Any experience adding people to a reservation at the restaurant?

[durangojim]

Just to play devil's advocate here, isn't doing this kind of a strain on other people? In many cases it will cause everyone behind the group adding people to have to wait longer unless I am missing something?

If I was waiting in a party of 4 and then I was told it would be another 15 minutes because the party of two being seated brought two more friends in at the last minute, and now needed a 4 person table it would be kind of frustrating.

Just a thought.

Not if they give me the same table they had planned to in the first place, which is what I think will happen. Also, it might be a "strain" but I think Disney is more about sharing experiences with family and friends and would not have a problem with this. Even if you look at it from a monetary stand point, they're going to be selling more food to a couple more people, and even if you have to wait are you really going to cancel your reservation?

 

[Nightsbane]

If you are taking the same table, then by all means why not fill the table? I agree with you.

If making these types of decisions costs other people time on their vacation to wait on others I would not regard that as a good decision.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

i'd never make a habit of it by all means. we've been going for years and we've only made the addition once. we also had an early reservation so we were one of the first people in the place as it was. plus we were at a big table because the original reservation was for 5 and then added two adults so we moved the baby to the end of the table and they filled our table...but yes i have to agree i wouldn't like to be standing in line for a meal and realize my table had been given away. i guess my point in adding my thoughts to this thread is just that it's not impossible but it's always better to have things planned out when possible.

 

[durangojim]

i'd never make a habit of it by all means. we've been going for years and we've only made the addition once. we also had an early reservation so we were one of the first people in the place as it was. plus we were at a big table because the original reservation was for 5 and then added two adults so we moved the baby to the end of the table and they filled our table...but yes i have to agree i wouldn't like to be standing in line for a meal and realize my table had been given away. i guess my point in adding my thoughts to this thread is just that it's not impossible but it's always better to have things planned out when possible.

I agree with you. Our upcoming reservation is at 5:00pm so it should be one of the first reservations and hopefully won't cause much of a back up if any. One of my big problems with having to make all your reservations 3 months (or soon 6 months) out is that it doesn't allow for any spontenaity, especially when things like this come up. Who knows half a a year in advance if a couple may mor may not be able to join you for dinner? Seems like there should be some kind of happy medium. In our case, we only see these friends once or twice a year as they live in Tampa and we live in Michigan, so I'm definately not going to tell them that we won't have dinner with them because it might "inconvenience" others and we're not going to give up a reservation that we've been looking forward to for over a year.

 

[dreamfinder]

I think there are several factors at play here. If they have an opening, then it's not a big deal for them to add more people to your party. People cancel all the time, so you may get a different response if you call again tommorow, or next week, or the day of. As far as table size goes, they do their best to seat guests at a table that best suits their party size. I have been at places as a party of two, and been seated at a 8 top. It's whats available. Just because you had a large table before, doesn't mean you will this time. Changes like 3 to 4 are much easier as they already have you taking a 4 top. At a round 4 top its possible to squeeze in a 5th, but much harder to do at a square 4 top. Asking can't hurt, but there is a chance they may say no.

And personally, changing an early reservation causes more issues than a late one. If your party now needs a bigger table, or two tables, its a ripple effect, pushing every behind you back a bit. The table may not look used now, but they may have been planning on using it in 10 minutes, so that group now needs to be found a new table, and so on and so forth.

 

[Nightsbane]

durango I agree with you that the reservation system is a drag. My wife and I wanted this trip to be a totally laid back, go where we want to when we want to trip, and it's not. The reason is the complete schedule control because of ADRs. I agree it messes up the ability to go with the flow.

I don't agree with the idea that someone would make everyone behind them wait just so they can eat a meal with friends last minute (unless they can fit at the same table, or it's early enough to not be busy)

 

[EvilQueen-T]

yeah, we were lucky that it was both early (we were 2nd family seated) and we still sat at the same sized table. the place wasn't busy until we were leaving. we didn't know when we booked our trip that my sister and her daughter would decide to do a one day at the park while we were there so it's unlikely to happen ever again for us. i'm a planner (drive my family crazy) but i think it's a little sad that you can't just walk up and put in your name like you used to tho. i like the idea of the dining plan and advanced reservations but like the mk itself it's just all gotten a little over full/busy. there is something nice about being able to really park hop and still get a good meal where ever you end up.