reservation for 8?

[schoen]

Can I reserve dinner for eight or do i need to go through grand gatherings? We are planning a last minute(ish) january trip. I have never been with so many people. Just wondering what it is like to try to do this.

 

[kendzee94]

When I made our ADR's for 8, they did not make me go through grand gatherings....I just called the regular #

 

[stitch and co]

Yes, you can just use the dining number. I made reservations for 9 that way no problem.

 

[wdwishes1990]

I recently did 11 just fine.

 

[FrozenMinnie]

I recently made ADR's for 11 for January. I found a combination of mixed options. Sometimes I had to go to "two tables" and others were fine reserving all at once.

After I made my ADR's our group decided to become a "grand gathering". It became complicated because our resort ressies were not done together....and a couple are actually DVCers. After we became a "grand gathering" we tried to book one of those events. I found that unless we were all on the same dining plan....it was a challenge. In fact my parents who are Annual Pass holders....are not elgible to come to our Illuminations grand gathering event due to them not needing to purchase the meal plan...and the CM I spoke with would not let me purchase their event separately....I even mentioned that I would book them a room for that evening...but it wouldnt work out unless I purchased them the room, magic your way and meal plan like the rest of us.

Ultimately it wasnt worth us to become a grand gathering....and we were still able to get all of our ADR's.

Hope this helps.....

 

[disnut8]

You can make it through the regular number. Depending on the restaurant, you could be told that your party will be split in two (probably two tables of four). It just depnds on if the restaurant has tables for larger parties or not. However, don't let that be a problem. Your reservation will be linked in the system so your tables will probably (more than probably - likely, more than likely - really really likely) be right next to each other and they can push them together.

 

[Mickeys_n_me]

I booked reservation for 9 of us all through the regular number, we could not do grand gatherings as we are staying off site.

The CM I spoke with said that even though we did have to split the party up at some restaurants that if there are two tables together they would push them together with no problem.

 

[webshark3]

When you have a Grand Gathering, you dial WDW-PLAN instead of WDW-DINE for your ADRs, so a whole different group of CMs can tell you the resturaunts you want are all booked up. LOL