difficult people, reservations

[Minnie Imagineer]

I am going to wdw in march and my 3 best friends and I are planning to eat dinner together everyday. The only problem is- one of my friends and I want to make reservations now, and the other 2 want to wait till the week before! What should I do? Also, I don't know if it will be 2 people eating for the night, or if more people want to join and it will be 10.
help!

[iDisney]

Tell them you need to make reservations now (which you do). Explain to them that Disney Dining fills up quickly and that chances are, they won't get reservations to the places they want the week before.

If they still decline, tell them that you and your other friend will be making the choices then and that they can get over it!

[JPL]

I suggest you inform them if you wait until the week before most likely you will not eat in the best places. Explain how reservation need to be made 180 days in advance.

[jonsmom]

I am going through the same things with family members-we are only going 3 days in December (during Free dining) and they just DONT GET IT - they want to wait til the week before to make ressies - i made mine - its up to them when they get there to figure it out, I am not going to put myself out there for them anymore - they have no clue. I made mine - oh well

[bmj721]

All good ideas. We're going in Dec and what we did with our family and mother-in-law was I obtained from each one a short list of favorites so they felt involved and I made the ADR's 180 days out. No one minded, because it removed stress. I reminded them we could cancel within 48 hours, however with many people making ADR's these days it's wiser to do it early on. Everyone is content with the choices.

[LandFan]

I would make them anyway (after explaining the necessity of doing so) and if they choose to join you when the time comes (and when they find out they can't get anything else), there will be room for them and they will be grateful. THey probably won't give you a hard time the next time either

[thrillme]

I would make them anyway. If they decide to do something else later then you can "try" to get the reservations they want...key word here...TRY...if it doesn't work out you're still covered. It's a lot easier to cancel reservations or "reduce" the number than it is to get them or INCREASE the number.

Save your blood pressure. Make some reservations NOW and just don't say anything.

I really wish they'd get rid of this whole reservation system outside of 48 hours or less.

[jonsmom]

We don't even know if they will be in the parks at the same time - but I see your point make them for 6 instead of 3. Maybe i should do that. After it all, it is the happiest place on earth

[hardingella]

Make reservations NOW!.

But pleaase if you by any chance change your minds and decide not to go, PLEASE CANCEL. Dont know how many times we have been to great TS restaurants and seen empty tables, and when we ask why the empty tables when reservations say its fully booked, the servers tell us that people book sooo far in advance they either forget to turn up or just decide to do something else instead.

Very annoying for the people who really wanted to go there.

[jonsmom]

I ALWAYS cancel.

[kakn7294]

Well, as of right now, you really don't have to worry about making ADR's as Disney isn't accepting any beyond Feb 22 due to a system upgrade. They are supposed to open it up sometime in late October for Feb 23 and beyond.

[thumperbug]

I made all my ADR's for my Feb 09 trip as soon as they accepted them. For one of the ADR's I made it for a party of 7 on the off chance that we would be dining with my Mom and her spouse and my Father in law and his spouse. Once my Mom told me she would not be going on the trip after all, I called Disney Dining to change the ADR to a party of 5.

The ADR was for Teppen Edo which is hard to get since the tables only sit 8. With our original ADR it was going to be a party of 7 or rather a whoel table. Now there is room for a party of 3 who might have been able to get this ADR before.

But back to part of the topic....as a courtesy, if you are not going to keep an ADR or the party size has shrunk....please notify dining.

[diz_girl]

I would make them anyway. If they decide to do something else later then you can "try" to get the reservations they want...key word here...TRY...if it doesn't work out you're still covered. It's a lot easier to cancel reservations or "reduce" the number than it is to get them or INCREASE the number.

How about you and your one friend who wants to make reservations decide where you want to eat NOW and make the reservations NOW for a party of 4. That way you will include your friends, but don't reserve a table that's too big (say, for 6 or more) and takes those seats from others who may really need a larger table. This way, you have reservations for where you want to eat and your mind is a ease.

Of course, tell your two other friends that you will be doing this and also tell them that you don't want to be caught without reservations. Say that you can always cancel them if you are able get reservations somewhere else. Maybe you shouldn't tell them those restaurants for which you have reservations. If they ask, just say that you don't want to influence their decision by making them feel that they have to eat where you already made the reservations.

When the four of you eventually sit down to discuss where you want to eat, you might be pleasantly surprised how many restaurants where you already have reservations are those where they want to eat. If you don't have many restaurants in common, don't feel that you need to cancel every ADR because your other two friends don't want to eat there, eat where you want to eat at too. Good luck.

[mudpuppysmom]

I'm having the EXACT same problem with my sister for our upcoming trip in December (which overlaps w/ free dining).

She seems to think we can just decide at any moment when and where we want to eat!!! She says, we can just walk up to a place and go in!!!! HA!! Boy she has really no clue I told her.

So, what I did, since SHE was the one that said we did not have to keep our families together 24/7 was I made dinner ressies for my family only.....one night for the CP package.

She was here the other day and saw my spreadsheet laying on the dining room table and commented on how **** I was being on planning and said she hoped that I didn't expect them to follow this ubsurd routine!! I only have park hours and what time fireworks/some parades times plus a few ADR's on there -- by no means a "touring plan"..... I further told her that if she wanted her girls to eat with the princesses that time had passed to do so in the castle (well, unless you are super duper lucky) and also the BBB (in the castle). She just shrugged and said "Oh well, they'll deal"!! I had half a mind to just make the ressies for the girls as this might be their ONLY trip in their childhood to Disney, but I spoke to DH about it and he convinced me not to, but he did tell me to try to make the most of the situation and make the girls happy. Our DS has been numerous times and knows his way around and enjoys going so he can help with what the girls might like to do.

Sorry for the digression......bottom line is that if you want to dine somewhere specific I say make the ADR's for you and anyone who is a positive yes and tell the rest "I TOLD YOU SO" later! I'm normally not like that -- I like to please as many on vacation as possible, but when you have warned and warned and warned until you are blue in the face you can't tell them what you know to be true -- just go out on your own!

[brian2000boston]

I would just make them. If they do not want them they do not have to go or if you decide later you do not want to go you can always cancel. It is ok to eat seperate and meet up later, sounds like it could be a welcome break and help you keep your sanity.

[mom2morgan]

Oy! You've gotten good advice above...the only thing that struck me is that if they wait until the week before, I hope they like eating in the food court!! I'd be tempted to make all the reservations for 4, and don't say a word. Then let them go ahead and try a week before, and when they discover they can't get in ANYWHERE you can pull out your ressies and save the day! On the other hand, if they happen to score some good ones you can quietly cancel your own...but I really doubt it!

I am going to wdw in march and my 3 best friends and I are planning to eat dinner together everyday. The only problem is- one of my friends and I want to make reservations now, and the other 2 want to wait till the week before! What should I do? Also, I don't know if it will be 2 people eating for the night, or if more people want to join and it will be 10.
help!

[mom2morgan]

further told her that if she wanted her girls to eat with the princesses that time had passed to do so in the castle (well, unless you are super duper lucky) and also the BBB (in the castle). She just shrugged and said "Oh well, they'll deal"!!

Oh, really magical, mom! "they'll deal". Sheesh - some people. I mean, it's one thing to CHOOSE not to do those things, but to just say "whatever" because you don't feel like putting in the effort is sad. Well, I'm sure the girls will still have a great time - especially with you there to help out a bit!

[debandbub]

Go ahead and make the ressies...I just did the same thing a few months ago. We're going with my brother and his family 10/29-11/5. I asked them to think about where they might want to go- They're on the DP, we're not...we usually like to just grab counter service, and plan only one or two sit-down meals. Well, they dawdled, but I made a bunch of ADR's for them and just mentioned that I am not trying to be controlling, but I wanted to make sure they made the most of their DP. Fast forward to last week when my SIL called and was so thankful that I did that because she was talking to someone who just came back and told her they had a hard getting ADR's!

[Minnie Imagineer]

thanks for all the advice everyone!
Someone mentioned that they would have to eat in the foodcourts ...but actually, thats what they want to do. They want to spend as little money as possible (and they're not poor, we live in a relativly rich neighborhood). They think its ok for every meal to grab a banana on the way and eat it! I want to do sit down dinners at least! Well, I'll keep working on them...

[Cinderelley]

Wow! It sounds like some of you guys need to realize that other people don't have the same priorities as you do. In order for everyone to have a fun trip, you need to let other people decide what's important to them too.

DH like to eat CS so that he doesn't have to take as much time out of the parks or worry about having to be somewhere at such and such time. The kids and I are happy either way. So, when we go with DH, it's CS all the time.

When I go with my friends, we like to sit down and enjoy each other's company since we don't have a lot of time in "real" life to catch up. We always make ADRs when I'm going with my friends.

If your friends want to eat CS, let them while you enjoy a nice TS dinner with your other friend. Then you guys can meet up afterwards. To each his own.