Changing # of people for ADR

[*Wish*Upon*A*Star*]

Our itinerary was all set, ADRs made, and we've already started packing for our December trip...

It was supposed to be our family (DH, 3 kiddos, and myself) as well as FIL and his girlfriend. Well, we get a phone call this afternoon from FIL saying that he thinks he and his girlfriend are drifting apart and that she decided she doesn't want to go to WDW with us . Okay, fine. Well, now FIL also says he doesn't think he can afford to go on his own (without the girlfriend) so he's not going either. Ugh.

So, now I'm left with a bunch of ADRs for 4 adults and 3 children. I talked to my mom this afternoon and she thinks she wants to go with us... she's going to call and make ressies tomorrow. So, now it will be 3 adults and 3 children. So - here's my question:

Do I need to call and change our ressies to reflect 3 adults and not 4??? Or can we just show up for our ressies and tell them our party size changed to 3 adults instead of 4???

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[wdwrich]

Might be difficult to re-book ADRs at this point. You could call and ask, but if they can't make the change, just keep what you already have and go with it.

 

[Disneyhappy]

If you can't change the ADRs I would not cancel your current ADRs. When you check into your meal, simply tell them that your number's have changed. They will still accomodate you.

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

Definitely do not change your ADR. I had this happen to me a few years ago. Had a big party (my family plus MIL, FIL, BIL and his GF). Well, the BIL and girlfriend couldn't be bothered to join us even though I had gone to the trouble of making all the ressies... and they were in the parks with us! Just didn't want to dine with all of us(nice huh?) . But, several of the restaurants accomodated us with no problems even though the numbers had changed. It is better if you are going down in number of people, not up. Have a good time no matter who ocme with you!

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

You shouldn't have any problem when you get there! Just let the CM know when they're checking you in!

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Don't change them now, when you get there just change the number in your party, it's easier that way. There isn't much available as you are near your travel dates and it's a popular time to travel.

Enjoy yourselves, no matter who ends up going!

 

[disnut8]

You had seven people and now you have six. Going down in the number of the party usually is not a big deal. In fact, it might even be easier with the six than with the seven.

I'd call and see what you can do. If it turns into a hassle, keep what you have and go.

It's when you try and increase your party size that there is a problem.

 

[disneyin2008]

Our itinerary was all set, ADRs made, and we've already started packing for our December trip...

It was supposed to be our family (DH, 3 kiddos, and myself) as well as FIL and his girlfriend. Well, we get a phone call this afternoon from FIL saying that he thinks he and his girlfriend are drifting apart and that she decided she doesn't want to go to WDW with us . Okay, fine. Well, now FIL also says he doesn't think he can afford to go on his own (without the girlfriend) so he's not going either. Ugh.

So, now I'm left with a bunch of ADRs for 4 adults and 3 children. I talked to my mom this afternoon and she thinks she wants to go with us... she's going to call and make ressies tomorrow. So, now it will be 3 adults and 3 children. So - here's my question:

Do I need to call and change our ressies to reflect 3 adults and not 4??? Or can we just show up for our ressies and tell them our party size changed to 3 adults instead of 4???

Thanks in advance for your help!

I'd just leave it....you will find it very difficult to change reservations now, anyway. And the difference of 1 person isn't going to change how they seat you. We had reservations twice for 5 people and MIL didn't come along....we didn't get a table for 6 as I was thinking we'd get because of the seat specific reservation.....instead both times we showed up announced that our party of 5 was now 4, and were seated at a table for 4.

So, while I think that they book the seats based on table sizes, they obviously don't seat guests based on that!

Avoid the hassle of being told no repeatedly, and just take MIL along and enjoy!

 

[disneyin2008]

Definitely do not change your ADR. I had this happen to me a few years ago. Had a big party (my family plus MIL, FIL, BIL and his GF). Well, the BIL and girlfriend couldn't be bothered to join us even though I had gone to the trouble of making all the ressies... and they were in the parks with us! Just didn't want to dine with all of us(nice huh?) . But, several of the restaurants accomodated us with no problems even though the numbers had changed. It is better if you are going down in number of people, not up. Have a good time no matter who ocme with you!

Going up in numbers is quite a bit different because a party of 6 that suddenly goes to a party of 7 would need a completely different size table. But that same party of 6 suddenly going to 5 wouldn't change tables.

That said, I've read an awful lot of people saying they show up with the extra person in tow and are seated anyway, so..... But, some have also said they felt they had to wait longer than most sometimes and I would chalk that up to their party size as much as anything. If you look around most of the tables are 4 seaters or 6 seaters. There are a limited number of large tables....and typically two tables are pushed together for the larger parties. So if you suddenly need a table size that requires two tables put together, then you'll have to wait until two groups finish eating and the tables can be moved. I don't think this is a Disney thing either, as I've gone to local places with a larger group and we always have to wait longer because we are a larger group. It's frustrating sometimes to be a group of 7 and sit and watch several groups of 4 that arrived after you seated first, when of course YOU are thinking if they gave us both those tables we'd fit instead they just keep giving away half OUR tables, lol....but dragging tables across the restaurant isn't their standard policy, lol. I don't envy hostess' their job at all, because explaining that to people can't be fun.

 

[*Wish*Upon*A*Star*]

Thanks for the advice. I'll just keep our ADRs and when we show up for our ressies, I'll let them know we're minus one adult.

Now to get the hotel/MYW package reservations out of the way for Mom... looks like there is no availability for our dates for Mom. Ugh. To say I'm a bit peeved at my FIL would be an understatement...

 

[jvorhis]

I would call - they can change them.

I had to call this week and change ours because my father is not well and won't be able to travel with us next week. They rebooked some of them that had availability and the others she put me on hold and had another department make the changes. I was not about to lose our reservations and was prepaired to just pay the extra at CRT or just tell them when we showed up. She thanked me for calling, and I was happy I had no trouble changing them.

 

[boardom]

I rebooked a couple this morning (for next week) for party of 7 rather than 9...it was pretty much no problem, times had to be changed, but very slightly. THe only real problem I had was that one of my ressies was booked for the WRONG DAY.

 

[Cupcake88]

My husband's cardiologist said no trip to Disney for him the day AFTER I booked our dream trip. So I went ahead and cancelled his portion of the reservation and went ahead to make the ADRS for 3 instead of 4. Now, yep, MAYBE he can go but they won't know until very close to the dropdead date. I figure we'd be seated at a table for 4 ANYWAY so I might as well just not do anything. Any advice?

 

[newtodis]

I made all of our ADRs for Sept at the full 180+10 date for our family of 4. DMIL decided to join us and we went from 4 to 5. The ones I could change I did and the ones I couldn't, we just showed up. There was never a problem and I really don't think we waited any longer than we would have any other time (they were all very short waits). Good luck with everything!

 

[disisit]

You don't need to do anything. You are going down in size not up. Just tell them when you get there.