Potential to add person to dining res?

[sohryu]

I am planning a trip to WDW for end of May to celebrate my nephew's high school graduation. My mother and I are taking him as his graduation present to Orlando to visit both WDW and Universal. Both mom and nephew haven't ever been to FL, and I visited the parks last year for the first time but am an Annual Passholder for Disneyland. I have been planning this trip for a couple of months now and we just hit the 180 day window for our ADRs this morning. I booked our lunch and dinner ADRs already for the 3 of us for Day One...

... And then my sister (nephew's mom) literally texted me this morning that she wants to come with us. She's notoriously bad with money so I'm not sure as to whether she'll actually be able to pull off the trip or not. I'm leaning towards her not making the trip, which I told her and she semi agreed with.

Here's my question: If I continue forward booking our ADRs for 3 guests, is it possible to add a 4th later if/when she buys her park ticket and airfare?

I understand I could just as easily book an ADR for 4 guests and drop the 4th person if she ends up not making it but I was curious about whether it works the other way around. Barring triangular shaped tables, I figure 3 people are going to end up at a 4-top anyway so, in my head at least, it should be pretty easy to add a 4th person to the reservations.

Thanks in advance for you folks' input and advice! I am new to the boards and beyond excited to plan our trip!

 

[IrishNYC]

Make your ADRs for 4. If you show up with 3 you won't be penalized, but you can't show up with 4 to an ADR for 3.

Reasoning is they book to the fire code maximum. If the restaurant can hold 200 people it doesn't matter if there's an empty seat if 200 bodies are in there.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Or, not always to fire code maximum, but potentially to "tables to seat everyone y0" maximum, and there are in fact 3-top tables in a number of restaurants.

 

[maxiesmom]

Always book for the most people you will have. It is no problem to drop an extra, but it can be impossible to add another guest. And yes, some restaurants at Disney do sit 3.

 

[disnut8]

Always book for the most people you will have. It is no problem to drop an extra, but it can be impossible to add another guest. And yes, some restaurants at Disney do sit 3.

Totally agree with this. Book for four at everything. If she drops out, she drops out and no harm is done. But if you book for three and can't change to four and she comes, you could be screwed.

 

[figment_jii]

I agree; it's always best to book for the maximum number of guests that might show up. It's easier to remove people than to try and add them at the last minute. My family is a party of three and we have been seated at tables that are only for three (either one side of the table is against a wall or backs into the walk-way, so there is no place to add a fourth chair).

 

[sohryu]

Thanks everyone for your advice! I booked our Day 2 reservations this morning and booked for 4 people so we'll be covered in case she does make the trip.

My family is a party of three and we have been seated at tables that are only for three (either one side of the table is against a wall or backs into the walk-way, so there is no place to add a fourth chair).

A special thank you for this explanation as I was wondering about the 4-top tables being unable to accommodate a 4th person.