Anyone have online booking yet?

[CaptHomer]

I tried to book through online yesterday. It worked really well as far as seeing availability. When I tried to book it however, it wouldn't let me allocate the points from different contracts correctly. I had banked points on two different contracts. I had to call in the reservation so that they could move my points around properly.

 

[phorsenuf]

I can't get in to the system at all. I've tried Firefox, IE and Google Chrome. No go. Cleared cache and cookies. Boo.

I'm curious though, can you only book during normal hours? What about same day? Being a local sometimes we decide the day of to hop over for a night, (only once did we not get a room).

 

[bigAWL]

I wanted to see if I could add a day to my existing reservation. The only modifications I see possible are adding the dining plan, travel insurance, Magical Express, or to cancel the whole thing. So I went through the booking process for the day before my existing reservation for the same room type at the same Resort with the same guests. Here is the process. (The site only starts numbering the steps after you select an itinerary to book.)

Check Availability
Choose your dates, number of guests (and children’s ages), desired resort, and room type

Select Your Resort
See which dates of your request are available and review suggested alternative rooms/resorts. Select your booking.

Step 1: Select Your Contracts & Vacation Points
See which contracts have available points, choose which points you want to use, and borrow points if necessary. (This was straightforward for me because I’m using current UY points – nothing unusual. It does look like borrowing would be straightforward, as well.)

Step 2: Provide Guest Information
List names, addresses, phone numbers of each guest in your party. You can add or remove guests at this point.

Step 3: Review Your Offer
Review all the details and verify for accuracy. You have to check the box that you read the terms and conditions. At the bottom you click “Book Accommodation”

Step 4: Receive Confirmation
You get a reservation number and see exactly how your points were used. You can still click “Cancel Without Penalty” at this point. Once you leave the page, it’s no longer available.

After this was all done, I went to my Upcoming Vacations page and now see two different reservations with two different confirmation numbers. Now the options for both are still the same as they were for the original reservation. No apparent way to combine them or modify them other than to cancel one or the other. Guess you have to go through the phone to do this.

 

[dvcdisney]

After this was all done, I went to my Upcoming Vacations page and now see two different reservations with two different confirmation numbers. Now the options for both are still the same as they were for the original reservation. No apparent way to combine them or modify them other than to cancel one or the other. Guess you have to go through the phone to do this.

That's too bad we don't have the capacity to link our reservations. But, if I did add a few days onto my existing reservation, I would probably just email MS and request that they link the two reservations. Hopefully, that won't be an issue.

 

[Ryansdad0727]

I'm in. They must have opened it for most DVC owners instead of phasing it in like most us us thought.

 

[paults]

i just tried booking a room for 12/20/21. system told me I could not book it until 8 AM EST. looks like online booking will have a 1 hour advantage over phone reservations.

laura

I see this posted a few times about this 1 hour advantage. Why would they do this? It's not fair to us who need to call for more the 1 room, they could be going before we could book. How about those who don't have or use computers or the like? I think this needs an explanation from DVC.
If this stays like this I wonder if Disney would buy my 400 pts back at $90 a pt because I sure wouldn't be able to use them to get my (5 to 9 rooms) 11 months ressie like I use too. Looks like the system works good right now and I hope it stays that way.

 

[DVC-Don]

I just used it to book a studio at OKW for late February. It was easy and problem free, which surprised me.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

[/COLOR]

I see this posted a few times about this 1 hour advantage. Why would they do this? It's not fair to us who need to call for more the 1 room, they could be going before we could book. How about those who don't have or use computers or the like? I think this needs an explanation from DVC.
If this stays like this I wonder if Disney would buy my 400 pts back at $90 a pt because I sure wouldn't be able to use them to get my (5 to 9 rooms) 11 months ressie like I use too. Looks like the system works good right now and I hope it stays that way.

I looked you can book more than one room online but they have to be booked one at a time...so if online does open up prior to the phone lines you could start booking the rooms one by one

 

[loadsapixiedust]

[/COLOR]

I see this posted a few times about this 1 hour advantage. Why would they do this? It's not fair to us who need to call for more the 1 room, they could be going before we could book. How about those who don't have or use computers or the like? I think this needs an explanation from DVC.
If this stays like this I wonder if Disney would buy my 400 pts back at $90 a pt because I sure wouldn't be able to use them to get my (5 to 9 rooms) 11 months ressie like I use too. Looks like the system works good right now and I hope it stays that way.

I have already contacted MS about this, it doesn't seem fair to give one system an advantage over the other. There is no option to book accessible rooms online and given that we are already disadvantaged by the very limited number of those rooms this is just another obstacle for people who have plenty of those already

 

[dvcdisney]

I have already contacted MS about this, it doesn't seem fair to give one system an advantage over the other. There is no option to book accessible rooms online and given that we are already disadvantaged by the very limited number of those rooms this is just another obstacle for people who have plenty of those already

I don't think this would be a problem for you. If the accessible rooms cannot be booked online, then no one has any advantage over you to book these rooms. Since each person who needs to book these rooms have to call, then it's the same as it was before. You, and everyone else who need these room, would call when MS opens.



I'm actually glad this is the case - I don't want an accessible room so I shouldn't be assigned one. It should only be offered to those who need it.

 

[bigAWL]

I have already contacted MS about this, it doesn't seem fair to give one system an advantage over the other. There is no option to book accessible rooms online and given that we are already disadvantaged by the very limited number of those rooms this is just another obstacle for people who have plenty of those already

I'm not sure how allocation of accessible rooms works. I guess if you wait until 9am to call, it's possible that all the rooms matching your type are gone with the 8am online bookings.

I'm just thinking "out loud" here... but what if you reserved a room online at 8am, and then called MS at 9am to say you want to make sure that your reservation is for an accessible room? That way you don't get locked out by online bookings.

 

[disneyobessed]

I was just about to ask about accessible rooms and online booking bc I didnt see a spot for it either.. At least now it will be easier to get through when calling!

 

[bigAWL]

I was just about to ask about accessible rooms and online booking bc I didnt see a spot for it either.. At least now it will be easier to get through when calling!

I don't expect calling to be much easier. If the call volume drops because of onloine booking, they'll certianly reduce their phone operator staff.

 

[thepops]

I've seen that you've been able to borrow points to do a reservation, but do they have the option online to buy those one time use points online?

 

[bobbidiboo]

I logged in last night @ 6:30 pm Eastern time and it was a breeze, I made two ressies one for end of Aug & one for end of Dec, I even had to borrow some points from 2013 no problems Oh and I was making these for some guest not myself.

 

[loadsapixiedust]

I don't think this would be a problem for you. If the accessible rooms cannot be booked online, then no one has any advantage over you to book these rooms. Since each person who needs to book these rooms have to call, then it's the same as it was before. You, and everyone else who need these room, would call when MS opens.



I'm actually glad this is the case - I don't want an accessible room so I shouldn't be assigned one. It should only be offered to those who need it.

I don't know yet for sure whether accessible rooms are included in the inventory available to book online (although a response from MS posted on another forum seems to suggest they are) if they are then anyone can book them before the phones open. Accessible rooms are not held back - if there are only accessible rooms left in any category and a member asks to book that category they would get the accessible room. That would mean that those who don't need them would have the advantage over those who do.

Would you actually refuse a room if an accessible room was the only option available in the category you wanted? I'm willing to bet most people would take it especially if it was a sought after category.

Reserving online and then calling to be allocated an accessible room might work, that is effectively what happens when you call as MS have to hold the room type then call special needs to have an accessible room allocated to that reservation. There is just no information about how this will be handled with the online system. There is also the complication that the accessible room option doesn't exist in all room types so you could reserve online a room that doesn't exist as an accessible option then not be able to find an alternative category that does.

We have only made reservations for 2 trips so far and each time have had to book a room category using more points than the option we wanted because there were no accessible rooms in the category we chose. It just doesn't seem fair to me.

 

[Disney's Walt]

Just booked my trip for Feb break. Was happy to see it was easy and informative. Had to borrow a few points and that was easy as well. Didn't see a "requests" page or whatever but will call and put those in. VERY happy they have finally done this.

 

[dvcdisney]

I don't know yet for sure whether accessible rooms are included in the inventory available to book online (although a response from MS posted on another forum seems to suggest they are) if they are then anyone can book them before the phones open. Accessible rooms are not held back - if there are only accessible rooms left in any category and a member asks to book that category they would get the accessible room. That would mean that those who don't need them would have the advantage over those who do.

Would you actually refuse a room if an accessible room was the only option available in the category you wanted? I'm willing to bet most people would take it especially if it was a sought after category.

Reserving online and then calling to be allocated an accessible room might work, that is effectively what happens when you call as MS have to hold the room type then call special needs to have an accessible room allocated to that reservation. There is just no information about how this will be handled with the online system. There is also the complication that the accessible room option doesn't exist in all room types so you could reserve online a room that doesn't exist as an accessible option then not be able to find an alternative category that does.

We have only made reservations for 2 trips so far and each time have had to book a room category using more points than the option we wanted because there were no accessible rooms in the category we chose. It just doesn't seem fair to me.

In that case then an accessible room is not a category or option, it's more of a request. So, I think the suggestion about booking it online then requesting the accessible room would be your best bet.

And actually, if during booking, I was offered an accessible room only, then I would refuse it. When I check in now, I ask to confirm that it's not an accessible room. We had stayed in one a few vacations ago and it's not comfortable especially the shower. We were moved the next day, and when I called front desk I suggested that they let the guest know that the room assigned to them was an accessible room. And she said that they were suppose to advise us of it, but we weren't. So, now each time I check in I ask and every time I've been told that we would be advise if that was the case before they assign it to us.

Now, I agree that many may not if they were given that option, but I think there's a few out there that are like my family who would choose another room type or resort to avoid it.

 

[drusba]

I've seen that you've been able to borrow points to do a reservation, but do they have the option online to buy those one time use points online?

No. It is designed for simple reservations and nothing complicated. Nothing to note handicap accessible rooms. Nowhere to put in any non-guaranteed requests. No way to link two reservations. No way to cancel prior reservation and then easily book quickly without fear that room you want will become unavialable in the interim. Have to email to bank points like before and wait for verification before doing on-line booking.

 

[Sammie]

I don't expect calling to be much easier. If the call volume drops because of onloine booking, they'll certianly reduce their phone operator staff.

I was told this would not happen, but then again I was told the online system would have the same hours as MS, so who knows.

As stated there will be many times the online system will either not be available and or not capable of handling the needs of the members so hopefully staff will not be cut back.