Adding Guest for Partial Stay at Resort

[BGinCali]

Hi! We are leaving this weekend for our long awaited trip this weekend - so excited! Have found out that my brother in law who was not scheduled to join us, will be able to come for the first 2 nights. We are staying at WL, Mom booked through a TA & has paid for each of the 3 rooms (packages for each room with tix & free dining). A few questions:

• I do believe we can add him to my sisters room reservation once we are at WL (she is the only adult in that room - not sure if an additional adult fee in this instance - though happy to pay it). Is it correct we can add him for 2 nights & my sister would not lose her package? (I thought if the TA changes the reservations ahead of time, all in the room need to be the same - but we can add him for the room only partial stay ourselves once at WL).
• He will be arriving before my sister on a much earlier flight (arriving in the morning with my sister arriving after 10pm that night). Would my Mom be able to add him to my sisters room reservation? Or does my sister have to do this? (Mom has paid for all rooms & has my sisters magic band - not sure if that helps in her being able to add him vs waiting for my sister to arrive late that night)
• Will he need to buy a Magic Band in order to access the hotel room?

Thanks for any help / suggestions!!

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

You, or she, will be able to add him at check in with no additional cost and no change to the package since you aren't doing it ahead of time.
He will get a magic band at check in. I am not sure about the second question. It may not be possible to check him in ahead of the primary guest on the room. She may have to be the one to actually do the check-in and adding. But again, I am not totally sure.

 

[BGinCali]

You, or she, will be able to add him at check in with no additional cost and no change to the package since you aren't doing it ahead of time.
He will get a magic band at check in. I am not sure about the second question. It may not be possible to check him in ahead of the primary guest on the room. She may have to be the one to actually do the check-in and adding. But again, I am not totally sure.

Thank you! Good to know about the Magic Band too!

 

[Farro]

Just a word of warning - we had this exact situation last trip.

My sister had a room booked with a package and they were told they could add my other sister to her reservation (w/out a package) on her arrival day. For some reason when they checked in, the front desk gave them the hardest time about it. Management was called, at one point there looked to be about 8 people discussing it!
They said it was something about the way my sister's package was booked that she wasn't being allowed to add anyone w/out a package to her room.

Worked out in the end though!

 

[BGinCali]

Just a word of warning - we had this exact situation last trip.

My sister had a room booked with a package and they were told they could add my other sister to her reservation (w/out a package) on her arrival day. For some reason when they checked in, the front desk gave them the hardest time about it. Management was called, at one point there looked to be about 8 people discussing it!
They said it was something about the way my sister's package was booked that she wasn't being allowed to add anyone w/out a package to her room.

Worked out in the end though!

Oh boy - now I am concerned! Thanks for the warning & glad it worked out for you guys!

 

[Farro]

Oh boy - now I am concerned! Thanks for the warning & glad it worked out for you guys!

Oh don't worry - between you, me and the internet...I bet my sister did something wrong, although I can't prove it!

 

[bumbershoot]

I thought if the TA changes the reservations ahead of time, all in the room need to be the same - but we can add him for the room only partial stay ourselves once at WL).

Yes.

But I have a feeling that only your sister can add him. Also he won’t be able to take dme, so he’ll need to taxi/rideshare/Mears/towncar/rental car to Wdw.

They said it was something about the way my sister's package was booked that she wasn't being allowed to add anyone w/out a package to her room.

Did they get more specific than that?

 

[Farro]

Yes.

But I have a feeling that only your sister can add him. Also he won’t be able to take dme, so he’ll need to taxi/rideshare/Mears/towncar/rental car to Wdw.



Did they get more specific than that?

Not that anyone understood. Honestly, I stopped listening to the story at some point...

 

[BGinCali]

Yes.

But I have a feeling that only your sister can add him. Also he won’t be able to take dme, so he’ll need to taxi/rideshare/Mears/towncar/rental car to Wdw.

Thanks! He is planning to Uber to WL. Now just a waiting game to see if we can get him added without my sister.

 

[HopperFan]

Have done it many times over the years with no problems at all. They receive MB at check in.

Your time is so close it won't matter too much but just know that as long as you have a resort reservation, and you have someone listed on your MDE or Friends & Family, even if they are not on your reservation you can make FP+ for them at 60 days out. I do this too for friend in Orlando who joins us at parks.

ME is correct since he is coming at front end but also for reference I've never had a problem getting ME for someone joining us later.

Not sure about Mom doing but if she paid for all the rooms and is checking in, maybe ....... NOW if they do online check in, odds are as soon as room is ready they will notify you the room number and brother can enter the room with the MB. Then when sis arrives she goes to front desk with him to add.

 

[robinb]

Have you considered adding him to the room now and using his extra credits? How many days are you there?

 

[HopperFan]

Have you considered adding him to the room now and using his extra credits? How many days are you there?

And we did that for years with Free Dining. DH and DD would come with us and stay 3 days. We would have about 3-4 days alone (2 of us) and then other DS would join us. The extra snacks (we are not snackers) we used at F&W. BUT it can be costly and we reached a point where it wasn't worth it (since three of us have APs).

While DH and DD were with us we did things like California Grill that were extra credits.

 

[BGinCali]

Have you considered adding him to the room now and using his extra credits? How many days are you there?

Oh we hadn't considered that. He's there for 2 nights & we are there for 6, but our package also includes PH tickets, which I don't think we would use, even at a later date. I'm going to have to find my calculator & investigate -thanks!

 

[BGinCali]

Have done it many times over the years with no problems at all. They receive MB at check in.

Your time is so close it won't matter too much but just know that as long as you have a resort reservation, and you have someone listed on your MDE or Friends & Family, even if they are not on your reservation you can make FP+ for them at 60 days out. I do this too for friend in Orlando who joins us at parks.

ME is correct since he is coming at front end but also for reference I've never had a problem getting ME for someone joining us later.

Not sure about Mom doing but if she paid for all the rooms and is checking in, maybe ....... NOW if they do online check in, odds are as soon as room is ready they will notify you the room number and brother can enter the room with the MB. Then when sis arrives she goes to front desk with him to add.

Thanks - appreciate all the info. We did get him some FP+, though since we just found out he's coming, not as much selection. We did do online check in, so hopefully we'll get a notification for the room & he can use it & then get officially added once my sis arrives.

 

[fla4fun]

The key to success in the past has been to complete the package check in first, all the way through, and then add the additional guest. If the computer sees that there are still components of the package that haven’t been distributed, it thinks he needs the package too. I don’t know how the whole bypass the front desk situation might affect it though.

 

[Farro]

The key to success in the past has been to complete the package check in first, all the way through, and then add the additional guest. If the computer sees that there are still components of the package that haven’t been distributed, it thinks he needs the package too. I don’t know how the whole bypass the front desk situation might affect it though.

That makes sense, I bet that was the issues with my sisters, they checked in together.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

We just returned from a 10-day trip where we added our oldest son to the room for a few days. He was able to use MDE and even some of our dining plan credits. Generally worked out ok.