Changing guests mid-stay

[TigerInGa]

We are staying in a 2 bedroom for 6 nights next month. On the 3rd day, one family will be going home, then a different family “moves in”.

That’s obviously too many guests for me to list on the reservation, but I want to make sure my friends that are moving in on day three won’t have to pay to park and can use their magic bands to get into the doors, etc.

Has anyone ever done this and, if so, how do you modify your guest list mid-stay?

 

[jerseyduke]

Are you not concerned with other things such as fast pass booking windows, because that would change things.

If it were me, I would just give the "2nd family" one or two of my back up magic bands and call it a day. They can use that at the gate to get in (and not pay to park). Of course they have to use that to get into the room.

Otherwise I think you would have to make it 2 stays that get linked together.

Now if you want the 2nd family to have 60 day fast pass booking, you have to call MS and change things.

 

[Sandisw]

As long as you are not on the dining plan, just let the front desk know of the name changes for your guests. It will be easy for them at that point to switch it out.

Maybe do this the morning that it will happen so when your 2nd group of guests arrive, they can tell the guard they are checking in to your reservation

 

[TigerInGa]

Good advice y’all (as always). Fast pass booking are not a big deal to them, as they are doing Universal.

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

We've done this many times and not had a problem. I tell Disney the arrival and departure dates - many times our guests use DME.

 

[mustinjourney]

what about getting housekeeping to change sheets/towels? They wouldn't be changing those until 4th day.

 

[BillPA]

Not clean sheet at day 4, unless you stay 8 or more nights. You can buy a full cleaning, or pull the sheet and towels and use the washer/dryer.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We've done this many times and not had a problem. I tell Disney the arrival and departure dates - many times our guests use DME.

Good to know! Thank you.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

We are doing this in feb with two teens coming in but we went ahead and separated it into two reservations.

 

[wuzzles]

what about getting housekeeping to change sheets/towels? They wouldn't be changing those until 4th day.

Towels are easy enough to wash in room as long as you are staying 1 bedroom or larger.

For sheets, we have had no issues in the past with calling housekeeping and requesting new sheets for a bed. Housekeeping came to the room within a few minutes. I handed them the dirty sheets and they gave me the clean ones. As long as you are not asking them to put the sheets on the bed for you or asking them to change out all the beds there shouldn't be a service charge. Obviously it is nice to tip for them coming out.

Disney caters to families. They know accidents are to be expected. Housekeeping wouldn't blink an eye at a request for a fresh set of sheets.

 

[arrrroooooo]

Re-upping this thread since we'll be in the same boat for our next reservation. We're getting a 2BR for 2 weeks and swapping three families in while we're there. I'm trying to decide the pros/cons of putting everyone on the reservation for the entire stay vs. splitting the reservation into multiple pieces.

Does anyone have new recommendations given the changes that have happened since 2019? I'm not sure how the new park pass system might effect this.

Summarizing what I think are the pros/cons of splitting the reservation:
Pro: If fast passes return, this is the best way to make them work right.
Pro: If I'm over the room limit (8 adults), this is the only way to get everyone into MDE.
Con: Towel and Room service will treat this as 3 shorter stays, not 1 long stay.
Con: I'll have 3 different ADR windows for each stay instead of first day + 10.
Con: DDP may not work right?

 

[Marionnette]

Re-upping this thread since we'll be in the same boat for our next reservation. We're getting a 2BR for 2 weeks and swapping three families in while we're there. I'm trying to decide the pros/cons of putting everyone on the reservation for the entire stay vs. splitting the reservation into multiple pieces.

Does anyone have new recommendations given the changes that have happened since 2019? I'm not sure how the new park pass system might effect this.

Summarizing what I think are the pros/cons of splitting the reservation:
Pro: If fast passes return, this is the best way to make them work right.
Pro: If I'm over the room limit (8 adults), this is the only way to get everyone into MDE.
Con: Towel and Room service will treat this as 3 shorter stays, not 1 long stay.
Con: I'll have 3 different ADR windows for each stay instead of first day + 10.
Con: DDP may not work right?

I would be inclined to book it as a 1BR for the full stay and 3 separate studio stays for the 3 families. Then make a request that the 1BR and the studio connect. It will cost more points and there's no guarantee that the 1BR and studio will connect, but you would not have to worry about changeovers between guests or getting everyone on the one reservation.

 

[arrrroooooo]

I would be inclined to book it as a 1BR for the full stay and 3 separate studio stays for the 3 families. Then make a request that the 1BR and the studio connect. It will cost more points and there's no guarantee that the 1BR and studio will connect, but you would not have to worry about changeovers between guests or getting everyone on the one reservation.

Thanks. We already have this booked as a 2BR (true 2BR, not lockoff) and want it to stay that way. Hoping to find the "best" solution without changing the room type.

 

[Sandisw]

Re-upping this thread since we'll be in the same boat for our next reservation. We're getting a 2BR for 2 weeks and swapping three families in while we're there. I'm trying to decide the pros/cons of putting everyone on the reservation for the entire stay vs. splitting the reservation into multiple pieces.

Does anyone have new recommendations given the changes that have happened since 2019? I'm not sure how the new park pass system might effect this.

Summarizing what I think are the pros/cons of splitting the reservation:
Pro: If fast passes return, this is the best way to make them work right.
Pro: If I'm over the room limit (8 adults), this is the only way to get everyone into MDE.
Con: Towel and Room service will treat this as 3 shorter stays, not 1 long stay.
Con: I'll have 3 different ADR windows for each stay instead of first day + 10.
Con: DDP may not work right?

If you have room for everyone, put them all on from the start, This way, if any need Magical Express...assuming this is for 2021...they can set it up for the days they will arrive and leave. If you don’t put them on, they won’t be able to use.

Since we don’t know what any new rules would be for fast passes, I would not worry about that. Worst case, if you don’t list from the start, the window for those guests would be different as they would not be considered an on-site guest,


DDP, assuming it is back, would be everyone has to have it for length of stay so given wanting to switch guests, I’d probsbly just not deal with it.

I think the risk of breaking it up is that you could have to change rooms since the guests are different. I have never had an issue when booking on both my memberships, but they warn me it’s possible.

Obviously, if the total is greater than occupancy then it won’t work and you will have to try a d swap guest at the front desk once the first family leaves and the second family arrives.