I am far from a "rant-er" - but, man-o-man I was peeved!

[grandgathering]

So I didnt know where to post this - somewhat of a rant, but Im trying to remain upbeat

So here it goes.....

We are a GG of 13 - we booked through CAA, and we completely missed out on being able to book ANY GG functions due to the fact that our TA sucks, and didnt advise us of any of these extras that we were eligable for I guess its our own fault for depending on her to tell us these things live and learn, or so we thought!

I found and joined this board - thankfully!!!!!

Our 90 days was July 4th, so as all good DIS'ers do, the three moms got together at 6:30 in the morning to get on phone and book our ADR's etc. that we so carefully researched and planned. We were so happy that we were getting pretty much all that we wanted so far. Until it came to booking the Fantasmic Diner Package. We told our CSR that we wanted 13 at Mama Melrose and we were pretty open for timing - we just wanted to make sure we got it. So he looked and had pulled it up...GREAT! the all of a sudden he went to check something (nothing we had asked) and came back and said that he lost the reservation because he didnt add it to our cart????????????? We had him try again and again and again even for differant dates etc. and NOTHING
So, we continued to book the remaining items very sad to know that we had the booking and then lost it. Right from the get go we found that he was quite slow and not as knowledgeable as most of the CSR's we have had.

we were on the phone for 2.5 hours!!!!!!!!!!!! and we only had 8 bookings all together! Maybe its just me but I really did not think it would be that long at all? Anyway, near the end of the conversation he proceeds to tell us that he could check 2 other restaurants for the Fan. Diner Package - What??? are you kidding me? Not sure why but none of us knew there were other restaurants that we could go to for this package??? In any case he ended up checking and not to our suprise there was nothing available - even with our suggestion to split us up into smaller groups. Oh Well nothing we could do

We called on Sunday and the lady told us we could get 13 in at the Brown Derby!!!!!!!!!! Sooooooo excited - so she went ahead and canceled the diner res we had for MM (just diner) and booked the 13 of us for Fan Dinner Package! My sister asked her for our confirmation # and she said sure...........dialtone..................:sa d2:

We of course called back immidiately and got someone, so after waiting on hold long distance 20 mins and then having to explain the whole thing over again....she said we were in luck, the CSR managed to book it somehow - even without confirming our CC#? Oh well we were ok with that! A few minutes later my sister had asked to confirm the name of the restaurant so we could look it up....the CSR said yes this is a very nice restaurant - its 2 table service credits..................Again WHAT? Is this a joke? Shouldnt the other lady told us that before she canceled our other resi and made this one????????

Now we have gone over our TS and although its not the end of the world - we are upset that we are all on a budget and now have to cancel it alltogether or take out another ADR?

Does anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks for reading my semi-rant it has made me feel more at peace just getting it off my chest teehee

BTW - I am far from a "rant-er" - but man-o-man I was peeved

[tone.def]

First of all... ugh to all your stress! Sorry your CAA TA isn't anywhere near a Disney Specialist... you should have asked for one. Is it too late for you to call the CAA office and ask that your reservation be handled by a Disney Specialist in their office only - they're getting paid commission from Disney for your reservation - why should you do all the work? I'm totally all for saving a couple bucks here and there, but after all the CAA travel horror stories, I highly doubt I'll ever book anything with them, I like my Disney Travel Specialist at another agency, thank you very much.

If I were you, call the manager at the CAA travel agency you booked at and request your reservation be handled by a Disney Specialist in their office. If they don't have one, tell them they should get one or risk losing further business.

Brown Derby is a great restaurant, keep the reservation and just simply pay out of pocket for whatever looks to be the cheapest table service you have booked (normally a buffet and most often breakfast or lunch).

Don't stress too much! Disney is meant to be fun!

And by the way, you might not know this, but they recently implemented a new dining system which has been nothing but problems for the CSR's and guests all around.

[squirrel]

I have no idea how you got a Fantasmic Dining Pkg on Sunday as they weren't even released until Wed.

I did most of my ADR's on Friday the 3rd of July and when I went to book MM for the Fantasmic DP they weren't in the system. I tried every day along with a bunch of others on this board and they weren't put in until Wednesday. We took turns phoning every hour or so. I spent about $36 or more in phone calls from Sunday-Wednesday trying to get a FDP. I got MM FDP for the date I wanted and everyone else on the thread also got what they wanted.

[SandraC]

Your TA should have been able to book your ADR's on their computer and you wouldn't have to spend any time or long distance charges.

I just became a TA & Disney Travel Specialist. I plan itineraries based on least amount of crowds and great park hours and then book ADR's for my client after discussing her needs and wants. I asked for back up times and dates, just in case. My client got everything she wanted on the same day she made final requests. I emailed her loads of secrets and tips for a great trip.

I'm sorry about your experience. I would call your TA's supervisor.

Blessings, Sandra

[grandgathering]

Originally Posted by squirrel

I have no idea how you got a Fantasmic Dining Pkg on Sunday as they weren't even released until Wed.

They were released for sure cause I did book it this past Sunday July 12th - they cancelled my Mama Melrose dinner ADR that I booked back on the 4th and booked the Brown Derby for us 13. Not sure why your CSR said they werent available? Glad you got what you wanted tho

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

I figure, go and have a good time. use 2 table credits. Check out the menus on line to pre plan which restaurant will cost the least amount, use that one to pay out of pocket, use the rest to pay with your dining plan.

I am glad you were able to get it fixed!

[squirrel]

Yes, they were released on Wed. July 8th.

I guess I was reading your post wrong as I thought you booked on July 4th, on you 90 day mark.

I was up early 3:20 am my time to phone at 4 am every morning from Sunday July 5th, the day I could book the Fantasmic Pkg (90 days). I was able to finally get MM on Wed. when they were finally loaded into the computer.

[coastgirl]

That must have been frustrating, but I'm glad you got just about everything eventually. I have played with the on line ressie system, and I understand now why the CMs are so slow! Still, that's way too much of your day to spend on the phone, and it really makes me cranky that there's no 1-800 #. Here's wishing you no more glitches.

(And, sigh, it already makes me sad...you're arriving as we're leaving. The inevitability of the END of the vacation... :-( )

[CanadianPaco]

I thought I got a CAA Disney specialist when I called in. (I have booked in the past at our local CAA store but the store closed in April). She said she doesn't book ADRs - actually she said what is an ADR so that should have been my firsy clue. Ugh!

[coastgirl]

Ei. Yeah, that's not good.

I started using Christine at Fairytale Dreams & Destinations for our cruise in '07...I priced it through CAA and said "can you match?" She could, plus added a shipboard credit. Haven't had good luck with CAA. (Except their auto service, which saved me and my melting ice cream with a 15 minute response time on Monday...good car, bad operator--my key got locked in.

[fivebyfive]

she said she doesn't book adrs - actually she said what is an adr so that should have been my firsy clue.

lmbo!!!

[grandgathering]

Yeah, what was even funnier about my CAA TA - She was leaving for holidays and due back 2 days after our 90 mark, and she said to me "Just wait to book this stuff till I come back, it certainly wont be a problem - nothing will be booked up"
HA HA HA HA - I said ummmmmmmmm yeah ok?
Told my sister and girlfriend that, and they said, oh-ok sure lets wait till she gets back then. I was like, are you kidding me? ummmm NO, We will be booking without her! teehee!

[CanadianPaco]

OMG!!!!!! I bet we had the same TA (her name was Tish out of Thornhill - I don't know if I should name names - oh well)

I booked just before May 2-4 weekend and she was going on vacation for 2 wks. I had asked if she could do my ADRs as my 90 d mark was soon apporaching and she couldn't because of holidays. I asked if another TA could do my ADRs because they were coming up and she said she couldn't impose on another TA to do these booking. Silence. So I said I'd book my own and did and got great ADRs but simply ticked off with the LACK of service form CAA. I won't be booking with them again. No way. If we had an office in town I would, but this phone nonsense is nuts.

Oh here is another example ... when the 45 d mark was coming up I emailed her and asked for her to check into any cancellations on ASMu Suites. No response for 3 d. I emailed her again with the same request and this was her response .... "Your package isn't in yet but I'll email you when it arrives." Ahhhh.... I didn't ask about my package, I asked about ASMu Family Suite cancellations. So all those days when there may have been cancellations, she wasn't even checking. So I called her and of course, there were no suites available.

[cdnmickeylover]

We are actually a grand gathering although we aren't doing any of the grand gathering options in October.

We booked through Dreams Unlimited and our agent Cathy is great. We emailed her with our choices and amazingly for a party of 10 we got everything that we wanted at roughly the times that we wanted. We've used Cathy numerous times and she's just great.

Last year my mother and brother booked with CAA and both of them spent hours on the phone with Disney doing their ADR's - the agent at CAA was too busy to do them. I had told them not to book with CAA but they didn't listen. When free dining came out last year they had to call a few times to get the agent to change their reservation to the free dining. At first he even said that free dining wasn't happening!!!

This year they listened to me and no phone calls just a couple of emails.