So, what kind of back-up plans do you have?

[bookworm75]

My family thinks I am a freak when it comes to planning, so I'm turning to my fellow planners for this question.

We are going for a 12 day trip in May/June 2012. Just our family of four the first week, and my sister, bil and niece will join us for the last five days. I have a spreadsheet of the daily parks and restaurants we want. 180 days is Nov. 30th, so plenty of time to plan. But now I have a couple of coworkers who are trying to book resorts for the same time and are not having any luck. This makes me worry about the chances of getting any of our ADRs for DDP.

Now to my question: what kind of back up plans do you make when choosing ADRs? How do you handle it if on day 180 the majority of what you want is not available? I know I will have to go back to book ADRs for days 11 and 12, which concerns me, too.

More details: we have very picky eaters, not just the kids, in our group. And, it's my sister's family's first trip, so of course we want them to experience the good stuff.

I'm really just looking for any advice you want to share. I'm not happy unless I'm worrying about something on our next Disney trip!

 

[3pletprincesses]

I don't think I ever had a problem getting wha I wanted at the time I wanted except by 5-10 minutes difference at 180 out. I always have one or 2 extra restaurants in mind and book that if choice 1 is not available but keep looking online every day until I get my 1st choice at the time I wanted.

 

[Nadjalu]

Basically I have a list of all the restaurants I would like to eat at on WDW property.

They are in order of "like".

So when I pick out a popular restaurant like Ohana (which is my fav) I have a time/day in mind. If I get that adr then great, if not I will be a bit flexible on the time of that day. If that doesn't work, then I am flexible on the day. (Ohana is a must).

Now if it is a dinner (that is all we do adr wise) at Crystal Palace I want, same thing. I pick the day/time and see. If it is NOT available I may check another restauant.
As for us, location and times are more important than restaurants. (with the exception of Ohana)

So even though we have hoppers I like to keep dinner in the area in which we will be for the night.
So the days we are at MK I pick my favorite and if I can't get a ressie there I switch restaurant choices.

For me this is easier than running all over property.

In reality it comes down to what is more important to you and your family.
If having that 1 specific meal important enough to schedule everything around it. Or do you schedule your meals around your parks???

Whatever you choose, enjoy your trip!!

 

[MHSweb79]

We just went in May 2011 and I played with my ADR's pretty easily right up until about the end of March or so. There were tons of times available for most of the restaurants I was looking for.

I certainly wouldn't worry 180 days out. The good thing about booking ADR's online is that they show you a list of alternatives if your restaurant isn't available at that time. Plus it searches for a pretty big window- like an hour before and an hour after the time you plug in.

 

[CoachKristy]

I'm a super planner too. I also have a spreadsheet that I plan out which parks we would visit each day and where to eat. I agree that you should make a list of your preferred dining locations. I not only ranked them according to the importance of getting in to my family but also the difficulty (or you could say popularity) of that restaurant. That way I knew which reservation I should make first when the 180 day window became available.

 

[bookworm75]

I don't think I ever had a problem getting wha I wanted at the time I wanted except by 5-10 minutes difference at 180 out. I always have one or 2 extra restaurants in mind and book that if choice 1 is not available but keep looking online every day until I get my 1st choice at the time I wanted.

So you're saying I'm worrying for no reason? My DH would say the same thing.

...As for us, location and times are more important than restaurants. (with the exception of Ohana)

So even though we have hoppers I like to keep dinner in the area in which we will be for the night.
So the days we are at MK I pick my favorite and if I can't get a ressie there I switch restaurant choices.

For me this is easier than running all over property.

In reality it comes down to what is more important to you and your family.
If having that 1 specific meal important enough to schedule everything around it. Or do you schedule your meals around your parks???

Whatever you choose, enjoy your trip!!

This is what we do. We use the crowd calendar to decide park days, and then we build our dining choices around that. We do not park hop with the kids. We'll pick a place in the park or at a resort that is nearby (i.e., Chef Mickey's for an MK day). That's probably why I'm stressing, because we have our park days set and I don't want to change those up too much. We are laid back in making our dining choices, but when my DH researches them and decides he wants to try one, then we'd better get an ADR there on the day we have it on the spreadsheet.

We just went in May 2011 and I played with my ADR's pretty easily right up until about the end of March or so. There were tons of times available for most of the restaurants I was looking for.

I certainly wouldn't worry 180 days out. The good thing about booking ADR's online is that they show you a list of alternatives if your restaurant isn't available at that time. Plus it searches for a pretty big window- like an hour before and an hour after the time you plug in.

Thank you, this is very helpful in easing my mind!

I'm a super planner too. I also have a spreadsheet that I plan out which parks we would visit each day and where to eat. I agree that you should make a list of your preferred dining locations. I not only ranked them according to the importance of getting in to my family but also the difficulty (or you could say popularity) of that restaurant. That way I knew which reservation I should make first when the 180 day window became available.

Ah, a kindred spirit! I knew I would find a few here. This is also my plan of action.

We haven't gone in May/June in a long time, and it's the first time that I'm in charge of ADRs for a time period with bigger crowds. I must get my anxiety under control.

Thank you everyone for responding!

 

[3pletprincesses]

yep you are worrying for nothing... mind you I'm the exact same way. A few weeks ago I had to change our August trip by about a week. You should have seen the panick in my eyes yet I was able to get all the same reservations within minutes of what I wanted. Mind you fantasmic at Borwn Derby and Le Cellier too a bit longer to arrange but everythins is set and done as of this morning. One of my Disney trills is the ADR LOL

 

[bookworm75]

yep you are worrying for nothing... mind you I'm the exact same way. A few weeks ago I had to change our August trip by about a week. You should have seen the panick in my eyes yet I was able to get all the same reservations within minutes of what I wanted. Mind you fantasmic at Borwn Derby and Le Cellier too a bit longer to arrange but everythins is set and done as of this morning. One of my Disney trills is the ADR LOL

You just did wonders for my anxiety level. My DH and I are sitting here with our dueling laptops, pouring over plans B and C. I think we can ease up just a bit now.

 

[hlsst7]

When we went last time I was able to get every single ADR for the exact time and day that we wanted, including character breakfasts and dinners. Imagine my panic when my DH said "Let's go to Disney" and the trip was less than 45 days away! The good news is with perserverance, I was able to get every ADR that we wanted at the times we wanted. It took forever using the online system, but I got Chef Mickeys, Le Cellier, Fantasmic, etc at the times I needed them.

 

[Bethpremier]

Im praying really hard. I never got the September 11 CRT dinner I wanted and I am still looking. It was one of my "Must Dos". Still trying to stay positive.

 

[daisyduck123]

We've taken 13 WDW trips since 2004 (each trip 8-12 days in length), had over 50 TS meals, & have always gotten every TS meal I wanted.

We've also been there Xmas week & had no problem getting 'Ohana & Chef Mickey's on Xmas day.

As long as you call on the 180th day, you should be fine. Good luck!

 

[kerri0616]

No worries! I booked all of our Xmas week ADR's on day 180 and got everything I wanted! I even tweeked (or is it tweaked?) one later that week and had no problem making a change.

Happy planning!

K

 

[tjacks55]

I'm a super planner too. I also have a spreadsheet that I plan out which parks we would visit each day and where to eat. I agree that you should make a list of your preferred dining locations. I not only ranked them according to the importance of getting in to my family but also the difficulty (or you could say popularity) of that restaurant. That way I knew which reservation I should make first when the 180 day window became available.

 

[smiths02]

You are really worrying over nothing...we made our ADRs about 92 days out and got everything we wanted including Ohana at 6:30pm, Crystal Palace at 8:05 (before park opening), 1900 Park Fare, Tusker House breakfast, Chefs de France lunch (to coincide with Remy)...

We didn't even have Park Hoppers and we were fine

I even had planned an early breakfast at 1900 Park Fare on our last day (I think the plan was 8 am or something)...anyhow, we ended up staying out WAY later than planned the night before...at about midnight, I cancelled our ADR at 1900 Park Fare for 8 am and was able to re-book for 11 am.

Oh and this was for the week of 4th of July!