Cafeen's Online ADR Tutorial v2!

[Cafeen]

Introduction
So I wrote up a nice long explanation of how to make online ADRs for everyone. Then, a couple weeks after I spent that time, Disney went ahead and changed it all up on me!

So, since it seems that most of the dust has settled on the new system, I have once again taken the time to do the screen shots and am ready to present another walk-through for the online ADR system.

Now, a couple notes about "ADRs". ADR stands for Advanced Dining Reservation, it's commonly used throughout several online communities. It is not an official term though, so don't be suprised by a CM not knowing what an "ADR" is. They just call them "Dining Reservations". Also, these are not reservations in the traditional sense. Just because you made one for 6:00pm doesn't necessarily mean you'll be seated then. When you show up to the podium, you'll give them your name and stuff, and they'll put you on the list for the next available table for your party size. I like to think of it as "Call WAY WAY WAY WAY ahead seating" (but typing in CWWWWAS is more letters and less efficient than ADR)

For those interested, all screen shots were taken using Firefox v3.6.2 on Windows 7 Home 64-bit. Using different browsers or operating systems may alter the look slightly, but the functionality should remain the same.

What You Will Need
Before we get going on creating our ADRs, we'll need a few things first.

• A Plan - Nothing is worse than getting to the computer and sitting there trying to figure out which restaurants you want when as your 180day window is ticking down. Use the time before you are able to book to figure out which park you will be in when, and roughly where you want to eat. Use this plan to prioritize your ADR making by placing higher demand locations early in the ADR session. (In other words, plan to make those tough to get ADRs first).
• A Computer - Yeah, I know, this should be obvious. Make sure that the computer you're using has at least Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) version 7.0 or higher (In the browser window, click the Help button, then the "About" option and it'll tell you). If not using MSIE, using an updated Firefox, Google Chrome, or Apple Safari will work just fine.
• A Credit Card - Not needed for all reservations, but some of them require either pre-payment or credit card holds. If planning to make reservations for those locations, having the card handy from the start will save time
• A Head Count - Get the total number of people that you'll be dining with at each location. This includes baby Jane even if she's under 3 and wouldn't count toward the cost. It would also include Aunt Sally, Uncle Bob, and Grandma if they are dining with you but not on your room reservation. So, count everyone up. If this number is over 10, you're going to have to call group dining.
• Pen (or Pencil, or Sharpie) and Paper (or your male partner's forehead). Alternatively you can copy and paste into Notepad - This is to copy down the confirmation numbers given to you. Disney does email them (most of the time), but why leave that up to chance?
• An alarm clock and a cup of coffee - Online reservations "roll over" at 6am Eastern every day. Especially for us people in different time zones, this is important.
  
  You brits get lucky and can relax until late morning

Table of Contents

1. Online ADR Tutorial Introduction (This post)
2. Standard ADR Walk-Through (Pt 1/2)
   This portion of the walk-through will take you step by step from opening up the Disney World website through searching for a table
3. Standard ADR Walk-Through (Pt 2/2)
   Picking up where Part 1 leaves off, this portion of the walk-through will take you from the search results through confirmation of the ADR
4. Disney Resort Confirmation
   This piece will walk you through adding your Disney Resort Confirmation to your ADR session, allowing you to make ADRs beyond the 180 day mark.
5. Canceling ADRs
   Step by Step guide to cancel existing ADRs
6. Miscellaneous
   • Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions
   • Parties with more than 10 guests
   • Retrieving ADR by confirmation number
   • "The Orange Suitcase" (US vs UK header comparison)
7. Known Site Issues (relating to Online ADRs only)

To help keep this thread informative, please keep discussion on this thread limited to the following:

• Information, Questions, Comments, Suggestions, etc relating to the tutorial
• Information, Questions, Comments, Suggestions, etc relating to the ADR process that this tutorial has missed
• Information regarding new issues with the site that should be mentioned
• Gratuitous praise and recognition for the author

In other words, we shouldn't be debating on the merits of ADRs, Dining Plans, or any of that stuff here. Please.)

v2.0 - Last Updated: 13 June 2010

 

[Cafeen]

Standard ADR Walk-Through (Pt 1/2)
So, you've got everything you need and are ready to start making your ADRs. Let's get to it!

Step 1 - Get to the Disney Website
You can access the Disney Website by entering in http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/ into your browser (or clicking the link that me typing that magically created ). Then again, if people on the DIS don't know how to get to the Disney World website...

Step 2 - Log in
Click the "Sign In" link in the top left of the screen. If you do not yet have an account, click the "Create an Account" link and follow the on screen directions.

If you are already logged in, you won't see this option and you can proceed to Step 3.

Step 3 - The Orange Suitcase (AKA Brining up existing ADRs)
Mouse over the Orange Suitcase and click the "Dining Reservations" link in the menu that pops up.

Note for UK users: You will not see this Orange Suitcase. Instead, click the "My Reservations" link that located to the right of the Sign In area. (US users may also click that link, they go to the same place).

If you were already signed in above and skipped Step 2, it may ask you to sign in now.

Step 4 - The Existing ADR/Reservation Page
Here you are brought to the main reservations page. You will notice in the screen shot that I already have 3 reservations planned for September. (Actually, I have many more, but more on that later). Under the think black lines are the confirmation numbers for each reservation, but I didn't want anyone to take mine so I hid them .

Note: Steps 3 and 4 are optional. They are included in the tutorial to display a before and after. For your click-finger's health sake, you may skip these steps if you so desire.

Step 5 - Get on with it! Getting to making the ADRs
After you've perused the existing ADR/Reservation page (or if you skipped that), mouse over the "Where to Eat" portion of the main header bar. (For a wider shot, see the screen shot provided in Step 1). Click the "Make Dining Reservations" in that pop up menu.

Step 6 - The Main ADR Search page
If you were familiar with the old ADR searches, you'll notice how nice and sleek this page appears to be.

Step 7 - Enter your Parameters

Well, this is actually step 6, since my step 6 isn't really a step, but since I named these screen shots Step7a-g, it's step 7 now. Calling it Step 6 would also throw off my whole naming convention, and I'm too lazy to change the names.

The top portion of this page (the blueish section) contains all the search parameters for you to find the restaurant of your dreams (or at least of your vacation). From the dropdowns you may select the location and/or experience. You may enter a specific name of a restaurant (and a small dropdown will help you once you start entering text in). You may also select to only display those restaurants on the dining plan.

Please note that the full name entry takes precedence over the dropdown selections. If you enter Epcot for location, Character Dining for Experience, and Artist Point for the name, Artist Point will be searched on.

Now, we'll pick a date, time, and party size. See the section on Resort Confirmation if your desired date is greater than 180 days out!

Step 8 - Click the "Search for a Table" button

Once all the parameters that you're searching for are entered, click the orange button. (Disney likes orange for their buttons...)

Continued in next post...

 

[Cafeen]

Continued from previous post...
Standard ADR Walk-Through (Pt 2/2)
Step 9 - The Search Results
The System will do it's thing and show you some results. Yours will differ from mine as I don't think everyone here is looking for a 1900 Park Fare on Sunday Sept 26, 2010 for 4 people at breakfast. And even if they are, not everyone's going to get it!

There are a couple of neat features on this page. First off, you can hover your mouse over the Restaurant Name to display a little popup style information window. (Note the meal times, characters included, and even menu links!)

Clicking the "More Info" would display information regarding that particular restaurant. Note: this is the window that will display if you search by specific restaurant.

Also, just for curiousity's sake I suppose, the site will list those places that fit your parameters that do not have availability.

And lastly, on this page you will notice the notation regarding Cinderella's Royal Table. This may or may not display for you depending on how far in the future you are reading this. It is displaying in the screen shot because this tutorial was created while the system was still in "beta" and CRT and the Dinner Shows have not yet been added to this sytem.

Step 10 - Select a Time and click "Reserve"
Pick a time and place, and click the reserve button. You'll then be taken to the Guest Information screen.

Enter the required information into the fields (First Name, Last Name, Email Address, and Phone Number. And, no, that isn't my real Last Name, Email, or Phone Number). If you have special dietary needs, go ahead and check that checkbox and fill out the information as applicable.

Once everything is done, read the Guest Policies and click the "I have read and agree..." checkbox. (Of course, you read them first, to do otherwise just plain wouldn't be right ). Once that checkbox is checked, the "Confirm Reservation" button should turn orange and be clickable.

 

[Cafeen]

Disney Resort Confirmation
The announced policy (as of Jun 13 2010) is that Disney Resort Guests may book up to 10 days of ADRs at 180 days before check-in.

Well, we all know how to make online ADRs for 180 days or less now right? You did pay attention I hope. At any rate, you decided that you'd like to stay on Disney property and are now entitled to book ADRs at greater than 180 days out. Of course, how do you do this? More importantly, how do we do this online?

Step 1 - Pick a Date
It's very simple with the ADR system. Simply pick your day you want to dine, if it is more than 180 days out, messaging will appear and the "Search for a Table" button will be grayed out.

Step 2 - Click to confirm
Click the confirm it now link inside that yellow box, and you'll be taken to the confirmation page.

Step 3 - Enter in the details
Enter in your Resort confirmation number and your arrival date. (Note: I picked 10 Dec 2010 as my arrival date here, I just hadn't clicked it yet for it to display in the box).

Step 4 - Click to Confirm
After everything is entered, simply click the Confirm button. You'll be taken back to the Restaurant Search page and now the "Search for a Table" button is lit and clicking that will do the search for you.

 

[Cafeen]

Canceling an ADR
Well, now we've made all of our ADRs and everything's perfect and nothing's going to change right?

HAHAHA

Fat chance on that happening. So, with that said, we're going to learn how to cancel an existing ADR. Since we already know how to make a new one, I don't have to go over that part. We'll pick up with where we left off in the Standard ADR Walk-Through.

So, we've logged in, and chosen either the "Dining Reservations" link from the "Orange Suitcase" menu, or the "My Reservations" link from the menu bar. This will take us to the aptly named, My Reservations page.

You remember that 1900 Park Fare ADR I made above? Well, I've decided against it (and I don't feel like telling the podium that my last name is "OnlineADRTutorial", I'm sure I'll get a few funny looks. So, we're going to cancel it.

Step 1 - Click the Cancel Reservation link
Clicking the Cancel Reservation link from this page, or View Reservation and the Cancel button on that page, will bring up a confirmation window.

Step 2 - Are you sure?
Make sure that this is what you want to do. There is no "Undo" for canceling an ADR!

If you decide that you want to wait, then click either the "X" in the top right, or the "Don't Cancel" link. However, I'm sure this is what I want to do (it would be a pretty weak tutorial if I decided that I didn't want to cancel the ADR specifically made for it.. thus not showing how to cancel ).

If you are sure (like I am), raise you hand (). Now, put your hand down and click on the "Cancel Reservation" link.

Step 3 - We're done
That's it, the ADR is canceled.

Now that I've given you the knowledge on how to make and cancel ADRs I will apologize for the time you're going to spend working and reworking them all.

 

[Cafeen]

Miscellaneous
I can't believe I spelled that right on my first try!

Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions

• Set a priority - Make sure to set your priority for searching for ADRs based on the difficult to acquire the ADR as well as your personal desire for that particular time and location. Do the higher priority ones first.
• Be Flexible - Being flexible in your meal times can often lead to better results.

Parties With More Than 10 Guests
Parties of more than 10 people will have to call the Group Dining number. This can be reached by calling the main Disney Dining number (407-WDW-DINE, 407-939-3463). You will not be able to make online ADRs for more than 10 people.

Retrieving the ADR by Confirmation Number
Well, you made ADRs, but when you log in and go to My Reservations, they aren't showing up in your list. Does that mean they're gone?

No, there are a number of reasons that they may not show up, but we'll skip over that. To pull up the ADRs by confirmation number, simply click on the "Retrieve your reservation by confirmation number" on the right side of the page.

Clicking that link will take you to the page to do just what it says.

Simply click the "+Retrieve Multiple Reservations" link to open up as many rows as you need, fill out the information, and click the Retrieve Dining button.

Of special note is the Phone Number here. If you made your ADRs online, you may have entered your cell phone number (since it asks for a number where they can reach you on vacation). If you made them over the phone, chances are they have your home phone number, or whatever phone number they have on record.

"The Orange Suitcase" (US vs UK header comparison)
Our friends across the pond (I don't know how this compares to other international sites) have complained that they do not see that orange suitcase. This was fixed by giving them the "My Reservations" link. Of course, Disney also changed the way the site works and there is virtually no way to tell which version you're on, so they thought they were on the US version and that we were just all crazy.

So, a quick and dirty comparison:
If you see

You are on the US (English) version. Note the Orange Suitcase

If you see

You are on the UK (English) version. Note the lack of the suitcase as well as the usage of "Holiday" in place of "Vacation".

Another method to determine which version you are on is to scroll ALL the way down the page. Right above the end you will see a section for "Select an International Version". It should list your current version in there as well as give you the option to view the page as it's displayed for various international guests. (And this, my friends, is how I managed the screen shot of the UK site . No, I didn't travel to the UK to get it, although that would have been fun.)

 

[Cafeen]

Known Issues

Last Updated 13 Jun 2010

One of the biggest known issues is that ADRs are currently being accepted up to 190 days out. This is available to all guests no matter your check-in date. To access it, you simply make ADRs as you normally would and then enter in the last available date when you link the resort to the ADRs. Due to the nature of these ADRs, you must make ADRs each day of your stay if using the maximum 190days. We are unsure at this time if this (190 day ADRs) is intended behavior. Some items suggest it is and the check-in date calendar is bugged, other items suggest that the 180+10 should be the case

• Phrasing of the message regarding why you should link reservations is vague, but appears to support the 190 day theory. (Discovered by Tricia and later, myself)
  
• The simpler format of a flat 190 days vs 180+10 would also be a valid reason for moving to this type of system. Coupled with fairness issues that are present in 180+10, this would also be a valid reason for moving to this system.
  
• Through testing (by myself), it appears as though the resort linking has no validation right now. You can enter anything into the boxes and any date. This suggests that 190 days is not intended as it's just passing any resort confirmation through.
  
• Pre-pay ADRs (CRT, HDDR, SoA) are still at 180+10. They do use the v1 (old) system though, so unsure how this affects them.
  
• Other recreation remains at 180+10 suggesting that, for consistency, the ADRs are intended to remain at 180+10
  
• Either way, we simply do not know yet which way it was intended to be.

There is much more debate and discussion about this in the Glitch in the new system - 190 Day ADRs? Thread.

There are a few known issues with the website beyond the 190 day thing above.

• Issue - Page believes user is using Internet Explorer 6 when they are using 8. This is caused by the HTTP Headers that the browser sends to every webpage including a line about MSIE6.0. The website is seeing this line and kicking back the error, even if the user is actually using MSIE8.0 (located in another line of the Header).
  
  Solution - Use Firefox or Google Chrome. There is no client-side fix for this at this time.
  
• Issue - UK and other international users are unable to get to the reservation retrieval page. This is caused by inner code that tells the site which localization to use. The UK portion (which you would only know by looking at the contact numbers!) does not have the link to the system.
  
  Solution - From andrewilley:
  

  If you're on the UK version of the site (and annoyingly that is no longer indicated in the address bar, which just shows http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/) you can get to the Dining Reservations page, but not some of the other stuff on the US site, such as the "My Disney Vacation" link.
  
  The easiest ways to tell which site you're one are (a) the phone number is listed as 0870... in the UK, rather than 407... and (b) the top bar will list "FREE Holiday Planning DVD" (UK) as opposed to "FREE Vacation Planning DVD" (US). The search bar right at the top is another clue.
  
  I've just checked though, and the link http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/res...-reservations/ will still work even if you are currently in the UK site - there's just nothing on the site which you can click to take you there (as far as I can tell).

• Issue - Some reservations do not show up. This is due to the way that the site was ordered before the change to v2. You did not have to log in to make reservations, so some reservations may not be tied to your log-in.
  
  Solution - You will have to use the "Retrieve reservation from confirmation number" link on the right hand side.
  
• Issue - Searching by restaurant name is not working properly (Note: I haven't seen this one myself, so I don't know if there's an error or something along those lines). I am unsure of what actually causes this, but it's most likely not on the client-side. (Or at least directly, it could be a configuration/localization issue between the client and the website).
  
  Solution - Search by other parameters and pick the correct restaurant from the list.
  
• Issue - Searching for a party with an odd-number size (e.g. party of 3, party of 5, etc) may not display all available options. This is an old issue that is older than the Online ADR system itself (it happens to the phone CMs as well).
  
  Solution - Add 1 to your party size. This maintains the same table-size and sometimes gives you better results. When you check in at the podium, just say how many you are. If questioned (unlikely), just explain the situation to them (e.g. There's a bug with the system that sometimes doesn't recognize odd numbers). Alternatively, just say the extra person couldn't make it. Note: Do not use this method at CRT, any of the Dinner Shows, or any ADR that would require a credit card hold as you will (more than likely) be charged for the single no-show person.
  
• Issue - I'm being charged for CRT or a Dinner Show and yet I'm on the DDP. This sometimes happens, the online system doesn't pick up the DDP on your Resort Reservation. There is no way around this other than to call and do it over the phone (the CM can manually input that you are on a dining plan).

 

[Tricia1972]

If you end up needing more posts up here on the top end, let me know. I know how to create posts before the first reply. I'm tricky like that.

Hey, looks like that first reply is me

(No worries, if you need more, I can create another post by you before this.)

 

[Cafeen]

If you end up needing more posts up here on the top end, let me know. I know how to create posts before the first reply. I'm tricky like that.

Hey, looks like that first reply is me

(No worries, if you need more, I can create another post by you before this.)

Thanks Tricia, looks like I counted correctly (for now at least) .

For everyone else, you can unleash your flood of praise now (Or corrections and fixes and ways to do things better).

 

[nicksmom87]

I can make ADRs and some of them appear as they should. However, not all of them, as you mentioned. When I click on the link to the right "Retreive your reservation by confirmation number", I get tossed to an error page that looks like this:

HTTP Status 500 -

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

type Exception report

message

description The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.

exception

javax.servlet.ServletException: ModelAndView [ModelAndView: materialized View is [null]; model is {assembled.model=com.disney.wdpro.common.contentassembler.model.AssembledModel@eedebd, channel=com.disney.wdpro.common.contentassembler.model.channel.html.HTMLChannel@617e0f, CSSCoreMain=[/global/core.css, /nonGlobal/retrieve/store/main.css, /global/visualStyles/main/store/main.css, /nonGlobal/cartItems/store/main.css, /nonGlobal/celebrations/store/main.css], CSSHeaderFooter=[], CSSPage=[], JSTop=[/global/global.js, /global/analytics/analytics.js, /nonGlobal/retrieve/retrieve.js, /global/sePleaseWait.js, /nonGlobal/celebrations/celebrations.js, /global/sessionTimeout.js], JSBottom=[], AsyncId=null, Header=null, Analytics=com.disney.wdpro.common.scheduledevents.web.model.view.AnalyticsViewModel@1bf13a1, org.springframework.validation.BindingResult.errors=[], NextURL=null, AsyncStatusCode=0}] neither contains a view name nor a View object in servlet with name 'spring'
org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.render(DispatcherServlet.java:1165)
org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:901)
org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:809)
org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:571)
org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:501)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:617)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
com.disney.wdpro.common.filter.SecureUrlFilter.doFilter(SecureUrlFilter.java:185)


note The full stack trace of the root cause is available in the Apache Tomcat/6.0.18 logs.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache Tomcat/6.0.18


Any ideas????? It then flips to a DNS Error Server cannot be found page. Has done this since before they switched to the new system.

 

[Cafeen]

I can make ADRs and some of them appear as they should. However, not all of them, as you mentioned. When I click on the link to the right "Retreive your reservation by confirmation number", I get tossed to an error page that looks like this:

[snipped the error for berevity]

Any ideas????? It then flips to a DNS Error Server cannot be found page. Has done this since before they switched to the new system.

An HTTP 500 Error (which is what you are seeing) is related to the server software and is typically not a client-side issue. However, you may be the only one (at least that I've seen) getting this.

(http://www.checkupdown.com/status/E500.html)

First off, collect your Operating System and Browser information.

If using Windows: Right Click on My Computer and choose properties, that should give you the O/S info. There's a way to do it on a Mac as well, but I don't know it.

For browser, click on the Help menu option and then there should be an "About" option somewhere in there. That will give you the Browser name and version.

Collect this along with the exact message, and ship it off to the Disney Technical Services team. While the error may appear to be pretty random, for those that know the software it's a very good resource.

Even if it is something on your end (configuration, etc), good web developers should code more friendly error messages than those.

But, that's not going to help you quite yet.

First things first, have you tried using a different browser? If you use Firefox, use Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) or Chrome, if you use MSIE use Firefox or Chrome. If you are on a Mac and use Safari, use Firefox or Chrome, etc. Set the alternative browser to "Default Settings" to insure that it's not a configuration issue.

If it works on one of those, but not on your main one, make sure that Javascript is turned on for your browser. For details on how to turn it off and on, use Google and search for your browser name with "turn Javascript On" (or "turn Java On").

If that still doesn't work, not much else I can tell you other than to ship off the steps you took and the results along with your system information to Technical Services.

 

[nicksmom87]

Thanks for your help, Cafeen. I'll try your suggestions.

 

[Flossbolna]

Wow, this is fantastic!! Thanks for all the work!!

One question though: If I want to search for breakfast, lunch or dinner, is this fixed to a certain time? I got the impression that dinner tends to pick times at around 7pm?

 

[Cafeen]

Wow, this is fantastic!! Thanks for all the work!!

One question though: If I want to search for breakfast, lunch or dinner, is this fixed to a certain time? I got the impression that dinner tends to pick times at around 7pm?

Both. You can search the meals as meals, or you can search for a time (30 minute intervals) specified. If searching for a time, it will search 2 hours on either end of that time as well. So, selecting 6:30pm would show tables available between 4:30pm and 8:30pm giving ones closer to the time you picked priority.

Ok, read the question wrong the first time. Due to the way the system works, I would assume that the pre-set meals are tied to a specific time. Especially if you keep seeing 7:00 pop up (or times right around that) for dinner, it suggests that the "base" time for Dinner is 7:00pm. I'm sure the same holds true for the other meals as well, as it makes sense based on my assumption of the application logic for the system.

 

[c0y0te1016]

This is awesome information. Especially the odd number since we are only 3. I am going to try now with party of 4 (fingers crossed)

 

[Hobbitmomma]

Awesome! Thanks. Though I did figure most of this out by reading the boards and "practicing" for a few days before I got to 190. Sunday was 190 days before my check-in date of 12/27 and so far I've been able to make ADR's each day with no trouble. Tomorrow I'll be making ADR's for 12/30. I just hope that these stick. There's a part of me that's afraid that at some point they will all disappear and I'll have to start all over again!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Do ADR's need to made daily for each day of the trip?

Living in Seattle, does this mean I need to get online at 3AM everyday? That is crazy!!!

 

[Cafeen]

Do ADR's need to made daily for each day of the trip?

Living in Seattle, does this mean I need to get online at 3AM everyday? That is crazy!!!

ADRs need to be made each day if:

• You do not have a confirmed on-site reservation. This means that you are ineligible to book with the "180+10" rule.
• You are taking advantage of the 190 day booking glitch. This is because the glitch allows you to book at 190 days before date of dining, but there is no 190+10

Yep, it's crazy alright. It wouldn't be much different on the phones (4am). It's just one of those things when dealing with an East Coast based company.

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Thanks Cafeen!

Looks like we will have a few early mornings coming up!

 

[jbuckent]

Thanks for this!