Getting Disney ref from Virgin / ADRs + 10?

[thestevied]

I can recommend it, it's a favourite of ours

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Might have a look at the menu.

 

[littleacceb]

We went through this for our September 2012 trip and it's happening again now. The Disney UK customer services department has said that I have to call and actually said "Regrettably, this electronic mail department will not be able to assist you further, we ask that you contact the Walt Disney World dine line at 407 -939-3463.", which really appears to be a thinly-veiled "foxtrot oscar".

Last time around, the US Disney customer services department were significantly more helpful (well, of course!) and this was their response:

We appreciate your feedback and concerns surrounding this error on our
web site. I did forward your concern to our web site area for review
and got back a message very similar to what you stated in your email.
This was the response I received after forwarding your letter....

It's not a UK exclusive issue. It is a known problem affecting a small
number of Guests. Unfortunately there is no work around. Guests impacted
by this issue will have to call to book in the 180+10 window.

Once affected Guests are within the regular 180 booking window the can
proceed with booking online unless they are trying to use a dining plan
to book a pre-paid location.

I am so sorry this has happened and I would like to send you and your
family something as a goodwill gesture from the Disney Reservation
Center. I know you have a little child as well and if you could reply
back to this email with their name as I only have a first initial. I
would like to make it something special so if I could have the first
name I would be appreciative.

Should you have any other questions would you please reply directly to
me and I will be happy to assist with whatever I can.

Again, I do apologize for this system error and want you to know we
appreciate this feedback to always look for ways to improve..

I've raised a formal complaint, citing their obligations as part of their ABTA membership and cc'ing in the US customer services address. If enough of us persist in the matter, they will hopefully realise that it is cheaper to kick their IT department up the behind than to hand out free food and merchandise. Even though that was very sweet, I'd much rather have what I want than compensation for not getting what I want, IYSWIM. Especially when it seems really rather simple!

It may not be strictly UK, but it certainly seems to be part of the attitude of "foreigners don't have the internet" that Disney seems to have. I'm concerned that this will have a much larger impact on our future trips as we miss out on other things like MyMagic.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

It may not be strictly UK, but it certainly seems to be part of the attitude of "foreigners don't have the internet" that Disney seems to have. I'm concerned that this will have a much larger impact on our future trips as we miss out on other things like MyMagic.

I'm concerned about another area of technology in that Disney appear to be rolling out the Disney Memories and My Disney Experience applications for iphones and Apple products only ..... they have to realise that not everyone has iphones and that Blackberrys and Window phones are very widely used outside of the US

 

[Goofy68]

I'm concerned about another area of technology in that Disney appear to be rolling out the Disney Memories and My Disney Experience applications for iphones and Apple products only ..... they have to realise that not everyone has iphones and that Blackberrys and Window phones are very widely used outside of the US

The My Disney experience app is available for Android phones as well. Seems to work fine for me on my phone.
Guess i'm one of the lucky ones, I made all my ADRs on-line 2 weeks ago with no issues, so don't automatically assume it won't work because you are in the UK.

 

[littleacceb]

The My Disney experience app is available for Android phones as well. Seems to work fine for me on my phone.
Guess i'm one of the lucky ones, I made all my ADRs on-line 2 weeks ago with no issues, so don't automatically assume it won't work because you are in the UK.

I'm sorry - I don't think I explained it very well. Everyone can make ADRs online - that's fine. What we can't do is attach a resort reservation made with a TA to our account. This means:

1. No 180+10 booking window. If you want an ADR at CRT, BOG, Cali Grill, Akershus, Chef Mickey's, Le Cellier, etc, you either have to book extremely early, or just hope to get lucky with a cancellation along the way.
2. Must prepay items like dinner shows and try to fix it later rather than being able to apply DDP from the offset.

Essentially, it means that there's still a massive segment of the Disney International website that's unavailable to many users, and all for the sake of an IT blip that they haven't been bothered to fix. It's kinda like hearing about a new ride that's available to guests from one country but not another.

So... To add to the fun, I've managed to attach the reservation to My Disney Experience app, but it hasn't picked up on the website. So maybe I can make all my ADRs through the app, but we shall see.

 

[Goofy68]

I'm sorry - I don't think I explained it very well. Everyone can make ADRs online - that's fine. What we can't do is attach a resort reservation made with a TA to our account. This means:

1. No 180+10 booking window. If you want an ADR at CRT, BOG, Cali Grill, Akershus, Chef Mickey's, Le Cellier, etc, you either have to book extremely early, or just hope to get lucky with a cancellation along the way.
2. Must prepay items like dinner shows and try to fix it later rather than being able to apply DDP from the offset.

Essentially, it means that there's still a massive segment of the Disney International website that's unavailable to many users, and all for the sake of an IT blip that they haven't been bothered to fix. It's kinda like hearing about a new ride that's available to guests from one country but not another.

So... To add to the fun, I've managed to attach the reservation to My Disney Experience app, but it hasn't picked up on the website. So maybe I can make all my ADRs through the app, but we shall see.

Yeah, I had booked through WDTC, so all went fine with the 180+10 apart from booking Hoop-De-Do. At work we go through USA server, so when going in to Disney site takes you through US site. Using this my reservation is linked through My Disney experience and was able to book Hoop-De-Doo using DDP. Could not do that through UK site, so worth trying for those that can get to the US site.
The website has been really messed up since start of the year with UK guests unable to get into US site. I agree with you that Disney should really look into this and get it sorted for all guests.

 

[Elise79]

I'm sorry - I don't think I explained it very well. Everyone can make ADRs online - that's fine. What we can't do is attach a resort reservation made with a TA to our account. This means:

1. No 180+10 booking window. If you want an ADR at CRT, BOG, Cali Grill, Akershus, Chef Mickey's, Le Cellier, etc, you either have to book extremely early, or just hope to get lucky with a cancellation along the way.
2. Must prepay items like dinner shows and try to fix it later rather than being able to apply DDP from the offset.

Essentially, it means that there's still a massive segment of the Disney International website that's unavailable to many users, and all for the sake of an IT blip that they haven't been bothered to fix. It's kinda like hearing about a new ride that's available to guests from one country but not another.

So... To add to the fun, I've managed to attach the reservation to My Disney Experience app, but it hasn't picked up on the website. So maybe I can make all my ADRs through the app, but we shall see.

I don't think think UK reservations booked through a TA have ever really been able to book online with their DDP - we never have.

You can always phone though

Plus the only reservation that really requires the plus 10 now is BOG.

I have booked all of the others inside 180 days and at the times I wanted.

To complain to Disney UK because they can't help you seems a little unfair unless you have actually booked through them. If you haven't your contract is with the TA you booked through and they "own" your reservation. Like I said earlier you can always book by phone so you are not completed blocked for booking using either the plus 10 or using the DP.

 

[littleacceb]

I don't think think UK reservations booked through a TA have ever really been able to book online with their DDP - we never have.

You can always phone though

Plus the only reservation that really requires the plus 10 now is BOG.

I have booked all of the others inside 180 days and at the times I wanted.

To complain to Disney UK because they can't help you seems a little unfair unless you have actually booked through them. If you haven't your contract is with the TA you booked through and they "own" your reservation. Like I said earlier you can always book by phone so you are not completed blocked for booking using either the plus 10 or using the DP.

I've complained to Disney UK because it's their website that I'm sent to every time I go to disneyworld.disney.go.com, and every time the reservation number is rejected, it says "if you have trouble retrieving your reservation, contact us here". It's probably a little harsh passing it on to the American side when the problem is here, but they're always so respectful when British customer service goes down the "computer says no" route.

I've booked a cruise through a TA and am able to make use of all of the disneycruise.disney.go.com, so logic would dictate that this site should work the same way - unless they were to have a notice something along the lines of "this area is exclusively for guests who have booked with WDTC".

To be honest, I've always found phoning to be a bit of a disaster. The telephonists, while lovely, are often not very well-informed, less pro-active about searching for alternative restaurants and times, and always seem to have significant trouble understanding my fairly generic British-bad-guy accent.

@Goofy68 - If you don't mind me asking, what made you decide to book through WDTC? I haven't plumbed very deep with them because they cannot quote for an infant's airfare online, but the prices haven't looked very competitive.

 

[Elise79]

I've complained to Disney UK because it's their website that I'm sent to every time I go to disneyworld.disney.go.com, and every time the reservation number is rejected, it says "if you have trouble retrieving your reservation, contact us here". It's probably a little harsh passing it on to the American side when the problem is here, but they're always so respectful when British customer service goes down the "computer says no" route.

I've booked a cruise through a TA and am able to make use of all of the disneycruise.disney.go.com, so logic would dictate that this site should work the same way - unless they were to have a notice something along the lines of "this area is exclusively for guests who have booked with WDTC".

To be honest, I've always found phoning to be a bit of a disaster. The telephonists, while lovely, are often not very well-informed, less pro-active about searching for alternative restaurants and times, and always seem to have significant trouble understanding my fairly generic British-bad-guy accent.

@Goofy68 - If you don't mind me asking, what made you decide to book through WDTC? I haven't plumbed very deep with them because they cannot quote for an infant's airfare online, but the prices haven't looked very competitive.

The disneyworld.com website is all controlled from the US - only resort reservations are taken in/controlled in the UK. It is all one system for dining etc. You are directed back to the UK Site because it is expected you would want to book accommodation etc in £££.

Disney and IT are well known for not being very good together! For a while (I don't know if it is resolved) even DVC members couldn't link their reservations on the dining site so its not strictly a UK problem. They usually know about the problems but dont always want to fix it.

I have to say unless you want BOG or possibly 'Ohana then you really would be fine booking 180 days out from each reservation. However I have never really had any issues with the phone CMs for either dining or booking DVC stays.

We booked through Disney UK for this summers stay at OKW because it was the best price at the time however we only booked room/tickets/DDP with them. I book everything else myself separately. I also like to be directly in control of my bookings and generally don't like using 3rd parties other than car hire.

 

[littleacceb]

Oh, that's interesting - it's not always clear from the site which link will connect to which country. Unfortunately, even when visiting disneyworld.disney.go.com the page automatically picks up that I am in the UK because it refers to holidays. If there were only some way to prevent it from knowing I'm in the UK, but I'm not sure about the legality of those programmes.

That's cool that you've had great experiences making ADRs. I simply want to not have my service restricted because I am in a different country. Although to be fair, I had a play around on the French and Spanish language sites and I'm pretty grateful that English is my first language!

OMG - I completely agree on Disney and their IT department! But I definitely feel it's not something that should be just accepted. If they don't know there's a problem, they have no incentive to work to fix it I want either basic or brilliant, and the halfway point of "this could be awesome, but it's a bit faulty" is frustrating.

 

[Elise79]

I think one of the biggest issues with the UK is how bookings work.

If you make a reservation with a TA in the US although they "own" the reservation and you can not amend it directly with Disney it is still made with Disney - they take your money not the TA. Interestingly this means all TA have the same pricing as its done on Disney's availability.

In the UK *most* TA book a room block with Disney and then they sell the rooms. They don't always pass the details over of the people travelling straight away. The booking Disney has is with the TA and then is amended to travelling party closer in to travel. Disney doesn't receive your money they receive the TAs money. Hence the issue with the reservation numbers.

Cruises are different in that TA sell specific cabins which I would guess makes it easier to assign the reservation numbers as they are set dates too.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

I've booked with Ocean Travel for Oct 2014 and they've told me to call back 500 days from our return date, so about the beginning of August 2013 and they will be able to give me my US Disney reservation number.

 

[littleacceb]

I think one of the biggest issues with the UK is how bookings work.

If you make a reservation with a TA in the US although they "own" the reservation and you can not amend it directly with Disney it is still made with Disney - they take your money not the TA. Interestingly this means all TA have the same pricing as its done on Disney's availability.

In the UK *most* TA book a room block with Disney and then they sell the rooms. They don't always pass the details over of the people travelling straight away. The booking Disney has is with the TA and then is amended to travelling party closer in to travel. Disney doesn't receive your money they receive the TAs money. Hence the issue with the reservation numbers.

Cruises are different in that TA sell specific cabins which I would guess makes it easier to assign the reservation numbers as they are set dates too.

Aah! That makes so much sense. Also explains how prices manage to remain so stable with exchange rate fluctuations - they're clearly negotiating a huge deal in one go for each year ahead. Also... Why we don't get more villa resorts!

I've booked with Ocean Travel for Oct 2014 and they've told me to call back 500 days from our return date, so about the beginning of August 2013 and they will be able to give me my US Disney reservation number.

That's cool - it'd be interesting to hear how you get on when you get the reference number. Presumably for both of us, it'll be unrecognised for a period of time, but when the booking is finalised between Ocean/Virgin and Disney, it will work.