Going to Disney with a non-disser I hardly know Pre-trip ADRs post #7

[Disneyfan18951]

I love Disney - My first trip to WDW was in 11/02. I work as a nanny and my first trips were "part of the job".

I left that job in 9/04. I went in 10/04 with my sister and her 2 DDs for my first MNSSHP.
After that I started making solo trips, about three times a year.

I was planning a trip for 12/06 and was talking with a friend at church about going to Disney. She was telling me how she has been promising her DD12 they could go but money was in short supply. I told her I have a timeshare (non DVC) and she could come with me and that started the ball rolling.


Let's start as all good trip reports to with the cast of characters

Me: Sherry age 39 (when did that happen) many trips to the world and grew up going to Disneyland.

My friend: Tracy age 33: has 3 kids went to Disney as a teenager and hasn't been back since.

Tracy's DD Lizzie: age 12. I don't really know her all that well. We have talked a few times but I don't really see her that much. She seems like a very sweet girl.

Side Note: I stopped going to that church and have really only talked with Tracy a few times on the phone and we went shopping a couple of times. Our lives are so busy it is just hard to get together.


My boss is pretty open about letting me take vacation when ever I want. Tracy said she would check at work and see when she could get off. Tracy ended up taking off Oct 20-27 with her birthday on the 25th. I doubled checked with my boss that it would be okay with him and he said okay. So we got the dates now the fun begins!!!

PLANNING

This was back in 12/06 so we had months and months to plan and check for best airfare etc etc etc... Fortunatly, Tracy said those magic words " I'll leave the planning up to you"

First thing was to book a room. I called my timeshare as soon as I was in my booking window. I got a 2 bedroom at Bonnet Creek which is right next to Caribeen Beach and EPCOT.

Next up: How to NOT book airfare.

 

[Simba22]

Yay! up and running! Can't wait for more....ging to WDW with someone you barely know....this should be interesting!!

 

[Disneyfan18951]

Simba22 Thanks for posting--- This should be quite a trip!!!


We live about 1 hour from Philly airport and about 1 1/2 hours from Newark. I normally fly either Southwest out of Philly or Continental from Newark I can usally get one of these for around $120-150. The last couple of trips, my boss bought my ticket with his continental miles so I haven't had to pay out of pocket.

I started looking at airfare about 6 months out. It was running around $2S0 with Continental and Southwest was only booking to the end of August. So I decided to wait until Southwest opened up booking hoping that they would run a $49 special, I had gotten that in the past and they were running the special but only through August.

Life got busy and airfare got pushed to the back of my mind until June when I found out I was going to have 2 weeks off at the end of July. I started looking at going to Disney for those two weeks as I have an annual pass and was able to get my timesahre for 10 nights. My boss offered to buy my airfare but I said to him by the time I pay for parking at the airport and rent a car for 2 weeks I am paying about $350 on top of the airfare so I chose to drive for that trip (my boss paid for my gas!!!) since I had the time. I asked my friend if she wanted to go in July instead but that it may be more crowded but Lizzie wouldn't have to miss school. Tracy said she didn't really have the money yet and didn't want to deal with the crowds. (BTW it ended up being a lot less crowded than I thought)

Airfare in June was running $180 but I kept hoping that Southwest would go on sale for $49 one way --- so I waited.

When I got back home August 1st I checked airfares again and Southwest was still running $180 so was Continental. I was starting to think this my be the lowest price and worried that they would sale out of seats. I said "let's give it one more week". After a week $180 was still the best price so I called Tracy and told her I thought that $180 was the best we would get especally since we wanted the 7:00am flight out and the last flight home. She said she thought $180 was a good price so go ahead and book it. I told her I would charge it to my AmEx card and just needed the $$$ by Sept 16 because of how my billing cycle runs. She said no problem and thanks because she had had an absess on her leg that she had to have lanced then it got infected and she was hospitalized for 3 days so she had been on disability for the last two weeks and would not be going back to work for another 2 weeks. and money was tight


I hung up with her and went about my day ..... Flash forward to the end of August and my boss asking me what airline we where on and me realizing that I NEVER WENT BACK AND PAID FOR OUR FLIGHTS!!!

OH SSSS%$#@Q#$%^&*HJG%# If you know what I mean!!!!!

I start checking flights and they are running about $275 almost $100 more per person. Okay now remember my friend has been out of work and money was tight before hand ---- how am I going to tell her how much I messed up?


Well I did what I had too, wait and see if anything better came up. Oh and prayed that it would. A couple of days later Continenal was $240 so I went ahead and booked it.

Now what do I tell Tracy? about a week later we made plans to get together for lunch so she could give me he money and I kept my mouth shut about the price difference. Just as a little background... I work as a live-in nanny making pretty good $$$ and have no expenses. My room, food, car and gas are all paid for by my boss. I have no kids and Tracy has 3 kids lives with her parents and doesn't dry her clothes because it would cost too much to run the dryer. Plus she was only making about 65% for her salary being on disability so it was my mistake and I couldn't ask her to pay for it.

I checked airfares 2 days after I booked ours and they shot up to $330 and there were only a few spots left on the plane. We could have gone later in the day for cheaper but we would lose days and were trying to squeeze in as much as possible.


So airfare is booked and I am putting it in the past.

Next up::: Making ADRs with a Non-Disser is not that easy

 

[Luv2Scrap]

 

[Disneyfan18951]

My last trips have been solo and so I haven't done to much TS dining, In July I did Coral Reef and Alfredos as a treat for my B-day but normally I just wing it with CS I did the Princess breakfast twice-- last time being in 04 when I went with my nieces...

When we were getting close to the 180 day mark, I asked Tracy if she thought her daughter would want to dine with the princesses as CRT and the princess breakfast were hot tickets and I would try and make ressies if she thought lizzie would want to go but if not I wouldn't worry to much about it. Tracy said no Lizzie was older and not to interested in that.

Tracy has allergies to Shellfish, dairy, celery, and seasme. I have been asking her since we first started making plans to please look at the menus on Allears to see what she thought would work for her. The only thing she would tell me is she wanted to do 50's Prime Time because someone told her how they act all funny and stuff. I kept asking her to check Whispering Canyon as I thought that would be fun for her birthday and I have never been but she never looked up the menus. Since we were going at a slow time and have a full kitchen in the room I wasn't to stressed about dining.

In July, I attended a Disney Fan meet up here in PA with about 500 Disney Fans. It was a great time lots of fun but one of the last break off groups was titled something about using a Disney Planner. Well, I thought it was going to be about using something like the Passporter. Duh, it was a travel agent. Since I have an annual pass and a timeshare there really is no need for me to use an agent but I thought I might as well stay and hear what she has to say. So I am only half listening to her when she says " And it seems like now if you are not staying an property you can't make ADRs" My ears perk up and I blurt out ---WHAT?????? She says "Oh yes I had a client call and say she was not able to make ADRs." I said there is no way that was true and I had just made ressies 3 weeks ago for my trip coming up the next week. She said see me after and I'll look into it. Now the whole time she had been going on and on about how you have to trust your TA and it came out towards the end that they make their money booking rooms when someone asked if they could just buy tickets from her. So My thinking was she was trying to scare people into using her agency to book on propery rooms.

If I had had my cel phone with me I would have called Disney Dining right there. Needless to say as soon as I got to my car I called Disney Dining and booked Le Cellier for my Oct trip and asked the CM if there was any truth to this statement and he said there is no way Disney would limit ADRs to on-property guests only because they have so many local people who come to dine. I left her my email address but of course never heard back from her.

**** SIDE NOTE**** I ended up winning a really cute molded frame in this break-off group. It has MIckey, Goofy, Donald etc in front of the Main Street Cinema on Main Street. I gave it to Lizzie as a pre trip gift.

So, That is how I made my first ADR for this trip. When I meet with Tracy at the beginning of Sept she says to me Lizzie would like to dine with the Princesses or characters. What??? It is a little late for booking CRT but I would see what I can do. She also tells me she wants to do all 4 parks, Seaworld, Universal and IOA and Gatorworld. Oh Okay We can fit all that in, NOT

Sorry to leave you hanging on how it all works out but I got to go. I 'll try to finish up tonight.

Thanks for reading everyone

 

[Simba22]

OMG I am getting so frustrated reading this! I could never go to WDW with a non-planner and try to include them in the decision making! When I read that she came back to you weeks later and said she wanted the ressie at CRT, I almost choked! Yeah, and clearly you are NOT getting to every theme park in the Orlando area on this trip. As frustrated as she is making me though, I am hooked and can't wait for more!! It's like reading a mystery novel, I just can't stop thinking about how things will turn out in the end! You are a REALLY good friend to be so calm and understanding!

 

[Disneyfan18951]

So I made my first Adr at La Cellier for monday of our trip not really knowing what parks we would be going to yet ect... It was one of two open time slots for the whole week that we would be at WDW

So, I meet up with Tracy and then I check out Touring Plans .com and come up with this

Saturday: Arrive at MCO 11:00am. Grab rental car, call resort see if room is close to ready. If so head to grocery store then check-in. Head over to EPCOT for some Future World, maybe stay for IIluminations. If room is not close to ready (more likely plan) Head straight to EPCOT from MCO ride Test Trac, MS etc until 6ish head to store then go checkin. Hang out at pool --Meals: Eat lunch on the run, dinner in room or at Taco Bell or Chevys

Sunday Go to Seaworld, Halloween Weekends and DINE WITH SHAMU at 4:30 Park open til 8:00pm

Monday EPCOT full day Was supposed to be our La Cellier day, but when I called about princess meals guess what day was open??? So Princess Lunch in Norway-- Dinner roaming around F&W worldshowcase.

Tuesday Try to get to MGM for Rope drop. head back to the room at 1:00. Eat Lunch - get ready for MNSSHP. Head over to MK around 4:00. Dinner at Liberty Tree Taven 8:00pm. Not the most ideal time to eat but was the earliest available and I think it will help break up the night. The first parade starts at 8:15 but we can always see the 2nd showing and we should be done in time for Hallowishes. Plan on staying until closing

Wednsday Sleep in head over to MK whenever we are ready. Ride what we missed last night. Get autographs and pictures. Lunch at CP

Thursday Tracy's Birthday. This will be our MGM day. I really want Lizzie to do the drawing class and see Beauty and the Beast. I think she will really enjoy both of these. We are eating early dinner at 50's Prime Time. Only other ressies available we would be rushing to get over to Fantasmic. This was Tracy's request for her b-day dinner.

Friday AK day. no ressies made. Spend day at AK head over to another park after AK closes or just go back to pool at hotel.

Saturday Open day. Our plane leaves at 8:00pm so we have until about 5:00pm before we have to head to the airport. Most likely will head over to DTD or MK

Tracy has allergies but she said buffets are good for her because she can eat the meats and salad bar as long as she brings her own dressing. Lots of dressings have sesame oil in them which she can't have. I find little plastic containers at the dollar store 5 in a pack for a $1. so she will bring her dressing in one of those and if she needs to throw it out afterwards no big deal. I think we should be able to get just about everything in with this schedule.

UP NEXT: Costumes for MNSSHP and altered T's

 

[pjstevens]

Sherry,

I give you a lot of credit. I could NOT do that planning for someone who has not idea what you are doing for them, and at the moment doesnt' sound to thankful. I hope it turns out to be a great trip. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Simba22]

Good job on getting the Princess meal in there! You know, in 5 trips to WDW, I have YET to see the Beauty & the Beast show... Hopefully this time we get to it!

 

[buffy0214]

Excellent itinerary I like how you have the last day as an "open day" also. That way they can either repeat their favorites or do something new.

I can't believe that travel agent is scaring people into booking with her.

Can't wait to see the tees