ADR's for a party of 8 help needed

[Larajp]

Hi all,
First time staying on-site, and all the pressure is on me to try and secure our ADR's on Sunday.
Me and hubby have been before so have some understanding of restaurants available but not done DDP. My sister and family and mum are also coming and they don't have a clue!

I have a basic list of the main table service (and popular qs) we really want to eat at.

My questions are:
1) There will be 8 of us, do I book for tables of 8 or go for 4+4 to hopefully increase my chances of getting the places (and avoiding the automatically added gratuity)
2) what order should I try and book the places? By date order from when we arrive or by popularity of the restaurants?

Ideally we want to get:
Bon voyage breakfast (trattorial Al forming)
Garden grill breakfast
Hollywood and Vine fantasmic package
Be our guest lunch qs
Chef art Smiths homecoming dinner
Teppan Edo dinner
Rainforest cafe lunch
Toledo in Colorado springs dinner (new but apparently ADR's available?)

Any help would be hugely appreciated, and I'm sorry if it's all been asked before XX

[WDWfangirl]

I'll be doing exactly the same but on Monday.

Previously when I've booked for 8 I've had no trouble and was able to book for 8 rather than 2x4. At BOG when we deliberately booked 2x4 we asked at checkin if we could be an 8 instead and this was done with no hassle.

As for booking order, some might say its not necessary but I say why risk it. I'll be booking mine in the order that I most want them

[D15ney72]

I’ll be booking tables for 10 on Monday and I’ve prioritised the order by popularity. I’ll only split into 2 reservations if absolutely necessary and then I’d request that we’re sat together when we check in at the restaurant. I’ve never had much of a problem booking for a big group in the past, but August is new for us and there are a couple of restaurants that I expect we may have to be flexible with time-wise. 180+10 is a big advantage though so it should be ok. I wouldn’t worry about the automatic gratuity for tables of 6 or more, it’s 18%, which is the lower of the 2 suggested tip percentages on the bill.

[Kat11]

We last went with a party of 7. I’d book in order of priority(popularity) as there are not as many large tables in most restaurants. I’d book for 8pp if you can (most restaurants accommodate larger groups but not all restaurants do) if you would like to book 2 tables of 4, you can, but you will need to do this using two separate MDE accounts. You may be able to book two tables over the phone though?

Kat

[Larajp]

Amazing, thank you so much for your replies. I'll go for the takes for 8 where pos and start booking in popularity order/ most wanted. Huge help XX

[rafjen]

We are a 7 -I struggled with Bon Voyage breakfast and garden grill- So I'd put those near the top of your list or at the end of the holiday.

[Larajp]

All done, website wouldn't allow me to book the +10 days, just the first! App allowed the rest but couldn't do the dinner fantasmic package so head to ring up and secure that, all booked for 8 people and all the days and times we hoped for. Good luck anyone still to do theirs.