ADRs for 5: only 4 may show, how do we handle?

[IloveWINNIEthePOOH]

Hello! My family is heading down to WDW for our first Christmas trip!! My Gramps will be going, but the possibility exists he would have to get an operation, then prohibiting him to travel for X amount of weeks/months (long enough to the point where he would not be able to go with us).
Our ADRs are obviously for the 5 of us. If my Grandpa can not come, do I need to call Disney and let them know of the change? Or should I just show up and the restaurant and not say anything? If I did that do you think they would make us wait for the next table that would fit our size, or just give us that one? I wouldn't be so concerned if it weren't the holidays!! When we made ADR at 50's PTC, they said they were pretty much booked on the 23rd!!
How would you handle this and how do you think I should? Thanks so much for the help!!!!!

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!

 

[helenk]

During our trip last year there were 7 of us, and I made reservations for all of us for all of Dinners. Periodically there would be one or more who would decide they did not want to go, and generally it was last minute or at best the afternoon of the day we'd be going to a meal. When someone cancelled out on me, I just told the person at the podium that the person or people that were not attending were sick, and we had no problems.

 

[Stitch1404]

It seems like at most of the restaurants the tables all accomodate even numbers. We are a party of five and we are almost always sat at a table for six. And when I went one time with a party of three we were sat at tables for four. So I feel like if you changed your reservation to 4 instead of 5 you would be moved to a smaller table, opening a larger table for another party. But I am not sure what would happen if you can't get an ADR for a party of 4 but already have one for a party of 5. At any rate, I would suggest just calling Disney Dining and asking them.

 

[Houston_Disney_Fan]

I was supposed to have gone in May with my son and his fiancee, but could not go due to a family emergency. They went without me. All our ADR's were for 3, they simply checked in as 2, explaining that I could not attend, and had no problems whatsoever.

 

[shades]

If you call Disney Dining and ask them to change your reservation - be sure they book a new reservation before cancelling your current one!! Once cancelled - it is GONE and cannot be recovered if they are unable to book for a smaller party.

 

[ccw]

About a month before our trip, our party size dropped from 9 to 6. As a courtesy, I called to change our ADRs but, as the previous poster said, sometimes that is not doable in the Disney system. I was able to change Kona but at Calif. Grill, I would have had to change the time from 7:30 to 5:30 for the smaller party size so CM said to keep original ressie and just tell them at the podium that 3 people didn't show. Worked out just fine. (Loved both places, by the way!)