I need expert help for CRT and Illumination booking!

[Camping Griswalds]

I want CRT for 1/29/06.

I want Illuminations Cruise for 2/3/06.


We arrive at Disney on Friday 1/27/06.

So when can i call to book these ?

Thanks so much!!

 

[isyt]

Okay your90 days until you arrive is 10/27-today. Are you staying on property? Officially 90 days for your crt is 10/29, but if you are on property you can do 90 plus 10 and make a ressie for your 1st night and do crt at the same time. Th Ill cruise you can do on Nov 5. Have a great trip!!!

 

[UrsulasShadow]

May I suggest CRT for lunch? Slightly easier to get than dinner, much easier than breakfast. And, are you staying onsite or off? You can only book your dinners for your whole trip at 90 days if you stay onsite, otherwise, each day must be booked at 90 days individually. For CRT, start dialing at 6:57 EST. If you are doing your booking for 90+10, and can't get CRT the first day of your trip, try again at the 90 day mark. They hold out some reservations for those staying offsite, so you might luck into one of those.

 

[Camping Griswalds]

Okay this is why I asked for help!!! Yes we are staying onsite (pop and AKL) but i thought my 90 days started on Sat 10/30. I guess it's too late to call now, so I'll be calling tomorrow? At least that way I'll know I guess. Thanks

 

[luvmygrlz]

It took me 4 days to get our CRT breakfast res., but I finally made it through.

Here are a few pointers:
Call a day or two early and find out which prompts you need to enter (press 1 for..., press 2 for ...) write these down so you won't have to listen to the entire message to know what number to enter.
Have the entire phone number, except the last digit entered, about 10 sec. before it is "officially" 7 am. EST, then at the last second dial the last digit and get ready to enter those prompts that you have written down.
When the cast member answers, quickly, but politely, ask for the earliest CRT res; no time for chit-chat now!
Best of all, Good Luck!

I know how hard it is to get this res, so I told my dd7 that you have to call Disney and let them know that you would like to eat in the castle with Cinderella and then she chooses who gets to eat with her.
When we finally got through, I had my mom who lives in Florida mail my dd an invitation from Cinderella inviting her to breakfast. She was so excited when it arrived in the mail! This was also a way to avoid disappointment if I was unable to get through. I explained that the castle is very small and not everyone who wants to eat there can because there aren't enough tables.

I was also told by the castmember that some people do cancel at the last minute, as you must leave a credit card deposit and to try 2-3 days before arrival to see if there have been any cancellations. We did not get CRT for the day I wanted, but at least we got in!

Hope this helps!
Karen

 

[Hope73]

You can book all of the dinners now. We arrive on Jan 10 and I booked on Oct 10 and still did not have first choice for CRT. I did get in. If you do not last year we did the Akerhaus Princess breakfast in Epcot and had a great time. I think you daughter would love either. We met 5 princesses there. Have a great trip. We choose Mamma Melrose for the Fantasmic show. We have to eat at 4:30 which is early but you are given a pass to get in the special seating so we will do a ride before the show.

 

[Hope73]

My kids are 5&6 and we went to disney last year and again this year. We really lked the Liberty Tree Inn (minnie, pluto, chip&dale). The food was excelent. We didn't have a res here just walked in. We went right at teh same time you are going last year. It should be a good time. One thing we ran into for my kids that they loved was the toy story gang. It was next to the country bears theatre and it was a character meeting. The really loved this it is ver closee to Liberty Tree.

Crystal Palace is the Pooh dinner and has a great buffet.

This year we are doing Restaurantsarus to catch Donald.

 

[luvmygrlz]

We have also gone to Chef Mickey's for an early breakfast, then rode the monorail over to be at MK for park opening.
This year we have an ADR at the Crystal Palace for 8:05 on the day we will be at MK; this way we are already in the park prior to opening. This works well for my family as my girls wake up early and we are quick eaters. At these early breakfast times there are very few people in the restaurants. Last year, in Jan. at Chef Mickeys there were only about 8 other tables, so my family got a lot of extra time and attention from the characters.
It all depends on how early you want to be up and moving.

I agree that the princess breakfast in Epcot would be a good alternative, the GF also has some sort of morning character breakfast (I can't remember what it is called???)

 

[Luv4Disney]

It's hard to get CRT with the 90+10. I just did it 90 days out exactly from the date I wanted.

 

[KPtoys]

I called on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings this week RIGHT at 7am and got in right away for 2 reservations (different days) at CRT. I guess Jan is not such a busy time down there!

 

[luvmygrlz]

I was told the 90+10 rule did not apply to CRT. Has this changed? I was told that for CRT you could only book 90 days prior.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

As for the Illuminations cruise, you have to call 1-407-WDW-PLAY at 6:55 EST on November 5th. Practice the day before, to see what the greetings and prompts are. When they ask if you're within 7 days or in the Orlando area, choose YES! The CM doesn't care if you are or aren't, and you won't have to answer all those time-consuming marketing questions! You won't have to enter your reservation # or phone # either; you will simply be directed to a Call center CM. Believe me, with only 2 boats available for Illuminations for the general public, you need the advantage.

Write down the prompts, and when it comes time for you to call, dial the prompts OVER the recordings. Talk OVER the person answering to ask for a Specialty cruise for 8pm on Feb.3, 2006 out of the Yacht & Beach Club, THEN say you hope to see Illuminations. Only then can you apologize for interrupting so rudely, and thank them kindly for being so helpful and understanding! I did all this, and got the LAST available cruise...I'm so lucky! Hope you are, too.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

I was told the 90+10 rule did not apply to CRT. Has this changed? I was told that for CRT you could only book 90 days prior.

CRT can now be booked the same as all the other restaurants, but is more difficult to get using the 90+10 rule, since they DO seem to save the greater number of slots for the 90 day exactly crowd. Try both.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Whoa. Check out this thread...http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=10399969#post10399969

This is a thread about CRT changing to 180 days!