Monday, July 13, 2009

Booked My Ressies!!!

Friday the 3rd I set my alarm for 5:45AM so I can be ready to make my ADR's with Disney Dining first thing in the morning. The online reservation system does have a great advantage over the phone reservation system. The booking window time begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time online while if you call the reservation line you will need to wait until 7:00 a.m. It makes it easier to try to get the more sought after reservations if you try to book online first.

I was up and ready to start making my reservations on Saturday morning. I decided to give the online reservation system a try. I put in my reservation and phone number and it recognized it right away. I started to run through my list of restaurants that I wanted to dine during my trip. It was very easy to use. Click on the restaurant. Select a date and time. Add it to your cart. Another cool feature is if the restaurant that you want doesn't have the time you need they either offer you a different time or a completely different restaurant that will have the time you are seeking. I was nervous the whole time that I would lose my information or that if I didn't finish in a certain amount of time that I would lose my reservation slot. Thankfully I finished up and clicked the check out button and it worked. They sent me a confirmation e-mail with all my reservations listed with confirmation numbers, dates and times.

I was able to get everything that I wanted, but not always the times the I wanted. LeCellier being the killer of them all. I heard that they were booked the entire weekend that I was going to be there. I was able to get an early dinner on our last day. I wanted to dine there on our first day. Here is what I ended up with...

Cape May
Coral Reef
Boma
Kona Cafe
California Grill
Le Cellier

Booking the dining reservations to me is the most anxietic part of the planning of a trip. I feel like everything is going to be falling apart if I don't get to eat at the places that I want. Dining is one of the important parts of our trip. I usually have to switch around what parks for the day in order to accommodate our dining reservation. I am so relived that this is over. Only 80 days to go!


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Advance Dining Reservations otherwise known as ADR's

My husband and I are total foodies. We enjoy food and wine to an ultimate level. One of my favorite parts of visiting WDW is the food. We do try to go to our faves as well as try new restaurants. I am so happy that we get to experience the Food & Wine festival again. For those of you who don't know what the that is... Disney has a festival in Epcot's World Showcase that has kiosks throughout with different foods and wine from different countries. It ranges from $2-$4 a sample. It is worth it due to the fact that you can try diverse foods from other cultures. They also have wine events and wine dinner pairings. We usually go to the Party for the Senses event while we are there. It's a grand event with delicious food and fabulous wine. We get dressed up and it's always a great experience.

Our window to make ADR's is coming up and WDW has implemented a new system for online reservations through their website. I have heard pros and cons about it. I am just curious when I hear people always saying that they got everything that they wanted when they go online but not when they call the dining line. I hope that there isn't a glitch and that there isn't a bunch of overbooking. You never know when new software is being tried out of the first time. I have such anxiety about this process because you used to be able to call in 180 days in advance to make reservations. Now they are only 90 days in advance and you can book up to 10 days of your trip. Not to mention free dining is still in full swing. The only drawbacks I have with free dining is when people want to get the most of out it and book table services every night of their stay. Most of the time because they are not paying for it they end up not showing up for their reservation (and not calling to cancel) so that leaves other people who ARE paying for their food left without any openings.

Here is what I am hoping for...

LeCellier: We eat there on every one of our trips and my husband loves it. It is one of the most sought after reservations. I never understand it. I do like this restaurant but it's not like it's 5 stars or anything. I like that it's conveniently located in the World Showcase so we don't have to leave the park to go eat in the middle of the day.

California Grill: (never been) I have read great reviews of this restaurant and the wine list looks
phenomenal.


Coral Reef: (never been) The atmosphere looks like your in a underwater reef. I have never eaten here but I hope the food is as good as the decor. I have heard mixed reviews about this restaurant.

Kona's

Boma

Les Chefs de France : for lunch

I have Cape May as an alternate if we can't get into some of our other choices.
Free Picture of  Two Glasses of  Wine
Buon Appetito!

I'm Going to Disney World!

The greatest saying! I decided that it was time to create a separate blog to talk about all things Disney. As many of you know, I could talk about it for hours and hours and never tire. It's a passion of mine and I enjoy everything Disney. Every since I took my first trip to Disney at 3 years old I was in love. I couldn't believe that a place filled with such magic could really exist. Not many people will understand that and yes, I do get the repetitive "Your going there again, really?" all the time.

I am hoping in this blog to bring up new updates as well as my reviews and trip reports of Walt Disney World. Our next trip is in the fall of this year. We are staying at the Contemporary for the first time and I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about it. Being on the monorail line is going to be so convenient and fun. Ta ta for now and see ya real soon. ;)