"I"m Only Going Because My Teacher Told Me To" Nov. 2016 PTR * update 12/2 TRIP REPORT STARTED! *

[ariane37]

(They make us wear a certain color and no printed scrubs so when I retired my Disney scrubs I invested in cute socks)

I like that idea, doing Disney socks since you can't do Disney scrubs. That stinks about the scrubs though! They make so many adorable Disney ones.....

Maybe things will be a little less hectic by Monday. I will be right there with you Monday though. I added yet another Free Diner to the madness. My friend from work has been trying to plan a trip for a few weeks now and I talked her into going over Thanksgiving week while her kids were out of school. And since I am, well lack of a better term, a nut for planning Disney I volunteered to help her make her ADR's for her party of 6...what was I thinking?!?!?!

I am in 2 Disney World November 2016 planning groups plus "The 'Orginal' Disney World November 2016 Clubhouse"

So how did you do this morning? I'd volunteer to help a friend too, as annoying as it is us weirdo's actually like making ADR's early in the morning, right I didn't do too bad, doesn't seem like you free diners have messed things up too bad yet lol! I'll be posting what I got later today.
We must be in the same 2 Nov. planning groups unless there's like 4 or 5 of them Never heard of the Clubhouse one though, going to search it!

had read your other NOvember trip report so am following this one now.

Hello and Thanks for coming over and I hope you enjoyed my other TR

I ALSO got the Haunted Mansion ears at the oulet PLUS we recieved the friends and family coupon discount that day and they gave us a military discount - I think i paid like $3.00 ish for them??

WOW, that's a great deal! I was just saying to Steve this morning that I need to get over to the outlet again soon. Our weather is FINALLY staying nice so before the boys are done with school I'll have to find a friend and head over. The outlet center where the Disney outlet is, is HUGE so I can spend hours shopping there

Hope that you get everything that you are wanting for ADR's!

I didn't do all that bad! I'll be posting an update later today

 

[ariane37]

We'll Be Doin' Some Eatin'​

This morning was my ADR day for the first few days of our trip. Can I say first that I detest getting up for 6am to make these reservations?? I told Steve we have to have a trip that's not during a holiday before Thanksgiving 2017 so I can make some nice, easy, non-180 day dining reservations at a decent hour of the day If you haven't guessed, NOT a fan of the FP time switch to 7am either. But back to ADR's-

I didn't do that bad! I had everything made except Yak & Yeti dinner and Capt. Grille breakfast before I got the dreaded "Sorry for the Paws" message, which I then got over and over again so I just said screw it. I plan on getting the Landry's card which I'd forgotten about but @kastoney reminded me (Thanks, Kari!) so not worried about Y&Y. I honestly don't even think I need to make an ADR for Capt. Grille but figured I would since I was on. I'll try again at some point but really, not too concerned about these. As for the rest here's what I got:

11/19 Cape May Café 5:45
11/20 Mama Melrose lunch 1:00; Tokyo Dining dinner 7:30
11/21 Garden Grill breakfast 8:05; Narcoosee's dinner 7:00
11/22 Whispering Canyon Café lunch 1:00

Remember unfortunately I can't make my ADR's for the 24th-26th until this Friday, and Y&Y and Capt. Grille are for the 23rd which is why that day is missing. You may notice BOG dinner is missing too which is really pissing me off (excuse my language in this post! Screw, pissing, I'm usually much nastier than this ) This is the FIRST TIME I have been unable to get BOG on my first try. And I don't like it. And to top it of, with the exceptions of last Thanksgiving and the month BOG first opened when you had to call, every time we've gotten reservations there its been either day of or within like 1-3 months of our trip! So that's why there's no dinner on the 22nd. I'll come up with an alternative later today and then keep trying for BOG. Someone on a thread on the Restaurants forum said they booked for the whole week of Thanksgiving today and the end of the week BOG had lots of dinner/lunch availability so we'll see if any is still there Friday morning and maybe I can snag a dinner for our last night.
Oh! I did try calling at 7am to see if they'd make the rest of my reservations for me - no dice. I could have called again in hopes of getting a CM willing to do it but honestly, I was tired! And even if we don't get exactly what I want for the end of our trip we'll get decent enough stuff. We've been enough times that I know things open up all the time and there are so many excellent places to eat besides the more well-known, popular ones. I also know it scares some people when they can't get what they want but again, we're lucky enough to go quite often, so while eating good food while there is definitely a huge part of the experience for us, I don't stress over ADR's.

I just hate not getting my way!

​

 

[verleniahall]

Bummer that they wouldn't do the rest of your ADR's for you - that stinks!

Maybe try later today for a different CM??

 

[ArielSRL]

Looks good so far. I hope you are able to get the others that you need and that BOG comes up for you!!

 

[jandlinz]

Hi Ariane! I'm so glad you got what you wanted. BOG has a 4:20 dinner on the 23rd. I can snag it for you for four and then coordinate with you when I cancel and you can book it. Just a thought. There is also an 8:15 that day. Let me know if that works.

 

[ALEXandFAB]

sarcastic, stubborn and opinionated, great combo

I'm telling you, this is exactly how I would describe my 8-year-old, Noah (inherited from me ). At the same time, he is such a sweetheart and hilarious as all get out. So I put up with him

So you see I have 14 "want-to's" for 8 possible days, which would mean 2 TS's just about every day.

So many places that sound so amazing! Really tough to cut down the list. I should have just extended our vacation by a couple of weeks to fit it all in Who needs school or a job anyway?

In other clothing-related news, I've bought a few things for our trip since I only have 6 months to go

Pre-vacation clothes shopping is the best!

We do enjoy the food at TH but honestly, I don't need the characters.

Character meals are definitely not my thing either, but this was one of Noah's requests so we're doing lunch there (we're not breakfast people).

we're lucky enough to go quite often, so while eating good food while there is definitely a huge part of the experience for us, I don't stress over ADR's.
I just hate not getting my way!

I think this was part of why I was so stressed when it came to making ADRs. We don't know when we'll be back. Living ~10 miles from Disneyland, we can get our Disney fix any time, which means we don't see WDW as a yearly trip (not at this point anyway). As of now, this will be our once-in-a-lifetime trip so the pressure to get all the "right" ADRs was CRAZY. But now, that's passed. Time to focus on FP+

 

[ariane37]

**UPDATE!!**
I ended up getting BOG dinner for 11/23 Was messing around and found it, however I kept getting the stupid "Paws" message so I had to call and luckily had a very short wait. It's not the night I wanted as I had us spending the 23rd in AK but, the plans I've made are really only in my head so far so if I end up keeping this BOG, I'll just switch stuff around when I get closer and plan the days out more.

The reservation is for 4:25 which is a tad early for us but not a big deal. Just means Steve, Ricky and most likely Chris will end up eating "2nd dinner" around 9-ish and I'll have a snack. OK, probably 2 snacks.......

Also BTW, when I called for the BOG ADR I asked the CM, who was very friendly, if she could help me make my reservations for the 23rd-26th, but she said the system wouldn't let her. Oh, well, guess I'm up at 6am again Friday while the boys sleep in on their day off from school!

 

[ariane37]

Bummer that they wouldn't do the rest of your ADR's for you - that stinks!

Maybe try later today for a different CM??

I just posted above, this is exactly what I ended up doing. Didn't work unfortunately, but at least I now have a BOG reservation secured

Looks good so far. I hope you are able to get the others that you need and that BOG comes up for you!!

And.......got it! Stupid "sorry for the paws" thing but if you see my post above I went ahead and called for it and it's all mine. Interestingly enough the res. I got was there at 6:00 this morning but I just didn't take it since it wasn't the day I wanted, so pretty cool it was still there around noon when I looked again.

Hi Ariane! I'm so glad you got what you wanted. BOG has a 4:20 dinner on the 23rd. I can snag it for you for four and then coordinate with you when I cancel and you can book it. Just a thought. There is also an 8:15 that day. Let me know if that works.

OMG that is so sweet of you! If I hadn't gone ahead and called for it I totally would have taken you up on the offer

I'm telling you, this is exactly how I would describe my 8-year-old, Noah (inherited from me ). At the same time, he is such a sweetheart and hilarious as all get out. So I put up with him

I'm glad mine isn't the only one! They do make life interesting, don't they?

Character meals are definitely not my thing either, but this was one of Noah's requests so we're doing lunch there (we're not breakfast people).

I hear ya, exactly why we're doing GG breakfast. The character interaction at TH has always been great for us, so as far as character meals go you've picked a good one.

I think this was part of why I was so stressed when it came to making ADRs. We don't know when we'll be back. Living ~10 miles from Disneyland, we can get our Disney fix any time, which means we don't see WDW as a yearly trip (not at this point anyway). As of now, this will be our once-in-a-lifetime trip so the pressure to get all the "right" ADRs was CRAZY. But now, that's passed. Time to focus on FP+

I wish we were that close to WDW OR DL! I'm sure if/when we do a DL trip I'll feel the same about wanting to get everything perfect, although I know getting ADR's isn't as important or crazy as it is at WDW. I'm guessing and hoping you got everything you wanted Don't worry so much about FP's, it's never been as difficult as some make it out to be.

 

[ALEXandFAB]

They do make life interesting, don't they?

"Interesting" is certainly one way to put it

I wish we were that close to WDW OR DL!

It's been wonderful! We were able to really enjoy being passholders for years (going weekly!) and took a couple of week-long vacations staying at the Grand Californian. For the next few years though, we're forgoing annual passes and using that $$$ to travel elsewhere. We're sticking with a once-a-year trip to Disneyland during Mickey's Halloween Party for now but know if we change our minds, passes are always an option again.

I'm sure if/when we do a DL trip I'll feel the same about wanting to get everything perfect, although I know getting ADR's isn't as important or crazy as it is at WDW.

If you do take a DL trip, I'd be so happy to provide any help/info I can! ADRs are definitely not a huge deal at DL. At least not nearly as big a deal as WDW.

I'm guessing and hoping you got everything you wanted

Yes, all the restaurants we wanted and on the dates/times we hoped. We were very lucky!

Don't worry so much about FP's, it's never been as difficult as some make it out to be.

That's such a relief to hear . The last time I was at WDW was 2004. We made zero ADRs, only did rope drop once over the course of 2 weeks, used the old FP system only a handful of times, and still never waited in line more than 20 mins and were able to walk up to plenty of TS restaurants and find a table no problem. This is a whole new (very intimidating) ball game.

 

[ALEXandFAB]

I ended up getting BOG dinner for 11/23 Was messing around and found it,

Woo hoo!

 

[ArielSRL]

Yay for BOG!! Boo hiss to 6am on Friday. Though I'll be up then too...for my last day of work this school year!! Oh yeh! SUMMER BREAK! Sorry for the hijack....haha.

 

[Jfsag123]

**UPDATE!!**
I ended up getting BOG dinner for 11/23 Was messing around and found it, however I kept getting the stupid "Paws" message so I had to call and luckily had a very short wait. It's not the night I wanted as I had us spending the 23rd in AK but, the plans I've made are really only in my head so far so if I end up keeping this BOG, I'll just switch stuff around when I get closer and plan the days out more.

The reservation is for 4:25 which is a tad early for us but not a big deal. Just means Steve, Ricky and most likely Chris will end up eating "2nd dinner" around 9-ish and I'll have a snack. OK, probably 2 snacks.......

Also BTW, when I called for the BOG ADR I asked the CM, who was very friendly, if she could help me make my reservations for the 23rd-26th, but she said the system wouldn't let her. Oh, well, guess I'm up at 6am again Friday while the boys sleep in on their day off from school!

I was all ready to reply to your first post, then I saw this! Stinks that they wouldn't make the reservations for the rest of your trip for you, but I'm glad you got Be Our Guest! If you're looking for a later time, have you tried the Touring Plans reservation finder? It has helped me find a bunch of things this trip, which was great for keeping up with all the changes Disney has been throwing at June over the past couple of months. Blech to the 6am wake-up on Friday. With the switching of FP+ to 7:00am as well Disney has just guaranteed that I will always stay onsite - no waking up that early day after day trying to book one day at a time for an offsite trip!

Yay for BOG!! Boo hiss to 6am on Friday. Though I'll be up then too...for my last day of work this school year!! Oh yeh! SUMMER BREAK! Sorry for the hijack....haha.

Hooray for you! Amazing that we are at that point. I remember when I first started planning for our upcoming trip and realizing that the school year would have to end first - that made it seem soooo far away! My husband and kids are not done until next week, but I'm thrilled for you being done this week. I hope you are celebrating this weekend! I know you will be celebrating the weekend after that.

 

[Whit64130]

So how did you do this morning? I'd volunteer to help a friend too, as annoying as it is us weirdo's actually like making ADR's early in the morning, right I didn't do too bad, doesn't seem like you free diners have messed things up too bad yet lol! I'll be posting what I got later today.
We must be in the same 2 Nov. planning groups unless there's like 4 or 5 of them Never heard of the Clubhouse one though, going to search it!

Well I was at work (or I wouldn't have been nice enough to volunteer) and was able to log on right at 5am our time. But.... I wasn't able to get what they wanted on Thanksgiving. Which she wanted me to at least try for LTT and she knew would probably be booked, and it was. Her second choice was WCC and for some odd reason it didn't have reservations for lunch or dinner But I was able to snag a BOG for Thanksgiving night for them. Their other reservations were pretty easy to get. Although her dates may change due to children's sports schedule.

I told Steve we have to have a trip that's not during a holiday before Thanksgiving 2017 so I can make some nice, easy, non-180 day dining reservations at a decent hour of the day

This was way more stressful than last year

I ended up getting BOG dinner for 11/23

Yay!!!

 

[ArielSRL]

Hooray for you! Amazing that we are at that point. I remember when I first started planning for our upcoming trip and realizing that the school year would have to end first - that made it seem soooo far away! My husband and kids are not done until next week, but I'm thrilled for you being done this week. I hope you are celebrating this weekend! I know you will be celebrating the weekend after that.

Ya know I will be...this weekend and next!

 

[LadyD]

Ugh the ADR time. I'm on the west coast, so it is absolute misery and super frustrating when you get up that early and you still struggle to make the ADRs. Glad you got your BOG ADR!! I hope your next round of ADRs goes more smoothly than this one

 

[ariane37]

OK guys, for some reason today the DiS isn't letting me multi-quote Going to do my best not to make a mess out of answering everyone.....

Yay for BOG!! Boo hiss to 6am on Friday. Though I'll be up then too...for my last day of work this school year!! Oh yeh! SUMMER BREAK! Sorry for the hijack....haha.

Yay for you And that makes your trip so much closer!! My kids don't finish until June here in NY. Ricky finishes on the 17th and then has one final the following week; Christopher finishes on the 23rd. We don't start until after Labor Day so we go late. My sisters kids in Alpharetta are done this Thursday!

I was all ready to reply to your first post, then I saw this! Stinks that they wouldn't make the reservations for the rest of your trip for you, but I'm glad you got Be Our Guest! If you're looking for a later time, have you tried the Touring Plans reservation finder? It has helped me find a bunch of things this trip, which was great for keeping up with all the changes Disney has been throwing at June over the past couple of months. Blech to the 6am wake-up on Friday. With the switching of FP+ to 7:00am as well Disney has just guaranteed that I will always stay onsite - no waking up that early day after day trying to book one day at a time for an offsite trip!

I actually did use TP reservation finder for our trip last November I hesitated to admit that because when all those other reservation sites popped up, I voiced my disapproval here and then turned around and used TP. But they're different! They just alert you to the ADR being available and don't hold it. I signed up about a month before our trip last year when I decided I wanted to try CRT for the first time and that's how I got it And if I can't get my BOG for the night I want it, I most likely will end up using it again this year. I do think it's a great tool! And I'm with you on the FP switch being a guarantee for staying on-site. I also think that switch is what's causing all the system problems this week

 

[ariane37]

Hey Whitney, again stupid site won't let me multi-quote so that's why I just quoted your whole post altogether!

Well I was at work (or I wouldn't have been nice enough to volunteer) and was able to log on right at 5am our time. But.... I wasn't able to get what they wanted on Thanksgiving. Which she wanted me to at least try for LTT and she knew would probably be booked, and it was. Her second choice was WCC and for some odd reason it didn't have reservations for lunch or dinner But I was able to snag a BOG for Thanksgiving night for them. Their other reservations were pretty easy to get. Although her dates may change due to children's sports schedule.


This was way more stressful than last year


Yay!!!

First, I think it's cool you got them BOG dinner on Thanksgiving! And weird WCC didn't show lunch OR dinner ressies available. However, yesterday there was a thread on the Restaurants Forum where a few posters mentioned trying to book not the most popular restaurants for Thanksgiving Day and finding the same thing; almost like they hadn't been loaded yet. Strange, because when I booked our Thanksgiving ADR's last year at this time all restaurants were loaded. I hope they're happy with everything you got for them

It was a bit more stressful this year, I had absolutely no problem last year getting every single thing within 10 minutes that we wanted exactly when we wanted. I also had no problems with the system going down.......crossing my fingers it's working better Friday than it did for folks today!

Ugh the ADR time. I'm on the west coast, so it is absolute misery and super frustrating when you get up that early and you still struggle to make the ADRs. Glad you got your BOG ADR!! I hope your next round of ADRs goes more smoothly than this one

Ooh yeah, that time difference has to be a killer. And now the FP's, too Friday is going to be even worse since I don't have to get the boys up for school! Just hoping I get what I want right away so I can go back to sleep !

 

[ArielSRL]

.....
Yay for you And that makes your trip so much closer!! My kids don't finish until June here in NY. Ricky finishes on the 17th and then has one final the following week; Christopher finishes on the 23rd. We don't start until after Labor Day so we go late. My sisters kids in Alpharetta are done this Thursday!

Tomorrow is our last day with students, then it's 2 post planning days for us teachers. We get out early but then I go back August 1st...kids a week later. But I don't mind bc we can go to Disney when a lot of schools are still in session.

I actually did use TP reservation finder for our trip last November I hesitated to admit that because when all those other reservation sites popped up, I voiced my disapproval here and then turned around and used TP. But they're different! They just alert you to the ADR being available and don't hold it. I signed up about a month before our trip last year when I decided I wanted to try CRT for the first time and that's how I got it And if I can't get my BOG for the night I want it, I most likely will end up using it again this year. I do think it's a great tool! And I'm with you on the FP switch being a guarantee for staying on-site. I also think that switch is what's causing all the system problems this week

I've heard of so many people using TP and getting the ressies they want. I've had a request on there for several months and nada. It's for Chef Mickey's. I just want to go 30 minutes later and there is absolutely no budging!

 

[Jfsag123]

I actually did use TP reservation finder for our trip last November I hesitated to admit that because when all those other reservation sites popped up, I voiced my disapproval here and then turned around and used TP. But they're different! They just alert you to the ADR being available and don't hold it. I signed up about a month before our trip last year when I decided I wanted to try CRT for the first time and that's how I got it And if I can't get my BOG for the night I want it, I most likely will end up using it again this year. I do think it's a great tool! And I'm with you on the FP switch being a guarantee for staying on-site. I also think that switch is what's causing all the system problems this week

I didn't like those other sites either, but I think this is different. For one, it's free! I don't know, it just feels more legit for some reason. I never used any of the others, and just stalked myself for reservations in the past, but it's been super helpful for this trip

I've heard of so many people using TP and getting the ressies they want. I've had a request on there for several months and nada. It's for Chef Mickey's. I just want to go 30 minutes later and there is absolutely no budging!

That's crazy! It has found me pretty much everything I've asked for within a couple of weeks of inputting the request, and some of them have been some hard-to-find things. I'll bet something will open up as people get closer and closer. I have trimmed the bulk of my excess ADRs, but I must admit that I still have two Chef Mickeys just because I'm not sure of something yet. I will, of course, be dropping one but it will be very close to the actual ADR date. I hate doing that, but I'm sure it happens a lot! Fingers crossed yours comes through.

 

[Whit64130]

First, I think it's cool you got them BOG dinner on Thanksgiving! And weird WCC didn't show lunch OR dinner ressies available. However, yesterday there was a thread on the Restaurants Forum where a few posters mentioned trying to book not the most popular restaurants for Thanksgiving Day and finding the same thing; almost like they hadn't been loaded yet. Strange, because when I booked our Thanksgiving ADR's last year at this time all restaurants were loaded. I hope they're happy with everything you got for them

Crazy dis!
I was super excited to get BOG for Thanksgiving but they really wanted to WCC since they had BOG for Tuesday. Anyways she is still waiting to find out for the sports schedule so I may have to cancel everything and rebook for October. Which scares me since it is well past the 180 days!!!! Did you still need a BOG for 11/22? I'm pretty sure theirs is for 6:15ish that night if we end up canceling.