Moving on to yesterday!
Yesterday was ADR day for our December trip!
I went into it with a plan, of course. Really, being chief planner extraordinaire for 10 people isn’t always easy.
Our trip this past January was pretty easy to plan for because I had full rein to tell everyone where we were going and when. No problem and everyone agreed!
This is different, very different! 10 people. Us, MIL, FIL, SIL and her DH, their little one.
We’ve been to WDW together before. Our first trip with the kids was all of us minus Ryan and SIL’s little one and it was wonderful. Of course we rarely saw SIL and BIL, much to MIL’s dismay and annoyance. We had a fabulous
travel agent to help us plan that trip and we kind of went with what she said for ADR’s, Chef Mickey’s, CRT, Crystal Palace etc.
08 included all of us with the addition of Ryan this time I was the planner because the travel agent had kind of crapped out on us in the mean time! I got rave reviews on everything I planned.
But planning for different peoples needs, tastes, etc, etc can be migraine inducing! FIL, whom I love and adore, can be very picky and rarely ventures outside of his traditional Irish meat and potatoes. BIL is a little, for lack of a better word, weird. He wants nothing to do with any dinner shows etc. Nothing to kitschy. He’s not very big on Family gatherings, which is why they’ll be staying in a different room then us instead of getting a grand villa. It works out better for us that way! A 2 bedroom for us, MIL and FIL and a studio for them is less DVC points! Going on vacation together is a stretch for BIL. Truthfully, I’m not even sure why he does it!
Whatever, we don’t have to eat together all the time and we surely don’t have to stay together all the time. I showed all the plans to MIL and SIL. SIL opted out of a few for them and I offered to make other arrangements for them. But she declined. MIL was good with everything because I tried really hard to plan around FIL with his pickiness, mostly old favs and buffets, FIL LOVES buffets!
So, I planned everything out, made my excel spreadsheet and set my alarm bright and early!
A little bit after 5 yesterday morning I hear DH saying “Melis, are you awake?” Um, no! I say “What?” He says “It’s starting to get light out and I know you wanted to get up early to make our Disney reservations” Awwww, thanks honey! But, it’s still too early!
I lay there for a little while and then got up. I made my coffee, I was going to need it, and sat with my laptop!
Shortly before 6 I started playing and much to my surprise I was able to start making the reservations!
I thought the online reservations didn’t open up until 6 exactly!
I made our first reservation for Saturday, 12/4, Chef Mickey’s for dinner here we come!
I moved on to Sunday, 12/5, stupid me! I was trying for Le Cellier for all 10 of us! Ha! No luck! Boo!
I skipped Sunday and moved on to Monday, 12/6 figuring on a Fantasmic dinner package I booked Mama Melrose for all 10 of us. FIL wasn’t to keen on Mama Melrose but they want to do the Fantasmic package. We did Hollywood and Vine once and really could have done without it, SIL didn’t want to try Brown Derby. So we’ll be off to Mama Melrose on 12/6.
Moving onto Tuesday, 12/7! This was night I wanted to do Hoop De Doo! We have fabulous memories at HDD!!! FIL loves this place!!!! So I tried to make our reservation for 7 ( no SIL, BIL or little one) and the system kept kicking it out! I kept getting and error message!! Are you kidding?!
So I moved on again! Wednesday, 12/8! 2 reservations for this day! Donald’s Breakfast, which we love, and Boma! I didn’t tell DH we’re doing Boma, he really didn’t enjoy it in January! But, that was a must for SIL and BIL! With those booked I moved again!
Thursday, 12/9! I already purchased out
MVMCP tickets and we’ll going on 12/9!!! So, I wanted an earlish dinner in MK! Crystal Palace here we come!!! This is kind of a tradition for us now! In fact it was the first meal DD and DS7 ever ate in WDW! I’ll never forget their very first Pooh hugs!
Then I moved onto 12/10! Biergarten 7 people (no SIL, BIL or little) The kiddos love this place as does FIL & DH! Me and MIL, not so much! The atmosphere is great and the kids have a blast but the food isn’t our cup of tea! Oh well!
2 more to go!
I moved onto Saturday, 12/11, CRT here we come! But wait! The system kept kicking that out at me as well!!! Really?! Are you kidding?!
So I moved on to 12/12! SIL, BIL and little will be leaving for home on 12/11. Usually we leave on Saturday but this trip I decided to stay an extra night for purely selfish reasons! I feel like I have to end a trip with Wishes the night before we leave. 12/10 is MVMCP again, so we can’t! Anyway, I made a reservation so DS7 can meet the Mad Hatter at 1900 Park Fare!!!! He’ll be very excited!
I finished up online but still had 3 reservations I needed! Ugh!
I quick hopped in the shower and got myself semi together. I grabbed the phone right at 7 and called! But I got a message that said “Due to higher then normal call volume your estimated wait is longer then 30 minutes” UUUUGGGGHHHH!!!
So I walked around with the phone on my ear forever! I got the kids up, got them breakfast, etc, etc with Disney dining hold music playing in my ear! It’s Disney music but it’s constantly breaking up and then that guy comes on to tell me things!
After 38 minutes I finally got a person! Yippeeee!!!
She confirmed for me that they were no Le Cellier reservation for 12/5, in fact there were no ADR’s at Le Cellier for the entire length of our stay except for 12/10 at 8:45 pm! No thanks! Too late with the kiddos!
She was able to make our HDD and CRT ADR’s though! Yippeee!
Then I asked her about booking DD’s BBB sitting for me, she was going to do it but somehow disconnected me!!! UGH!!!
So, I got the kiddos ready and off to school! When they were on their way I called the style line booked DD’s BBB for before MVMCP!
Then I got to thinking about Le Cellier and what to do! I had an idea, not sure if it’s brilliant or not.
I got onto the dining site and changed our Biergarten ADR from 12/10 to 12/5 and booked Raglan Roads for 12/10. I think Raglan Roads will make FIL and DH happy and we’ll have a night at DTD!
I think I got everything squared away! Phew!
Be back again soon with another TR update!
** PS! To those Dis friends who I still haven't caught up with on TR's or PTR's I'm working on it! I promise! I'm trying to go one at a time so I don't confuse myself!**