Howdy, Lisa!
Thanks for moseying on back to planDisney with this great question. I'm so excited to hear about your stay at
The Campsites at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort later this year. I haven't stayed there yet, but we loved seeing the creative setups when we did some
horseback riding there last year. It looks like such a peaceful place to unwind after an exciting day in the parks.
Typically, each guest on a
Vacation Package needs to have the same ticket entitlements, dining plans, etc. across the reservation. I realize that there are variables that can come into play, like if one guest is an
Annual Passholder or is arriving part-way through the stay. I reached out to a Cast Member for guidance and am happy to share what I've learned.
Your first option would be to add the family member to your existing reservation, which would in turn result in ticketed days they might not be able to use. I know this is the scenario you are hoping to avoid, so the Cast Member suggested visiting the Front Desk on the day your family member arrives to inquire about adding them as a room-only reservation for the remainder of the days they will be staying. It sounds like the resorts might have a separate booking system and can hopefully make the necessary adjustments to your reservation in person. I can't guarantee whether there will be any additional costs associated with doing it this way. Additionally, the new guest may or may not be able to take advantage of any dining plans you have added to your existing vacation package without a separate charge.
Unfortunately, I don't have your current reservation information so I was unable to verify all these intricate details via Cast Member chat. Personally, I wouldn't want to wait until a guest arrives to get their plans secured so I'd like to suggest an alternate plan as well.
When I plan trips with my family we typically book a room-only reservation and purchase
theme park tickets separately. Although I'm an Annual Passholder, my husband and children are not so we don't need the same ticket entitlements across our entire vacation. You could take a similar approach and book a new campsite-only reservation for your entire length of stay and include the additional family member on that booking. You can then purchase theme park tickets for the group staying the entire trip and have your family member purchase their own for the abbreviated stay.
If you decide to cancel your existing reservation and go this route, you'd need to pay for the first night of your resort-only reservation with the balance due at check-in. The caveat here is that your theme park tickets would need to be paid in full at the time of purchase, instead of securing your vacation with a minimal deposit and making payments until 30 days prior to check-in.
I'd recommend
contacting a Cast Member with the Disney Resort Hotel Reservations Team by phone before making any changes to your current plans. They may be able to offer additional suggestions or troubleshoot on the back end to get all the details corrected. Please come back and see us again with more questions in the meantime.
Wishing you a magical stay,
Amy