Read Dates Carefully When Booking ADRs Online

[lemonpan]

I did something dumb this morning when making an ADR. I wanted to post what I did so someone else doesn't do the same thing. As the old saying goes, "Learn from the mistakes of others, you can never live long enough to make them all yourself.”

While on the "My Itinerary" of My Disney Experience, I viewed a day for our upcoming November trip. I wanted to make an ADR for this day. So on the bottom, under where it says, "Add things to do for...", I clicked on "reserve dining."

Now this is the part that's my fault. I *assumed* that the dining page would show me the November date. So I made an ADR. The *second* I clicked reserve, I noticed that I'd made a reservation for TODAY. (9/17) EEEEEP!

Thanks to the 24-hour cancelation policy, I was unable to make a change to the reservation online. So I called Disney. Luckily a very nice cast member handled this for me, without charging me for changing a same-day reservation.

I realize this was my fault. I didn't read carefully. And I made the mistake of thinking that when I pressed "Add things to do for Monday", it was taking me to a page for my November trip---like it does when you book FP+.

I just wanted to mention this so someone else doesn't have to go through the rigmarole of calling to cancel, etc.

 

[Skywise]

I realize this was my fault. I didn't read carefully. And I made the mistake of thinking that when I pressed "Add things to do for Monday", it was taking me to a page for my November trip---like it does when you book FP+.
.

It's not all your fault, that website is horrid for any real planning (and that's probably intentional)

If it makes you feel any better, last year I booked a flight for Thanksgiving back in July to take advantage of a sale and Thanksgiving is always the third week in November... right?

No... no it's not. The sunday before my "wrong" flight I got an email from the airline telling me my trip was coming up and I'm like... ***?!

It was on SW and I was so close to Thanksgiving now that I had to buy business class. On the bright side I got a discount for it (And on the real bright side, I was able to use the express check-in lane which saved me ALOT of hassle because the line was out the door)

 

[slickpoetry]

I did something dumb this morning when making an ADR. I wanted to post what I did so someone else doesn't do the same thing. As the old saying goes, "Learn from the mistakes of others, you can never live long enough to make them all yourself.”

While on the "My Itinerary" of My Disney Experience, I viewed a day for our upcoming November trip. I wanted to make an ADR for this day. So on the bottom, under where it says, "Add things to do for...", I clicked on "reserve dining."

Now this is the part that's my fault. I *assumed* that the dining page would show me the November date. So I made an ADR. The *second* I clicked reserve, I noticed that I'd made a reservation for TODAY. (9/17) EEEEEP!

Thanks to the 24-hour cancelation policy, I was unable to make a change to the reservation online. So I called Disney. Luckily a very nice cast member handled this for me, without charging me for changing a same-day reservation.

I realize this was my fault. I didn't read carefully. And I made the mistake of thinking that when I pressed "Add things to do for Monday", it was taking me to a page for my November trip---like it does when you book FP+.

I just wanted to mention this so someone else doesn't have to go through the rigmarole of calling to cancel, etc.

I wouldn't blame you at all for this, when one clicks "Make plans for this day" its human nature to assume that you're making plans for that day. Just one more way the Disney website fails the human intuition test.

 

[Itinkso]

I wouldn't blame you at all for this, when one clicks "Make plans for this day" its human nature to assume that you're making plans for that day. Just one more way the Disney website fails the human intuition test.

Totally agree!

Especially when using the MDE app for ADRs, the My Plans section sends you directly to Dining for the specified day in your upcoming plans. If the app can be correct, why can't the website do the same?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

The website is so unnecessarily complicated it's becoming a chore to figure several days worth of a trip on it. Especially when you decide to change things.

 

[lemonpan]

It's not all your fault, that website is horrid for any real planning (and that's probably intentional)

If it makes you feel any better, last year I booked a flight for Thanksgiving back in July to take advantage of a sale and Thanksgiving is always the third week in November... right?

No... no it's not. The sunday before my "wrong" flight I got an email from the airline telling me my trip was coming up and I'm like... ***?!

It was on SW and I was so close to Thanksgiving now that I had to buy business class. On the bright side I got a discount for it (And on the real bright side, I was able to use the express check-in lane which saved me ALOT of hassle because the line was out the door)

Oh my goodness! What an experience! I can only imagine how you felt when you got the confirmation email for the wrong flight!

 

[lemonpan]

Hee. My ego is LOVING all the replies that the web site is difficult to use! That's what I thought but then I told myself that I was blaming tech when, in the end, it was me who didn't read the correct date.

And just to see if it was glitch, I logged in again. And again, when I clicked dining under "Add Things to Do..." it brought me to today and not a Nov date. Yesh.

Let's hope I don't make the same mistake twice. (Which....has been known to happen in my life.)

 

[bumbershoot]

I realize this was my fault. I didn't read carefully.

You might not have read carefully, but you DID read the info that told you that you were booking for the day you were looking at. So let's say 10% your fault, 90% Disney's for making such a horrid site.

 

[JRawkSteady]

Yeah, I've learned the hard way as well.. Now I just type the name of the place I want to eat into the search and select my dates/times that way. It seems to work for me...for now.

MDE took a lot of getting used to before figuring out all the workarounds...the one thing that has and probably will never be fixed is the horrendous load times.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Yep, been there.

I catch it when I confirm. I've learned to look carefully.

 

[reallybelle]

I had this happen as well. I called and they took care of it. She was really nice and acted like this happens a lot.

 

[stinkpickle]

I did the same thing last weekend and had to call in, because the site reset to the current date.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I can't say I have done this exact thing personally, but I have done something similar on other websites. I've also had many a CM make a mistake.

Hard to describe, but often enough, booking website ask for dates/times, then when the user has to toggle around through various choices...let's say a car rental site, airline, or maybe major brand name hotel chain.

Maybe I try to look at different car classes, play around with different flight times, or look at different room categories- or most often - try to enter a discount code.

Invariably, what often happens is that for some reason the arrival dates or arrival times change when you toggle around. They reset to some arbitrary default setting. It is VERY annoying and time consuming!

So even though I put in the correct dates/times, and didn't change them - when I go to make my final booking, the wrong dates are listed! I often find myself having to go back and re-enter ALL my information: name date, times, discount codes, etc.

It is a bit confusing with hotels in particular, because you check in on one day and check out on another. It is very easy to book a room that's 'off' by one day. You know you want to arrive 10/10/14 and check out 10/11/14....but when you see the confirmation and the date 10/11/14- you might not 'see' that it is now the arrival date.

Disney's website is guilty of this too! For years, if you tried to book a room only- the system kept trying to switch back to a package with tickets.

Even worse, many times, I've had CM's over the phone add in trip insurance without asking. They've also made mistakes with dates, names, which room I wanted, and more.

Even worse, the way packages are priced, it was very hard to compare discount offers due to opaque pricing. Disney doesn't want guests to know the difference between free dining and 30% off deals.

Then again, Universal's website was even worse.

And don't get me started on airlines! I usually fly SWA, partly because you can see all the options clearly. Many others are just deplorable. And all of them, the prices fluctuate so often...

It is tiring to use online booking!