Christmas with Mickey! ** Update p.4 FP+ & online check in complete**

[HomeSweetDisney]

Well today was the big day! I was up bright and early at 4:50 AM so I could be ready on my laptop at 5:00 AM to book ADR's. So how did it go you may ask?
Here's what I got!
11/30/16 Day 1 - Arrival Day - no ADR's
12/1/16 Day 2 - MK, pre-park opening 'Ohana (7:40 AM) - Hoop Dee Doo Revue Tier 1 (4:00 PM)
12/2/16 Day 3 - Epcot, no breakfast or lunch ADR's as of yet - Via Napoli (8:00 PM)
12/3/16 Day 4 - HS/DAK, Lunch @ Sci-Fi Dine In (11:30 AM), Beaches & Cream (8:50 PM) <--this one is tentative b/c I don't know DAK's extended hrs yet
12/4/16 Day 5 - Disney Springs, lunch at Morimoto Asia (1:30 PM) - evening @ Epcot - counter service in WS
12/5/16 Day 6 - DAK in morning then Hollywood Studios - dinner at Hollywood Brown Derby (5:50 PM)
12/6/16 Day 7 - MK - pre-park opening Crystal Palace (8:35 AM), lunch at Be Our Guest (1:05 PM), no dinner ADR's
12/7/16 Day 8 - park hopping day, lunch @ Disney Springs, T-REX (1:30 PM), dinner @ Skippers Canteen (6:35 PM)
12/8/16 Day 9 - MK in the morning - Departure Day - no ADR's

So not too shabby overall! I didn't get Garden Grill...there was ZERO availability for Dec 2nd which I found totally bizarre
I did some reading on the DIS though and it looks like the issue may be Disney holding back reservations for the Candlelight Processional packages. Seeing as they haven't even released the dates yet for CP, I am hoping to be able to get GG at some point. Or I may just keep it as is with Via Napoli. We'll see!
Also, I wasn't happy with our 4:00 Hoop Dee Doo time. But there is NO 6:15 showing on 12/1 and the 8:30 showing only had Tier 3 available
Talk about some first world problems huh? Don't worry, here's my tiny violin



So I wasn't able to get a lunchtime BoG ADR on our first MK day but now that works out since our dinner is so early We won't want to eat a big lunch anyway! So we'll be done with HDDR by around 6:30 and that'll give us plenty of time to do our monorail tour of the MK resorts and see all the Christmas decorations Maybe we will even get to watch the Christmas fireworks from the beach at the Poly!

I'm fine with it now but at 5:30 this morning I was cursing my computer, Disney, Bob Iger, Free Dining, and anything else I could think of

So that's that! I may try to tweak a few things here and there but overall I am pleased with what we ended up with. It wasn't nearly as stressful as I expected it to be!

 

[Bethislucy]

a little late to the party but I just found your trip report. Your ADR's sound great. I get to make mine in 10 days and I fear I will run into the same problem as you with the lunch adr for BOG on our first MK day, but we have another one I'm hoping we will score one.

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

a little late to the party but I just found your trip report. Your ADR's sound great. I get to make mine in 10 days and I fear I will run into the same problem as you with the lunch adr for BOG on our first MK day, but we have another one I'm hoping we will score one.

Thanks for joining in!

Best of luck making your ADR's! I was super nervous and stressing myself out about it but it wasn't too bad! This wasn't my first rodeo but it was my first time since they implemented all the changes with MDE and doing everything online. Before I always called in for ADR's but it was kinda nice getting everything done online!

Yeah, I was bummed at first about not getting the BoG lunch for our first day but now it works out well since we'll be eating dinner so early.
We'd be too full if we ate a big lunch there!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Wooo glad everything went fairly well You have to book at 5am?! UGH. The system is totally un favour of us Brits, it's 11am our time But Fps were always 5am for us, although I believe they've changed that in our favour now!! OK enough bragging Your ADRs look awesome. I'm sure the dining forum will be ON IT with announcing CP related reservations and stuff, I hope you get your Garden Grill

 

[Leshaface]

So not too shabby overall! I didn't get Garden Grill...there was ZERO availability for Dec 2nd which I found totally bizarre
I did some reading on the DIS though and it looks like the issue may be Disney holding back reservations for the Candlelight Processional packages. Seeing as they haven't even released the dates yet for CP, I am hoping to be able to get GG at some point. Or I may just keep it as is with Via Napoli. We'll see!

Girl, Via Napoli is EVERYTHING! Absolutely delicious food. Even if you're *forced* to keep Via Napoli, I promise you will not be disappointed

Don't worry, here's my tiny violin

I hear ya!

I'm fine with it now but at 5:30 this morning I was cursing my computer, Disney, Bob Iger, Free Dining, and anything else I could think of

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Wooo glad everything went fairly well You have to book at 5am?! UGH. The system is totally un favour of us Brits, it's 11am our time But Fps were always 5am for us, although I believe they've changed that in our favour now!! OK enough bragging Your ADRs look awesome. I'm sure the dining forum will be ON IT with announcing CP related reservations and stuff, I hope you get your Garden Grill

You are TOTES bragging lol

I am not even stressing over Garden Grill anymore...I am excited to try Via Napoli so if nothing pops up for GG I am fine with that!

Girl, Via Napoli is EVERYTHING! Absolutely delicious food. Even if you're *forced* to keep Via Napoli, I promise you will not be disappointed

This is what I keep hearing! I am excited to try it...I am not even actively looking for a GG ADR anymore so...yeah

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Jamie just got back from your side of the pond, he was in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, [somewhere in northern Florida], and Atlanta, and he said that the people in all three Texas cities are the friendliest people he's ever met

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Jamie just got back from your side of the pond, he was in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, [somewhere in northern Florida], and Atlanta, and he said that the people in all three Texas cities are the friendliest people he's ever met

I am so glad he enjoyed his Texas trip! I hope he brought you back some Texas shaped souvenirs...or a shirt...or something Texas related!

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Hello all! Ahem...is this thing on? *taps mic*

Yeah I know I have been MIA for a while...sorry about that! Life has been very busy and unfortunately hasn't left me much DIS time.
But things are starting to settle down and I hope they stay that way!

A few things have changed since my last update - John had to change his days he'll be there with us (AGAIN ) so I had move some ADR's around.
Luckily I have been able to change everything that I wanted to so here's how they stand now:

11/30 - Day 1 - arrival day @ BCV - Late lunch/early dinner at T-Rex (3:15 PM) and evening at Epcot

12/01 - Day 2 - MK all day - breakfast @ 'Ohana (7:40 am) - Hoop Dee Doo Revue, first showing @ 4 PM (Tier 1) - afterwards a monorail tour of the MK area resorts to see all the Christmas decorations!

12/02 - Day 3 - EPCOT all day - dinner @ Via Napoli @ 4:30 pm

12/03 - Day 4 - HS in AM - early lunch @ Sci-Fi (11:30 AM) - dinner @ Raglan Road (5:00 PM) - John's flight arrives @ 9:30 PM

12/04 - Day 5 - EPCOT (probably all day) - dinner at Garden Grill (6:05 PM)

12/05 - Day 6 - rope drop HS - my current ADR for 50's PT is at 2:35 but I am trying to move it earlier around 11. I have had good luck changing ADR's using Touring Plan's ADR finder so I am hoping an earlier ADR becomes available. Then we will spend the afternoon/evening in DAK and grab CS there for dinner.

12/06 - Day 7 - breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace (8:15 AM) - lunch at BoG (1:10 PM) - spend day in MK - John's flight leaves back to SA at 7:25 PM so he will have to head back to Beach Club around 4? To catch ME back to MCO.

12/07 - Day 8 - Park hop in the AM to re-do any favorites. Late lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern (2:50 PM) - spend our last evening at MK!

12/08 - Day 9 - Departure day - No ADR's


So that about does it...next step is to A. See if I can get an earlier ADR time for our 50's PT lunch and B. to make FP+ reservations on October 1st!

I can't believe this trip is only 3 months away! I started planning it soooooooo long ago & now it's just around the corner! I am so excited

Thank you to anyone still following along!

 

[rdkeim]

Following along! Your plans are coming together nicely!

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Following along! Your plans are coming together nicely!

Thanks for joining in! Hopefully I have some exciting updates soon since Oct 1st will be 60 days out and time for FP+ reservations and online check in!
I need to start figuring out what FP's I want to schedule

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Not sure if anyone is still reading this thing or not but it's still a nice way to keep up with my plans and changes since I don't really have them written down anywhere

One small change for now - I realized on 12/05 that DAK is having morning EMH. So I nixed the 50's PT ADR and replaced it with an 11:30 ADR at Yak & Yeti! I am actually pretty happy with this b/c I think that's what I had wanted originally (and John likes Asian food - minus any seafood dishes due to a seafood allergy) but at the time there were no lunch time ADR's available. Well I happened to come across an 11:30 Y&Y one yesterday and decided that would work better. So we will get to DAK bright and early for morning EMH which starts at 8 AM...I know we can get a lot done since the prediction for DAK that day is a crowd level 3. I know it's hard to predict these days but in my experience DAK isn't usually super busy on the weekdays.
Then later that day we will hop over to Hollywood Studios so I will schedule our FP+ for HS that day.

That's all for now...15 days and I can make our FP+ reservations! Woo! This trip is gonna be here before I know it!

 

[xlsm]

I'm here! I'm here!

All subbed in and following along

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

I'm here! I'm here!

All subbed in and following along

Yay!!


I'll be updating Saturday after I do FP+ and online check in - let's hope it goes smoothly

 

[smiley519]

Joining in! Good luck with your upcoming FP+ window. I hope you get everything you want!

 

[dnllmz]

Hi. Following along from the December thread. Good luck getting your fast passes tomorrow!

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Joining in! Good luck with your upcoming FP+ window. I hope you get everything you want!

Thanks for following along!

Hi. Following along from the December thread. Good luck getting your fast passes tomorrow!

Thanks for joining in! Glad to have you here


Ok so...FP+ went fairly well!

I got pretty much everything I wanted for the days I wanted. The only issue was Frozen Ever After & Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. There were FP available but not necessarily at the times I wanted them. Since FEA isn't high on my priority list (my 7 year old boy couldn't care less about Anna and Elsa ) I figure we will either try to rope drop it one day or catch it late in the evening one day. Since we are at Beach Club, I don't think it will be that big of a deal.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train had NOTHING available until late afternoon on our first MK day so I wasn't able to book that which I am bummed about. I did get it for 2 other days towards the end of our trip but I would really like to do it that first day too. The problem is, it needs to be an early FP because we need to leave MK that day by 3 to get to Hoop Dee Doo. So I will keep checking back to see if anything else opens up!

I am not very impressed with the tiering system at EPCOT...I mean really? You only get ONE headliner?

Like...who needs FP for Figment or Nemo? Those lines are never that long! I hope they add more to EPCOT in the next few years. It's one of my favorite parks but Future World leaves a lot to be desired these days

So...FP and online check in are complete!! Can't believe this trip is just 58 days away!!

 

[dnllmz]

The tiers are killing me! For my dd4 FEA is a MUST so I know that we have to get one if not 2 since we're doing 2 Epcot days. She's not into rides and FEA will be more her speed. But my ds6 will want to do Soarin and Test Track. I want to have dd try Soarin and Test Track once but only if she is willing to.

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

The tiers are killing me! For my dd4 FEA is a MUST so I know that we have to get one if not 2 since we're doing 2 Epcot days. She's not into rides and FEA will be more her speed. But my ds6 will want to do Soarin and Test Track. I want to have dd try Soarin and Test Track once but only if she is willing to.

It is awful, isn't? Yes, first world problems LOL but still awful!
Were you able to get your FEA fast passes after all? I can't remember if I saw you post about it in the FB group.

I ended up snagging an earlier 7DMT FP for our first MK day which I am happy about! The first couple weeks after I booked FP there was ZERO availability for 7DMT every time I checked...but about 3 or 4 days ago I opened up MDE and boom! There was one available for 1:55 PM - 2:55 PM. This is perfect since we need to leave MK that day by 3.

I have switched other FP around as well but mostly just modified times. I am pretty happy with what I ended up with and am still planning to rope drop FEA one day rather than use a FP for it. That one is more for me anyway, my son doesn't care! haha!

 

[dnllmz]

It is awful, isn't? Yes, first world problems LOL but still awful!
Were you able to get your FEA fast passes after all? I can't remember if I saw you post about it in the FB group.

I ended up snagging an earlier 7DMT FP for our first MK day which I am happy about! The first couple weeks after I booked FP there was ZERO availability for 7DMT every time I checked...but about 3 or 4 days ago I opened up MDE and boom! There was one available for 1:55 PM - 2:55 PM. This is perfect since we need to leave MK that day by 3.

I have switched other FP around as well but mostly just modified times. I am pretty happy with what I ended up with and am still planning to rope drop FEA one day rather than use a FP for it. That one is more for me anyway, my son doesn't care! haha!

Awesome! I was able to get FEA for both Epcot days. There was no 7dmt availability for my first MK day though. I will have to check back. I've only checked it twice. It's not a huge deal. There's a couple of fast passes that I might try to change like TOT. There's no way my dd4 is going on that so maybe we should split up during that and i can fp something nearby with her. And I don't know if my son and dh will really want to do FEA a 2nd time but I won't change that until they go on it the first time. I'm glad fast passes are over.