ADRs and changing party size: Are you penalized?

[Laugh O. Grams]

We've got a couple ADRs secured, including one for an 8:15 am Crystal Palace breakfast at the end of September. We are going with friends and together, have a party of 7. However, our friends are typically late to just about everything we do together. We're not talking an occasional 15 minute "fashionably late" kind of thing...we're talking 45-60 minutes late practically every time we get together...but that's another story. Anyways, we have the our ADRs secured and I'm afraid that if we get there on time and decide not to wait for them and change our party size to 4 that we'll be penalized in some way. If we have an ADR for 7, and we switch it to 4 at the restaurant when we arrive, will we have to wait longer to be seated? I'm hoping that we're not somehow dropped to the bottom the walk-in list or something. Any ideas?

 

[lindakmonty]

Can you tell your friends your adr is for 7:30...then they'll be "on time" I think they would seat the party that was there and not sure what they'd do about your friends. I can't imagine showing up an hour late and expecting them to seat me as if nothing was wrong

 

[ParrotBill]

It would typically cause a little delay but not a long delay as they re-queue you for a table for 4.

 

[n2mm]

It should be fine. They will put you at the table for 4 if you choose to be seated without your friends. However, remember that your friends will be out of luck and will not be seated late. They generally will only seat a group if everyone is present. So if you downsize, it will be only your party using the reservation. So make sure your friends know that if they are late, they will need to find some place else to eat.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

I'll add that we went to CP for breakfast in April and saw a couple of groups that had their names called to be seated only to find out that they would have to wait for everyone in their party to arrive before they would be shown to their table.

 

[aubriee]

I'll add that we went to CP for breakfast in April and saw a couple of groups that had their names called to be seated only to find out that they would have to wait for everyone in their party to arrive before they would be shown to their table.

I was just getting ready to post this. I ate with a group there about 1 1/2 years ago and we had two people late. They would not seat us until they arrived (unfortunately it was my son and D-I-L, who are always late for everything ). We were told we had 15 minutes to get them there.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

If when you check in you tell them the party size has changed, it shouldn't be a problem. If you keep the size the same at check in, then you will have to wait for everyone to get there. We have decreased our size before and didn't have any problems with it and they didn't give us a hard time.

 

[disney6family]

They are very accomodating with increasing/ decreasing party size, but your party must be there. On occasion, we have had someone in the bathroom and that was ok.
We too have friends like this, their watches are for show only apparently, and we just got into the habit of telling them the ADR was for at least half an hour to an hour before and then if by some miracle of time travel they made it at the time we told them (they haven't yet) and called to see where we were (which they did make it before us once, but they were still 45 minutes later than the time I told them) I just said we got held up and we'll be there soon and since the ADR was in my name, they didn't check in and all was well. We still got there before the 5 minutes ahead and had a great time.
If I am going with people who can be on time if they want to, I always stress how important it is to make our time and we are all usually there.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

It should be fine. They will put you at the table for 4 if you choose to be seated without your friends. However, remember that your friends will be out of luck and will not be seated late. They generally will only seat a group if everyone is present. So if you downsize, it will be only your party using the reservation. So make sure your friends know that if they are late, they will need to find some place else to eat.

That's cool. We plan on getting there 15 minutes before our 8:15 ADR and calling them to find out where they are when we check in at the window. If they're running late, which is pretty much the rule and not the exception, I'm going to tell them that we're going to go ahead and eat and we'll meet later somewhere in the park. Knowing them, at 8:15 am, they'll probably still be getting ready back and the resort and they can just eat there. We're talking high maintenance friends who don't like to be rushed here!! If you push them too hard, you get a pissy attitude for the rest of the day...