Adding people

[amberopp1]

Ok from a previous post someone told me that since i am renting points, i can originally book me husband and 2 kids. Then i can always add on my mother and father in law later. Im assuming this is correct. Here are my issues now since we havent asked them to join us yet:
1. I want to buy my park tickets tonight from parksaver. If i only buy for my four and not those 2 will that scree everything up for fast passes?
2. If i buy the disney dining plan with just us 2 does that screw up reservations? Or can i always add them on to our dining plan?
3. What happens with magic express since they werent on the original order?
4. What if they only come for part of the trip. Like start off with us or come at the end?

Im so stressed. This should be fun. Lol.

 

[drusba]

What I would suggest is the following: put them in the room reservation along with others and when you add your reservation to your MDE account make sure they are included in the list of family or friends. Dropping people from a reservation is easier to do than adding. This assumes you are getting a room that can actually hold your entire group.I do not know the ages of your kids, but if both are three or older, you will only be able to go from four to six in the room if you have a 2BR or larger.

As to your specific questions:

1. You can buy park tickets for some in the room and, as long as the ones to whom the tickets are assigned are part of the family and friends list in the MDE account, you can make FP+ at 60 days out just for those who have tickets already. Of course, if you add tickets for them later, they will be able to get FP+ later but probably not the same ones you get at 60 days out.

2. Dining Plans must be purchased for all in the room. You mention "2" but your kids make four. You can purchase it for whomever is named in the room now and add the dining plan later when you add others to the room. Nevertheless, you don't need the dining plan to make dining reservations and thus in your situation you could wait to find out if they are actually going before you purchase any dining plans. Where you can get screwed is changing reservations. If you make a reservation 180 days out for four at any popular restaurant, you face a significant risk of not being able to add two later to the same reservation. With dining reservations it is easy to drop someone from the reservation and keep the reservation but hard to add anyone, so you may want to consider making dining reservations for all and delaying purchase of the dining plan until you know whether they are actually going.

3. You can make magic express reservations for four and then later do a reservation for two who will also be staying in the same room.

4. Their going only part of the trip screws up the dining plan but not really anything else. I may be wrong but my understanding is you need to buy the dining plan for all in the room for the entire trip time to be able to buy dining plans at all. If you have some coming for only part of the trip and you want the dining plan to apply to them only when they are there, you need to make separate room reservations, one for when they will be there and one for when they will not be there, and purchase separate dining plans for the two reservations.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

And relative to buying dining and then adding people later, when you add those people you will have to add dining for them and pay at that time.

You have to buy dining for everyone in the room for entire booking length, even if they're not there the whole time. And trying to sneak people in and out of your room to avoid that is a violation of your rental contract and the owner's contract with DVC, which is to say "pretty uncool."

(And if the owner isn't using a contract? They're in violation of their DVC contract.)

 

[amberopp1]

Thank you! My biggest concern is fast pass bc i want to buy our tickets tonight because they are discounted now. So as long as i include their names on mde and they purchase tix prior to 60 days out we could all be together then for rides right? But i can always drop them out of mde and my room reservation too correct?

 

[drusba]

^Almost correct. You never actually have to drop someone from your MDE account family and friends list (maybe they will go years later). All you need to do is drop them from the room reservation and not assign any tickets to them in the account.

 

[CarolMN]

Keep in mind that except for FP & ADRs, all the other suggestions require the owner's involvement. Only the owner of the points (not you) can add or drop guests from the reservation, purchase the dining plan or make arrangements for Magical Express. The closer you get to arrival, the more risk you take of not being able to reach the owner to make the changes you need.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

How old are the two kids? If one of them is under 3, that significantly changes the equation for you. If over 3, yes, you must have a two bedroom somewhere. Under 3 and there are several studios you can rent and most of the one bedrooms are doable.