Making ADR Thread - hold times, IT vents, and general whine!

[rodeo65]

A note on the Fantasmic! packages. I called March 23 exactly our 90 day ADR date, at 6:59:25, was on hold for four minutes and got an outstanding CM named Scarlet who was very polite and professional. I was able to get everything I wanted within 15 minutes of when I wanted except for Le Cellier and F! pkg. Le Cellier I could get for dinner but a little too late for our kids, so we took Tutto Italia instead - really just as happy with that.

For Fantasmic, she could not find anything the entire 9 days of our stay, at any time for either Mama Melrose (the one we wanted) or H&V. I could have taken Brown Derby for the date we wanted but did not want to spend 2TS credits on it. I re-thought that about an hour later figuring I could always look for a cancellation or drop it later, and called back, waiting about 40 minutes on hold but it was gone.

I then called exactly 90 days from the date I wanted the ADR, which was March 27 - again at 6:59:25. This time the system gave me an estimated wait time, new feature since five days earlier, of six minutes. Exactly six minutes later I was connected to another excellent CM named Oriel (I wonder if I should have written down Ariel??) who found me a H&V + F! for the date we wanted. It is kind of early at 3:20 but that's ok - I just wanted that show pkg for DS. We'll eat early, go do some stuff when everyone else is eating at "normal" dinner times and use a snack credit for before the show.

Anyone who is having trouble getting what they want 90+10, try calling back on exactly the 90 day from when you want it and see if that works. I really wonder if they hold some tables for each ADR 90 day otherwise popular ones could all be gone early in anyones vacation depending on whose +10 they run into.

Good luck and pixie dust to everyone still trying!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Can someone explain to me the logic behind not allowing reservations for a party of 5 at a table of 6?!? It's the dumbest math I have EVER HEARD!!!!

I know Disney is aching for people to spend money down there... How could they deny a reservation?!?

 

[blissventure]

Can someone explain to me the logic behind not allowing reservations for a party of 5 at a table of 6?!? It's the dumbest math I have EVER HEARD!!!!

I know Disney is aching for people to spend money down there... How could they deny a reservation?!?

Didn't your Aunt Matilda say she might join you for dinner? Maybe you should make the reservations for 6 just in case. If she doesn't show, oh, well.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Okay... there is hope. I was really nervous because my hold time was soooo long. Anyways... we got in for all the restaurants we wanted after a 61 minute wait. I even got reservations at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for my girls before our CRT dinner. I got Hollywood Brown Derby on the Fantasmic package for 7/5. All of our dining times were between 5 pm and 6 pm. I made reservations everyday for over 9 day stay.

The CM was great. I do like the process now because you make all the reservations before getting the ADR #... The process seems a bit smoother. I did not like the hold time, thought.

 

[CoffeeCup]

Since I criticized Disney in an earlier comment, I just want to emphasize ... In no way are the persons answering the phones responsible for these problems. I really, really sympathize with you and the other poor CMs who are stuck having to deal with angry customers. In fact, I imagine these CMs are at least as upset about this as the customers. They've been trying to do their job as best they can under the circumstances, but since they are the face/voice of the company to the people calling, they get to hear all the complaints.

If we (the customers) can make a point to be extra nice to the people answering the phones, I'd bet that we would get exceptionally nice service from that grateful person right now.

Then after hanging up we can write an angry letter to the management about their ADR system (NOT the poor CM).

I agree completely that the CMs are not to blame, and I was extremely nice when I made my dining reservations a few weeks ago. I didn't complain about the time I had spent on hold, and I was friendly and cheerful. Unfortunately, I did not get exceptionally nice service, and it was adequate, at best.

I later did write an e-mail to Guest Services expressing my frustration and disappointment with the time it took for me to make my reservations. I received an automatic reply saying they had received my e-mail. A few hours later, I received a failure notice saying I had sent the e-mail to an unknown address???? Strange, since I had received the automatic reply saying they did receive it. A week or so later they did reply to my complaint, but the reply was to another person's complaint, not mine. It was sent to my e-mail address, but it was to another lady who had complained about things that happened during an earlier trip. So don't expect a response to your angry e-mail unless maybe you are interested in reading a response to someone else's problems. Guest services definitely isn't what it used to be. Not only is there no pixie dust; there's no effort to address the complaints and concerns of guests. We are fortunate enough to be able to take at least 2 nice vacations every year, and we have gone to DW once very year or two for many years. We love Disney World, but the trip we have planned for June will be our last one for a long time. We'll go places that appreciate us as customers, and Disney World no longer seems to do that.