Has anybody used the IPO to book the Wishes Dessert Party? I'd like to do this on our trip this September, but it looks like they only open it up a few months out. Will the IPO note this, and then book it on the day when it opens?
I did, and to tell you the truth, it was a mess. Overall, we've been very, very pleased with the IPO at AKL, but they kind of messed this up.
I had requested a dessert party for our mid-April trip (next week - yay!) when I filled out the IPO email questionnaire in January or so, and reiterated my request when I spoke to IPO on the phone the next day to give them my credit card number, which they needed for some of the reservations. I gave them one specific date for when we could go. The CM on the phone (Don, who's wonderful) said the IPO checks every morning to see if the dessert party has opened up, and they would take care of it.
Fast forward to March 1, which is when the April dessert parties opened. I only knew they were open because I read it on the Disboards.
I didn't see any reservation in my online info and hadn't gotten a new itinerary from IPO with the party listed, so I emailed them mid-afternoon to ask if they had made my reservation. I also checked the date I wanted online, and saw that there were still reservations available that day; I couldn't reserve it myself, though, because the disney website was having issues, and I also didn't want to double-book because I thought IPO was doing it.
Anyway, an hour later I received an email from IPO saying my requested date was sold out so they had reserved a different date for me and charged my credit card. I had never given them an alternate date nor authorization to charge my card for a different date, so I was pretty annoyed, especially because there had been openings when I checked. I checked again, and sure enough, still reservations available for my date.
So, another email to them, saying there's a 9:05 reservation on my requested date, I can't make the reservation myself because the Disney website is messed up, so please make it for me and cancel the other one. Which they then did, and all was right with the world.
However, it took me checking the disboards, two emails to IPO, and a credit card charge for a date I didn't authorize, before we got the right reservation.
I understand that if the IPO couldn't get the date I wanted, they were in a no-win situation, as some people would have wanted them to choose a different date and charge it, and some would not have wanted them to proceed. So, I don't necessarily fault them for picking a different date; I just don't like my card being charged for something I didn't want.
In the end, would I use them again to reserve the dessert party? Yes. But, I would make sure to 1) give them alternate dates, or tell them not to choose alternate dates if there's only one day you can make it; and 2) if you have a general idea of when the party will be opening for reservations, like on the first day of the month before, drop them an email the day before to remind them. (So if you want to book a Sept party, it will likely open Aug 1, so email them July 31.)
Sorry about writing a novel.
I just want to make sure you get the dessert party you want!