Dining Reservation Frustration

[mirnmart]

Just need to vent about my frustration trying to make dining reservations today. We are celebrating my twin boys 4th birthday and my 30th birthday while on this trip so i had some key reservations I really wanted to get….was up at 5:55am to sign in and get my reservations made….and the website would not function properly. I had to sign in and out multiple times, sometimes it would show only the first day of my trip, other times I could see all the days but when I tried to search I got a message saying I could not book for that day. Finally after an hour I had only been able to secure 3 reservations. This was using multiple computers and my sisters My Disney account finally because hers would work for some reason when mine wouldn't. So I get on the phone at 7am on the dot and the voice tells me my wait time is 9 mins or less. After 20 mins I'm sent to the satisfaction survey and promptly disconnected…..I call back and wait another 40 mins to have someone tell me all the remaining reservations I wanted are gone Not surprising since it was now 2 hours after they became available. I am just so frustrated….is it to much to ask for a system that works? Now I know this is totally a first world problem and I'm thankful to be able to go on the trip at all and thats why I'm not going to get too worked up over it but just disappointing. My dreams of Chef Mickeys and BOG are gone!

 

[disneynutz]

Until Disney starts losing business they really don't have any reason to make their systems better. Record profits and increasing attendance seems to be the norm for Disney.

You can send an email to express your dissatisfaction:
wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

Bill

 

[mirnmart]

thanks, I will!

 

[nalajms]

It really depends how many days you're staying. BOG was unavailable to me until my 180+7. I'm surprised Chef Mickey's booked up. I'd check daily for that one. And if it helps, I was able to grab a better BOG reservation about a week after my 180. And many have posted getting ADRs a few weeks prior to the trip.

It's really not a matter of getting up early to book anymore. It's a HUGE time suck and lots of effort. It's free dining and you're competing with a bunch of people for a few reservations. Good luck! And hope you have a great trip.

 

[mirnmart]

thanks for the encouragement I will keep trying!

 

[southerngirl528]

Sorry about your experience, Mirnmart, and happy birthday to all of you!

I actually find that the MDE phone app works much more easily for dining rez's than www.disneyworld.com and my MDE therein. And I agree you should keep trying a random days/times whenever you think of it. I'll bet you'll get at least some of what you want.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Holy frustrating! Straight to the satisfaction survey?! I totally understand how frustrating that would be, especially since you would have happily made them yourself had their system not stunk. As others said, keep checking, hopefully something will show up for you.

 

[tasha99]

How did you rate them on the survey? (Don't even know what this smiley means, but who can resist a pug?)

 

[n2mm]

I feel your pain. I tried to book my dining too for my oct/nov trip and got nothing I wanted. We will be dining off property. After trying 2 computers, iPad and iPhone I finally called, after I got to my 7th day of striking out I told the cm I was done. There was no need to buy the dining plan and we would be eating either in our dvc villa or off property that trip. Yes I also did a survey too.

 

[snackyx]

What's the story with this? Is this really the result of all the free dining they are giving away? Our reservation is for Thanksgiving week, but I was playing around with the online dining reservation system and---nothing! I submitted random dates that had recently opened up (early November as of now) and was getting ZERO availability. Portobello at Downtown Disney for a party of four at 2PM? NOTHING!? Really? The Boathouse just opened, and I know it will be a popular reservation, but after searching multiple days with all kinds of times and party sizes--NOTHING!? Is there something else going on?

 

[SandyinMonterey]

This is one of many reasons we decided not to do a DL or WDW park vacation next year and try our first cruise.

 

[SullyD13]

I agree with the frustration. Reservations for The Boathouse just opened up a few days ago and it's booked solid for October already. I even called this morning to make sure it wasn't a website glitch. I mean I knew that reservations would be a must and would require booking in advance but to be 100% booked in a just a few days?! At a Downtown Disney restaurant? I was so surprised and sad. But then again, should I really be that surprised? But I definitely agree that reservations right now seem to be almost impossible to get for the popular restaurants.

I have noticed though that Friday has been a popular day to for people to cancel reservations. This past Friday I saw that someone had cancelled a 7:30 pm dinner at California Grill for the date I wanted in October (perfect time to book to watch Hallowishes) and I also was able to find a dropped BOG dinner reservation for 7pm when looking on a Friday as well. It gave me hope when originally they had all been booked for my upcoming trip and I was getting discouraged. So don't lose hope yet and I hope you have the same luck!!!

 

[n2mm]

It is crazy. I'm not even trying popular places (IMHO), no buffets or character dining. I was trying for 50s PT, Coral Reef, Via Napoli, B&C.

 

[bethp1968]

Just for kicks, I went on to the dining reservations link through my dvc reservation screen and put in a random date (Nov, 8th) and there is plenty of availability. I even saw a 9:10pm for Chef Mickey, B& C, Via Napoli 50's prime time. The ones with no times available is what we all know (CRT, BOG, Ohana, Boathouse). However, don't let that disappoint you. I have gotten BOG (last year for May - Memorial Day week) at about 6 weeks out.. I have also cancelled reservations prior to trips (this year, I cancelled one of Star Wars Weekend character dinners just last week, so someone was lucky enough to snag it for June). Just keep checking, random times of the day, you never know what will pop up.

I always go through the DVCmember website, go to my "upcoming vacations", then go to "Make dining reservations" - not sure if that's any better than the app or through MDE directly, though.

 

[jerseygal]

I agree with the frustration. Reservations for The Boathouse just opened up a few days ago and it's booked solid for October already. I even called this morning to make sure it wasn't a website glitch. I mean I knew that reservations would be a must and would require booking in advance but to be 100% booked in a just a few days?! At a Downtown Disney restaurant? I was so surprised and sad. But then again, should I really be that surprised? But I definitely agree that reservations right now seem to be almost impossible to get for the popular restaurants.

I have noticed though that Friday has been a popular day to for people to cancel reservations. This past Friday I saw that someone had cancelled a 7:30 pm dinner at California Grill for the date I wanted in October (perfect time to book to watch Hallowishes) and I also was able to find a dropped BOG dinner reservation for 7pm when looking on a Friday as well. It gave me hope when originally they had all been booked for my upcoming trip and I was getting discouraged. So don't lose hope yet and I hope you have the same luck!!!

FIRST day, Friday, May 15th to make Boathouse reserv at 6AM, no luck on MDE. 7AM, "escalated" call to Supervisor Dining Line, after long wait, told me to call Boathouse directly. Got ADR for October by calling Boathouse directly. MDE, trying to make Dining Reservations really needs an OVERHAUL!

 

[mirnmart]

Thanks for all the encouragement. Will keep trying for my BOG reservation for my 30th and hope for some pixie dust! Happy to report after sending an email about my experience I received a call yesterday from someone apologizing for what I went through with an offer to get us Chef Mickey's reservations for our group of 14 on my boys birthday! Very excited! Nice to know at least someone is listening, doesn't change the frustration with things not working but at least they are trying to make up for it.

 

[CraigInPA]

Today was my 180 day, so I went online to make reservations. As others before me have found out, DVC reservations apparently only allow 180, not 180+10 online. So, I was able to book meals on my arrival date, but not the rest of the trip. I then called, at 8am, 407-wdw-dine. After a 45 minute wait, I was connected to a very nice CM who made the rest of my reservations. Even at 180+days out, I was unable to get BOG lunch for any day of my trip, but I got everything else I wanted (including 'Ohana and other hard to get reservations), at the times I wanted, for the remainder of the trip.

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

Thanks for all the encouragement. Will keep trying for my BOG reservation for my 30th and hope for some pixie dust! Happy to report after sending an email about my experience I received a call yesterday from someone apologizing for what I went through with an offer to get us Chef Mickey's reservations for our group of 14 on my boys birthday! Very excited! Nice to know at least someone is listening, doesn't change the frustration with things not working but at least they are trying to make up for it.

I'm glad they're trying to make it right. Like you said, it doesn't help with the frustration, but it's nice to know they're listening, anyway! Good luck with BOG!

 

[SullyD13]

FIRST day, Friday, May 15th to make Boathouse reserv at 6AM, no luck on MDE. 7AM, "escalated" call to Supervisor Dining Line, after long wait, told me to call Boathouse directly. Got ADR for October by calling Boathouse directly. MDE, trying to make Dining Reservations really needs an OVERHAUL!

Called Boathouse directly and was able to book dinner through them. Thanks for the tip! And I agree with you about the MDE.....

 

[WDWLODGE]

Is the new brunch at Chef Mickey's an option for you? They start taking reservations for the new brunch tomorrow.