My family of 3 is arriving to Disney in mid Nov. The grandparents are arriving/checking in two days after us, meaning our LL booking dates are different.
What is the best strategy for trying to get LL for us all at the same time once the grandparents arrive? Do I book my spouse and kid’s LL for our whole 5 days on our open window day and hope I can get aligning LL when my parents’ window opens a few days later? Or only book the first two days of our LL in our open window then wait till my parents open window (5 days before our trip) to book the whole party at one time?
I have also entertained using the Thrill Data Wait Magic, but not sure if this would help or make it more complicated.
By any chance have your parents purchased date-based tickets?
I know this topic has come up in the past but I cannot find it using the search tool. As I remember having tickets that were active on the same day was the key.
Personally, I would try to get whatever LLs you can at the earliest opportunity, then try to modify to get LLs that align. It is easier to pick up 1-2 LLs than to get 5-6.
But it’s going to be annoying regardless. At some point you will need to make a decision whether to ditch what you have and align or hold out hope for some pickups.
There have been reports of liners booking the second party at times as close as possible and then going to guest services once on the park and having any non overlapping times adjusted. Guest services does not have to move the second set of times, but they have.
If not DVC, then yes, there is an extra charge per adult. Then you have those “extra” people on two different room reservations. I’d be worried that the actual room those adults are in would get cancelled. I think I’d just roll the dice and hope for similar times that overlap.
) Still might be worth the upcharge to be all on the same schedule.