What happens if you show up with an extra person?

[sleepingbooty]

Well, I thought I was really smart and made all my ADRs a couple weeks ago, in anticipation that free dining might make it harder to get in places. Now my brother may have gone and messed it all up for me. Long story short, he has decided he may join us, staying in my parents room. MAY join us - hasn't decided yet. What would happen if we showed up at a restaurant with an extra person? Would we be out of luck? I know I could cancel my current ADRs and hope to be able to get new ones with 7 people (they won't just change the number on an existing ADR), but the problem is, he hasn't decided for sure. I'd hate to lose our current reservations and have him not go. Insert smilie of sister throttling brother's neck here!

[darthmacho]

I honestly don't know the rule, but showing up with 7 instead of 6 doen't seem like it should be a problem, but if you showed up with 9 or 10I suppose it would be. Wish you luck. :mickey:

[January-2007]

Gosh, that's a toughie... I don't really know the answer but here's some :pixie: hoping that it all works out splendidly for you in the end! :mickey:

[Maleficent's Dad]

The only time this happened to me was when my parents surprised us one morning heading to the MK. We had an ADR for 8 people at Cindy's (of all places!) and now we had 9 people (SIL dropped out that morning).

When we got to the podium at 8:00 A.M. at the castle, they had no problem with it. I was sweating it out a bit since that's a tough ressie, but it did work out for us. I would only guess that in most places they'd be able to accomodate an extra person.

Good luck and I do hope it works out! :mickey:

[Strmchsr]

Most of the time I would think it would be no big deal, but during free dining with the restaurants packed it may be a big deal. Best bet is to call Disney Dining and ask them. Then you have a definitive answer instead of guessing.

[mudpuppysmom]

I might be able to help you decide what to do here. Since my DH makes things difficult too (all you guys out there:D ), sometimes he does not go with DS and I and sometimes he does......as for ADR's IF and I say IF I know he is going I change the ADR's to reflect party of 3 instead of 2. The difference is that adding a person can sometimes throw off the seating going on at the restaurant. If you have six now, that is what they set up for, not eight. I would think that if you are sitting at a table with six people it would not be that big of a deal if an extra person comes (like if tables seat four people each, thus in your case you will already have two tables set up and could accommodate up to eight peeps no problem). BUT, what if you go to a place like Biergarten where they specifically anticipate putting another party with you and there are no seats left at the table?

Now, I'm sure that is about as clear as the sky is here right now! (we're expecting rain, slush and snow falling from the sky here today and tomorrow!). Usually what I do is this: When I know for sure DH is coming with, I try to change the ressies to reflect that he is with us at most of the places we went to, there were a few that I did not change though b/c I was not positive he would be with us on a particular day....again, see where the men make things difficult.....(no offense guys)......I have already told DH that if we go to a place that cannot accommodate all three of us, he is on his own while DS and I eat.....he laughs and we have never been turned away -- we may have had to wait a bit longer, but never turned away.

Now, to further that, since you are going during free dining, I'd try to change as many as possible......the wait times could be significant due to the increased traffic at the restaurants!

Oh, and I'm in the same boat with DH again this year with the free dining......we're not positive he will be here or abroad, so I'm stuck with making "party of 3" ressies and then if he has to go (as soon as we know for sure I'll change to party of 2) I'll change us down. Until then though, I'm in limbo........

Sorry this was so twisted up, but with our family nothing is simple and this is our experience!!

[Marker]

I've actually kind of have the opposite problem. I made ADRs for 3, DW, DD19, and myself. Problem is DW has not totally decided if she is going. So I could be in the situation of showing up with 2 instead of three. Three would typically mean a 4 top table. But 2 would mean a 2 top. I asked the CM when I made my last ADR, she paused and suggested that if that situation does arise, that I just leave well enough alone. But I'll still feel kind of guilty take up a table that could hold 4 when I only need 2.

[magicofdisney]

From experience it is much easier to show up with less, than more. Less, they don't care, more and seating can get tricky. Now I recently mades ADRs anticipating free dining. I later needed to add someone who MAY be going as well. When I called back they simply added another to our party without changing the ADR #. HTH :mickey:

[sleepingbooty]

I later needed to add someone who MAY be going as well. When I called back they simply added another to our party without changing the ADR #. HTH :mickey:

Really?????? I'm so surprised - Last year when another family decided to tag along with us, we had to completely cancel and start over. I guess maybe that was because we went from 4 to 8, but the cast member I spoke to said their system had no way to add to an existing ressie. Well, I guess there's one way to find out - I'll just make the dreaded call. Here's hoping I don't lose all my choice seating times:fingers:

[awaggett]

We ran into the same situation this past Christmas. We had made our ADRs for 5, then ended up having 6 people. I had read on the boards that someone else had a similar situation and when they called Disney Dining they were going to have to start over again. I never called myself to confirm, we just let the folks at the podium know when we checked in--it was never a problem.