Here's some of my idea's about making dining reservations months before our trips, then, I'd like to hear your idea's; Six months before our trip, the kids and I make up a calendar after reviewing regular park hours, extra magic hours, parade, fireworks and other event times, we'll plan on which park we'll most likely be at during breakfast and dinner hours, then and only then will we make our dining reservations. This year, we'll be at Epcot on the fourth of July and so we made reservations at Mexico with a request for outdoor seating approximately 1.5 hours prior to the display. This way, we're not fighting for the best viewing spot. On dining reservations that require a credit card to hold a reservation, A WORD OF CAUTION
, Disney really messed us up last year even though we were on the dining plan; Three months before our trip, they charged my bank card the FULL cost for all of the reservations we made X 4 (the most costly being Cinderella's Round Table). This wiped out my checking account, resulting in multiple overdraft charges, created a SNAFU with other checks I had written to other merchants. I had to go to my bank, get them in touch with Disney, I was forced to close the associated checking account and bank card, had to open a new account and wait more than 20 days before Disney refunded the amounts charged to me including all over draft fee's, then had to wait 30 days for a new bank card. All this EVEN AFTER I made it perfectly clear to the reservation operator that we were on the dining plan. Also, the multiple operators I spoke with while making reservations all had their own way of explaining what is and what is not included in your specific dining plan. WHEN YOU CALL, first get the person's name and their operator number, write it down! DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT! When making multiple reservations, you will have to give all credit card information over and over again for each required reservation hold, EACH TIME, make sure he or she knows once again, YOU ARE ON THE DINING PLAN. Lets keep in mind that everyone on the face of the earth, and this includes Disney cast members, sometimes have good days, and other times bad days. When you call them, we have no clue if they had their Kona coffee yet to wake up, maybe they fell out of bed too early, spilled the coffee, the kids wouldn't wake up on time, and maybe, the day was just tooooo long and their shift was about to end, but we keep then on the phone for thirty different reservations. No mattere what though, keep a separate lined pad handy and write down everything, because I was told so many different contradictory things it made my head spin. Then, when I found my account overdrawn well before our planed arrival date, It was not a MAGICAL experience. It was a pure tower of terror I had to overcome. MOST, and I mean most Disney cast members have no idea of who Paul is, or who Susan and Emanuel is in their office, so don't expect them to know who the heck you're taking about the next time you call. Not even the supervisors in Guest Relations know who is under them. If you cancel a reservation and reschedule another, write down all information as noted, ask two and even three times to verify it was cancelled, get the new reservation number and then, in a couple days or so, call back to verify that cancelled reservation is indeed cancelled and the new one is still on hold. So, in ending, my advise is 1)get names, operator numbers, phone extentions, what office they're in, 2) document it all! 3) Watch your accounts for charges. But, last but not least, have fun, take heart, people are human and make mistakes. Disney's Guest Services super's will eventually work it all out. 
, Disney really messed us up last year even though we were on the dining plan; Three months before our trip, they charged my bank card the FULL cost for all of the reservations we made X 4 (the most costly being Cinderella's Round Table). This wiped out my checking account, resulting in multiple overdraft charges, created a SNAFU with other checks I had written to other merchants. I had to go to my bank, get them in touch with Disney, I was forced to close the associated checking account and bank card, had to open a new account and wait more than 20 days before Disney refunded the amounts charged to me including all over draft fee's, then had to wait 30 days for a new bank card. All this EVEN AFTER I made it perfectly clear to the reservation operator that we were on the dining plan. Also, the multiple operators I spoke with while making reservations all had their own way of explaining what is and what is not included in your specific dining plan. WHEN YOU CALL, first get the person's name and their operator number, write it down! DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT! When making multiple reservations, you will have to give all credit card information over and over again for each required reservation hold, EACH TIME, make sure he or she knows once again, YOU ARE ON THE DINING PLAN. Lets keep in mind that everyone on the face of the earth, and this includes Disney cast members, sometimes have good days, and other times bad days. When you call them, we have no clue if they had their Kona coffee yet to wake up, maybe they fell out of bed too early, spilled the coffee, the kids wouldn't wake up on time, and maybe, the day was just tooooo long and their shift was about to end, but we keep then on the phone for thirty different reservations. No mattere what though, keep a separate lined pad handy and write down everything, because I was told so many different contradictory things it made my head spin. Then, when I found my account overdrawn well before our planed arrival date, It was not a MAGICAL experience. It was a pure tower of terror I had to overcome. MOST, and I mean most Disney cast members have no idea of who Paul is, or who Susan and Emanuel is in their office, so don't expect them to know who the heck you're taking about the next time you call. Not even the supervisors in Guest Relations know who is under them. If you cancel a reservation and reschedule another, write down all information as noted, ask two and even three times to verify it was cancelled, get the new reservation number and then, in a couple days or so, call back to verify that cancelled reservation is indeed cancelled and the new one is still on hold. So, in ending, my advise is 1)get names, operator numbers, phone extentions, what office they're in, 2) document it all! 3) Watch your accounts for charges. But, last but not least, have fun, take heart, people are human and make mistakes. Disney's Guest Services super's will eventually work it all out. 
