What's your experience adding a guest last minute to existing res?

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My sister may be joining us from St. Pete for a couple of days during our trip. It's always an open invitation because we don't when, of if, she will arrive. She isn't super mobile and sometimes prefers to stay at the hotel while we head out to explore.

We have reservations at Hoop Dee Doo on a Thursday at 4. Just in case she wants to join us, I'm wondering if anyone has experience adding basically a walk up guest to an existing reservation for one of these prepaid meals.

We also have reservations at Whispering Canyon but I think that might be as big a deal?

Thanks!
 
My sister may be joining us from St. Pete for a couple of days during our trip. It's always an open invitation because we don't when, of if, she will arrive. She isn't super mobile and sometimes prefers to stay at the hotel while we head out to explore.

We have reservations at Hoop Dee Doo on a Thursday at 4. Just in case she wants to join us, I'm wondering if anyone has experience adding basically a walk up guest to an existing reservation for one of these prepaid meals.

We also have reservations at Whispering Canyon but I think that might be as big a deal?

Thanks!
Whispering Canyon will be fine, never HDDR! Those seats are bought and paid in advance. Think of it like Broadway seats. You've paid for a specific seat, no way to juggle another person in there!,
 
A few years ago we had ressies for HDDR. On the day of the ressie , we met up with another Dis'er family (5 ppl) and had so much fun together, they were interested in joining us at HDDR for dinner. We all spent some time on the phone - fully booked. Kept calling at various times. Then, just about an hour before dinner, they said they could manage it - could we all get over there in time? Unfortunately, we had split up from the other family at this time and they were on Small World (which takes forever!). By the time we got a hold of them, it was too late for them to make it to HDDR on time :(

Long story short - if your sister is willing to take the risk and is ok waiting until the very last minute, the possibility exists.
 

Piggybacking onto this thread.

My friends and I have a BOG dinner res for 4, but now there will be 5 of us. I was reading an old thread that basically said that if we walk up a few things can happen:

They can add no problem, we might just have to wait longer for a table that will accommodate all 5.
They can't, but it's pretty rare that they turn people away.

I figure that some restaurants are more flexible than others... where does BOG fall on that flexibility scale? I can continue to attempt adding one person up through the trip.

The dinner is kind of a big part of the trip, it's a bachelorette party for a Belle superfan (we're all obsessed with Beauty and the Beast, TBH).
 
BOG tends to be inflexible, and if it is a must-do, you really need an ADR for everyone. While dinner will be half empty because they don't fill the place, they also don't tend to let people add at podium because the booking is based on kitchen capacity.
 
Piggybacking onto this thread.

My friends and I have a BOG dinner res for 4, but now there will be 5 of us. I was reading an old thread that basically said that if we walk up a few things can happen:

They can add no problem, we might just have to wait longer for a table that will accommodate all 5.
They can't, but it's pretty rare that they turn people away.

I figure that some restaurants are more flexible than others... where does BOG fall on that flexibility scale? I can continue to attempt adding one person up through the trip.

The dinner is kind of a big part of the trip, it's a bachelorette party for a Belle superfan (we're all obsessed with Beauty and the Beast, TBH).

I think it's actually likely to have the extra person turned away.
 
They may be able to add, but there is no way to know that ahead of time. Three things can happen: They can add, they can add a person with a bit of a wait, or they can turn that extra person away. You can't predict what will happen.

Of course Disney won't turn a guest away if they have room, but you can't know in advance. What will you do if your friend can't join you? If you walk away from a typical ADR you will losee your $10 per person no show fee. For something that is paid in advance you will lose the full amount.
 














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