did anyone else forget to count their 1 year old when making reservations?

hannymom

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 13, 2000
can anyone tell me if i should be worried? i booked crystal palace for 4. hubby and i are taking our daughter and son in law and our granddaughter to disney in october. she will just turn a year old a couple weeks earlier. when i called about another reservation the cm told me i needed to include her.
of course now, there are no openings for 5. should i keep the ressie and tell them she will sit on my lap?
any suggestions? other than keep checking for an opening? thanks
 
Children, regardless of their age, should be counted on the reservation. Even if the child sits on a lap, you're a party of 5 and they will probably want to change the party size. You're probably fine but I'd keep trying to look for an opening. Also, check for a party of 6, even numbers can be easier sometimes.
 
And just as a word of warning, check your bill. I spent a wonderful hour with guest services after a dinner at Boma where they charged an 8 year old as an adult and a not yet 1 year old as a child. It got fixed but I hate spending vacation time arguing over money.
 
Keep trying for 5. Each person needs to be counted regardless of age.

While they MAY and will likely try to accommodate you, you could be turned away.

A friend of mine did not include her infant on any of her reservations and was turned away from CRT Christmas week one year. 2 members of their party ate QS instead. A couple places accommodated, CRT and one more could not. She was able to add the infant to a couple last minute.

They will not put 5 people at a table that only seats 4 (even if it is only a lap child.) They will only seat you if a table to accommodate 5 is available.

Sign up for the free Touring Plans reservation finder. It has worked for us multiple times.
 


Keep trying for 5. Each person needs to be counted regardless of age.

While they MAY and will likely try to accommodate you, you could be turned away.

A friend of mine did not include her infant on any of her reservations and was turned away from CRT Christmas week one year. 2 members of their party ate QS instead. A couple places accommodated, CRT and one more could not. She was able to add the infant to a couple last minute.

They will not put 5 people at a table that only seats 4 (even if it is only a lap child.) They will only seat you if a table to accommodate 5 is available.

Sign up for the free Touring Plans reservation finder. It has worked for us multiple times.

I agree with everything you said here. I actually used to work as a Seater (aka a host) at Tony’s Town Square years ago. People did try to come in all the time with an inaccurate count, and it was usually because of just what happened to you: thinking they didn’t need to account for an infant. The table needs to accommodate the full number to be seated. This is partially for fire code reasons. If you start seating more than the number of people a table is designed for, it’s possible the restaurant would go over capacity. You also can’t risk adding chairs that might obstruct the walkway (people would think we could just add a high chair to a four top). I know you said you’d be fine with lap seating, but there still needs to be a potential seat - or a guest might get upset when suddenly they don’t feel like having their infant in their lap any more.

At Tony’s, we did our best to accommodate people. This often meant a significantly longer wait before a table that could accommodate the larger party size was available. I also remember one time where a party with a lunch reservation ended up having to come back for an early dinner instead (we usually held aside some space at the beginning of the day for guest recovery situations). However, there were times even in the short time I worked there that we did have to turn people away completely. And that’s not even for a particularly popular restaurant! This was years ago, and it seems like Disney restaurants have only gotten busier in that time.

The touring plans reservation finder will probably be your best bet. It’s worked for me on multiple occasions, even with harder to get reservations. You don’t actually need a paid account to use it, so be sure to look closely for where to sign up for a basic account instead!
 
Babies often take up more space then a regular person.

I would call and see if they can change it for you and just keep checking.

I would also be prepared for someone to eat elsewhere if need be.
 
did you try looking for a party of six instead? sometimes even #s have better luck.
 


Yes, the 1 year old definitely needs to be counted. We took our then-1 year old last year and visited him on all reservations.
 
I've tried to ninja an extra child onto reservations before and I can confirm that they do not like that.
 
Middle child over here... I still occasionally get forgotten on trips! Lol. Just kidding (though I WAS forgotten when my sister booked tea time last month :charac2:)

Occasionally we forget a number, and it’s not hard (usually) to add an extra guest in the MDE app. Sometimes the time gets changed by a little bit. Keep checking! Like PP’s have said, sometimes an even number is easier.
 
can anyone tell me if i should be worried? i booked crystal palace for 4. hubby and i are taking our daughter and son in law and our granddaughter to disney in october. she will just turn a year old a couple weeks earlier. when i called about another reservation the cm told me i needed to include her.
of course now, there are no openings for 5. should i keep the ressie and tell them she will sit on my lap?
any suggestions? other than keep checking for an opening? thanks
another suggesting try for a 6 party Ressie. usually a lot easier to find an even number than an odd number plus you will not be charged a no show because rest of party shows up and eats. and yes we had to include a 4 month old in our ressies even with her having to be held during meals as she was not able to sit up in a toddler highchair
 
happy update!! i was able to reserve a lunch at crystal palace for 5!! i will still keep checking for the breakfast but at least now i have a reservation for the day we wanted, at the place we wanted and for the right amount of people. thank you all for taking the time to answer.
 

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