Arriving very early or late for ADR?

[ChrisParker]

A question - we have an ADR booked for the first night at 'Ohana. I'm a bit concerned that my arrival timing might be a bit off and so have the following question -

If the flight is delayed and we are an hour past or more the ADR, is there any point turning up and telling them what happened? Does anyone have any actual experience with this?

Similarly, if we mis-time our timing and arrive very early (let's say again for the sake of argument an hour or more), would they possibly seat us early?

I'm hoping to hear from people who have actually had this experience.

Thanks!!

 

[Cobern]

A question - we have an ADR booked for the first night at 'Ohana. I'm a bit concerned that my arrival timing might be a bit off and so have the following question -

If the flight is delayed and we are an hour past or more the ADR, is there any point turning up and telling them what happened? Does anyone have any actual experience with this?

Similarly, if we mis-time our timing and arrive very early (let's say again for the sake of argument an hour or more), would they possibly seat us early?

I'm hoping to hear from people who have actually had this experience.

Thanks!!

At Akershurs we arrived about 30 minutes late one nights (bus took over an hour to come) and they were accommodating to us. They still sat us and we met all the princesses. I do not know about others though

 

[JaneSparrow]

I have the same worry and we have 7:50PM ADR at 'Ohana on arrival day.

 

[LilyWDW]

If you are late, then they are under no obligation to seat you and you could be charged the no show fee. Ohana is a very VERY busy restaurant and it would depend on if they feel they can accommodate without messing up the flow.

If you are early, they may seat you, they may give you a pager and tell you to wait, or they may request you check in closer to your ADR time.

No real way to know what will happen honestly. It can change based off of restaurant, that night's staffing, how many no shows they have (not many at Ohana due to cancellation policy), and many other factors. What one person has happen might not be what happens even the next night. This is the biggest reason I do not do reservations at all on arrival night and especially not ones with cancellation policies.

 

[ChrisParker]

If you are late, then they are under no obligation to seat you and you could be charged the no show fee. Ohana is a very VERY busy restaurant and it would depend on if they feel they can accommodate without messing up the flow.

If you are early, they may seat you, they may give you a pager and tell you to wait, or they may request you check in closer to your ADR time.

No real way to know what will happen honestly. It can change based off of restaurant, that night's staffing, how many no shows they have (not many at Ohana due to cancellation policy), and many other factors. What one person has happen might not be what happens even the next night. This is the biggest reason I do not do reservations at all on arrival night and especially not ones with cancellation policies.

Thanks. That's pretty much what I was thinking too. Not sure if I want to chance losing the deposit on the reservation...

 

[LilyWDW]

Thanks. That's pretty much what I was thinking too. Not sure if I want to chance losing the deposit on the reservation...

There are just SO many variables when flying that I don't risk it. My last trip is an example of this. Our original flight was delayed so when we finally got to our connecting airport we had missed our connecting flight. We were put as priority standby for the next flight, but there was no guarantee we would be on. Luckily, we did (and 2 seats next to each other too!).

We were supposed to land at 1PM. We had a reservation at Flying Fish for 7PM. Plenty of time. We ended up not getting to the resort until after 5!

 

[magictam2]

In 2011 we arrived rather early for our CRT I think about 30 minutes. We were asked to leave and come back. When we got back about 10 minutes early we were given a pager (I think). One of the CM said they wait for a "group" of reservations" to show up before they start the pictures and taking a table at a time upstairs.
I have to tell you that I was really tired and just wanted a place to sit. So I was rather annoyed they took up quite a few people who had shown up after us and it was well past our reservation time when we were finally seated. It wasn't a magical experience for us.

 

[marivigi]

We had that happen to us last trip at Ohana thank to the 3 hour long immigration line.

We arrived about 35 minutes late, dropped our luggage at check in and didnt even bother foung to our rooms. Just ran to Ohana. We explained what had happened and they were super nice and had a table ready for the 8 of us about 10-15 mins later

 

[maxiesmom]

In 2011 we arrived rather early for our CRT I think about 30 minutes. We were asked to leave and come back. When we got back about 10 minutes early we were given a pager (I think). One of the CM said they wait for a "group" of reservations" to show up before they start the pictures and taking a table at a time upstairs.
I have to tell you that I was really tired and just wanted a place to sit. So I was rather annoyed they took up quite a few people who had shown up after us and it was well past our reservation time when we were finally seated. It wasn't a magical experience for us.

Just in case you are unaware, ADRs don't guarantee you you will be seated at that precise time. They guarantee you will be seated at the next table available for your size party. The old name of Priority Seating was more accurate, imho.

 

[magictam2]

Just in case you are unaware, ADRs don't guarantee you you will be seated at that precise time. They guarantee you will be seated at the next table available for your size party. The old name of Priority Seating was more accurate, imho.

I never said it did guarantee me anything. I was just pointing out MY experience. I know there is no rhyme or reason for the madness of Disney's methods.

 

[ChrisParker]

All good points to be sure. I think of Disney like the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Everyone gets what they're promised and some people get way more. Generally I've always been impressed and the point is well taken that they don't have to hold the ADR.

 

[maxiesmom]

I never said it did guarantee me anything. I was just pointing out MY experience. I know there is no rhyme or reason for the madness of Disney's methods.

Ok fine. I was just trying to let you know, because it wasn't clear if you did or not. Geeze.

 

[LilyWDW]

Ok fine. I was just trying to let you know, because it wasn't clear if you did or not. Geeze.

I thought it was important information to include in this thread. Other members often will read things like this. Sometimes it is better to give too much information then not enough. making sure that readers and posters know that an ADR is not a guaranteed seating at X time is a great thing to bring up!