Help! What am I doing wrong: an overseas ADR disaster

[amsterdad]

It’s my first time post-COVID. A lot of changes…

[len]

But seriously, yeah, I’m sure Disney’s IT infrastructure looks askance at non-US IP addresses. It’s interesting that experiences don’t work and dining does.

The reasons for that could be everything from ‘we know international visitors eat, so let’s make this easy for them’ to “two different teams have two different ways of implementing access controls, even for pages that appear on the same site.”

My guess is it’s the latter. Disney IT is fragmented and implements different policies without talking to each other.

[Nicky_S]

@amsterdad

Just a quick note to mention that I had no issues booking all of my post-cruise ADRs when my 60+10 window opened today. Why it couldn’t have been this easy last week? We may never know.

A few curious observations however directly tied to living abroad and trying to book experiences. I was completely unable to book Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Magic Kingdom or Droid Depot at Hollywood Studios without the use of a VPN. When I tried booking on desktop, I never had an option to ‘check availability’. And the app just crashes after clicking the ‘check availability’ button. With a VPN routed through New York, everything was smooth sailing.

@len - Do you think Disney intentionally excludes internationals from these bookings? And if so, why give those living outside the US equal access to dining, but not experiences? Do they not think my money spends the same as those living in the US?

They do it deliberately, but no idea why.

I’ve posted this before, but when I contacted the UK team and asked why there was no info on the StarCruise on the UK site they said “we provide information that we consider of interest or relevant to UK guests”.

For whatever reason we can only book the “enchanted extras” by phone if st all. They refused to answer any questions about the StarCruiser. If I wanted to book I would have had to use a US travel agent.

They are well aware of the issues. Just like trying to book dining on the app since the start of the year for UK guests. No resolution yet.

Lime I say they have made a deliberate decision on this for sure. But I can’t answer why.

[Nicky_S]

@len

But seriously, yeah, I’m sure Disney’s IT infrastructure looks askance at non-US IP addresses. It’s interesting that experiences don’t work and dining does.

The reasons for that could be everything from ‘we know international visitors eat, so let’s make this easy for them’ to “two different teams have two different ways of implementing access controls, even for pages that appear on the same site.”

My guess is it’s the latter. Disney IT is fragmented and implements different policies without talking to each other.

Booking dining on the app hasn’t worked for us since the start of the year.

Like I said above they are clearly aware and have made a deliberate decision to block bookings from the UK for the enchanted extras. It may be an IT thing but from the response I got about the StarCruiser I don’t think they intend to fix it.

[SirGreggLadyV]

@len

Disney IT is fragmented and implements different policies without talking to each other.

No! Say it isn’t so.

[WylieAnne]

Was just reading your post and then happened to spot this on WDWNT - Guests from the United Kingdom Unable to Book Online Reservations for Walt Disney World - WDW News Today.

Looks like it might be a privacy issue in some of the European countries.

[Nicky_S]

If true, it’s a cop out. Disney are either the only company complying with the regulations or are incapable or unwilling to put a solution in place.

But some of these issues existed long before GDPR came in.

[amsterdad]

@Nicky_S

Booking dining on the app hasn’t worked for us since the start of the year.

Super interesting. I’m having no issues now booking in the app in the Netherlands. Modifying a reservation doesn’t work however. Not on desktop either. Just have to rebook new and cancel the old.

@len

“two different teams have two different ways of implementing access controls, even for pages that appear on the same site.”

I work for a large international consumer company and find this 100% plausible. Doesn’t mean I like it

@WylieAnne

Looks like it might be a privacy issue in some of the European countries.

Thanks for the link. This is similar to my experience last week. At my job different divisions often operate under different privacy policies, meaning web experiences can vary depending on the service, brand or where you are. It’s confusing, frustrating and unfortunately really common.

[missoverexcited]

@amsterdad

I’m having no issues now booking in the app in the Netherlands.

I wasn’t aware of this issue but I just tried and it opens the website to make me book there. I never use the website to book ADRs because it never works for me. I’ll be booking for my parents in a few weeks and I am not impressed.

[amsterdad]

@missoverexcited

I never use the website to book ADRs because it never works for me.

So I am back to having issues booking on WiFi, both app and web. Have to switch over to cell data for it to work

[missoverexcited]

That’s bad news, I really don’t know how they are going to manage on their trip. They have androids too which is less than ideal for MDE.