Online Dining Reservations Now Available

[pilferk]

They know about the problem. If you have a suggestion as to what is the problem please let me know i can pass it on. I am talking to Reservations and Food and Beverage which in turn is working with Tech. While DVC can complain about the situation, they are not the ones to fix it.

Given what we've seen from the error messages, this is what we've found:

If you input a valid ressie number, with a "wrong" phone number, you get this error message:

The reservation(s) you were trying to retrieve cannot be found. Please check that the information you provided is correct.

If you input a "bogus" ressie number (right number of digits, but "made up"), you get this error message:

The reservation(s) you were trying to retrieve cannot be found. Please check that youve entered the correct confirmation number and the phone number you provided when making the reservation.

If you input a DVC ressie number, and your phone number, you get this error message:

The reservation(s) you were trying to retrieve cannot be found. Please check that the information you provided is correct.

It seems like the system recognizes that the DVC ressie is valid, but is erroring out on the call to the control for some other reason. My suspicion is that error out might be related to the way the phone number is being stored in their back end, and it not matching the phone number passed to it via the control....maybe something with the downstream from the DVC ressie system to the ADR system.

Now, obviously I can't test that with the limited ability to look at the system, and it's a non-standard testing method at best, but it's something they should probably look at.

 

[pilferk]

I just tried ours again...still not working.

Another update:

My wife talked to 3 more levels of supervisors...and ran into a lot of customer service circle speak. FINALLY she got a lead who was sympathetic to the issue. However, she also said that her info was that the online system was not "available" until 7 AM...regardless of what we'd seen or hear, she was CERTAIN her info was correct.

My wife offered (and she agreed) to get up at 6 AM and make a ressie, forward her the email to prove that it was made prior to 7 AM, and show her that her info was correct. It won't much help us tomorrow, but the lead is going to call us back at 9 AM tomorrow, when DVC opens.

I realize they aren't really responsible for the ADR system, but the fact is that MS is there to deal with member issues, and this IS one. I also realize that Disney's corporate communication seemingly stinks..but they're going to have to ramp up efforts. The information we've been given has been deplorably wrong, right from the get go.

 

[pilferk]

Success/Confirmation!!

We just got off the phone with Disney Dining....which I should have thought of long ago.

They looked at our reservation # in the ADR system and, sure enough, NO phone number associated with the reservation number. Field is blank in their system.

She updated the record and saved it, but isn't sure when (or even if) it will really update. I'll let you all know tomorrow morning when we try at 6 AM.

Here's hoping it works....

 

[winnapooh]

Success/Confirmation!!

We just got off the phone with Disney Dining....which I should have thought of long ago.

They looked at our reservation # in the ADR system and, sure enough, NO phone number associated with the reservation number. Field is blank in their system.

She updated the record and saved it, but isn't sure when (or even if) it will really update. I'll let you all know tomorrow morning when we try at 6 AM.

Here's hoping it works....

Sounds promising! I hope it works for you!

I think I'll be calling Disney Dining tomorrow to check on our account. Thanks for all your investigative work!

 

[Crystal_27]

Success/Confirmation!!

We just got off the phone with Disney Dining....which I should have thought of long ago.

They looked at our reservation # in the ADR system and, sure enough, NO phone number associated with the reservation number. Field is blank in their system.

She updated the record and saved it, but isn't sure when (or even if) it will really update. I'll let you all know tomorrow morning when we try at 6 AM.

Here's hoping it works....

Ah ha - - finally a solution that actually makes sense!! I hope, hope, hope that you guys were able to get your ADRs this morning. With all the work that you've put into this for us, you're due for some major Pixie Dust!!

 

[ransom]

Good thought, Pilferk! Here's hoping it works.

 

[Cricket2]

...and?

 

[winnapooh]

Success/Confirmation!!

We just got off the phone with Disney Dining....which I should have thought of long ago.

They looked at our reservation # in the ADR system and, sure enough, NO phone number associated with the reservation number. Field is blank in their system.

She updated the record and saved it, but isn't sure when (or even if) it will really update. I'll let you all know tomorrow morning when we try at 6 AM.

Here's hoping it works....

I was jut reading the other thread (http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2205963&page=42)...he said it still didn't work.

 

[pilferk]

Sorry...updated one thread but didn't make it over here. My travel was cut short (rainout) so, I'm back.

The bad news is: The ressie still was not pulling up on line this morning...but at least we (and Disney IT...we made sure..my wife talked to the DVC lead again this morning) have a good idea as to why.

The GOOD news is: We got everything we wanted for VERY close (within 15 min) to the times we wanted. Everything....including a Le Cellier dinner, Princess breakfast, and Chef Mickey's breakfast...for a party of 7!

As I mentioned, my wife talked to the DVC lead this morning, who called to make sure we got everything we wanted....I don't know what she would have done if we hadn't, though. She also confirmed she got my wife's email, showing the system does, indeed, allow adr's to be made prior to 7 AM. She was taking that, and the info we passed along concerning phone number attached to the ressies, and was going to directly pass it along to IT. We'll see how much good it does...

 

[Tiger926]

Thanks pilferk for all of your hard work! I normally do this sort of stuff, as I'm known as a consumer advocate around here, but it's the last week of school and I've had graduation, student exams, meetings, etc., so no time for Disboards this week!

Just to let you know, I made an online ADR within 1hour of it coming online, and then called MS to let them know that there were issues with our DVC numbers. I actually tried to add spaces or dashes with my phone number, but it wouldn't let me. I specifically mentioned that perhaps they didn't transfer the numbers properly or phone numbers or other personal info missing, and she was typing out a memo to send to the tech team (I heard her typing).

I figured this might be an issue because when I went into my celebration info from DVCmember.com, the Disney site had us listed for one of my ressies (we always do split stays) as 3 adults and 1 child, instead it's 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant. MS checked their entire system, and we went over all info: party size, names and dining plans and of course, MS system was totally correct, but somehow in the transfer, there was a glitch. She said it wasn't a big deal, and when I checked last night as I had one more ADR to make, it had been corrected. As of last night though, I still couldn't get my ressie number to work either. Hopefully, due to your hard work and persistence, it will be fixed soon!

I thank you and your wife for your hard work. Good job! Tiger

 

[TyGuy]

What phone number does MS associate with a reservation? I booked our first DVC trip for December but I don't remember if they asked for a phone number. Whenever I use to book through CRO they pulled up our "file" which had all of our information including our phone number in it.

Also, slightly OT, but can you pull up your DVC reservation on My Disney Vacation?

 

[pilferk]

What phone number does MS associate with a reservation? I booked our first DVC trip for December but I don't remember if they asked for a phone number. Whenever I use to book through CRO they pulled up our "file" which had all of our information including our phone number in it.

Good question. The CM at Disney Dining said that it's hit or miss....MS is supposed to associate your member main home phone with the ressie, but sometimes doesn't. They just use zip code and skip phone #...the tech in the system apparently only forces you to enter one or the other. But the Dining CM also said that she's seeing it FAR too often for her to think it's JUST that.....she suspects there is some sort of glitch in the transfer over of info. Most of the time the field is completely blank for DVC ressies. Occasionally, the number is garbled, and at other times it's right (which accounts for the small # of members we've seen report, like ransom, they can pull up their ressie on line).

When my wife talked to the lead at MS, this morning, she pulled our ressie and said that she COULD see our phone number on their system, attached to the ressie. Now, I don't know how MS system works...it might bring up the member profile and demo with the ressie, rather than what's exactly stored on the ressie, itself. I don't know....

 

[n2mm]

Keep in mind that sometimes I see folks put in the phone number with no dashes and sometimes with dashes and people report it works both ways, so if you put in a phone try the dashes, then try without them. I can't get any of my DVC reservations to pull up at all and I have 5 of them for the rest of 2009. I can get my cash non-DVC reservation to pull up.

 

[vladimir10]

Keep in mind that sometimes I see folks put in the phone number with no dashes and sometimes with dashes and people report it works both ways, so if you put in a phone try the dashes, then try without them. I can't get any of my DVC reservations to pull up at all and I have 5 of them for the rest of 2009. I can get my cash non-DVC reservation to pull up.

So far, I have tried dashes, no dahes, () and dash, even *, but nothing
oh well

 

[Iris]

I am also trying with and without dashes and nothing.

I did speak with a CM from Dining and they said that they did not have a phone number associated with my reservation number at all. I am going to contact MS to see if they can update the reservation information and maybe it might work....not counting on it.

 

[pilferk]

Keep in mind that sometimes I see folks put in the phone number with no dashes and sometimes with dashes and people report it works both ways, so if you put in a phone try the dashes, then try without them. I can't get any of my DVC reservations to pull up at all and I have 5 of them for the rest of 2009. I can get my cash non-DVC reservation to pull up.

I've tried every combo I can think of...with dashes, without dashes, with (), without(), chopping off digits to take into account the special characters (just in case that's the transfer issue) and with no phone # at all.

No luck. I spent about 2 hours messing with different combos and monitoring the error messages yesterday. I'm confident this isn't a "user input" issue...it's an issue with the back end database. Either the phone number isn't populating right, not populating at all, or the control on the web page is passing "weird" stuff and it's not matching what's in their database. I SUSPECT it's that there is no phone number in that field, for DVC ressies, for some reason or other.

 

[pilferk]

I am also trying with and without dashes and nothing.

I did speak with a CM from Dining and they said that they did not have a phone number associated with my reservation number at all. I am going to contact MS to see if they can update the reservation information and maybe it might work....not counting on it.

That's precisely what we found out about 9:55 PM eastern last night...after I'd deduced it was the phone number causing the problem. I thought of it around 9:45...call Disney Dining to see if they have any phone number associated with the ressie...if they did, and it was wrong, we'd try the "wrong" info they had. Come to find out..there was nothing at all. And I suspect that, ultimately, that's the problem we're all running into.

 

[Sammie]

I SUSPECT it's that there is no phone number in that field, for DVC ressies, for some reason or other.

I have a feeling this is the problem, too. I think MS's system is DVC membership number based and Disney Reservations system is a system that is phone number based.

I simply think that our DVC reservations do not have a particular phone number associated with them.

 

[Wilson.dvc]

Have a split stay in August and the online dining system recognized one of my DVC reservations but not the other.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

but I play one on TV. Anyway, I've been following this thread because I've rented points for a stay at BCV in October. My 90 day mark is approaching, and I wanted to see if I'd be able to make any online ressies. For the past two days, I've gotten the same message as others when trying to retrieve my reservation.

Since I've read that others have reported the problem, I just tried again, just for the heck of it. Well, miracle of miracles, it retrieved my reservation! I didn't input anything differently than before, so maybe there has been a fix.

I'm not sure that making online ressies will be a lot faster than the phone, because you have to put in your party info EVERY time. I've always been able to book the places and times we've wanted when going in October, but I'm worried this year. Seems like many can't get into the more popular places.