***Official Planning Thread -DECEMBER 2024 - Welcome all!***

[Joe Ryan]

Booked Garden Grill for 12/6 for lunch and then the 5pm candlelight show. Been hounding the site for topolinos for 12/5 as we are staying there but NOTHING for breakfast comes up. Even on the day my ADR opened. Crazy. Never done garden grill so hopefully it’s a nice back up

 

[Justrose]

Did my dining ressies this morning and got everything I wanted and the times I wanted - except my NYE reservation for Le Cellier is currently at 3:30 and I am hoping to modify it to later on in the evening. Otherwise - I saw a ton of availability from 12/29-1/3!

 

[Disturbia]

Booked Garden Grill for 12/6 for lunch and then the 5pm candlelight show. Been hounding the site for topolinos for 12/5 as we are staying there but NOTHING for breakfast comes up. Even on the day my ADR opened. Crazy. Never done garden grill so hopefully it’s a nice back up

Did you try changing your party size? I believe the resorts will be full over Christmas and NYE (free dining and room discounts ending 12/25) and the resort ADRs were being swooped up quickly. I would set up an alert. Stakeout searches 3 time frames and sends a text.

Hopefully with the crowds we get another extended evening dropped between Christmas and NYE.

 

[Joe Ryan]

Did you try changing your party size? I believe the resorts will be full over Christmas and NYE (free dining and room discounts ending 12/25) and the resort ADRs were being swooped up quickly. I would set up an alert. Stakeout searches 3 time frames and sends a text.

Hopefully with the crowds we get another extended evening dropped between Christmas and NYE.

Yeah I’d did it all. Got alerts set up. Only thing left is to pay a service or something which I’m not gonna do bc it’s some what fun trying tog eat it myself

 

[Disturbia]

Yeah I’d did it all. Got alerts set up. Only thing left is to pay a service or something which I’m not gonna do bc it’s some what fun trying tog eat it myself

stakeout is free for 1 ADR and sends a text. You can look the night before and even when you get up and something might be available esp since Topolinos is open for breakfast until noon (hard to schedule LLMP around ADRs).

 

[pixiedust2u]

Booked Garden Grill for 12/6 for lunch and then the 5pm candlelight show. Been hounding the site for topolinos for 12/5 as we are staying there but NOTHING for breakfast comes up. Even on the day my ADR opened. Crazy. Never done garden grill so hopefully it’s a nice back up

We had an issue getting Topolinos for the first week of December too, even at 66 days out I thought they were holding back reservations, but nothing has come up. I did set a dining alert through a website. Only once did something come up but it was the middle of the night and I missed the alert.

 

[kidnurse1137]

So you booked dining today? How did it go?

Got everything we wanted except R&C Fireworks package. We’ve never done it and wanted to try it. Oh well!

 

[Thoreauaway]

Got everything we wanted except R&C Fireworks package. We’ve never done it and wanted to try it. Oh well!

This has been selling out SO FAST!
Our ADR day was on Sunday and we were lucky enough to get one for Dec 30, but this was our #1 priority (because I'd been creeping a dining tracker in the days before our window opened, and saw almost no Luminous fireworks packages available). and we booked it pretty much right at 6am EST. Just a few hours later it was already gone for at least 60+5 days.

It was so weird because we also booked a Magic Kingdom dessert party and that had plentiful availability for all the days, even NYE (at least a few days ago when I booked).

 

[bwr827]

We’re doing a cheaper trip this time, so no ADRs. Just for fun I checked last night and was amazed at how many reservations are still available for the first week of December.

Meanwhile, there are almost no hotel reservations available for the same dates anymore.

My theory is that rising costs have led to people de-prioritizing sit-down dining.

 

[mickey916]

We’re doing a cheaper trip this time, so no ADRs. Just for fun I checked last night and was amazed at how many reservations are still available for the first week of December.

Meanwhile, there are almost no hotel reservations available for the same dates anymore.

My theory is that rising costs have led to people de-prioritizing sit-down dining.

I've noticed a lot of availability for that week too. I was considering adding in Sci-Fi and when I checked last week it was wide open! I agree with your theory. I didn't end up booking Sci-Fi and actually have a lot less Table Service restaurants planned. When the prices increased last week, some of my choices just weren't worth it to me anymore. Looking forward to a lot of quick service.

 

[japanese maple]

I don't think a lot of hotels are as sold out as they say. I think their algorithms are weird and if you have one day that doesn't have availability, the whole search is skewed.

With all the talk of soft numbers at WDW this year, I find it hard to believe any hotel is sold out besides DVC.

 

[Nikkimouse44]

We had an issue getting Topolinos for the first week of December too, even at 66 days out I thought they were holding back reservations, but nothing has come up. I did set a dining alert through a website. Only once did something come up but it was the middle of the night and I missed the alert.

We were able to snag topolinos breakfast for 8 people for 12/14! We did it right at our 60 day window (staying on site). Hopefully something opens for you!

 

[muushupork]

The Story So far:

Rents have been set-up at the FWCS and have a golf cart rezy.

Hoop-dee-doo Sunday into the Grotto

DHS Monday morning into Morimoto dinner and Xmas Tree tour

Tuesday MK on a party day and lunch at Skipper Dan's park-hop to DHS or Epcot

Wednesday Epcot and drinks/snacks around the world, hop to MK or AK, Susuru for dinner

Thursday AK and Tiffins lunch, tour resorts and gingerbreads etc.

Friday MK and KTTK, Dinner at Jiko with Starlight Safari after

Saturday mostly touring favorite spots in Orlando and Winter Park

 

[japanese maple]

MVMCP 11/12 and 12/12 sold out!

 

[japanese maple]

So who else is in the "keep switching dining reservations" phase of trip planning?

Our first night it's just the two of us and our dinner has gone from Epcot quick service, La Hacienda, Spice Road Table, Via Napoli, quick service and now back to La Hacienda!

My husband knows me well and said I will be disappointed if we don't do a sit down on the first night because I'll be ready to relax with dinner and wine! We love it inside La Hacienda and we love their appetizers. So we will order a few of those, a glass of wine and relax. Then ride Living With the Land, check out the new area of Epcot at night and see Moana Journey of Water.
Sounds great!

For now....

 

[Disturbia]

So who else is in the "keep switching dining reservations" phase of trip planning?

Our first night it's just the two of us and our dinner has gone from Epcot quick service, La Hacienda, Spice Road Table, Via Napoli, quick service and now back to La Hacienda!

My husband knows me well and said I will be disappointed if we don't do a sit down on the first night because I'll be ready to relax with dinner and wine! We love it inside La Hacienda and we love their appetizers. So we will order a few of those, a glass of wine and relax. Then ride Living With the Land, check out the new area of Epcot at night and see Moana Journey of Water.
Sounds great!

For now....

I had 10 days to plan and have free dining. It took me 3 hours to book and we were unsure of extended evenings and so I had to switch and rehash dining.

I forgot about Monday Extended Evenings (yes you can be knowledgeable but forget) when I booked the breakfast with Santa! I usually have a timetable/spreadsheet: lined blank paper with dates, park hours, ADRs and fireworks/parade times etc. easier to see when we are going and spacing out parks/resort days; important events in a snapshot.

HS is just one day and I booked Sci fi Fantasmic package on 12/27 just in case WDW decided to add another extended evening! Still need to add more park tickets and pay for our spring break cruise-due next month as well.

Then Jollywood nights! I don’t trust the airlines anymore so that was a bit easier cut.

 

[Disturbia]

Also no one wants to go to Space220! I booked it and we will see if the food booths are enough (we have Epcot earlier in the trip as well).

Fireworks end around 6:45 pm (will wait for 10 mins in the dessert party area to let crowds clear) and we have CRT at 7:45 pm and don’t know if we will have enough time to do the dance party and people mover.

 

[Justrose]

stakeout is free for 1 ADR and sends a text. You can look the night before and even when you get up and something might be available esp since Topolinos is open for breakfast until noon (hard to schedule LLMP around ADRs).

OMG, thank you so much for the tip about stakeout. I have never heard of it. Downloading now...

 

[Joe Ryan]

So who else is in the "keep switching dining reservations" phase of trip planning?

Our first night it's just the two of us and our dinner has gone from Epcot quick service, La Hacienda, Spice Road Table, Via Napoli, quick service and now back to La Hacienda!

My husband knows me well and said I will be disappointed if we don't do a sit down on the first night because I'll be ready to relax with dinner and wine! We love it inside La Hacienda and we love their appetizers. So we will order a few of those, a glass of wine and relax. Then ride Living With the Land, check out the new area of Epcot at night and see Moana Journey of Water.
Sounds great!

For now....

Oh yeah. Adding ADR, changing, removing, adding back, adding just in case so there is a back up of we don’t get the dining we want for that day. Crazy and good stuff .

Also thanks for the recommendation on stakeout. I was using magic table. Either way I have it only set up for topolinos breakfast 12/5

 

[DenaRox]

Whoever recommended Mouse Dining, Thank You!! I had been trying to get Dec 01 spot at Space220 lounge with zero luck, made a Mouse Dining alert a week ago and got it alert today. Yay!