The "New" ADR system is the pits!

[Mystic]

#1 What is CRT?
We don't get to make our ADRs until July. I sure hope by then this system has gotten all the kinks out. No way do I want to be on the phone for two hours in beach weather. I liked the 180 day window; gave you plenty of anticipation time!

CRT is Cinderella's Royal Table inside the Castle at MK. It's one of the hardest breakfast reservations to get.

I'm sure by the time July rolls around, the system will be working much better. The system only just went into effect this past week, hence all the glitches and the long waits.

 

[erstwo]

It ended up taking one hour and 15 or 20 minutes.

It was the worst experience I've had with Disney Dining. So boo on the new system.

I did get all my ressies though! No Chef Mickey's - we'll have to do 1900 Park Fare again...... such a tough break.....:lol:

 

[accord99cutie]

just called to make a ressie and was only on hold for 2 minutes... last time I called at this time of night (8:30pm est) it was about 30 minutes on hold.... to me it seems things are getting better!

 

[Mystic]

just called to make a ressie and was only on hold for 2 minutes... last time I called at this time of night (8:30pm est) it was about 30 minutes on hold.... to me it seems things are getting better!

Judging from your signature though you are going in April/May of this year, so your dining reservations are still being done in the old system. It's only if your ADRs are for AFTER May 26th that the long wait issues arise.

 

[want2betink]

Okay. Just made my reservations. Ugh. Only 49 minutes so based on what I learned here I was surprised it was so fast. :brick:CRT was booked for breakfast, but I snagged a lunch reservation. It and Chef Mickeys are on the old system which meant that I got that reservation and confirmation after each one. The new system gives a time frame and you accept it. At the end of all the reservations, you get each confirmation number. Anyway, I am just excited that it is over and that I basically got what I wanted. :lol:

 

[Rob562]

Today was my 90-day mark. I called WDW-DINE at 9:45PM Eastern, and after answering all the questions I got right through to a Cast Member.

She worked very quickly on the new system (much better than some other stories I've read on here). My entire phone call was under 14 minutes (which includes the menus at the start of the call). In that time I made 5 ADRs, and looked up a 6th that ended up with no availability.

All ADR numbers were given to me at the end of the call. The ADR numbers are longer than I remember them being (they're 12-digits now, I think they used to be 8) The first 6 digits stayed the same for each, so after the first ADR she just gave the last 6 digits for each additional reservation.

Overall, it was a very smooth call (well, except for not being able to get 'Ohana on the night I wanted). I think it'll just take some "getting used to it" time for the CMs.

-Rob

 

[Rob562]

Just a minor point to add... I wonder if the new ADR system shows a 1-hour window at the restaurant, centered on the time you give.

As I mentioned in my above post, I wasn't able to get 'Ohana when I called last night, the CM said there wasn't any availability. (I just presumed she meant no availability all night)

I called back today, just in case, and got another CM. When I told her 6PM, I could hear her working on the system and sounding like she wasn't getting anything. She then said "let me expand the timeframe and see what I can find". She found a 5:10PM, and a 6:35PM. I took the 6:35, as our original preference was 6PM, but it was interesting that neither 5:10 or 6:35 didn't come up on the original search, which leads my to believe that it only shows 30 minutes before and after the requested time.

Looking at all of my other ADRs I made last night, they were all either spot-on to what I requested, or within 30 minutes.

So if you get a CM that says no availability, try having them check an hour later or earlier from your original time and see what pops up. You might just get something as close as 35 minutes from your original time.

Oh, and I got right through to an operator when I called this afternoon.

-Rob

 

[twoboysnmygirl]

Can someone clarify something for me?

Last year when we went, we were onsite and so I just called up and made our ADRs.

This year(well, Jan. 2010) we are staying offsite, do I still get to call at 90 days and will I have to call every day for 6 days straight to make a reservation exactly 90 days out since I'm not staying at a resort???

 

[Rob562]

Can someone clarify something for me?

Last year when we went, we were onsite and so I just called up and made our ADRs.

This year(well, Jan. 2010) we are staying offsite, do I still get to call at 90 days and will I have to call every day for 6 days straight to make a reservation exactly 90 days out since I'm not staying at a resort???

Correct.
If you are *not* staying at a Disney resort and you want to make your dining reservations at the earliest possible point for each reservation, you'll have to call on the 90-day mark for *each* reservation.

Disney resort Guests get the added perk of being able to make ALL of their ADRs (for up to an additional 10 days) in one phone call from the 90-day point of their hotel check-in date (this is commonly referred to on the forums as the 90+10 rule)

-Rob

 

[twoboysnmygirl]

Thx Rob!

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

Correct.
If you are *not* staying at a Disney resort and you want to make your dining reservations at the earliest possible point for each reservation, you'll have to call on the 90-day mark for *each* reservation.

Disney resort Guests get the added perk of being able to make ALL of their ADRs (for up to an additional 10 days) in one phone call from the 90-day point of their hotel check-in date (this is commonly referred to on the forums as the 90+10 rule)

-Rob

Resort guests can also call back and make ADRs past their 90 + 10 day-by-day For example, I could make my first 10 on Sunday. I had to call back on Monday to do day 11, Tuesday day 12, and Wednesday day 13.

 

[nightowlky]

Just a thought...I wonder if part of their cutbacks has been less staff on the dining reservation line? Or is the new system just that much slower than the old one? If so, they need to hire some better programmers.

 

[sandybeach]

Hi Kelly :wave:! I'm glad you finally got it all worked out, but ugh... I'm really dreading this part... soooo, I think I'm going to let Kingdom Konsultants sweat it out for me since they already booked my trip in November. I have SOOO much to learn and I don't understand- are there two systems for ADRs running now- and old one and a new one???:shrug:

Sandy

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Hi Kelly :wave:! I'm glad you finally got it all worked out, but ugh... I'm really dreading this part... soooo, I think I'm going to let Kingdom Konsultants sweat it out for me since they already booked my trip in November. I have SOOO much to learn and I don't understand- are there two systems for ADRs running now- and old one and a new one???:shrug:

Sandy

Hi Sandy! Welcome to WDWMagic and the WDW obsession! KK are great. Being new to everything, I think you made a great choice. :animwink:

Yes, as of right now there are 2 reservation systems in place: the old one and the new one. The old system is still being used for reservations up to May 25th. Anything on May 26th and beyond is using the new system. It seems like the kinks are being worked out. I've called to check some other reservations in the past week or so and things are moving more smoothly. I hope the new system is the beta version of what could be used as an online do-it-yourself set-up. That would be tremendously convenient.

 

[snookie5605]

i completely agree with you. i just called this morning to make mine cuz its my 90 days. with me, my travel agent actually had to cut my trip in half and give me two reservation numbers because she was trying to get me the buy 4 get 3 free thing for both weeks. so i called them at 7 on the dot this morning, sat on the phone for 30 minutes before someone got on. i asked him and he said i should be able to make them all, so we went on. i made everything for 6/23-6/30 which took about 45 minutes because they now wait til the end to give you every confirmation number and to take your credit card for certain restaurants. then i go to make my second week and i started with mickeys bbq, well he couldnt get that so he put me on hold for another 15 minutes and got back on telling me that theymust not have their dates up yet for that show. i try for hoop de doo and he tells me the same thing. so then i try for a regular restaurant. and he puts me on hold again for another 10 minutes and tells me that since the second week doesnt start til 6/30, i have to call back on april 1st to make them, AFTER I HAD ASKED HIM THAT! so total i was on the phone for almost 2 hours! i cant wait til 4/1 to see how that goes, haha!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Another thing I've noted about the new system when calling just to check availability for different times than what I reserved already, for them just to CHECK they go thru 10 minutes of 'finding' our resort reservation before doing anything else. Does the new system absolutely require this??? Just to check???? What could take 2 1/2 minutes gets dragged into 15+. By streamlining the "just checking" people it could reduce hold times for others. Ya know? :shrug:

 

[happymom52003]

I have not read this thread, but thought I'd post because I can relate to the title. I just got off the phone trying to get my adr's for my very short upcoming trip in JUne(only 3 nights) and this is how I feel:

:brick::fork::hammer:

I have no idea if it was the system or the CM that was the problem, or maybe both, but it was a nightmare. Ridiculous. I was on the phone close to 45 minutes with this lady for only three adr's.:brick:

I can't even tell you how many times I had to start over telling her my date, how many people, which restaurant, etc. And then there would be these silences....like close to a minute long when she was trying to find times. Then she'd speak and I was expecting her to tell me a time, but instead she would say now tell me again were you wanting lunch or dinner?:hammer:

Then she'd give me a time, and If I had to ask if there was anything earlier or later, it was like she had to start all over and we'd have the minute of silence again.

I can't even imagine if I was trying to make reservations for an entire week. I think the CM might have had alot to do with it...she did not seem to know what she was doing at all. I should have just hung up and called back.

 

[disneyorbust09]

I did my ADR's yesterday, took about an hour for 6 reservations. All in all it didn't seem too bad. The computers did crash once though

 

[sweetpee_1993]

An hour for 6 ADRs isn't good. When booking at least that many if not more for past trips using the old system it would take maybe a total of 15 minutes. I think the new system still has a lot of little bugs that continue to be worked on. At least I *hope* they are being worked on. LOL! One thing is certain, Disney Travel Company is making it more and more worthwhile to use Kingdom Konsultants. LOL!

 

[DisneyJoe]

i still can't understand why they didn't go with a proven system such as OpenTable.com....