A Halloween Adventure in Autism (11/12) New Thread Begun on TR Board!

[mom2mek]

Woo-hoo! I am all caught up with your great countdown party and your ADR list! The party looked like a lot of fun - I love all the excitement it brings! The ADR list looks awesome (are you doing free dining with the new promotion I just saw that came out?)

Can't wait to hear more plans! The waiting is awful, isn't it?

Sara

 

[KathyRN137]

All this talk about ADRs and the F&W Festival is making me hungry.

Good Luck with your ADRs on Sunday... I hope you have an easy time getting what you want using the online version.

The food talk makes me hungry, too!
For the first time ever, I'm thinking about working in some time at the resort fitness club because I really want to eat and not gain back more weight!!

Woo-hoo! I am all caught up with your great countdown party and your ADR list! The party looked like a lot of fun - I love all the excitement it brings! The ADR list looks awesome (are you doing free dining with the new promotion I just saw that came out?)

Can't wait to hear more plans! The waiting is awful, isn't it?

Sara

Hi Sara!

Can't do free dining because our ressie is DVC with points! Boo!

But I am sorely tempted to slip in a mom & dad only weekend, though! I had been thinking about late January, but perhaps December might be better....

Such a hard time to scrounge extra $$ right before Christmas, though! Drat!


Kathy

 

[HoneyLSU]

Hi Kathy,

I headed over to your PTR to see what day you were going to be able to make your ADR's (since we're arriving on the same day, and I was too lazy to figure it out myself).

Well I called this morning to add free dining (woot!) and I asked the CM I spoke with about what day I would be able to. She told me the easiest way to do it would be to go to the online system and count that way.

I did that and today (7/27) Oct 25 opened up. So if my math is correct, Oct 30 will open up on Aug 1 (Saturday). From what I'm seeing, you said you could make your ADR's on Sunday.

Do you know which one is 100% right? I didn't realize I needed a Masters degree to make dinner reservations!! Ha! I just want to make sure we get it right since, from what I hear, now that free dining is offered a lot will book up quickly!

Thanks for your help!
-Honey

 

[KathyRN137]

I promised an update on my call to DVC Member Services this morning, so here it is!

Admittedly, since I'm a "seasoned" WDW guest, I typically do not frequent the official website. I find that I get updated info either here or on AllEars. I do sometimes utilize the branch of the official website for DVC members, though. On-line dining ressies are made from the "main" website, so I last night I decided to do a little research over there.

I was able to log in and bring up the "My Disney Vacation" page. But when I entered our (DVC) resort ressie, the system was unable to retrieve it on more that one attempt. Hmmm, I thought. How am I going to make on-line ressies this weekend if the system can't access my ressie confirmation?

Again, not to beat a dead horse, but this was not on the dining reservations page, just the main "My Vacation" page, so the 90-day window should not have had anything to do with it.

So, I called DVC MS and a helpful CM worked with me to troubleshoot. I'm registered on wdw.com (from past shopping on line) and I'm registered on mydvc.com, so the ressie should be linked to both branches of the website. The CM assured me that the problem with DVC ressies not being recognized by the dining reservaton system had been corrected, so we were both at a loss. He told me he would submit a help ticket to the website department so they could investigate it further.


I did note a slight discrepancy in that my user name for each site was different, even though all other info (including my birthday) was correct.

That little discrepancy may be the cause of the glitch, so all you other DVC members... have no fear! Looks like this is just an individual problem rather than a system-wide issue.

I could tell that the CM on the other end of the phone really "got it" because when I told him that I could always make my dining ressies via phone, he protested, "But on-line, you get to make them a whole hour before the phone people do!!"

I wonder if he's a DIS-er??

Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Hi Kathy,

I headed over to your PTR to see what day you were going to be able to make your ADR's (since we're arriving on the same day, and I was too lazy to figure it out myself).

Well I called this morning to add free dining (woot!) and I asked the CM I spoke with about what day I would be able to. She told me the easiest way to do it would be to go to the online system and count that way.

I did that and today (7/27) Oct 25 opened up. So if my math is correct, Oct 30 will open up on Aug 1 (Saturday). From what I'm seeing, you said you could make your ADR's on Sunday.

Do you know which one is 100% right? I didn't realize I needed a Masters degree to make dinner reservations!! Ha! I just want to make sure we get it right since, from what I hear, now that free dining is offered a lot will book up quickly!

Thanks for your help!
-Honey

Hi Honey! (I just love saying that!)

Our ressie window for arriving on Friday, October 30 opens Saturday, August 1st! 6:00 AM on-line and 7:00 AM via phone! Our vacations are 95 days away!!

So happy that you are getting free dining!!

If I had the cash, I'd be temted to change our DVC ressie from points to cash... but I don't, so that's that! Oh well!


Kathy

 

[mousescrapper]

Sorry the Poly Beach isn't wheelchair accessible.

(*For those of you following along, I called the Poly today to see if the beach is wheelchair accessible and a cast member ran outside and all the way down to the beach just to find out!! Wasn't that awesome?!)

is there really no ramp to get you down there? maybe i'm not following what exactly is "wheelchair accessible" but we watched Wishes at the Poly during our 08 stay and I really think I remember pushing Margaret from the GCH to the beach in her stroller?

I
*Another advantage to an early dinner time is that we won't have to wait around too long to get seated... the kids will be antsy enough, I think!

What say you?


I agree completely, always try to get the first seating time or the "off" dining times, hopeful less people, less wait and less noise

I did note a slight discrepancy in that my user name for each site was different, even though all other info (including my birthday) was correct.

That little discrepancy may be the cause of the glitch, so all you other DVC members... have no fear! Looks like this is just an individual problem rather than a system-wide issue.

thanks for the update, my username and password are the same on both sites...so hopefully this glitch won't apply to me. Was I slightly worried about ADR making that isn't till August 21st 2010....

oh yeah I already have my 90+10 window figured out

plus almost forgot....it's not really an hour earlier than you...but me in the midwest get to log in at 5 am


and thanks to 2 of your readers irish dancer and annewjerz for their good tips!

Can't wait till next week and read what you got!

here's some more

Scrappie

 

[KathyRN137]

Was I slightly worried about ADR making that isn't till August 21st 2010....

oh yeah I already have my 90+10 window figured out

Oh Scrappie, you've got it bad!!


I don't think that Bill's heavy power chair can negotiate the sand.... but as it turns out (happily) it works out better for the entire group to go back to the MK after dinner for Wishes.

I just thought it was so sweet of that CM to run all the way from the Great Ceremonial House down to the beach just to answer my question!


Kathy

 

[Hedy]

Glad to hear the glitch got fixed.

 

[jordanyosh]

Here's hoping the fix will be easy and done by the time you have to make ADRs. Sounds like they're half way there.

and I wonder how many CMs know about us....

 

[Charleston Princess]

Oh, Kathy, I hope the fix is easy and Disney manages to do it before your ADR day!

 

[HoneyLSU]

Hi Honey! (I just love saying that!)

Our ressie window for arriving on Friday, October 30 opens Saturday, August 1st! 6:00 AM on-line and 7:00 AM via phone! Our vacations are 95 days away!!

So happy that you are getting free dining!!

If I had the cash, I'd be temted to change our DVC ressie from points to cash... but I don't, so that's that! Oh well!


Kathy

Thank you so much! I feel so much better finally knowing exactly what day! I just hope everything works out with getting what we want!

I am THRILLED about the free dining! We actually "downgraded" from CBR to POP a few weeks ago just to save some $$ - weddings are expensive! Well we never really warmed up to the idea of POP. So this morning I called and upgraded back to CBR and we now have a $60 credit!

This morning was better than Christmas!!

 

[KathyRN137]

Glad to hear the glitch got fixed.

Well, almost fixed...

Here's hoping the fix will be easy and done by the time you have to make ADRs. Sounds like they're half way there.

and I wonder how many CMs know about us....

If I'm right about the two user name thing, then perhaps we are halfway there!

There must be many CMs who DIS... just to see what we're saying about them!!

Oh, Kathy, I hope the fix is easy and Disney manages to do it before your ADR day!

I'm so glad I took the time to do a "dry run!" They promised an answer in 2-3 days, so hopefully all will be clear for Saturday!!

I'm actually going to enjoy getting up at five to six!!

Kathy

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

The food talk makes me hungry, too!
For the first time ever, I'm thinking about working in some time at the resort fitness club because I really want to eat and not gain back more weight!!

I am sorely tempted to slip in a mom & dad only weekend, though! I had been thinking about late January, but perhaps December might be better....

Such a hard time to scrounge extra $$ right before Christmas, though! Drat!


Kathy

Well December sounds great to me!!!

 

[irish dancer]

So glad you called about the computer glich with enough time to get it straightened out before your ADR day! Saturday will be here before you know it!

 

[KathyRN137]

Thank you so much! I feel so much better finally knowing exactly what day! I just hope everything works out with getting what we want!

I am THRILLED about the free dining! We actually "downgraded" from CBR to POP a few weeks ago just to save some $$ - weddings are expensive! Well we never really warmed up to the idea of POP. So this morning I called and upgraded back to CBR and we now have a $60 credit!

This morning was better than Christmas!!

How exciting!

I'm glad I could play a small part in it!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

So glad you called about the computer glich with enough time to get it straightened out before your ADR day! Saturday will be here before you know it!

Oh, it will, I know it!!

I'm working lots of extra hours this week covering for someone on vacation and I'm kind of glad because the time would drag otherwise!

Well December sounds great to me!!!

It really does! I've been wanting to do the Yuletide Fantasy Tour for years... but I just don't know if we could swing it just a month after our "big" vacation and a couple of weeks before Christmas.

Just too many other things that Santa, er, I need to buy at that time of year!

Who knows, though? If the discounts work well for Disney, perhaps they'll do it again during Value Season after the holidays....

A girl can dream...


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Uh-Oh...


Well, remember that I told you the DVC Member Services CM told me that I had no worries about making all my ADRs at my 90 day window... even though I have 2 linked resort reservations?? (The first night cash and the rest points?)

Remember that??

I just received this e-mail reply....


Hello Kathleen,

Thank you for contacting Member Services.
Since you are not in the 90 day window yet
the system will give you that message that it cannot
be accessed. When you have a linked reservation the system
will not recognize the link therefore you would have to try the next
day to book the rest of your dining reservations.

Sincerely,
Magdalene
Member Services
Disney Vacation Club

****************************************​

Now, you know I love Disney and Disney Cast Members, but I have to admit that it is very confusing when you are told different things by different CMs. The CM from this morning assured me that I could make all my ressies on August 1st, yet this CM is telling me that I have to log in on two separate days!

This reminds me of the runaround I got when trying to determine if there was a MNSSHP scheduled for November 1st! Some CMs said yes, others said no.

It is a tad frustrating, let me tell you.

I was hoping to use the on-line system, but I may just have to call in my ressies instead.

For now, I have to go with planning for the worst possible scenerio... that if I leave my resort ressie "as is" I will not be able to make ADRs for the entire week at one time. So, tomorrow morning I will be on the phone again. (They are closed now... hours are 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM.)

I do not want to find out at the last minute that I have two ADR windows and that I'll be losing an entire day....

My solution?? Switch around my ressie so that Fri-Thurs is on points and the last night is the cash night. I don't want any ADRs for that last day, anyway, so who cares?? This way I don't have to deal with the linked reservation nuisance.

Again, sorry if I seem frustrated, but the mis-information being disseminated by Member Services is really annoying....


Kathy

 

[mrsksomeday]

Kathy that is one of the most frustrating things, getting different info from different people. The reservations are linked, you are the same person, it is ridiculous that you would have to call back or log in another day.

 

[jordanyosh]

Huh?

Wow. It just seems confusing and the system should allow for linked reservations to access the online ADR system and do the whole shebang in one sitting....

Well....it may be best to do it by phone then....Sorry Kathy.

 

[KathyRN137]

Kathy that is one of the most frustrating things, getting different info from different people. The reservations are linked, you are the same person, it is ridiculous that you would have to call back or log in another day.

Huh?

Wow. It just seems confusing and the system should allow for linked reservations to access the online ADR system and do the whole shebang in one sitting....

Well....it may be best to do it by phone then....Sorry Kathy.

I thought it was just me... what a nuisance!

I suppose you can't program common sense into a computer when you don't have any...

Making (and then changing) linked reservations always makes me nervous... more room for errors and the like, especially with the dining plan. I had that experience at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge a couple of years back....

I want to be having fun in the parks at 9:00 AM, not on the phone with Member Services!!


Kathy