Seeking confirmation

[DisneyFlash]

Hello All,

I am secretly planning a trip to surprise my wife!! I need confirmation I can do what I think I can do on our first night of arrival...

I have an ADR for dinner at Cali Grill for 930.

1) Is this a good ADR time for us to see fireworks from the restaurant? I tried for 9, but could not get is thus far.

2) I plan to hit MK for a few hours before dinner, SO I plan to park at Contemporary then head over to MK for a few hours, then head back to for dinner. Our time frame will be approx 4-4.5 hrs from parking to end of dinner.....I figured I would valet park just to avoid any issues with...parking, will we be parked too long, breaking rules, taking advantage, ect.
So, am I allowed to Valet park and then basically hit the park for as long as we want/can before dinner and my car will not be towed?
Should I be upfront with guard as we pull in regarding our plans to hit MK before dinner?

My wife does not know I have tickets for the parks! We have done the World several several times and since this is just an "US" trip she really wanted to do the dark side. BUT, I have managed to figure out a way to do BOTH places. And we are starting the trip with the magical "ahhhh" as we walk into Main Street USA and see the castle!! And I thought it would be a great way to start our trip with a quick couple hours at MK then dinner at Cali grill (something we probly could never do with 4 kids) as we are celebrating our 20th on this trip.

So, any thoughts on if I am ok to Valet at the resort and not have to worry about the car and if 930 is an OK time for fireworks viewing at dinner.

Thanks!

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

1. I'd get there at 9pm and hope to get checked in early. (assuming 10pm fireworks)
2. With paying for Valet, you will be fine. You just can't park for free then go hit the parks.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I've done it many times. Just on our last trip I valet parked at the GF, had dinner at Narcoosee's and then we went to MK for Wishes and the parade. I don't think it's taking advantage of anything since you are paying to park and paying for dinner at the hotel. I would just tell the guard you have a dinner reservation.
It sounds like a wonderful anniversary surprise! I don't know what your date is but you can check park hours to see the start time for Wishes. Depending on the time of year it could be 9:00 or 10:00. If it's 10:00 then 9:30 should work fine. Even if for some crazy reason they were running behind schedule and you didn't have a table yet you can walk out onto the viewing area and watch from there. Actually that's what we prefer to do even when we do have a table, we just get up and leave everything so we can see the fireworks from outside. I haven't been back to the Cali Grill since the renovations, but it looks fantastic!!!! Have a great time!

 

[Fantabulously Cherry]

First of all, you are one awesome husband!! LOL! Since I've never dined at CG, I can't really say for sure. Have you tried calling the Contemporary directly to inquire about parking? I would try that first.

 

[Sue M]

You can park all day for valet. So no worries. Be sure on your Cali res you have noted you're celebrating your anniversary. You may have to phone Disney Dining to do that, and request a good location by window too. You can go out on their viewing deck but being able to sit at your table to watch is nice.

 

[Sue M]

First of all, you are one awesome husband!! LOL! Since I've never dined at CG, I can't really say for sure. Have you tried calling the Contemporary directly to inquire about parking? I would try that first.

You can't call any wdw resort directly. All phone calls go to a off site call centre. They answer as resort you're phoning, but it's not. Even when you use your room phone at resort, it's not the front desk. Next time you go, notice that nobody at Front Desk answers phones.

 

[Fantabulously Cherry]

You can't call any wdw resort directly. All phone calls go to a off site call centre. They answer as resort you're phoning, but it's not. Even when you use your room phone at resort, it's not the front desk. Next time you go, notice that nobody at Front Desk answers phones.

I called POR directly to inquire about something for our trip in September. I wanted to see if the General Store had certain items for our toddler. Whoever we got answered as POR and then put us through to the GS when I asked for them.

 

[DisneyFlash]

Thank you all for your responses. I was pretty sure I was good to go, but wanted to make sure.

I was planning to get there early to leave enough time. Yes....the fireworks are scheduled for 10pm. We will be there on July 16th.

The other thing I was wondering is if we would prefer to be inside (depending on seating) or outside. Guess we can make the decision when we get there.

Thanks Fantabulous...we have 4 teens (1 boy in college and 3 girls in HS inckuding one we are in the process of adopting). We are both teachers, I coach football (which means I am gone a lot) and all of our kids are invloved in multiple activities. So, our lives are busy to say the least. I know everybody has a sob story, but my wife picks up the slack when football heats up in the summer and gets rolling full swing in the fall. So, I have been planning this for a while hoping to show that part of the gift is in the time taken to plan every detail, so that all she has to do is ride along anfd enjoy!! It just seemed to work out that our kids have been on or will be on other trips this summer and the girls need to not take any more time off from their summer jobs and our son will be at Fort Knox for ROTC training. SOOO...timing was perfect for an "US" trip!

Thanks again for the confirming info I was seeking!

Have a great day everyone!

 

[kaytieeldr]

I called POR directly to inquire about something for our trip in September. I wanted to see if the General Store had certain items for our toddler. Whoever we got answered as POR and then put us through to the GS when I asked for them.

Yup. They do that because they can see which resort you're calling. It's still a call center. These CMs do have the ability to transfer to specific areas, as you discovered .

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay, 9:30, even 9:00, is too late to get a table. Diners who had 8:00/8:30 reservations will be finishing or even dawdling, to see Wishes. But, with your 9:30 reservation, you should be escorted up in time to at least watch Wishes from outside.

 

[Networth]

I have had a 9:00-930 pm reservation numerous times before and we were completely fine getting seated prior to the fireworks. This last time we had an ADR for 9:25 and again no issues. This was on December 22nd, hardly a slow season.

Enjoy your trip OP.

 

[Sue M]

I called POR directly to inquire about something for our trip in September. I wanted to see if the General Store had certain items for our toddler. Whoever we got answered as POR and then put us through to the GS when I asked for them.

Good to know! I know while we were at the resort, I asked to be transferred to front desk, and the call centre took my info and why I needed to be transferred. They said they'd have someone call my room. Within 5 min front desk called me. I was amazed at how quickly POR resolved my problem and had us transferred yo another room.
But didn't know they'd transfer your call if you weren't onsite. I would guess it depends on who you want to speak to or what the issue is.