Marathon Weekend 2016

[Baloo in MI]

And I may be crazy but this will be my 4th solo trip and I never do ADR's. You guys have me nervous though, now I feel like I should be.

I feel the same way. Marathon weekend will be my first solo trip now that my family is not going (due to a later trip in the spring). Usually I am going crazy with ADR's; setting them, cancelling and setting new ones, and then setting new ones again...

Going to do this trip with no ADR's and just play it by ear while I am there. But in a few months for the April trip I will go to town again playing with ADRs!

 

[SarahDisney]

So ... ADRs are done (have been for almost 10 minutes), and we got BOG, Akershus, and CRT! Other than my laptop deciding that it wanted to go really slow and not always be connected to the internet (thankfully my sister did CRT on her computer), it went well.

How'd everyone else who was up this early do?

 

[FFigawi]

I feel the same way. Marathon weekend will be my first solo trip now that my family is not going (due to a later trip in the spring). Usually I am going crazy with ADR's; setting them, cancelling and setting new ones, and then setting new ones again...

Going to do this trip with no ADR's and just play it by ear while I am there. But in a few months for the April trip I will go to town again playing with ADRs!

We don't normally have many ADRs. During Dopey this year, we only had reservations for two breakfasts (Chef Mickey, 'Ohana) and two dinners (Jiko, Victoria & Albert's). We just winged everything else depending on where we were and what we felt like eating.

 

[Ariel484]

I was told by a travel provider, when I was considering doing Goofy after is sold out, that they did? That would stink because it was a huge savings.

Maybe if you book through a TA, but I don't think there's a general link like some of the other races. I could be wrong though.

 

[roxymama]

I feel the same way. Marathon weekend will be my first solo trip now that my family is not going (due to a later trip in the spring). Usually I am going crazy with ADR's; setting them, cancelling and setting new ones, and then setting new ones again...

Going to do this trip with no ADR's and just play it by ear while I am there. But in a few months for the April trip I will go to town again playing with ADRs!

I've never done a solo trip but I imagine if I did I'd go crazy eating all the bad for me snacks around the parks at all the counter service and cart areas. No waiting for a waiter, no stressing about ADRs, eat literally whatever garbage I want and not have to share. Not having to make sure my child eats her whole dinner so she doesn't crash out.
Taco salad with fake cheese for late breakfast?, maybe later a churro to wash it down?, maybe an ice cream bar for dinner, egg rolls for dessert...sure! It'd be so bad and yet so so good. I'd have to run the full marathon just to work it all off.

@SarahDisney What day are you doing CRT? I'm really hoping to get that...will be my first priority tomorrow morning. It's gonna be stupid expensive for a kid who won't even eat the food.

 

[SarahDisney]

@SarahDisney What day are you doing CRT? I'm really hoping to get that...will be my first priority tomorrow morning. It's gonna be stupid expensive for a kid who won't even eat the food.

We're doing it Monday the 11th. Because it's the end of our trip and we were on first thing in the morning, we were able to get a pre-park (8:15). Definitely have the window open and be logged in and ready to go as soon as the window opens - that one goes fast.
And it's stupid expensive even for someone who does eat the food. But, eating inside the castle... can't beat that (I hope - this is my first CRT!)

 

[kevdad]

We're doing it Monday the 11th. Because it's the end of our trip and we were on first thing in the morning, we were able to get a pre-park (8:15). Definitely have the window open and be logged in and ready to go as soon as the window opens - that one goes fast.
And it's stupid expensive even for someone who does eat the food. But, eating inside the castle... can't beat that (I hope - this is my first CRT!)

Speaking of stupid expensive, we booked the Wishes Dessert Party this morning. $49 per adult! After thinking about it during my run this morning, pretty sure we'll be canceling that one.

 

[roxymama]

I'm so on the fence on that Wishes party. It is soooo expensive and we would have 5 of us and we are already going to try for two character meals. I'm afraid everyone will just stand up once it is fireworks time and I'll still have to hold up my little tyke so she can see. Or that I will see a sea of empty spaces we could have stood in for free. But I like sugar and never did a dessert party before. Though its not like I can't just buy something from the bakery. So on the fence. hrmmmmm. I will be spending all of my lunch break today game planning.
What night did you book yours for?

 

[kevdad]

So ... ADRs are done (have been for almost 10 minutes), and we got BOG, Akershus, and CRT! Other than my laptop deciding that it wanted to go really slow and not always be connected to the internet (thankfully my sister did CRT on her computer), it went well.

How'd everyone else who was up this early do?

Well.....we ended up with everything we wanted but it was quite a fiasco getting it done. I woke up at 3:45 mountain all prepared and logged in at 4:00. All of the days were opened up and I could see available times for everything. BUT, when I clicked on those times the system cycled back to the main restaurant page. There I was for an hour staring at those available times and I couldn't book anything. I tried different browsers, laptop, Kindle, etc. Nothing worked. I called when the phone lines opened at 5:00 mountain and after 20 minutes with a cast member had everything booked (Ohana, Narcoossee's, 50's PT, among others)

The CM didn't say it, but I think the issue was that our TA's address was listed, not ours. Even though I could see the hotel reservation in MDE and I could see available restaurant times, there was a glitch that wouldn't let me actually book. The lesson learned is probably to call before the window opens and make sure your address is listed in their system.

Oh, and I accidentally booked Ohana for tonight during all that online madness and the CM was able to cancel that. Whew! But I was shocked that there was availability for tonight at 7:00. As the TM said, I should have flown down there for that one!

Anyway, I'll get over it and will be happy with what we have. It just might take a few days, especially since I was late for my scheduled run this morning!

 

[kevdad]

I'm so on the fence on that Wishes party. It is soooo expensive and we would have 5 of us and we are already going to try for two character meals. I'm afraid everyone will just stand up once it is fireworks time and I'll still have to hold up my little tyke so she can see. Or that I will see a sea of empty spaces we could have stood in for free. But I like sugar and never did a dessert party before. Though its not like I can't just buy something from the bakery. So on the fence. hrmmmmm. I will be spending all of my lunch break today game planning.
What night did you book yours for?

We booked for 1/10. We did the Dessert Party in December when it was 50% less and then I thought it was worth it. We also are a family of 5 and now I just can't justify twice the total cost for a guaranteed seat and some desserts, especially since we've done it before and I don't think it'll be super crowded in MK that night.

 

[SarahDisney]

The CM didn't say it, but I think the issue was that our TA's address was listed, not ours. Even though I could see the hotel reservation in MDE and I could see available restaurant times, there was a glitch that wouldn't let me actually book. The lesson learning is probably to call before the window opens and make sure your address is listed in their system.

That's crazy! I'm glad the CM was able to take care of everything for you, but that's definitely pretty weird.

Anyway, I'll get over it and will be happy with what we have. It just might take a few days, especially since I was late for my scheduled run this morning!

I'm the opposite - I was expecting trouble so I ended up getting out earlier than expected for my run! I guess for next time I'll expect everything to go well and you can expect trouble, and then we'll both get out on time!

 

[Ariel484]

I'm so on the fence on that Wishes party. It is soooo expensive and we would have 5 of us and we are already going to try for two character meals. I'm afraid everyone will just stand up once it is fireworks time and I'll still have to hold up my little tyke so she can see. Or that I will see a sea of empty spaces we could have stood in for free. But I like sugar and never did a dessert party before. Though its not like I can't just buy something from the bakery. So on the fence. hrmmmmm. I will be spending all of my lunch break today game planning.
What night did you book yours for?

Just an FYI, that's what happened when we did the Dessert Party in December 2013 - we (my husband and I) somehow got the best table in the place, front-row center (I think it's because we were a party of 2). Once the fireworks started everyone got up and went to the front to stand along the railings anyway, so the table didn't really matter.

I'm glad we tried it once, but we won't do it again. Neither of us ate our money's worth (especially my husband, who isn't as into dessert as I am ).

 

[tinkermomto3]

We're doing it Monday the 11th. Because it's the end of our trip and we were on first thing in the morning, we were able to get a pre-park (8:15). Definitely have the window open and be logged in and ready to go as soon as the window opens - that one goes fast.
And it's stupid expensive even for someone who does eat the food. But, eating inside the castle... can't beat that (I hope - this is my first CRT!)

LOVE CRT breakfast. I have it booked for our October trip and I've been looking forward to it for ages. I have 2 girls that are 7 and 5 and they still talk about the last time we ate in the castle. Totally worth it in our opinion.

Congrats to everyone that made reservations this morning. Mine is open on Sunday and I'm not sure if I'll get up at 5:00 or just hope what I want is available when I get up around 7:00. I am used to booking for parties of 7 or 9 and lots of hard to get reservations so booking a late Boma breakfast and a Cali Grill for 2 seems really easy in my mind. LOL.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Well.....we ended up with everything we wanted but it was quite a fiasco getting it done. I woke up at 3:45 mountain all prepared and logged in at 4:00. All of the days were opened up and I could see available times for everything. BUT, when I clicked on those times the system cycled back to the main restaurant page. There I was for an hour staring at those available times and I couldn't book anything. I tried different browsers, laptop, Kindle, etc. Nothing worked. I called when the phone lines opened at 5:00 mountain and after 20 minutes with a cast member had everything booked (Ohana, Narcoossee's, 50's PT, among others)

The CM didn't say it, but I think the issue was that our TA's address was listed, not ours. Even though I could see the hotel reservation in MDE and I could see available restaurant times, there was a glitch that wouldn't let me actually book. The lesson learned is probably to call before the window opens and make sure your address is listed in their system.

Oh, and I accidentally booked Ohana for tonight during all that online madness and the CM was able to cancel that. Whew! But I was shocked that there was availability for tonight at 7:00. As the TM said, I should have flown down there for that one!

Anyway, I'll get over it and will be happy with what we have. It just might take a few days, especially since I was late for my scheduled run this morning!

We (well my sister ) did the same thing only with BOG! She booked it for lunch on the same day! I just rang up and explained and they cancelled without charge but like you were suprised there was still availability!

 

[kevdad]

For the record, the Dessert party was $100 for us in December 2014 and would be $185 for us in January. So "only" an 85% increase...

It looks like there is a system-wide reservation problem today:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/trouble-booking-dinning-reservations.3427284/

I feel this much better. We did get a BOG lunch reservation at the exact date/time we wanted, so that was another positive.

 

[pamster]

Good to know we weren't the only ones struggling with the system, @kevdad!

I successfully booked 5 reservations (for my trip's first segment)! I logged on at 3 AM Pacific and the entire ordeal took about an hour due to the website being slow and refusing to load properly. In the end, it all worked out

 

[roxymama]

Good to know we weren't the only ones struggling with the system, @kevdad!

I successfully booked 5 reservations (for my trip's first segment)! I logged on at 3 AM Pacific and the entire ordeal took about an hour due to the website being slow and refusing to load properly. In the end, it all worked out

Ack, over an hour is my worst fear. I have to get mine done before I have to take my kiddo to daycare in the morning. If she wakes up early I get a pass for putting her in front of Disney Jr with a bag of fruit snacks while mommy "works" right Maybe I'll just go ahead and dress her in tomorrow's school clothes as pajamas tonight to save that fight from happening. I can say "mommy is getting you princesses for after mommy's race" She'll let me be if it results in princesses.

 

[pamster]

Ack, over an hour is my worst fear. I have to get mine done before I have to take my kiddo to daycare in the morning. If she wakes up early I get a pass for putting her in front of Disney Jr with a bag of fruit snacks while mommy "works" right Maybe I'll just go ahead and dress her in tomorrow's school clothes as pajamas tonight to save that fight from happening. I can say "mommy is getting you princesses for after mommy's race" She'll let me be if it results in princesses.

Fingers crossed for you! I wasted at least 5 minutes due to user error. For my first two reservations, I didn't select a specific time slot (for example, 11:30 AM) and instead, left the default option as "lunch." When the website offered 12:30 PM and 1:15 PM options, I searched again for specifically 11:30 AM (and got it after 2-3 page refreshes because the website refused to load anything). I quickly learned after that!

 

[roxymama]

A question not about food! But about planning my after race morning.

For those of you who have run disney races before, especially the 5k that ends in Epcot. How much time did you spend after you were done racing at the race finish site? And then about how much time did it take you to get onto a monorail or bus if you headed somewhere other than Epcot during the day?
Just trying to decide if we want to Epcot or Magic Kingdom that morning or go back to the hotel first before going to a park. We have park hoppers which makes things easy. And I'd like to get us a character meal that morning. (ok so it was about dining afterall too)

My guess on my race...I'm registered as 11min mile jogger even though I'm down around 10min right now and likely will be faster by Jan, but add in a few pic stops and thousands of fun runners (and myself probably not speeding to take in the atmosphere) will bump that up considerably. I also realize I won't be in corral A, so won't start exactly at 6am.

I hope this seemed like it had a point. Basically I'm being indecisive on what to do after the race.

 

[FFigawi]

It was pretty chilly for the 5k this year, so we didn't stick around long. We took a few pictures, got in the car, and drove back to our hotel. We were probably back by 730 or 745, maybe even earlier. Plenty of time to relax before heading to the parks.