Strategy for ADRs when calendar isn't out?

sarah05

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 25, 2008
Messages
75
Hello,
I have kinda asked this before, but haven't got any very good answers.... but I'd appreciate thoughts. My 180 day mark is May 1st. Our trip is last week Nov/ first few days of Dec. I want to book all my ADRs then, but my understanding is that the calendar for the Dec days we will be there won't come out until a couple of weeks into May. This calendar is the one through the travel agency, not even the official WDW one (which everyone on here says is more reliable anyhow, which I still don't understand but I'm trusting you guys ;)). On top of that though, everyone says Disney will probably change it several times by the time we actually go (especially since it's part of the MVMCP season). SO... how I am I suppose to plan all this out when I don't even know the EMH, show schedules, MVMCP days, etc? Do you just plan the best you can and hope it all works out. It's very frustrating to me that Disney expects you to get ADRs that far out but they won't post the calendar that far out. We have the DP and park hoppers. We plan to be at the parks early, take an afternoon break and then park hop to a different park if we need to do dinner/shows. I am trying to look at the big picture and pick which park we are at on which day by crowd levels while still seeing the shows we want and eating where we want. I don't think we will be doing MVMCP. We do want to do Fantasmic and we want to do the Pirates and Pals Cruise one night. We don't really care which park we are at on which day (ie, must go to MK first day, etc). I do think it would be cool to eat at Chef Mickey's for bkfst the day where going to MK, but even for that I need to know what time MK will open to plan it. Do want to have dinner in Epcot before Illuminations. How do I plan part of our vacation without knowing anything about part of it. Can I really trust the Nov hours that the agency puts out (I am paranoid about that)?
 
Okay, I'm an idiot. My date is actually May 31st so that helps! Sorry. So I guess my question is now.. Can I really trust the calendar posted on here from the travel agency?
 
We went Dec 7-13th last year and I'm helping a friend with a later Dec 2011 trip, so I can at least tell you what happened with us and what I've seen.

The official calendar came out early enough for me (late May) to do a little bit of fine tuning with my plans before I had to book ADRs. Last year, Fantasmic's schedule was all over the place, but this year, it seems to be Sun and Thurs during slow times and Sun, Tues, Thurs during busy times. Those first two weeks in Dec are slow times, so I think you're looking at Sun or Thurs if you're planning on anything like the Fantasmic dining pkg. This schedule now seems to be pretty consistent.

While EMH has not been released yet, if you sign up for TouringPlans, you should be able to get an idea of crowds each day. This might be more effective for planning your days vs. EMH (at least evening EMH) + if you're park hopping EMH should not be as much of an issue. i.e. you can plan your day around the least crowded park and then hop to the evening EMH park.

We saw very little calendar change after the calendar was officially set in late May. In fact, the only changes we saw
1) MK evening EMH was added to the Saturday of our trip- and the park was a level 10, so it was actually something to avoid. My parents stopped by and had to leave it was such a madhouse.
2) Wishes was added on our 2nd nt (added in late Nov). For months that night showed only MSEP and then just before Thanksgiving, Wishes was added.
3) Spectro was the parade at the time the calendar came out, and in August they decided to stick with MSEP.

As for things like Illuminations...we had a nightmare experience at Rose & Crown. Illuminations was timed for 9:30p every single nt, and the nt we went- we managed to time it perfectly- except our server never took us outside like promised. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO mad!!! :mad: Probably not the best reaction, but we ran out to the patio seating (which was only half full) and watched what was left.

Another thought, the first Saturday in Dec is usually the filming of the Christmas parade at MK (i.e. the one shown Christmas Day). Lots of people like to avoid MK this day. The MK tree also won't go up until the parade taping is done.

So, other than that- the calendar didn't change one little bit over the 6 month stretch. Hope this helps.
 

Yes, that is the calendar I am talking about. Thanks for reassuring me. I wondered about Fantasmic because it is only scheduled once for the Nov dates we will be there and I am hoping it might be offered again to give us more options. I heard about the Christmas parade taping and that is bit of a disappointment, though I have read it might not actually affect touring much if you plan for it. Anyhow, it would be nice to end our trip at the MK, but I will not fight huge crowds to do so. Also, regular Wishes (non MVMCP nights) only happens once during our Nov dates so that's a little aggravating too. And of course, I read you should actually avoid MK that day like the plague because everyone like us that doesn't want to do MVMCP will be have to be there that night. I am hoping they do the Pirates and Pals cruse on MVMCP nights or we may have some tough decisions to make. I actually would really like to see regular Wishes and the regular parade inside the park (we went the same time of year in 2008 and have seen the holiday versions), but maybe we should just do the cruise that night to avoid the crowds. Anyhow, it all becomes a bit more complicated that one would think. :rotfl: BTW, what day was a 10 crowd level on your trip? I thought that was suppose to be a pretty slow time of year! Your scaring me.
 
Yes, that is the calendar I am talking about. Thanks for reassuring me. I wondered about Fantasmic because it is only scheduled once for the Nov dates we will be there and I am hoping it might be offered again to give us more options. I heard about the Christmas parade taping and that is bit of a disappointment, though I have read it might not actually affect touring much if you plan for it. Anyhow, it would be nice to end our trip at the MK, but I will not fight huge crowds to do so. Also, regular Wishes (non MVMCP nights) only happens once during our Nov dates so that's a little aggravating too. And of course, I read you should actually avoid MK that day like the plague because everyone like us that doesn't want to do MVMCP will be have to be there that night. I am hoping they do the Pirates and Pals cruse on MVMCP nights or we may have some tough decisions to make. I actually would really like to see regular Wishes and the regular parade inside the park (we went the same time of year in 2008 and have seen the holiday versions), but maybe we should just do the cruise that night to avoid the crowds. Anyhow, it all becomes a bit more complicated that one would think. :rotfl:

I know what you mean. We try not to plan trips for Halloween/Christmas season any more because we hate the mess of MK planning when the parties have it closed early 4 nights a week. We did two trips that fell in that timeframe and both times ran into ridiculously out of proportion crowds on our MK days because we avoided party nights. DH wants to go back again the week after Thanksgiving if our August trip falls through and the thought of planning another holiday trip is just ugh, especially with the parade taping tossed into the mix. :headache:
 















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