Booking question - add person to room at booking time or later?

[MaryRT]

I decided to take a quick solo trip in October, was getting ready to book my room and now my friend MIGHT come, has to see about getting time off from work. Not sure when I will have an answer. So do I book my room for 1 person or 2 now? I don’t want to loose out on the discount rate. Is it better to add the second person now and take them off the reservation if they can’t come? Or book for just me and add them later?

 

[champagne&disney]

Hey Mary, I've not seen any negative outcomes from booking and having a friend on the reservation. Disney doesn't charge an extra fee for 2 adults. It's easier for you if you book now and put them on because even if they don't come, it won't make any difference. It's a few steps to add people later.

 

[Disturbia]

I’ve had a negative outcome in the past adding a person (grandparent) later. Our first night after check in we were stopped at Epcot for over 2 hours trying to validate that we had legitimate tickets (traveling from the Midwest, DD stood dehydrating in fleece pants, had planned on quickly entering and buying a dress, didn’t notice she hadn’t changed until we were in the bus, had stopped in our room to change before heading out). We were told it was because we visited too many times and had several MBs on our account (can’t be true because we are not annual passholders and had been to WDW around 7-8 times with 3-4 MBs on one account - party of 6). We lost the 2.5 hrs of regular park time and our FPs (unusable). CM was unapologetic and said we had extra magic hours. We had proof of payment and MDE showed tickets and we made sure our bands were working at the front desk at our resort (AKL) before heading to the park. The front desk assured us all bands were active. The stress alone put a huge damper and the grandparent felt awful. We barely had time to grab something to eat as park was closing.

We assumed everything was fixed at Epcot (we entered Hs and AK just fine) and the CM assured us it was, but when we tried to get bands for MNSSHP (2-3 nights later) for said grandparent the same issue came up and a CM with an iPad took 1.5 hr and we lost 2 FPs before the party (4.30-6 pm). CM was again unapologetic, reinstated FPs which were now unusable and said you have the party to ride rides.

We had taken grandparents before successfully but this was the first time adding just one grandparent to an existing package. I believe it was because we had some sort of discount (Disney Visa or dining can’t remember which) and had added a person later which flagged us.

It’s an easy call to have a person removed from a discounted package and a minimal charge if it’s close to check in day.

 

[CarolynFH]

I decided to take a quick solo trip in October, was getting ready to book my room and now my friend MIGHT come, has to see about getting time off from work. Not sure when I will have an answer. So do I book my room for 1 person or 2 now? I don’t want to loose out on the discount rate. Is it better to add the second person now and take them off the reservation if they can’t come? Or book for just me and add them later?

If it’s a room only reservation, add them now.

If it’s a package with tickets, you’ll have to book the same tickets for both of you, and they’ll have to be paid for by the paid in full deadline. I don’t know what happens if you take them off of a package before you check in.

 

[sponica]

If it's a room only add them now. If it's a package, just wait until they know. I did this before without a problem but it was in the pre-MB days. I did it after the payment deadline and they waived the change fee because I was basically just adding tickets.

I guess you could add them now to a package, but if they can't go and you don't modify the guests until after the payment deadline, you'll get charged the change fee.