Wonder's EBPC 9/12/14 Who's Going With Us!

[davidls]

Ok everyone, here is the scoop. Just got off the phone with DCL. A very nice, courteous, and I might add patient CM was very helpful with my questions as I managed to stumble around with my questions to her.

First - The Group Palo Brunch - We all will need to link our ressies together for the group brunch, and only 1 of us needs to book the group Palo Brunch. She recommended booking the Group Brunch on-line before the cruise once our window opened up to be able to book on-line. She mentioned we will be only allowed to make just one Palo Brunch booking on-line. That's why she suggested making the group brunch on-line.

Second - As far as booking individual Palo Brunches she said we would be able to book as many individual brunches as we want once on board the ship.

And Third - The CM told me the private dining room should be available for a group brunch on board the Wonder. She wasn't sure why it was not available on the Fantasy, unless it was already being used.

I hope this helps. If we have any other questions, please let me know. I'll call again, and hopefully I can get the same nice CM who helped me this time!!!!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Ok everyone, here is the scoop. Just got off the phone with DCL. A very nice, courteous, and I might add patient CM was very helpful with my questions as I managed to stumble around with my questions to her.

First - The Group Palo Brunch - We all will need to link our ressies together for the group brunch, and only 1 of us needs to book the group Palo Brunch. She recommended booking the Group Brunch on-line before the cruise once our window opened up to be able to book on-line. She mentioned we will be only allowed to make just one Palo Brunch booking on-line. That's why she suggested making the group brunch on-line.

Second - As far as booking individual Palo Brunches she said we would be able to book as many individual brunches as we want once on board the ship.

And Third - The CM told me the private dining room should be available for a group brunch on board the Wonder. She wasn't sure why it was not available on the Fantasy, unless it was already being used.

I hope this helps. If we have any other questions, please let me know. I'll call again, and hopefully I can get the same nice CM who helped me this time!!!!

That is interesting! So diametrically opposed to what we were told....I will carry this back to my December group! We really wanted to do one as well! I even went so far to see if I could book a 6 top but I can't book it until ALL participants had reached their booking dates...

but it was definitely stated they no longer booked the Palo private dining room for Brunch.

Thanks for checking, David!!

 

[Kidlette]

Thank you for checking into that, David. All of that info is a complete 180 from what it was the last time we did it. Please forgive me because I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but I was a travel agent for 8 years and have come to learn that when info is 180 degrees different that it doesn't hurt to try and get a different reservations agent and compare info. With that said, this is what I've found:

They still require that all special request dining be submitted through fax attention to a cruise activities specialist in the Embarkation and Travel Service Department. The fax number is (407) 566-6910. With the fax you must include the following:

Reason for request
Where you would like to dine (in this case, Palo Private dining room)
Sail date
Names and reservation numbers of everyone participating
3 Preferred dates
Main contact name, phone number, and email or fax number

Requests are reviewed no more than 30 days prior to sailing and will be accepted no later than 5 days prior to sailing. Subject to availability, they DO NOT go in order of receiving, it is a case-by-case basis, priority determined by Disney.
There is a 12 person min / 14 person max

With all of that said - she advised that they no longer allow private groups for brunch - Palo allows dinner only! This means we can still do it for dinner, we just can't do it for brunch

Also, everyone will need to make your 1 Palo brunch online prior to sailing (just to make sure you have 1 booked). At the time they review and approve the request, Disney will determine if they will make us cancel our private reservation or if they will allow us to have both reservations prior to sailing. Again, this is a case-by-case basis, so there is no way to know for sure!

I hope this helps! Again, I don't want to step on anyone's toes, my background just allows me to know when something sounds fishy, and that sounded fishy. Let me know if there are any questions.

I also discussed with her a little bit about the changes and confusion with Disney policy. According to her, they have eliminated their Groups department (along with other policies), and this has caused the confusion. It used to be that these requests were first arranged through the groups department, but since they don't exist anymore, not all reservations agents are yet "up" on the details. As to why they no longer allow group brunches and they only allow dinner - she had no idea. It's anybody's guess. I would guess they're either leaving it open for other events, VIP guests, etc. Or, they just don't want to, who knows!

Anyway - that's all I found out. I hope it helps

 

[Kidlette]

Hi Kidlette -
I'm confused! Which 'one' lunch reservation are you referring? We've always made as many brunch, dinner specialty restaurant reservations as we have wanted without difficulty. Maybe we slipped through the cracks? Thanks!
Maria

You can pre-book 1 brunch and 1 dinner prior to sailing. You can ask for more once onboard the ship, but you can only pre-book 1 of each. Hope that helps!

 

[kdeans1010]

Do you think once we get on the boat we can decide if we want to do Palo dinner? Their dinners don't seem that great to me and I'm a huge brunch person.... But 14 days on the boat, I may decide I need Palo!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

With all of that said - she advised that they no longer allow private groups for brunch - Palo allows dinner only! This means we can still do it for dinner, we just can't do it for brunch

That's what we were told when we tried for our December cruise.

 

[OMD13]

Thank you for checking into that, David. All of that info is a complete 180 from what it was the last time we did it. Please forgive me because I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but I was a travel agent for 8 years and have come to learn that when info is 180 degrees different that it doesn't hurt to try and get a different reservations agent and compare info. With that said, this is what I've found:

They still require that all special request dining be submitted through fax attention to a cruise activities specialist in the Embarkation and Travel Service Department. The fax number is (407) 566-6910. With the fax you must include the following:

Reason for request
Where you would like to dine (in this case, Palo Private dining room)
Sail date
Names and reservation numbers of everyone participating
3 Preferred dates
Main contact name, phone number, and email or fax number

Requests are reviewed no more than 30 days prior to sailing and will be accepted no later than 5 days prior to sailing. Subject to availability, they DO NOT go in order of receiving, it is a case-by-case basis, priority determined by Disney.
There is a 12 person min / 14 person max

With all of that said - she advised that they no longer allow private groups for brunch - Palo allows dinner only! This means we can still do it for dinner, we just can't do it for brunch

Also, everyone will need to make your 1 Palo brunch online prior to sailing (just to make sure you have 1 booked). At the time they review and approve the request, Disney will determine if they will make us cancel our private reservation or if they will allow us to have both reservations prior to sailing. Again, this is a case-by-case basis, so there is no way to know for sure!

I hope this helps! Again, I don't want to step on anyone's toes, my background just allows me to know when something sounds fishy, and that sounded fishy. Let me know if there are any questions.

I also discussed with her a little bit about the changes and confusion with Disney policy. According to her, they have eliminated their Groups department (along with other policies), and this has caused the confusion. It used to be that these requests were first arranged through the groups department, but since they don't exist anymore, not all reservations agents are yet "up" on the details. As to why they no longer allow group brunches and they only allow dinner - she had no idea. It's anybody's guess. I would guess they're either leaving it open for other events, VIP guests, etc. Or, they just don't want to, who knows!

Anyway - that's all I found out. I hope it helps

We were so looking forward to the Palo brunch, but I am sure that we would still have a great time at dinner.

 

[KyCruisinSusan]

Bob and I are also DVC members and our home resort is Beach Club . Wish we had joined a lot sooner.

I'm also a DVC member, AKV is my home, and I also wish that I had joined sooner, but I guess better late than never.

Why can't we decide what day to do Palo's brunch and try to get the same time and get tables next to each other? We can mix and match people at the tables, mingle and what not between tables. Since the max is 14 people in the private dining room this way would allow for more of us to enjoy the brunch together. Am I being unrealistic and delusional that we could all try to get the same date and time? And to be honest I wasn't that impressed with Palo dinner but the brunch was amazing and I want to share it with my Mom since she's a DCL virgin.

 

[Kidlette]

I'm also a DVC member, AKV is my home, and I also wish that I had joined sooner, but I guess better late than never.

Why can't we decide what day to do Palo's brunch and try to get the same time and get tables next to each other? We can mix and match people at the tables, mingle and what not between tables. Since the max is 14 people in the private dining room this way would allow for more of us to enjoy the brunch together. Am I being unrealistic and delusional that we could all try to get the same date and time? And to be honest I wasn't that impressed with Palo dinner but the brunch was amazing and I want to share it with my Mom since she's a DCL virgin.

I'm with you in that I enjoy brunch WAY MORE than dinner! I only do dinner because my husband likes it - or - he loves the chocolate souffle! If it weren't for lunch, Palo wouldn't really be for me. With that said, I will probably back out of the group since it has to be dinner. I'd be OK with arranging to have some of us book the same day and time for brunch though. As you mentioned, the question would be whether or not we could make this happen because it typically sells out FAST! The other side of that is that this is a much longer sailing than most and still has the 1 booking per cabin rule, which means it will probably be possible to make it happen once we get on board.

The other thought is: since it's such a long sailing, why don't we send a special dining request for all of us (there's already like 50 adults, right?) - we could send the special dining request to just have our group take over Palo in general and not just for the private dining room. Think they'd go for that?

 

[Kidlette]

Do you think once we get on the boat we can decide if we want to do Palo dinner? Their dinners don't seem that great to me and I'm a huge brunch person.... But 14 days on the boat, I may decide I need Palo!

You are better off pre-booking your 1 ahead of time and cancelling it once you're on the ship if you decide you don't want one. Better to have it and not use it than want it and not have it. I think you just have to cancel 1 day prior (someone can correct me on that, but I think that's the rule). With that said, on a 14 day sailing, I don't see how it would be sold out when you board the ship. It's a "who knows" situation. I would still recommend just booking 1 ahead of time anyway, there's not really any reason not to. Like I said, just cancel it on board if you change your mind.

Hi Kidlette,
Our youngest 'child' is 26 , married and in grad school; so, no kids or grand kids with us on this trip. That sure makes me sound old : ( Currently, our youngest gk is 2.5yrs.
There are a few of us already committed to DisneyLand before the cruise and WDW afterwards. We'll probably stay 2 days at DL and 4 -5 days at WDW. We are currently booked at Port Orleans Riverside but that is always subject to change depending on pass holder discounts that open or possibly staying at one of the DVC villas, which we book through David's Vacation Club. I have added transportation to the resort on our cruise reservation.
While spouse hasn't confirmed his time off yet, fortunately he is 'high enough' up to be able to 'approve' his own vacation : ) so - God Willing- we are Kingdom to Kingdom bound!
You asked about ages for kids first trips: Our oldest and youngest were 4 on their first trip (WDW) and the middle was 2 (DL). 4-5 seems like the perfect age because they are really old enough to know what's going on and actually remember their first visit. Our middle child has vivid recollections of his first trip to WDW - which was his second Disney trip- because he was 6.5 yrs. He has no memory of the DL trip. We already booked a family trip / reunion group to WDW for spring of '14, and my grand kids will be 6 and 3.5 yrs. The 6 yr old heard us planning and is already excited and making plans on who he wants to meet and what he wants to do!
Anyway, whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll have a great time the first time you take your little one!
MMBL
Maria & Brian

Wow, 26 and in grad school, you must be proud! Lorelai is our only baby and we are so blessed. It took us 9 years to get pregnant with her, so she's our world. As much as I can't wait until she's in grad school, I also don't want her to grow up too fast!

Thanks for the thoughts on age. Lorelai has already been to Disneyland 30 or so times and has been on a Disney cruise! lol, we took her to Disneyland for the first time when she was 15 days old! She was 9 months on the Disney cruise. We're also taking her to WDW for the first time in only 3 short months, so we're really excited! Disney World in a couple of months is going to be interesting though. It will be fun to see how she reacts and how she does with being away from home for 15 days!

 

[padalyn]

Busy group this morning! Welcome to all the new people!

Palo is nice - we also are brunch fans, but we book both for the longer cruises. When we sailed on the Magic recently there was a private group in the room for brunch - however...it was Ducky and his friends. That being said - yes they do use that room during brunch, but for VIPs I think...

Dinner groups can be hard, they won't make the reservation for less than 8 or more than 12, in my experience. The room can accommodate 14 but boy is is tight and uncomfortable.


Good luck with the planning - just remember the 120 day mark for platinum guests is 3/12/14!

 

[mmbl]

You are better off pre-booking your 1 ahead of time and cancelling it once you're on the ship if you decide you don't want one. Better to have it and not use it than want it and not have it. I think you just have to cancel 1 day prior (someone can correct me on that, but I think that's the rule). With that said, on a 14 day sailing, I don't see how it would be sold out when you board the ship. It's a "who knows" situation. I would still recommend just booking 1 ahead of time anyway, there's not really any reason not to. Like I said, just cancel it on board if you change your mind.

Wow, 26 and in grad school, you must be proud! Lorelai is our only baby and we are so blessed. It took us 9 years to get pregnant with her, so she's our world. As much as I can't wait until she's in grad school, I also don't want her to grow up too fast!

Thanks for the thoughts on age. Lorelai has already been to Disneyland 30 or so times and has been on a Disney cruise! lol, we took her to Disneyland for the first time when she was 15 days old! She was 9 months on the Disney cruise. We're also taking her to WDW for the first time in only 3 short months, so we're really excited! Disney World in a couple of months is going to be interesting though. It will be fun to see how she reacts and how she does with being away from home for 15 days!

Sorry, mis-read your post. Do you live near DL? Are you going to the Food & Wine Festival? We'll be there week of 10/20.

 

[mmbl]

Anyone going to Food & Wine Festival in late October?

 

[mmbl]

I'm not sure we need a private dining room for Palo. ; Who is our most 'senior' / platinum. cruiser who could book the group brunch once our reservations are linked? Same info will needed if we are going to request dining together. I would think, once reservations are linked, whoever assigns the tables will automatically put groups traveling together in the area.

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Busy group this morning! Welcome to all the new people!

Palo is nice - we also are brunch fans, but we book both for the longer cruises. When we sailed on the Magic recently there was a private group in the room for brunch - however...it was Ducky and his friends. That being said - yes they do use that room during brunch, but for VIPs I think...

Dinner groups can be hard, they won't make the reservation for less than 8 or more than 12, in my experience. The room can accommodate 14 but boy is is tight and uncomfortable.


Good luck with the planning - just remember the 120 day mark for platinum guests is 3/12/14!

Ducky was on our first PC cruise in 2008. He is such a nice man!!

Thanks for the platinum date!!! I can never figure them out! So excited to be platinum on this cruise!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Anyone going to Food & Wine Festival in late October?

We are going over the Columbus Day weekend, leaving Wednesday

 

[davidls]

I'm with you in that I enjoy brunch WAY MORE than dinner! I only do dinner because my husband likes it - or - he loves the chocolate souffle! If it weren't for lunch, Palo wouldn't really be for me. With that said, I will probably back out of the group since it has to be dinner. I'd be OK with arranging to have some of us book the same day and time for brunch though. As you mentioned, the question would be whether or not we could make this happen because it typically sells out FAST! The other side of that is that this is a much longer sailing than most and still has the 1 booking per cabin rule, which means it will probably be possible to make it happen once we get on board.

The other thought is: since it's such a long sailing, why don't we send a special dining request for all of us (there's already like 50 adults, right?) - we could send the special dining request to just have our group take over Palo in general and not just for the private dining room. Think they'd go for that?

It sounds like you all have this well in hand. I'm glad. I just posted what I was told when I called DCL yesterday. No one stepped on any toes, I'm glad we just got this straightened out correctly for everyone. I was afraid it was going to be one of those - you get a different answer for every CM you speak too. The sign up on page one is for a group Palo Brunch, not the dinner. We all are in agreement that the brunch is better then the dinner at Palo. Like you Jessica, Palo is not really for DW and I either, but we do enjoy the brunch. We will be happy with whatever everyone else wants to do concerning the brunch. DW and I do like your idea of sending a special request in for all of us. All we can do is try and see if DCL will go for it. What do you think?

 

[KyCruisinSusan]

Heck all they can say is No , and you all are so right about the private Palo room being small. We did a group dinner on the Magic in 04 and some of the group were Pooh sized and it was like being packed in a sardine can.

Love the idea of taking over the entire restaurant for a brunch. Anybody know what the capacity is of the whole place?

 

[KyCruisinSusan]

I've been reading a WBPC trip report and I remembered something I've often wondered about since our 04 cruise.

Why is it that the characters dress in formal wear on our semi formal night? Are they afraid that the guests will look better than the characters?
I was soooo disappointed on our 04 cruise that we didn't get to have our pictures made all dressed up with the characters in their finest too.
Is it just me or does this seem backwards to anyone else?

 

[Kidlette]

I'm not sure we need a private dining room for Palo. ; Who is our most 'senior' / platinum. cruiser who could book the group brunch once our reservations are linked? Same info will needed if we are going to request dining together. I would think, once reservations are linked, whoever assigns the tables will automatically put groups traveling together in the area.

Sorry, I should have included that info. They specifically said that everyone must be within their booking window. Meaning, a platinum can't just book us all. Instead, the platinum has to wait for us to book. Sorry