Booking 8am today - site not working

[MiddKid]

I'm in the same boat. My husband and I each called the second it hit 8 AM this morning to use our Placeholder and I'm still on hold. His phone disconnected after and hour and a half, but mine is still going. Glad I didn't have any important plans for today. I didn't use the Castaway Club number because I could never get through. I've yet to hear how long my hold time is going to be, so I'm getting a little concerned.

It says the wait time once right at the very beginning. After you enter your club number it makes a pitch about new itineraries then an automated voice comes on with the wait time. I just called in fresh and it is now 362 minutes. Sigh…

 

[LiZaArd]

I knew it was a lot but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn! I made friends in my fb group for my 11 night southern back in July 2019. One family was staying in the Disney Suite! It was amazing. We played Cards Against Humanity at the giant dining table and spent some time outside on the amazing private deck. I'll never be in the position to stay in this suite myself but wow!

That sounds like it was fun to experience!

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

It says the wait time once right at the very beginning. After you enter your club number it makes a pitch about new itineraries then an automated voice comes on with the wait time. I just called in fresh and it is now 362 minutes. Sigh…

That's the problem, I didn't call the Castaway Club phone number because I couldn't get it to go through. I called the regular DCL number. So it never asked for my CC number, just my existing reservation number (which is my Placeholder). I can't believe that this many people are ahead of me when I called the second it hit 8AM.

 

[MiddKid]

That's the problem, I didn't call the Castaway Club phone number because I couldn't get it to go through. I called the regular DCL number. So it never asked for my CC number, just my existing reservation number (which is my Placeholder). I can't believe that this many people are ahead of me when I called the second it hit 8AM.

Interesting. I’ve called 3 different numbers, select a new reservation (option 3), and all 3 numbers have asked for my CC number. Phone tree has been the same on all 3 numbers. Crazy.

 

[MomOTwins]

I don’t understand how people are even getting through to the long hold times. Have tried about a dozen times this am and busy signal… both the regular line and castaway line.

 

[MiddKid]

I don’t understand how people are even getting through to the long hold times. Have tried about a dozen times this am and busy signal… both the regular line and castaway line.

Yup...I got anywhere from 8-12 busy signals each of the four times I've called but it eventually goes through. And I should have noted above the 3 numbers I've called are:

• 800-388-4513 Grabbed it from DCL Blog without even looking what it was
• 800-449-3380 Castaway Club number from this thread
• 800-939-2784 Noticed this number listed in my placeholder email

So far it hasn't mattered. All three seem busy fro 8-12 times and then connect with astronomical wait times.

 

[MomOTwins]

Yup...I got anywhere from 8-12 busy signals each of the four times I've called but it eventually goes through. And I should have noted above the 3 numbers I've called are:

• 800-388-4513 Grabbed it from DCL Blog without even looking what it was
• 800-449-3380 Castaway Club number from this thread
• 800-939-2784 Noticed this number listed in my placeholder email

So far it hasn't mattered. All three seem busy fro 8-12 times and then connect with astronomical wait times.

Lol okay I just got through to the hold queue after rapidly dialing and hanging up alternating between the CC number and the main line about a dozen times in a row until I got something other than a busy signal. Number I got thru on was just the mai one on the DCL website:
1-800-951-3532.

My guess is they are opening it for people one at a time as people hang up or complete their calls—so you have to call at the right moment after someone else finishes their call to get through.

490 mins

 

[MomOTwins]

Lol okay I just got through to the hold queue after rapidly dialing and hanging up alternating between the CC number and the main line about a dozen times in a row until I got something other than a busy signal. Number I got thru on was just the mai one on the DCL website:
1-800-951-3532.

My guess is they are opening it for people one at a time as people hang up or complete their calls—so you have to call at the right moment after someone else finishes their call to get through.

490 mins

Aaaand my call just got disconnected. Grrr. Starting over.

 

[MiddKid]

Aaaand my call just got disconnected. Grrr. Starting over.

Oh no. That's crazy!

139 min, 289 min, 362 min, 490 min...they are definitely not getting that call queue cleared out!

 

[MiddKid]

Oh no. That's crazy!

139 min, 289 min, 362 min, 490 min...they are definitely not getting that call queue cleared out!

I had the 362min quote. They picked up at 70 min. Working through it now.

 

[MomOTwins]

Oh no. That's crazy!

139 min, 289 min, 362 min, 490 min...they are definitely not getting that call queue cleared out!

Well got disconnected a second time and when I called back just now the wait time number I just got quoted is 23 minutes! Somehow I don’t think that is terribly likely, unless they recognized my castaway number as someone who has already been on hold today across multiple calls, but that just seems too advanced for disney technology. Or maybe everyone else in the queue got disconnected too… now that seems possible.

Edited to add... miracles do happen! I was on the phone in about half an hour. Wow, I guess the secret is don't call in the morning as that is when phone lines are busiest. So counterintuitive.

 

[AquaDame]

It seemed to happen that way yesterday as well... people who had been on hold for hours called back using a different phone (so they wouldnt have to hang up the original one just in case) and got through right away. The whole phone system is suspect lately...

 

[KdKyA]

I called right at 8 this morning, got through the normal speech prompts. Said 24 minute wait, waited 25. Told me to enter castaway number, I didn’t have it with me, so I pressed the prompt saying I didn’t have one lol. I was the first call for my cast member this morning. She said when she picked up my call, she had over 300 people in her queue alone. She made it sound like you get put in a queue for a specific cast member and it’s not first come first served. So I happened to be put in her queue right as she signed on. If another CM was signing on for their shift, a queue would build up for them. That’s why when people say they have hung up and called back, they have a tremendously shorter wait time (or much longer). So seems to me, if you get a crazy long wait, call with multiple phones and go with whichever picks up first. You may catch a CM just signing on for their shift!

 

[holula]

I called right at 8 this morning, got through the normal speech prompts. Said 24 minute wait, waited 25. Told me to enter castaway number, I didn’t have it with me, so I pressed the prompt saying I didn’t have one lol. I was the first call for my cast member this morning. She said when she picked up my call, she had over 300 people in her queue alone. She made it sound like you get put in a queue for a specific cast member and it’s not first come first served. So I happened to be put in her queue right as she signed on. If another CM was signing on for their shift, a queue would build up for them. That’s why when people say they have hung up and called back, they have a tremendously shorter wait time (or much longer). So seems to me, if you get a crazy long wait, call with multiple phones and go with whichever picks up first. You may catch a CM just signing on for their shift!

I work in a call centre and that kind of phone management system seems absolutely insane. Imagine being stuck in a specific queue behind someone who wants about ten different quotes on different itineraries and not just getting the next available person!

 

[Lynes88]

Today has been ridiculous, just over 4 hours in the queue and still waiting. Need to update a placeholder and hopefully not lose our cabin choice.

 

[MiddKid]

Today has been ridiculous, just over 4 hours in the queue and still waiting. Need to update a placeholder and hopefully not lose our cabin choice.

I hope you get through. I waited over 2 hours first thing this morning only to mistakenly have the call drop. When I called back the line quoted 362 minutes. They picked up at the 70min mark. I was shocked!

My biggest frustration was that it then took two hours to get two placeholders converted to rooms. My agent had to call their help desk twice to resolve system issues. It was extremely frustrating.

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

My biggest frustration was that it then took two hours to get two placeholders converted to rooms. My agent had to call their help desk twice to resolve system issues. It was extremely frustrating.

The CM that I had also had trouble using our placeholder. It took about an hour for him to get it to work, but they were finally able to apply it.

 

[Jaxasaurous]

I called dcl at 6 tonight and had a 5 minute wait, I was off the phone in under 40 minutes (including the wait times), and I also had a placeholder.

 

[Lillebelle]

Haven't tried calling but I cannot get the website to work for me today. Fortunately my Dreams agent took care of getting the room we wanted but I wanted to look at some other cruises to increase my confidence in what we selected. I can get as far as the 'select your party' page but then regardless of which itinerary I choose or how small I make my party, I get told there are no available rooms for my party size. Anyone else having this issue?

 

[MomOTwins]

Haven't tried calling but I cannot get the website to work for me today. Fortunately my Dreams agent took care of getting the room we wanted but I wanted to look at some other cruises to increase my confidence in what we selected. I can get as far as the 'select your party' page but then regardless of which itinerary I choose or how small I make my party, I get told there are no available rooms for my party size. Anyone else having this issue?

I am getting a message that the booking site is down now. Probably raising prices before silver booking tomorrow