Two "families", one ADR per meal?

[SCbelle]

:confused:

Ok, My DH, DD, and I are one "family" and my dad, his wife, and my niece are the other "family".

I am in charge of all ADRs for our visit in Nov. So, do I just book all of us under our name or do I need their resort info as well?

Also, Since I do not have our final package yet will I have to pay for all of this upfront or will they have our DDP info already? I just don't know what info to give them.

I have to call in on 5/27.

Thanks!!

[cal5755]

If you all want to eat together you can make it under one name... however the gratuity will automatically be included for parties of 6 or more.

You should be able to make all your ADR's ok as long as you let them know you will be getting the DDP. There are a few ADR's you will need a credit card to reserve like CRT and Fantasmic packages and dinner shows. CRT does charge your credit card immediately if you are not on the DDP and I can't remember if they asked for our resort reservation number or not when I booked. Most of them do not require up front payment though so you should be able to make most of your ADR's.

I may be wrong on this and someone will correct me if I am wrong... I think you can only do ADR's at 180 + 10 days if you have a disney resort reservation number... otherwise you have to call at 180 days and everyday after til you make all you reservations for the length of your stay.

Hope I helped and didnt confuse you lol.

Have fun making your ADRS and have a MAGICAL TRIP!!

[xipetotec]

:confused:

Ok, My DH, DD, and I are one "family" and my dad, his wife, and my niece are the other "family".

I am in charge of all ADRs for our visit in Nov. So, do I just book all of us under our name or do I need their resort info as well?

Also, Since I do not have our final package yet will I have to pay for all of this upfront or will they have our DDP info already? I just don't know what info to give them.

I have to call in on 5/27.

Thanks!!

When we go, we are typically up to 4 famlies ( mine (wife/kids), my parents/brother, cousin/kids, aunt/kids ). We've been as many as 16 ... actually one year we were 22 cause friends joined too.

All that to say that yes, book it under one name cause that way they will try and seat you all together.

For payment, unless you book certain special restaurants, like CRT, they don't ask for any upfront payments. They will ask if you will be on the DDP, but if you don't know, it's no problem, just tell your server at the restaurant.

[AXOAlum]

however the gratuity will automatically be included for parties of 6 or more.

Okay, I need clarification on this! We are going during free dining and we are a party of 8 - when you say gratuity will be included, does that mean that we will or will not be paying additional for the tip since we are on the dining plan? I just need to prepare the other family going with us if there is going to be a big bill after each meal for the tip. I am not complaining about leaving a tip - I am simply trying to figure out what this means exactly so I can tell them for sure what to expect.

[azdisneymom]

Normally the tip is not included in the bill. It is up to the customer to add it. However on groups of 6 or more the tip is actually calculated in to the final bill, the way tax is added when you buy something at a store. The tip is not covered on the dining plan so yes you will be paying for this. I am sorry I don't remember the percentage, 18% is what I think. You certainly can add more to it if you had good service.

[4myprincesses]

When we went recently, we were charged the tip as it is no longer included on the dining plan and there were six of us if you included the twin 18 mo olds. The tip charged was 18% of the before tax total. If you ever have a problem with the service and feel the server does not deserve this tip you really should ask to talk to a manager or supervisor. We've only ever done this once and the situation was quickly explained (they had a server not show up) and resolved (part of our bill was voided.)

If there are children under two in your party it is not consistent as to if you will be charged the tip or not. It varied between buffet and menu order restaurants and also varied if we did or did not order food for the twins. One menu restaurant (Liberty Tree at lunch, I think) did not charge us an automatic tip even though we ordered food for the twins, but at Crystal Palace where the twins just ate off our plate (and slept through half the meal) we were charged tip. Odd, but I don't mind as 99.9% of the time the servers work hard for and deserve at least that 18%!

[AXOAlum]

So we are going to be charged 18% at either a buffet service or menu order service meal? I agree that a good server deserves a good tip, but I don't want to be surprised with a $50 bill at the end of the meal either, especially for a buffet where the server has a lot less to do. I also don't want to have to pay an automatic gratuity on a party of 8 when one of those is a 6 month old, and we have been told they will split us into two tables of four anyway.

I really hate that they have changed the dining plan with taking the appetizer off the plan as well as the gratuity.

[4myprincesses]

As I said, for us it varied. Some buffet service we were, some we weren't. Some menu service we were, some we weren't. There was no pattern to it. But, if you are at a buffet you are not charged for children under two so you wouldn't be charged a "tip" for them.

I'm not fond of the dining plan change either. We have a seven year old in our party that can not have sugar (table or sugar substiture) so appetizers were so much better for us than desserts. You can only eat so much fruit (she doesn't seem to mind it) and we hated to keep eating dessert in front of her. A couple times I brought in some cookies with me that she could have, but still it isn't the same as the beautiful desserts that Disney makes for you. When we got both, often times we would split meals and share desserts while she would get her very own fruit dessert. When you are 6 going on 7, your own dessert un-shared tops the sugary sweets that make you sick anyways :)