***Official April 2013 thread*** SEE POST # 4028

[Alice Royal]

Pwdebbie, here are our ADRs in the correct format:

4/20-Coral Reef, 6 PM
4/21-'Ohana, 5:20 PM
4/22-Mama Melrose's, 1:40 PM
4/23-Les Chefs de France, 5 PM
4/24-Planet Hollywood, 12 PM (this is ONLY my dad and brother)
4/25-Chef Mickey's, 5:30 PM
4/26-1900 Park Fare, 9 AM

I'm in such a Disney mode...too bad we still have just under six months to wait!

 

[TJDisneymama]

did you all read about the weird thingy at BOG for lunch? Something about a rose that's electronically linked to your order and your table.....and you order yourself..... IDK, I didn't totally get it. It seems complicated

 

[buzzrelly]

It does seem slightly confusing. And I have to confess, I'm kind of a germ-a-phobe and it seems like an awful lot to "touching stuff" right before I eat. Yuck. Not a fan.

 

[Mousemommy1]

did you all read about the weird thingy at BOG for lunch? Something about a rose that's electronically linked to your order and your table.....and you order yourself..... IDK, I didn't totally get it. It seems complicated

I think it looks cool! Basically your order gets linked to the rose and then your food gets brought to your table. I like that idea a lot better than having to carry a bunch of trays while trying to pay and find a table.

 

[TJDisneymama]

It just seems confusing, esp. people who have no idea what they're getting themselves into, and then have 2-3-4-5 kids with them.

 

[Jessij25]

Tried to book Be Our Guest for April 23, 2013 @12:30pm and they have no reservation until 3pm!! Tears.... I guess I will keep trying until the trip!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[awfullybigadventure]

Tried to book Be Our Guest for April 23, 2013 @12:30pm and they have no reservation until 3pm!! Tears.... I guess I will keep trying until the trip!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

That is probably because they are counter service for lunch. I believe you can only get an ADR for dinner.

 

[TJDisneymama]

Yep, just dinner is table service!

Sent from my SCH-I405 using DISBoards

 

[wdw4rfam]

Got 'em! I called at 7 a.m. Still no idea why it wouldn't link (and trying to figure out how to give feedback on that), but the person I talked to was very helpful and we got everything we wanted. (Including CRT breakfast.)

How very odd. I was up, at my computer with my coffee ... and wham, red error message. Just what I needed!

All's well that ends well, but what an unneeded rush of adrenaline!

Thank you for the calming words and advice, folks. Love this board.

I have been doing this for years, and couldn't get mine to link either. I got up early and was going to get them done before heading to work, and couldn't get it to work. So I got ready for work and called right before I left, and luckily got a smart and quick CM who was able to get all of them for me quicker than I could have done it. Its a good thing, because with my OCD, I would have never been able to function at work if I would have had to wait untill I got home.

 

[librarygeek]

Because I know you are all losing sleep over it , I wanted to let you know I got my airfare settled and it worked out VERY well!!! Here is what I posted over on the southwest thread:

So excited!!! Managed to cash in some credit card rewards, and change our flights from PVD to BDL and in the end only spent $200 per person out of pocket!! So the five of us are flying for $1000 round trip!

The catch is we had to stay another night.....taking an early flight Monday vs leaving Sunday night. Trying to decide if we extend the Disney trip ($$) or just leave later from the hotel, drop the car off and stay in the hotel airport!

Thoughts?

Which resort are you staying at and how much of a difference is it per night? I know if it was me, I would always want to take an extra night in Disney!

did you all read about the weird thingy at BOG for lunch? Something about a rose that's electronically linked to your order and your table.....and you order yourself..... IDK, I didn't totally get it. It seems complicated

It seems okay to me. Have you ever been to a restaurant (Cosi comes to mind if you've been to one) where they give you a cardboard number on a metal pole when you order and go find a table? Then the server brings your food by finding the number on your table. This seems like the same idea, just the hi-tech version.

 

[trtl6941]

Which resort are you staying at and how much of a difference is it per night? I know if it was me, I would always want to take an extra night in Disney!

We are at AOA so too much out of our budget to add another night. I suppose we could switch to a LM room or POP but then we have to add a day to our tickets too...or not and just swim! Or we stay at the pool for awhile and then return the car a day early and stay in the airport Hyatt which I think the kids might get a kick out of!

 

[TJDisneymama]

now that the excitement of ADRs has worn off, I guess I'll start on my touring plans. I don't necessarily follow them to a "T" but I like to have a general plan on paper to look at and now that you can Optimize and Evaluate, I am giddy. I LOVE being able to have the times in there so you know exactly where to put your ADRs and stuff. This came out while I was there this past April so I didn't get to use. I've done a couple for clients but I can't wait to do my own!!

 

[Jays2013]

Yeah, I've been wondering what to do now that our ADRs are done. (Except for stalking the phone lines to get the Pirates & Pals cruise, but that's not quite as involved. ) I've always had general game plans for WDW, but not specific touring plans ... I'm going to give them a try.

Side question. We have never seen Fantasmic, believe it or not. How loud is it? My oldest loves music and water and isn't easy to scare ... but he doesn't like loud noises. The younger one will be fine if we just keep reminding him it has a happy ending. I think.

Also, all the things I read suggest getting there hours in advance. That's just not gonna happen. How necessary is an early arrival?

 

[samgminov]

now that the excitement of ADRs has worn off, I guess I'll start on my touring plans. I don't necessarily follow them to a "T" but I like to have a general plan on paper to look at and now that you can Optimize and Evaluate, I am giddy. I LOVE being able to have the times in there so you know exactly where to put your ADRs and stuff. This came out while I was there this past April so I didn't get to use. I've done a couple for clients but I can't wait to do my own!!

I signed up a month ago and it's been so much fun! It's great to see what our day is going to look like and even though I know we won't follow it to a T, either, it's been nice to have a game plan for scheduling times for meals and arrival and departure.

 

[awfullybigadventure]

Yeah, I've been wondering what to do now that our ADRs are done. (Except for stalking the phone lines to get the Pirates & Pals cruise, but that's not quite as involved. ) I've always had general game plans for WDW, but not specific touring plans ... I'm going to give them a try.

Side question. We have never seen Fantasmic, believe it or not. How loud is it? My oldest loves music and water and isn't easy to scare ... but he doesn't like loud noises. The younger one will be fine if we just keep reminding him it has a happy ending. I think.

Also, all the things I read suggest getting there hours in advance. That's just not gonna happen. How necessary is an early arrival?

I have been wondering the same things! DH is visually impaired and loud noises really startle him. Wondering about getting there so early too. I have considered the Fantasmic package if that would help, but would prefer not to do it since none of those restaurants are on our "must do list".

 

[Mousemommy1]

Yeah, I've been wondering what to do now that our ADRs are done. (Except for stalking the phone lines to get the Pirates & Pals cruise, but that's not quite as involved. ) I've always had general game plans for WDW, but not specific touring plans ... I'm going to give them a try.

Side question. We have never seen Fantasmic, believe it or not. How loud is it? My oldest loves music and water and isn't easy to scare ... but he doesn't like loud noises. The younger one will be fine if we just keep reminding him it has a happy ending. I think.

Also, all the things I read suggest getting there hours in advance. That's just not gonna happen. How necessary is an early arrival?

Fantasmic is a great show! It is no louder than other fireworks shows, really, so if DS is ok with those, he should be fine. My youngest was 3 when she first saw the show and was not phased by the noise...

We have never waited in line hours before the show. The amphitheatre is HUGE and we don't do the dinner package either (mostly because we don't really like any of the DHS TS meals). We usually get in line about 45 minutes before the show and we have always gotten a good seat for it! We will typically grab a snack for while we are in line and it gives us a few minutes to rest.

 

[Alice Royal]

Yeah, I've been wondering what to do now that our ADRs are done. (Except for stalking the phone lines to get the Pirates & Pals cruise, but that's not quite as involved. ) I've always had general game plans for WDW, but not specific touring plans ... I'm going to give them a try.

Side question. We have never seen Fantasmic, believe it or not. How loud is it? My oldest loves music and water and isn't easy to scare ... but he doesn't like loud noises. The younger one will be fine if we just keep reminding him it has a happy ending. I think.

Also, all the things I read suggest getting there hours in advance. That's just not gonna happen. How necessary is an early arrival?

If you can handle Wishes, you can probably handle Fantasmic. There aren't *that* many fireworks until the very end, and it's almost exactly like the big "shoot 'em all off!" finales of the other Disney fireworks shows. I might be picking up some earplugs from our local Dollar Tree just because I have ear tubes and loud noises tend to irritate my eardrums now, but it's not completely necessary.

The amphitheater sits something like 10,000 people! Since the show is so large in terms of the stage, water projections, large puppets, etc., sitting further up in the rows can actually give you a better view of everything that's going on. We've always done the dinner package and will be doing it again on this trip (not my decision!), and they reserve two of the right sections for that. The one time I remember seeing the show live, we were about halfway between the center and 'waaaaay right' sections (complex theatrical jargon, right there). They stage the show so that even if you're not dead center, you can still see everything very well.

As for me, I'll be camping out in line to snag a front-row seat...I've watched the show tons of times on YouTube, but since I'm a lighting designer/technician I want to check out all of that up close and personal. Hoping that this show isn't replaced by something more 'robotic' in terms of operation. There are rumours that World of Colour is going to replace this show, and since that's almost entirely computer-programmed, I'll be left without a place to work once I get my BFA in Technical Theater!

 

[trtl6941]

Hmmmmm...my kids are all excited to eat at Be Our Guest and we have dinner ressies one night and planned to do lunch our other MK day, but the kids menu is not going to be a hit

 

[gtpoohbear]

Yeah, I've been wondering what to do now that our ADRs are done. (Except for stalking the phone lines to get the Pirates & Pals cruise, but that's not quite as involved. ) I've always had general game plans for WDW, but not specific touring plans ... I'm going to give them a try.

Side question. We have never seen Fantasmic, believe it or not. How loud is it? My oldest loves music and water and isn't easy to scare ... but he doesn't like loud noises. The younger one will be fine if we just keep reminding him it has a happy ending. I think.

Also, all the things I read suggest getting there hours in advance. That's just not gonna happen. How necessary is an early arrival?

you know, we always sit right down at the front so from there it's VERY loud, and you can feel the heat from the flames. But I'm guessing that if you were farther back it wouldn't be any more intense than Wishes or Illuminations. I would at least give it a try, knowing you can leave it's just too much. But it's one of our very favorite parts of WDW - a must do every time for sure! My DD was scared the first time (she was 4) but ended up loving it by the end.

As for when to get there... in 2008 we got there about 45 minutes early (we had made a last minute decision to switch our plans around and go or we would have gotten there earlier.) The theater was about 70% full, but we still managed to find pretty good seats. In 2010, we got there 1.5 hours early - theater was more than half full, and it reached capacity and was closed 30 minutes later. My ILs who were coming to meet us didn't make it in and had to miss it But I think that was back when they were only showing it a couple of times a week. Now that's it back to being every night I'm hoping it's not as crazy. We'll still hopefully get there an hour early or so just in case.

 

[gtpoohbear]

now that the excitement of ADRs has worn off, I guess I'll start on my touring plans. I don't necessarily follow them to a "T" but I like to have a general plan on paper to look at and now that you can Optimize and Evaluate, I am giddy. I LOVE being able to have the times in there so you know exactly where to put your ADRs and stuff. This came out while I was there this past April so I didn't get to use. I've done a couple for clients but I can't wait to do my own!!

I'm so anxious to go ahead and start too, but I'm wondering what exactly this FP+ will be and if it will have started by April. Sure as I go and make a bunch of plans, it will come out and change everything, lol!

I do have a TP subscription but haven't played around with it much. Is that where you can optimize and evaluate? That could get addicting, lol! Most of my touring plans aren't all that specific though - mostly it consists grabbing a FP for something first, then the first couple of rides to do standby (ones that will get long lines later) then a list of must-do and if-time rides for the rest of the morning.

But I guess it wouldn't hurt to get some preliminary plans done... if I have to change everything it's still good "practice" right? HAHAHA!