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Pre-trip report – part sixteen: I forgot about booking ADRs!

Saturday 26 March

It’s not often I say this, but I actually forgot about booking our ADRs for the Wednesday yesterday. My excuse is we are on holiday – as I write this, we’re in Bath, where we spent much of yesterday and last night, so it’s understandable. I went to book for Morimoto Asia for Barb and Bob this morning, but had to wait until after 7:00am our time, as the site was down for maintenance until then. Once it was up and running, I got an ADR for 7:00pm with no problem. Of course, it was going to be later, but that was when we were going to be going to La Nouba, and now that’s dark, we can go for dinner a little earlier, which is no bad thing.

I also got notification from Facebook about a new post in our Bagman Days group, and I think the easiest thing to do is just to share the whole thing here, as I think it’s such a wonderful idea.

Hello, friends. Can't believe we're officially less than 6 months to Bagman Days!

We've been brainstorming ways to include members of this group who can't join us in September but still want to participate in some way. We have a few ideas, but the one we keep coming back to is doing Random Acts of Kindness in Bill's memory -- and there are a couple ways we can make it work.

Option A: Decide on a specific RAK and send us the details and the money needed (if any) for your RAK idea. We'll get someone in the group to make it happen for you -- however you want it done!

Option B: Instead of planning out specific RAKs, we could simply collect money in a fund and come up with RAKs on the fly during Bagman Days.

Either way, we're thinking it might be nice to include a note that says something like "This random act of kindness is in memory of our friend, Deputy Bill Myers" and one of the buttons with his official OCSO photo -- but that's optional too. We can make it anonymous if you prefer.

If you want to send your RAK idea to someone specific and ask them to do it for you, that's absolutely fine. We do NOT mean to say that any RAKs have to be done "officially" through us. However, if you don't personally know anybody who is going and you want to send your ideas and money to one of us, we promise to make it happen however you want it to happen. Your RAK, your way!

And if you're going to be at Bagman Days and want to help with the fun of doing the RAKs, let us know!

Any thoughts/questions/concerns/better ideas? Please post here or message

Isn’t this just a lovely idea? I know I’ve said this before, but I so appreciate all the thought Sandy and Dyan have put into this event. They really are doing an amazing job on it.

When we got to our B&B for the evening, I did actually remember to make our ADRs for today, and just as well, given I was trying to snag a lunch for six of us at Spice Road Table. Thankfully, that wasn’t a tough call, and I easily got that, grabbing a table for midday.

Sunday 27 March

I woke up to a message this morning from Ann, confirming she’d been able to snag our lunch at the Boathouse for the Saturday. How she’s managing to book ahead using a DVC reservation, I do not know, I swear the system has something against me!

When we got to the B&B we were staying the night at, I was able to secure our lunch with my donkey boy at Crystal Palace, which Barb and Bob will be joining us for as well. I was relieved to get that one, as that was probably one of the tougher choices I needed to secure, but I had no problem, getting 11:35am, which was roughly what I was looking for.

I did check for the Skipper Canteen to see if it was taking ADRs yet, but sadly it’s not. I’ll just have to keep checking the boards for details as to when it starts offering advance ADRs.

Monday 28 March

Well, today I have nothing to book, as we already have the Boathouse ADRs, and the other meal I want for this day is Tiffin’s, which isn’t yet accepting ADRs, so at least I don’t have to remember to get on to the Walt Disney World website to book anything.

I did want to share this with, which Sue posted in the Facebook group, as I completely endorse the sentiments of what she’s saying:

Can I just say how excited I am for this gathering? Some old photos came up on my "On this Day" today, several of Bill, and also one of Lorie, and it made me realize just how precious life and time is. I can't wait to see everyone again.

This is just so, so true and so well said.

Ahead of the bookings I need to do tomorrow, I decided to try and find out when Symphony in the Stars might be during our stay. Good grief, what a nightmare! I can only find times for the next six weeks or so, but it seems to be on just before park closing and, at the time of year I’m looking at, the park closes at 9:30pm, and the fireworks are on at 9:15pm. As it’s closing at 7:30pm in September, I figure maybe 7:15pm? Ok, that gives me an idea of when to try and book dinner at Hollywood and Vine for.

This is the day I really need to work out, and tonight I think I did. I was thinking of going to see Ovo at the Amway Center. Google Maps tells me it’s half an hour’s drive each way, so to get there for a 1:30pm show, I think we’d need to leave Disney property by 12:15pm to allow us enough time for traffic or any other issues. It’s two and a half hours long, including the intermission, which means it will be done about 4:00pm. That means the earliest we’d be back on Disney property is 4:30pm, although in reality probably closer to 5:00pm, so that means we’d literally get back to the Studios for dinner and then the fireworks.

Hmmm…. Much as I love the idea of seeing another Cirque show, I just don’t think it’s going to fit into our itinerary. It’s no secret that the Studios is my least favourite park, but even so, I’d want to at least spend some time there, and at least if we had a break after the California Grill brunch, then we could head there early afternoon. After all, with the careful use of Fastpasses, that’s still do-able, especially as we don’t do a lot of the E-ticket rides there, like the Rock’n’Roller Coaster or the Tower of Terror.

Tuesday 29 March

Today was the first time I’d ever tried to make Disney dining reservations from my phone, as I remembered about them at work and had a spare five minutes, so I thought I’d give it a go. I will be honest, I expected it to be a complete and utter nightmare, but actually it was fine, probably just as simple as the traditional website, and if anything, it was quicker. I was very impressed, and it’s not often I say that about Disney online!

I snagged brunch at the California Grill for 10:00am, and I’m very excited to try this one out. I can’t wait to see what it’s like, and at least we get to dine at one of our favourite restaurants, even if it’s not the traditional dinner we usually enjoy there..

I also got dinner at Hollywood and Vine, so we can meet Minnie and her friends in their Halloween finery, at 5:15pm. I’m more interested in the character meets here, if I’m being completely honest, as the food didn’t wow us the last time we were there. Admittedly, that was many years ago, but from reviews I’ve read, the situation hasn’t necessarily improved that much.

Bearing those times in mind, it’s definitely the right call not to go and see Ovo. I just hope the show makes it over here at some point, as Cirque have actually pulled shows from touring before they’ve ever made it to Europe, which is a real shame.

I did also have a look on the Toronto Zoo website to see if the baby panda cubs are on show to the public yet, and they are now. However, they look amazingly cute now, but will they be that cute in six months’ time? I did some researching and found photos of a 10 month old baby panda cub, and while they are still cute, they’re probably not as cute as they are now. Hmmm… are we going to go and see them? At this stage, I’m honestly not sure. I think I’ll have to have another look at the itinerary, and whether it will fit in or not…

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