I made dining reservations months ago for our trip in March 2013. My son and his girlfriend decided to join us so now some of my reservations are short by one. (We thought my son might decide to go...didn't expect the girlfriend) We really want to eat at these places (Ohana, etc...) What will happen if we show up with one extra person? I tried to change the reservations but no space available. Two of the persons eating with us are employees of WDW. Can I contact the restaurants directly and see what they advise. The dining reservations people says they can't help us. Any advice?....
Sometimes they will accommodate you if you walk up to the restaurant the day of the reservation and ask. I find that this is a lot easier for them to do if your group was originally an odd number and now adding the extra person at the last minute makes you an even number of people. I think this is because 3 people are seated at tables that seat 4, 5 people seated at tables that seat 6, 7 people are seated at tables that seat 8, etc. So, there is typically room for one more at the table. No harm in going there and asking. Especially because many people cancel reservations or simply don't show for their reservation, leaving space open the day of.
I would also start checking on-line (or by phone) to see if you can get reservations for the correct number of people at the places you really want to eat. People's plans change and things do open up (especially at places with credit card guarantees). You can show up with the extra person and ask, and mostly likely you'll be okay, but there is the potential that they do not have room to accommodate the extra person or you will have to wait longer. In that case, you will have to decide if you want to split up or not.
Keep trying to change your ADRs to include everyone. If that doesn't work, show up early with your extra guest, and ask as nicely as possible if they can be seated. Remember though there is no way of knowing ahead of time if they will say Yes or if they will say No. If the resort is booked solid, they won't be able to sit an extra guest.
Contacting the restaurants won't be of assistance, nor does it matter that some of your guests are cast members. Best approach is to either continue trying to change the reservation or go in with your extra person. It's most likely the restaurant won't be filled to capacity to the extent that they won't let your extra person in, but that does happen at times, so you should have a plan about what your group is going to do if your extra person is denied. If the restaurant has a credit card hold and all of you leave without being seated, that apparently counts as a no-show.
