[Pooh Fan]

On my 180 mark, I booked all of our dining for our Christmas trip. Two days ago, DD convinced DH to bring a friend this trip. When I called today to add one person to our reservations, I was told that we could not because we were given a table size that only accommodates 4 and by adding 1, we would need one for 5. Most of our dining plans are no longer available. Can we just show up at our time and say we have 5 instead of 4? In addition to our regular dining, we have also booked a Fantasmic Pkg and the Candle Light Processional using DDP. This is really stressing me out!!! Help!

[chris24]

they will not seat you. they are very strict when it comes to the reservations.

[tinkerbelle24]

This happened to me in May. I had to call and add my DD that didnt want to go when I booked it. So basically I lost EVERYTHING and had to change it all around. On my last night I had Ohannas for party of 4 and when I needed to change it to 5 there wasnt anything open so I kept it and they were able to seat us WITHOUT a problem..

[BuzzLightyear]

I don't want to give you the wrong idea. .....just my expierence.

A few years back we had a last minute addition to our trip. We went from 5 to 6 people. I didn't call and change the ADRs, and didn't have a problem getting into all of our ADRs with the additional person.

This was in May .....this may be different around X-Mas time.

[mickeysgirlz]

The extra person WILL not get a ticket to CP or Fantasmic . . . those are first come first serve and limited.

I know this, cuz I wanted the Garden Grill for Dec 24 with the CP tickets . . . I was told there was a table for 4 NOT 3 . . . and when I asked why I couldn't have it, I was told because then there would be a EXTRA ticket, and there is almost NEVER a reservation for one.

Your best chance of trying to change those two is to call RIGHT AT your 48 hour window and see if anyone canceled, since there is a charge, I was told this is the best time to get in . . . and you can change yours at no charge then too.

If DD wants to bring a friend, she might have to do CS . . . some dining might be able to seat you, but with the holidays being as busy as they are . . . they might not too so you should have a back-up plan in place!

[cowanfamily]

I had the same experience in recently adding 2 friends who decided late to join us in Sept. Most of the time, I could change the reservation, (we are eating mostly at resort restaurants) Where I had problems was with park restaurants. I could change a few, but some I had to make them separate reservations. Mostly it worked out okay, but they told me I had to change the reservation completely, new number, everything. Good luck...and check out some of the nice resort restaurants, Ohana, Boma, and the Downtown Disney restaurants, Spoodles, WGP, if you do decide to rebook.

[Daisee]

I think another member was having this same issue. From my understanding showing up with an additional person will get you at the bottom of the list.

[DisneyTeacher]

I would say the ADRs you had to pay for are going to be a problem for you. For everything else I think you would have a chance of being seated with an extra person but you aren't going to know until you get to each restaurant and there is a big chance you could be turned away. My guess is the CMs will do everything possible to seat you but that might not always be an option.

Sorry you're in this jam, Christmas is such a busy time and the restaurants are going to be booked solid once you get there so you are running a risk of not being seated. I wish I could say this won't be a problem but it could be. Too bad your DH didn't talk to you first so you could have checked this out before the friend was told she could go.

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by Daisee

I think another member was having this same issue. From my understanding showing up with an additional person will get you at the bottom of the list.

I think that person was trying to drop 2 people and the CM gave them incorrect information.

[Daisee]

Originally Posted by DisneyTeacher

I think that person was trying to drop 2 people and the CM gave them incorrect information.

That's good to know. Didn't sound very Disney like to me.

But.. I can see it being a lot easier to drop 2, than to add one. A table for 4 is easier to come by than a table for 5.

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by Daisee

That's good to know. Didn't sound very Disney like to me.

But.. I can see it being a lot easier to drop 2, than to add one. A table for 4 is easier to come by than a table for 5.

You're right, it is easier to drop people and that shouldn't be a problem but the CM made it sould like it couldn't be done. We've dropped people several times with no problem.

[DisneyTeacher]

Pooh Fan, if you really like your dining plans (and I'm sure you do) I might be willing to risk it and go with 5 at the places you didn't have to pay at the time you made your ADRs. I don't know what to tell you about those, if you can't change them someone is going to have to sit out or meet you in there if they can get in. Not very fun at Christmas.

Do you like your dining plans enough to take the risk and can you handle the stress?

[johnkimv]

This situation happens to us almost everytime we go to Disney with my SIL. She brings her nephew at last minute. I have called in the past to add him once I find out, but that ends up being a no go. I keep the ressies I have and then just show up and see if they can seat just one more at our table. We have always been accomodated, but we have never gone at Xmas and it has never been with a package. I would say to keep your ressies andjust see if they can be added each place when you arrive.

[alilmagical32]

Christmas is a rough time to try and get extra people added. CM's are already super stressed out, and going from four to five IS a big jump because most tables are designed to hold 2, 4, 6, or 8 people. Going to five will either require taking up one of the larger tables or pushing two together. I'm not trying to be a downer here, but at Christmas time, I feel adding that extra may be pretty tough.

If you dont mind the stress of not knowing whether things will work out at each meal, then leave it, but personally, I would not want that chaos during my vacation.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[dh464]

Last year we had an adr for 4at Chef Mickeys. DB&DSIL extented their vacation.We called 1-800 and nothing.So I called the restaurant.They said no problem,they would take care of it when we showed up for dinner later that week we had adrs for 6.