Nightmare making ADR's

[vhartwell]

Has anyone else had trouble making their ADR's? I called this morning as soon as Disney phone lines opened. I was on the phone with the castmember for an HOUR!!!
It took her 15 minutes to find my reservation and then she couldn't find the right character meal. I asked for Mickey's BBQ around 6 or 7 pm...she then told me she had reservations for Tusker's House at 12:00 pm, was this what I wanted . NO....We did this routine for about 3 of my 8 ADR's. Finally, I was so frustrated that I took the 6 we made and I will just call back later today or tomorrow to try and get the other two she couldn't find.

I am happy that I got the following ADR's:
Cinderella Castle for Dinner
Princess lunch at Epcot
Grand Floridan Tea
Crystal Palace for dinner
Cinderella Dinner at Grand Floridan w/ the stepmother/sisters
Tuskers house for breakfast

Just need to get Lilo and Stitch's Breakfast and Mickey's BBQ..then I will have everything!!!!

Thanks for listening to me complain.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Bummer about the bad ADR experience this morning! When I called for our past Feb. trip, the CM kept trying to offer me other restaurants too and I was like, hello I'm looking for this particular restaurant not Whispering Canyon Cafe so stop trying! However, your ADR's look awesome! Good luck this afternoon then.

 

[Ghick56]

I was also on the phone for over an hour. I had 7 items to book and only got 2 of them- one at a time I didn't really want. We are going 5/31- 6/7.
I just wonder if Walk-up would be better! I know they hold some tables open.
:Yikes!

 

[moeferg]

My only trouble is actually getting the ADR's. I am going at the end of June and can't really get in anywhere....

 

[catne]

I was also on the phone for over an hour. I had 7 items to book and only got 2 of them- one at a time I didn't really want. We are going 5/31- 6/7.
I just wonder if Walk-up would be better! I know they hold some tables open.
:Yikes!

how do you know this? We've heard the check-in person tell people they do not hold any tables, if demand is there they book all seats in advance. Le Cellier is one that comes to mind...have seen very irate people stand there and argue that they know "tables are kept back" and the cast member calmly explain there's no reason for that - why should they hold tables back "just in case" when they can reserve tables for "definitely want to be there."

Now, if you're very lucky, you may call back & get a reservation later because someone just cancelled. Or you may walk-up at just the right moment when a no-show has gone past the limit they'll hold the table.

 

[goofygal531]

I was also on the phone for over an hour. I had 7 items to book and only got 2 of them- one at a time I didn't really want. We are going 5/31- 6/7.
I just wonder if Walk-up would be better! I know they hold some tables open.
:Yikes!

Not LeCellier, but I was told this for Ohanas during Thanksgiving week. A CM told me to show up at restaurant opening at 4pm. They hold a few tables open to give the staff time to get into the meal service rush. I don't know how true this is, but this is what I was told.

I also had a nightmare call for my ADRs. It took me 3 hours!! I'm not calling that number ever again!

Seriously, I cursed so much that morning that I told DH we're going to stay CL next time and let the IPO handle all the ADRs!

 

[Bree]

Mickey's Backyard BBQ is only two nights a week and they only have one seating. I know one of the days is Saturday because we have an ADR and I don't remember the other day. Thursday maybe???

 

[3prettyprincesses]

how do you know this? We've heard the check-in person tell people they do not hold any tables, if demand is there they book all seats in advance. Le Cellier is one that comes to mind...have seen very irate people stand there and argue that they know "tables are kept back" and the cast member calmly explain there's no reason for that - why should they hold tables back "just in case" when they can reserve tables for "definitely want to be there."

Now, if you're very lucky, you may call back & get a reservation later because someone just cancelled. Or you may walk-up at just the right moment when a no-show has gone past the limit they'll hold the table.

This past Feb. we were at DHS and tried a walk-up to Sci-Fi for lunch. The CM told me that every table was booked for both lunch and dinner! He then checked the 50's Prime Time Cafe for me and they had 1 more table left for lunch so I grabbed it! When we got to 50's Prime Time, they were turning people away for lunch and said to try back for early dinner, like 3:30 or 4. There were tons of annoyed people who argued with the CM's that there HAD to be extra tables but there weren't. The only reason we didn't have an ADR for that day was we decided to extend our vacation by 1 more day. Seriously, I will never go to Disney without ADR's again.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Bummer about the bad ADR experience this morning! When I called for our past Feb. trip, the CM kept trying to offer me other restaurants too and I was like, hello I'm looking for this particular restaurant not Whispering Canyon Cafe so stop trying! However, your ADR's look awesome! Good luck this afternoon then.

Yeah but I bet that does work for some people. There are probably a lot of people that don't really know the restaurants that well and will take the CMs up on their offers for other restaurants. Not me, though!

 

[MarkinNM]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRreat..........................


Why don't they just do away with teh ARD's and be like very other rest?? Meaning walk in and get on a list then wait.................

 

[GEM]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRreat..........................


Why don't they just do away with teh ARD's and be like very other rest?? Meaning walk in and get on a list then wait.................

Yikes! That sounds horrible to me! Who wants to spend their vacation sitting around waiting for meals?

 

[Ghick56]

The last time we were there was 2007- and the Concierge at Wilderness Lodge told us to try walking up to the restaurants we wanted and could not book. He said they hold some tables for people who are not staying inside the park, etc.

We tried and it worked!
However- That may have changed since then...

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I've had exactly the opposite experience making ADR's - I called at my 90 days, was on hold for 2 minutes and then made about 11 ADR's in 20 minutes.

Then I decided to add the deluxe plan, called back last Sunday (82 days before my trip) and was still able to get everything I wanted including the Princess Storybook breakfast and the California Grill for the period of June 26th to July 4th.

 

[jb01]

I learned long ago to make our ADR's as soon as possible. If nothing is available when you want call back the next day. A lot of times openings happen.

 

[catne]

Not LeCellier, but I was told this for Ohanas during Thanksgiving week. A CM told me to show up at restaurant opening at 4pm. They hold a few tables open to give the staff time to get into the meal service rush. I don't know how true this is, but this is what I was told
I also had a nightmare call for my ADRs. It took me 3 hours!! I'm not calling that number ever again!

Seriously, I cursed so much that morning that I told DH we're going to stay CL next time and let the IPO handle all the ADRs!

Yes, a few of the restaurants will do that for opening time, to allow for waiter/waitress arrival & table set-up time, but that's it...just the first 15-20 minutes or so as they transition to fully open - there will be a few open tables. If you're going during a slow time and are willing to eat that early you may get a table.

One reason the ADRs are so slow is because they are implementing a new system so still working out the quirks & CMs are still learning it. Hopefully the whole process will improve as time goes by

This past Feb. we were at DHS and tried a walk-up to Sci-Fi for lunch. The CM told me that every table was booked for both lunch and dinner! He then checked the 50's Prime Time Cafe for me and they had 1 more table left for lunch so I grabbed it! When we got to 50's Prime Time, they were turning people away for lunch and said to try back for early dinner, like 3:30 or 4. There were tons of annoyed people who argued with the CM's that there HAD to be extra tables but there weren't. The only reason we didn't have an ADR for that day was we decided to extend our vacation by 1 more day. Seriously, I will never go to Disney without ADR's again.

This scenario is much more often the rule at WDW.

Yeah but I bet that does work for some people. There are probably a lot of people that don't really know the restaurants that well and will take the CMs up on their offers for other restaurants. Not me, though!

That's part of the new system, too -- the system suggests alternatives when what you ask for is not available. The system also suggests what time you might want based on previous bookings.

 

[irunnoft]

My only trouble is actually getting the ADR's. I am going at the end of June and can't really get in anywhere....

I called at the start of ADR bookings for our upcoming June vacation and I got a CM whose computer went down. I was surprisingly on hold for about ten or fifteen minutes right when phone lines opened. After I got the CM whose computer crashed (I found out later he could've transfered me), it took me exactly one hour and ten minutes on hold to get through again. I thought I was going to have an anurism and I'm pretty sure I developed turrets while waiting! LOL!

Surprisingly, I was able to book the following ADRs (all lunches around noon and all dinners around 6'ish:

June 14th: Mama Melrose's (dinner)
June 15th: Le Cellier (lunch); Jiko (dinner)
June 16th: Liberty Tree Tavern (lunch); Tepan Edo (dinner)
June 17th: Yak & Yeti (lunch); Brown Derby (dinner)
June 18th: Whispering Canyon (lunch); Hoop Dee Doo Revue (dinner)
June 19th: Brown Derby (lunch); California Grill (dinner)
June 20th: 50's Prime Time Cafe (lunch); Aloha Polynesian Luau (dinner)
June 21st: Le Cellier (lunch); California Grill (dinner)
June 22nd: Coral Reef (lunch); California Grill (dinner)
June 23rd: Kona Cafe (dinner)

We added a day on to the beginning of the trip and we were going to use more developer points to extend our trip beyond the 23rd, but I found that there were almost no ADRs to be had. I don't know what's going on during the middle/end of June, but ADRs seem to have evaporated.

BTW, this will be the first time we will use the Deluxe Dining Plan. I think I'll start eating nothing but cereal now so I can put all this food away without exploding!

 

[sherabby]

One hour. I was on for a total of 2 hours back on March 23rd for my 90 day ADR date. Well technically my phone bill said 119 minutes total!
I did get where we wanted but the times are not what we wanted. One day we have to have dinner at 4pm.

 

[Jen-N-Troy]

I cancelled my mickeys backyard BBq this morning it was on Sat.July 11th at 630pm. Maybe it is still there. I called around 1030
I actually did my adrs yesterday morning and got everything I wanted and was on the phone no more than 20min, that was adr for 7days.

Now this morning I wanted to add the Plaza only the Plaze, well I got it but it took me an hour to do it. WHY????

 

[mom2rtk]

I keep reading about the problem with the new computer system, and am hopeful that they will be worked out by the time I make my ADR's in June. But then I also hear about them implementing online booking before then. I can't even imagine why they would want to finally learn one system, only to jump right into another.........

 

[catne]

I keep reading about the problem with the new computer system, and am hopeful that they will be worked out by the time I make my ADR's in June. But then I also hear about them implementing online booking before then. I can't even imagine why they would want to finally learn one system, only to jump right into another.........

it would not be learning another system. The rumor is that it's all part of the new online system so the CMs are learning it & the computer guys are working out the bugs. Once all the bugs are worked out (and the CMs are all trained) then the online system will be rolled out to the public...so it will be new to us, not them.

Course, there are some that have posted there is no "online" system coming for the general public...that press releases have been misinterpreted. So we'll just have to wait & see!