I waited too long to make ADRs :(

[JeninTN]

I am just here to whine. I have been waiting on the confirmation of my neice going to WDW with us to make ADRs for June. Well, that killed my plans. I can not get into much of anything. NOTHING available for CM, CRT, CP the entire time we are there. I did get Tutto Italy, but at 4:30, which is not very good for us since we have two babies that will be taking an afternoon nap. CM also talked me into a 1:30 at Prime Time, but I will have to cancel that because the babies typically sleep from 1-3:30. (besides, I am just not sure 18 months old will be that entertained by that place)

So, whine here with me if you are having the same problem.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Call back as you get closer to your trip or even when you are on property. They do have cancellations sometimes.
Hope it works out for you.

 

[Tinks1984]

As SCC said, make sure you call back closer to your time of travel. There's sometimes cancellations on reservations and you may just drop on a more convenient time for you and your family.

In the mean time, I'd check out some of the places you can eat without having to make reservations and see what would be best for your little ones, I'm sure they'll love it wherever they are though.

Hope you get lucky on your ADRs

 

[IMACM]

Definately call back closer to arrival!!!!!!!! CRT breakfast was available on Sunday for 4 days this week!!!! CM even had some tables!!!

 

[goofygal531]

Keep calling!! Things open up, people cancel, people switch things around.

Don't give up!!

Call whenever you have a free moment to spare. Call morning, noon and night!!

Even call while in WDW! First thing in the morning on the day of is also good!

Sending you pixie dust!!!

 

[1hero2princesses]

Keep calling. You may get lucky. Even when you are there...

 

[HonnyDipp]

Dont give up! Keep trying! I'm sending you good thoughts!

 

[WillowBelle]

In July 2006, I stayed up ALL NIGHT LONG doing laundry. I stayed up so late that I overslept and we missed our breakfast reservation for CRT . We had one more day at WDW. I was able to get a reservation for the earliest breakfast the VERY NEXT DAY! Openings do happen.

Good luck

 

[ktlm]

Try calling every day. You would be surprised what can open up. I've actually had the best luck calling in the afternoons. Also, I'm not sure what your party size is, but sometimes having one more can make a huge difference. We could not get anything we wanted at 1900 Park Fare for a party of 5, and the CM strongly suggested/hinted that if we happened to be 6, we could have any time we wanted. I added a (imaginary) 2 year old and she gave me my choice of ADRs. When my 3 year old suddenly decided CP was a must, I got a reservation 2 weeks before our trip with no problems. I also was able to get a Tusker house reservation in the late morning the day before when I realized there was no way my then 2 year old was going to get up and make it to our earlier reservation. I'm sure someone else was then thrilled when they called and got my prime pre-park opening ADR for the next day. Good luck!

 

[maggiew]

Sorry to hear about that!

Maybe try some of the resort restaurants. Grand Floridian Cafe and Kona Cafe are my suggestions. Did you try 1900 Park Fare for "princesses" at dinner? Cape May Cafe has a nice character breakfast and since its at the Beach club, not as popular as Crystal Palace, etc.

I'm not a big fan of the food at DHS, so I suggest maybe Pizza planet for lunch and then eat at Maya Grill at your resort for dinner. Also, I really liked the Pepper Market, so you can get good meals there (not everyone likes Pepper Market).

Maggie

 

[highlander]

I agree that you should keep calling. I did today to check availability at SciFi for lunch on 6/29. When I called at the 90 day mark, it was booked solid for the week. Today, I had 2 time slots available to choose from for lunch.

 

[BELLE AND BUZZ]

When we went last year, I tried every day for a month to get reservations for 1900 Park Faire, and couldn't get it. When we checked in at the Poly, I spoke to the CM at the counter and she said, "hold on one second, I'll be right back". Guess what..... she got us in and we were thrilled. If it doesn't work out for you before your trip, ask when you check in to the hotel.

 

[SnwflkCts]

Just wanted to give you a hug ! You can whine - it's ok!

Next, take a deep breath ... the ideas here are good. But remember, you are trying to have a fun and enjoyable time. A character meal is not going to make or break your trip. Think of the other fun things you will be doing and the other times you will see characters.

I know others have mentioned it, but maybe do a Character breakfast at the Polynesian. You are a quick monorail trip away from MK and not too far from the TTC to anywhere (or a bus!). I think that would be fun.

I hope I don't sound preachy - I don't mean to! Let us know how things work out! Good Luck!

 

[Singinglizzie]

Make sure to visit the June Cancel/Trade thread. You might be able to get some ressies that way too! Good luck!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2110444

 

[mom2rtk]

In July 2006, I stayed up ALL NIGHT LONG doing laundry. I stayed up so late that I overslept and we missed our breakfast reservation for CRT . We had one more day at WDW. I was able to get a reservation for the earliest breakfast the VERY NEXT DAY! Openings do happen.

Good luck

OK, so how mad were you when you realized THAT happened????? I guess I'll be setting 2 alarms for mine in JUNE!

To the OP: Keep calling now. A lot of people book all that they think they might want, then weed it out over time. I have heard that cancellations don't hit the system til the overnight, so call first thing every day for a while and see if something pops up.

Good luck!

 

[WillowBelle]

OK, so how mad were you when you realized THAT happened????? I guess I'll be setting 2 alarms for mine in JUNE!

The worst part was this was the 1st trip for my youngest DD. Seemed that the day I overslept was THE day that everyone and their mother decided to ask my 'princess' if she had eaten in the castle yet. Yeah, it was great fun hearing her tell everyone that mommy had overslept and no, she hadn't eaten in the castle yet!

If the blasted dryers in the value resorts would dry in one cycle instead of sometimes 3, I would have been in bed in plenty of time! This visit, I'm doing laundry in the afternoons, during our breaks .

 

[meghanlea]

keep calling, and every morning check the front desk.

My DD LOVES castles, not so much princesses as she does castles. When we went last june I could not get an ADR for the castle. Our last night there we had a 9pm at LT with Minnie, but yet had gotten to see fireworks. That morning I went down to try to get it earlier and couldn't. I asked the CM to try and find me something elese, nothing. I told her to cancel my 9pm ADR and while she was telling me I would loose out since it was our last night and we had credit's left, she stopped and said, "Oh.." kinda of quite and shy. I said, "Is there something wrong?" She said, "well it appears that as we were talking someone canceled at the CRT tonight for 5:45, would you like it?" I about fell over! Of course I wanted it!

My DD had been begging us to take her in the castle and we could only tell her it was closed so many times. She said you only have one credit each and it's 2 per person you will have to pay out of pocket, I told her no problem. Then she said, "i will refund you a child's credit and an adult credit so you only have to pay for one adult." I was so excited about telling DD that she was getting to go in the castle that I didn't really think about what she was saying, but I thanked her over and over again.

The moral of the story, keep checking, you never know what magic Disney may bring!

 

[elump1]

Sorry you couldn't get your ressies. I know how you feel, we had some family going with us this past Feb and they waited until 6 weeks before to confirm and then cancelled 1 week before the trip anyway! When I tried to book ADRs at 6 weeks out, pretty much everything was full. We had luck trying restaurants right as they opened. My DH's favorite is Coral Reef and it was booked solid, right up until the night before we went to Epcot. We stopped by right as they were opening (we were already at Nemo so figured why not?) and they had several openings for lunch for us to choose from! We also had luck with CP and Tony's (we booked both the day before). We never have had luck with getting a CM ressie last minute, although I talked to another family while we were there that had called in the morning when they woke up and got a breakfast for that morning. So don't give up hope! Our next trip will be our first try at getting CRT, I am going to call at 90 days and keep my fingers crossed! We did learn that even if we don't get all of the ressies we want, we still have a wonderful time, so keep trying, but don't get too stressed about it. Good luck, I hope you are able to get them!

 

[Jules123]

I feel your pain. I have always made our ADR's the first possible day I could. This year, we booked our trip late. I wasn't able to get CM's or Ohana's. I will keep trying!

 

[JeninTN]

You all are so supportive. Thanks so much. This was really a reality check because we did a last minute trip a couple of weeks ago and I got CP by calling about 5 days before.

As you all have suggested, I will keep trying.