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Health & Fitness

Book Disney Now for the Holidays?



I can’t stress enough that if you plan to visit Disney World during Thanksgiving or Christmas this year, you should book your resort now! I have been working with several clients that will be visiting during these times and rooms are selling out quickly! My family will be visiting in August, but also during Thanksgiving instead of Christmas for the first time this year!

My husband loves booking our dining reservations and makes them exactly 180 days out as that is when Disney starts taking reservations. He called (407-WDW-DINE) on Saturday and was told to call back the next day since he was 181 days out! Oops! So, he called back the next day. While he was able to get every restaurant that we had planned to eat in, he wasn’t able to get the exact times we wanted in every instance. If dining is a priority for you, book as early as you can within the 180 day window. This is a very helpful page for determining when you can book different reservations: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/pscalc/dispscalc.html

Another tip is to be sure that you keep track of your confirmation numbers and each restaurant’s cancelation policy. Many of the restaurants are taking credit card confirmations and will charge a nominal fee to the card if you are a “no show.” Be very cognizant of cancelation policies and be sure to cancel your reservation even if you won’t be charged. It’s just the right thing to do!

The dining reservations office opens at 7 am and you can call them on the 180 day mark. You can also book your dining reservations online. I highly recommend that if you are booking a lot of reservations that you call. My husband spent about 40 minutes on the phone with the booking agent, which seems ridiculous, but that’s the way it goes to get things exactly as you want them. If you book online you will also spend a lot of time typing in the same information over and over and you may still need to call with any special requests, special dining needs, etc.

Lyn Milliman is a Disney vacation consultant that plans highly customized vacations for the discriminating client.  She can be reached through her website at http://mousecallsdisneyplanning.wordpress.com.

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