ADR help for group of 12

[Disneydreamin2426]

Hi all!

I currently have a trip planned for this October for a group of 12. The first time we went to Disney was in 2019 and we were a group of 4 so I had no problem getting the reservations I wanted with the help of some reservation finders and just checking the app at various times. I am not expecting or even trying to attempt to have every meal together this trip but we would like to have a couple (Topolino’s breakfast, CRT for lunch or dinner and Via Napoli are a few I am targeting). I found some helpful tips on large group dining by reading through some other posts on here so I know I can call the dining number for help and also try to split up the reservations if I book myself online.

But how do I go about splitting up the reservations if I try myself. Right now I have everyone linked to my account on MDE. Should I not do that and have someone else in my party try for reservations too or is it better to try to do it myself and just book the first reservation with a someone other than myself as the primary contact for the first reservation? And can you only do this by using the website? I was looking on the MDE app and it doesn’t look like I can change the primary contact person there.

Thanks in advance for your advice and helping me make this a magical trip for my extended family

 

[CarolynFH]

First of all, here's a tip I wish I had learned before I tried making ADRs for our party of 9: https://www.disboards.com/threads/party-of-10-with-5-and-5-split-reservations.3818958/post-62513164.

That said, if I had to do it again, I'd just call. I was able to book one ADR online at Homecomin' for 9 people, and when I tried to do the same for Mama Melrose I got a popup telling me to call a phone number that was not the main Dining Reservation line. I tried a couple times to make ADRs splitting our party myself but when I got times that were over an hour apart I gave up and called that number. Within a very short time - less than an hour - the lovely CM had us booked at all the restaurants we wanted. All but Homecomin' were split parties (including one of 8+1!) but we checked in together and told them we'd appreciate being seated as close together as possible, and we were seated at the same table everywhere but Sci-Fi. So if I were to do it again, I'd try to book my large party online, hope to get that popup with the special number (I lost it!), and call them. Much less stress!

 

[Buzzsgramma]

In mid Feb. I had booked for 12 all on my MDE also like you..I was the lead on one table and I would put my son or grandson as lead on the other table...We were paying for everyone's dinner anyway so it didnt matter much...

 

[Disneydreamin2426]

First of all, here's a tip I wish I had learned before I tried making ADRs for our party of 9: https://www.disboards.com/threads/party-of-10-with-5-and-5-split-reservations.3818958/post-62513164.

That said, if I had to do it again, I'd just call. I was able to book one ADR online at Homecomin' for 9 people, and when I tried to do the same for Mama Melrose I got a popup telling me to call a phone number that was not the main Dining Reservation line. I tried a couple times to make ADRs splitting our party myself but when I got times that were over an hour apart I gave up and called that number. Within a very short time - less than an hour - the lovely CM had us booked at all the restaurants we wanted. All but Homecomin' were split parties (including one of 8+1!) but we checked in together and told them we'd appreciate being seated as close together as possible, and we were seated at the same table everywhere but Sci-Fi. So if I were to do it again, I'd try to book my large party online, hope to get that popup with the special number (I lost it!), and call them. Much less stress!

Thank you for the tips!

 

[Disneydreamin2426]

Thank you both for responding!

 

[nicket]

I just booked for a party of 13 yesterday morning when our window opened. I had my DH helping. I'd go through and search for a party of 8 (could find that in most locations) and then my husband would be searching right after me for a party of 5 or 6 (we had better luck finding reservations for a party of 6). Most we surprisingly were able to get for the exact same times for an 8+6. I feel like you'll have a good shot at 6+6 or 8+4. So if you can have someone in the same room looking with you so you don't have to book everything twice, we found that really helped.

There were a couple we had trouble with. Topolino's was the hardest one but we had it earlier in our trip. I looked after we were done booking and if we had wanted it later in the trip I think it would have been a lot easier. We were only able to get a 4+4 there for now. I tried calling at 7am and I did not have a good experience. I waited on hold for about 20-25 minutes for the cast member to just tell me what I see online is what she sees and she can't help book anything for larger parties. I mentioned online it said to call for groups over a certain number and she said welp sorry nothing she can do. I think I got really unlucky but I am really glad we went ahead and got most everything ourselves online knowing we may not be able to sit at the same table but at least we have reservations. After my experience I would not rely on the CM on the phone being able to help you.

 

[Disneydreamin2426]

Awesome! I’m so happy you were able to get what you wanted and at the same time too!

Thanks so much for the help. I don’t want to rely on the CM either esp since the lines don’t open until 1 hour after the online booking but sounds like they may be good to try after if I struggle with any on my own.

I am going to have my sister help with reservations. Does she need to be (or is it better) if she is on a different account or could we both be logged onto mine on different devices doing the strategy you were successful with above? I would like to be able to modify them if need be so it would be easier if they were all under my account.

 

[CarolynFH]

I waited on hold for about 20-25 minutes for the cast member to just tell me what I see online is what she sees and she can't help book anything for larger parties. I mentioned online it said to call for groups over a certain number and she said welp sorry nothing she can do.

I was booking for the week leading to Christmas, so possibly not as busy as when you'll be there, but the popup telling me to call gave a special phone number, not the regular dining number. I think it was the number for booking special events. Was that the number you called? Just wondering if it makes a difference.

 

[nicket]

Awesome! I’m so happy you were able to get what you wanted and at the same time too!

Thanks so much for the help. I don’t want to rely on the CM either esp since the lines don’t open until 1 hour after the online booking but sounds like they may be good to try after if I struggle with any on my own.

I am going to have my sister help with reservations. Does she need to be (or is it better) if she is on a different account or could we both be logged onto mine on different devices doing the strategy you were successful with above? I would like to be able to modify them if need be so it would be easier if they were all under my account.

My husband does have his own account but we actually logged into two different devices (my laptop and our iPad) on my account. Since I was reserving 30 seconds before him, I would choose him as the lead for the first reservation and then he'd book the second one under my own name. We probably could have done the same thing logged into two different accounts but I just logged in on both devices under my account. Since I have his login info, I'm able to go in and manage both reservations if needed. I have a dummy account linked to my main one also that we used for one of the Topolinos reservations since I am hoping to still be able to go back and add other members of our group with a reservation finder eventually and didn't want to get the dreaded can't double book reservation message if I logged in under my name and tried to book it.

 

[nicket]

I was booking for the week leading to Christmas, so possibly not as busy as when you'll be there, but the popup telling me to call gave a special phone number, not the regular dining number. I think it was the number for booking special events. Was that the number you called? Just wondering if it makes a difference.

Yea that's a good point. I think I called the general Disney dining number. I didn't even realize the message for a larger group was a different number. I booked at 6am online, then went about doing other things and just googled the dining number and called at 7am. Darn!