Please Help!

[leitadisneyfan]

For our trip in Sept I made dinning reservations for a part of 10. I just found out 4 of the people will not be able to make it to Disney. Do I call Disney and ask them to take 4 of them off or do I show up for the meal and then tell them 4 people are not going to make it? Thanks!

 

[BMAEC]

I would call and see if they can change your reservation. It may even mean that they cancel your 10 and immediately rebook as a 6. I’ve heard that you can show up and tell them you have less, but if you do that, you are taking up a 4 person reservation that could go to another family.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

For our trip in Sept I made dinning reservations for a part of 10. I just found out 4 of the people will not be able to make it to Disney. Do I call Disney and ask them to take 4 of them off or do I show up for the meal and then tell them 4 people are not going to make it? Thanks!

If you are unable to change it, don't worry. Show up with 6, you will NOT be charged a no show fee for the 4 not there.
And you are not "taking" any seating from anyone. Disney is different in their dining ADRs. They don't set aside tables for a party, they simply wait for you to show up and then do the table set up.
Their numbers and times are set to an algorithm different than any other restaurant pretty much on the planet! Lol

 

[BMAEC]

If you are unable to change it, don't worry. Show up with 6, you will NOT be charged a no show fee for the 4 not there.
And you are not "taking" any seating from anyone. Disney is different in their dining ADRs. They don't set aside tables for a party, they simply wait for you to show up and then do the table set up.
Their numbers and times are set to an algorithm different than any other restaurant pretty much on the planet! Lol

I am admittedly new to Disney dining, but I'm confused about the algorithm. When I've been looking for reservations for our family of 5, nothing comes up. When I change it to 4 or 3, occasionally something will pop up. When I immediately bump it up to 5, it disappears. So party size is definitely being taken into consideration in their booking system, rather than them having a finite number of reservations regardless of party size. I'm truly just trying to learn more!

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

I am admittedly new to Disney dining, but I'm confused about the algorithm. When I've been looking for reservations for our family of 5, nothing comes up. When I change it to 4 or 3, occasionally something will pop up. When I immediately bump it up to 5, it disappears. So party size is definitely being taken into consideration in their booking system, rather than them having a finite number of reservations regardless of party size. I'm truly just trying to learn more!

It's an animal all to itself! Lol
Also try doing 6 or 4 and 2...
They may or may not seat you together, but most often will.

 

[Nancyg56]

I am admittedly new to Disney dining, but I'm confused about the algorithm. When I've been looking for reservations for our family of 5, nothing comes up. When I change it to 4 or 3, occasionally something will pop up. When I immediately bump it up to 5, it disappears. So party size is definitely being taken into consideration in their booking system, rather than them having a finite number of reservations regardless of party size. I'm truly just trying to learn more!

I gave up trying to understand how the system works. If you are looking for 5 and you cannot find anything, book for 2 and for 4, or look for 6, etc. Disney always tries to set parties together if possible. The bottom line is that they also reserve the right to separate parties, so I figure it is always worth the shot to get us all in at about the same time.

The ADR system is wacky at best, so if someone has booked for say 10, and 4 drop off, DIsney may be able to reduce the number of guest in a party, or they may not. No one will be peanalized. I always book for the max in our party because it is not always possible to add on.

 

[BMAEC]

I gave up trying to understand how the system works. If you are looking for 5 and you cannot find anything, book for 2 and for 4, or look for 6, etc. Disney always tries to set parties together if possible. The bottom line is that they also reserve the right to separate parties, so I figure it is always worth the shot to get us all in at about the same time.

The ADR system is wacky at best, so if someone has booked for say 10, and 4 drop off, DIsney may be able to reduce the number of guest in a party, or they may not. No one will be peanalized. I always book for the max in our party because it is not always possible to add on.

Quick question- if I only have 5 people assigned to my party, is it possible for me to book dining at the same/similar times for parties of 2 and 4? I understand how to do 2 and 3 because I can just choose me to be with 2 of our daughters and my husband to be with our youngest daughter, but I don’t have a 6th person to assign to a reservation that adds up to 6. I’ve never done a split reservation before so wasn’t sure how this works. Thanks so much for your advice on splitting up our party. Honestly, I would rather take our two oldest to CRT and have my husband and 2 y/o go do something else rather than have the older two miss out completely, so I am also keeping an eye out for parties of 3 or 4. Ideally we could all go but that may not happen. Unfortunately there’s just nothing, for any size party, opening up for our dates yet!

 

[ColoradoMom12]

You can change the number of guests yourself without needing to call.

In MDE go to Dining Reservations. On the right you will see two choices in blue: change reservation or cancel reservation. Click on change it. You'll see a page where you can adjust your party size. Change your number of guests, click on search, and your original time should come up as an available option (if not, call and they can change it for you). Select it, and you'll be taken to a page to confirm your new reservation.

It's also possible to do in the app, the process is just slightly different. You go to the reservation you want to change, choose modify, and you'll be able to adjust your party size.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

Quick question- if I only have 5 people assigned to my party, is it possible for me to book dining at the same/similar times for parties of 2 and 4? I understand how to do 2 and 3 because I can just choose me to be with 2 of our daughters and my husband to be with our youngest daughter, but I don’t have a 6th person to assign to a reservation that adds up to 6. I’ve never done a split reservation before so wasn’t sure how this works. Thanks so much for your advice on splitting up our party. Honestly, I would rather take our two oldest to CRT and have my husband and 2 y/o go do something else rather than have the older two miss out completely, so I am also keeping an eye out for parties of 3 or 4. Ideally we could all go but that may not happen. Unfortunately there’s just nothing, for any size party, opening up for our dates yet!

For CRT you will need exact numbers of guests. It can be one reservation for your entire party of five, or if you're willing to split up, two reservations with one for 2 guests and one for 3. The reason is that you pre-pay for your reservation.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Quick question- if I only have 5 people assigned to my party, is it possible for me to book dining at the same/similar times for parties of 2 and 4? I understand how to do 2 and 3 because I can just choose me to be with 2 of our daughters and my husband to be with our youngest daughter, but I don’t have a 6th person to assign to a reservation that adds up to 6. I’ve never done a split upreservation before so wasn’t sure how this works. Thanks so much for your advice on splitting up our party. Honestly, I would rather take our two oldest to CRT and have my husband and 2 y/o go do something else rather than have the older two miss out completely, so I am also keeping an eye out for parties of 3 or 4. Ideally we could all go but that may not happen. Unfortunately there’s just nothing, for any size party, opening up for our dates yet!

And out of all the restaurants in WDW, CRT is probably the smallest with the tightest seating.
Keep trying, it's also more difficult because you have to pre pay, either in cc up front, or dining credits.
Good luck, also sign up for a touring plans ressie finder. They really do come through. You just have to be ready to hop on your phone immediately!

 

[Nancyg56]

Quick question- if I only have 5 people assigned to my party, is it possible for me to book dining at the same/similar times for parties of 2 and 4? I understand how to do 2 and 3 because I can just choose me to be with 2 of our daughters and my husband to be with our youngest daughter, but I don’t have a 6th person to assign to a reservation that adds up to 6. I’ve never done a split reservation before so wasn’t sure how this works. Thanks so much for your advice on splitting up our party. Honestly, I would rather take our two oldest to CRT and have my husband and 2 y/o go do something else rather than have the older two miss out completely, so I am also keeping an eye out for parties of 3 or 4. Ideally we could all go but that may not happen. Unfortunately there’s just nothing, for any size party, opening up for our dates yet!

YOu can absolutely book even 2 tables of 4 if that is all that comes up. No harm, no foul. The only caveat would be anything uyou must prepay. I woudl be careful with that, however if you have a dining plan I htink you should be okay.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

Is it possible to make a reservation at CRT for a larger size party, prepay, and get a refund? Like if we needed a reservation for 4 but only 5 was available, could we pay for an additional guest and then get a refund day of? I’ve never tried that. I always assumed I needed an exact number. I don’t want to pay for a phantom guest, lol.