Making split dining reservations for large groups?

[HannaBelle]

I am traveling with a group of 10 people, 8 adults and 2 minors.

I have had almost zero success booking dining reservations for a party of 10. I have booked tables for 6 people and 8 people so at least some of us get to eat BUT I cannot figure our how to add a second reservation for 4 or 2 more.

We are fine with separate tables, but since MDE is so smart I cannot even use my husband or brother's account to book the additional table. My bother's twin sons are 14 and do not appear in my app so my party looks like 8 people rather than 10.

Anyone have a fix for this?

I am on hour 3 being on hold with Disney Dining.

 

[CarolynFH]

Well, to make things easier you don't need to list every guest, even though MDE allows you to list them, so having guests who aren't in your F&F list on MDE doesn't matter. It only means that the guests who have their own MDE accounts will be able to see that ADR in their plans, so if that's helpful, you can list those guests only and leave the others blank.

To make overlapping ADRs, for instance parties of 5+5 or 6+4 in your case, when you go to book the first group, MDE will ask you who is going to manage that reservation and will default to your name - that's when you change the name to one of the other guests. Then the system will allow you to search for the same restaurant/date/time for the rest of your party, and you can leave yourself, the default, as the person managing that ADR. You don't have to list any other guests on either one of the ADRs.

When it's time to eat, everyone needs to be there about 10-15 minutes before the earlier ADR time. Check in with the CM, not via MDE, and tell them you're together and would like to be seated as close together as possible. They'll do their best for you!

Good luck, and have a great trip!

 

[HannaBelle]

Thank you Carolyn!

At the three hour mark I got disconnected. =(

Then I called DVC and the CM there made my "stacked" reservations to add 4 more people. I am going to try your trick with the droid depot, I have only been successful booking 4 of the 6 wanting to build a droid.

 

[CarolynFH]

Thank you Carolyn!

At the three hour mark I got disconnected. =(

Then I called DVC and the CM there made my "stacked" reservations to add 4 more people. I am going to try your trick with the droid depot, I have only been successful booking 4 of the 6 wanting to build a droid.

I'm glad the DVC CM got your ADRs fixed! Good luck with the droid depot!

 

[kboo]

Looks like you got it figured out, but in case you need to make changes - I was making reservations for a group of 8 earlier this year. I used two different devices logged in one under my name and one under my DH, at the same time . did not add anyone else's names when I made the res. Made 2x reservations for 4, within 30 minutes or less of each other. When we checked in, we did for both of them, went to the podium and told them we were all together. It worked really well.

 

[iwjeff1982]

Well, to make things easier you don't need to list every guest, even though MDE allows you to list them, so having guests who aren't in your F&F list on MDE doesn't matter. It only means that the guests who have their own MDE accounts will be able to see that ADR in their plans, so if that's helpful, you can list those guests only and leave the others blank.

To make overlapping ADRs, for instance parties of 5+5 or 6+4 in your case, when you go to book the first group, MDE will ask you who is going to manage that reservation and will default to your name - that's when you change the name to one of the other guests. Then the system will allow you to search for the same restaurant/date/time for the rest of your party, and you can leave yourself, the default, as the person managing that ADR. You don't have to list any other guests on either one of the ADRs.

When it's time to eat, everyone needs to be there about 10-15 minutes before the earlier ADR time. Check in with the CM, not via MDE, and tell them you're together and would like to be seated as close together as possible. They'll do their best for you!

Good luck, and have a great trip!

Created an account just to say Thank You. Could not figure this out. Phone wait was 2+ hrs. Then found this thread.

 

[CarolynFH]

Created an account just to say Thank You. Could not figure this out. Phone wait was 2+ hrs. Then found this thread.

You’re very welcome! That’s why I hang around DISboards - to help people!

 

[dis444me]

You’re very welcome! That’s why I hang around DISboards - to help people!

Good stuff - your advice is very sound : ) A more complex method, perhaps unnecessary - but I found it easier for me, is to have your device setup to log into two or more of the MDE accounts of your party. I logged in as one of the other to fine tune the reservations when I had a situation where you were not able to initially get reservations within say 15 minutes of each other. Odds are high that if you have say another 30-45 days left before your trip that another reservation will open up to bring your two reservations closer together. I did this for Boathouse reservations, as they were only allowing 4 per party, (same though their open table reservation system).

 

[CarolynFH]

Good stuff - your advice is very sound : ) A more complex method, perhaps unnecessary - but I found it easier for me, is to have your device setup to log into two or more of the MDE accounts of your party. I logged in as one of the other to fine tune the reservations when I had a situation where you were not able to initially get reservations within say 15 minutes of each other. Odds are high that if you have say another 30-45 days left before your trip that another reservation will open up to bring your two reservations closer together. I did this for Boathouse reservations, as they were only allowing 4 per party, (same though their open table reservation system).

Yeah, I didn’t have any of this knowledge until after I booked for our party of 9 for last Christmas. So I had lots of fun and got all kinds of things messed up and finally had to call!

 

[dis444me]

Yeah, I didn’t have any of this knowledge until after I booked for our party of 9 for last Christmas. So I had lots of fun and got all kinds of things messed up and finally had to call!

My brother has been booking the reservations for his party of 10-14 for at least several years - and he thought his only option was to use the dining search tool to search for restaurants that have reservations for the number in his party. I told him what I was doing, and I am going to show him how to get it done next the next time he and his group are planning to go. I believe I saw a phone number larger groups could call too. However, if on hold wait times are 2-4 hours like I have been experiencing, he is best served using the self service tools which are more than adequate, if you know how to work the features.