CAUTION: If you are checking in Tuesday, October 9th

[ajh88]

Just a fair warning, if you will be arriving at Disney between 5 pm on Monday, October 8th and 6 pm Tuesday, October 9th, you could very well have no access to your dining or ticket elements of your packages (assuming you have a MYW package).

We checked in for a room only stay this afternoon and found a letter in our room advising us of this systems outage. It is also mentioned on the Disney reservation website. It is some massive upgrade and evidently all systems will be down (this is what I was told). We are supposed to check in on the 9th for a package with my parents, so I am none too pleased with this.

We were told to "just pay out of pocket" and they will reimburse us for it, which will entail taking additional time out of our day to visit the concierge desk at the hotel. (Maybe that sounds insignificant to many, but it is an inconvenience nonetheless). I'm actually only about a step away from infuriated. I understand I am not the only guest affected and that many people will be in my shoes come Tuesday.

Just wanted to give fair warning to anyone who will be arriving Monday/Tuesday!!

 

[waynesgirl]

I would be mad but a good solution is get some gift cards now and keep receipts. Probably pretty quick around. My credit union went down like that...right when we checked in to WL. Disney did their best to make me happy...just bear with them.

 

[jewjubean]

This stuff has to happen to keep this place running. Just make the best of the situation and enjoy your VACATION! Ya could be at work that day...

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

Yikes, I hope it doesn't cause you too much hassle. I thought I read one time that you can get your park tix ahead of checking in for your package. If that's true, maybe it'd be worth it to look into if you can at least your tix before the system outage so you don't have to front the money and be reimbursed. Just a thought. Good luck!

 

[Waltgirl]

Is the problem only with dining?

We are checking in Tues afternoon but we are room only. Personally, If they told me to pay out of pocket after I paid for my entire trip up front, I would tell them to stuff it. Figure something out for me.

Waltgirl

 

[jewjubean]

They have procedures set up for when this happens. Don't worry! They will do everything in their power to make it work!

 

[ajh88]

They have procedures set up for when this happens. Don't worry! They will do everything in their power to make it work!

Right, their system is for the guest to pay and then they reimburse me.

I love Disney and love coming here, but I'm feeling decidedly un-magical at the moment. It doesn't matter if it "has to be done" or if I could be at work instead of on vacation. I come on vacation to relax and this particular road bump has been anything but relaxing. I know that no vacation is perfect, but IMHO, a better system could be devised to minimize inconvenience to guests even if it results in more work for CM's.

I guess I'm just being unusually pessimistic - for the first time, I'm irritated by how much money I've paid for vacation vs. the satisfaction I'm getting from it. Tomorrow is another day though.

I mainly just wanted to spread the word to those who might be checking in early next week - I truly feel bad for the CM's who will be working because I guarantee it will not be pleasant. And Waltgirl, I believe it will primarily affect packages (tickets and dining), however you likely will NOT be able to charge to your room, at least until after the systems are back up, so that could potentially affect all resort guests.

I'm going to go watch Wishes from my balcony and hope I can reach a resolution in the morning. If not, life goes on anyway.

 

[GillianP1301]

Unless their systems are non reduntant with single points of failure all over the place, there is no way they should be down for 24 hours. If it is, they seriously need a new IT department.

My educated guess here is that the actual outage will be around midnight for a relatively short period of time and the release to do the work is being over cautious by stating the lengthly window. I can't think of any upgrade I've been involved with (and there have been many), where a customer impacting system would be off line for that long. So, hopefully, the pain felt will be minimal.

And to the OP, I'd be annoyed as hell too if that was happening to me.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Here is the internal notice:

From time to time, it is necessary for us to make computer systems enhancements. To that end, we will experience a downtime for some systems beginning 6pm on Monday, Oct. 8. The enhancements are anticipated to be complete by 3pm on Tuesday, Oct. 9.

This downtime will impact reservation systems, including a la carte, and our property management system, Lilo. In preparation, we recommend that Guests and Cast Members note the following:

• Dining reservations for Tuesday, Oct. 9 should be made by 5pm on Monday, Oct. 8.
• Guests who wish to modify or cancel existing dining reservations for Monday or Tuesday should plan to do so by 5pm on Sunday, Oct. 7 (due to cancellation policies).
• Dinner show tickets for performances of Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue on Monday, Oct. 8 should be picked up by 5pm that evening.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Here is the internal notice:

So, that doesn't sound much like what the OP heard. This is the official announcement, including what aspects are actually affected? Or is there more? Dining reservations, not dining plan entitlements? Dinner show tickets, not park tickets? Or is there more?

 

[finngirl]

We will be checking in Tuesday afternoon. I am not too concerned. It sounds like you will just not be able to change any existing reservations, or make new ones, for a very short time. If you've already done online check-in, etc., it doesn't sound like it would impact you at all.

 

[ajh88]

Just to reiterate what I was told at the front desk by multiple levels of CM's...when this upgrade is occurring, all aspects of the reservation system are down, including check in (to some extent, based on my limited understanding). They can see my reservation, know that I am supposed to be there, and know what plan I am supposed to be on. However, they have no way to actually "activate" my entitlements for dining, tickets, etc. because they cannot check me in (for lack of a better term) during the down time. Or perhaps more accurately, ALL they can do is check me into my room, not to my package.

All room assignments are already made and I will be able to get a room key, but that is all it will be. A key to a room.

This will NOT affect anyone who is already checked in on an active plan nor will it affect (to any great extent) any person who is on a room only plan. It applies only to folks checking in with dining/ticket packages during the outage. Not a huge number of people in the grand scheme of things, but it was enough of a kink to be frustrating and irritating (primarily since with the platinum plan we are doing higher dollar dining experiences and even one day's worth of reservations for 5 could run me OOP over $700).

For reference, the letter in my room states:

"...beginning 6 pm on Monday, October 8, we will receive computer system enhancements that are anticipated to be completed sometime between noon and 3 pm on Tuesday, October 9. To assist in making your vacation experience as seamless as possible during our system enhancements, please note the following:..." essentially what has been previously posted. It does state that if you want to purchase or upgrade tickets at your hotel, you should do it before Monday at 5 pm, otherwise you can do it at a theme park or box office, but to allow extra time since you may experience longer wait times.

Although the letter says 3, CM's are saying 6 (hopefully). Additionally, had I not already checked in with a room only, I would not have known about this until Tuesday morning on arrival. I have received no communication from Disney regarding this snag. I know that CM's can be wrong and I'm going to clarify it one more time just to make sure I'm prepared, but I'll just plan for the worst and hope for the best.

On the upside, we watched Wishes (and the EWP simultaneously - kind of weird) from our room then headed over to MK. Awesome night! We didn't get there until around 9:45 and in 2 hours we squeezed in rides on Buzz, TTA, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Pooh, and Small World. In addition, we checked out Pete's Silly Circus and saw Minnie, Daisy, Donald, and Goofy in their new area (super awesome!). Accomplished a lot in a little time and I can feel the magic slowly returning...

 

[bluejasmine]

Yes I'm a Disney TA and we were alerted to this awhile back that it was coming! Not looking forward to this at all!!!

 

[kaytieeldr]

All room assignments are already made and I will be able to get a room key, but that is all it will be. A key to a room.

Now, I would think that with the advance information, and the success of online check-in, that everything can (should, would, will, whatever) be ready for each expected guest in advance of the onset of the system enhancement period.

 

[thumbalyna]

Tuesday at Epcot something happened to their systems for approximately 20 minutes where they couldn't take KTTW cards, dining plan entitlements or gift cards. Lots of cranky people at F&W because of that outage.

 

[SaraJayne]

Unless their systems are non reduntant with single points of failure all over the place, there is no way they should be down for 24 hours. If it is, they seriously need a new IT department.

My educated guess here is that the actual outage will be around midnight for a relatively short period of time and the release to do the work is being over cautious by stating the lengthly window. I can't think of any upgrade I've been involved with (and there have been many), where a customer impacting system would be off line for that long. So, hopefully, the pain felt will be minimal.

And to the OP, I'd be annoyed as hell too if that was happening to me.

I'm guessing you aren't familiar with Disney's IT department.

It's terrible.

 

[geenerbell]

I wonder if you could use a Disney gift card for food and such if your KTTW card won't work or if you can't check in and get your dining credits. If so, they may be able to reload your card after the outage.

 

[sb127]

We checked in on the day they switched over to Lilo and it was the biggest mess that I have ever seen at Disney. We were at PORFQ. It took us over an hour waiting in line with many unhappy people ahead of us and we had done online check-in. Hope that these enhancement do not cause the chaos we experienced!

 

[RichmondTiggerFan]

Unfortunately, IT is most definitely not one of Disney's strengths. Although, I wonder if they have an IT department or has it been taken over by an external vendor?

 

[HayGan]

They have procedures set up for when this happens. Don't worry! They will do everything in their power to make it work!

Completely disagree!!!

We were there in June 2010 and room charging was down at AKV due to system upgrades. We had a HUGE hassle in getting tickets. I had put over $2,000 in gift cards on my room 2 days earlier to use for charges - especially the purchase of tix. We were never informed of a problem with room charges until we arrived at the ticket booth at DHS. It was a nightmare and completely handled poorly! That night it still wasn't back up and I went to the front desk to see what could be done as I wasn't shelling out an additional $1,000+ while Disney held my money. There were other guests there in the same predicament as myself. It left a very sour taste in our mouths for their handling of "system upgrades"

I know that DVC member services is closed as well during this round of upgrades so I am expecting some significant problems during all this. I'm just glad I don't arrive on property until the 14th! They should have had a chance to fix all the glitches by then!

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