Recently details emerged regarding a planned upgrade to Disney Vacation Club computer systems which will result in Member Services downtime on October 12 and 13. However it how appears that the downtime will impact not only DVC but all of Disney's reservation systems.
According to MousePlanet.com, Disney's entire reservation system will be unavailable from 4pm on Tuesday, October 12 through Wednesday October 13, 2010. This outage will impact all bookings for Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney's non-park resorts in Vero Beach, Hilton Head Island and the Aulani resort in Oahu, Hawaii.
Per MousePlanet:
"The downtime affects your ability to make, cancel, or modify room-only or vacation-package reservations, as well as receiving confirmations and making payments, both by phone and online. Also affected are reservations for dining, recreation (such as fireworks cruises and golf), tours, children's activity centers, Cirque du Soliel La Nouba, and online check-in service."
Additional details can be found on MousePlanet.com's weekly parks update.
Along with Disney's officiial notice of the downtime, we published some details regarding added Dining Plan flexibility which will be afforded to members as the upgrade occurs. This is just the start of a substantial upgrade to Disney's reservation system which will impact the entire organization right down to individual resort hotels. New information suggests that guests with reservations which span multiple resorts will eventually be required to check in only one time at the very start of their Disney vacation. Key cards issued during that initial check-in will be used to access every assigned hotel room over the duration of the stay. Guests moving to a second hotel during their stay will receive a room ready notification via cell phone or text message, and can immediately access the room using "Key to the World" cards already in-hand.
Disney Cast Members will be able to confirm eligibility for perks such as theme park Extra Magic Hours or admission to the Stormalong Bay pool complex (afforded only to guests at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club resorts) by swiping guest key cards.
Future system downtime has already been scheduled for October 20th, November 17th, December 1st and December15th, and it is anticipated that these upgrades will gradually be implemented throughout the Disney resorts over this period.
