online vs. call.....

[Tomi-Rocket]

Although I can't make my ADR's till March of next year I wanted to hear everyones thoughts about making them online vs. calling.

I've always made our reservations over the phone for all our previous trips. I almost made them online for our last trip in '09 but changed my mind at the last minute because I wasn't sure how smoothly it would go. But I read some positive remarks after the fact. So now I'm thinking of making our ADR's online next year.

What are your experiences? Any trouble getting a restaurant/time you requested? Or did you have one but show up and there was difficulty at the restarurant?

Thanks! :wave:

 

[WDWmazprty]

Do neither and let Kingdom Konsultants do it for you. :king:

 

[Master Yoda]

Online will open 1 hour before the phones so start with online and go to phones if necessary. One note....If you are doing hard to get ARD's like Le Cellier and CRT do them first hit the checkout as soon as you have them. Due to high traffic the site can bomb out in the morning and you will loose whatever you have if it does crash before you check out.

 

[stlbobby]

If you want one of the really tough to get reservations--Cindy or Le Cellier--I'd be on the phone and on-line simultaneously when your booking window opens, but for normal everyday reservations I'd go on-line. You can tweak things and hold a reservation while you look and see if there is a better fit at a different venue. You can try booking different combos and see what turns up. All without feeling like your tying up a CM. You just get a better look at the bigger picture when you are on-line.

 

[MickeyKimmy]

For our last few trips we have booked online and had no problems when we got to the restaurant. The recent upgrades to the reservations system have made it MUCH better...before I always had to find the confirmation # to look up a rerservation or cancel it and now it is all under your login. Makes it really easy to see what you have and to change/cancel things really easily.

As far as hard to get reservations, this morning was my 180-day window for the day I wanted Le Cellier so I got online this morning at 6:00 am (I know it's crazy - that is earlier than I normally get up for work! :brick and made my reservation. It was quick and easy - no problems at all and even got a great time! :sohappy:

 

[ccw7759]

I booked all our ADR's for December online this time... even CRT, and it
was simple! Very reassuring to go the the Disney website, click on "My
Reservations" and there they are... with confirmation #'s and everything!!

 

[muteki]

Changes to the WDW Dining System that have ENABLED online booking have also made the Calling/Online debate pretty pointless...

You see, there is now ONE Reservation DataBase. Phone CMs see the same data, and the same bugs, that YOU do. When the DB goes nuts, and locks out a Restaurant for a month, the phone CMs see the same bad data - and can't book you.

So - I would go for online. Less chance of a Phonetic issue (you thought you booked Holywood Brown Derby - you got Hollywood and Vine), easier to capture your ADR numbers, and faster.

I have personally had the online system offer me zero reservation times for a particular restaurant on a given day, only to call immediately after and have no problem getting a ressie for the same day. Maybe it was just coincidence, but if they both pull from the same DB, then it must not be in perfect sync between the two systems. I would say if you can't get what you want with one method, try the other, you may have a better result.

 

[ThinkTink721]

I love the on-line system...I used it for the 1st time this year & it worked very well. :wave:

 

[whitney37354]

I was up at 5:46 to use the online system at 6 a.m. Got all ADRS I wanted within 15 minutes of the time I asked for. I called at 7 a.m. to get F! dining package, got through immediately to a CM, got my ressie, and hung up. It was fast and easy, but you need to have a game plan for your ADR's before you get on the computer (cc # for CRT, etc). We never had a problem once we got to the restaurants either. We got in early for all but two of our ADRS. Tony's and 1900 PF dinner were full. That just gave our DD time to catch a quick nap before dinner!

I had prepared for all sorts of problems, carried my ADR ressie #'s with us all week, but never had an issue.

 

[dreamfinder]

The online systems seems to be a little more flexible. It gives you other options for time and location. When speaking with CM's on the phone they aren't always as helpful. And you can do things like search all Signature restaurants. Or all restaurants in a Park. CM's on the phone seem to be by the single restaurant only. I haven't had any specific issues using the online system. Sometimes certain parts won't render/load correctly on my computer, but restarting or trying again later works. That said, my must haves have been done on the phone as they seem to be able to check out a bit faster than I can. Probably with practice I can get better.

 

[Stellajack]

I used the on-line system for the first time for our upcoming trip. I got every place and (approximate) time I requested. The entire process took less than 10 minutes.

 

[muteki]

Have you tried changing your party size when you use the Online System? (shhhhh - don't tell anybody...)

So are they doing that on the phone without me knowing? Are there say, a limited number of 2 person tables and if there is a 3 or 4 person table free they will fudge the 2 non-existent people to get a reservation?