made ADR for 4, but need 6! can we just show up with 2 extra people?

[marinewife]

hi! i have a small dilemma and i was hoping any of you might be more knowledgable about what my chance is than i am! my family of 4 has ADR on may 4th for cinderella's gala feast at 1900 park fare. (we even have an appointment at BBB beforehand for our daughters; my youngest really believes she IS cinderella!) but now my parents will be traveling with us. i've called a couple times already trying to add 2 extra adults to the reservation, but no luck, they're completely booked.. so now what do i do? i asked if we just showed up with 2 extra people, how likely would it be to get a table. the first lady i spoke to said to try it, they might let us (the reservation is towards the end of the night at 8:20, so im hoping by that time there will be people who might not have shown up for their reservation leaving a few extra tables). but the second lady i talked to said they will not seat me at all if i show up with extra people. she said to keep calling in case there are cancellations, but since you dont need a credit card to hold the spot, i doubt that many people will bother calling to cancel, even if they dont plan on going. i was hoping some people out there might have some insight for me! has anyone out there tried just showing up? should i arrive early and hope for the best? i know my daughters would love it and i was so excited to surprise them with this, but leaving my parents out isnt an option for me (if i absolutely cant get seated, ill let my parents take my kids).
any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!
thanks so much!!

 

[dsnymomof4]

I had a similar situation occur last week. I made our ADRs months ago with my DD9 birthday dinner at 1900. Well, 3 days before our trip, my sister decides she would like to join us - great, have room in our 2-bed villa, but have to call and change ADRs. Well, I could only change 2 of our 6 meals. The rest were booked solid. I called repeatedly and even asked "can't they just add a chair to our table?" Was told "no" over and over. So, my sister stayed back in the room for our 1900 dinner. We get to our table and guess what - there's an extra chair at our table! They pulled it out of the way as we were sitting down and DH told CM about our situation. CM told us that people making the reservations have to follow certain protocol and are only looking at their computer screen, but next time call restaurant or just show up and more than likely they will accomodate. So, for rest of our ADRs, we just showed up with 7 instead of 6 and had no problems the whole trip - even at Le Cellier! Now, your situation is a little different because you have 2 extra, but I would still try calling the restaurants - even that morning. I'm sure they will be able to help you. Good luck!

 

[Luv4Disney]

We had an ADR at Alfredo's and we met up with two of our friends in the park and they wanted to join us. We went to the restaurant a little early and asked if we could add 2 more people to our party and they said no problem and seated us right away. It worked really well, so yeah, like the PP said, check with the actual restaurant next time and you'll more than likely be accommodated.

 

[Robert P]

You're doing everything right trying to add them. And in a pinch, yes, showing up might work. Calling the restaurant directly may work as well.

Just FYI - you are running into problems because of the new number in your party. I've had to add people in the past as well, and while there are tons of tables for 2's and 4's, anything beyond that, there just aren't as many tables available. In some cases, we cancelled the ADR altogether. In other cases, we had to move our times around a bit to find an available spot for our larger party. In most cases, they we were able to add to our original party # ADR.

Keep checking back with dining for the extra seats. And if you do have to just show up, try to be plenty early, so there is more of a window for them to fit you in.

Good luck.

 

[hddanis]

Thank you guys for this thread. I have all my ADR's made and I think a friend of mine will be joining us one or two nights, but I don't know which ones. I was worried about having to change our ADR's.

 

[marinewife]

thanks! your responses made me feel a lot better! i think our only chance is to show up and hope for the best, i was told every time slot for the entire week is booked. has anyone NOT had luck doing that and were turned away? also, how would i go about calling the actual restaurant? i will definitely try that, where would i find that number?
thanks again!

 

[Barb D]

If you're staying onsite, go to the concierge desk in your hotel (even the values have them) and ask them to check, too. They were able to get us into the castle the next day, when I had been trying on my own for months!

 

[mrzrich]

I still think you should keep calling and calling everyday. If you get the ressie it will ease your mind. BTW I've had lots of luck using this strategy, even for hard to get last minute ressies like CM and 'Ohana. Nice people do cancel all the time, whether they put down a credit card or not, besides, if their plans change and they want to eat someplace else, the have to cancel .

 

[luvtogo12]

In Feb.I tried to add 2 people to our ADR's at 50's Prime Time a few hours before we were to be there. I was told that they would not be able to take us at our regulary scheduled time and it might be another 2 hours before they can take us.

Our friends decided they were too hungry to wait and went elsewhere. We kept our ADR's.

 

[gigi1313]

another option would be to call and make an ADR around the same time as yours for just two people... and when you arrive, ask to be seated together... we've had success w/that plan in the past...

 

[LauraAnn630]

Thanks! We needed to know about adding Grandma and Papa if they decide to come.

They announced they were thinking about coming. Then continued to say we can all go to kennedy Space Center and other places. Im like wait a minute our trip is already paid for with an itinerary. They keep talking about coming but never want to plan it.

I explained to them we had FREE dining and all our dinner ressie are made.
They are like... ALREADY?!!

Now we are going to give up a water park day to do Kennedy Space Center and dinner with them. They are going to join us at MK and Epcot.

I had to send him an email explaining EVERYTHING!
ADRS
exta hours
ME
disney transportation
parking cost
on site - off site benifits
all the restaurants websites
ticket prices
Nubuo (sp) prices
whats in DTD

It took me an hour to send hime our itinerary with websites and other info!!
I hope they will go!

 

[The Sweetness]

How considerate of you to change your plans for other fam memebrs. I could never even consider that. Once my plans are made, if GPs want to join, the more the merrier But they shouldnt expect to have me changing my plans that I made for my fam They can either do what we have planned, or do their own thing.

As far as ADR go, if someone joins us after ADR are made, and I cant change the # of guests on the ADR (we are already 4), than I will explain to them that they are welcome to show up w/ us and *hope* that the restaurant can accommodate. If not, we are eating dinner as planned.

With the amount of time that was put into the careful consideration for ADR (must be completely planned WAYYYYYYYYY ahead of time to make ADR at 180 days (+10), it wouldnt be fair for anyone else to impose ANY changes on me/ us ((even if it is my beloved mother)) Ofcourse, before ADR are made, fam members are asked if they'd like to join