Pre trip planning
Before I leave the world from
my previous trip, I book a bounce back offer for the same time next year. This usually means I don’t worry about my
next trip till March of that year. At
that point I have to start planning my dinning experiences. Last year, a couple of weeks before I left
for the world, I also had to plan some attractions too. So next year, I have that to look forward to
too. But I figure not to worry till
March.
Today I get a package this….
That center item in the last
photo is a flash drive. The photo with Dumbo (Flying Elephant) is a magnetic card that reminds me
of what dates I need to make dining and ride reservations.
When I booked my trip, I plan
to arrive on
I need to plug in the flash
drive to see what it is about.
I plug it in. It lights up
green to give you the same light as does the FP+ machines at the theme parks.
The capacity of the flash
drive is 1.8 gig, which most of it is empty. It looks like it should auto run, but
doesn’t. I open up a file, which opens
up a website, which starts to play a video from a website. It is Edna from the Incredibles. She is explaining the whole Fast Pass Plus,
Magic Band thing. The video is very hard
to watch as it is hour glassing allot.
At first I thought it is just a large video. But I am downloading the video. This video clip is only 70 megs. But I see the download rate is very
slow. So it is the server supplying the
video that is slow, not my internet connection.
It showed an hour download at 12 kb/s.
I just looked at the download, its now up to
110 kb/s with about 7 minutes to go.
This is about right speed. The
video itself is only 2 and a ½ minutes. They could have cut down on the video quality
a bit.
Here is the video I
downloaded, compressed and uploaded to my you tube site. I don’t know what else this is supposed to
do.
The flash card doesn’t seem
to do more then that. Well, I do have
over 2 months to worry about anything J I figure by
the beginning of March they will post September operating hours for the parks.
I am calm and relaxed now, But about an hour and 10 minutes ago, I was
frantic.
I was chatting with Joyce and Rene in the chat room when Joyce mentioned there
is a rumor that Disney is raising their theme park tickets tomorrow.
It was 8:55 pm. Tomorrow I was planning to change my trip so I will arrive a
day earlier then what the ressie had. I realized the phones are open till 10.
So I dug up my ressie number and called.
I told them I wanted the extra day and such. They quoted me a price, and I
confirmed that I was still getting the bounce back offer of free quick svc
dining that was upgraded to basic dining. They go no, there was no discounts
applied to this reservation. Hold your ears………..
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I spoke to her supervisor, transferred over to another supervisor, supplied
them with my previous years confirmation number. They looked it up, no go. They
couldn’t do anything without that bounceback offer pin code. I was being told,
there was no bounce back offer last year. Hold your ears again.
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I remember last year, there was this booklet in my welcome packet called Be our
Guest.
Sorry.. all I have is a first name… Mike are you out there??
We had this email exchange. I emailed I didn’t have a bounce back offer in my
room and concierge didn’t have any info either. I emailed that info.
I believe it was Mike who answered back yes there is. Its in my welcome book. I
took a good look at the book. What I thought was a restaurant only book was a
Walt Disney World resort book. And I remember in the center was the bounce back
offer pin code.
I knew I still had the book somewhere. I keep all my paperwork for each trip
together. I found my 2013 info. But I couldn’t find the book. I wanted a call
back number of the supervisor. They couldn’t give me one, but she said they
entered the information so whomever answers my call, will know why I am
calling. Reservations closes in 35 minutes.
So I dig around and find the book buried. I thumb through the book, cant find
any pin code. Hold your ears again.
UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! (The Charlie
Brown scream)
I start searching through my emails from my last trip. I wanted to see if I
mentioned where in the book the pin code was. I found the email….. and it had a
pin code.. sort of. In the email I wrote exactly what it said, a pin code for
all resort levels besides value, and I am staying at a value resort. I wrote
that it was in the middle of the book, but it wasn’t there.
This is what I did back then. When I called and did my bounce back offer, I
wrote the confirmation number on that page… and put it someplace safe. But
where??
Small UGH 
I
am close, but not there yet. Or am I??
There is 5 minutes before they close for the night. So I called back. Gave them
my info, told them to read the notes, gave them the pin code, I was placed on
hold so the person can speak to a supervisor……………
The pin code took…. Sigh of relief. Even adding another day with the water park
option, it was still about $100 less then what it was before. I knew when I
booked it, it sounded too much.
This wasn’t my first time booking a trip. I know I spelled everything out, that
I was getting quick service dining for free and paying the difference to get
basic dining. Why I was lied to when I booked my trip, I don’t know.
I previously printed out the
operating hours for September. Even this
early, It gives me a idea of where I will be eating.
I entered the information
into my spreadsheet and noticed that everything is pretty much like the
previous year, and the year before that.
So I basically just did a repeat of my previous year. It worked out well, especially the off days
at the water parks. First up is my dining plans.
So here is what I figured out so far.
I arrive on September 6, a
Saturday. As my usual touring plans, my
first meal on property is Flame Tree BBQ at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I will stay at the park till dinner and go
eat at Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. After dinner I may retire to my room or go to
Downtown Disney.
Sunday, September 7, I will
have breakfast at Boma. This means transferring going to a theme parks first.
Either Animal Kingdom or
Monday, September 8, is a
Tuesday September 9, is
another
Wednesday, September 10 will
a couple of hours at a water park,
Thursday,
September 11, another couple of hours at Typhoon Lagoon. Then park hop
to Epcot for dinner at Le Cellier.
Friday, September 12, another
Magic Kingdom Day, that is most of the day.
This is most likely another not so scary Halloween party, but I wont be there all night.
Breakfast will be at Kona, dinner at ‘Ohana. Might end up at epcot for the evening.
Saturday, September 13, I
will start my day at the Studios, do one or two things. Park hop to Epcot, do
more things there, then wind up at Yak N Yeti for dinner at Animal
Kingdom. After dinner, see what I feel
like doing, maybe Downtown Disney again.
Next step after ADR day,
which should be March 10, I will start to see about my Fast Pass Plus options.
Thinking over my schedule, I
don’t like the idea of not doing Epcot in the morning. But where to squeeze it in? On Tuesday, since I plan to be at Not So
Scary party late at night, perhaps I should start my day at a different park,
like Epcot. So instead of doing The Wave
for a breakfast buffet, I will do Captains Grille. Depending on the time I will get, I will take
a bus from Pop Century to the Studios, then use the
path along the river to the Yacht Club.
Then go into Epcot after eating.
Depending on what I feel like, I will either park hop to the
Now my original plan was to
have dinner on Tuesday at Kona. Having the teriyaki steak here is a
must. I started to think about eating
again at Trails end, but where to fit it in?
It’s a dinner only place for me.
So maybe do Kona for lunch the same day and
eat Trails End for dinner before Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party?? I could take the monorail from Epcot to
Being on the dining plan,
staying 8 nights gets me 8 table service dining credits. I plan on eating breakfasts at Boma,
As far as counter service
meals, I am planning on eating more then what I may eat. This just depends on how hungry I am on some
days.
One Saturday, arrival day,
Flame Tree BBQ is a must. Sunday, after Fantasmic, making my way to the
Monday, have three table
service reservations, so no counter service.
Tuesday, I will be in Epcot
around lunch time, so another must of Sunshine Seasons is a no brainer.
Wednesday. Water park in
the mornings, so that means Breakfast at my resorts food court and lunch at the
water park. Either or, or both, don’t
know. Depends if I
feel hungry in the morning or at the water park.
Thursday is the same,
different waterpark, but same strategy.
Friday I will be at
Saturday. My only plan
is dinner at Yak N Yeti at Animal Kingdom.
I wont even know where I will be during lunch.
When I last adjusted my
vacation package, I neglected to add the day at the end. On your ADR day, if staying on property, you
can book your reservations from 180 to 190 days out. But what happens if you aren’t booked in a
resort for a day? Can you book ADR’s on that
day? Probably not. So today I need to extend my trip by one
day.
But before I can do that, I
need to make sure I have my reservation for Amtrak travel setup. I look at the website, its down, says to use
the app or call. 99% of the time, I
take the Silver Star out of
I then called Disney Travel
Agency and add the last day. About what
I figured it would cost me. They also
told me that since I already have my reservation linked to My Disney
Experience, I may need to relink it. No big deal.
Or was it? Using the same logon I had fixed a couple of
days ago, I can no longer access my vacation package. It gives me the same error that another Bruce
has this reservation linked to their account.
So I call up the number on the screen, explain the situation, and they
give me the logon name that is not linked to my reservation package. Only trouble is, I don’t remember ever using
that logon name, as I also tried all the passwords I can think of. She first wanted me to use my VMK logon,
which I didn’t want to. She then
switched it back to the logon that I had working the other day.
Now I just need to fill out
the order of how I book my ADR’s. The top 3, in no particular order to book
first is Fantasmic Dinner Package at
The night
before adr day.
I hand write out the list of adr’s I want, first in terms of importance, then I just go
through the days.
#1
#2 ‘Ohana
#3 Le Cellier
#4 Tomorrowland
Terrace Wishes Dessert Party
then I just go through the rest: Boma
(dinner), Boma (breakfast),
I set my alarm for
ADR day, let the battle
begin.
I may have slept for 2 hours
before giving up around
I shut down both my servers
as I don’t want bandwidth issues. I log
into my account and start to input my dining plans, its still about
My first one Fantasmic Dinner Package at
I book ‘Ohana
and Le Cellier with no issues, but I have the same
problem with Wishes dessert party, cant book it after
first week in June. I continue down the
list.
I get down to Grand Floridian
Café and run into a technical glitch. I
enter date and time, it gives me back a time of
I get down to Coral Reef and
I have the same problem. Will need to
call in and have them fix it.
When I did Trails End, I
entered the wrong date (forget to change it from my previous choice), so I had
to cancel that and resubmit for the correct day.
It is now
I get through in less then a
minute and I am talking to someone.
First up, Fantasmic, got it. She cant seem to book Wishes, no matter the party size, so I will
need to keep trying that on a daily basis.
Grand Floridian Café, I got
it, but not at the times I could have gotten online. I have a feeling the times I tried are lost
in cyber space for a bit due to the system glitch, server busy error I was
getting. But I can live with the time.
Coral Reef was difficult; she
couldn’t book it for 1. I suggested to try and book it
for two, she said ok, once she booked it and I got a confirmation number, she
adjusted the party size to one. This is
something new I didn’t know they could do.
Now I just need to look over
things. Add them to my Google Calendar,
so they get transferred to my smartphone calendar, so
I can get reminders 1 and 2 hours before the time.
But I am going back to sleep
now. The battle was won, but with
casualties. Feel
beaten up from lack of sleep.
Minor
update. I entered my ADR’s
into my master spreadsheet for this trip from my hand written list. To make sure there are no errors I copied and
pasted from My Disney Experience, ADR section.
Then compared that to my hand written list. Just one minor issue, A ADR that I handwrote for
I am still trying for Wishes
Dessert Party almost daily, but so far Disney Dining cant
book this. So I keep checking back.
I also went to customize my
Magic Band. I have time till August 6th
before it is shipped. I have a blue one
from last year. Gray is the common one
they hand out to guests who don’t pick a color.
I am thinking either red or orange.
So far I am going with the orange.
Interesting to note, My Disney Experience still shows the one from my
2013 trip. I checked the RFID numbers to be sure.
I also tried to book my Fast
Pass Plus, but it says I cant choose this till July 8th.
I am able to log into My
Disney Experience account on my Smartphone, and it
even shows my reservations. Interesting side note.
There is a small icon in My Disney Experience. The image is of Bruce the shark from Finding Nemo. I don’t
remember choosing this, this was chosen for me. Not that I am complaining.
I also added the ADR’s into my Google Calendar, which will transfer the info
into my smart phones calendar. I am
having it give me a 2 and 1 hour email warnings. I also have it give me a 1 hour pop up. I am also including where the event will be, ie: Eating at Boma will occur at
Animal Kingdom Lodge. As
soon as I start to type in Animal King…. It populates the rest as either
Animal Kingdom or Animal Kingdom Lodge, I chose the
lodge of course. Again, I am copying and
pasting the information, especially the confirmation number into the comments,
so there will be a less chance of error.
As soon as I hit save, I look
on the calendar on my smart phone and I see the information. I click on it and it even gives me a map of
where I am and where I need to be. This
is a slow process, but only has to be done once. When I make my
The only piece of the puzzle
missing from my ADR list is the Wishes Dessert Party that is held at Tomorrowland Terrace.
This would be the third time doing this.
The first time was ok. They like
you stand up by the railing to view the fireworks. They clean the tables while the fireworks go
off. I just had hurt my leg at the time,
which bothered me more then I expected.
The second time I was seated
down wind from someone who overdressed for hot
I have been checking this
fairly consistently since I made my other ADR’s. I was constantly told that they didn’t
release the availability yet, as they are finalizing plans for Mickey’s Not So
Scary Halloween Party. So I keep
checking every couple of days online and call in. I last checked on Friday. Still didn’t
open up the tables for reservations.
I just looked online, and
they did open it up, but like previous years, nothing for a party of one.
But I do see availability for parties of 3, so it can be booked.
Good thing about the dates,
it is offered for Sept 8, but not the 9th, which I am guessing is going to be
Not So Scary night, so that looks like not so scary will be happening on the
9th.
So I called in, and they
didn’t see anything for a party of one, but they do see other people having
reservations.
I ask well, what can you
suggest I try and do? He basically didn’t suggest anything except to keep
trying. In the past, they found tables for parties of 2 at other
restaurants; they decreased it to a party of one. So he
said, he can try that. He tried two, nothing available. I
asked how about three? Said same thing, nothing
available. How can I say.. well, I can book it on my computer. Oh well.
I guess another year, no
party. I may call tomorrow just to try it again. Maybe...
just maybe :)
With the release of free
dining being released for Disney Visa Card Holders on the second, and open to
the general public on the fifth, I still wanted the Wishes Dessert Party. But I keep checking for availability with no
luck. But I still see parties of 3 are
able to book.
I wrote online about my
problem. Several people suggested this
strategy. Infants don’t pay, people have booked larger parties with extra made up
people who are less then two years old. So I should book a party of three with
two infants. It is a well known issue
with the dining ADR software that Disney uses.
They sat aside X amount of tables for parties of 1, 2, 3, all the way up
to 6. When booking a
ADR for one, they will try to book a table for 2. Wishes Dessert Party is a prepaid special
event, so I would be paying for each adult on my reservation, unless they are
younger then two.
Tonight I called up and tried
one more time to book a party of one. Still nothing. I
asked two questions. I said I may have
two friends go with me, but they aren’t sure, what is the cancellation
policy. I was told I can adjust or
cancel the ADR five or more days out without penalty. The second question I asked, I didn’t think I
would get a answer. I asked how many ADR’s there are for parties of one. I just wanted to know the odds I am
against. They couldn’t answer. She suggested to keep
trying.
A couple of days ago, I did
try and book a table for three, including myself and I made up two infants, Joe
and Shawn. I got to the point of
entering my credit card information, but I didn’t pull the trigger. Tonight I did. I am booked.
Two weeks before I arrive at Disney, I will adjust my reservation.
With the final piece booked,
the wishes dessert party, that day I am doing breakfast
First the
good news. I am taking
Amtrak from
When I booked my trains, the
price for the Silver Meteor (morning train) cost more then the Silver
Star (evening train), so I booked my passage on the Silver Star. What I
didn’t think about was the arrival time into Penn Station. It is
scheduled to arrive
Well, tonight, I looked
online at Amtrak schedule and prices. The price for a roomette on the
Silver Meteor dropped to the same price I paid for passage on the Silver
Star. So I called Amtrak and they switched trains without it costing me
any extra. A very large load off my mind.
Now, the
not so good news. Notice I
didn’t say bad news, because it isn't, just not so good news.
My touring strategy for my
second day, Sunday, has been this for the last couple of years. Tradition :)
I spend most of the day at
the studios, doing the Fantasmic Dinner Package at
Now I am not the only person
who does this, so the bus station for the TTC can be very large.
Being on a scooter doesn’t help. So that can take time too.
If things go 1/2 way in my
favor, I can usually get to the
Before I figure out what
parks I will be at each day, what places I will be eating at, I look at the
September operating hours, especially paying attention to EMH hours at the
parks. When I made my ADR’s I did what I did
the previous years since basically the operating hours and EMH was the
same. The only real impact is that Sunday night, park hopping.
I was listening to a podcast where one of the podcasters
mentioned that they updated the weekend EMH at the
Not the end of the world...
but still :(
I knew the day I select my
I was digitizing old Walt
Disney World video when I notice the calendar says
I log into My Disney
Experience, which I am guess I am lucky I don’t have a problem with my log in, I took care of that months ago. Or so I thought. Now I am traveling solo, but because of known
technical issues with making ADR’s, if you are a
solo, you may have to make a ressie for two
people. They only set aside a fixed
amount of table tops for two people for solo dinners. With the new system I had to create new
personas and list them on my ADR’s if I am making a ADR for 2 people.
The first screen I had to
make my FP+ was a list of people associated with my package reservation, and
looked like this.
The persona with the shark is
me. Bruce the Shark from Finding Nemo ;) The other
names I made up to help fill out ADR’s with
names. Now I figure to click on the
check mark next to the real me, and click on next. Doing that gave me all sorts of errors from I
cant choose my FP+’s till
September 6 (my arrival day) to some guests don’t have valid ticket media. I tried several different ways of trying to
do this with no luck. So it looked like
I would be making a phone call in the morning.
For the heck of it, instead
of clicking the checkmark, I clicked on select all and I went to the next
screen, choose my park. Sigh of relief.
Even though it doesn’t show
on the above, on days when I have ADR’s, it shows
what parks I will be eating in. Strange
though, It doesn’t show anything for 9-10. I double check and I still see my ADR for
Coral Reef in Epcot, but not in the Fast Pass Plus selection menu.
My first day to choose is for
Animal Kingdom. I only have two real
choices that concern me. Kilimanjaro Safari and
I chose Kilimanjaro, Kali,
and tough to be a bug. Done.
Next day for the studios, the
only real must do that I need FP+ for is Toy Story Midway Mania. I do like Great Movie Ride at least
once. Since I am doing the Fantasmic dinner package, I don’t need to choose that. I also like to do Muppetvision
3D. So I choose Muppets, Toy Story and
to fill out a third, Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
For Monday, September 8, I am
eating in and around the
Tuesday, September 9 is Epcot
Day. Now this is a tough one. They tier the experiences, you can only
choose 1 of the top tier attractions, which are:
The only issue for me is
which to choose.. Test Track or Soarin. Having living with the land is a joke. I have the handicap area of Illuminations to
use, so I really don’t need that.
Besides which, I plan to park hop over to
For September 10, I am back
at Epcot. Since I chose Soarin yesterday, I do Test Track
today. I chose
On September 11, the morning
will be another water park, so everything will be afternoon at the
September 12 is another
September 13 is morning at
the Studios winding up at Animal Kingdom for lunch. So I am doing Toy story, Voyage, and Muppetvision. Will
see what I can do later at other theme parks.
I already have my ADR’s programmed into my Google Calendar so I have a way of
keeping the information on my smartphone and also get
two types of alerts, email and pop ups.
So I start to enter the FP+ info.
Remember me saying on one day, in the FP+ area in My Disney Experience,
it didn’t list a ADR?
Well it turns out, I have conflict with a FP+ experience, but I was able
to change it without any problems. I
also see some other minor adjustments, like eating breakfast at Captains
Grille, and being inside Epcot too, so I tweak that too.
I go back to My Disney
Experience and print out my itinerary to keep as reference.
I still need to choose a ECV to rent from and a limo service to go back and forth
train station and Pop Century Resort.
After doing research into
other ECV rental companies, I decided to go with
A couple of weeks ago, I
contacted another limo service via email and asked for a price quote for
transportation between Amtrak Orlando Station and Pop Century. They never responded, so I guess I am going
with MH Transportation, again it is the devil you do then don’t know. I did like how they text messaged me that
morning. It did make me feel good.
Start to wind down all my
planning. Yesterday I filled out a
request for car service from the Sunray Transportation website. John Murray from MH Transportation
responded back today. They took over the
bookings from Sunray since last year. I
got back what I hope is a from letter as they
mentioned turning on my cell phone once I depart from the airplane. Since I am using Amtrak, I responded back
just to make sure.
Then I tackled and completed
the Disney resort package. I called up
and added Travel insurance to my package.
It’s a thing that I hope I don’t need, but feel better having. I also asked how much more it would cost me
to change my room from standard to preferred, non pool view. Getting off the train, its one of the things
I have anxiety over. It seems no matter
how many times I tell them I prefer 70’s section, they always stick me in the
80’s,90’s buildings.
At the check in counter, they always switch me, but it is still a hassle
to deal with. So for this trip, I paid
extra for the preferred non pool view just to see how that works out.
I did online check in with
two requests, ground floor and 70’s buildings.
I updated my credit card info for room charging ability. I tried to check out my pin, but I
couldn’t. I told them to expect me at
I then paid off the balance
which was due on the 23rd.
Since I already did my Magic
Band color and name. I get to relax now
for a month. The end of August, I will
start to worry about the weather.
Anticipation is making me wait J
7-21-14
Tweaking my Table Service
dining credits
I am staying for 8 nights,
which gives me 8 table service dining credits.
Counting my ADR choices, I need 14 table service dining credits. Need to figure this out.
I am doing Le Cellier for dinner.
That is now two dining credits, so I will pay out of pocket for that
meal. That brings me down to 12.
I have 3 breakfasts
planned. Right now I have ADR’s for Boma,
I am doing Kona Café twice for lunch, once on Sept 8, and again on
Sept 11. On Sept 8, I am doing breakfast
at
On Sept 11, I am just doing
Le Cellier. So
it is pretty easy to figure out. I
canceled my Sept 8 ADR. I figure to eat
at Be our Guest for lunch that day. Which brings me up to
figuring out my counter service meal planning.
I have 8 counter service meal
credits. On arrival day, Sept 6, I eat
lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. That leaves me
7.
On Sept 7 I am doing
breakfast at Boma, spend my day at the studios with dinner at
On Sept 8, like I mentioned
before, plan on doing Be our Guest, that leaves 5
more.
On Sept 9, starting my day at
Epcot and finishing it at
On Sept 10 and 11, water park
one or both mornings, Epcot in the afternoon.
Just will play it be ear, so what I feel like. I can get something for lunch at both of
these places, that leaves 2
On Sept 12,
breakfast at Kona, dinner at ‘Ohanna,
So for lunch, will listen to Sunny Eclipse at Cosmic Rays for lunch. 1 left.
On the 13th, start
my day at the Studios and finish it at Animal Kingdom. I guess another meal wont hurt at Flame
Tree. All done J
On
On August 10, I read on
social media that everyone who is staying on property can now gain a Fast Pass
Plus. They are doing away with the
standby line, and only have a limited amount of paper fast passes to hand
out. I went back to my fast pass plus
website and chose a item to cancel in favor of
BOG. Still didn’t show the option of
BOG. So I called the number listed on
the website. Asking for Fast Pass Plus
help, I was connected to the appropriate department, their online IT help desk.
I told her that on social
media, that they are reporting that all onsite guests can now be able to make a
FP+ for BOG, that I tried my resort package confirmation number, but the
website doesn’t like that number, what can I do? She explained that I should have gotten a email that contained a 12 digit number which is what the
website needs, not my confirmation package number. I told her I never got such a email. She said no
problem, I gave her my conf number, and she gave me my 12 digit code
number. I tried the website again, it took the 12 digit code, but showed nothing was
available. She gave me the keep trying
again speech. Oh well, what can you do.
Well today, I tried again,
and surprise, surprise, it gave me some choices. One choice for
I went back into and changed
the time to
Today I got the official
email from Disney giving me my reservation id number and how to use it. Just happy that is behind me.
I adjusted the reservations
for Wishes dessert party from 3 to 1.
The ‘twins’ will be disappointed, but they will get over it :)