Calling in for ADR's -- Questions

[ancestry]

Sunday will be my 90 day point so I get to call in for all of our ADRs.

We are on the DxDP and are planning on having table service between 2-3 times per day. In other words we will have ALOT of ADRs to make -- 18 in total.

The good thing is that I don't think I have too many high demand/hard to get into places and the few that I do I have them at a less desired time (i.e. Le Cellier at lunch instead of dinner). We will be there from June 20-27 and I'm mostly worried about getting the reservations we want for Fathers Day, since Fathers Day falls at the beginning of our 90+10 period.

The thoughts/questions that keep running around in my head are:

1) Do you make your ADRs in order by date and time when you call in or do you jump around from what you think is the most difficult reservations to get to those that aren't are quite so hard to get?

2) How much of a "back-up" plan should I have ready? Should I have multiple alternative restaurants ready in-case our first choices aren't available? Obviously the restuarants align with our park plans for the day. I don't want a MK restuarant reservation if we are going to be in HS nor do I want to eat at any restaurant twice during our trip. So if I have to use an alternative at one point that will most likely change want I want during another point in the trip.

3) My 90 day mark is Sunday. Do I need to or should I be on the phone at 7:00 AM or would it be okay to wait until later in the day in order to avoid the potentially long on-hold waiting period?

4) Out of curiosity has anyone cancelled or down graded from the DxDP because they weren't able to get most of the reservations that they wanted? Thought has crossed my mind. The DxDP is advantageous to us if we can get most of what we want but if we can't get to eat at the places we want to at times that are convenient to our schedule then the DxDP will lose its value (to us anyways).

Sorry for the questions. I have not made ADRs before. We normally either ate CS, ate off-site, or traveled as guests of Disney and Disney took care of the dining reservations (i.e. we worked in media).

Thanks!

 

[Irish Twins]

HI there! I just called in on Feb 14 for our Dlx Dining Plan. I would call at 7. I actually started calling a few minutes before and just kept hanging up and calling again. I skipped around to what I thought was the most popular and just crossed them out one by one. I also called the day before so I knew what to expect. You can cut off the voice recording by answering yes or no if you already know the answer to the question. The only back up plan I had to do was let's say I wanted Crystal Palace at 8 Am and they only had 9 I just adjusted it and asked if they had it another day that I knew we would be in MK.

Good Luck! I was able to get everything I wanted for our trip in May and hope you do too!

 

[summermac]

1. I made my ressies in order of what I thought was hardest to get. I started with LeCellier, then Crystal Palace (b) and Tusker House (b). Then I just went in order of arrival date from then on out. I had to move my LeCellier day to one day later and still didn't get my preferred time (6:55) as we'd have liked to have eaten a bit earlier. What's nice about the system is that you tell them you want dinner & they tell you what's open. I didn't even have to give a time, unless I so chose, like for CP, I said I wanted the earliest we could get on June 15. That ws 8:50a. I later called back b/c I didn't like missing rope drop for our first MK full day. We got CP later in the week on Friday at 8:20a. Tusker House, I also wanted early but we wound up with 9:15. IMO, Rope drop isn't as important at AK as MK so I'm not switching it....yet. LOL

2. I really didn't have any backup restaurants, just back days for each particular restaurant. The only one I had a backup restaurant altogether was 50s PTC b/c we are going to be at DHS for Star Wars Wknd and it's at the beginning of our trip. We wound up with a 4:35 ressie so I took it.

3. I'd be on the phone at 7a. I waited about 45 mn & was done completely (only 7 ADRS) just a few minutes after 8a. Later that afternoon, I called back to make a change and I got right in. But I would bet money that if you wait, you're going to have a really hard time getting some of your more popular choices.

4. I'd downgrade if I couldn't get at least 2 TS ADRs per day.

HTH!

 

[catherines_mama]

1. I made my ressies in order of what I thought was hardest to get. I started with LeCellier, then Crystal Palace (b) and Tusker House (b). Then I just went in order of arrival date from then on out. I had to move my LeCellier day to one day later and still didn't get my preferred time (6:55) as we'd have liked to have eaten a bit earlier. What's nice about the system is that you tell them you want dinner & they tell you what's open. I didn't even have to give a time, unless I so chose, like for CP, I said I wanted the earliest we could get on June 15. That ws 8:50a. I later called back b/c I didn't like missing rope drop for our first MK full day. We got CP later in the week on Friday at 8:20a. Tusker House, I also wanted early but we wound up with 9:15. IMO, Rope drop isn't as important at AK as MK so I'm not switching it....yet. LOL

2. I really didn't have any backup restaurants, just back days for each particular restaurant. The only one I had a backup restaurant altogether was 50s PTC b/c we are going to be at DHS for Star Wars Wknd and it's at the beginning of our trip. We wound up with a 4:35 ressie so I took it.

3. I'd be on the phone at 7a. I waited about 45 mn & was done completely (only 7 ADRS) just a few minutes after 8a. Later that afternoon, I called back to make a change and I got right in. But I would bet money that if you wait, you're going to have a really hard time getting some of your more popular choices.

4. I'd downgrade if I couldn't get at least 2 TS ADRs per day.

HTH!

It helps a lot! That was great advice. I also call for my ADRs on Sunday. EEK!
I love the 'call the day before and know the prompts' advice. I'll definetly do that. We are on DDP, and I too would downgrade from DxDP to DDP if not all ADRs were met.

 

[MA pigletfan]

sorry..answered my own ??