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Mom and daughter on Expedition Everest; Animal Kingdom
  • On Apr 29, 2008
    Kris from IL Asked Note: This answer was provided prior to the change to planDisney and may still contain references to Disney Parks Moms Panel.

    Experiences, policies, pricing and other offerings are subject to change and may have changed since the date of this answer.

    Does anyone have a good strategy for making ADR? Should I try to reserve most popular restaurants, dinner shows, or character meals first? Or won't it matter if I am on the phone at 7am 180 days in advance? We are staying on site w/DDP and CRT is a must!

    If your trying to get reservations for Cinderella's Royal Table, it matters in a HUGE way which order to ask for your meals in. Really.

    If you actually get through to a reservationist at 7:00 a.m., thank your lucky stars and start talking. Just dispense with the pleasantries and say as quickly as possible something to the effect of "Cinderella's Royal Table, June 23rd, breakfast, as early as possible, party of 5." Don't say "Good Morning." Don't ask about the weather in Orlando. Don't ask any questions at all. There's plenty of time for that later. The cast member (CM) will know what to do. It will seem like you're being borderline rude when you do this, but the CMs understand what you're up against and you can apologize after you get your golden reservation. Once you get the Royal Table worked out. Move on to the other popular meals: Chef Mickey's, Le Cellier, any other character meals and dinner shows (but you can breathe while doing this). And then work on everything else.

    My husband actually types us up a spreadsheet of each day's reservation requests and possible alternatives. We sometimes stop to reevaluate our plan as we see which reservations we were successful in getting. It usually takes me at least three calls to get the whole thing put together -- and I've been doing this for years.

    As another bit of advice ... if the Royal Table is a must do, then the Unofficial Guide to WDW is a must purchase book. There are more than three pages of instructions on how to maximize your chances of CRT reservation success. This alone is worth the purchase price.

    Also, when we're in full CRT push, we'll have me, my hubby, and our babysitter all on different phones simultaneously trying to get through. Oh, what we do for those precious little princesses :-)

    Good luck with your calls!
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Meet the Panelist: Erin, New York

I have three teenage daughters. We're DVC members obsessed with Disney travel. We've been to Walt Disney World countless times and have visited Disneyland & Disneyland Paris. We've taken several Adventures by Disney and Disney Cruise trips. Learn More About Erin

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