Ugh. So....I sent a message to my brother to remind him that fastpass day is approaching, and asking if he had made an account, or if he had any objection to me making an account and doing all our fastpasses together, and also asking if they were flying or driving, as he would need a reservation if he intended to use DME. He writes back that he has no answers for me because his husband lost his job (which he never told me) in December, so he's the sole earner for now, and they are having a hard time renting out the old house, so he's paying 2 mortgages, and they are trying to buy a restaurant, but that fell through and he's just not sure how they are getting there and who is coming, because his FIL can't get the time off approved from work, and his BIL just got a new job and might not get time off, and bla bla bla. This is typically the song and dance I get before he either cancels or tries to get me to pay for it. It will probably turn into "Gosh, I'm really sorry...We really do want to go, but we just can't afford it right now, so if you really want us to be there, you'll have to pay for such and such." Which I won't be paying for anything, and I just hope he doesn't wait until I can't cancel anymore and THEN tell me he can't make it.
Then my cousin hits me with "My dad wants to know if we can do a big family dinner like the one we did in South Dakota in 2016 on Sunday, July 21st." I sent them a list of restaurants where we were planning to make ADRs over a year ago and said to let me know if there were any they wanted to do together so I could make the reservation for the whole group. Then I sent several reminders throughout the year, including the week before I actually had to make the ADRS. I got no response. And then I sent them a list of all the ADRs we made so they could make their own if they wanted to join us after all.....I got no response. And first, it was the whole family coming, then her brother B was saying no, he wanted to go at Christmas, but brother M said he couldn't get time off at Christmas, so then it was just C and her fam and her dad and his GF. And then B was coming, but they were going to go the week before and then overlap by a day so they could see us, but C and her fam would stick around for a few days....and now she says has base tickets for the 18th-22nd, for all of them. So they are ALL coming, but we only have the one day together and they can only go to one park per day. I'm NOT canceling any of my ADRs....they had plenty of time to figure out if they wanted to go anywhere together. So I told her we had an ADR at Biergarten that day and I checked for reservations and there was a time that would accommodate her group 5 minutes before ours, so I told her we could see if we could add people to our reservation. That worked out, thank goodness, so I have a reservation for 23 people at Biergarten on that Sunday. I had made that reservation for that night on purpose because B is all about German food....Brats and such, and he hates Italian food/pizza, so I planned for Biergarten on our first Epcot day so they could eat with us if they wanted, and I planned Via Napoli for after they would be gone. Good thing I did that, or we'd have had a problem now they they suddenly decided we should do a dinner together!
I think I deserve a medal in trip planning. I am really excited to see them, and I really am glad we can do this together, but why didn't they say anything MONTHS ago when I asked?? I told them it was easier to reduce the number later than it would be to add people to an existing reservation. They are SOOOO lucky it was Biergarten and not something like 'Ohana or Be Our Guest, etc. I'd never have gotten an extra 13 people in this late at one of the harder to get ADRs. And I would have suggested breakfast or lunch outside the parks, but I also have a late breakfast ADR that morning for the Bon Voyage breakfast, hoping it would tide us over until dinner and we wouldn't need a lunch. There would be no way to get an extra 13 people in for that, and I am NOT canceling that to do something together when I carefully planned out my ADRs months in advance and gave them the option to join. So glad I didn't have to disappoint them. I did warn C that the 21st needs to be their Epcot Day, though, since they can't park hop. But since she's willing to do that so they can join us , it all works out. Now let's hope Biergarten doesn't disappoint them!
