PS Stress

[EsmeraldaX]

You know what annoys me?

Aside from the fact that unless you are a club member, there is no 800 number, the fact that you have to call every day for 5 days to get the meals you want.

I have to call tomorrow for dinner at the castle
Sunday for lunch at the Biergarten

Then we get into the work week, which means I will need to call from a cel phone which charges a ridiculous amount for long distance in order to start calling at 6:58 am because I'll be on the road to work.

Monday I have to call for Dinner @ Planet Hollywood
Tuesday for lunch at the Sci Fi & the Fantasmic Dinner Package at Hollywood & Vine
Wednesday for Cindy's breakfast and a lunch at Crystal Palace.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to make this less stressful. I considered taking time off from work but there is no way I can, and I have no family members who will be available to make the calls for me.

Can I book the fantasmic package over the phone? Are any of these things that can wait until later than 7 pm?



I am so stressed. I'm seriously considering dropping Cindy's because we aren't big breakfast eaters, and we're on an incredibly tight budget...

Help!

 

[ahutton]

The only PS I expect you would need to make right at "opening bell" is Cindy's. All others mentioned I would guess you can do in the evening, or even once you have arrived... The only times I could imagine Germany or most others would be on the busiest days of the year.

Also - from our experience - we don't book a breakfast and lunch PS at a sit down in the same day. Especially if they are buffet or all you care to eat - we find we just aren't hungry enough to do 2 meals like that in one day, unless it is breakfast early and very late lunch or a dinner.

If you eat at off peak hours you are often able to walk in and be seated with no PS. If you really don't want to wait for a meal I recommend going when the open, you are usually seated very quickly. This worked for us at 'Ohana, Teppanyaki in Japan and others...

No Stress - this is vacation! (That is what DH keeps reminding me as we plan our trips)

 

[crisi]

Breathe.......

We always make a single phone call 90 days out from the last day of our trip. We've never had any problem (ok, I had to take Boma ten minutes later than I would have liked). We aren't trying for Cindy's breakfast - but that is the only one you have on there that I would even fret about.

If you have something that will make or break your vacation (i.e. you promised your four year old a Pirate Cruise or your family believes no vacation is started until you dine the day of arrival at Chef Mickey's) you may want to call day of.

We do a little flexible planning as well. There are more restaurants we are interested in than days - so if we can't get into Le Cellier (which wasn't a problem), we can try Rose and Crown (which is on our to do list as well). Biergarten is fun and the food is good - but it isn't so good that I'd bother with a special phone call - besides, the restaurant is huge and lunch is less popular for PSs - you won't have ANY problem getting a decent lunch time there or at Planet Hollywood or the Sci Fi if you waited three weeks to make the call.

(Now we have had no luck at all with walk ins - other than at Marrakesh - and we don't travel at busy times.)

You are doing a whole lots of PSs for somone who describes themselves as having "an incredibly tight budget." We go with a pretty large budget, and we do one sit down meal a day (dinner for our family, but lunch is cheaper) and one character breakfast. And then eat a counter service lunch and a "pop tart in the room" or roll as we are wandering in kind of breakfast. It isn't the money for us so much as the time - plan on at least an hour - and more likely two - for any sit down meal. If you get an 9:00 Cindy's seating, you won't be out of there until 10:00 having had an all you can eat breakfast to turn around for a 1:00 lunch at an all you can eat lunch.....?

 

[scrump]

I agree, Cindy's seems to be the one PS that many people stress over, but other than that, you should be able to call for others during the evening. Depending on when you go, you might be able to make them onsite as well. I know in the past, we've gone during moderately busy periods, and were able to book a lot of PSs on property.

Please don't stress, it's a vacation, and you'll enjoy it much more relaxed!

 

[mtdevine615]

You don't exactly say when your going but I'll assume it's in about 90 days. The only time we make PS is for stuff that we don't want to miss, other than that we just relax and go with the flow. The first few times we went we made a lot of PS and found we were so concerned about the PS that we didn't enjoy the moment. Now we make 2 or 3 for 10 days and that's about it. We have tryed to go to places and were told that they were full but, that's the way we ended up at O'Hanas which is now one of our favs. Don't stress out you may find some place even better.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Thank you everyone.

I am thinking maybe Cindy's breakfast isn't such a great idea. It's expensive , and we do have a lunch buffet that same day and we really are not big breakfast eaters. We are staying off site in a condo we are borriwng from family and will likely eat many of our morning meals (cereal, pastry etc.) before we leave.

 

[Cameo]

You didn't say if you have little ones or not, but in our experience the breakfast buffets have been a waste. We had several this past trip with DD6 and DS3. The kids aren't big breakfast eaters and can't wrap their brains around the characters that early in the morning. If I could do it again, I would only do one breakfast buffet and leave the rest for lunch or dinner.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Originally posted by Cameo
You didn't say if you have little ones or not, but in our experience the breakfast buffets have been a waste. We had several this past trip with DD6 and DS3. The kids aren't big breakfast eaters and can't wrap their brains around the characters that early in the morning. If I could do it again, I would only do one breakfast buffet and leave the rest for lunch or dinner.

Thanks. We don't have children, so it will just be two adults. But we probably don't each much more than kids do. For some reason, I'm never hungry until around noon.

 

[jcemom]

Originally posted by EsmeraldaX
Thanks. We don't have children, so it will just be two adults. But we probably don't each much more than kids do. For some reason, I'm never hungry until around noon.

If I were you, I would make a PS for lunch, then. (Easier to get, less expensive.) The Fantasmic package would be an exception, of course. That way you can eat around noon, when you're normally hungry anyway. For dinner, you may choose to snack or grab something from a counter service place. Either way, your evenings will be more flexible.

 

[andrabell]

Hi There!
I feel your pain. I hate calling anywhere that I know that I'm going to get stuck in a voicemail hell.
(to let someone know that you're having a meltdown press 1...please hold).
When I was making my PS's, I was determined not to spend a cent on phone calls (going to need every single bit just to eat all those meal on property), so I made all my calls after 8pm on my cellphone when I have free minutes. During my ten-night calling spree I got all but one of the PS's I wanted, including the Princess Breakfast. For the one I didn't manage to get, I kept calling each weekend until I managed to finagle it (a late dinner ressie at CRT). I also found that calling between 8 and 10pm there were very short hold times. I hope this helps.

---Andra
Planning a Disney Holiday is a contact sport!

 

[Gretchen]

I only make ps's for the not to be missed restaurants, ie: CRT. We have just walked up to a number of places (Rose and Crown, some of the Resort restaurants, CP) and gotten right in, even when there were no Ps's to be had. I wouldn't recommend this though, but, sometimes you just get lucky.
Gretchen

 

[westjones]

We just decided to go the week of Christmas not long ago, and I had no problem getting into Cinderella's Dinner at the GF 1900 Fare on the Sunday before Christmas. We also have a PS for the Kona Cafe on the Monday before Christmas. This is one the busiest times of the year (so I am told, this will be our first trip at this time) and there was no problem getting these.

In September, we did CRT for breakfast and I did call first thing on the first day to get in. It worked, but that was the only one that I had to 'stress' over. Enjoy!

DJ

 

[kerri0616]

To reduce my stress over long distance phone calls, waiting and waiting on eternal hold...I always buy a calling card a walmart for live 6 bucks. You get about 60 minutes on it.

Just a suggestion.

Kerri