ST. PAUL
Minnesota's new system to reserve campsites and cabins at state parks was battered Monday morning as a crush of campers tried to book plans for Memorial Day weekend.
Some callers were met with erroneous messages suggesting they had misdialed, while some website visitors were submitted to ambiguous error messages. But by midmorning, things were running smoother, officials said.
It probably will happen all over again this morning.
On Tuesday, March 27, reservations will be taken for arrival dates through June 30. But under a phenomenon of the system that many would-be bookers might not be aware of, this means people also can start making July 4 reservations this morning.
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"We're asking our customers to please have some patience," said Patricia Arndt, spokeswoman for the Division of Parks and Trails at the Department of Natural Resources. "It's usually just that first couple of hours or two."
The relative onslaught of reservation-making -- a near record of 800 bookings were made by Monday afternoon -- is a result of the DNR having had no reservation system for two months. The old system was taken down in February to prepare for a new system, which went live March 1 and crashed within hours.
It took three weeks for Minnesota officials and US eDirect, the private company running the system, to relaunch it with confidence. They announced a staggered schedule that allows people to book only a limited window of dates, with that window growing each day.
However, officials did warn that as prime vacation season dates became available -- as they did Monday morning with Memorial Day -- things might bog down.
And bog down they did, starting at 8 a.m. sharp Monday, leading dozens of frustrated folks to vent on the DNR's parks and trails Facebook page, which has become a venue for rapid feedback for the DNR. A few people posted they had elected to stay in Wisconsin parks instead.
"The call center was under performing this morning," Arndt said.
The toll-free call center in Eden Prairie wasn't just giving callers busy signals. Some callers heard the following message: "You have reached a working telephone that isn't set up. Goodbye." In addition, the software application used by call-center employees failed at one point. Arndt said the call center problems were fixed by 9 a.m.
Meanwhile, the website reached its capacity within minutes, which led to a combination of slow performance and screen messages that ranged from an alert that the website was at capacity to errors saying the page could not display.
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The website also continues to have bugs that officials are trying to address.
Some folks this morning might be shocked to see sites booked that had been advertised as available before the site's relaunch last week.
On Tuesday, reservations can be made for arrival dates through June 30. It isn't until Wednesday that arrival dates through Independence Day will become available. But the key is "arrival dates."
You actually can reserve a stay of up to 14 nights. In other words, today you can book a cabin well past July 4, as long as you arrive -- or book your arrival -- on June 30.
Before the system relaunched, the DNR posted a series of reports online showing campsite and cabin availability through the summer. They were intended as a tool to allow campers to figure out plans before they actually jumped on the reservation system.
Arndt acknowledge that because people can book multi-night stays into the next day's reservations window, those reports might no longer be accurate. However, a cursory glance by the Pioneer Press did not show widespread discrepancies Monday afternoon.
BUSY BOOKINGS
Folks hoping to book cabins and campsites at Minnesota state parks should be prepared for busy signals and a slow website each morning at 8 a.m. when everything goes live. Reservations can be made online at mndnr.gov/reservations or by calling (866) 857-2757.
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--March 27 -- arrival dates through June 30, 2012
--March 28- arrival dates through July 21, 2012
--March 29 -- arrival dates through Aug. 11, 2012
--March 30-April 1 -- arrival dates through Sept. 2, 2012
--April 2 -- arrival dates up to a year in advance
Note: You can book for up to two weeks. So on March 27, you can reserve a stay from June 30 through July 4.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
