Wanted: Large Group Guidance

[KaystotheKingdom]

Good Morning!

I have a few questions and wouldn’t come anywhere else for guidance

I am a long time, seasoned parks visitor but we have an upcoming trip that is different from our usual trips and am in need of expertise.

First of all, now that I have school aged children we are officially vacationing on the school calendar (still recovering from point shock) We will be there April 10-16.This is my first trip during April vacation since I was in grade school. I’m already anticipating it will be busier than our preferred travel time. On top of that we have invited family friends with us that have never been ( oh the pressure!). Lastly, as a result we have a big group (12 total)….. not my typical family of 4 reservation making.

So with that in mind:

1. What is the recommended way to break up the group? 5/7, 6/6, 4/8- are any of these more successful than the others or does it truly make no difference.

2.I’ve only made reservations via my phone. Is there any reason I should use the computer instead?

3.order of booking: as of right now there are 3 restaurants that are high priority : Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, and Hoop de Doo. How would prioritize what to book first? We are open to lunch or dinner and prefer anything but the last showing of hoop de doo- last time my son was falling asleep at the table in the midst of all that commotion, I couldn’t believe it!

4. What am I missing? I know there are lots of better food options but this is a very little kid centric trip (ages 3-7). Are there any places that would be on your list for a large group?We are staying at the Wilderness lodge.

Thanks in advance for the help. I’m not usually one to stress about dining because we go often enough it’s no big deal when something is not available. For our friends, this is THE trip for them ( or so they say haha!) so I’m feeling the pressure to help make it memorable.

chEARs!

 

[Goofy4]

Good Morning!

I have a few questions and wouldn’t come anywhere else for guidance

I am a long time, seasoned parks visitor but we have an upcoming trip that is different from our usual trips and am in need of expertise.

First of all, now that I have school aged children we are officially vacationing on the school calendar (still recovering from point shock) We will be there April 10-16.This is my first trip during April vacation since I was in grade school. I’m already anticipating it will be busier than our preferred travel time. On top of that we have invited family friends with us that have never been ( oh the pressure!). Lastly, as a result we have a big group (12 total)….. not my typical family of 4 reservation making.

So with that in mind:

1. What is the recommended way to break up the group? 5/7, 6/6, 4/8- are any of these more successful than the others or does it truly make no difference.

2.I’ve only made reservations via my phone. Is there any reason I should use the computer instead?

3.order of booking: as of right now there are 3 restaurants that are high priority : Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, and Hoop de Doo. How would prioritize what to book first? We are open to lunch or dinner and prefer anything but the last showing of hoop de doo- last time my son was falling asleep at the table in the midst of all that commotion, I couldn’t believe it!

4. What am I missing? I know there are lots of better food options but this is a very little kid centric trip (ages 3-7). Are there any places that would be on your list for a large group?We are staying at the Wilderness lodge.

Thanks in advance for the help. I’m not usually one to stress about dining because we go often enough it’s no big deal when something is not available. For our friends, this is THE trip for them ( or so they say haha!) so I’m feeling the pressure to help make it memorable.

chEARs!

We just did a multi family of 6, and we've done 9 and 13 before.

1. I would say keep it even on the split so you don't have a person riding in a separate seat as much.

2. I used both. They should would equally well. Get Touring Plans, ************, or equivalent to help you find cancelled reservations. You need to be able to act fast.

3. You should be good on the Palace if you are flexible on times. Book everything you think you might like ASAP and then step back and cancel what you don't need.

4. Of course you have to do Whispering Canyon. If your younger kids need breaks, plan your trip around it. Get your group up for rope drop (if you can) and then take the afternoon off.

Get Tusker House for the kids if you can. The character interaction there is about as good as it gets and it is a buffet.

If you have a princess or a fan of the Beast, Be Our Guest could be the highlight of the trip. $$$

Hollywood and Vine also is a good character meal with a buffet. If you can get the Fantasmic! package reserved seating then you don't have to wait in line for the show. For us, the Fantasmic! packages rolled in in periodic batches so you had to work at it if not available at first opportunity. I don't understand why they do this.

 

[Goofy4]

You will probably want to master Genie+ for your group to minimize wait times. It isn't easy, but it could make you the hero.

 

[Goofy4]

I made Hoop de Doo reservations last, and then I later wanted to change the day. I had to wait for a cancelation to pick one up. With the size of your group you'll probably have to work at some of these reservations. They do open up as the date arrives, but it can be a little unnerving to have to wait.

 

[KaystotheKingdom]

Awesome info! What do you do so that when you break up the reservation into say 2 groups of 6 MDE doesn’t think you already have plans at that time?

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Good Morning!

I have a few questions and wouldn’t come anywhere else for guidance

I am a long time, seasoned parks visitor but we have an upcoming trip that is different from our usual trips and am in need of expertise.

First of all, now that I have school aged children we are officially vacationing on the school calendar (still recovering from point shock) We will be there April 10-16.This is my first trip during April vacation since I was in grade school. I’m already anticipating it will be busier than our preferred travel time. On top of that we have invited family friends with us that have never been ( oh the pressure!). Lastly, as a result we have a big group (12 total)….. not my typical family of 4 reservation making.

So with that in mind:

1. What is the recommended way to break up the group? 5/7, 6/6, 4/8- are any of these more successful than the others or does it truly make no difference.

2.I’ve only made reservations via my phone. Is there any reason I should use the computer instead?

3.order of booking: as of right now there are 3 restaurants that are high priority : Crystal Palace, Garden Grill, and Hoop de Doo. How would prioritize what to book first? We are open to lunch or dinner and prefer anything but the last showing of hoop de doo- last time my son was falling asleep at the table in the midst of all that commotion, I couldn’t believe it!

4. What am I missing? I know there are lots of better food options but this is a very little kid centric trip (ages 3-7). Are there any places that would be on your list for a large group?We are staying at the Wilderness lodge.

Thanks in advance for the help. I’m not usually one to stress about dining because we go often enough it’s no big deal when something is not available. For our friends, this is THE trip for them ( or so they say haha!) so I’m feeling the pressure to help make it memorable.

chEARs!

On our recent trip with 10, I broke it up 4/4/2 so in your case I’d say 4/4/4 and have other people on booking at same time. We were pretty lucky when we got there, and often got seated together or at least close.

 

[Goofy4]

Awesome info! What do you do so that when you break up the reservation into say 2 groups of 6 MDE doesn’t think you already have plans at that time?

I think the answer can be found here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/making-split-dining-reservations-for-large-groups.3858427/.

 

[Goofy4]

on the split question, I wasn't thinking specifically for dinging earlier. Thought I would add... My experience with trying to gain reservations was that 5 was no better than 6. The system generally liked 4 a lot better than 5 or 6 or higher. I'm not sure why that is giving that many of the buffet locations have many tables for 6.

One thing I did for the more difficult reservations was to book smaller numbers than needed and then hope that a bigger number later came through. For instance, I really wanted Beaches and Cream for 6. I had a 4 and then got a 2 for 30 minutes earlier, but just before the trip (using Stakeout to watch for cancellations), a 6 came through. Many more opportunities came through later via Stakeout, which I opted not to take. As I was told would happen, tables did open up.

Also, you never know what happen if you just walk up to a podium and ask. I was really surprised twice to see people walk up and get tables given that I worked pretty hard to get a reservation.

 

[tinkerjo]

I got a reservation for 8 pretty easily for Hoop Dee do. Didnt have to split it at all

 

[maleficent55]

Right now Storybook Dining seems to be a great hit with the kids
Different food, check the menu but the interaction is top not h

It books FAST

 

[RMaas1]

I am in the same boat as you OP. This is the first trip where I am planning for 9, the biggest I have done was 5. Is it possible to get reservations for a party size this big at the more popular restaurants? I know the popular ones go fast regardless of party size, but wondering if I should just let everyone know there is a good change we may not all eat together at some table service meals. The Stakeout app is new to me so I'll be checking that out, I'm familiary with the TP site.

 

[CSLucas]

I know it has been a few months- did anyone who posted here find the best way to do this? We are planning a trip for 11 (half of the group will be first-timers and there are 4 small children) - the largest I've ever planned for is 6 so I've never really had to compromise on where we ate so I'm already stressed about this!
I know about booking through two different MDEs if we want to split up, but I guess my question is more of whether it is worth even trying for the more popular places when reservations open or whether that would just be wasting precious time and I should dial down my expectations. For reference, when we go just us and the kids our go-to's are Whispering Canyon, Storybook, Brown Derby, Be Our Guest, and 50s Prime Time.
As a follow-up, has anyone successfully booked more popular places through the group reservation line or is that just a waste of time? I would like to at least have a few dinners where we are all booked together.

 

[KaystotheKingdom]

Hello! We got 100% of the reservations we were looking for at the 60 day mark! We broke the group down to two groups of six for each reservation, and I was logged into my account on the desktop computer and my husbands on the app. I find the computer easiest to use so I did all the searching there first , and then when I secured a reservation moved to the app to make a reservation at the same time for the rest of the group.

I had watched a video online that recommended opening a browser tab for each restaurant on the computer , and putting them in order of hardest to get/later in the week reservations first. Each tab thereafter was subsequesntky an easier grab or earlier in the week. It really made this stress free!

We booked (in this order) storybook,garden grill because it’s small, hoop de do, and the crystal palace. Keep in mind this is Easter vacation week also!

Lastly, we nabbed rodeo roundup to try something new, but those reservations opened after our 60 day so it was a little different.

Just be organized and have a plan. Have the windows open and the tabs ready, with dates and times ready to go- then as 6 approaches start hitting refresh on that first tab periodically until it’s go time!

 

[Goofy4]

Group reservations worked fine 15 years ago. I have some doubts now, but if you are willing to wait on hold I bet it still works. They know how each location can accommodate groups.

Here was our schedule. I just grabbed what I could get and then scheduled days around what I got, whether it be lunch or dinner. These were all for a group of 6 at 60 days. I don't know how to double up for 12, other than for a while I did have slightly overlapping reservations at Beaches and Cream for a 4 and a 2.

We were all adults, so not super kid-centric, but Disney is kid-friendly almost everywhere. I would substitute Garden Grill for Le Cellier and perhaps find another option for Coral Sea. Chef Mickey's won't be too far from you. Cinderella's Royal Table might be a better option for you than Be Our Guest.