Don't you think Disney could save a ton of money doing PS's online?

[kpgclark]

I think it must cost a fortune to employ all the people involved in the programming, reservations etc. involved in the PS process. Why don't they do it online? They could have a form so they'd get all the pertinent info. Seems like such a waste of money to do it manually. They could computerize the whole system too.

 

[Disneyolic]

I was always wondering if they could or would ever do it online. I would absolutely love that idea. It would have to have a popup screen with available times for your size party, etc.

 

[crisi]

Well, you'd get rid of some of the phone operators - who make a small amount of money. But not all, because some people don't use computers. And you'd replace them with a systems admin, a DBA, tech support people to answer phones for when it doesn't work - all who will make more than the current phone operators. Plus, you'd spend a couple mil "web enabling" the darn thing for public use. And web enabling it would have some issues - everyone hits the submit button at the same time for Cindy's reservations in the morning - and who is going to get the reservation?

 

[kpgclark]

Well they have a lot of the systems people anyhow, because the operators enter the information into the computer. You're just skipping the middleman. Regarding the ressies, whoever gets into the system first gets the ressie.

 

[Scottwdw]

Do to the nature of time zones and such, not to mention people living over the international date line. Boy, what a nightmare to program that. People who don't have access would be all over WDW claiming they were being left out. Sound familiar?

I think it would cause more trouble then its worth, IMO.

Now, this might be a good spot to use the 50% rule where 50% of the table space is made available to Internet bookings. I know I've seen concerts that book online will reserve a certain amount of tickets for the local box office. Just a thought.

 

[Uncleromulus]

And don't forget the people out there who don't have--or don't know how to use--a computer. I understand there are more of them than I had thought.

 

[erikthewise]

Regardless of the details, you're going to be running two separate systems instead of one. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, but it does mean you shouldn't have your heart set on massive savings!

There are a lot of interesting possibilities with online reservations. For instance, with CRT, you could simply gather all the requests made from 7-8 AM and randomly select from them. Verification would be by email. Those who prefer to play "fastest finger" could still try the phone lines.