Pre-Trip Eenie...Meenie...Miney...Dough: Booking (and re-booking...and re-booking) our April 2021 Trip ***COMPLETED***

AKA The NeverEnding 'Reservation'​

Hi! My name’s Tom. Welcome to my first-ever (Pre) Trip Report…

To start off, I’d like to thank a few forum members: @Tuvalu , @Darstarr, @fractal , @DisneyGigi , @MickeyCB , @riverside and everyone else who has taken the time to post a trip report (or 2…or 3…). I’ve really enjoyed reading through your very informative (and entertaining!) reports, and was inspired to try my hand at one myself.

 

[tommcp516]

Having gone through this just a few days ago, I was pretty sure I had a good handle on things and at 2:59 I was primed and ready for action

 

[tommcp516]

I wasn’t too worried about being able to grab our choices for our two days in the Magic Kingdom, since none of the restaurants we wanted were considered to be in high demand. I knew that my Holy Grail for this quest was going to be trying to snag a table for the character breakfast at Chef Mickey’s in the Contemporary on either morning.

 

[tommcp516]

The clock struck 3:00 AM and then it was off to the races

 

[tommcp516]

I had planned ahead and had each morning queued up to search for multiple time slots first thing on both the desktop and the phone app, but despite my best efforts Chef Mickey was like

I was able to book everything else that we wanted so it wasn't a total washout.

 

[tommcp516]

Since I was already up and knew I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep anytime soon, I decided it’d be worth a shot to wait until the phone lines opened up at 4 AM to see if I might be able to score a table that way. Despite my best efforts to be caffeinated at that time in the morning, I may have still been a little groggy when I went to go make the call

And perhaps I might not have been fully coherent when the Cast Member finally came on the line

The CM was very patient and tried six ways to Sunday to find a combination of party size and date to find a table for us, but it was not in the cards.

 

[tommcp516]

There was a silver lining later that morning—we had pretty much written off trying to book a meal at Be Our Guest since we knew it was one of the most sought after reservations in the park, and we were already solidly on track to spend a small fortune with all of the table service meals that we had confirmed so far.

 

[tommcp516]

But, as I was scanning down through the list of available restaurants to book our remaining meals on our final day, a single time slot for BOG suddenly appeared. It was kind of like finding the very last Cabbage Patch Doll on Black Friday—

Instinct just took over in the moment and three clicks of the mouse later we were booked.

 

[tommcp516]

I’d been forewarned from @fractal’s last trip report that the bill from that one meal alone would be the size of a car payment. But I deluded myself rationalized that the extra expense would be worth it since BaTB is the wife’s all-time favorite Disney movie (both versions), and darn it, there must be more than this provincial life.

 

[tommcp516]

But all in all we were very fortunate to get almost all of the restaurants we had wanted. When the pixie dust finally settled the final tally was 21 table service meals over 9 days (including 2 at Disney Springs the night before our resort stay begins). Here’s the final picture of our family dining plan. The green Post-Its are confirmed reservations.

 

[tommcp516]

That may seem a tad excessive ambitious, but as all of us on this forum can appreciate, excess goes hand in hand with a trip to Disney World

 

[tommcp516]

Yeah, sure--it’s going to pack a wallop on the final bill for our trip, but I figured that we can just ration our food budget over the next 8 weeks to offset some of the cost.

I hear that with a little seasoning, saltines and off-brand porridge can be quite delicious

 

[tommcp516]

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must return to the Disney app to continue my search for the elusive white whale...

 

[MickeyCB]

saltines and store-brand porridge can be quite delicious

Saltines and ketchup with water make a fine soup I'm told!!
Try Touring Plans reservation finder, for a coveted reservation, it is the best!!

 

[Swissmiss]

I‘ve always been fairly successful at periodically looking for openings a few days after my booking window opens (as people re-evaluate their plans and/or times chosen). And even when you are there, look every evening because there there are always cancellations fairly close to the date when people realize they no longer want the reservation and will be charged the no show fee if they don’t cancel in advance.

 

[KellBelle]

Awesome that you got so many on your wish list! I think you will be happy to have so many table service booked, as quick service is just plain not easy right now. I am curious to hear what you think of BOG for dinner. We have only been at breakfast time. I am sure dinner is far better.

 

[cgersic]

Following each of your posts is like following a trail of candy - I can't wait to get the the next one! You're getting us all so geared up for this trip!

 

[tommcp516]

Saltines and ketchup with water make a fine soup I'm told!!
Try Touring Plans reservation finder, for a coveted reservation, it is the best!!

Yes, I had signed up with TP right after we booked our trip in the fall, and I've got a current request to find a Chef M breakfast for us on either day. It's helpful to know there'll be an extra set of eyes keeping a lookout in case something opens up!

 

[tommcp516]

I‘ve always been fairly successful at periodically looking for openings a few days after my booking window opens (as people re-evaluate their plans and/or times chosen). And even when you are there, look every evening because there there are always cancellations fairly close to the date when people realize they no longer want the reservation and will be charged the no show fee if they don’t cancel in advance.

yeah, I've been diligently checking every day since to see if any openings have appeared (update to follow...lol). Hope springs eternal!

 

[tommcp516]

Awesome that you got so many on your wish list! I think you will be happy to have so many table service booked, as quick service is just plain not easy right now. I am curious to hear what you think of BOG for dinner. We have only been at breakfast time. I am sure dinner is far better.

Yes, I've been reading a lot of posts about people having problems with mobile ordering and QS (cold food, long waits to pick up, etc) so that was another factor in our making so many TS reservations, despite the extra cost.

Our BOG time is for lunchtime (12:20), but it looks like the Lunch and Dinner menu are the same. I'll be sure to report all the details when the day arrives!

 

[tommcp516]

Following each of your posts is like following a trail of candy - I can't wait to get the the next one! You're getting us all so geared up for this trip!

Thanks for the nice compliment--so glad you've been enjoying and thanks for following along!
We're geared up for this trip as well