From what I understand they have cut back on the number of CM's that assist Club Level guests and now a call center is handling everything. It's just another one of those patented, Disney,
"Pay more and get less" moves. It's the new Disney don't ya know! Pretty soon they'll be an Up-Charge for clean towels and toilet paper in your hotel room. The first roll is FREE but you better hope that last guest didn't get you to the end of the roll that's on the holder... I'm also wondering if Disney is planing on making it an additional charge for the hot tub to actually be hot.
Go with God on those call center attempts. At least you have the knowledge base to do it yourself. As for ADR's, large groups (say like over 6 people) are a problem... so when you are making your reservations
be sure to make them right on your 180 day mark. The system will choke on those large groups so split up your party depending upon the location. Making your ADR's as soon as your window opens gives you the best chance for getting everyone in to the restaurant that you want to dine at and close to the same time.
For example at 180 days you try to do an online ADR at LeCellier and you have 14 people that want to go.
*(
if you call, the call center will only be looking at the same info that you have on your computer screen, so don't bother as there is no pixie dust to be found by
calling to make an ADR. In fact you may even know more about how this process works and why than that agent staring at a computer screen.)
Now back to our example: Well, LeCellier isn't that kind of a large group restaurant. I think their largest table holds 8 and there might only be 2 or 3 of them in the whole restaurant. So the reservation system will choke and say that no tables are available... only they ARE but in smaller numbers like a 4 top... and that's IF Le Cellier has been loaded into the system because sometimes Disney doesn't load their restaurants at that 180 date mark. Trust me, they are a real PITA about that...
So you get online at 180 days
first thing in the morning and start to plug in your guest numbers into your reservation. Start with your largest number and work your way down until the system will take you. 14 is rejected as
no tables available so try entering... let's say two tables of 4 and one table of 6. You might even have to go as low as three tables of 4 and one table for two. ***Only
YOU can't enter more than 1 table....
Now here is the bad news... Disney will only let you make one reservation, for a time of the day, per person. So if you needed two tables of 4 and one table of 6 that would be THREE tables total and 3 people would each have to make a reservation.
At this point you'll want to load the bazooka and take out the genius who got rid of the Grand Gatherings reservation system. Come to think of it, trying to make ADR's for large groups is such a train wreck it's no wonder they did away with the grand gatherings offering. I'm sure things just got to the point where the Grand gatherings planners would just steer people to the few restaurants that could accommodate large numbers in a group, like San Angel Inn or Nine Dragons.
So what is going to happen is that you and two other friends in your traveling party are going to have to get their act together and coordinate a time and place in your plan where they know
which restaurant to make the reservation in, at the same time as everybody else and
for the number of people in their Family units. AND they are doing this at the 180 day ADR mark.
*(You plus 2 friends = the three tables you will need for that restaurant because Disney only lets you book one table at a time)
Are we having fun yet??
Some restaurants will be able to book the larger numbers, others not so much. I have no idea which ones are like that, but I know LeCellier the best since it's my favorite, so that's why I used it as my small table numbers example...
PRO TIP: to check to see if the particular restaurant you want is loaded in the system and ready to make reservations, try entering in the numbers of 2 or 4 for the number of guests. If you are booking on the day that your 180 day window opens and no tables for 2 or 4 are available for anywhere near your TIME then that is telling you that the system has not been loaded with the reservation slots for that time period. HA HA! You are the lucky winner that gets to keep chasing that reservation loading date. Spin the wheel and see when it will be... is it today? Waa Waa, try again tomorrow and repeat ad nauseam until it shows up.
PRO TIP: bring lots of ammunition for that bazooka because you are going to want to use it a lot as you are trying to make plans.
Reminder: as long as one person shows up for a dining reservation you will not be charged for skipping out on your ADR. Disney is also fairly lax about last minute ADR cancellations as long as you inform them that you won't be coming BEFORE your arrival time. Otherwise it's the financial penalty for you who made the reservation if nobody shows up!
So the two main problems with large party ADR's is that A) some restaurants
aren't set up to make reservations like that and B) Sometimes it can take MONTHS for the reservation slots to be loaded in the computer.
I had a situation where my group was trying to get into Whispering Canyon Restaurant. At 180 days nothing showed up... not a 4 top table or even a two top. All the people that were on watch to make ADR's kept checking and checking, all to no avail. This went on for months... Finally we sent a guy OVER to the restaurant to to SPEAK with the MANAGER and the manager told him that all the reservations were taken. We were like WTH! That couldn't be right.... and it wasn't. That MANAGER was a complete nincompoop. You would think that if we sent a guy over to inquire about the problem the manager would take the time to help him out... but NO... that lazy jerk just blew him off.
But we kept trying... and eventually Disney loaded the reservations into the system so we FINALLY got in. Then when we went to the restaurant they crammed 14 people into an 10 person table. It was awful. I couldn't even get close to the table it was so ridiculous. Only a moron would put 14 people at a 10 person table. I was in the ladies room when my group was taken to the table otherwise I would have seen that disaster coming and stopped that train wreck. So the moral of the story is that customer service is dead at the Whispering Canyon cafe and the village idiot is working as the hostess. Don't even get me started about that manager....
Pro Tip: if you have a person of size in your party or a person in a wheel chair or even if you are traveling with people that take a ridiculous amount of camera gear... book an extra seat at your table to give you the extra room that you will need. A restaurant like Le Cellier really crams them in, so my philosophy is that if your restaurant crams people in we will include a phantom person in the reservation so we have room for the wheelchair. Also keep in mind that tables usually come in even numbers so a party of 7 people will probably need an 8 top table.
...and how do I know all this? It's because I'm ~Ninja Mom!
to the thread and what a debut!!!
I was surprised but I was able to secure a 2 bedroom villa at Beach club for my Nov dates today! we originally where in a Yacht club level room, but our 2 adult boys (24/21 and our 24 yo's girlfriend ) decided to join us so we needed the extra room!! I've never stayed In a villa before, it's on a cash reservation so we will still get daily housekeeping which is one of the only things deterring me from really loving dvc. We decided to go with deluxe dining in lieu of club level, so it will be new and interesting for us we are there Nov 11-16 after our cruise on the Fantasy. Our boys will meet us in Orlando and we will travel to the resort together after we disembark our cruise. I still have feelers out for 2 club level rooms at AKL, but I am thinking the location of beach club can't be beat during Food and wine!! Also the 2 BDRM villa will help us feel like we are all together as one big family! I am very excited!
In fact, if all the YC rooms are now going to have that lovely shower, I might switch to the dark side (YC) for a trip later this fall or winter.
