Disney Unveils Mobile-Friendly Dining Reservations

[Melanie]

From WESH.com

Disney Unveils Mobile-Friendly Dining Reservations

Droid, iPhone Versions Live; Blackberry Coming


LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Walt Disney World is making it easier to snag a dining reservation on the go. This week, Disney is rolling out a web-based dining reservations system optimized for smartphones.

A Disney representative said that the iPhone and Droid versions are live, and a BlackBerry version is due to be complete on Wednesday.

Disney started letting visitors make online reservations for its restaurants in the summer of 2009. The system was updated in May.

The latest roll-out simplifies the reservation site's design making it easier to view on smartphones. A user is directed to the optimized version when their phone type is detected. It is not an "app."

Anyone who’s been to Disney World during peak season knows how important a reservation can be if you want to land a table at a sit-down restaurant. The optimized mobile site lets users find a table regardless of whether they know where they want to eat specifically.

Users can search by time and date, cuisine, location (e.g. a specific restaurant, theme park or hotel) and more. There’s also the ability to search for character and signature dining experiences.

[Ian]

Has anyone found this iPhone app yet? I'm looking under Disney dining and I don't see anything.

[Itchy]

Has anyone found this iPhone app yet? I'm looking under Disney dining and I don't see anything.

I found it on my DROID. I just did a google search for disney dining. I choose the disney site for dining and there it was. It looks different than the one on the WDW web site and seem eaiser to use.

Hope this help. As the previous poster stated it is not an APP.

I think when you go to dining it understands that you are on a cell phone.

[Melanie]

It's not an app. It's their mobile site. I accessed it by going to disneyworld.com, scrolling down to Other Interests, and it's there as 'Book Dining Reservations - New!'

[Ian]

That's sort of disappointing ..... wonder why they didn't just make it an app? :confused:

[WDWfanatic742]

If the site doesn't detect that your phone is a phone (like on my Hero), just go to m.disneyworld.com and scroll down...

[Melanie]

That's sort of disappointing ..... wonder why they didn't just make it an app? :confused:

I love their mobile site. I use it all the time. But yeah, an app would have been better.

[ElenitaB]

An app would have been nice but this works too! :thumbsup:

[BrerGnat]

This seems useful for people who actually decide where and what to eat at the last minute...I like the "open table" option they describe.

So, it will work on all "smartphones", regardless of type, right? By using the m.disneyworld.com address? I have a Palm Pre, so wondering if it would work on my phone...I can browse the mobile site on my phone perfectly fine. Just wondering what additional supports are in place for iphone, Droid, and Blackberry. :confused:

[WDWfanatic742]

After trying it out on a different phone that would never be confused for a smartphone, you are still able to book dining reservations on it. However things don't load right and loads all the flash and interactive stuff "weird" (Couldn't find the right word :blush:). So it looks to work on all phones, but if you want it quick and easy do it on a smartphone.

They probably just used the phrase smartphone because they know that every smartphone would be able to load it properly. Palm Pre should definitely be able to load this correctly.

[BrerGnat]

I tested this out this morning on my ipod touch and Palm Pre. It's faster on the ipod, but it works the same way on the Pre. Slight differences in appearance and format, but the same info. is available.

I think this is cool! It's fun to see where I "could" eat dinner tonight at WDW, if I wanted to. ;)

This should be really useful for locals!

[John]

Apps are overrated. Bookmark, done.

Not sure on the iphone but on the pre, you could bookmark and put that icon in your programs. I'm on Android now - havn't really looked into that yet.

[Melanie]

I think this is cool! It's fun to see where I "could" eat dinner tonight at WDW, if I wanted to. ;)

This should be really useful for locals!

And it is! I love it.

[tink'72]

To get this on my Droid do I just book mark the WaltDisney world website?

[WDWfanatic742]

Just go to m.disneyworld.com on your phone and you can bookmark it and go there over and over again :cool:

[tink'72]

David,
thank you thank you thank you!

[WDWfanatic742]

David,
thank you thank you thank you!

;)

[magicofdisney]

I used this feature a couple of weeks ago and it came in very handy. Granted, we ended up eating at The Plaza Restaurant but we were in the MK late one night and needed to book something the following day. It worked out great. :thumbsup: :mickey:

[WDWfanatic742]

For those of you who cheered when we launched our new online dining reservation system for Walt Disney World Restaurants – more great news to share today. You can now check for table-service availability at nearby restaurants using the location-based services on your supported Android, Blackberry or iPhone device. And yes, it’s available now. Simply search “disneyworld.com/dining” from your supported browser, or visit http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/reservations/dining/m/ and choose to view “map view” of dining results.

“Near Me” searching is one of many features available at our mobile dining reservation site. In fact, mobile has many of the same features as the main reservation website, including:

•Search by location
•Search by cuisine/dining experience
•Search results with 3 available times
•Special requests selections
•Guest information

Also, take note that reservation capabilities will be coming to Mobile Magic. Mobile Magic is our first official Disney Parks mobile application, and it’s currently available on a growing list of mobile devices. We’ve posted the latest list.

Interesting, the Near Me feature sounds cool. You can find it on the page when you click book dining reservations.

[Melanie]

Nice! I'll try it this weekend just to see how it works.

[pixiesmimi]

What is the name of the one where you can check the length of lines for rides?

[magicofdisney]

Interesting, the Near Me feature sounds cool. You can find it on the page when you click book dining reservations.
For kicks and giggles I just tried this from the comfort of my kitchen table (2hrs from Disney) and it works. It came up with 35 restaurants that had dinner reservations available this evening. :thumbsup:

For those with an iPhone, you can save a Safari page to your Homescreen by pressing the + key option at the bottom of the page. So even though this is not an app, it's similar to one, with this feature. :mickey: