TigerLilly's Mom: At restaurants, I had CM's take the pictures. Out on the street I would go up to a couple taking pictures of each other and offer to take their picture for them. In return, I'd ask them to take our picture.
Lucky978: The Hoop Dee Doo was fantastic. I highly recommend it. I'm not sure when I got my table number assigned. I booked it 8 months prior, but paid for the tickets at the WL 2 days before. ( I kinda lucked out being right up front I think.) The seat# is printed on the ticket when you get the hard copy, but like I said, I have no idea when it is actually assigned.
Lucky978/ccrosner: Yes, we did go to the 50's Prime Time Cafe. As with reviews for anything (be it movies, cars, or WDW dining) you need to take them with a grain of salt. We loved it, and will definitely be back. The CM's didn't break character a bit. It was a load of fun and the food was good too. (BTW, my wife didn't finish her green beans. So, the CM got everyone's attention and proceeded to fly the airplane in to the hanger -- while getting everyone around to put their arms out and make airplane noises.)
All: You may notice that most of our pictures are not action shots. Most of them are while at a meal. Take enough pictures to remember your vacation fondly, but view WDW with your eyes - not a viewfinder.