***1st Week of December Thread ADR Plans, Park Hours, and dealing with Pop Warner***

I just thought we were all in the 'post ADR' slump waiting for the 60 day mark to obsess over fastpass selections!

I've been searching for better times for our ADRs but nothing has come up. Maybe something will when fastpasses are done and people are rearranging around those.

Still waiting (im)patiently for Candlelight...
 
t I had another radical idea for our date night that evening. Instead of booking a fancy dinner somewhere, maybe DH and I will just go back to Epcot, grab some QS (Japan, Mexico, Morroco?) and enjoy the World Showcase. DD isn't likely to want to spend time in WS other than meeting princesses and riding the two rides there so I feel like this will be a nice way to catch up. Any thoughts?
take mexico off your list and I think you have a good idea, lol (sorry not a fan of mexico QS but I would totally stop at la cava for their snacks and margaritas). I think that is an excellent idea. we did not do the WS at all when kiddo was 6 - it was an easy cut to make as it is a lot of walking and not a lot of attractions. We are budgeting in a little time to do it this time because he wants to see the Santas around the world but I'm not sure if he will get bored of that and how much of that we'll do. We didn't do Maelstrom when we were there (right before it closed, didn't have time) and kiddo still doesn't forgive me, lol.
 
I'm waiting for flying fish also! That and a CP package are the only things I have left to book. We're leaving on a long road trip in the morning so will be offline quite a bit. Sure hope I don't miss out!

Hope Lisa is doing alright - I noticed she has been absent also.
I am! as you see, lol. Motor mouth is running again!
FF is another one I wish I could fit in since we are staying at the BW but alas not willing to give other stuff up for it!
 
Made some changes to my reservations again. Is anyone else doing this and changing several time since 180 mark? I am sure it won't be final until my arrival week.

Can anyone review my reservations and see if it's good or too much food? It will be DH, DS (10) and myself. DS is 10 but he won't eat full adult meal, so I think I will order from kid's menu and pay out of pocket for his food (expect for character dining). We will have 18 TS and 18 QS during our visit.

Here it goes:

Day 1 - Arrive at DW around 4pm, early dinner @ Wolfgang Express (3 QS), California Grill at 915pm & hope to watch WISH from here (use 2 TS for one person's meal and just kid meal for DS and me)

Day 2 - Sanaa at 135pm (use 2 TS and pay for one kid meal), then MVMCP party from 4pm-12a, probably use 3 QS at the park during the party for dinner.

Day 3 - Lunch @ Flame Tree BBQ, Dinner @ Jiko at 730pm (4TS and pay for one kid meal)

Day 4 - Lunch @ 'Ohana (3TS) at 1140am, Dinner @ Tokyo Dining at 710pm (use only 1TS here & out of pocket for DS&me) to watch Illumnations here

Day 5 - Lunch @ BOG 1115am (2 QS to share between 3 of us), Dinner @ Garden Grill at 755pm (3TS)

Day 6 - Brunch @ Park QS, Early dinner @ F! H&V dinner at 355pm (3TS) - F! show at 7pm

Day 7 - Early departure @7am


*hope this is right forum to post this
I think your stuff is spaced out pretty well. I am doing 2TS a day so maybe not the one to ask (but I tried to keep a min of 6 hours between them).
 

I just thought we were all in the 'post ADR' slump waiting for the 60 day mark to obsess over fastpass selections!

I've been searching for better times for our ADRs but nothing has come up. Maybe something will when fastpasses are done and people are rearranging around those.

Still waiting (im)patiently for Candlelight...
I thought that too, lol

I am kind of in a post ADR slump. I'm glad I have what I wanted and i did some major on the fly tweaking during my +10 period but I am at peace with my selections.

Waiting for star wars fireworks
waiting for CP
waiting for RoL
 
I thought that too, lol

I am kind of in a post ADR slump. I'm glad I have what I wanted and i did some major on the fly tweaking during my +10 period but I am at peace with my selections.

Waiting for star wars fireworks
waiting for CP
waiting for RoL
CP is next week so I'm sure this thread would start rockin again! LOL!
 
First of all, I stopped getting notifications for this thread!!! So I figured everyone was quiet. I came over here to stir it up a little and see that it was just lack of notifications!

That said, we must be psychically linked. I was just assessing the dessert party situation and thinking of canceling the Wishes one during MVMCP. I think honestly that I just plain want to see the fireworks from main street and that is that. Going to wait a little bit and see what they do for Hallowishes and whether they use the old FP viewing area, which might be better... no harm to keeping the reservation right now.

Then I started looking at the Illuminations dessert party thinking maybe it would be nice to do on CP night because I am planning kind of a "linner" - like 2:30 or so. But reading a lot of the reviews people seem to say to just grab yourself a drink and a nice dessert and stake out a good place for illuminations. No seating is a big downer too, my kiddo won't stand for an hour.

Then I started looking at the star wars stuff. They time it so that you can't do both it and F!. F! was on my kiddo's "must do" list this time because we skipped it last time and he skipped it with his father back in February so he could do it with me. So that is non-negotiable. Unless they expand hours for HS in december I'm not sure how I'd fit it in. the only possibilities for me are: 1)RoL is a bust. We have our 4pm y&y dinner ADR and then head over to the boardwalk to drop the car and do dessert party that night.
2) We do 5pm CP show with 2:30 or so CP package and then do dessert party and fireworks that night instead of Illuminations.

The second could work out ok maybe - I can't imagine they won't shift some things around on fireworks nights (and I don't think they will do them every night - last year they had two F! shows (looking at old calendar) - one at 7pm and one at 8:30 with an 8pm park close time - to me it makes sense that they might do that with the fireworks rather than a second F! show - so 7pm F!, 8:30 fireworks, park is closed at 8. Which would make arriving at 7ish for the dessert party doable on our CP night or RoL night. That is ALL speculation though. If RoL is a bust (ie sucks like the Jungle Book or doesn't open up and they still have the sucky jungle book) the dessert party would be the perfect thing to do that Saturday night even with a 7pm park close time.

BTW I think the kiddo would LOVE the star wars dessert party most of all but I haven't said a thing about it to him because I have no earthly idea how it is all going to play out. Trying to remain super flexible. If I could book the star wars thing I'd def cancel the wishes thing, I am not doing two of those (one is overindulgent enough!). I am loving the idea of doing it CP night though, with a 2:30 or so main meal we'll be ready to enjoy it by 7pm or whenever it is. Kiddo's dad took him to see the star wars fireworks from outside the park on the first night of their trip and kiddo was not impressed. He said "eh. it's JUST fireworks" (Illuminations is by far his favorite nighttime show and we will be seeing it at least 2 nights, 3 if no star wars fireworks work out). But I think he would enjoy the NEW show and I think from what the reviews I'm reading are saying that you really NEED the dessert party to get the full effect. I love the idea of doing the dessert party in the launch bay and then having an outside area just for viewing. I wonder if they will incorporate seating there which would make it a win all around, but I am not above sitting my butt on carpeted flooring.

Glad this thread is still alive. I have not made any changes to my ADRs. I sometimes think longingly about the Tony's package thing with MSEP but luckily it is already sold out for all of my dates, lol. I do not need to blow a hole in my schedule for that, we are just going to have to show up early for the show... last time I saw it it POURED and we were sitting right in front of the christmas shop which was great because I left my kid with some strangers i met there (um crazy? he was playing with their kids and they were sharing glow toys etc. so it seemed ok lol) and ran in and got ponchos and we stood in the rain and watched it. I would like to be a little more organized this time and honestly main street is my favorite place to watch. If anyone is going on Wed night maybe we could meet up and save seats (being purely mercenary here - as a single mom it is a real problem when I get the "I have to go to the bathroom" and we've been saving seats for an hour already and the show is about to start - although i've never had a problem with neighbors saving our seats for us either). the only way the tony's thing would work would be to cut my second Epcot day short (not happening to go fight the crowds at MK when it is a low crowd day at Epcot) and give up Narcoossees for dinner (again not swapping Tony's for Narcoossees). I need another week there lol.

Now i'm going to go catch up with everything written behind this post!
Huh, I noticed that I stop getting notifications from the thread once I view a few other threads I follow. Kind of inconsistent but I come back once in a while to check things out. LOL

I like your option 2 plan. It seems more realistic. I think that ROL would likely be showing in December (just a guess) and hopefully it is better. As for Star Wars fireworks, I think they will show it in December too. It looks like a really nice production, judging from the videos. The problem with it is, you need to see it up close and at certain areas because of the projections? I saw some posters posting that by being in one area or another makes a huge difference in what you can and cannot see. I think the dessert party will be great for that. There's pros and cons to each dessert party I guess
SW fireworks dessert party
Pros: great view, alcoholic drinks, said to be the best fireworks show in WDW now? (subjective of course), great if you are an SW fan, looks very immersive
Cons: no seating (need to wait for reviews coming out on the 10th to see if there is seating inside the Launch Bay)
Holiday Wishes dessert party:
Pros: reserved area for parade, seating
Cons: not very good view of fireworks and celebrate the magic

For now, since DS is not really a star wars fan, I'm leaning towards the Holiday Wishes one but I keep going back to the star wars one too... Ugh... Lucky that nothing is released past July for Star Wars so I can't really make another reservation! :P

You and I are really connected somehow. I was looking for a Tony's MSEP reservation too this past few days!! (Sold out too) I keep thinking it would be good to have so I don't have to stake out a spot... How long do you need to stake out a spot for MSEP? Like you, it will screw my plans plus it's a bit of money for meh food... I already have Chef Mickeys that's meh (which I'm still considering cutting in favor of the Wave). Still, I'm juggling some ADRs because hubby said he would really like to go back to BOG (he was impressed with the setting). If we do the star wars fireworks, I would have to move my plans for FF onto another day and have a very early dinner...
 
Huh, I noticed that I stop getting notifications from the thread once I view a few other threads I follow. Kind of inconsistent but I come back once in a while to check things out. LOL

I like your option 2 plan. It seems more realistic. I think that ROL would likely be showing in December (just a guess) and hopefully it is better. As for Star Wars fireworks, I think they will show it in December too. It looks like a really nice production, judging from the videos. The problem with it is, you need to see it up close and at certain areas because of the projections? I saw some posters posting that by being in one area or another makes a huge difference in what you can and cannot see. I think the dessert party will be great for that. There's pros and cons to each dessert party I guess
SW fireworks dessert party
Pros: great view, alcoholic drinks, said to be the best fireworks show in WDW now? (subjective of course), great if you are an SW fan, looks very immersive
Cons: no seating (need to wait for reviews coming out on the 10th to see if there is seating inside the Launch Bay)
Holiday Wishes dessert party:
Pros: reserved area for parade, seating
Cons: not very good view of fireworks and celebrate the magic

For now, since DS is not really a star wars fan, I'm leaning towards the Holiday Wishes one but I keep going back to the star wars one too... Ugh... Lucky that nothing is released past July for Star Wars so I can't really make another reservation! :P

You and I are really connected somehow. I was looking for a Tony's MSEP reservation too this past few days!! (Sold out too) I keep thinking it would be good to have so I don't have to stake out a spot... How long do you need to stake out a spot for MSEP? Like you, it will screw my plans plus it's a bit of money for meh food... I already have Chef Mickeys that's meh (which I'm still considering cutting in favor of the Wave). Still, I'm juggling some ADRs because hubby said he would really like to go back to BOG (he was impressed with the setting). If we do the star wars fireworks, I would have to move my plans for FF onto another day and have a very early dinner...
Kenny the Pirate (that dude cracks me up) says the star wars is the only worthwhile dessert party. There is hard booze, savory as well as sweet treats and the new show really is best seen from that viewing area (or show up very early for someplace near it). I think it is the same price as the wishes dessert party so it will be an easy swap for me if I can do it. My fear is that they won't be doing it every night, just certain nights but we'll see. My night for it would be Monday Dec 5th so if no fireworks that night, I'm not sure how else i'd fit it in.

For MSEP I think at least an hour in advance if you want main street curbside seating... but then you are still waiting a while for the parade if it comes from the frontierland side (it might, and end on main street). Frontierland it is easier to find spots... main street is the hard part. I have dinner at Narcoossees planned for 5:05 that night and will be going direct from GF by boat to the MK and we'll see if we have time to do something before having to stake out a spot for the 9pm parade.
 
Kenny the Pirate (that dude cracks me up) says the star wars is the only worthwhile dessert party. There is hard booze, savory as well as sweet treats and the new show really is best seen from that viewing area (or show up very early for someplace near it). I think it is the same price as the wishes dessert party so it will be an easy swap for me if I can do it. My fear is that they won't be doing it every night, just certain nights but we'll see. My night for it would be Monday Dec 5th so if no fireworks that night, I'm not sure how else i'd fit it in.

For MSEP I think at least an hour in advance if you want main street curbside seating... but then you are still waiting a while for the parade if it comes from the frontierland side (it might, and end on main street). Frontierland it is easier to find spots... main street is the hard part. I have dinner at Narcoossees planned for 5:05 that night and will be going direct from GF by boat to the MK and we'll see if we have time to do something before having to stake out a spot for the 9pm parade.
If I'm not mistaken, it's $10 cheaper than Wishes? Not sure but I thought the price was $69 pp last time I saw it... It does seem worth it for what you get but the no seats thing may be a deal breaker if I can't bring the stroller with me...

Ahh, that's a long time to wait... I was thinking about waiting by the entrance on the second floor? by the train station? I think it will be a long wait too... It'll be easier to get out after...
 
Nice! I love doing a few smaller dishes and a dessert. Our last trip was just me and DH plus f&w so we had a lot of that. Good way to try more stuff without being too stuffed. I'm worried we have too much character meals... Hoping it'll be ok with DS.

Which other signatures are you doing? I'm waiting for flying fish! Hope it gets good reviews when it reopens.

The thing about character meals is that you never know if they'll love it or be afraid till you try it. I have two friends who went somewhat recently. The first has boys who were turning 4 and they hated the character meals and canceled the ones after that first time. The second friend just brought their almost 2 and 4 yr old and they adored the characters (especially Pooh and friends)and meals.

As for our sigs, we are doing Blue Zoo, Le Cellier (it's always been M's favorite meal), HBD Fant., Artist Point and hopefully Flying Fish and Tiffins.
 
The thing about character meals is that you never know if they'll love it or be afraid till you try it. I have two friends who went somewhat recently. The first has boys who were turning 4 and they hated the character meals and canceled the ones after that first time. The second friend just brought their almost 2 and 4 yr old and they adored the characters (especially Pooh and friends)and meals.

As for our sigs, we are doing Blue Zoo, Le Cellier (it's always been M's favorite meal), HBD Fant., Artist Point and hopefully Flying Fish and Tiffins.
Yeah, I figured I can cancel after the first one... So far, he's met different characters (not Disney) and he's been ok... I don't know if he would still be ok by December but I have my fingers crossed.

Great list of sigs! :) Hope you do a dining report! :D
 
The thing about character meals is that you never know if they'll love it or be afraid till you try it. I have two friends who went somewhat recently. The first has boys who were turning 4 and they hated the character meals and canceled the ones after that first time. The second friend just brought their almost 2 and 4 yr old and they adored the characters (especially Pooh and friends)and meals.

As for our sigs, we are doing Blue Zoo, Le Cellier (it's always been M's favorite meal), HBD Fant., Artist Point and hopefully Flying Fish and Tiffins.
That's so true. I ended up adding CP on the fly on my last trip - I had Ohana and TH booked in advance and kiddo loved both of them. Now I have twice as many booked for our upcoming trip adding H&V, cape may and garden grill. :P
 
@Lisa F It's a good time to do them, you know, before he thinks their lame. That happens all too soon.
I know. I am a single mom, which makes money tighter but at the same time meals are much more affordable for just one adult and one child. I get a TON of sit down meals for the $1k I am planning on spending... I choke when I see the budgets for bigger families (or even individual restaurant bills, lol). Doing the DxDDP and saving about 30% for what is on that part of the plan helps too. If he wants to do it, we're doing it. We do not go frequently to disney - his dad and I share the DVC and we each get it every other year which gives me enough time to save up for a no compromises trip. In fact as of 2 weeks ago (my birthday lol) I hit my savings goal for this trip. Everything that can be paid off is paid off and I have enough in savings to cover the rest of the incidentals like tips, mommy juice, souveniers and OOP meals and snacks and car rental. WOOHOO! I'd like to do the star wars party if I can fit it in so fingers crossed I can... I might keep that a surprise for him when we get there since I haven't mentioned it.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I figured I can cancel after the first one... So far, he's met different characters (not Disney) and he's been ok... I don't know if he would still be ok by December but I have my fingers crossed.

Great list of sigs! :) Hope you do a dining report! :D
Me too! I am thrilled to be able to do 2 this year with my kiddo instead of just 1, want to live vicariously through others lol.
 
If I'm not mistaken, it's $10 cheaper than Wishes? Not sure but I thought the price was $69 pp last time I saw it... It does seem worth it for what you get but the no seats thing may be a deal breaker if I can't bring the stroller with me...

Ahh, that's a long time to wait... I was thinking about waiting by the entrance on the second floor? by the train station? I think it will be a long wait too... It'll be easier to get out after...
Kenny the Pirate (lol) reported $69/39 which is I believe what I paid for wishes.
 
Me too! I am thrilled to be able to do 2 this year with my kiddo instead of just 1, want to live vicariously through others lol.
LOL, I'm jamming it all in now (I have 5 planned out I think including FF) while DS2 is still ok to eat out of our plates!
 












Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top