Pre-Trip #7:
"Over the Cliff and Through the Woods, to Disney Dining We Go!"
Egads! Double cliffhangers!
Have I committed a trip report faux pas? I hope not! I was not intending to turn this into a mystery novel. I promise: there will be no red herrings and no new characters introduced in the final chapter.
Cliffhanger #1: Resort Wait-and-See List.
In a fleeting moment of weakness I had opted to gamble on our
Lodging. (Sorry, couldn’t resist!) We had a patchwork quilt of nights between the original ressie at
SSR (which is great but….been there, done that) and the new ressie at the wonderfully woodsy
VWL. At best, I was hoping that, by adding our name to the member waitlist, we could transfer the rest of the SSR nights to VWL. At worst, we would do a split stay.
It’s a win-win situation, really, since we’ve many years to try out all the incredible DVC resorts. For a trip to Disney I would stay in the
laundry room at an
OKW villa if I had to!
So, about a few weeks after I found out that our waitlist for Tuesday had come through, I was once again making a call to
Member Services to see it we had made any further progress. I was really hoping for
Monday. This would ensure that we had at least four nights in a row at VWL and could at least do the week half and half. I was treated to Disney theme park music as I waited on hold. (“Due to an unusually high call volume, your wait may be longer than usual.”)
“Monday, Monday, Monday,” my mind chanted over and over. “Monday, Monday, come on, Monday!”
I'm walkin' right down the middle of
Main Street, U-S-A-Ay-Ay!
It's the heart of America
The heartbeat of a holiday-ay-ay-ay!
(“Monday, Monday, Monday, come on, Monday!”)
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room
All the birds sing tunes
And the flowers croon
In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room!
(“Monday, Monday, Monday,
come on, Monday!”)
See, it really
is a form of gambling; I felt like I was sitting at the Craps table. Come on Monday, come on, Baby!
Mama needs a new pair of shoes!
The music ended abruptly and a reservationist named Maya came on the line. I inquired about the waitlist, but didn’t hold my breath or anything. After all, I had been calling almost everyday and coming up with nothing but snake eyes.
Maya checked her computer. “Oh, it looks like one of your nights did come through….”
Which night? Which night? Whoops, I guess I had been holding my breath just a little.
“Monday, the fifth.”
"MONDAY! Did you just say MONDAY?"
"Yes."
“Maya, I love you!!” She laughed. “I get that a lot!” she replied.
**************************************
Cliffhanger #2: Which ADRs?
In our last episode, I had managed to pull our itinerary together at the last minute and was set to make my first ADR requests the morning of day 180. Like any good DIS-er, I had placed
WDW Dining on my speed-dial, had my reservation # and my desired locations /dates /times all set before making the first of
many,
many, many,
many, many, many, many calls to Disney Dining over the next week!!
I was fairly lucky that first morning. Got every TS I wanted, perhaps not at the time I wanted, but pretty darn close. And then, I got to thinking…
Well, you know how it is!
So, a few (ahem!) phone calls later, this is what we ended up with:
ADR Itinerary, 11/07:
*Denotes “new for us”
Saturday 11/3
Dinner: (5:30pm) Restaurant Marrakesh
*
Sunday 11/4
Dinner: (5:10pm) 50’s Prime Time Café
Monday 11/5
Lunch: (11:30am) Garden Grill Café
*
Dinner: (5:50pm) Whispering Canyon Café
Tuesday 11/6
Breakfast: (8:05) Crystal Palace
Wednesday 11/7
Dinner: (4:30pm) Liberty Tree Tavern (w/ sister’s family)
Thursday 11/8
Lunch: (11:40am) Play & Dine
* (w/ sister’s family)
Friday 11/9
Dinner: (6:30pm) Artist’s Point
* (Mom & Dad only!)
Saturday 11/10
Dinner: (5:00pm) ‘Ohana
*
Remember my sister, Marilyn? (Her family will be at WDW the same week as us.) Somewhere in the middle of all this dialing drama, we managed to touch base. Since my dining reservation window opened two days before hers, I had taken the “liberty” of booking a character dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern for the ten of us since I knew they were going to be at the MK that night. She was thrilled. We went over her game plan for her first call the next morning. She was preparing to go after the elusive princess breakfast at
Cinderella's Royal Table…the hottest ressie at WDW.
I tried to recall some tactics that had worked for me back in 2003: Speed dial, cell phone and land phone at same time, start dialing exactly one minute to nine, etc.) She was pumped! She was ready!
She was on the answering machine when I got home from work the next day…and she was crying. Oh no.
I called her back.
“I forgot,” she said, her voice quavering with emotion. “The kids are sick and they had my up all night,” she explained. “I was so exhausted that I overslept. By the time I remembered, it was too late…he best I could do was a late lunch on our last day.” She sounded so disappointed. “At least the girls will get to eat in the Castle," she sighed.
And this is where
The DIS comes to the rescue! Ta da!
I had learned that not all of a restaurant’s tables are made available at 180 days, plus ten. I urged her to try again in two days, 180 days from the day of the desired ADR. She called me back that night with the news of her success! Woo-hoo!
“So,” I said happily, “What are your other ADRs?” I listened with interest and then with downright amazement when she reported that she had made an 11:40 lunch ADR for the character meal,
Play and Dine at Hollywood & Vine.
“Get out of here,” I told her. “We have one for 11:30!” Another amazing incidence of parallel planning! We quickly decided to call back and change to one ressie for all of us at the same time. Luckily, it was available. Separate tables, true, but with a notation that the two should be close together. Hey, it’s a buffet! We’re going to be up and down anyway between the food and the games and songs for the kids. We felt that we had been very fortunate.
So…a few rides together, two character meals, perhaps a parade or a show or two…just enough togetherness so that our families have fun but don’t drive each up the wall!
Or perhaps over the edge.
Of a cliff.
But, don’t worry. No one will be stepping on your fingers…
Because you’re no longer hanging there.
I hope you landed softly.
And with that, I bid you good night.
Kathy
The poor ‘puter was saved just in the nick of time by the whistling of the kettle. Reluctantly, I put down the sledgehammer and went back to the kitchen; poured the boiling water into my Minnie Mouse mug 
and the cold milk into my Cocoa Krispies. I sat down at the table and lamented the situation. “By this time last year, I had already revised our itinerary about a dozen times and had all the ADR requests ready to go,” I muttered as I sat down to eat.
For days I had been griping and I didn’t even realize that I possessed the solution to the problem all along. Last year! I still had a copy of last year's LCCs!
I ran to the dining room and swept away some of the junk that always seems to find a resting place there and cleared myself a place to work. The forgotten tea got cold and the cereal got mushy as I gleefully mapped out our plan of attack for the week. Now that I knew which park we were doing which day, the ADR requests slipped in easily like the last few pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. 
. Kind of unstressful though. But I'm am kind of lost not having the pre-planning of planning stresses. But 2008's trip will be totally different, I will do that one my way. Who knows though this trip may be different no parks, no ADR, staying in cabin, doing pools, watch fireworks from outside park....... I don't know...
WDW is so much more than just the parks!
with your report and I just can't tear myself away. Thanks for that.
Kathy! 
