Hurricane Charley closes PS taking center

[pumpkinboy]

Doing the old 90 day CRT or PSB PS thing this morning, and ge this message at 6:59:

Thank you for calling the WDW resort. Due to Hurricane Charley we've had to make adjustments to our operations and are currently unable to take your call...

or something like that. What kind of customer service is this? What kind of company is it that puts the safety of its employees above taking my princess breakfast PS??!!! (good Choice Disney! too bad it inconveniences me, but it is the right choice)

Wish me luck in the CRT/PSB hunt! I will try again at various points today, and then work on them again tomorrow (11/12 is a better fit for our schedule anyway).

 

[jel0511]

One thing to note, most of the people who work for the WDW call center are based in Tampa, not Orlando. So, closing was the BEST thing, and most likely won't open until tomorrow.

 

[PlutoPony]

Can they shift the PS telephone operations out of Tampa to another location? Aren't some of the call center operations handled out of the midwest? From what I"ve been hearing of the storm, they're looking at cutting off power to parts of downtown Tampa... and I'd expect widespread power/phone outages in the whole area of the storm. Could be several days before those services are back to normal (hope I'm wrong for those of you who live in that area). We've had power out for several days, just from low Cat1 hurricanes, so who knows with a Cat3

 

[pumpkinboy]

I would guess that shifting the call center to another location would be that the folks at the alternate location would not know the peculiarities of the Disney restaurant system.

I am gonna try an alternate idea, and will let you know right after if it works.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Well, I tried the "alternate idea" which was to go thru the DVC Member Services. We are DVC members, and ordinarily you can make PSs thru DVC MS, so I was hoping that they might be able to get into a wide open PS system and score me CRT or PSB for 11/11. The result was that I came up empty: they cannot do CRT at all, and the system was not accepting PSs for PSB for the 11th (and it was full up for the 10th).

So no end-run there. Oh well.

 

[JoiseyMom]

The 90-day advance bookings for Cinderella's Royal Table Breakfast, Princess Storybook Breakfast and 1900 Park Fare dinner have been suspended today. Bookings will resume tomorrow.


I got this from www.allearsnet.com

 

[dizneykid]

As of now the Tampa area Central Reservations is closed and Orlando will be closing at 11:00am.

If this storm hits us here at Tampa, I seriously doubt that there will be anyone working in Tampa tomorrow. All of downtown Tampa is shutdown. They might open up the Orlando office tomorrow.

So, good luck everyone who wants/needs PS's. I wish you pixie dust getting what you need.

I just hope we come out of this ok. The weather people are talking about 14ft storm surge in downtown Tampa.

 

[LibertyBelle]

Originally posted by pumpkinboy
What kind of customer service is this? What kind of company is it that puts the safety of its employees above taking my princess breakfast PS??!!! (good Choice Disney! too bad it inconveniences me, but it is the right choice)

Thank you for making me laugh. Having lived through Hurrican Andrew and currently having most of my family in the Tampa area (I am in Orlando) I have been very anxious today. I was on the Theme park board and someone seriously was upset that DTD was closed and they would have nothing to do today... I was furious that they would think that Disney should be open even though Charley was upon us. Your post made me laugh... GOOD LUCK with your PS I hope that you get it...much Pizie Dust to you

 

[thaggie]

I just called and he message was that they were not reopening until saturday morning

 

[needawdwtrip]

Since I was already up at 6:00 a.m. my time, frantically trying to get CRT ressies (to no avail), thought I would sign up to join the message boards. I went through hurricane frederick when I was a child which had about the same wind speed as Charley and from that experience they definitely made the right decision to close. It would have been nice to get those extra zzzz's this morning though.
Looks like they will be taking reservations in the morning. Tommorow morning is going to be fun with twice as many people calling for two days worth CRT slots. Wouldn't want to be the one taking those reservations!!!!
Hope all those in Disney now are getting along fine. (I'm sure glad I'm not going till November!!!!)

 

[pumpkinboy]

OK, tried again at 7am est, and no go. Kept dialling at 5 min intervals,finally got a new message at 7:18 and have been on hold an hour now. I think they probably opened up things at 7:10-7:15, so we may be screwed for 11/11 or 11/12 CRT. Apparently they are short-staffed bcs of the hurricane, so perhaps anyone who was still in the area and who wasn't underwater has come in. I will update when I get thru.

 

[binkyj826]

I have called a couple of times and each time I reach 20-30 min I have to hang up (at work right now...even though I am the only one in the office!)
As of right now I am at 24 minutes.

The sad part is I don't even WANT Cindy or PSB ressies today.....just first night dinner at Chef Mickey's.

I think they should set up a seperate "hot" line for the princess breakfasts I will be calling in a couple of days for those.

Let you know if I get through, too!

--Tammie

 

[pumpkinboy]

Almost 2 hours on hold now! Thank goodness for those free weekend cell phone minutes!

 

[binkyj826]

2 hours!
I think I am going to give up.....and try again later or tomorrow

Keep us posted on your wait time!

--Tammie

 

[needawdwtrip]

I called the reservation center at 7:12. Finally got through at 9:00 they did have some CRT table of 4's left for the 11th and several tables for the 12th. Since I already had plans at MGM (meeting several people) on the 12th I actually turned a table for 7 down, arghh!!!! Guess I'll have to try again for 13th, 14th or 15th ressies. If you're still on hold hang in there.

 

[pumpkinboy]

We got it! CRT party of 6 (so 2 tables) on 11/12 @10:20! Kind of a late breakfast, especially since we have the wine pairing at 3:30, but this could really work, and work well. He shoots, he scores! And we were only on hold for 2 hours.

Our most excellent CM, Eugenia, was surpised to see something at CRT still available by 9:12 this morning when I got thru. She told me that they are very short-staffed this morning, as many CMs could not make it in. I thanked her porfusely for the help, even before we scored CRT. And apparently, the other folks callin gin have been good-natured for the most part, despite the long waits on hold.

So, good news form this quarter, and thx to you all who sent pixie dust our way; it seems to have paid off.

Punkin'

 

[binkyj826]

I am such a sucker.....I have called in again. I figured I will just leave it on speaker phone and enjoy the music while I work.

Pumkinboy....I'm right next door to you in Waltham. It's a Small World After All.......

 

[Kaycee]

Congrats on your PS, Punkin'! I'm glad to hear that guests who are calling in are treating the CM's nicely despite the long waits. With everything that has happened in Florida in the past 24 hours, I find it amazing that they are operating as well as they are.

 

[cruise182]

i have been hold for about 1hour the music has stopped. should i still hold?

 

[binkyj826]

Makes for a boring wait