CHAPTER 2 – ADR'S WITH ONLY 120 DAYS
Good morning folks - sorry about the little delay, it was a busy week at the office. Which isn't a bad thing to stop thinking about Disney for a few minutes
Now today, I will go into (some) details about which ADR's we booked, we cancelled and dreamed of.
As all the Disney vets know, booking ADRs isn't an easy task. You have to plan ahead of the 180 days window and be ready at 6 am to try to nab that most coveted spot at CRT or Le Cellier or California Grill. Now in our case we were already 60 days late, for ADRs, and we hadn't even started planning the trip. I had wanted to go in July for my birthday but my wife preferred going in May, better prices and less risks that she would be 7 months pregnant. July would of been good about 190 days out... but now we were someplace else.
Usually I would start by building my weekly schedule to see which parks had EMH, and wanting to space out the different parks. We always like to use Park Hopper and do a park in the morning and another in the evening. However, since I knew that good ADRs are hard to come by almost 2 months after the initial window, I had to start booking... and I did, like crazy!
I had to quickly think of the restaurants that I wanted to visit, which were kid friendly, and which offered a good variety of foods. My wife is a picky eater, not extreme, but she doesn't anything too weird with lots of spices, so no German or Middle-Eastern meals at EPCOT.
So I started to look at restaurants and booking various dates, to ensure I would be getting a spot at good places. I was booking right and left, and cancelling left and right when I found something better or it wasn't fitting in the schedule I was starting to build.
We had initially opted for the Quick Service Dining Plan, but I quickly realized that this wasn't gonna work. What started has getting 1 or 2 character meals, turned into getting pretty much a table-service meal every day. So I got our the spreadsheet, made some MIT comparable calculations
and came to the conclusion that the best deal was to go with the DDP.
With that out of the way, it was back to planning ADR's that would please everyone and fit in the weekly schedule. In the end we have 8 reservations and 14 cancellations.
We wanted to do character meals to prevent us from having to stop everywhere and do many lines to meet a few characters. CRT wasn't available, so we booked Akershus Royal Banquet. Then, CRT became available for lunch, so we booked, but then we thought two princesses meal was too much. We cancelled Akershus. We wanted more characters, and DS loves Pooh, I tried getting a spot at Crystal Palace at a decent hour and that fit in our schedule, but wasn't able to. I thought Mickey and the gang would be cool, so I was able to get a lunch spot at Chef Mickey, but as soon as I booked I was uncertain by the time slot and the menu... I started looking at other options, and then I found the Disney Junior lunch at Hollywood and Vine is DHS, I booked it, and kept Chef Mickey. However, I wanted to change Chef Mickey, so I found a great replacement with Tusker House - better food and fit better in our schedule. I cancelled Chef Mickey and then realized I had to cut out another TS to fit in our DDP, I had forgotten that CRT used up 2 credits. I cut out Disney Jr's meet and greet meal, because it was the least interesting and there was a discussion on the forums on who would actually be there, and found out a few weeks after the Minnie dinning experience would now be dinner and lunch, so I was happy about my choice.
Now here are the
FINAL ADR's with a few anecdotes of how we got there:
T-Rex at Disney Springs / Saturday, May 20, 2017
(6:15 PM, Dinner)
We had initially booked PH Observatory for this date. We are schedule to arrive at our resort before lunch, so we thought we would hit a park and then go to Disney Springs for dinner, and then a good night's sleep. However, it really bothered me that they didn't have a kids menu. I wanted to book T-Rex but no spots were available. So in the meantime, we booked spots at Rainforest Café, it was a nice themed dinner that would please DS4. However, thanks to a few members of this forum, I able to book T-Rex, they told me that T-Rex only gave a few spots to Disney reservations, so that if I called, I could get a spot... And I did, for the time I wanted as well! DS will be happy, he loves dinosaurs! This meal will be out of pocket and not on the DDP.
Be Our Guest Lunch (MK) / Sunday, May 21, 2017
(12:15 PM, Lunch)
This was actually one of the first reservations we made, and kept. We wanted to have the chance to eat in the castle. Fantasyland was being completely refurbished during our 2011 visit. DW loves Beauty and the Beast.
Tusker House Restaurant Dinner - ROL 1st Show / Sunday, May 21, 2017
(6:10 PM, Dinner)
You had the full story of how this reservation came about, a little higher in the post. However it was initially a lunch reservation. By moving things around, we turned this into a dinner reservation, and were able to get a ROL package. This was great news since we wanted to see all four shows during our visit.
Chefs de France Dinner (EPCOT) / Monday, May 22, 2017
(6:10 PM, Dinner)
This was our first or second reservation we made. We had loved our meal back in 2011, and wanted to visit once again.
Fairytale Dining Lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table (MK) / Tuesday, May 23, 2017
(11:45 AM, Lunch)
This is the dream reservation. Never I would've thought we could've gotten a reservation to CRT, especially the first lunch service. I know it's not a late dinner with the fireworks, but with DS4 it wouldn't of worked anyways. I remember DW and I talking in 2011, and saying that we thought people getting to go inside the castle were so lucky - now that's us!!! Our little prince will be very happy
Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano Dinner (DHS) / Tuesday, May 23, 2017
(6:00 PM, Dinner)
Simple reservation. We were planning in being in DHS for dinner, and wanted a sure bet for the whole family. Hollywood Brown Derby was great in 2011, but I don't think it would be very kid-friendly and didn't want to spend 2 TS credits. The menu wasn't to my liking at Prime Time, although I loved the theming.
Rainforest Cafe Lunch at Animal Kingdom / Wednesday, May 24, 2017
(12:15 PM, Lunch)
Sure thing for DS and DW while at AK. Simple menu but fun theming, that goes well with the park as well. This will be out of pocket, but pricing is reasonnable. We might cancel it during the week if DW sees a QS option that pleases her.
Kona Café Dinner (Polynesian) / Thursday, May 25, 2017
(6:55 PM, Dinner)
Initially we had Coral Reef booked on our last full day. It was in our ADRs in 2011, but we had skipped out on it, because of bad planning, and underestimating the energy it takes to tour a park all-day with no breaks. It was a reservation that was initially earlier in the week, that I had moved to the last Thursday. Although the theming is fun for kids, the menu wasn't giving me a wow, and I didn't want to close out my week there. I kept looking for alternate ideas and open slots but couldn't. DW and I had never gone on the monorail or visited a monorail resort, so I thought it would be fun to try it on our last night. We didn't want to do the Contemporary Resort, but the Poly looked really cool, and we could scout it for a future visit
. The first wish I had was for O'Hana, but no spots, so looking at reviews, menu's and the forum, I found out that Kona Café was a good choice, and since we missed our ADR in 2011, it was a shoe in.
We plan on sticking with our ADR's this time around. Back in 2011 for our honeymoon, we ended up ditching at least half of our ADRs and I can't remember why for the most. This time we have better planning and DS4 to keep us in check.
Stay tune in a few days for
Chapter 3 – How to plan a balanced schedule.
)
. It will be his first Disney vacation and our first time seeing the magic through the eyes of a child. That feeling alone makes the trip even more worth it - and will make us rediscover Disney once again... even will all the changes that the world as gone through since our last visit.
