Trip Planning REGRETS (or Why I Hate The Free Dining Deal...)

[gopherit]

Ok - I really really REALLLLLLY need to start listening to my "inner me" MUCH more often.

Wayyyy back, when Disney announced the Free Dining Deal, I posted a thread born of fear - the dining plan start date was squarely one day after we moved from our US hotel over to OKW for week. I admit it - I'm greedy, and didn't want to share my beloved parks with freebie diners during our normally fairly tranquil August funtime!

In the course of that thread, I elected NOT to move my plans (i.e., do WDW until Aug 12, then go to US AFTER Disney, instead of before.) Now I am really thinking - I GOOFED.

Just got off the phone with Disney Dining. I made my ADRs way back at the 180 day (just anal that way!). But Disney threw some more recent curveballs at me - like the August toddler thingys (kinda wrecked my whole plan for dd and I to have Fantasyland to ourselves after our 8 am b'fast at Cindy's if EVERYONE ELSE is toddler-timing it out there since 8 am anyway...) And DH thought maybe just maybe he would like to try the MGM late-night, which meant maybe moving some things around, since I had slated us for TL that day, not even entering a park... :crazy:

So I called WDW Dine, trying to move two or 3 things around, check my options. Done this before- never a biggie, except for maybe the choicest of things, or if you have a very large party. Heck, I've done it the day of, with moderate success.

Well - in this case, I have two words - NO DICE. If it's edible, baby it is BOOKED. Ironically - the one day of our trip I had not yet made a dinner ADR for (the 12th), the day we move over from US/ HRH - well, on that day I can have my pick of just about ANYTHING that night. I doubt it's any small irony that the plan starts the 13th.

Ok, so tell me this - if the restuarants are all THAT full - should we bail on our own purchase of the dining plan and ride everything during meal times, LOL??!?!

All I can say is that I PITY the soul who has NOT made ADRS.

As for us, I *think* I found some resolution to our issues. Didn't cancel any of our ressies, just threw in a ressie for San Angel Inn on the former water park day - figure DH can hang out at Epcot until after dinner and then go to MGM for the EMH. Actually - I have decided to send him and the boys off to MK for the evening EMH the night before.... I'm kinda hoping he will see the MASSES OF HUMANITY and flee, flee, flee and decide MGM EMH ain't worth it. THen we can still keep the original plan, slightly flawed though it may be....

Has anyone else ever encountered dining ressies as booked up as this? I couldn't believe it - the CM had NO CLUE as to why it was "so booked up" starting on the 13th. He also was under the impression that Whispering Canyon Cafe was a quiet tranquil dining experience.

He don't get out much, does he. :sosad:

[bavaria]

WOW. I have seen reservations tougher to get (as I usually book last minute I never plan ahead and rarely make ADRs before I arrive onsite) but WOW.

I was in the Orlando area last August and did head over several nights to WDW after work (shhh.... don't tell anyone!) Last minute dinner reservations were definitely hard to get and I just basically was flexible. (I usually called WDW-Dine as I was driving down the 417)

I do wonder though if ppl are holding double or triple bookings since there seems to be ADR fear lately - ie ppl want to 'firm up plans' and double book. (I'm not making any judgement here, just wondering)

Personally, I lean towards going back to no advance ADRs, or book 7 days out or day before or something, even though I know that's not a popular opinion. The whole having to plan where to eat so far in advance just doesn't sound like fun anymore...

Best of luck!

[m.poppins]

The whole having to plan where to eat so far in advance just doesn't sound like fun anymore...
i agree. i've always enjoyed deciding while in wdw what/where we'd like to eat. last year we realized that flexibility is hardly an option anymore. we ususally travel between halloween and thanksgiving. if you don't make adr 180 in advance, you better enjoy the counter service restuarants!

[Rozzie]

I do wonder though if ppl are holding double or triple bookings since there seems to be ADR fear lately - ie ppl want to 'firm up plans' and double book. (I'm not making any judgement here, just wondering)


!

I am afraid you might be right. There is a whole thread of canceling ADRs on the other board, someone even had about 10 different ADRs for Crystal Palace. I about fainted. Made me rethink my rationale on being able to double book. Some people just take that liberty and run with it.
:sosad:

I agree with you, something unmagical to me about having to figure out where I want to eat in 6 months.

Sorry Gopher about the ADRs. I feel partly to blame, as I was giving you the green light in that thread. I bet you things will fall into place somehow, someway. Looking forward to your TR all ready! :)

[DSNY FN]

Wow am I ever glad we are planners we make our PS's for the few we do make as far in advance as possible. We are incessent planners and have everything planned out to the most minute details for our trips and we start planning well in advance like over a year and a half out from our trip. We allready have all of our 07 trip planed pretty much other than the MO days and activities. 08 IS in teh works allready and some plans are firmed up like local and length and dates and what meals out and shopping days.

[gopherit]

Wow am I ever glad we are planners we make our PS's for the few we do make as far in advance as possible. We are incessent planners and have everything planned out to the most minute details for our trips and we start planning well in advance like over a year and a half out from our trip. We allready have all of our 07 trip planed pretty much other than the MO days and activities. 08 IS in teh works allready and some plans are firmed up like local and length and dates and what meals out and shopping days.

Hey, same here! THis trip was planned back in 2004, LOL. And that's actually part of my problem - My plans were all set, I had a sweet little EXCEL spreadsheet showing each day's events, the corresponding ADR all made at 180, etc. but then I found out about this whole "Little People" thing in August at MK, and thought, POOP - my whole purpose for an 8 am at Cindy's just got shot down! (that info may have been out there, but honestly, I was so focused onthe US/IOA part of the trip, I never noticed it, and since our kids are moving beyond the toddler years, it wouldn't have really caught my eye anyway).

And then DH got a wild hair and decided he wanted to try the MGM EMH, which landed squarely on a day I had set up for water-parking... so that's what precipitated my need for change. We had asked my sister to come down ith us - I guess I should be glad she can't make it because I have no clue what we would do for dining plans with more folks in tow!! I knew getting another day at Cindy's was a pipe-dream, that's always a toughie to get even at 180, but I had no idea that I would not be able to get anything else either! And I consider myself a pretty flexible rodent! I wll say, though - it was very telling, seeing what things WERE available - you could tell it was either a place that has gotten spotty or poor board reviews (for example, San Angel, where I did place a ressie!) or a place that takes 2 TS credits for a single meal (like Flying Fish, Jiko, AP, or Yachtsman), or a place where the dining plan might not pay off as well.

[ErinC]

Gopher, keep in mind that most tables in these restaurants are for 4 or less people. We families of five have less to choose from. Were you offered the seperate table option of one table for 2 and the other for 3. Just wondering if there is truly "no" availability, or just no availability for a family of 5? By all means keep the dining plan, and hang on to the ADR's you have. If not you may be destined to eat hamburgers all week, and you might be standing in line for 30 minutes just to get that!

[gopherit]

Gopher, keep in mind that most tables in these restaurants are for 4 or less people. We families of five have less to choose from. Were you offered the seperate table option of one table for 2 and the other for 3. Just wondering if there is truly "no" availability, or just no availability for a family of 5? By all means keep the dining plan, and hang on to the ADR's you have. If not you may be destined to eat hamburgers all week, and you might be standing in line for 30 minutes just to get that!
I agree that fam of 5 is a tougher dynamic - but two of the ressies I was trying for were for 2 people only (dd and I spend a Mom/daughter day together, and also I was trying to move a night out for DH and I). Surely 2 wouldn't be so hard? But it was... except on the 12th, LOL, where the World and all its dining lay open like an oyster with a pearl.

Ah, the Black Pearl. She DOES represent freedom, after all.

(edited to add- sorry, I'm getting punchy!)

[AFMom]

DH and I miss the days of walking in to DL (this is before we ever set foot in WDW), going over to New Orleans Square and making our PS for that afternoon for the Blue Bayou (the restaurant in PoC there). We didn't have to wonder if we'd want to eat there 3 months before...... Just make sure you show up at thier door in the morning. You couldn't even call to make it - you had to show up in person! I think it should go back to that!

[bavaria]

Kristy, that is exactly my memory when I think of 'no advance ADRs'. I remember my mother insisting that our first stop be Blue Bayou for reservations. Somehow things just seemed less stressful but I suppose that there are valid arguments for both methods.

[gopherit]

Who else remembers running to the monitors in EPCOT as soon as it opened to make your dining reservations for the day? :beaniepro

[bavaria]

Talking to those people in the video monitor!!! That wasn't even too long ago - they were around in the mid 1990's...

Ah, the good old days.......

[gopherit]

Were tehy still around then? I know I recall the FIRST time I did that - back in '84. THought it was SO cool to go racing up there, get your spot at the monitor, and come away going, Woohoo - We Got France To-night! :kickingco

Seemed so very "new age" back then, LOL! Speaking of which... My kids watched Superman (with C. Reeves) for the first time tonight and had no clue what those things were that were going ratta-tat-tatta-tat-tat on their desks in the newsroom. (Umm, believe those are called TYPE-WRITERS, luvies.) I was half-waiting for them to ask what those strings were, attached to all the phones, and that circular disk on it - what's with that, LOL. :idontgeti

[Colorado Belle]

I think today you really need to have a concierge OR a fellow traveler who likes to plan 180 days out (thanks, Pam).:doublekis

That's what we need: DVC concierge services!!!!!

I wonder if the 'all filled up' is a result of FREE dining only, or the anytime dining plan? I'm glad to be using it (twice this year for free dining and twice for the regular dining plan) while it's still here....one never knows with Disney programs/perks. So I'm going to enjoy it while it is and then go back to eating in the room when it isn't!

[Ginger]

Who else remembers running to the monitors in EPCOT as soon as it opened to make your dining reservations for the day? :beaniepro


I remember that! When I was a child, it was a "big deal" to make the reservation for the day (with Mom and Dad standing behind you).