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]

(Pre) Trip Report Continued-February 11
“Night of the Living Dead—The Sequel (Blu-ray Extras)”

One fun side-effect of having to be up at 3 AM twice in five days is that my internal clock is now a little off. This morning I found myself waking up at 3:30 for no apparent reason. Since I was wide awake at that point, I tiptoed downstairs to eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes get a glass of water.

As it got closer to 4 AM, I thought why not try giving Disney another call right as the phone lines would be opening to see if a Cast Member could assist in my continuing search for the Holy Grail of character breakfast reservations.

In contrast with the 40 minute wait time while I was on hold, the outcome of the call was decidedly more...abrupt:

CM: What is your name?

me: Tom McP***

CM: What is your quest?

me: To find a table for breakfast at Chef Mickey's on April 9th.

CM: What...is the size of your party?

me: Two. No, three...

Spoiler

At this point there may or may not have been a second bowl of cereal glass of water as consolation.

 

[Swissmiss]

Extra likes for the Monty Python reference

 

[tommcp516]

(Pre) Trip Report (continued)-- February 13, 2021
An early Valentine from Walt

This past weekend we had our first major snowstorm of the season in WA. On Saturday I was outside teaching our young Padawan about the finer points of shoveling our driveway and sidewalk so that he could earn a little bit of allowance as credit towards the Lightsaber that he wanted to build at Savi's Workshop in Galaxy's Edge during our trip.

Call me old-fashioned but I think it’s important for kids to learn that Imperial Credits just don't grow on trees.

Melissa came outside to let us know that she made hot chocolate for us and that my phone had been ringing.

 

[tommcp516]

It was someone from Disney calling about our reservation for the second part of our split stay at the Contemporary. Starting in April, the Park View rooms are scheduled to be renovated, so they were calling guests who were booked in the Lake View rooms to notify them about the construction that would be going on in the hotel from 9 AM to dusk everyday. I thanked her for the call but I was already aware of the planned renovation after some people with Park View rooms had posted last month about being moved to GF or other deluxe villas.

Since I had her on the line, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask her to check if any Chef M breakfast times had opened up on the 9th, but once again got a big ol’ double-barreled middle finger from Mickey...

 

[tommcp516]

She did offer to move us to the Grand Floridian if we were concerned about the construction, and said that an Outer Building Garden View room was available at our same rate. I told her I’d talk it over with my wife and call back.

I told Melissa about their offer, and she pointed out that with the increased migraines that she’s been experiencing since her car accident earlier this year, she could foresee possibly wanting to go back to the hotel mid-day to get a quiet break from the commotion in the parks and just relax.

 

[tommcp516]

The two biggest reasons that we had booked a room at CR were to do the character breakfast at Chef Mickey's and be able to walk to MK at rope drop. It was looking more and more probable that breakfast at Chef M would be a no-go, but now that the GF-MK walking path was completed that would still be an option if we switched. I know that overall GF is considered a nicer resort than CR, but on the other had we would be losing the nice view of the water.

My motto when booking travel reservations is “It never hurts to ask.” While occasionally Melissa might do an eye roll whenever I start finagling for an upgrade, more often than not as long as I’m pleasant while asking we’ve wound up receiving some pretty nice perks at no extra charge. So when I called back I made sure I was at my most courteous and genial self.

 

[tommcp516]

I started by filling in the new CM about Melissa’s issues with migraines and her need to return to the room for a quiet midday break, and pointed out that we had a water view for our current reservation, so I asked if it would be possible for us to be put into a Lagoon View room at the GF without any extra charge. The CM on this call was very nice, and shared that he also suffered from chronic migraines, so he could completely understand the particular problem that ongoing construction noise might cause.

After a long hold while he checked with his supervisor, he came back to say that they’d be glad to move us into a Lagoon View room, without any increase to our bill. I thanked him very much and they updated our reservation, and I made sure to give him all Fives on the phone survey at the end of the call.

Actually, I was so thrilled about receiving this upgrade (which was worth a couple hundred bucks) that if I could I’d have given him all

 

[tommcp516]

So that was certainly a nice surprise from Disney. We hadn’t really even considered GF when we were first booking this trip, so it’s been exciting to read up on all the great décor and amenities there. I’ve been thinking about trying to make reservations at their fancy restaurant Narcooooseee’s or whatever its called (I think I may have included an extra vowel or two…) and maybe even walking over to the Poly to try some Tonga Toast for breakfast.

And call me a foolish, idealistic dreamer, but I will continue to hold out a tiny hope about scoring that ever elusive booking at Chef Mickeys...

 

[Tuvalu]

Our lagoon view for garden view price earlier this month.

You’ll be very happy with the switch. GF bathroom > CR bathroom by a mile. The path to MK is much prettier than the walkway from CR. We did it in under 15 minutes at a very leisurely pace.

You are making me feel a wee bit guilty for having scored a 7:30am Chef Mickey’s ADR for the 11th....

 

[MickeyCB]

And call me a foolish, idealistic dreamer, but I will continue to hold out a tiny hope about scoring that ever elusive booking at Chef Mickeys...

I'm pretty sure I mentioned it in your pre-trip report (but my memory isn't so hot), you should sign up for the Touring Plans reservation finder.
It has never failed me in the several years I have been using it trying for various coveted reservations.
I will caution you to be careful while driving as I got a notification on my phone that a reservation I wanted had come through and I almost wrecked getting to the curb to claim it!

 

[tommcp516]

Extra likes for the Monty Python reference

It's one of my favorites. We just recently watched it with Adam on his 13th birthday and it was so great to hear him giggling like crazy throughout the whole movie!

 

[tommcp516]

I'm pretty sure I mentioned it in your pre-trip report (but my memory isn't so hot), you should sign up for the Touring Plans reservation finder.
It has never failed me in the several years I have been using it trying for various coveted reservations.
I will caution you to be careful while driving as I got a notification on my phone that a reservation I wanted had come through and I almost wrecked getting to the curb to claim it!

Yep, I made sure to add that as one of our TP reservation finder requests. I did get an alert from TP this morning for a Narcoosee dinner reservation that popped up during our trip, but by the time I saw it and logged in it was taken. From what I've read from other people who've been seeking hard to get reservations, I'm pretty hopeful that there should be at least some cancellations in the day or two before our dates.

 

[tommcp516]

You are making me feel a wee bit guilty for having scored a 7:30am Chef Mickey’s ADR for the 11th....

Uh-oh, that's pretty tempting for you to just dangle that out there-if you've read this far into this report you know my history of tacking extra days onto our trip on a whim. Don't be surprised if me and my family just "happen" to "pass by" and shoehorn three extra chairs over to your table to join you...

All kidding aside, no need to feel guilty at all--I'm glad you were lucky to get such a hot ticket. And I don't know if you were able to see on the final poster a couple of pages back with all of our confirmed reservations, but we've got a table at the Plaza at 2:20 on the 10th, so feel free to drop by for an extra-thick chocolate shake. I'll make sure to ask for a table by the window so we can keep an eye out for another possible drive-by sighting of Darstarr (and Bernie??)!!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Uh-oh, that's pretty tempting for you to just dangle that out there-if you've read this far into this report you know my history of tacking extra days onto our trip on a whim. Don't be surprised if me and my family just "happen" to "pass by" and shoehorn three extra chairs over to your table to join you...

All kidding aside, no need to feel guilty at all--I'm glad you were lucky to get such a hot ticket. And I don't know if you were able to see on the final poster a couple of pages back with all of our confirmed reservations, but we've got a table at the Plaza at 2:20 on the 10th, so feel free to drop by for an extra-thick chocolate shake. I'll make sure to ask for a table by the window so we can keep an eye out for another possible drive-by sighting of Darstarr (and Bernie??)!!!

View attachment 532728

Just so happens we’ll be at MK on the 10th....

 

[Darstarr]

Uh-oh, that's pretty tempting for you to just dangle that out there-if you've read this far into this report you know my history of tacking extra days onto our trip on a whim. Don't be surprised if me and my family just "happen" to "pass by" and shoehorn three extra chairs over to your table to join you...

All kidding aside, no need to feel guilty at all--I'm glad you were lucky to get such a hot ticket. And I don't know if you were able to see on the final poster a couple of pages back with all of our confirmed reservations, but we've got a table at the Plaza at 2:20 on the 10th, so feel free to drop by for an extra-thick chocolate shake. I'll make sure to ask for a table by the window so we can keep an eye out for another possible drive-by sighting of Darstarr (and Bernie??)!!!

View attachment 532728

Just so happens we’ll be at MK on the 10th....

I won’t

 

[tommcp516]

Just so happens we’ll be at MK on the 10th....

I won’t

My bad--with all the resort and dining reservations that I've been juggling I got my dates crossed: we'll be at the Plaza at 2:20 on Friday April 9th.

I'm hopeful that we'll find a way for everyone who will be there that week to coordinate at some point for a magician meetup!

 

[Tuvalu]

My bad--with all the resort and dining reservations that I've been juggling I got my dates crossed: we'll be at the Plaza at 2:20 on Friday April 9th.

Good thing I have my own reservation for the 8th then.

 

[DisneyGigi]

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!

I would 1000 percent say that you a made a wise decision with doing more table service meals. It is my biggest regret by being Covid scared and canceling all that I had booked except Chef Mickey’s. It was the only one I kept. We even gave up Oga’s Cantina, since I couldn’t see taking Stinker in with no food he would eat day one. Mobile ordering and Counter services menus are not what they once were.

 

[tommcp516]

(Pre) Trip Report Continued-March 13

This Saturday we reached the three week mark until our arrival at Disney World on April 3rd.

Although our trip officially kicks off on April 1st, when we catch a Thursday night red-eye from Seattle and then check in at a hotel near the Orlando airport on Friday morning. We’ve been flying back to the East Coast for summer vacations for a number of years, and have learned to build-in an extra day following an overnight flight so we can recover from the jet lag after losing three hours on the eastward-flight.

 

[tommcp516]

And true to the subtitle of this pre-trip report AKA-The NeverEnding ‘Reservation’, we recently had yet another change to the end of trip—but one that worked out in our favor without any extra cost.

We were originally scheduled to fly out of Orlando on Saturday evening, but the airfare for early Sunday morning flights dropped pretty considerably--enough so that it actually wound up being cheaper to fly out the next morning even with the added cost of booking a hotel near the airport just for that night.

So now, instead of having to cut our last day short at Magic Kingdom by leaving mid-afternoon to get to the airport for a 7 pm flight, we’d be able to enjoy the entire day in the park right up to closing, then catch a late-night Magical Express back to the airport, and grab a few hours of sleep before our morning flight. So that turned out to be a Win-Win-Win all the way around.