Disney is optimizing online dining reservations site for smartphones

[kathyell]

I just saw a reference on Twitter to some behind-the-scenes changes to their online dining reservations page. Now, if you visit that area of their website on your smartphone (they have apparently completed their optimization work for Android and iPhone users, with more to come, such as Blackberry and Windows Mobile) you get a super-slim, easier to use version of the reservations tool.

I just tried it on my Android phone and my laptop simultaneously. I am surprised to report that it worked faster and more smoothly on my PHONE than on my laptop, and I was offered more reservation times on my phone than I was on my computer. (I looked on October 20 for 1900 Park Fare breakfast times. I was offered 9:20am on my laptop, but 9:20, 9:35, and 10:05 times on my phone.)

Give it a try, smartphone users, and see how it goes for you. I can see this being SUPER useful in the parks or within the resort as a whole for people who do not like to spring for the $10/day internet access on site.

The URL to point your on-phone browser to is:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/reservations/dining/

 

[nbs2]

It's been up for a few days. One caveat is that it doesn't handle the CC secured reservations very well. Looking at Akershus, for example, yields a message to call in order to secure an ADR. More irritatingly, it doesn't offer a list of times - just the message.