ADR - if fewer people show up

[gortman65]

We have an ADR set up for 4 adults and 3 kids for an early morning breakfast next week - for my family of three and my brother-in-law's family. Last night we were going over the schedule with my brother-in-law and he's concerned about his family getting up so early for an ADR. He told us to "tentatively" count on his family doing the breakfast...he's just not sure. So here's are my questions:
1) In your experience, if you call to reduce the number of folks on an ADR, will you get to keep the ADR time? We would be going from a party of 7 to a party of 3, which in my mind is a pretty big change.
2) If we keep the original ADR for a party of 7 but then my brother-in-law bails on us at the last minute and we show up for breakfast with only 3 in our party, will they still seat us?

It would be much easier if I could get a definite answer from him, but we're kind of in limbo at this point. Any experiences you have with similar ADR situations would help us a lot.

Thanks!

 

[TDC Nala]

You can't change the ADR without having to cancel and rebook it. You can call and find out if there's any availability for 3 at that time - don't cancel the old one until you find out.

I hope this isn't CRT, but if it isn't your best bet appears to be to show up without them and say they let you know at the last minute that they weren't coming.

 

[gortman65]

Thanks for the advice and info. It isn't CRT or I would force my BIL to make a decision.

 

[tricia]

When we were at WDW the last week of Sept. with my ILs, we showed up to Crystal Palace for Brunch, and Teppan Edo for dinner with only 4 of the 8 I had an ADR for. We were seated with no problems at both places. They didn't even bat an eye.

 

[willis37862]

Good question I was wondering about this myself. Want to book a breakfast ADR but the people joining us might have to cancel at the last moment.

 

[jess20k]

For our last trip this past May we were supposed to meet up with other members of our family, but they ended up not being able to go. The ADR was originally for 7 people, but only 4 of us ended up going. This was at Le Cellier, and it was no problem at all. I just told them when I checked in that they had to cancel at the last minute, and they did not have a problem with it.

 

[gortman65]

Thanks for the help everyone - you have calmed my fears. I hope my in-laws can make our breakfast time but if not, they'll just miss out on some fun!

 

[Iwant2BAprincess]

We were there in Sept whent the buses were shut down-friends of ours that were there with big party got separated and stuck due to the shut down-Askerhaus would not honor the ressie because everyone wasnt there, even though it was due to a disney situation

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If it is at a Resort, or it is after Park opening in a Park, you can always look for a small group that is trying to get seated for a walk-up and invite them to join you (separate checks, of course). You can always meet interesting people this way and may develop a new friendship.

 

[ktlm]

I would show up and try it if they don't have any availability for you to rebook. One thing you can't do is check in for everyone and then hope he shows up. They will not allow you to check in until your entire party shows up, so you need to know for sure whether he is coming when you get there that morning. One thing to be aware of is that I see you will be dealing with a time change- I don't know if your BIL is in the same time zone you are, but that can make a big difference with the kids. We only have a one hour change, but on my 2 yr 10 month old's 1st trip last December, she did not adjust to the time change on top of the fact that she is not a morning person to begin with. We had an 8:30 a.m. ADR at Tusker House, a few days into our trip and I quickly realized there was absolutely no way we could make that with her in any kind of decent mood (getting her to the parks within 10-15 minutes after rope drop was the best we were managing). Unless the ADR is at your resort, you have to factor in transportation time too- which means leaving your resort an hour before the reservation. I was lucky enough that when I realized it wasn't going to work and called the morning before they had a 9:30 available and switched us- I'm sure someone else was thrilled to grab our prime pre-park ADR.

 

[gortman65]

I would show up and try it if they don't have any availability for you to rebook. One thing you can't do is check in for everyone and then hope he shows up. They will not allow you to check in until your entire party shows up, so you need to know for sure whether he is coming when you get there that morning. One thing to be aware of is that I see you will be dealing with a time change- I don't know if your BIL is in the same time zone you are, but that can make a big difference with the kids. We only have a one hour change, but on my 2 yr 10 month old's 1st trip last December, she did not adjust to the time change on top of the fact that she is not a morning person to begin with. We had an 8:30 a.m. ADR at Tusker House, a few days into our trip and I quickly realized there was absolutely no way we could make that with her in any kind of decent mood (getting her to the parks within 10-15 minutes after rope drop was the best we were managing). Unless the ADR is at your resort, you have to factor in transportation time too- which means leaving your resort an hour before the reservation. I was lucky enough that when I realized it wasn't going to work and called the morning before they had a 9:30 available and switched us- I'm sure someone else was thrilled to grab our prime pre-park ADR.

That's exactly the reason that my BIL and his family are waffling on joining us - he thinks it's too early for his kids (5 and 8) and is afraid they might melt down later in the day if they get up at 5:00 am their time for the breakfast adventure. DD, DW and I are early birds anyway so it's not an issue for us.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

We've had this too. Had ressie for 10 and only 8 could make it. No problem.