No longer able to make dining reservations over the phone?

Everyone is so worried about when things go wrong - there is nothing anywhere that says you can't call if things aren't working correctly for you or you are having any kind of issues. They would expect you to call for issues and that's why they are there. They don't want you to call just for the sake of calling when you are perfectly able to make the same reservations online.

They just mean they want you to attempt to make your reservations online first, then if you have a problem, call. I stand by my opinion of that is a perfectly reasonable expectation on the part of Disney.

Yeah I mean you can still call if you have problems so really nothing has really changed all that much. The vast number of dining reservations can be made online without problems. If you have problems, then call. It's that simple. We are making this harder than it needs to be.
 
Yeah I mean you can still call if you have problems so really nothing has really changed all that much. The vast number of dining reservations can be made online without problems. If you have problems, then call. It's that simple. We are making this harder than it needs to be.

(the boled) Such a simple and true statement which can be applied to so many life scenarios! :)
 
I am not sure when it started, but I've been able to do it the last few years. Swan and Dolphin operates more like "on-property" in many ways. We like it because we can use Marriott points to stay there, and still get most "on-property" benefits. There is no Magical Express though :(
Is that a new policy? I though at the Swan and Dolphin you were just allowed to book one day at a time like other off property resorts.
 
I hope they fix the issue where it won’t allow me to book an ADR for one person, but will allow me to book for two. It’s always such a hassle to either have to go back in and modify the ADR or have to explain to the restaurant when it won’t let me modify. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect to be able to book the correct party size the first time.

I prefer booking online, when it works . . .
I ran into this issue again on my trip this week. I was trying to book Boma and put in 1 person. The only time available was 8:20 pm, which is too late for me. I played around a bit and put in 2 people and all of a sudden, all of these times became available. I booked the time that I wanted for 2 and then it let me modify it to 1 person. They really need to fix that.
 


With a family of 5, I have found no availability until I add a phantom 6th person and, suddenly, reservations show up.

I'm sure this is a way to maximize restaurant usage as you want every seat filled and you are willing to reject a party of 5 so you can get a party of 6.
 
I am not sure when it started, but I've been able to do it the last few years. Swan and Dolphin operates more like "on-property" in many ways. We like it because we can use Marriott points to stay there, and still get most "on-property" benefits. There is no Magical Express though :(
Or dining plan.
 
2 more reasons, other than them charging for dinner shows and CRT when Im on the dining plan, that I thought of...

1) I dont like saving my CC info into any site, so I need to enter it each time I make a reservatons. In my case, with 12ish day trips on the DxDDP, that is about 24 - 26 reservations.

2) We cant add any special occasion meal on the website.
 


With a family of 5, I have found no availability until I add a phantom 6th person and, suddenly, reservations show up.

I'm sure this is a way to maximize restaurant usage as you want every seat filled and you are willing to reject a party of 5 so you can get a party of 6.
I don't think it's some sort of revenue enhancer. I believe it's more their wacky computer system. The Disney booking system seems to regularly prefer even numbered parties. 99% of their restaurant tables have an even number of seats. It's no big deal. A party of 5 will be seated at a 6 top anyway. Book for 6 and call it a day.
 
2 more reasons, other than them charging for dinner shows and CRT when Im on the dining plan, that I thought of...

1) I dont like saving my CC info into any site, so I need to enter it each time I make a reservatons. In my case, with 12ish day trips on the DxDDP, that is about 24 - 26 reservations.

2) We cant add any special occasion meal on the website.

1. - unfortunately that's your issue, not a Disney issue. I personally don't think that would be a valid reason to call, but I'm sure they'll help you if you choose to.

2. - then you would call and they would add for you.
 
My only issue (if you want to call it that) is that it will make online booking a little more challenging due to increased competition. Before, anyone who booked online or via the app had a 1 hour advantage over callers. Now everyone will be using online. Ultimately, I never understood calling to book ADRs. I get that some people like it because it's a chance to talk to some cheery Disney people, but any time I have to do anything by phone with Disney, it seems to take significantly longer than doing it online. I was also always told that they used the same system, so anything that magically appeared while you're on the phone should have also showed up online at the time of your call. Plus, if I was stalking for a hard to get ADR, I can check the website a lot more than I can call.
 
Ultimately, I never understood calling to book ADRs

My main reason is to not be charged $1000+ for booking CRT, HDDR, SoA (and BBQ before it closed) when I am on the DxDDP.

But, this past trip was the first time I went to WDW over my birthday and it was nice to add the special occasion to my Brown Derby reservation, only doable over the phone.
 
In my experience MDE won’t let you hold two dining reservations for the same time for the same person. This may be controversial, but to get around this I’ve made a dining reservation on the app, and then called Disney to make a second reservation for a different restaurant but at the same time as the first. I’ve done this when my party hasn’t made a final decision about plans (and I always cancel the reservation I don’t use). Anyway, if you can only make reservations on MDE, then having concurrent reservations will be hard to do.
 
In my experience MDE won’t let you hold two dining reservations for the same time for the same person. This may be controversial, but to get around this I’ve made a dining reservation on the app, and then called Disney to make a second reservation for a different restaurant but at the same time as the first. I’ve done this when my party hasn’t made a final decision about plans (and I always cancel the reservation I don’t use). Anyway, if you can only make reservations on MDE, then having concurrent reservations will be hard to do.

When you make the first reservation, you change the lead to someone else in your party.
 
1. - unfortunately that's your issue, not a Disney issue. I personally don't think that would be a valid reason to call, but I'm sure they'll help you if you choose to.
Totally agree here. On both accounts. Its not a valid reason to call, and i doubt they'd be able to help @DISNEY1975 cause imagine if everyone who shared that same fear had called disney for ADR bookings? It just wouldnt fly. Unfortunately there's no other way around it. The cc info has to be stored i suppose.
 
Undoubtedly use of the internet for making restaurant reservations is far more convenient and easier to do than calling to make the reservations. In the old days, when I always had to call and set up 6 reservations for a weekly trip, I would call the Disney dine number and with wait times and then time to go through and confirm each reservation, it usually took an excruciatingly long 8-10 minutes to get the 6 reservations. Today, with the convenient and excellent online system where you go through several pages for each reservation including a legal disclaimer section, I can easily do the same 6 reservations in no more than an hour. or an hour and a half at most. It is just amazing how much the internet has improved the situation.
 
Everyone is so worried about when things go wrong - there is nothing anywhere that says you can't call if things aren't working correctly for you or you are having any kind of issues. They would expect you to call for issues and that's why they are there. They don't want you to call just for the sake of calling when you are perfectly able to make the same reservations online.

They just mean they want you to attempt to make your reservations online first, then if you have a problem, call. I stand by my opinion of that is a perfectly reasonable expectation on the part of Disney.
It is really weird how passionate you are about people not calling to make dining reservations.
 
It is really weird how passionate you are about people not calling to make dining reservations.

Why thank you! It's good to have a mission in life and gosh darn it people will make their Disney ADRs online!!!

Vote for me in 2020!
 

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