**December 2012 Roll Call** Holidays, FLE Opening & MVMCP!! A very, merry thread!

[tofubeast]

But DH said, there really are other nuts like you up this early making reservations??

Heck yeah there are!!!

Awesome with 'Ohana!! Congrats on getting your desired ADRs.

 

[nickle831]

We're thinking of doing something similar, so I'd love to hear about others' experiences too. I've heard the hotel at the airport is pricey, so I'm not sure it will save all that much. We're thinking of looking for a deal near the airport, then taking the ME early the next morning.

Still haven't looked into this yet, but I wanted to say that I read your princess trip and OMG that was awesome! I loved your pictures and Madison and I poured over them yesterday and she was in awe. I said aren't the christmas lights (osborne) awesome, she said no. I said what, they aren't awesome. She said no mommy they are "Double Awesome." LOL

 

[nickle831]

ADRs are made. Only one I was worried about was Ohana. DH thought I was nuts for getting up at 5:45. I wanted Ohana on a certain day at 5:30. At 6:01 the best time was 5:55, which was fine and I grabbed it. But DH said, there really are other nuts like you up this early making reservations??

lol yep sign me up on the crazy chain!

 

[kappyfinn]

ADRs are made. Only one I was worried about was Ohana. DH thought I was nuts for getting up at 5:45. I wanted Ohana on a certain day at 5:30. At 6:01 the best time was 5:55, which was fine and I grabbed it. But DH said, there really are other nuts like you up this early making reservations??

I think the nuts are the ones who DON'T get up early to make their ADRs.

 

[lilmissdisney216]

December 15th-21st POP Century Resort. Combination graduation celebration/first timer visit!!!

 

[Valgoof]

Now just waiting for Le Cellier and BOG.

 

[BDL]

Ok. I've been away for a few days and let's see if I can catch up. More importantly, let's see if I can help...

I read another poster saying that they had been to 2 different CPs and each one they were 'assigned' an area that was near to the restaurant they went to, I suppose it can change from year to year.

In 2010, the reserved area was (as you are facing the lagoon) just to the left of the store at the gateway to the World Showcase. Wasn't a bad area. And though it had plenty of people, I didn't feel crowded. There is also a gentle rise to the land to allow people to see. Big plus, the entrance/exit to the area is 10 yds from food/soda vendors and bathrooms.

Roll Call:
Me and hubby will be flying in to Orlando on sun Dec 9th but will spend one night at Royal Pacific at Universal. We'll be checking in to POR on Monday Dec 10 for 7 nights! I'm way too excited for this trip!

Welcome neighbor. I like how the POR # is growing.

has anyone stayed at the hotel airport? I was thinking about coming in the day before in the later afternoon and just staying around the airport so we would have that full day on monday. anyone ever do this?

We're thinking of doing something similar, so I'd love to hear about others' experiences too. I've heard the hotel at the airport is pricey, so I'm not sure it will save all that much. We're thinking of looking for a deal near the airport, then taking the ME early the next morning.

Once again, this is what we did in 2010. Our check-in day was on a Friday. So I booked a flight for late afternoon Thursday. When we landed, we checked into an off-site motel. This worked out a few different ways. The money we saved by flying late TH vs early Fri more than offset the motel cost. FRI morning we were rested and not rushed to get to the parks. And most important, we got a FULL day on our 1st day at the park, on a day that is a travel day for most.

^^^^ Might want to check for a typo.

I still can't see the typo. I feel like such a failure...

ADRs are made. Only one I was worried about was Ohana. DH thought I was nuts for getting up at 5:45. I wanted Ohana on a certain day at 5:30. At 6:01 the best time was 5:55, which was fine and I grabbed it. But DH said, there really are other nuts like you up this early making reservations??

If you think that's bad, wait til CP booking day. I might have posted the experience, from the 2010 thread, on this thread, but I'm not sure. It is an interesting read. Picture... Hunger Games, except more violent. (JK ). There was a lot of venting, joking and posters, trying to keep other posters' spirits up.

 

[Valgoof]

If you think that's bad, wait til CP booking day. I might have posted the experience, from the 2010 thread, on this thread, but I'm not sure. It is an interesting read. Picture... Hunger Games, except more violent. (JK ). There was a lot of venting, joking and posters, trying to keep other posters' spirits up.[/QUOTE]


Yikes!! I dont need the CP package, but I would like a regular LC one please. Not sure I am willing to fight to the death for it though.

 

[sjs314]

I wasn't too worried about CP booking day until now

I really want Le Cellier.

 

[mom2rtk]

I still can't see the typo. I feel like such a failure...

Don't go crazy. They fixed it.

 

[Tltorrez]

We're not doing CP. Is Rose & Crown blocked for lunch and dinner or just dinner? Since we weren't able to do R&C on our last trip, I told DH that he owes it to me this trip. I'd like to do lunch but don't know if it's blocked for that. We're going 11/29-12/8.

Not sure if anyone answered this, but these four restaurants are blocked out completely for all of December - lunch and dinner. It's really irritating. I'm not even doing Candlelight Processional at all, let alone trying to get a package. I just want to eat dinner at Rose & Crown on our Epcot PM EMH night.

Anyway, the prevailing rumor is that you'll be able to book this June 26 when the CP packages open up. Of course, there are other rumors to, depending on which random CM you ask.

CP packages have to be done by phone, right? So assuming they release a reasonable number of tables for general reservations, those of us booking regular online shouldn't have too much trouble.

 

[Tltorrez]

I'll be there with my husband and 2 kids from Dec. 5-14th. This is my 5th trip and my husband & kids' 2nd trip. First Christmas trip for all of though and we're so excited to be going back!

Welcome. Where will you be staying?

We'll be down on the 3rd-15th at BWV and AKV - Kidani.

 

[Tltorrez]

If you think that's bad, wait til CP booking day. I might have posted the experience, from the 2010 thread, on this thread, but I'm not sure. It is an interesting read. Picture... Hunger Games, except more violent. (JK ). There was a lot of venting, joking and posters, trying to keep other posters' spirits up.

I had the misfortune of trying to book F&W seminars in October - another scenario where a billion people call at one time. I got really lucky and only waited about 15 minutes. But the call volume was so high it started overflowing to other reservation operators. I guess that's standard procedure, except none of them knew anything about the stuff we were trying to book. It was insane. And you could book things on the website, but instead of having that up an hour before phone time, it came up several hours afterward. Massive fail.

That's my biggest fear - that they will start selling the CP packages without opening up the regular ressies online (or possibly at all).

 

[mom2rtk]

So who's setting the odds on when the online system will crash on the 26th?

 

[BDL]

So who's setting the odds on when the online system will crash on the 26th?

Online registering...? I don't know about that. Phone booking starts before online booking.

But I know I listened to 40+ min of ride sound tracks while on hold, 2 yrs ago. But the real horror story was that a week after everyone booked their CP pkg's, Disney in their infinite wisdom decided to upgrade the software for the dining registration. A LOT of ADR's were lost. Needless to say, people's heads exploded. It got to the point that Disney had to freeze ADR bookings because people were trying to vulture the now vacated spots. After about a week, normalcy resumed.

Hang on to your confirmation #'s people.

 

[mom2rtk]

Online registering...? I don't know about that. Phone booking starts before online booking.

But I know I listened to 40+ min of ride sound tracks while on hold, 2 yrs ago. But the real horror story was that a week after everyone booked their CP pkg's, Disney in their infinite wisdom decided to upgrade the software for the dining registration. A LOT of ADR's were lost. Needless to say, people's heads exploded. It got to the point that Disney had to freeze ADR bookings because people were trying to vulture the now vacated spots. After about a week, normalcy resumed.

Hang on to your confirmation #'s people.

Better get the phones ALL charged up. You know, provided I can find them all.

I don't want a CP package, just a regular Coral Reef ADR. Is there any reason I might not be able to book this on line? If the packages are only by phone, at least maybe the online system can sustain itself.

After getting up well before the crack of dawn once already to make my ADRs, I'm not going to be very excited to have to fight the CP masses by phone just to make a regular lunch ADR.

 

[nickle831]

. Needless to say, people's heads exploded. It got to the point that Disney had to freeze ADR bookings because people were trying to vulture the now vacated spots. After about a week, normalcy resumed.

Hang on to your confirmation #'s people.

The vulture comment has me laughing.

 

[nickle831]

mom2rtk do you have an etsy shop?

 

[Tltorrez]

Online registering...? I don't know about that. Phone booking starts before online booking.

But I know I listened to 40+ min of ride sound tracks while on hold, 2 yrs ago. But the real horror story was that a week after everyone booked their CP pkg's, Disney in their infinite wisdom decided to upgrade the software for the dining registration. A LOT of ADR's were lost. Needless to say, people's heads exploded. It got to the point that Disney had to freeze ADR bookings because people were trying to vulture the now vacated spots. After about a week, normalcy resumed.

Hang on to your confirmation #'s people.

No, online bookings for ADRs open at 6am (sometimes a little earlier). Phone doesn't open until 7am. Though my understanding is that you can only book CP packages on the phone. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

My money isn't on a system crash though - my money is on them not getting the regular booking slots into the online system before the phones open. The regular 180+10 slots get uploaded on a nightly basis. But something like this, that's a special job and who knows whether it will happen on time.

In Oct F&W phone waits reached 3+ hours pretty quickly. And these things seem to get worse every year. I know that the average Disney guest, still has no idea about things like this, but the number of guests that do is rising.

Crossing my fingers that I don't have to join the madness on the phone.

 

[Tltorrez]

I don't want a CP package, just a regular Coral Reef ADR. Is there any reason I might not be able to book this on line? If the packages are only by phone, at least maybe the online system can sustain itself.

It's all about whether they load the regular slots in time. And honestly, that's even assuming that they load them at all on that day. We're kind of assuming that they will load them when the CP packages are released, but there's no way to know for sure that will happen. (Even assuming the June 26 rumors are correct.)

So assuming that they a) release the regular slots on the same day, b) get them loaded on time and c) release a reasonable number (i.e., don't hold them all for CP with NPH), then no worries.

I figure it could be worse -- imagine if June 26th were your 180+10 day.