Arrive early - seated early?

[Richard M Nixon]

While making my ADRs (for a 5 rated park crowd, so not overly packed) I'm trying to give myself a bit of wiggle room in terms of transportation and walking times. If, for example, I have an 8:45 reservation at Tusker House for breakfast and I have a good day parking and walking to the restaurant doesn't take as long as I thought so I arrive at 8:30, will I be seated if there's room or will they make me wait for my reservation time? If it matters, I'm a party of 2, which I'm told is pretty easy to seat.

 

[ajwolfe]

We've arrived early and have been seated early before. We've also arrived early and waited long after our ADR time to be seated. Think it really just depends on how busy the the restaurant is at that time. Good luck!!

 

[Richard M Nixon]

Well it's good to know there's at least a possibility.

 

[disney world dreamer]

disney suggests that you get to the restaurants 15 minutes early to begin with.
this is so you can check in and hopefully be seated as close to your reservation time as possible.

they will only seat you early if they have the room and there aren't others waiting with a res time earlier than yours.

 

[Princess Polamalu]

I had some success in June at both Ohana and 50's Prime Time Cafe with being seated early. Both restaurants seemed to be busy at the time. Oddly enough I was over an hour late at Tusker House and they were able to seat us right away as well.

 

[gtpoohbear]

They won't make you wait until your ADR time if there are table available, but more often than not, we haven't been able to be seated earlier, regardless of when we arrive. The restaurants are usually running behind, not ahead, lol!

Also, because of the timing of your ADR, it is unlikely that the earliest eaters will have finished yet, so not much chance of a table opening up ahead of your ADR. But, if you do check in early, you will at least be at the top of the list for all the 8:45 ADRs when they are ready to start seating them.

Assuming it's a 9am opening, I would probably take advantage of any (or at least some of the) extra time to enjoy an empty park and get some nice photos

 

[pmaurer74]

We have had luck being seated early at 1900PF, Tusker House but Akershus and CRT no. O'Hana we have never been seated on time.

 

[momneedscoffee13]

We arrived early to all of our reservations over the weekend and we were seated early at the majority of them - including Tusker house, Ohana, and coral reef. Garden grill was one of the only ones that we ended up having to wait about 15-20 minutes past our adr time. We were seated "on time" at H&V, Cape May, and Boma.