Questions about my multiple single day reservations

[KristinU]

So, I have some questions for those who have had to patchwork together a handful of single/two-day reservations before. I thought about asking on some other board, but I wasn't sure where...and more importantly, I don't know that any other resort has folks doing this single day patchwork for reservations.

My 6 nights over Christmas are made up of four reservations. I called and got them linked, but honestly I'm not sure exactly what that means other than hopefully not having to move every night. (We do have 3 days of Preferred and 3 days of Premium so I'm assuming we'll have to move between those)

But my questions come in about making dining reservations and this new Fastpass plus thing. We don't eat much at restaurants, maybe twice a trip, so not a huge deal, but I do want to be able to make a couple of reservations when my window opens. Will I need to wait for 180 days out from that particular day or the whole vacation like I think is what happens during a normal reservation.

Same question on the FP+ That whole thing seems like way too much advanced planning for me, but I'm sure I'll want to get something scheduled since it will be so packed.

Oh, the other question - anyone know how the booking works for more than one family? My parents got some Fort reservations by stalking as well! So I'm thinking that we'll want to make reservations for at least one meal together...never a problem in the past, but I want to make sure I won't run into problems with this new Magic Band thing (are they even linked to dining???)

TIA!!!

 

[tiggerdad]

Hi Kristin,

My guess would be that you will not have to bounce from site to site, but that may be subject to how crowded and full the place is during your stay. I am sure they will try to and find a way to make that work out for you if they can.

You can start booking meals at 180 days out from your first day. That means when your first day is within 180 days, you can book that day's meals as well as all the others on that particular stay.

FP+ is similar as well, but it is at 60 days. Some people have reported being able to book FP+ for their entire stay when the first day was within 60 days, some people have reported only being able to book each day as it came within the 60 day time frame.

Not sure on the meal linking with another family, I have personally not tried this but I am sure someone will come along shortly and be able to help on that one.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

My 6 nights over Christmas are made up of four reservations . . .
. . . although linked, you still be made to move
. . . we try to keep you in the same place
. . . but, if someone else has a long stay, it is better for them to not have to move mid-stay

But my questions come in about making dining reservations and this new Fastpass plus thing.
. . . as mentioned above, 180 days

Same question on the FP+ That whole thing seems like way too much advanced planning for me, but I'm sure I'll want to get something scheduled since it will be so packed.
. . . Youbetcha

but I want to make sure I won't run into problems with this new Magic Band thing (are they even linked to dining???)
. . . FP+ ressies can be linked if close timewise --- usually
. . . regular ressies cannot be linked

 

[Gizerd]

Hi Kristen,

I'm not an expert but I can tell you my experience.

Seperate Reservations

I had 4 separate reservtions that I linked together. This way I don't get confused with linking FP+, dining, magic bands, etc. Also Disney will send a single preparation package so that way this includes your entire reservation and not just one part of it. I hope you don't have to move, I bet they will try hard.

Magic Bands and Fast Pass+

The disneyworld.go website is deinitely your friend!

We went over sping break, which was incredibly busy (they shut down Magic Kingdom one morning). We had FP+ set up way in advance but we were having so much fun we bought another day. I was able to set up our FP+ the night before with no probems whatsoever and for the exact times we wanted(if you just keep editing, you can change the times to whatever you want). I thought they would "fill up" but they don't seem to.

I would advise against booking them the day of. You have to go to a kiosk to do this, and the FP+ kiosk line was ridiculous! I did notice that if you went further back into the park the kiosks were less busy so if you have to book the day of--I say skip the lines and find one further back. I also would not book FP+ for the first couple of hours the park is open...we did and regretted it, you don't really need them!


Magic Bands and Dining

Our Bands were not checked when we arrived for our reservation, they checked us in the way a normal restaurant does. We love being able to pay with the band, though, saves so much time everywhere.

If your parents have a Disney account set up, you can link them to your reservations so you can all see it on the disneyworld.go website. It will show their chosen icon and such. You can also create a person if they don't have an account or for your children and still add them to the reservation. It won't matter if they have seperate resort reservations, you can add all of you to the same dining...you will be the primary dining reservation holder, though, and the only one who can change the number of people attending.

As far as making reservation in advance, this depends on when and where you want to go. The Chef’s Table at “Victoria and Albert’s” or the new restaurant “Be Our Guest” says they both need that 180 day call, starting 180 days out from Day 1 in case you don’t get it so you can keep trying each day. However, we ate at Kona Café in the Polynesian for breakfast (loved it!) at 8am before going to MK and it was empty. Le Cellier in Canada in Epcot at 4pm was PACKED! And I was thanking my lucky stars we had a reservation.

I’m not sure how to search DISBoards for topics (I’m a newbie) so I don’t know if they have restaurant reviews. But there is a great one called the Disney Food Blog where I have gotten a lot of information:

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/disney-world-restaurants-guide/

(I think I’m following all of DISBoards guidelines for linking this, (on topic, not advertising, not affiliated with the blog, but if I’m not I apologize and can remove)

Hope that helps and wasn’t too long winded.

-e

 

[KristinU]

Thanks so much for the feedback, guys! Sorry I posted the question then skipped town for a few days (camping in the Birkshires with some girlfriends, great time!)

OK, so I will keep my fingers crossed that we won’t need to move, or at least not often.

Gizerd, I really appreciate your informative post. And welcome to the DIS! Your positive insight on the Fastpass + system is really refreshing. It is easy to get bogged down in negativity and fear of change. I need to keep an open mind and approach the Fastpass + program as a new adventure  That or just always do rope drop and skip Fastpasses altogether like we’ve done in the past.

So I’ll go about getting my parents linked up with us then start watching for the reservation window. I think we’re going to try for a Candlelight Processional dinner package, so that won’t be 180 days anyway…more online stalking, but I understand they are released in June or July. And Gizerd, yep there is a whole forum on restaurants plus the restaurant section of the DIS. But sometimes the volume of info can be overwhelming to pick through!

 

[Gizerd]

You're welcome; I didn't realize when I was posting that you were a veteran to DIS and also Disney! I hope I didn't offend you; I wrote my answers as though it were brand new information.

We loved getting there at rope drop too; it was the best tip we ever read. And we quickly changed our park strategy around rope drops rather than around FP, using FP later to extend that lazy feeling you get when you don't have to wait in line for anything.

-e

 

[KristinU]

You're welcome; I didn't realize when I was posting that you were a veteran to DIS and also Disney! I hope I didn't offend you; I wrote my answers as though it were brand new information.

Oh gosh, no! It IS all brand new with the bracelets and magic and fastpass+ stuff! We've been busy with other stuff (including a visit to "the dark side") and haven't been to WDW in well over a year. Between the FP+ falderal and rumors of a Fort pet policy change we cancelled our June reservations for this year. I just have a hard time stomaching the planning to the Nth degree at 6 months out. But alas, that mouse keeps calling us back, so we'll try a Christmas visit (I hope our dogs don't get turned away at the Fort gate!)