Nov 2012 - A solo crazy woman heads to WDW!

[LisaCat]

Sunday, November 25: First full day at WDW will be at Magic Kingdom! It’s a Mickey Christmas Party night, so the park will close early, making it a good first full day choice. I have 2 park days set aside for MK PLUS I’m planning on attending the Mickey party on an additional day (Yes, I’m really THAT insane). Part of my reasoning is that in 2010 we focused on attractions. Specifically “rides” and I really felt like I didn’t “see” much of the parks. This trip is focusing on things I didn’t do last trip and I know I still won’t see it all. The other reason for more time in MK is to allow for exploring the Fantasyland expansion, should it be open. Sunday’s ADRs are currently for Crystal Palace at 8:25AM (will most likely cancel), Liberty Tavern for lunch and ‘Ohana for dinner at 7:35PM (I was happy with this considering the park will kick me out by 7PM!). If I feel up to it, I might waddle down to the beach after dinner to catch Holiday Wishes. LOL

Tuesday, November 27: This is my killer day. I start with a 9AM ADR at Tusker House (still trying for an earlier seating). I don’t have a ton of stuff on my list at AK (fortunately) – we covered this park pretty well in 2010. I’d like to do Safari and Everest, but I don’t need to do anything in Dinoland. I need to see Lion King and the parade. Since Everest has a single rider line, it makes that easier. If I can’t work the Safari in, I won’t be crushed. I am planning on leaving the park to check out AKL and chill over there for a couple hours then come back for the parade and then hop the bus to Magic Kingdom for the Mickey Christmas Party. This will be a day of snacks and meals on the go. My ony ADR is Tusker House.

And we have our first itinerary change. LOL I've switched these two days. I managed to get a 9:10 at Tusker House for Sunday and a Liberty Tree Tavern lunch for Tuesday, so that's done. AK will be much more crowded than MK on Sunday, but I really don't have a ton on my "must see" list for that park, so I figure that will work. It will also mean I don't have to rush like a crazy person the second the parade is over to get to MK for MVMCP. I can just make my leisurely way to the Poly for my 7:45 Ohana ressie. Perfect!

Tuesday this week should bring the release of the Candlelight Processional Dining packages and I will be up at the plumbers-ugly-crack of dawn (actually, in CA it will be WELL before dawn!) to score one of those. I'm hoping we will see what the choices are before Tuesday morning, but I'm kinda ready to choose on the spur of the moment. Based on the restaurants they've been holding out of the ADR system, it helps narrow the field a little.

 

[LisaCat]

Candlelight Processional Dining Package booked! And the Disneyparks blog today says that they will announce dates for Be Our Guest TOMORROW!!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEAL!

 

[LisaCat]

Well, it looks like we have a date for ADRs to start for Be Our Guest - August 4th. Still no announcement of an opening date. Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[LisaCat]

Looks like that August 4th date was a figment of someone's imagination. The official word from Disney is back to "late August". SIGH. (drumming fingers impatiently)

 

[LisaCat]

Well, the official opening date has been announced. December 6. Previews will start November 19th, but who knows what that will entail. The preview will be my only hope now for the new Fantasyland stuff and for Be Our Guest. SIGH. Still going to try for an ADR on the 28th of August......

 

[LisaCat]

And the big buzz on all the Disney boards right now is that reservations for Be Our Guest will start on Monday. At 4 AM my time. Zzzzzzzzz....... One poster brought up the question about whether or not BoG would be open for dinner during the Mickey Christmas parties. Hm. Interesting question. Because of course, you MUST have a party ticket in order to dine after 7PM when the party starts, meaning there will be considerably fewer people trying to get those reservation slots. Which made me wonder if that's the ONLY time people can get, if it could cause some of the parties to sell out. So, I bought my MVMCP ticket today. LOL

Now all I have to do is wait till 4 AM Monday.......

 

[PrincessCC]

Hi!

I am also planning a solo trip to WDW but not until Oct 2013. Reading your PTR is making me so excited to start planning.

Good Luck with your ADR tomorrow!

 

[LisaCat]

It was a very busy week last week! We were gone all weekend and I didn't get to bed until after 10PM on Sunday night. Set my alarm for 3:55AM for Monday morning and then proceeded to SLEEP THRU MY ALARM! EEK! I woke up at 4:42AM and immediately started calling WDW DINE. Fast busy signals. Logged into the DIS thread to commiserate with the others on never ending redial. People started posting alternate numbers they were able to get thru on. So I had a rotation of 3 numbers I was dialing. Gotta love that my phone keeps such fabulous records that I can report that I finally connected to the automated reservation system at 5:52AM after THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FOUR attempts. The call lasted 8 minutes. Poof. Done. Got my ADR for my first choice date and time. Woo hoo! Since I was wide awake by this time, I stayed on the DIS thread, chatting with others. Someone posted that those who made their ADRs via the automated system who were NOT asked for a credit card to hold the ADR would have them cancelled by the system at midnight! EEK! So another 48 calls before I got thru to dining and into the queue for a CM. That call lasted 73 minutes, but I had a new confirmation number with a credit card hold attached. It's showing in My Reservations online. All is good and I will be dining at Be Our Guest on November 24th at 6:10PM! YAY!

Now I just have to wait for the Wishes Dessert Party to go on sale for November. Will the planning EVER END????? LOL

 

[LisaCat]

The last piece of the puzzle, the Wishes Dessert Party, has been booked. Although not without some DRAMA! LOL

I'd been checking the dining reservation system 3 times a day the last week of August; once when I first logged on to the computer, once mid day some time and once just before I shut the computer down for the night. I "upped" my notifications on the Dessert Party stalking, um I mean waiting, thread to instant notification by email and had the emails set to forward to my phone. We were kinda expecting the reservations to open up on Tuesday, Sept. 4th. So, on Labor Day, I checked when I logged onto the computer. Nope. We had some things we were doing most of the day so it was sometime around 3PM when I checked again. Still nothing. Sat down at the computer around 9PM and my email box started lighting up with notifications from the DIS thread. Not only had the reservations opened about 15 minutes or so after I had checked in the afternoon, but I didn't start getting the "instant" notifications from DIS until over FIVE HOURS LATER. ACK! So I log into Disney Dining. My date has no availability. ARGH! So I check my other 2 dates - both available, neither great, but I booked them both. Ugh. The next morning I was in the party thread and the post after mine from the night before said they got a reservation on the date I wanted. HUH?! So I log in to Disney Dining and try again. Still nothing. Tried a party of 2. Nothing. Party of 3. BINGO! So I call Disney Dining. Got a nice young man named Hunter on the line. Told him I was trying to book the Wishes Dessert for a party of 1 and was being told there was no availablilty, but I could see an available reservation for a party of 3 on my screen and could he make my reservation for me? He said his system showed NO PARTY that night. Hm. Told him I was looking right at a reservation that was just waiting for me to click confirm on. I asked if I booked it for 3 people, could he modify it to a party of 1 and he said, "Sure!" and stayed on the line while I finalized it. Gave him the reservation number and SHA-ZAM! Modified to a party of 1! YEE-HA!

So all the reservations are done, right? Noooooo..... of course they aren't! Now I'm obsessing over getting better times for a couple of the dinners and questioning which restaurants I *really* want to eat at. SIGH. Does it ever end?????

 

[LisaCat]

Oh, and another little update.... One of my "DIS Diva friends, Cristabel, had a goal to walk 100 miles before her trip to WDW (she is there now, her last day <sniff> - here is her PTR - she also planned a solo trip). I think she started around 6 or 8 weeks prior to her trip. I've got a little more time than that, so I'm thinking it's a TOTALLY reachable goal. I downloaded a pedometer app to my 'droid and started walking. I try and drag hubby with me in the evening. He is not a willing participant. LOL. I'm starting off with a little loop in my neighborhood. It's .63 miles (and I double checked it with the bike odometer and that's what I get with that too, so it looks like the pedometer app is accurate!). This morning I added another block and it came up at .83 miles. There is one more block I can add and also 3 courts I can walk down and around, so I figure I can get at least a mile in (eventually) without leaving the subdivision. Gotta get the tootsies in shape! I know when I went in 2010 my feet were beyond miserable by the end of the week. My feet and ankles were SO swollen by the time I got home! Hoping to avoid that this time! So now I'm off to make a walking ticker to help me stay on track!

edit: Well, I made a ticker, but I'd have to get rid of my cute Stitch siggy to make it show, so I guess I'll go without it. LOL I wish we could have multiple tickers on the same line going across rather than having them go only down the left side of the page. But here it is anyway.....

 

[LisaCat]

Today is my SIXTY DAY MARK!

WOO HOO!!!!!!

 

[NorCalGal]

Hi Lisa:

Our WDW trips will be overlapping! My Uncle and I will arrive late on the 27th, and one of the things I wanted to do was the Wishes buffet on the 28th, but we had some delays in finalizing our trip and it looks like everything is booked (and I groaned in frustration when I read that you reduced your rezzie from 3 to 1) Do you have a strategy for us to try to get that still? Should I just keep checking online, or would it be better to call? (What number do you call???)

 

[LisaCat]

Hi Lisa:

Our WDW trips will be overlapping! My Uncle and I will arrive late on the 27th, and one of the things I wanted to do was the Wishes buffet on the 28th, but we had some delays in finalizing our trip and it looks like everything is booked (and I groaned in frustration when I read that you reduced your rezzie from 3 to 1) Do you have a strategy for us to try to get that still? Should I just keep checking online, or would it be better to call? (What number do you call???)

Cindy - I ended up having to go thru the WDW-DINE number to get mine done right. I would suggest calling and having them check. You might even tell them you know of someone who had reserved a party of three and adjusted it to a party of one and asking if perhaps those two seats are available? All they can do is say "no", right? Good luck!

Oh, and my official countdown is now at 50 days!

 

[LisaCat]

FORTY-NINE DAYS!!!!!!! It's starting to feel "soon"! I've got a helpful distraction of a 1 night trip down to Disneyland in 2 weeks, followed by a 3 day weekend with hubby in Vegas. When I get back from Vegas, I will be looking for my Mickey Mail with my luggage tags in it! And I'll know it's time to preorder my PhotoPass. I think I'm going to do the plus. It's an extra $50, but I'll get the ride photos and since I'll be doing this trip solo, I'm planning to take advantage of every PP photographer I see. Plus I have ADRs at 2 of the restaurants on the Plus account, so between the rides and the two restaurants, that justifies the $50, right? LOL

 

[NorCalGal]

Cindy - I ended up having to go thru the WDW-DINE number to get mine done right. I would suggest calling and having them check. You might even tell them you know of someone who had reserved a party of three and adjusted it to a party of one and asking if perhaps those two seats are available? All they can do is say "no", right? Good luck!

Oh, and my official countdown is now at 50 days!

For your countdown!

I called the number, and no luck at the moment. Thanks for the great idea about checking for reservations for different party sizes. I will do that every day until we leave

 

[NorCalGal]

LisaCat, you are my hero!! I never would have thought of checking for other sizes of parties, and I checked my dates today and it came up for a party of 3, but not 2. I called WDW Dine and they were able to get my rezzie

We have 7:05 rezzies for Monday, Dec 3rd. Where can I check to see what advice people have for making the most of the Dessert Party?

 

[LisaCat]

LisaCat, you are my hero!! I never would have thought of checking for other sizes of parties, and I checked my dates today and it came up for a party of 3, but not 2. I called WDW Dine and they were able to get my rezzie

We have 7:05 rezzies for Monday, Dec 3rd. Where can I check to see what advice people have for making the most of the Dessert Party?

Hooray! There were a couple threads. There's a lot of discussion in the big thread of people waiting for the next month to open. I saw a really good review somewhere that included photos of the yummies, but I can't remember where it was.

 

[LisaCat]

And I'm now under 40 days. Today's count is THIRTY EIGHT!

I watched the YouTube video this morning - the Imagineering Tour of Be Our Guest. I'm totally drooling to get in there!

 

[NorCalGal]

Hi Lisa!

Thank you so much for all the dessert party advice. I found some threads and go some great info. I'm under 40 days as well.

 

[LisaCat]

One month, one day. SQUEAL!