ADR timing question

[Foofness]

We have an ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe for lunch on our MK day... My question is, how long is the boat/ferry ride to WL from MK... I don't want to be late for our lunch, but I have no idea how much travel time to allow ourselves... What happens if you are late to an ADR?...

 

[zurgswife]

It's not only the boat ride but how long you have to wait for a boat at MK. I would say give yourself at least 45mins. We had dinner at WCC 2 weeks ago and it took almost an hour.

 

[Foofness]

That long?!?... Sheesh... Hopefully it won't be that bad in Sept. with smaller crowds overall...

I'm also a little worried about our breakfast ADR for that morning... It's EMH's in the am, on the day we are going to MK... We have an ADR @ Crystal Palace for 8:00 am... Will the buses be running early enough for us to get there that early?... I can't see them giving resort guests an extra hour park time if they aren't going to provide transportation that would get you there an hour early...

 

[stitch63]

We have an ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe for lunch on our MK day... My question is, how long is the boat/ferry ride to WL from MK... I don't want to be late for our lunch, but I have no idea how much travel time to allow ourselves... What happens if you are late to an ADR?...

What a good question! I'm making ressies for Whispering Canyon on our MK day too and hadn't thought about the wait for the boat to take us to the WL. Where is the restaurant located in the WL? Is there a difference in atmosphere (servers, pony races, etc) between lunch and dinner? I know I've read it depends on your servers regarding your experience there.

 

[Foofness]

What happens if you arrive early to an ADR?... If we allow an hour travel time but end up only needing half that... will we be seated sooner, or do we have to wait till our ADR time to "check in"?... Our last and first trip to WDW was in 98, and we didn't do nearly as much planning... ate mostly CS meals where ever we happened to be when hunger hit... This time I'm doing some serious planning and haven't a clue about all the "rules" involved with ADR's...

Thanks!...

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

If you arrive early for the breakfast ADR you will likely be seated as the restaurant has not yet been opened long and will likely be pretty quiet. If you arrive early for any other ADR, breakfast, lunch, or dinner you may be seated or may have to wait until closer to your ADR time depending on the crowd level in the restaurant. But first thing in the morning you will be fine if you arrive early.
Disney provides bus service to all theme parks that start about one hour prior to park opening. This of course includes morning EMH so don't worry about bus service.
For non-EMH mornings Disney provides early buses for the various breakfasts throughout WDW. For the MK area the buses start at 6:30am daily. For the rest of the World the service begins at 7:00am daily.
I am not sure what happens to these early runs when an EMH morning is involved. But you WILL definitely have bus service no matter how early your meal is and wherever it may be in WDW.