Singles gets no chance ADR

[Colleen27]

I'm curious for those who have had to do this in the past - How does that work with cancellation penalty restaurants? Or are singles (or other odd-numbered parties) just out of luck if the system shows no availability for their exact party size at those venues?

 

[Withacy]

It's not a big deal.

Because the system wasn't working today, I had to call in my ADRs. On the day my DGS is going on his pirate cruise, I wanted to do Grand Floridian Cafe by myself. The CM I spoke with said there was nothing available for that time. Then she said "wait a second - sometimes the system doesn't show tables for 1..." and she made a reservation for two, and it went through. She told me it was a problem with the system, they're aware of it, and I should just let them know when I check in that it's only me. NO PROBLEM AT ALL.

I supposed you can cut off your nose to spite your face and insist you won't make a reservation until they fix the system. Or you can go with the conspiracy theories. That's you're right.

Or you can accept that it's a computer glitch, make your reservation, and then be the 900th person to tell the host or hostess that you're a party of one that had to book as two because of the computer glitch (that I'm sure they've heard about again and again and again by now!).

Far be it from me to tell anyone what to spend their angst on.

 

[TheRatPack]

Okay...I have an answer to your problem, do you like kids? LOL We are a party of 7 and sadly the ressie system and the hotel system in general at Disney is made for groupings of 4, 8...etc So we need one more person to make our own ressies easier You can tag along as our Uncle Denmark LOL

I know it stinks....don't know what the answer is. We used to get just about any ressie we wanted when we were a party of 4....we could stop at hotels on the road and walk in and get a room....etc. We of course chose to add to our family, and knew we were going outside the parameters of the vacation world, but oh well.

I'd book for 2, and by the end of your trip you'll be a pro at saying 'nope, just me'....at the podiums. The first year we went as 7, one of ours was under 3 so all of our ressies were booked for 6? Not sure why exactly....but nevertheless we had to tell every podium that we were 7, just one under 3 so we needed a highchair. It never bothered any server or seater.

 

[aubriee]

I'm curious for those who have had to do this in the past - How does that work with cancellation penalty restaurants? Or are singles (or other odd-numbered parties) just out of luck if the system shows no availability for their exact party size at those venues?

With the restaurants where a credit card guarantee is required, the system will let you book a table for one. In fact, I did just that for my California Grill ressie that I have for Sept 26th.

If you show up a person short at one of these restuarants your credit card will be charged. This happened to me last Sept, when I woke up ill one morning and sent my husband and mom on to Akershus without me. A few days after we arrived home, I noticed the charge on my credit card and called to ask about it, (thinking that since they had shown up, that we wouldn't be charged the no show fee). The CM was able to look at it and immediately said that we had showed up one person short at Akershus.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I just made all my ADRs for 2 people for my October trip, even though it's a solo trip. I noticed that lots of resturaunts wouldn't show availability for 1, but they would for 2. Since the table's the same size, I booked for two (I'd be more than happy to share with a kid, or another DISer I meet). It never occurred to me that it might bother me to have to tell the server at check in that it's only one person, not two. After reading this thread, it'll be interesting to see how I feel when I check in at resturaunts.