Booking Advice - Use Grand Gatherings Office or WDW-DINE?

[Tinkaroo]

I call tomorrow a.m. to make my ADR's, and I have a question.

I have a group of 15 family members traveling in early December. I have some meals that all 15 people are going to need to partake in, some that have a lesser # (but still large group size - like party of 9, 8, 6, etc.), and then some meals that it may be as few as a party of 2 or 4.

I have a couple of "hard to get" reservations I'll be trying for, like CRT and Le Cellier. For those of you that have traveled with large groups before, should I call Grand Gatherings at the crack of dawn tomorrow, or should I go through WDW-DINE? Can the Grand Gatherings folks make those smaller reservations, too, or would I need to then call WDW-DINE (and vice versa)?

Any help would be appreciated. I'm used to just traveling with me and DH, so this is a whole new experience for me!

 

[tiggeraholic]

I would call the group dining number. I made reservations on 5/21 and got everything I wanted including HDDR, LeCellier and CRT for breakfast with absolutely no waiting or problems. I did call at 7AM EST on the dot. Good Luck

 

[Tinkaroo]

I would call the group dining number. I made reservations on 5/21 and got everything I wanted including HDDR, LeCellier and CRT for breakfast with absolutely no waiting or problems. I did call at 7AM EST on the dot. Good Luck

Thanks - that's what I wanted to hear!

Were you making all big group reservations, or did you have some smaller ressies, too? We plan on doing several big meals together, but there will also be times that we split off into smaller seatings - can't have too much togetherness!

 

[J. Galt]

I am hesitant to post this because it will probably get someone's feathers up(and fyi, I'm not interested in starting a debate, I'm just giving my experiences to the OP) but I just made my ADRs through the Grand Gathering line with no problems and I had ADRs for various group sizes from 11 people to 2 people. More importantly, you should know that I actually made these ADRs one day before my "180 day window". I called them on a different matter, the CM asked me if I had made my ADRs, I said that my 180 day window was the next day and the CM said that I could make my ADRs that very day (and even my Grand Gathering event - go figure). I went to the ADR calculator to see if I had made a mistake on the date (I hadn't) and I have called to confirm my ADRs to see if the CM made a mistake (they are all still there). You might just want to try calling today to see what happens.

 

[SC Mouse Fan]

When I called on 5/20 I used the Grand Gathering number. I got all the ADR I had planned on. I called right at 7:00 am. Some of the place we had to split up into 5 and 5 but I here from other people that when you get to the restaurant they sometimes can seat you together. I even book LTT on Thanksgiving day and got it although it is an early supper at 4:30. I thought that would be better than waiting until 7:00 when it would be much more crowded. I even booked a split reservation for 8 people at Marikash and 2 at San Angel. They only thing I was sad about was that two Grand Gathering events will not be available while we are there. I really wanted to do the Safari Celebration or the Illunations dinner but they will not be having them until we leave.

 

[PoohHappens]

In my past experiece you get through to the gand gatherings numer faster and start making ressies faster than the dining line. I also for an important ressie before the 180+10 called grand gatherings while my DH called the Dining line to make sure one of us got it. The GG was faster.

 

[Tinkaroo]

Thanks to all of you - this is music to my ears!

And I may call today, just to see what happens.

 

[Jaime]

Can you give me the GG number? I make my ressies on Tuesday and have misplaced the number...talking to the CM last month and she said she can make all ressies for me on my 180 window.

Thanks so much! Hope you have a great trip and get all your ADR's.

 

[SC Mouse Fan]

The number is 407-939-7526

 

[engle]

made my ADR's quite a bit early using the Group Dining number.