A cautionary tale - confirm your ADRs

[suzyqqq27]

I never confirmed my ADRs and had never had a problem until now. I am so angry right now I want to throttle someone. We are leaving for WDW on October 5 and I made our dining 180 days out so thought we were fine and even got CRT for breakfast one of our days.

On October 7, we have (or had I should say) the Garden Grill for lunch. We were so excited about this since we haven't actually seen Mickey Mouse in our last two visits with our girls aged 3 and 5.

Today, I got the refurbishment list in my Mousesavers newsletter only to read that the Garden Grill will no longer be serving lunch after October 5th. I had my husband call WDW DINE right away only to find out that it's true. So, our reservation is non-existent - even though I had a confirmation number and nobody thought to let us know. We would have shown up for our lunch all excited only to find out that it's closed for lunch.

Now I'm scrambling to find something else. I think Chef Mickeys is the only other one that Mickey is guaranteed to be at but I'm afraid to take my 3-year old there. She gets overwhelmed with a lot going on and has to put her head down to deal with all the noise and confusion - and I've heard that Chef Mickey's is very busy and chaotic. And that's if I could even get a reservation at this late date - I'm so upset.

Any suggestions?

So, learn from my mistake and always confirm your ressies - I will from now on.

Suzanne

 

[ajh88]

Sorry to hear about your frustrations - ITA! I know you wanted the character meal - I'm just wondering (I haven't paid attention) - is the Grill closing at that time for refurb or is the character meal just discontinued and they'll still be serving a non-character lunch?

And if you have no luck at Chef Mickey's (yes, it can be quite chaotic depending on when you're there), Mickey is also at the Ohana breakfast with Lilo, Stitch, and Pluto. It gets loud when they do the parade, but I thought it was still much quieter than Chef Mickey's overall, IMHO.

 

[daisyduck123]

There are some tables up some steps & in the back of Chef Mickey's that are rather "out of the way". If you get an ADR there, you could arrive early & let the CM at the podium know that you'd like to wait for one of those tables.

 

[divawife]

Ask for a table "in the side area or room" it will be more manageable but still fun. Go for it-Also, I think Mickey is usually at the Lilo and Stitch breakfast at the Poly and the breakfast at Tuskers in AK.

 

[tlriv5]

Mickey was at the Ohana breakfast two years ago and we loved it! It was very relaxing and the characters are dressed in their hawaiin gear. A nice family style breakfast. I would definitely try here, Chef Mickey's is probably already booked. Tusker House may have Mickey too, I'm pretty sure he was at Donald's breakfast when it was in Dino land.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Try to get into Ohana breakfast or Tusker House breakast, Mickey is there. Ohana breakfast was amazing, we just did it last month and it was a blast and the food was awesome

 

[ROEDISNEY]

I never confirmed my ADRs and had never had a problem until now. I am so angry right now I want to throttle someone. We are leaving for WDW on October 5 and I made our dining 180 days out so thought we were fine and even got CRT for breakfast one of our days.

On October 7, we have (or had I should say) the Garden Grill for lunch. We were so excited about this since we haven't actually seen Mickey Mouse in our last two visits with our girls aged 3 and 5.

Today, I got the refurbishment list in my Mousesavers newsletter only to read that the Garden Grill will no longer be serving lunch after October 5th. I had my husband call WDW DINE right away only to find out that it's true. So, our reservation is non-existent - even though I had a confirmation number and nobody thought to let us know. We would have shown up for our lunch all excited only to find out that it's closed for lunch.

Now I'm scrambling to find something else. I think Chef Mickeys is the only other one that Mickey is guaranteed to be at but I'm afraid to take my 3-year old there. She gets overwhelmed with a lot going on and has to put her head down to deal with all the noise and confusion - and I've heard that Chef Mickey's is very busy and chaotic. And that's if I could even get a reservation at this late date - I'm so upset.

Any suggestions?

So, learn from my mistake and always confirm your ressies - I will from now on.

Suzanne

This happen to us last year with Teppan Edo. They did call us and told us they did apolgize for this and also got us into another resturant(Coral Reef very nice) and gave us preffered seating at Illumanations.
Chefy Mickey's is great but it is very crazy always something go on there. We love CM.
Good Luck 2 u

 

[mommycrawford]

You probably already know, but Mickey is always available at the judges tent in Toontown in Magic Kingdom...no reservation required! Cast members keep is quite orderly, so your family gets uninterupted time with the mouse himself!

Chef Mickeys was tooo chaotic for ME last time I was there...other families allowing their children to mob our table when characters visited.

 

[daisy112878]

I would suggest doing Ohana breakfast at the Poly. Its more quiet and controlled then Chef Mickey's. Plus since the food is brought to your table there is no people getting up and down so less moving around in the restaurant.

 

[Sandy321]

I'll add to the Ohana Breakfast!!

Its an all you can eat buffet - BUT they bring the food TO you!! no getting up - and you can let y our server know if your child prefers something - they have always been so accomadating - and often, they just notice!!

Also, we have had the best Pluto interaction (just watching Pluto at other tables is so much fun!!)

The only thing I tell people about the Ohana Breakfast and adr's - know that Ohana's seats groups by section (I think its 4 or 5 sections) So if you have an adr at 9am - you will see the line grow, and lots of people waiting, and you get annoyed looking at your watch... then they buzz you to go in - and the entire section is empty!!

This allows for the characters not to miss anyone in any section - they rotate thru your section only!

So I vote for Ohana's!

 

[Belle5]

I never confirmed my ADRs and had never had a problem until now. I am so angry right now I want to throttle someone. We are leaving for WDW on October 5 and I made our dining 180 days out so thought we were fine and even got CRT for breakfast one of our days.

On October 7, we have (or had I should say) the Garden Grill for lunch. We were so excited about this since we haven't actually seen Mickey Mouse in our last two visits with our girls aged 3 and 5.

Today, I got the refurbishment list in my Mousesavers newsletter only to read that the Garden Grill will no longer be serving lunch after October 5th. I had my husband call WDW DINE right away only to find out that it's true. So, our reservation is non-existent - even though I had a confirmation number and nobody thought to let us know. We would have shown up for our lunch all excited only to find out that it's closed for lunch.

Now I'm scrambling to find something else. I think Chef Mickeys is the only other one that Mickey is guaranteed to be at but I'm afraid to take my 3-year old there. She gets overwhelmed with a lot going on and has to put her head down to deal with all the noise and confusion - and I've heard that Chef Mickey's is very busy and chaotic. And that's if I could even get a reservation at this late date - I'm so upset.

Any suggestions?

So, learn from my mistake and always confirm your ressies - I will from now on.

Suzanne

I am not entirely positive that calling to confirm your ADR's would have helped you in any way. I think the same folks that told you that you could have an ADR there in the first place would still be telling you, "Yep...everything's fine!" What are you supposed to do--ask the CM to check and make sure that each place you have an ADR is really going to be open for business? This same thing happened to my mom at Coral Reef a couple of years ago. She arrived only to be told that it was closed for a special event. She was steamed! They did not even help her find another place to dine. I am sorry this happened to you. I still think calling wouldn't have really helped, though...

 

[sherpasmom]

Hi ~ we missed our last adr this past trip due to exhaustion and it was at Garden Grill for lunch....I love this place for lunch, so sorry to hear this?

Another suggestion would be if you're going to the Not so scary party...lookout for Mickey? I know it isn't guaranteed, but he was just inside the gate when we were there and in his Halloween tuxedo?

Good luck and have fun!

 

[LuvsTinker]

That is a bummer.

I would skip Chef Mickey's; it was too overwhelming for my son when he was younger. We tried two trips and neither went really well.

Donald's Safari Breakfast is suppose to have Mickey - in DAK; we have not tried this one, but have done 'Ohana Character Breakfast at the Poly and enjoyed it. Not hetic or as overwheling like Chef Mickey.

 

[dzorn]

I would suggest Cape May for Breakfast. It does not have Mickey but Minnie is there in her swim attire. Also Chip & Dale and Pluto. I found it quieter than CM.

Denise in MI

 

[PrincessNoelle'sMom]

I never confirmed my ADRs and had never had a problem until now. I am so angry right now I want to throttle someone. We are leaving for WDW on October 5 and I made our dining 180 days out so thought we were fine and even got CRT for breakfast one of our days.

On October 7, we have (or had I should say) the Garden Grill for lunch. We were so excited about this since we haven't actually seen Mickey Mouse in our last two visits with our girls aged 3 and 5.

Today, I got the refurbishment list in my Mousesavers newsletter only to read that the Garden Grill will no longer be serving lunch after October 5th. I had my husband call WDW DINE right away only to find out that it's true. So, our reservation is non-existent - even though I had a confirmation number and nobody thought to let us know. We would have shown up for our lunch all excited only to find out that it's closed for lunch.

Now I'm scrambling to find something else. I think Chef Mickeys is the only other one that Mickey is guaranteed to be at but I'm afraid to take my 3-year old there. She gets overwhelmed with a lot going on and has to put her head down to deal with all the noise and confusion - and I've heard that Chef Mickey's is very busy and chaotic. And that's if I could even get a reservation at this late date - I'm so upset.

Any suggestions?

So, learn from my mistake and always confirm your ressies - I will from now on.

Suzanne

The same happened to us - regarding GG - but a very nice CM called to inform us (twice) and was happy to help change our reservation. Are you sure you didn't just miss the call? They will call the phone number you put on file and do everything to help accommodate you.

Hope it all works out!

 

[HonnyDipp]

Here is another vote for O'hana's!!! Besides, I hear construction work is going on at the Contemporary. That noise plus the goings on at CM's may be too much for your DD. Good luck!

 

[suzyqqq27]

Well all is resolved but that was an upsetting experience. My husband called dining to try and straighten it out but it was closed - all the CM was able to tell him last night was that it was confirmed that they wouldn't be serving lunch after October 5th - I honestly couldn't sleep last night thinking about this. So, I phoned the first chance I got this morning. I told the CM that I wanted to go over all my reservations since I had this problem with a Garden Grill lunch - only to find out that they also had "lost" my Whispering Canyon Cafe reservation for October 6th! Now I was reduced to tears - I'm 6 1/2 mos pregnant and very hormonal - I booked these things 6 months ago and planned our days around them.

Anyway, the DVC member services person got on the phone with a Dining manager and they managed to re-input my Whispering Canyon reservation as they figured out the mistake - the CM that took the original reservation took it in the wrong name and when she figured out her mistake, she cancelled the reservation but never re-booked it with the correct name. So, that was back on track.

Now for the 7th, they moved my Coral Reef dinner to lunch and my no longer existing Garden Grill lunch to a Garden Grill dinner! Still with Mickey and friends and still the sit-down quieter character meal!!! Yay! The times aren't as ideal as they were originally and we're getting less value from the Coral Reef as a lunch since we're on the dining plan but I'm happy to take what I can get at this point.

To the person that said that dining called them about this issue - they said there was a note in their system that they had called us but neither my husband nor I took the call and we have a machine and no message was left. So, I don't know what happened there.

Thanks so much for all the advice and help. I will keep O'Hana's in mind for the future as I didn't realize that Mickey was there too. We'll definitely do that next year.

Thanks for understanding,
Suzanne