Life’s too short...to never sleep in a treehouse! 8/27 TR is up! Link in siggie

[MAGICFOR2]

I think we're planning our ADR for 'Ohana at 8:00, but we have way fewer people, and are lighter eaters. So for us 2 hours to eat and get to the beach shouldn't be a problem. You guys will need the extra half hour, I'm sure. To be safe.

Yeah, I"ve read all kinds of cake reviews. Hit or miss is about it. But mostly on the stale-ish side. Don't spend a ton. Just my 2 cents.

We had ADRs at Ohana last March for a table of 2 for 8:00 p.m. - I thought we could get to the 9:00 wishes on the beach. We didn't get seated until 8:45! Cool thing was we had a great view of wishes from the table, even though we weren't by the window, and they turned the lights off and piped in the music from wishes - ended up very special!

 

[All7OfUs]

We had ADRs at Ohana last March for a table of 2 for 8:00 p.m. - I thought we could get to the 9:00 wishes on the beach. We didn't get seated until 8:45! Cool thing was we had a great view of wishes from the table, even though we weren't by the window, and they turned the lights off and piped in the music from wishes - ended up very special!

I think we were assuming that Wishes was at 10:00, but even then, you may be right, it may be too late to get down to the beach. Hmmmm... I hate to eat earlier and have too much time to kill, although hanging out (literally) on a hammock isn't a bad way to pass the time!

 

[eandesmom]

So many choices and things to take into consideration.

It doesn't surprise me it took you that long to get it all done at all.

It surprised me lol! Partially because I ended up having to go back through my TA and then wait on her while she called but on the flip side I was VERY glad it wasn't me making the calls!

They'll let you in for your breakfast before the park opens, no problem.

I've been surprised that they don't even ask for any details (ADR number, reservation time, etc.) to let you in early. At least they never have from me, even though I am all eager with that info, ready to dazzle them with my preparedness. So they remain un-dazzled.

un-dazzled.

That's about how my family will be!

Good to know, we'd be late for the ressie otherwise although at least not too far into the park.

Oh you have a lot of decisions to make Planning what you want to eat, especially for a large group, 6 months in advance is challenging.

Your dining choice are great! I had no idea the GG breakfast needed to be booked by the TA. And I would have added the dining plan too! That's what we do with CRT. We HATE to pay for it now, especially since anything can come up and it may have to be canceled.

Hopefully, free dining will be offered after March 27th and you can switch over to that.

Oh I hope so. My fear is it will be but we won't be able to get it for our room class and resort which will then make for some tough choices as it's really a huge savings for us. I spent a lot of time yesterday looking at it and changing resorts really isn't an option. IF we can't get FD I think we will have to shorten the trip by one day and do only 2 nights at the instead of 3 HRH and tweak the DDP so we have one room one it and one room off which would probably work out quite well.

The bigger problem is the HRH room price (and the fact we have to have 2 rooms), so everything else is trying to work around that.

We could change hotels of course over there, but we don't want to! Inclined to just have one less night than to move/downgrade. The good thing about a 10 day trip is I can cut it down if we need to without feeling too horrible about it!

Congrats and Happy ADR Day!

What is Blue Zoo?

Blue Zoo is a restaurant over at the Dolphin. It is not on the DDP but falls into the signature category. It gets fabulous reviews and seems a little more "adult only". Plus we could take the launch from our resort, love that!

http://www.swandolphinrestaurants.com/bluezoo/

You have been a busy bee! No wonder it took you until 11:37!

Congratulations!


Kathy

craziness! Glad to have some things booked though

How exciting for ADR day!! And very cool that you got most of what you wanted.

But,

hold - the - phone.

You can make ADRs online now????

Clearly, I have been away from the Dis for a while and not planning a trip! I must get more info on this.

Yes you can! It hasn't been all that long though, not exactly sure when it started but after the online check-in. Neither were available when we went either!

It is pretty darn cool I must say.

Wow, that's a pretty complicated set up. I'm glad you determined the dining plan will be a good deal for you - I imagine that GG breakfast would have been pretty pricey!

You didn't by chance happen to ask if the dining plan was refundable, did you? Oh, wait, you said you did this all online.

According to my TA the dining plan is refundable. Although really, since we haven't actually paid for it yet, it's more like it's "cancel-able"



Yes, the breakfast is really pricey! So if we do elect not to do the DDP, keep the breakfast and pay up front I will be dragging a certain teen by her pretty blonde hair.

Which could happen

However, if we don't do the DDP I'm not sure we could stomach paying that much for breakfast, no matter how cool it is. That's more than the Epcot Illuminations cruise would cost! Right now if we don't get FD we will probably have one room on the DDP and one room not and in that case we'd probably do it.

Adults and Juniors - US$34.99, Children (ages 3-9) - US$20.99 (available 180 days prior)

We "might" do a hybrid though, one room on the DDP and one room not if we don't get free dining which would give us a lot of flexibility on the dining side so then I think we'd have to pay for the other 4 people up front which would be doable.

 

[eandesmom]

All things considered, you did a great job!! It's hard to plan for a party of 9 - there are so many variables and you won't necessarily all eat together (like date night). I still have several back-up ADRs, which I will cancel as it gets closer and we have a better sense of what we are going to be doing.

It is, the date night thing and the BRG situation makes for a wild card evening!

I made 5 more back up ADR's today. 2 in case we slide our days, 1 in case I can't get Tusker later, one in case Sandie and Paul have late flight times and one in case we do the Illuminations Cruise. Which I did reserve yesterday. No cost to reserve it, just CC to hold and since there is only one boat it seemed wise. I'll discuss it with Sandie and we will see! Will depend on how flush we are all feeling lol but it would be pretty special.

SO many yummy places-so little time LOL You have some great picks. Hope it all works out the way you want it to.

Thanks!

ADR Day is always so much fun albeit a little stressful!!!

And complicated!

Whew!

It would have been a lot faster had I realized the booking limitations on the breakfast. I did find that info online yesterday but hadn't seen it before. DOH!

You did great! It amazes me that dining is the most stressful part of WDW vaaction . I feel reall bad for the newbies who show up at the parks and have no clue. Especially the ones on free dining. I love your choices and that you have some options. I'm sure you crew will love them all. BTW - you can call the Big River Grille directly and do a "Priority Seating" reservation. It's not a "reservation" per se, but works like the old Disey reservations in that they will bump you to the front of the line when you check in.

Phone: 407-560-0253

Yes, showing up on FD without ressies would be frightening. I'm so grateful it was Food and Wine in '04 or we would have been in trouble dining wise, it a big way and it was a good way to "show" us that we needed ressies in the future without any immediate pain.

I will call BRG, thanks a ton! Challenge we have of course is with 9 people, the front of the line does not always help us much in terms of wait time. Granted I am SURE we could always send Doug and Jeff over "early" to check in and wait and have a beer!



I do like the OOP cost aspect of it, even if I could pass on eating there. It's just too much like places we eat on a regular basis and I'd never pay for an entree there.

1) I wouldn't worry about having double ressies for a time. With the system set up the way it is, you have to do it this way until you know more about your itinerary, and to get everyone in your party's input.

2) I think it's always a good thing to have OPTIONS!!!! I think you'll end up paying OOP for at least a couple of those meals. Just a gut feeling.

3) GOOD move to put Eric on the plan as an adult. Gag me! Nuggets, burgers and pizza for 5 meals?? No way!

4) What is with these guys of ours not being able to make a decision?? It's A or B- pick one.

5) I for one am really looking forward to Sanaa! Wasn't that at the top of our list (or nearly so?)?

6) The one where you want a later time to maximize your EMH time--- keep trying, I think you'll find something come up!

Ok, back to re-read again, and soak some more up.

I think Sanaa came in 2nd for my clan, Ohana was first. I made a back up at Sanaa for the EMH AK night, we will drop Tusker if we have to but won't worry about that for quite some time.

I think I'm over the guilt feelings about the backup ADR's, I made several more today! 6 months out there are a lot of variables. I will just make sure to cancel them in plenty of time for others to snap them up although will probably keep a few for when we get there and cancel the day of or before. Not too many though!

Hopefully I can go through stuff with Sandie over the next month but until we have flights I can't really do too much. We will know by mid April if we have Free Dining and will have flights and decided DDP or not (or partial) before July 1 and if any dates have changed so I'm thinking right after that I will really tighten things up.

We had ADRs at Ohana last March for a table of 2 for 8:00 p.m. - I thought we could get to the 9:00 wishes on the beach. We didn't get seated until 8:45! Cool thing was we had a great view of wishes from the table, even though we weren't by the window, and they turned the lights off and piped in the music from wishes - ended up very special!

Good to know! Right now Wishes shows at 10 but it got moved on us last time 2 weeks before our trip. We have a 7:20 which ought to be more than enough for 10pm wishes but...we will see!

I think we were assuming that Wishes was at 10:00, but even then, you may be right, it may be too late to get down to the beach. Hmmmm... I hate to eat earlier and have too much time to kill, although hanging out (literally) on a hammock isn't a bad way to pass the time!

I figure we can get another Lapu Lapu if we are really done early. With a party of nine though, that's unlikely!

 

[All7OfUs]

You are wrestling with the EXACT same things as maroo and I right now!! I just spent an hour IMing with her on these same issues, but it's so hard without the hours and no MNSSHP dates. Throw in a Night of Joy and voila, a perfect planning mess!!

I feel your pain!!

 

[eandesmom]

You are wrestling with the EXACT same things as maroo and I right now!! I just spent an hour IMing with her on these same issues, but it's so hard without the hours and no MNSSHP dates. Throw in a Night of Joy and voila, a perfect planning mess!!

I feel your pain!!

Well we have park hours, I just don't entirely trust them

No flight times though and it did occur to me I was planning a very important dinner on Sandie and Pauls arrival day which assumed a decent arrival time and who knows! For all I know they'll get in at 10pm and be ready for bed!

My backups are going to have backups!

 

[winkers]

Hi! I'm way behind......

 

[eandesmom]

Hi! I'm way behind......

Hi!

are you feeling better?

No worries, I'm not going anywhere soon, just glad to see you here!

 

[eandesmom]

officially scheduled for the 2nd interview....it's going to be 3-4 HOURS!

Which makes sense but oh my!

Good news is it isn't until 3/1 so I have a lot of time to do deep research and prep.

Bad news is it isn't until 3/1 so I have that much more time to stress out!

 

[Charleston Princess]

What do they do with you for three to four hours???

 

[eandesmom]

What do they do with you for three to four hours???

My guess is that it is meeting with each partner individually as well as the guy I'd be reporting to so it's basically 4 separate interviews.

We used to make people come in for that long and do back to backs so it's not entirely surprising and I prefer the 1:1 interviews to a panel (which is what I thought it would be).

 

[glennbo123]

Good news on the 2nd interview. I'd much prefer one-on-one interviews to a panel!

 

[eandesmom]

Good news on the 2nd interview. I'd much prefer one-on-one interviews to a panel!

Well it looks like none of them will be 1:1 after all, except for the wrap-up.

4 rounds of interviews, each with 2-3 people so really with everyone that the position would work with. And I need to bring work samples.



I have a LOT Of homework to do and am grateful to have the whole week to do it in.

Holy cats.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Well it looks like none of them will be 1:1 after all, except for the wrap-up.

4 rounds of interviews, each with 2-3 people so really with everyone that the position would work with. And I need to bring work samples.



I have a LOT Of homework to do and am grateful to have the whole week to do it in.

Holy cats.

Eesh! I know you'll do great. Think calm and happy thoughts. Does a TR count as a work sample?

 

[winkers]

What do they do with you for three to four hours???

I'm.not.going.to.say.a.word..

 

[eandesmom]

Eesh! I know you'll do great. Think calm and happy thoughts. Does a TR count as a work sample?

Wouldn't that be great! The work sample aspect is going to take some work on my end. 2 of the folks are now not available on the 1st and wanted to do it on Monday! Thankfully I had a conflict so will meet with them on the 4th or the 5th. It makes it a LONG wait between now and then but even though these 2 are minor players and just need to be "met" I don't want to risk it.

 

[eandesmom]

I'm.not.going.to.say.a.word..

Well the good news is hopefully I will see my friend (wife of one of the principals) on Monday night so can get some scoop on folks if she feels like offering. I won't ask but I wouldn't be surprised if she offers tips and insight on her won.

 

[Native NYer]

That is one long interview! It's good that you have time to research.
Best of luck with the interview!

 

[All7OfUs]

You're going to be great!! seriously, don't stress over this! YOu've been the field (even though not exactly in THIS specialty) for a long time. You have plenty of samples of good work to take in, good recommendations, and a lot of strengths to bring to the table. Like GB says, breathe, think positive thoughts, pray a lot and you'll be fine!

I'd want it sooner than later to, just to get it over with, but being well prepared will go a long way!!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Wow, Cynthia - that is great news! If they're bringing you in for a 3 hour interview, then they must really want you. When my husband was going through a lot of interviews two years ago, it always seemed like that second, long interview was almost more about them selling themselves to you. You'll do great - its wonderful to have a week to prepare. Knock'em out of the park!