If you were searching for another reason why an overhaul of Disney Vacation Club’s online booking tools needs an upgrade, I’ve got a doozy for you today…
In what we will dub #BookingGate 2.0, members of both the DISboards and DVC Fan Facebook Community have been at a loss the past few days due to a new booking issue that has reared its ugly head.
Members that currently log in to book what appears to be an available room will receive what is quickly becoming the most annoying message ever:
Error messages are also being reported when members attempt to modify existing reservations that are already booked.
This problem comes as the DVC community braces itself for an upcoming system-wide outage that will begin Saturday – July 17th, and run until Tuesday – July 20th.
Devin Carlisto, a member of our DVC Fan Facebook Group, commented, “In light of this IT change they have coming up, I feel like they have just given up on the current booking system. Everything seems broken.”
Group moderator and DVC Fan contributor Lauren De La Cruz reported, “Even the dwarves gave up!”
This glitch is, of course, driving up the hold time for Member Services, which currently appears to be the only successful way to ensure you get a reservation booked or changed. Member Services appears to be aware of the issue but has no timeframe or information on when it will be corrected.
Personally, I can’t help but agree that it appears Disney’s IT department has given up at the moment when it comes to the member side of the Disney Vacation Club website. So join me Tuesday – July 20th, with some popcorn as we laugh, cry, or somehow end up being pleasantly surprised with the unknown upgrades on the horizon!
What about all the guests being moved to the hotel side of Poly. That’s happening a lot too
This is due to the planned refurbishment that is scheduled at the Polynesian DVC Villas. I would personally love being switched to the brand new rooms they are finishing on the hotel side!
Well the good thing is that is started at 10 p.m. Sat. night and is suppose to be done Tues morning so we should not be down all that long.
In the mean time if you get the above errors I have had great luck using Incognito mode when these error message pop up
Hey Paul,
One of the items I’m thinking might be included is the ability we had pre-pandemic is to enter the extension of the cast member whom we dealt with on a regular basis. This was alluded to in a call with Member service a couple of weeks ago when I asked the cast member I was talking to if they were still working remotely because I loved being able to speak with the same cast member each time. She told me that they had been implementing some change to where we could be selecting the cast member’s extension while they were still at home. She also said that she was looking forward to it as she had some members that she had gotten to know well and looked forward to having them dial her number directly.
On the popcorn note, unless Disney’s IT department has really revamped their overall methodology of deployments, we will be crying on July 20th. And on July 21st. Hopefully we will be breathing a sigh of relief by the 22nd. I really do NOT like making this prediction, but I’ve been in the IT industry for 30 years and Disney’s IT hasn’t even begun to change it’s spots. I’ve scoured their 10k and 10q reports looking for any indication that any changes to the development or deployment methodologies were about to change. When something positive is on the horizon, I’ve noticed some companies will make statements in their SEC reports as it can affect the delivery of their products and their profitability.
Just my 0.02 and worth every penny you paid for it. 🙂
John
“This problem comes as the DVC community braces itself for an upcoming system-wide outage that will begin Saturday – July 17th, and run until Tuesday – July 20th.” Had I not randomly checked this DVC Fan web page I would have known nothing of this outage. Was an email sent to members? I checked my email and saw nothing from DVC about this outage. Well, I booked my rooms a few months ago (for November). Hope I still have them! checking now… 🙂
If Disney IT history is an indicator, even with the upgrade we will continue to experience problems all the way until the next upgrade! I realize the magnitude of Disney IT systems is beyond what most of us can imagine, but I continue to be surprised at just how bad these customer facing systems function on a daily basis. Sometimes I wish they would spend a year and pull back on park capital projects and fix the IT side of the house. It may not be financial investment but rather that they don’t have the right IT leadership, culture and IT methodologies. Only those on the inside know the root cause.
okay, so it’s not just me! Been trying to book a room for two days!
I encountered this issue multiple times in the past 10 days.
the last time when trying to book a 7 night stay at Bay lake, i decided to go back to previous page using tool bar back up arrow. i did this again and again after multiple failures for 15 minutes. finally it worked.
dont drop original request or you will lose the room.