So, is it just me, or isn't the 90 day thing working well?

[DVC~OKW~96]

Ugh. I'm so over trying to make ADRs at Disney. I called today to try and make an ADR for the wife's birthday. Some of her family will be here in preparation for the cruise, so I thought it would be nice for those of us who are here to have a birthday dinner for her.

Nope. Nope. And Nope again. I finally told the CM that we'd simply do off property. Not her fault at all of course, but it's pretty darn ridiculous when 90 days out you can't get an ADR for 6 people and one kid.

Maybe there will be room for us at Manuel's on 28th.

 

[OrlandoMike]

May I suggest Bonefish for a great meal?


The Management Team and Staff at Harvey’s Bistro Downtown and Manuel on the 28th would like thank our loyal Guests for their patronage over the past 15 plus years. It is very unfortunate that we were unable to reach a lease agreement with the Bank of America’s Building management and were forced to cease operations against our wishes.

 

[ConcKahuna]

It's the new system. Disney just swapped to a new booking system on Tuesday, and a lot of the restaurants don't know how to load the availability yet. Keep trying and the tables will get loaded soon (hopefully)

 

[OrlandoMike]

We had to run manually all night last night! It was a fun thing to watch.

Everyone under the age of 30 was lost without a computer to help.

The old timers were like "Party of 4? Follow me!"

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

I was only kidding about Manuel's O'Mike, but that's really too bad!

Not sure what you mean ConcK, but I'll give it another try.

Bonefish. My wife's mother won't eat there because of the name.

We wanted a resort character meal because of the little one that will be with us. That, and my wife's family has to be the single most fussiest group of people to try and feed, ever! A buffet is about the only real solution.

And no, we aren't going to Golden Corral.

 

[SeattleRedBear]

We had to run manually all night last night! It was a fun thing to watch.

Everyone under the age of 30 was lost without a computer to help.

The old timers were like "Party of 4? Follow me!"

That's hysterical. Just like when our library catalog goes down and one of the old-school reference desk types starts in with "Dogs? That'll be 636.7...second and third shelves back in the corner. Are you interested in a specific breed?"

Mike -- Any idea when the new system will be available to the public?

 

[rosiep]

Sorry you're having trouble with your ADR's

I know it's not a character mel but I really like Cape May's buffet dinner. My Mom's super fussy and she liked it as well.

My ADR window is in two weeks! I hope things have gotten settled by then.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I hope you are able to book something nice!

I HATE HATE HATE the 90 day booking window. HATE IT!
This year I am lucky that we are staying concierge at AKV for the bulk of our trip so they made my ADRs. Next year I fear we will eat counter service for 14 nights.

You might try calling Member Services to see if they have any better luck.

We decided the other day to save US/IOA for 2010 and just do all WDW this year. I called Member Services to see if we could flip to Kidani for a few nights (we can't) but I was able to book Cali Grill for dinner at 65 days out.

Are you going during free dining? That seems to complicate things even further.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Thanks Rosie.

We like Cape May, but the rest of the family who will be with us don't. That's part of the problem, they have such restricted preferences there aren't too many places that will suit us all as a group. My wife and I love all sorts of food, but it's the group thing, ya' know. Plus, the she wanted a character meal for the baby.

'girl, I'm not sure if free dining is on, but I think it may be. I hate, loathe and despise free dining. And yes, we tried it once and had a miserable time with it. We'll never do it again (we paid for ours of course... )! It has done nothing but reduce the quality of food, wear the servers to the bone, which reduces the quality of service, and make it impossible to do spontaneous dining.

We used to walk at EPCOT every Friday after work. Almost every Friday we'd pick another EPCOT area restaurant and walk up and have dinner. We haven't been able to do that in roughly two years now. Ugh.

So, all this moaning to say that I miss the "old days" at Disney where we could get what we wanted when we wanted it!

 

[MonorailMan]

I say try either making a reservation the morning of or just walk up and see if they have a table for you. Both worked for me on my last trip.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I hear you! We had "free" dining in 2007. Even with appetizers and tips included we didn't save that much money, and trying to figure how much we actually SAVED was skewed by how much extra food we ordered just because it was included.

Our DS13 eats NOTHING, so paying adult dining prices for him is asinine. Better to use the DDE and let him order from the kid's menu. He won't even finish a kid's entree. We will do a couple of buffets, where he will eat a waffle and a handful of grapes, but other than that we will stick to TS places with menus.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

MM we've not had success with walkups in two years. The last time the family was out here (a few months ago) we tried, and never got in anywhere. Part of the problem too is that the family remembers the days of walkups and just won't recognize that if they want full service you have to do ADRs.

Plus, it's a birthday dinner and I can't have it fall through on a walkup. Kinda hard to walkup with 7 anyway, ya' know?

We have DDE/TIW too, 'girl. Even with the changes to that it's still a good deal. Interesting how WDW dropped the gratuity from the DDP but added it to the DDE/TIW. We always tip on the full amount, so no big deal but it was interesting.

 

[OrlandoMike]

Interesting how WDW dropped the gratuity from the DDP but added it to the DDE/TIW. We always tip on the full amount, so no big deal but it was interesting.

Have ya sat down and thought about that one?

Who WAS paying the grat on DDP.....Disney!

Who IS paying the grat on DDE/TIW?

YOU!

Gotta love Disney accountants!

 

[jenn&nelsonrego]

Does anyone find that the DDE is a better value than the DDP?

I have thought about dropping DDP this year and getting DDE...

 

[rpmdfw]

Does anyone find that the DDE is a better value than the DDP?

I have thought about dropping DDP this year and getting DDE...

You have to be a Florida resident or an Annual Passholder to get the DDE (now called "Tables in Wonderland" -- the lamest name in the history of lameness).

I'd say if you're just vacationing at WDW once a year the DDE isn't a good value.

 

[jenn&nelsonrego]

You have to be a Florida resident or an Annual Passholder to get the DDE (now called "Tables in Wonderland" -- the lamest name in the history of lameness).

I'd say if you're just vacationing at WDW once a year the DDE isn't a good value.

I must have the name of the program wrong then. Isn't there a dining program for AP holders?

HAHA! Never mind. Just spotted that part of your reply.. We are AP holders....

 

[rpmdfw]

I must have the name of the program wrong then. Isn't there a dining program for AP holders?

Um, yeah. It's the DDE/Tables in Wonderland card.

In the above I mentioned that it's only available to Florida residents and/or Annual Passholders.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Yep, O'Mike the trickiness of that change wasn't lost on us.

We always tip 20% though and the DDE/TIW only does 18%. We always tipped on the full (pre discount price at 20%) amount but have been told that so many people didn't tip at all, or tipped on the discounted price that the servers were getting ripped off.

Not sure about that, but at any rate it can still be a good value. IF you can get in to eat. When we first started getting DDE it was great. Walk up plus the discount on food and beverage. The first year was from hell though. No one knew how to use it and we ended up carrying the papers that came with the card to show the managers of the restaurants. We always ended up in an argument. Put us off the card, but we gave it another chance. Got a bit better the second year...

Not sure if we'll continue to get it though since we can't use it nearly as much as we used to.

 

[rpmdfw]

Yep, O'Mike the trickiness of that change wasn't lost on us.

We always tip 20% though and the DDE/TIW only does 18%. We always tipped on the full (pre discount price at 20%) amount but have been told that so many people didn't tip at all, or tipped on the discounted price that the servers were getting ripped off.

Not sure about that, but at any rate it can still be a good value. IF you can get in to eat. When we first started getting DDE it was great. Walk up plus the discount on food and beverage. The first year was from hell though. No one knew how to use it and we ended up carrying the papers that came with the card to show the managers of the restaurants. We always ended up in an argument. Put us off the card, but we gave it another chance. Got a bit better the second year...

Not sure if we'll continue to get it though since we can't use it nearly as much as we used to.

Plus it costs so much more than it used to!

We also tipped the full 20% on the pre-discount price. So in effect, them adding the auto-grat means we're tipping less. (unless the service is exceptional, which happens in only a few places these days)

 

[jenn&nelsonrego]

Um, yeah. It's the DDE/Tables in Wonderland card.

In the above I mentioned that it's only available to Florida residents and/or Annual Passholders.

Hey! I am blond again! I have an excuse for being this ditsy!