HoopDeDooDilemma...

[gopherit]

I have had ressies for over a year for our party of 9 for HDDR this August. We are actually #1 on the list, according to the CM. Not sure if that means anything -- at one point I understood it meant better seating, but with a party of 9, you take what you can get!

Now for the dilemma part:

Sis says she and her family "might" come down to WDW this summer too, and will overlap part of our trip. They are a party of 4. We will have BIL/SIL and their 2 boys with us already for the course of 8 days (our fam of 5 will then stay on another 4 days). FOr the "potential" timing my sister gave me, she would be there smack dab over the time that we are taking SIL/BIL to HDDR.

If I keep the HDDR on the day I have it set for, and just for 9, she may be mad that we kept dining ressies that exluded her party or, if they get ressies now too, put them at a separate table.

If I change the HDDR for a lareger party, same night, we may or may not get the best seating, and there is the risk sis will bail and not come to WDW during that time or at all. Then I'm stuck paying for 4 extra folks (with large group seating you have to pay about a month in advance, in full.)

If I move the date of our HDDR (so that sis is less likely to overlap), well, with my luck -- sis' dates would change. I do have a slight window of opportunity on a weekend night at the end of our stay, but this would mean a new ressie and as such, would still leave me in peril of less advantageous seating? Or will it even matter? We aren't THAT close to our trip -- we are at the 5 mos window, I guess. Is that sufficient to secure a good viewing on the floor? Are wkends more crowded? Our current ressie is set on a Thurs. night; if I shifted, I would move it to a Sat. night.
I think BIL and SIL are set for HDDR -- BIL actually was chosen for a part in this when he was a boy on his first visit to WDW; he's particularly nostalgic about it, I think!

To be frank, I'm not sure how her crew could afford a trip to WDW this summer, much less HDDR, given that they are really scrambling to find means to send dn to college of her choice, but I'm not touching THAT conversation with a ten foot pole. Nonetheless, they are DVC, so they may view the accommodations as paid-for and still come. I love to have them there -- I do love my sister -- and I know if it were me showing up, she would bend over backwards to fit us into whatever schedule she had made, but I'm such a $&%*! planner and want all my plans set in stone well in advance, and she doesn't "get" that part of me.

I considered just getting a second ressie for 13, and when our 1 month "deadline" approaches, cancelling one or the other. But I'm not sure if MS will let me do that -- and they will see my other ressie when they bring up my trip ressies in group dining, won't they?

Help!

 

[kilee]

I would honest. Tell her you have the reservation. Tell her that if she wants to go you need to know ASAP. Otherwise she may not be able to get in. Also tell her, you don't know if you'll all be together (but Disney is so good about this). Give her the option. She can't be mad then. Also, let her know that it has to be paid in advance. Let her make her own PS, and have them tack a note to yours and hers that you'd like to be together. Being together to me would be more important than the best seats. Anyhow, if she bails, she'll be out the money not you.

 

[auntpolly]

kilee is right -- when you're going with a large group or people outside your own family, I think you should always have them make their own reservations for things. If you put out your own money and do all that work and then it's not appreciated or worse yet, someone complains about it, it will ruin your good time at WDW. And nobody wants that!

PS - have fun kilee - it looks from your countdown that you're almost there!

 

[Parrothd]

The bottom line here is that you need to open up (or keep open) the line of communications with your sister. Make it clear that reservations are VERY important with this show. Talk with her.....sit her down......try to make her understand where you're coming from.......tell her that you don't want to leave her out and you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings BUT you need to know soon.