendors problem if a select few either refuse to learn, or can't learn how to use technology that is not new anymore, or hard to use, or hard to access, or expensive.

I can't agree with you, because it's Disney that is behind the times. Disney apps and websites are hard to use, buggy. laggy, and unreliable. I'm a software developer and it shouldn't take me all day to make reservations. When I'm at Disney, time is money, and I'd rather not spend it trying to enter credit card info on my cell phone because Disney's app has a hard time with LastPass.

If I'm standing right in front of the restaurant and they can't make me a reservation, I'm probably not going to pull out a phone and try to do it over a mobile website or app. There are plenty of places to eat.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I can't agree with you, because it's Disney that is behind the times. Disney apps and websites are hard to use, buggy. laggy, and unreliable. I'm a software developer and it shouldn't take me all day to make reservations. When I'm at Disney, time is money, and I'd rather not spend it trying to enter credit card info on my cell phone because Disney's app has a hard time with LastPass.

If I'm standing right in front of the restaurant and they can't make me a reservation, I'm probably not going to pull out a phone and try to do it over a mobile website or app. There are plenty of places to eat.

I'm with you - they can't even manage to get their web store to recognize when something is in stock, or their app to handle making a fastpass or reservation reliably without often getting error pages - yet, here they are putting even more pressure on their dismal IT team.