Booking one person in a room with ddp, and adding another at check in

We stayed at AKL with my parents about 2 years ago. We were in one room and my parents were in the other. My sister flew down to spend the last 4 days of the trip with us and the front desk was adamant that she could not be added to the reservation. In fact, they threatened my mother with being thrown out of the hotel if she tried to stay with them. My 72 year old mother was so worried that it ruined the rest of her vacation.
 
Hmmm, this is disappointing. My daughter is going to be in the DCP in fall and I was thinking that when I visit her, I could add her at check in to my reservation since she won't be staying all nights. Mostly I wanted to add her so that she would be able to attend EMH with me on days that she could. I was going to get the deluxe dining plan and then share my credits with her for any meals she could join me for. I guess I won't add her and then skip EMHs.
 
We stayed at AKL with my parents about 2 years ago. We were in one room and my parents were in the other. My sister flew down to spend the last 4 days of the trip with us and the front desk was adamant that she could not be added to the reservation. In fact, they threatened my mother with being thrown out of the hotel if she tried to stay with them. My 72 year old mother was so worried that it ruined the rest of her vacation.

Seriously? Thats awful.
I just dont undestand why its not ok. Im paying for a room that sleeps 4 so it shouldnt make a difference.
 
To update, I just returned home. My daughter and I (she's a Disney adult, but not a true adult) stayed 5 nights with the dining plan. My husband was able to join us for 2 nights in the middle, so we did not want to put him on the DP for food he would not get to eat. The concierge/Guest Service desk said they absolutely could not add him to our reservation, they could only add him to the system as a "day guest". They were able to get him on MEX and he could use the pool, but the CM was adamant that he could not partake in Magic Hours. He could not use his MB for the room, he was issued a plastic card for room entry, and used his MB for tickets. We didn't end up utilizing MH while he was there, and I suppose he could have just used one my extra ones during MH in the parks (which he also used for food and room charging).

Thanks for taking the time to respond with what happened.
I really don't know what to do now.
We definetly want to do magic hours, and he will want access to be able to open the room.

I wonder why they are now so difficult about it.
I have to finalise some things tomorrow so im going fo call ask, and make sure its noted that ive asked, i mean if they can add as day guest they can add as a proper guest.
 


You’ll need to book the room for both of you and either pay for the dining plan for both of you or skip the dining plan. They seem to have cracked down because people were using it as a way to pay less for the dining plan.

I think that this is it as well. I had read on the boards that it wasn’t allowed but my mother called the reservation line and they told her it would be fine. I tried to explain that they don’t always know what they are talking about but my family didn’t want to believe me. In the future, we will know.
 
My daughter is coming down for three of the ten days that I will be on property. It makes no sense to add her to the original reservation and pay for an additional seven days of park tickets and a meal plan that she won't be able to participate in. We will pay out of pocket for the days she is there. I guess if we have to forgo EMH, so be it.
 


You’ll need to book the room for both of you and either pay for the dining plan for both of you or skip the dining plan. They seem to have cracked down because people were using it as a way to pay less for the dining plan.

I called and asked and they said they would add him at check in, so ive taken down the name time and details of the person who i spoke to, so that i have some proof.
I have till next wk to decide.
 
I called and asked and they said they would add him at check in, so ive taken down the name time and details of the person who i spoke to, so that i have some proof.
I have till next wk to decide.

Just an FYI... they told my mom the same thing on the phone. When we arrived it was a different story and, as I already said, they threatened to throw her out of the hotel if my sister attempted to stay in the room. It seems that the phone agents tell a different story than the people in the hotels.
 
I didn't have any problems adding my husband as a day guest, they just couldn't officially add him to the reservation without him being on the dining plan. All 'official' guests need to be booked on the initial reservation apparently, and at that point everyone needs to be on the same meal plan (or none at all). After tha, even with less than the max number of guests, additional people are added as day guests. It worked out fine. As I mentioned, the only hassle was that he wasn't allowed to partake in EMH, but I think he'd have been fine using one of our bands from previous trips since they only check one band per party. We ended up not using EMH the 2 days he was there anyway, and it was better than paying several hundred dollars more for a dining plan that he wasn't going to be able to use.

To be honest, my biggest concern was getting him from the airport to the resort, and the concierge had no issue with arranging Magical Express for him (I just went to the front desk the day he was to arrive and gave them his flight details).

They issued him a plastic room key, which I had the front desk hold for his arrival- he got of the bus and just picked it up and was able to go to the room (we are already at a park by then). He had his own ticket linked to his band, and he used one of my extras for food and room charging. It was a bit of a hassle to juggle the bands, but in the end it was fine.
 
He had his own ticket linked to his band, and he used one of my extras for food and room charging. It was a bit of a hassle to juggle the bands, but in the end it was fine.

Did he ever try to use his band to open the door or pay for food?
 
Did he ever try to use his band to open the door or pay for food?

Yeah, his band would not work on the door or for room charging, only for the park tickets that were linked to his name/band. I brought some of my bands from previous trips and they all worked for room charging, dining credits and room access. I’m guessing this is the difference between “day guest” and official-on-the-reservation guest.

He ditched the plastic card after coming the room the first time (since we weren’t there) and just carried around two bands while he was there.
 
We stayed at the Beach Club over the holidays and we could not add anyone at check in. We had the deluxe dining plan for two people and when we tried to add our daughter to the room they said absolutely "NO"
They said they could have done it if we did not have the dining plan but because we had the dining plan there was no way to add people to the room even though the room could fit 5 people. My daughter stayed anyways. She could not use the pool or get extra magic hours but that was ok we never use those during the winter holidays.

Interesting - we did exactly this but at the Boardwalk over Thanksgiving. You do have to wait until after check in but at that point the package requirements have been met and you should have been able to add a guest.

We arrived two days prior to my sister, checked in and then added her to the reservation the next day. She was able to use DME, get a MB and as a registered room guest she had access to all the benefits of an onsite guest.

FWIW we do this almost every year sometimes more than once a year and have been for a long time.
 
Interesting - we did exactly this but at the Boardwalk over Thanksgiving. You do have to wait until after check in but at that point the package requirements have been met and you should have been able to add a guest.

We arrived two days prior to my sister, checked in and then added her to the reservation the next day. She was able to use DME, get a MB and as a registered room guest she had access to all the benefits of an onsite guest.

FWIW we do this almost every year sometimes more than once a year and have been for a long time.

That is really interesting as we tried to add my sister to my mom’s reservation. We were 6 nights into a 10 night reservation and my mother was threatened with removal from the hotel if she attempted to have my sister stay with her and my father. We had been told by our travel agent that it would not be allowed and we were also told by people on here. When my mom called Disney the reservation agent told her that it would be fine. Obviously, it wasn’t.

Perhaps it was because we were on the dining plan. ??? We were staying at AKL for that trip.
 
That is really interesting as we tried to add my sister to my mom’s reservation. We were 6 nights into a 10 night reservation and my mother was threatened with removal from the hotel if she attempted to have my sister stay with her and my father. We had been told by our travel agent that it would not be allowed and we were also told by people on here. When my mom called Disney the reservation agent told her that it would be fine. Obviously, it wasn’t.

Perhaps it was because we were on the dining plan. ??? We were staying at AKL for that trip.

We were also on the dining plan (as I mentioned in my OP) and we have done this at least once a year for the past 8/10 years at various resorts and never had an issue.
Most recently was BWI, prior to that was ALK and I also recall her joining us at SSR and Bay Lake among others (all on cash). It doesn't make sense to add her to our package as she doesn't stay the entire trip and since she's an extra adult there is also a fee for each night.

She has always been given a MB (room key prior to that) charging privileges and all the other benefits of a resort guest and I have always been charged the extra adult fee for the correct number of nights.
 
We were also on the dining plan (as I mentioned in my OP) and we have done this at least once a year for the past 8/10 years at various resorts and never had an issue.
Most recently was BWI, prior to that was ALK and I also recall her joining us at SSR and Bay Lake among others (all on cash). It doesn't make sense to add her to our package as she doesn't stay the entire trip and since she's an extra adult there is also a fee for each night.

She has always been given a MB (room key prior to that) charging privileges and all the other benefits of a resort guest and I have always been charged the extra adult fee for the correct number of nights.

I wish that this would be the policy all of the time. Obviously, we either encountered a “rogue” cast member as it is supposed to be the policy or it is cast member discretion. The cast member and manager had my mother crying at the front desk of AKL two years ago. She was terrified that she would be thrown out the rest of the trip. (And we did offer to pay the fee for the extra adult. That was how she started the conversation.)
 
Seriously? Thats awful.
I just dont undestand why its not ok. Im paying for a room that sleeps 4 so it shouldnt make a difference.
The difference it makes is that everyone on the reservation has to pay for a dining plan if anyone on the reservation gets the Dining plan. Since some on the reservation have the dining plan, he cant be added later. If no one had the dining plan then he could be added to the reservation, even at the last minute.
 
The difference it makes is that everyone on the reservation has to pay for a dining plan if anyone on the reservation gets the Dining plan. Since some on the reservation have the dining plan, he cant be added later. If no one had the dining plan then he could be added to the reservation, even at the last minute.

Only until check in - after check in your package requirements have been met and you can add additional guests as long as you don't exceed room occupancy limits.
 
I wish that this would be the policy all of the time.
Only until check in - after check in your package requirements have been met and you can add additional guests as long as you don't exceed room occupancy limits.
It seems the policy has changed. As far as I can tell, this policy has been in effect for over a year now. Unfortunately, Disney doesn’t actually publish policies like this. I imagine that folks used this loophole (or old policy?) to skirt the dining plan and ticket requirements, so Disney had to change enforcement.
 
It seems the policy has changed. As far as I can tell, this policy has been in effect for over a year now. Unfortunately, Disney doesn’t actually publish policies like this. I imagine that folks used this loophole (or old policy?) to skirt the dining plan and ticket requirements, so Disney had to change enforcement.

Our most recent experience was 11/2017.

We didn't skirt anything - my sister paid oop for all her meals and has an AP and we paid the extra adult charge per person.
 

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