Crystal Palace 8:05 res.. Adding 8th person to 7 person res.?

[Elisa84]

So I have 8:05 reservations for Crystal Palace for 7 people on our first day, and we just added another person to the trip. I can't seem to be able to find a similar time slot with 8. How does this work, since I'd hate to have person #8 go all the way to the park so early and not be able to join us? Is there much of a difference between a 7 & 8 top for Crystal Palace?

Any ideas on what to do??

 

[megster1123]

So I have 8:05 reservations for Crystal Palace for 7 people on our first day, and we just added another person to the trip. I can't seem to be able to find a similar time slot with 8. How does this work, since I'd hate to have person #8 go all the way to the park so early and not be able to join us? Is there much of a difference between a 7 & 8 top for Crystal Palace?

Any ideas on what to do??

If your ADR is only for 7 people, they'll only let 7 in the park so it's not a matter of the size of the table. So not a good idea to bring the 8th along at all as they won't be allowed in. You may be better off breaking into two smaller groups?

 

[Hopefully]

Call and try and keep trying on line. But it is very likely that CP is booked solid for the coveted 8:05 ADR. It is not just table size, but it is also restaurant capacity and fire code regulations. They very well may turn the 8th person away.
People do cancel so keep trying. Maybe try for 2 ADR's for 4 rather than 1 for 8. But I would not just show up with 8 unless the extra person is prepared to be eating alone or you are all prepared to walk away and pay the $10/person cancellation fee.

 

[brockash]

So I have 8:05 reservations for Crystal Palace for 7 people on our first day, and we just added another person to the trip. I can't seem to be able to find a similar time slot with 8. How does this work, since I'd hate to have person #8 go all the way to the park so early and not be able to join us? Is there much of a difference between a 7 & 8 top for Crystal Palace?

Any ideas on what to do??

I would def. keep looking and hope something comes up or possibly try 2 4's?? However if you don't end up finding anything, most likely they'll be able to take you. We've done it a few different times at some of the restaurants and they've always been accommodating, however know that they def. don't have to be and you may not be able to have all 8 of you if you can't reserve it ahead of time.

 

[megster1123]

I would def. keep looking and hope something comes up or possibly try 2 4's?? However if you don't end up finding anything, most likely they'll be able to take you. We've done it a few different times at some of the restaurants and they've always been accommodating, however know that they def. don't have to be and you may not be able to have all 8 of you if you can't reserve it ahead of time.

If it's PPO will they even let the 8th person in the park without a corresponding ADR? I thought that was always a hard NO.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If it's PPO will they even let the 8th person in the park without a corresponding ADR? I thought that was always a hard NO.

Correct. No random wandering the park PPO without an ADR.

 

[brockash]

If it's PPO will they even let the 8th person in the park without a corresponding ADR? I thought that was always a hard NO.

I guess it'll probably depend on the CM and if they're even checking... we usually go end of Aug. or in Sept., and they've only ever asked us once for our name/reservation number. The time they did check, 2 ppl. in our party were running late and I told them, but she didn't write it down or anything, so I asked if the ppl. coming late needed to talk to someone specific and she said no and to not worry about it. The 2 ppl. ended up showing up once we were already at Crystal Palace and said they were able to walk right in (before the 9am park opening), so while I'm sure at times and with certain CM's they have more trouble than others, I think in general if a party showed up with a reservation, but with an extra person, they would all most likely be allowed in the park before park opening as usual.

That's the thing with Disney, there's really no 1 set, consistent policy on most things.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Is there a reservation for 1 or 2 around the same time as your reservation for 7? If so, I would snag that and then ask if you can all be seated together when you get to CP.

 

[megster1123]

That's the thing with Disney, there's really no 1 set, consistent policy on most things.

This is too true! Our friends had an 8:15 ADR for 2 at BOG last month, had two more friends decide to join last minute and they were not allowed in for the ADR. Consistency, whether bad or good, would be much more helpful than having to guess what will and will not be allowed.

 

[Elisa84]

Thanks. I guess I'll just see if I can reserve a 1 top for that time slot, if not then I guess #7 & 8 get to sleep in that day. Now to figure out the BoG 8:00 ADR.....

 

[cigar95]

The time they did check, 2 ppl. in our party were running late and I told them, but she didn't write it down or anything, so I asked if the ppl. coming late needed to talk to someone specific and she said no and to not worry about it.

I think this is your best strategy - rather than trying to get eight people in at once, enter in two groups: "the others are on their way", and "the others are already inside". If there are multiple CMs checking at the tapstiles, have each group go to a different one.
For situations like this, Disney is often less precise than they could be, since no one is actually getting into the park for free. The time/effort/money to ensure that the occasional person doesn't get in earlier than they should is not worth the benefit.
Then once you're inside, adding an extra person to a seating at check-in is easier than it's sometimes made to seem. (I've been aware of a party of twelve seated for a reservation for four, just as one example.)

And if you *do* search for an additional reservation, you may have better luck searching for a party of 2 than a party of 1.

 

[Nancyg56]

I would def. keep looking and hope something comes up or possibly try 2 4's?? However if you don't end up finding anything, most likely they'll be able to take you. We've done it a few different times at some of the restaurants and they've always been accommodating, however know that they def. don't have to be and you may not be able to have all 8 of you if you can't reserve it ahead of time.

The problem is the time. If you are already in the park getting turned away is not that big a deal. You go get yourself a pretzel and move on. If you are not allowed entry into a park unless you are on the ADR list, then what? You wait outside the gates? Best to be prepared under these circumstances.

 

[NileNellie]

Like others said, it's going to depend on the cast member. Maybe try and call the restaurant directly a few days ahead of time and see what they say. Good luck!

 

[Nancyg56]

Like others said, it's going to depend on the cast member. Maybe try and call the restaurant directly a few days ahead of time and see what they say. Good luck!

I don't know if you even reach the restaurant when you call. Maybe a CM can see a single or a deuce open if you call disney dining.

 

[Lisa F]

Call and try and keep trying on line. But it is very likely that CP is booked solid for the coveted 8:05 ADR. It is not just table size, but it is also restaurant capacity and fire code regulations. They very well may turn the 8th person away.
People do cancel so keep trying. Maybe try for 2 ADR's for 4 rather than 1 for 8. But I would not just show up with 8 unless the extra person is prepared to be eating alone or you are all prepared to walk away and pay the $10/person cancellation fee.

Just FYI, capacity for the purposes of fire codes has to match the maximum number of seats. 7 people would be seated at a table for 8. Putting an 8th butt in a seat will not influence compliance with fire codes. There has to be enough capacity for people to exit even if every single seat at every single table is filled. As long as you don't need a bigger table (if you go from odd to even instead of even to odd) there is no practical reason in the world you couldn't be seated at the restaurant. What their rules are to prevent people from booking less than they need and showing up later with more people, or PPO rules etc are a different story - but filling that last seat at your table will have no influence on fire code compliance.

 

[Hopefully]

Just FYI, capacity for the purposes of fire codes has to match the maximum number of seats. 7 people would be seated at a table for 8. Putting an 8th butt in a seat will not influence compliance with fire codes. There has to be enough capacity for people to exit even if every single seat at every single table is filled. As long as you don't need a bigger table (if you go from odd to even instead of even to odd) there is no practical reason in the world you couldn't be seated at the restaurant. What their rules are to prevent people from booking less than they need and showing up later with more people, or PPO rules etc are a different story - but filling that last seat at your table will have no influence on fire code compliance.

How do you know this? I personally don't know the Florida Fire Code laws, but this statement is not what I have ever read here on the DIS

 

[Elisa84]

Well a happy update is that I was able to drop the ADR and quickly re-add it(had CP open in another tab), so that worked out well.

I tried the same with an extra BOG 5pm dinner ADR, but was not able to add an 8th. Only 7 or less. So they must have a hard limit.

 

[Lisa F]

How do you know this? I personally don't know the Florida Fire Code laws, but this statement is not what I have ever read here on the DIS

I'm not sure what you're asking? The whole point of having an occupant load is to make sure that the exits can accommodate the volume of people who would be exiting all at once in case of a fire. There are guidelines for egress allocating a certain amount of square foot per person for various uses that corresponds to what is typical for the use. For a restaurant there is a range, but the occupant load is a maximum and includes people sitting in every seat, people sitting at the bar, people waiting for tables, staff waiting ON tables etc. So while you could move all of the tables and chairs out of the way and pack people into a restaurant standing room only IF you had enough exit capacity, pretty much the standard way you design a space is for the worst case scenario of a typical use. No one is going to design a public space assuming only a percentage of capacity. You design it at 100% capacity. You don't want the fire marshall monitoring your 100 seat restaurant with a capacity of 80 to make sure only 70% of the tables are filled at any given time (accounting for staff). You design it for the worst case scenario. If you think you are going to be pushing tables aside and using it at a higher capacity then you design your egress for that.

I know this because I have a degree in architecture, worked for arch firms for 10 years and then did some code enforcement. If being filled to capacity puts you in jeopardy of violating your occupancy limit then the space was not designed correctly in the first place. This would not be allowed to happen under current review processes.

The codes may vary from state to state a bit but no one designs their egress for some percentage less than 100% of realistic capacity.