***Official Super December 2018 Thread***

[DIS_AWC]

Oh no! What couldn’t you get?

Our trip is super short this time - Thursday through Sunday - so I assumed going into today that I wouldn't be able to get anything we specifically wanted since everyone staying the full week of 11/25 has already been booking (plus free dining - ack!)... that said, my timing was flexible and I hoped maybe we could get one or two. So far, nothing on the original plan! I wasn't planning on it, but I did book a BoG dinner at 6:25 on our MVMCP night. I don't think keeping that makes the most sense, so we will probably cancel, but at least we have the option.

I was hoping for H&V dinner on our arrival night (nothing available), but we will probably do the JBJB dessert party instead since it will be a level playing field for booking once that is released. 1900 PF dinner on 11/30 any time (none available), Beaches & Cream lunch/dinner anytime between 2-8 on 12/1 (none available), BV breakfast anytime on 12/2 (was able to book 12, which is better than nothing, but not what I consider breakfast...). I already set up the TP res finder for two of those.

The good news is that each of our past trips has been booked well within the 180 day mark and with persistence I have always found all of the reservations that we wanted at times that worked for us, so I know that things will open up for this trip over the next six months! It's just kind of a bummer feeling to finally have a trip booked before the 180 mark and to get up raring to go this morning and keep seeing "No reservations from x:00 to x:00 available on this date."

 

[gwynne]

Yay! I got all my ADRs, even the elusive B&C. The only issue I had was I forgot about H&V so I ended up with a 4:10 which was earlier than I wanted but it may work out ok as I also want to do the JBJB dessert party that night. So the only things left to book are the JBJB party and the CP package at Biergarten

I'm pretty set too, just waiting on the CP package release. I popped a B&C in ours as well.
Art Smith's Homecomin' new Sunday brunch was bookable, so I grabbed one. I'm really looking forward to that!

 

[catfan98]

I can make ADRs on the 19th....just a few more days!! I have my list ready...I think...lol. I did get flights booked through SW on opening day, so that’s done. It’s getting real, people!

 

[dachsie]

I'm pretty set too, just waiting on the CP package release. I popped a B&C in ours as well.
Art Smith's Homecomin' new Sunday brunch was bookable, so I grabbed one. I'm really looking forward to that!

I got that brunch but not sure will keep it - depends on the cost

 

[chiisai]

Roll call updated! Please let me know if there are errors or I missed you. If you have any edits you'd like me to make, please include your arrival date currently listed in the roll call (so I can find you quickly).

Happy June!

 

[caribbeandream]

Roll call updated! Please let me know if there are errors or I missed you. If you have any edits you'd like me to make, please include your arrival date currently listed in the roll call (so I can find you quickly).Happy June!

caribbeandream: 12/8 - 12/12

I made room reservations at the Port Orleans - French Quarter! I seriously considered staying off-site but I HAVE to be in the Disney bubble.

 

[chiisai]

caribbeandream: 12/8 - 12/12

I made room reservations at the Port Orleans - French Quarter! I seriously considered staying off-site but I HAVE to be in the Disney bubble.

Edited!

 

[StacyStrong]

Man, Southwest just didn't make sense for me this time around. I live in Chicago so I always have Midway or O'hare to choose from. Southwest is only out of Midway.

Southwest flights were $3 MORE than American (even including the added cost of adding the option to have a carry on and pick your seat). Yes, I have to pay for a checked bag, but that's only $25 each way. So $50 more for American with better flight times. Plus O'hare is way easier to get to either via public transpo or having someone I know drop me off (or even an Uber- it's closer!)

SOUTHWEST YOU FAILED ME.

 

[caribbeandream]

Man, Southwest just didn't make sense for me this time around.

YUP. I priced airfare and was shocked that Southwest was twice as much as Spirit. Yeah, Spirit is not the best but I will only be in the air for two hours anyway.

 

[ShyMiss]

Roll call updated! Please let me know if there are errors or I missed you. If you have any edits you'd like me to make, please include your arrival date currently listed in the roll call (so I can find you quickly).

Happy June!

We added a room only to the beginning and end of our package so now staying Dec 21-29 at POP! instead of Dec 22-28 at Pop! Thanks!!!

 

[Disneylover99]

I haven't flown (Southwest or otherwise) in quite a few years, and I didn't realize how fast those bargain-basement prices sell out. Thankfully I managed to buy our tickets at the lowest price (which was very good), but the family we're traveling with waited a couple of hours and wound up paying $50 more for each ticket.

I just looked again, out of curiosity, and the price has more than doubled! Yikes.

I didn't book until the evening and the non stop wanna get away fares were gone for our original date. Luckily I was able to switch days. I'm hoping prices will drop a bit for the earlier flights so I can make a switch to an earlier flight down. I've had good luck with prices dropping in September/October in the past.

 

[Disneylover99]

Great job. It is stressful on booking day. I don't think it's right that they constantly change the prices. They make a profit why be greedy.

Booking flights are way more stressful than booking ADR's and fp's IMO.

 

[chiisai]

We added a room only to the beginning and end of our package so now staying Dec 21-29 at POP! instead of Dec 22-28 at Pop! Thanks!!!

Updated, thanks!

 

[tlcdoula]

Good luck to anyone getting up tomorrow morning to book ADR's!!!!

I think I am ready or as ready as I can be haha... 3 am is going to come quick.

We are hoping for a bog pre park breaky, La Hacienda in Epcot for Illuminations, California Grill to watch the fireworks, Liberty Tree for dinner on our last night and Sanna for a late lunch.

From looking the past few days California Grill and BOG will be the hardest to get. So much is up in the air because I am not sure if we are going to do a Party night or not... I keep wavering on skipping California Grill and doing a party instead... tooo many decisions!!!

 

[melana]

Ugh... yesterday my sister, niece and I had a Disney planning day, but we didn’t do a lot of planning. Which isn’t the end of the world but now I am basically on my own when it comes to our ADR date on the 17th. The good thing is we did decide on the deluxe dining package because we are doing some signature places and we decided on Park Hoppers. Rented DVC so have to piece everything together.

Waiting patiently for info on Candlelight Processional. Thinking of adding a dessert party but not sure.

This planning just got way more stressful than it needs to be.

 

[10MoreMinutes]

Ugh... yesterday my sister, niece and I had a Disney planning day, but we didn’t do a lot of planning.

We (me, my brother, and my sis-in-law) had one of those days yesterday...but we're doing a short, more relaxed trip, so not a whole lot of planning needed to happen.


Our ADR day is June 9th, but I have a feeling I'll end up using the touringplans reservation finder because even though it's a short trip, we want some pretty hard-to-get ADRs. Here's our tentative food plan:

Thursday, Dec. 6 - Arrive at Pop around 12:30 pm / 'Ohana dinner, as early as possible (aiming for a 3:30 ADR) so that we can maximize time at MVMCP.
Friday, Dec. 7 - 1900 PF breakfast (aiming for 9:00-9:30 am) / QS lunch and dinner at AK.
Saturday, Dec. 8 - RD Epcot and QS lunch in World Showcase / Dinner at Raglan Road in DS (aiming for 6:00-6:30 pm).
Sunday, Dec. 9 - RD HS (hopefully EMH morning), Sci-Fi lunch (aiming for 12:00-12:30 pm) before we leave the park no later than 3:00 pm to travel home.

 

[melana]

Our trip is 7 days in total. They gave me a little bit of an idea of what they would like to do and where they want to eat. This will be our 4th trip together (5th for me). We plan on taking it easy. We want to see/do some things we haven’t seen/done before. So that means Fantasmic, Illuminations, the Nemo show at AK, and some other things. It’s our first time during the Christmas season so we want to take it all in. By the time the trip gets here the three of us are gonna need it!!

 

[10MoreMinutes]

Our trip is 7 days in total. They gave me a little bit of an idea of what they would like to do and where they want to eat. This will be our 4th trip together (5th for me). We plan on taking it easy. We want to see/do some things we haven’t seen/done before. So that means Fantasmic, Illuminations, the Nemo show at AK, and some other things. It’s our first time during the Christmas season so we want to take it all in. By the time the trip gets here the three of us are gonna need it!!

That was the kind of help I got from my brother and sis-in-law too, which is really all I needed. It'll be our second trip together, but we've all been multiple times in other groups, so we plan on taking it easier too.

Fantasmic is my favorite nighttime show, although I think I'm in the minority there. I loooove the songs in the Finding Nemo musical but it's just a bit too long for my taste, so I think we'll probably skip it this time. Definitely worth it if you've never seen it though!

It'll be my first time back to MVMCP in at least 20 years, so I'm counting that as a new experience for me (there are pictures of my mother and me at MVMCP in 1996 or 1997 but I have literally no memory of that trip I would have been 9 or 10). Other new things for us this trip are: no nighttime shows (other than Holiday Wishes), Ohana, 1900PF, Pandora (for my brother...my sis-in-law and I were there in November), and Toy Story Land (obviously).

 

[wmjeffer]

Today was my ADR day! The website went crazy for a while and even the app wouldn't work for me. I ended up switching browsers and that did the trick (even though Chrome worked fine until about 6:15am). I got everything I wanted and for the dates/times I wanted, except for Akershus on our third day. I grabbed a late breakfast at Trattoria instead, but I set up a Touring Plans alert - still hoping to get that Akershus!

I got 1900 park fare dinner, Chef Mickey dinner, Tusker house dinner & lunch, festival of fantasy parade dining package (FIL wants to eat at Tony's!), Minnie's Seasonal Dine lunch, Ohana breakfast, etc.

It was my first time booking at 180 days (never planned a trip this far in advance before ), and other than the kinks, it wasn't too bad! But now I'll probably change our days around and have to find new ressies anyway! lol

 

[disneydreamer781]

Saturday is my ADR day...NOT! I was psyched but I miscalculated and according to my Disney date calculator my ADR window opens Tuesday. Boo! My mistake is that I'm pretty much brainwashed by my DVC date window as that is what I'm used to. Doesn't work for ADRs. 180 is 180 PERIOD! I always do this. I don't know why? It's only a few days off just like it was last time. Other than that minor disappointment, I can't believe it's here since I just got back from a May trip. Seems like endless days of planning this year. I mean it never ends for me right up until arrival day. I'm always changing something be it resorts, ADRs or just daily plans because we all know Disney certainly isn't planning their schedule around mine. Not that I'm complaining mind you. It's what I live for! The only ADRs I'm a bit concerned about are Ohana and Cali Grill but hoping I can get them.

We also will have a split stay so that will also affect the ADR window going forward. Hoping to do more lounge meals this coming December. I know the AP or DVC discounts are't eligible but 10% is hardly a make or break it for us. No DDP this trip. It's not worth it for the 2 of us. Besides, I really enjoyed Geyser Bar on our last trip and we have really loved HBD Lounge in the past so that's the plan.

TS/Lounge Dining plans:

Liberty Tree Tavern (I mean it's the holiday season so we just have to do it)
Cali Grill, Jiko or Yachtsman Steakhouse
Trattoria Al Forno (dinner)
Geyser Bar
HBD Lounge
Trail's End (I'm not certain I want to make multiple connections since we're not staying at a MK resort) or BOMA (Breakfast or Dinner)
Ohana (no go thus far. No availability for the night I wanted it. Since this is arrival night, I think we'll give the Ale & Compass a try, since it's near our resort).
May try to fit in BOG this trip. Have never done it and been wanting to see the castle so I'd be fine with breakfast. I'm not panicking though because I saw on our May trip a lot of availability opening up as we got closer to our arrival date. Lots of people cancel within days of ADR time.