If I don't get in, we're going to Disney.. PTR for 8/25/09! Now with Fact of the Day!

[New England Eeyore]

Hello!

I just caught up with your pre-trip report - love it!!

Count me in as another who loves Pop. I've stayed there I think, 4 or 5 times? and it's great. Like you said, you're only there to sleep.

DH (except he wasn't my DH yet) and I took our first trip to WDW when I was still in college, and this reminds me of that. We did things on the cheap too (offsite, etc) and we actually drove down because at the time, he was afraid to fly. Well, driving down cured him of that fear FAST. He's flown ever since. That was the first trip I had taken since I was a little kid, and I've been back, oh, about a dozen times since then. He created a monster!

Anyway - I'm excited for you and can't wait to hear all about your adventures!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Yay! I'm so glad you joined. I wanted to ask if you were reading it, but I wasn't sure if that was rude... so I said nothing.

When did you go down the first time? Past freshman year, probably? And did you drive straight through? It's about 24 hours to do that, I think... but I would never be able to do that even if I had my license. I hate highways, even if it is basically I-95 the whole way.

 

[Goofy22]

I just posted on Disney Quilter's thread about ADR's you may want to go read so you are prepared! Just an FYI of what I went through this am for a friends ADR's that arrives the day before me! I'm still waiting to hear from another DIS friend that makes theirs today and how they make out!

 

[Goofy22]

Ok so the other DISER just called and she's on DXLDP and she didn't have much of a problem as I did ! I guess there's no rhyme or reason! She had to switch around a few times and days but she said that was it! So hopefully it will go well for us!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Good! I did read your story and was worried, but hopefully it will all get better. If I don't post again before tomorrow, good luck getting your ADRs!!!!

 

[tinkerbell3747]

Hi just joining in on the fun!

Great plans so far....can't wait to see how the ADR's pan out for ya

 

[New England Eeyore]

Yay! I'm so glad you joined. I wanted to ask if you were reading it, but I wasn't sure if that was rude... so I said nothing.

When did you go down the first time? Past freshman year, probably? And did you drive straight through? It's about 24 hours to do that, I think... but I would never be able to do that even if I had my license. I hate highways, even if it is basically I-95 the whole way.

We went the summer before my senior year. No - we didn't drive straight through. We took 4-5 days to drive down, stopping at different points along the way, but we took the Auto-Train on the way back, which deposits you in Virginia, and drove home from there straight through. Not fun!! And I-95 is kind of a miserable, boring, neverending highway. Although Jenn (blue shirted Jenn ) is on it as we speak, somewhere between Georgia and Orlando, with two small children in the backseat. Hopefully she arrives in WDW with her sanity intact!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Oh man, that's right! I hope she's has a good time when she gets down there. That's what tape is for...
..I do not condone taping children's mouths shut, I would just like to put that out there..........


And tinkerbell, thanks for joining!


Here's another picture for the day, since I have no updates today.

I never noticed that my dad's eyes were closed - haha!

And I can sort of see how I was confused for a boy now, at a quick glance...

This is back when I rowed crew... so I had some muscles. They're all gone now.

 

[Goofy22]

HI! I just wanted to let you know that it went very smoothly this morning! A poster on another board posted that Disney only opens up so many seatings per day of ADR availability! I tending to believe that since when I called for my friend they wanted the address and I had to call the friend to get it! As we work together .That held everything up for a bit and I didn't get back through until 10am ish! So it seems to me the earlier you call the better! At least that's how it went for me today! So I dialed at exactly 7am! When the recordings came on after all the other stuff it just asked me if I would like to speak to a CM? So I said yes!!!! Well a Cm got right on at 7:01am! I kid you not I was so excited! Then he says how may I help you? I said I would like to make my dining reservations! He then said well I'll have to get you over to that department! Now I get put on hold and I'm getting and the more I think about it I get a thinking now I'm going to be holding for about 45 min like yesterday! So about 10 min later he comes back on the line and says I now have Abigail on the line from Dining and she is going to assist you from here! I was like!!! So Abigail was very nice and seemed to know what she was doing and how to do it! So here goes mind you I only needed 4 days as I was doing DLXDP and downgraded back to FDP! So my other seatings are GG's and were made at the 180 day mark! I'm still excited because I have never been to any of the places I have ADR's for this Trip so it is a totally new experience for us! Here's what I got:
8/30 Teppan Edo @ 6:00pm

8/31 O'Hana @ 6:35pm

9/1 HDDMR Tier 1 Seating @ 9:30pm show!

9/2 Leceiller @ 6:00pm

I got everything I asked for w/i minutes of what I wanted the only one I actually changed was 8/30 I had Chef Mickey's but the time available was too early for us and this is our must do every trip restaurant but I nixed it to try somethind new a a better time!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Yay!!!!! Did you call the 407-WDW-DINE number first, or no? If you did, that's weird that they would transfer you... do you have to go through the prompts when you call that line too? I make mine tomorrow now!!!! I'm so excited (and worried). But I'm glad you were able to get all of yours.

 

[Goofy22]

Yay!!!!! Did you call the 407-WDW-DINE number first, or no? If you did, that's weird that they would transfer you... do you have to go through the prompts when you call that line too? I make mine tomorrow now!!!! I'm so excited (and worried). But I'm glad you were able to get all of yours.

Yes! It was Very Weird!! That's why I got so stewed when they put me on hold! Yep! I called the 407-WDW-Dine! It went through the initial prompts then went directly to would you like to speak to a CM? yes or No? instead of what wouldve been next! Crazy! But it all worked out for the better ! Maybe it was a glitch since I called literallyy when the lines opened! IDk nor care I'm just happy it worked to my benefit! Good luck with yours tommorrow hopefully it will go as smoothly as mine did today!!

 

[ZeroToHero]

SO!!! I just found out that either I misread the park hours about 20 times while I was trying to figure out dates (unlikely that many times) or they changed some things - because Fantasmic is no longer when it was when I was looking! I am soooo glad I saw people booking for different days and checked.

I am updating everything now to make it work (ahhhhhhhh) and will post a revised schedule later today.

 

[ZeroToHero]

....I realized what I did wrong. I updated everything except my calendar. So everything was fine. I feel stupid. Oh well. In that case, same schedule as before. My apologies!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Today's the day!!!!!!!!! I can't sleep. I'm so excited!

But I must, otherwise I'll miss my alarm going off and miss reserving things and that would be just awful.

..Goodnight everyone!

 

[Goofy22]

Good Luck it's off to work I go at 7:03am! Hopefully you're up!!!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Goofy, at 7:03 I was up and already on the phone!

Here's my story:

I got up around 6:20, set up my little computer area so that I could be ready, at 6:56 my mom's like "it's pretty bad weather, you should use the landline." So I went downstairs, computer (to amuse myself on here while I was on hold for an hour) and papers in hand. I start dialing at 6:58 - and then, just as I hit redial on the phone and it's punching the numbers in, my computer goes "It's 7 o'clock." (I have it set to talk). And then I hear the whoosh!!!!!!

So I as quickly as possible go through the prompts - and it says "Thank you, we will connect you to a dining representative." It's quiet for a second, and then "Hello, my name is - " I almost cried - I was so happy!

So we started getting all my reservations. For Fantasmic, I wasn't able to get Mama Melrose, I had to switch to Hollywood & Vine, and it's was at 3:40. Then I got 1900 Park Fare for 6:45. Then Chefs De France for 5:40.

And then the woman gasped. Do you know why? Because everything was fine....


AND THEN THE SYSTEM CRASHED.

I was okay with that in the moment, but I knew if I didn't get something, I would be upset. It came up almost immediately afterwards. So we went through those three again - got H&V for 3:45 instead (which is fine), 1900 Park Fare for 6:50, also fine, and Chefs for 5:40. It all was okay.

And then I had to finagle a bit, I couldn't get Coral Reef for Friday, so I got Biergarten instead at 6:45 (which I'll try to make later, as I realized that we're at AK that day). Coral Reef instead went to Wednesday, when Biergarten was supposed to be, at 8:45. !!!!! Soooo late, but I love the Coral Reef. Apparently enough to miss Illuminations.

We then saved, and I got all my confirmation numbers. Then we booked 50s Prime Time for Saturday - 4:25, which is great, since that's the day I wanted to eat early, because of the possibility of AIE.

And I booked our first day last, because I figured we'd be fine, and we were. Plaza Restaurant for 7:15 on our first day.


So in the end, this is what it looks like:
8/25- Plaza Restaurant - 7:15
8/26- Coral Reef - 8:45
8/27- Hollywood & Vine - 3:45
8/28- Biergarten - 6:45
8/29- 50s Prime Time - 4:25
8/30- 1900 Park Fare - 6:50
8/31- Chefs De France - 5:40

Total Time Spent on Phone: 20:23
Time Finished: 7:20

20 minutes for all 8 reservations!

I'm so happy that it all worked out. If I update anything later today, I'll let y'all know.

 

[jenseib]

Sounds good, but why weren;t each saved as you booked them.? I've never had it done this way before. I always ask for something they book it give me the Conf number then we go on to the next. Without saving them, isn't it leaving it up for grabs for others?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sounds good, but why weren;t each saved as you booked them.? I've never had it done this way before. I always ask for something they book it give me the Conf number then we go on to the next. Without saving them, isn't it leaving it up for grabs for others?

When I called for my ADRs earlier this month, they didn't give me individual confirmation numbers for each ADR until after we did three or four. I thought that was really odd since they've never done it that way before.

 

[ZeroToHero]

Sounds good, but why weren;t each saved as you booked them.? I've never had it done this way before. I always ask for something they book it give me the Conf number then we go on to the next. Without saving them, isn't it leaving it up for grabs for others?

I wonder if it was the new system? When I booked my first one (Fantasmic) I asked for the confirmation number, and she told me that I couldn't get it until the end. Which of course, I was hitting myself about 2 reservations later when the system crashed. But it was all okay.

And I've decided to keep all the reservations I have, unless I can maybe get Biergarten to get pushed back to 7:30 or 8.... I'll have to think on that.

And then, if any of you have been reading the Restaurant Board, you will have seen that one of the confirmation numbers she gave me was wrong, so I had to call back. First time, the circuits were busy. Second time I was on hold for 20 minutes. Then the woman had no idea what she was doing - asked me for my reservation confirmation number right after I told her I wanted to get my reservation confirmation number.

And then when she finally pulled it up (after much "hmm, I wonder how to do this") she said "Alright, so you wanted to modify and cancel the reservation, right?"

Soooo... hopefully I straightened everything out, but now I'm a little worried. She did give me my reservation con. # though, so I think it's alright.

Here's some pictures of my siblings and me:

(I was glaring at that guy, he walked right in front of the camera)

 

[Goofy22]

Yes! It is definitely the new system because they make them in the same session they do not get a confirmation number until they save so if they are searching for awhile they may save and give confirmation numbers just in case system goes down! But they can save a time and search for another and not delte until you have the other! I believe they can do up to 10 at a time! PS. I'm glad you got all your ADR's! Now Disney Quilter is up tommorrow!!!