Disney website just cancelled my free dining reservations!!!

[cakebaker]

If Disney's website had worked the way it was supposed to in the first place the day free dining came out I never would have had to make all 4 and would have just stuck with modifying my one reservation several times.

When you have an issue with the website, you call and straighten it out because as you learned, booking multiple reservations will cause you big trouble. You are very fortunate that they were able to get a reservation back.

 

[cakebaker]

WOW - Thank you all! I had no idea. I just did this a couple of months ago, adjusting a trip I'd booked on a bounceback last August. I needed to take off a couple of days in the beginning, and add one at the end.

That's pretty frustrating, actually. Ugh.

It is and I don't like the change either. I understand why they're doing it and I wish people would not do things that cause these kinds of stricter requirements. But that comment usually either falls on deaf ears or gets you reamed for suggesting that perhaps just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

 

[brockash]

No,here's the real problem. People should not book reservations that they are not possibly going to keep. When you book multiple reservations for the same time period with the same people, you don't have a leg to stand on when something goes wrong. Disney would be wise to stop it before it happens, but that doesn't absolve people of responsibility because they don't. It certainly isn't Disney's fault or show any kind of lack of consideration for their guests because they didn't proactively stop an abuse.

My guess is Disney allowed them to keep one because it was still available to book. It's lucky for the OP that this happened and I'm glad for her that it did, but it doesn't mean they should have done it to start with because they shouldn't have. You can't tie up multiple dates so that you can pick and choose later.

Obviously, we'll have to agree to disagree. A company should make sure their technology works before they roll it out. Let's be real, it's been years since this stuff was rolled out to the public and yet there are still a ridiculous amount of problems. I myself, ended up having to have more than 1 reservation when free dining came out, because low and behold, even though Disney said we'd be able to simply go in and modify, it of course didn't work. I was able to get online and cancel that same day, but if not there's no way I would have dealt with and waited on the phone for as long as was needed to cancel at that time. - I tried multiple times to call that morning and either got a busy signal or dead air. I should have never had to if made a new reservation to begin with, just as OP should not have had to either. This is a ridiculously successful and experienced company, this is not the first time free dining has been offered, they knew what to expect, they know how to enable and disable the online system to allow ppl. to book multiple reservations or not. It's poor business and poor customer service and it is just farce to hold the customer responsible when it was the companies issue to begin with.

 

[brockash]

When you have an issue with the website, you call and straighten it out because as you learned, booking multiple reservations will cause you big trouble. You are very fortunate that they were able to get a reservation back.

Lol...I assume that you were fortunate enough to not have to attempt to call Disney when free dining came out. It was extreme frustration. I tried multiple times and got a busy signal repeatedly and them dead air multiple times. Again, in my opinion there is no excuse for this with a business such as Disney. They knew what they were in for...they offer freed dining every year.

 

[cakebaker]

Lol...I assume that you were fortunate enough to not have to attempt to call Disney when free dining came out. It was extreme frustration. I tried multiple times and got a busy signal repeatedly and them dead air multiple times. Again, in my opinion there is no excuse for this with a business such as Disney. They knew what they were in for...they offer freed dining every year.

No, I never do free dining and never will. It's an extremely popular deal so of course it's busy. I suppose the solution is for Disney to stop offering deals that so many people want. But the solution is not to book reservations you have no intention of keeping and even if you do, nothing stopped the OP from cancelling them afterwards. She admittedly kept them until she had her dates firmed up. That's not the way it should be done.

I have spend a great deal of time today on the phone to guest services making reservation changes- some of it was spent in long holds. Disney is popular- I expect there to be a lot of competition. Just part of choosing the most popular vacation destination in the world.

 

[brockash]

No, I never do free dining and never will. It's an extremely popular deal so of course it's busy. I suppose the solution is for Disney to stop offering deals that so many people want. But the solution is not to book reservations you have no intention of keeping and even if you do, nothing stopped the OP from cancelling them afterwards. She admittedly kept them until she had her dates firmed up. That's not the way it should be done.

I have spend a great deal of time today on the phone to guest services making reservation changes- some of it was spent in long holds. Disney is popular- I expect there to be a lot of competition. Just part of choosing the most popular vacation destination in the world.

I guess we have very different expectations when it comes to companies that we spend a great deal if money with. Obviously you are willing to deal with more and to work harder to spend your money with a company than I am. Sounds like Disney is working out well for you.

 

[cakebaker]

I guess we have very different expectations when it comes to companies that we spend a great deal if money with. Obviously you are willing to deal with more and to work harder to spend your money with a company than I am. Sounds like Disney is working out well for you.

I have extremely high expectations of Disney but I also understand I am going somewhere more people want to go than anywhere else. It's going to be busy and there are thousands of others trying to do exactly what I'm trying to do.
Considering all that, it works very well for me, thanks. But I don't consider that I am working hard to spend my money at all. In fact my money gets spent a little too easily at Disney. But for those that don't they certainly have other options.

The time I spent on the phone with Disney today was to save myself hundreds of dollars. I didn't have to do it. If speed and ease are more of a priority, booking at rack rate is very simple and quick. It's not unusual that it takes more effort to save money.

 

[Nancyg56]

Ok, so we have resort reservations. 2 rooms and they are both split stays, but all at the same resort. All have different reservation numbers. One set is in my name, the other in my son-in-laws, both paid for by me.

How is that not overlapping?

The reservations are not both in your name. I have the same issue, I hve one room, a BB offer, in my name. I asked my DD and her family to come and had to book teh second room, no BB, in he name. I am paying both, but I cannto have two in my name. I think that Disney does this to keep folks from booking multiple rooms and then canceling all but one just before final payment is due.

 

[Nancyg56]

WOW - Thank you all! I had no idea. I just did this in March - adjusted a trip I'd booked on a bounceback last August. I needed to take off a couple of days in the beginning, and add one at the end. I must have gotten in under the wire, because they made all the changes no problem.

That's pretty frustrating, actually. Ugh.

I had to make an adjustment too, and was told I could because there was availability. WHen I booked I had no idea my niece had set her wedding date a month earlie than she had originally planned, so I needed to move my dates forward a few days so as not to miss her wedding. I was glad I was able to but I did make the change not long after my booking.

 

[Nancyg56]

Obviously, we'll have to agree to disagree. A company should make sure their technology works before they roll it out. Let's be real, it's been years since this stuff was rolled out to the public and yet there are still a ridiculous amount of problems. I myself, ended up having to have more than 1 reservation when free dining came out, because low and behold, even though Disney said we'd be able to simply go in and modify, it of course didn't work. I was able to get online and cancel that same day, but if not there's no way I would have dealt with and waited on the phone for as long as was needed to cancel at that time. - I tried multiple times to call that morning and either got a busy signal or dead air. I should have never had to if made a new reservation to begin with, just as OP should not have had to either. This is a ridiculously successful and experienced company, this is not the first time free dining has been offered, they knew what to expect, they know how to enable and disable the online system to allow ppl. to book multiple reservations or not. It's poor business and poor customer service and it is just farce to hold the customer responsible when it was the companies issue to begin with.

Honestly, I cannot imagine how this mess is still occuring! It seems to me that a company the size and scope of Disney, and that is pushing folks to use ther website, would get that darn thing working. It does not matter if you use their site, or you call because it is going to crash if there is an offer or a new restaurant. The telephone lines go down, the site crashes, you wind up with multiple ADR's you did nto even know you had, or a resort reservation taht somehow disappears. I just don't get it.

No, I never do free dining and never will. It's an extremely popular deal so of course it's busy. I suppose the solution is for Disney to stop offering deals that so many people want. But the solution is not to book reservations you have no intention of keeping and even if you do, nothing stopped the OP from cancelling them afterwards. She admittedly kept them until she had her dates firmed up. That's not the way it should be done.

I have spend a great deal of time today on the phone to guest services making reservation changes- some of it was spent in long holds. Disney is popular- I expect there to be a lot of competition. Just part of choosing the most popular vacation destination in the world.

It is not fair to blame guests who were attempting to make changes and would up proud owners of multiple reservations. I was one of those lucky folks who was attempting to get a BOG ADR online when it was introduced. WHat a catastrophe! I still have no idea how I got ADR's for dates I never chose, and ADR's the appeared hours later when the message that popped up was that there was a system issue and to try again. DIsney technology is an ongoing problem and while you may not be using it to gain a Free Dining Promo, others are. WE also use it to make ADR's, and that has proven to be a nightmare.

Now I agree that deliberately making multiple reservations is grounds to get ehm all cancelled, but don't you think that Disney should have a system in place to ensure this does not happen? You sure cannot book two ADR's for the same time, and that is an issue if you are attempting to make dining plans fo two groups in your party. You cannot book an ADR that you find befoe you cancel the pne you already have, which can be a problem if you want to make sure you don't wind up with none. No. Disney needs to spruce their technology up to catch up with the rest of their plans.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Disney needs to spruce their technology up to catch up with the rest of their plans.

I agree. People spending 3 or 4 hrs on hold (only to then get a busy signal or get disconnected), the entire website crashing every time there's high demand...it just isn't good customer service. Disney has the resources to address these issues, and it is frustrating that they aren't.

I'm not saying the OP was right to make overlapping reservations in the first place. I don't agree eith it, but I'm glad it got straightened out for her in the end.

 

[ArwenMarie]

WOW - Thank you all! I had no idea. I just did this in March - adjusted a trip I'd booked on a bounceback last August. I needed to take off a couple of days in the beginning, and add one at the end. I must have gotten in under the wire, because they made all the changes no problem.

That's pretty frustrating, actually. Ugh.

I just adjusted a room discount reservation for August from a week down to 4 nights (thanks to @mom2rtk for the heads up!). I was able to rebook it, but I could see on the website that the discounted room/type was still available for my dates.

But yeah, it's definitely going to be a pain going forward.

 

[cakebaker]

It is not fair to blame guests who were attempting to make changes and would up proud owners of multiple reservations.

That might be a valid argument except it doesn't apply to the OP. She now makes that claim, but her original post made her intent quite clear. So the argument that Disney has a glitchy website just doesn't fly in this case.

Because we weren't set totally on our dates yet because I was trying to find the best airfair deal, we had several free dining packages with several overlapping dates.

No where in that original post does she say this happened because of a problem with the website.

Regardless, my answer to that is, if she had booked multiples due to a glitch, cancel them asap. But she didn't and she didn't because she wanted multiple reservations so she could cherry pick the one that fit her best later. For that, while I'm glad Disney chose to help her out, I manage to muster up no sympathy at all.

And while for Disney's sake, they probably ought to protect themselves from this kind of thing, when you choose to do things like this, you are open to whatever problems you get. Again, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. If Disney decides today that they're cancelling fp's for any room that gets cancelled, the guest who decided to book a throwaway and is arriving today has no gripe coming. Don't do what you shouldn't do- even if you can.

 

[mom2rtk]

I just adjusted a room discount reservation for August from a week down to 4 nights (thanks to @mom2rtk for the heads up!). I was able to rebook it, but I could see on the website that the discounted room/type was still available for my dates.

But yeah, it's definitely going to be a pain going forward.

I'm glad they still had availability and that it wasn't an issue for you!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I'm glad they still had availability and that it wasn't an issue for you!

Yes, thanks to you!

You know what was funny though, I also had the week booked at Portofino for the split and I was going to decide how to do the split later. Well, then I called Portofino and I lost the 7-night discount for going down to 3 nights. LOL! I still got a 3-night discount and switched rooms to a less expensive option so it all worked out.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes, thanks to you!

You know what was funny though, I also had the week booked at Portofino for the split and I was going to decide how to do the split later. Well, then I called Portofino and I lost the 7-night discount for going down to 3 nights. LOL! I still got a 3-night discount and switched rooms to a less expensive option so it all worked out.

Well, you could go all in and stay the whole week at Portofino! Alas though.... given the opportunity to stay at CR, I would not be able to resist.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Well, you could go all in and stay the whole week at Portofino! Alas though.... given the opportunity to stay at CR, I would not be able to resist.

I was tempted when I saw the price difference. The 7-night discount at Portofino was amazing. I could tell the team member felt bad telling me about the price jump for losing that discount.
But I can't resist my true love the CR.

Anyway, it was funny that after worrying that Disney was going to penalize me on the discount it was UOR that did.

 

[Nancyg56]

That might be a valid argument except it doesn't apply to the OP. She now makes that claim, but her original post made her intent quite clear. So the argument that Disney has a glitchy website just doesn't fly in this case.



No where in that original post does she say this happened because of a problem with the website.

Regardless, my answer to that is, if she had booked multiples due to a glitch, cancel them asap. But she didn't and she didn't because she wanted multiple reservations so she could cherry pick the one that fit her best later. For that, while I'm glad Disney chose to help her out, I manage to muster up no sympathy at all.

And while for Disney's sake, they probably ought to protect themselves from this kind of thing, when you choose to do things like this, you are open to whatever problems you get. Again, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. If Disney decides today that they're cancelling fp's for any room that gets cancelled, the guest who decided to book a throwaway and is arriving today has no gripe coming. Don't do what you shouldn't do- even if you can.

I believe I stated my opinion on the OP's situation, and it was not complimentary. I do not approve. That does not change the fact that Disney needs to upgrade their systems because there were multiple folks who had issues.

 

[cakebaker]

That does not change the fact that Disney needs to upgrade their systems because there were multiple folks who had issues.

I don't deal with the online system a lot during the crazy popular promotions- and other than I'm impatient ever being on hold, I don't have much trouble with the phone systems either. There are times such as the free dining offer or when BOG was first released that there were huge issues. I'm not sure money is well spent to try and upgrade to a point that there is limitless capability- but I do understand the frustration.

In the end though, the discussion of the quality of Disney's systems has nothing to do with this particular issue. It wasn't a bad system that caused the OP's problem.

 

[mom2rtk]

I was tempted when I saw the price difference. The 7-night discount at Portofino was amazing. I could tell the team member felt bad telling me about the price jump for losing that discount.
But I can't resist my true love the CR.

Anyway, it was funny that after worrying that Disney was going to penalize me on the discount it was UOR that did.

Oh, I get it. Sort of like me deciding to volunteer for highway robbery and eat at CRT on our upcoming trip! And we have stayed at CR twice, so I total understand how you feel.