To Add Or Not To Add...That Is The Question

Good Morning! Today's the day! Those phone lines are ringing I'm sure! I've previously blogged about today being the 180 days out to make dining reservations for Thanksgiving day at the restaurants at Walt Disney World. So even though 7 am has come and gone and maybe the rush is over at this point (8:04 am), that's not to say that every restaurant on property is sold out. As a matter of fact, I just checked availability at Chef Mickey's restaurant for dinner and the availability that came up was 3:40 pm. Yep, otherwise the next available time after that is 7:40. Everything in between is booked and the reservation line has been open for 1 hour and 8 minutes. I'm not kidding when I tell you I know what I'm talking about! :)

On a similar note, I know that I've been blogging a lot lately about dining and itinerary planning, and I wanted to let you, the reader, know that it's not because I'm some kind of "type A" control freak that needs everything done immediately. Far from it. Yes, one does need that trait to a certain point to be a travel agent, but when it comes to itinerary planning at Walt Disney World, I chalk it all up to the one simple reason of...WHY would you spend a lot of money on a vacation like Disney World and then not be able to do some of the things that you want to do?

Part of me is smiling on the inside because a colleague of mine called me yesterday to ask me a "Disney-related question" and after I gave her the answer, she said "I feel a blog entry coming on..." and here it is... ;)

The situation her clients have (she is a travel agent as well) happens all the time. They are a party of 7, and are going on their Walt Disney World vacation in 3 weeks. They have their dining reservations already booked, and recently found out that a close friend of the family who lives in Florida can join them for a day or two on the trip. But they didn't know which day. So they were asking should they change their dining reservations or leave them as is and just show up at the restaurants with the extra person?

The answer is obvious, but it is not cut and dry. Yes, you should call and add the extra person onto the dining reservations. If you don't know which day that person will be there, add him/her to all of them. It is no big deal from the restaurant point of view if one less person shows up. Meaning you have 8 booked and 7 check in. BUT if you have 7 booked, and they have you at a table for 7, and you show up with 8...then some rearranging needs to be done. Will they get it done? Yes. Will you be waiting in the restaurant lobby while they figure it out? Yes again. Then your possible 6:00 pm dinner reservations turns into you not getting seated until 6:20 or so at the least.

Some people would say, well that doesn't sound like a big deal at all. Some people don't envision waiting in the lobby of The Liberty Tree Tavern at The Magic Kingdom (which is small) for an extra 20-30 minutes with hungry, possible cranky toddlers, etc. Not to mention that I said you wouldn't be seated for about 20 minutes, that means you won't be eating until later than that. Did you have a reservation that just got you out in time for the parade? Or the fireworks? Do you really want to be rushing the dinner and thinking about where you have to be next or enjoying the meal on your vacation? Don't get me wrong, this may not happen at all...they may be able to seat you as a party of 8 right away, but why chance it?

If you call the reservation line and they can't fit a party of 8 in the restaurant that day there's no need to cancel the reservation. Either ask the person that's visiting "You know, out of all the days we're there, Monday would be the day that doesn't work for us to catch up"... OR show up at the restaurant with your party of 8 early. They ask you to get to your dining reservations 10-15 minutes prior to be seated on time. If you have this situation going on, give the cast members at that restaurant a little extra time to get situated. They will seat you, and the earlier you get there (20 minutes or so), the more likely you and your (new) party size will be seated close to your original dining time!

Keep in mind, there are exceptions to every rule...restaurants that you have to pre-pay; i.e. Cinderella's Royal Table, The Hoop de Doo Revue, etc. must have the correct guest count. If they can't fit that extra person in when you call, don't bother just showing up with them. Those restaurants/dinner shows don't work that way. Their table configurations are pre-planned for each show. Hope this was helpful today and happy planning! :)