My nightmare

[Gwen Rahja]

Hello! I'm a stalker not a poster but today's events have me needing to share! My DH, 2 year old DS, 10 month old DD, and I were all set to go at the end of October. All reservations made including lunch at BOG and a Wishes dessert party. PERFECT. Well this morning DH says something came up at work so now we have to move our trip back 11 days (at first it was straight cancel the trip but I wasn't having that). So now all my beautiful ADRs need to be cancelled and OF COURSE the majority of places we wanted to go are booked. No Wishes party. Nothing. I'm trying to be positive but do I have any chance of recouping my reservations for November? I feel so bummed out even though we're still going! !

 

[edawg95]

That's bad news, but have faith. You can recover the ADRs. There are openings that pop up all of the time as you get 30 & 45 days out. We are going in late October but got a late start but have been able to nail down all of our wanted ADRs, except wishes. The WDW tools worked for us for CRT and BOG dinners. Hoping the best for you.

 

[Lisaloo]

My first two kids were 14 months apart also. We started family Disney trips when they were toddlers. The good news is...they don't know or care! I get that you are disappointed, but don't let it ruin your trip. And who know! With cancellations you may get the exact ADRs you want. DH and I remember those early trips when the kids were tiny (teens now) and I honestly can't tell you where we ate other than the Crystal Palace breakfast that scared the dickens out of both of them. Lol!! Also, we never made it to fireworks when they were toddlers. They (and we) were pooped.
Enjoy your trip and your babies, mama.

 

[ldauksch]

When does that put your trip now? We just decided to upgrade our free dining to the deluxe plan because we were already going to be paying OOP for 3 meals so now I'm trying to add Chef Mickey's, Tusker House, 1900 Park Fare breakfast (already have dinner), a late breakfast at Crystal Palace, and an Ohana dinner so I know the feeling. I actually have lucked out and gotten all but Crystal Palace and Ohana so far granted none of the others are at my desired times. I would suggest using Dining Scout. Don't lose hope they just added a TON of Cape May breakfast and dinners last week so I'm sure they will continue adding more tables to other restaurants as well as it gets closer.

 

[Gwen Rahja]

Thank you everyone! I signed up for WDW Tools so hopefully they'll keep me informed and I'll just cross my fingers! I know I have to relinquish my last ADRs but I'm so reluctant! I was thinking of doing MVMCP now that everything's been pushed back but I feel the kids are just a little too little so I'll content myself with the Food & Wine festival!

 

[Nancyg56]

Don't worry! One of the benefits of people booking more restaurants while they finetune their plans is that they release some ad move others. Keep checking and you will be surprised at what pops up. One thing to remember is along the same lines as others have posted. WDW is a destination that includes dining experiences, but those experiences are not as important as we all make it seem as we search and plan the perfect trip. If you miss some, you will find others, and your family will never know "what got away".

On my granddaughters 6th birthday trip I scored LeCellier. Hallelulia!!!!!!! It was one that I had heard so much about and we were all looking forward to this meal. Biggest flop ever! We got what we wished for, and we ate. That was about it. That same trrip I had booke Coral Reef because we liked the aquarium setting and thought that would be a nice respite before Illuminations. We got an earlier start that morning, and my poor little Kady hit a wall, so we went back to the resort so she could rest. I went down tot eh concierge who canceled our dinner and booked Shutters in the resort for us. One of our best meals that trip! The entire staff made kady's birthday (Happened to be her actual birthday that night) a party and her little 6 YO self was the Belle of her own Ball! At Le Cellier there was not even a happy Birthday wish for a little girl.

ANyway, no wories, you will eat and you will make wonderful memories!

 

[lwc]

Don't worry! One of the benefits of people booking more restaurants while they finetune their plans is that they release some ad move others. Keep checking and you will be surprised at what pops up. One thing to remember is along the same lines as others have posted. WDW is a destination that includes dining experiences, but those experiences are not as important as we all make it seem as we search and plan the perfect trip. If you miss some, you will find others, and your family will never know "what got away".

On my granddaughters 6th birthday trip I scored LeCellier. Hallelulia!!!!!!! It was one that I had heard so much about and we were all looking forward to this meal. Biggest flop ever! We got what we wished for, and we ate. That was about it. That same trrip I had booke Coral Reef because we liked the aquarium setting and thought that would be a nice respite before Illuminations. We got an earlier start that morning, and my poor little Kady hit a wall, so we went back to the resort so she could rest. I went down tot eh concierge who canceled our dinner and booked Shutters in the resort for us. One of our best meals that trip! The entire staff made kady's birthday (Happened to be her actual birthday that night) a party and her little 6 YO self was the Belle of her own Ball! At Le Cellier there was not even a happy Birthday wish for a little girl.

ANyway, no wories, you will eat and you will make wonderful memories!

^This is SO true.

What you are going through is frustrating. I have been in your shoes twice. (Including our upcoming trip.)
You will likely be able to pull together a great dining schedule -- even if it isn't exactly what you planned. My experience has been that Wishes, CRT and 'Ohana are the toughest to get after the 180 day window. But even these things DO open up here and there.

Also, in my experience, the CMs at CBR are particularly wonderful in every way!

 

[honeybunches]

You will still have a magical trip! We have been in that boat more than once. On one trip, my sister decided to join us but wanted to go in Nov, so we changed our fully planned October trip and started all over with ADRs. We had a fabulous time! We had a trip planned last year, but my husband wasn't able to take off work so we changed our dates TWICE. Ugh. Still haven't actually checked into a hotel since that booking was made. Like Lisaloo said, your trip will be much different when your kids are this small, compared to future trips you may take. Enjoy it when they're young! Kudos to your DH for saying that you guys could still make the trip just 11 days out, so much better than cancelling altogether!

(Secret confession.... I actually love the planning process almost as much as the trip itself, so I don't mind playing with ADRs and schedule all the time.)

 

[Gwen Rahja]

OMG I LOVE the planning part. I'm actually sad that I've gotten so good at it that it doesn't take me as long as it used to! I was trying to look at all the available reservations last night but honestly there were so many that I've never had any interest in that it was very disappointing. I woke up today with a more positive attitude...and tons of restaurants on "watch" with Dining Scout and WDW tools for peace of mind. DH and I are foodies and it's one of the things we look forward to most on our Disney trips. I have to release BOG lunch, Wishes, Yak & Yeti, Le Celliar, Jiko, Tokyo Dining, and a fantasmic Mama Melrose. I'll be positive and believe that with 4 months out I can get most of them back!

 

[travelgirl06]

We're going in September, I just booked fast passes which means lots of tweaking of dining reservations as we firm up plans. I have released a few "hot" tables the past few weeks (ohana, BOG, CRT). Do check out the cancelled reservations board for your month - September just heated up as Im sure others are finalizing plans. I've also heard around the 45 day mark cancellations may be made so just keep looking.

Also, consider less conventional "kid" restaurants. At 2 ODD LOVED watching the animals out the window at Saana, so of course we're going again she will be 4 and little sis will be 1.5 . Kona is also less "popular" but has enough of a buzz to keep the little ones entertained - so many kid-friendly choices.

 

[Mamato2cutekiddos]

Have faith! You never know what might happen. On our last trip we all came down with what I can only describe as the death plague that caused us to miss a number of our reservations. When I called to cancel they were SO understanding and worked really hard to get us in wherever they could. I'm talking next day/2-3 days out. I would definitely check back every so often but don't rule out hope that you won't get something really clsoe to your trip!

 

[WendyMS]

Gwen, what are your new dates? We are going in early November as well and just moved our dates by a few days (to get better airfare)... I'll be cancelling a few decent ressies (BOG, CRT, Wishes), once I've confirmed things with the other ladies on our girls' trip for the Wine & Dine race after I've moved plans around. If the dates are overlapping, I'd be happy to coordinate the cancellation time.

Otherwise I'll be posting on the cancellation thread in a few weeks...

 

[boardom]

Aw, I feel ya - booked 60 days out for end of August and it's been a non-stop project getting my ADRs. I have most but not all of what I wanted...but it takes a lot of time/persistence (and flexibility). Frustrating situation for you but it may turn out to be fun trying to "re-nab" them all!

 

[Gwen Rahja]

My dates are the 9-16 now! Sorry took me a bit to get back but I was working all weekend. I got back Yak & Yeti and Le Celliar so far! Any help would be great. The other day a lunch and dinner popped up for BOG on my WDW tools but they were immediately taken! So Upsetting!!

 

[Gwen Rahja]

Oh and also when I went to change my room (2 queens, AKL savannah view) the only free dining rooms they had available were either a queen +bunk beds at AKL (which doesn't work for the 2 year old) or a deluxe studio at AKL - Kidani with one queen and a double sleeper sofa. So thats the one we went for! Luckily it was still a savannah view but upgrading to a studio was never something we thought of. I'm trying to look at it as a bonus since apparently Kidani has a better pool for little kids and we'll have a kitchenette which should be great for feeding the kids.

 

[WendyMS]

We just changed our dates from 11/5-12 to 11/2-11 (airfare last week messed our days up a bit, changed the room ressie today).

So... I'll be cancelling a BOG dinner for 6:45 on 11/11 and a Wishes dessert party for 3 (4 should be fine) for 11/11 as well. Gwen you can certainly have 1st dibs at those if you'd like to coordinate a transfer time! I won't be able to coordinate a transfer until later in the week though as I'm absolutely slammed at work until late Thursday. I'll PM you later in the week when I get a chance & I'm at home!

I've also got an extra CRT dinner for the weekend ...I'll know if it is Sat or Sun as soon as the great ladies I'm travelling with confirm our choice (we are debating MVMCP along with our Wine & Dine race & don't want to be too tired to enjoy the day we pick). I'll post that and 1 or 2 other extras in week or so on the Nov. cancellation board.

 

[Gwen Rahja]

The 11th is the exact day I would LOVE to have those reservations! You don't think it would be a problem going from 3 to 4 right?! How AWESOME!