? Checking in for ADR-how early?

fitzkerry

Wishing for my Ears!
Joined
Aug 27, 2000
Messages
166
This may be a novice question from someone who should know better after 6 trips to WDW in the last 2 years, but here goes.

I always make ADR's, I check in 5-10 min before alloted time, I wait 30-50 minutes to be seated!

We have been a party of 5 or 6 with 1 person in a wheelchair. Now, do I just have bad luck? Has it just been really busy (SSW)? Or, should I be checking in earlier? Any help would be welcome.
 
We check in 20 minutes prior to our time and are seated within minutes but that could be the time of the year we go or the time of day we eat.
 
We normally check in about 15 minutes prior to our ADR time and are seated fairly quickly. This past June, we had an 8:10 p.m. ADR for LeCellier. It started to rain a little bit so we went ahead and headed over to the restaurant about 7:15 p.m. We knew we wouldn't be seated but we would be under shelter from the rain. The hostess asked our names and we told her that we were WWWAAAYYY early but we would just wait. In 10 minutes time we were seated at a table. The hostess said that lots of people don't show for their ADRs when it rains. They just head back to their resorts.
 
It could be the size of your party. Most of restaurant seating (and not just at Disney World) is set up for parties of four. There are tables for larger parties but if one is still there, you'll have to wait. Or, if there's no tables of four next to each other that are vacanted or will be vacated at the same time and can be pulled together, you'll have to wait. That's just a theory.

My experience with this is with a larger party of ten (actually two parties - one of four and one of six). They were more than willing to sit us next to each other but we had to wait a while because the table of six had paid the bill, finished their drinks but were enjoying some after dinner conversation. For quite a while.
 

i get so many mixed results. it really has to do with how busy the restaurant is at the time. i've shown up 15 mins late and had to wait 40. i've shown up half an hour early and have been seated right away, or made to wait the whole half hour.
 
we had a party of 4 and we would typically check in 15 mins ahead of time. The longest we waited was 25 mins at O'hana (so, 10 mins after our ressie time) Most of the time we were seated 10 mins after we checked in. I had heard the waits could be long at Le Cellier, but we checked in 15 mins early, and only waited 5 mins to be seated. :thumbsup2
 
I kind of think this is dependent on the amount of people already eating in the restaurant at the time. If your ADRs happen to be around a meal time like 5 pm or noon, I think it will take longer to get seated. The ADR isn't really like a normal reservation, but more that you will be seated before someone who just walked in. Am I right? Sometimes we have gotten hungry earlier than our ADRs and had no problem going really early and still get that priority seating. On the flip side, we have also been a tad late for our ADR and had no problem with getting a table. However, I do not see any correlation between when we get there and the amount of time we wait until we're actually seated.
 
I hate to say this but it could also be that they are having trouble accomodating the wheelchair. That plus party size could be the issue. THey are probably trying to find a place where the wheelchair won't be constantly bumped by patrons, servers etc.
 
When my family and I have made lunch ADR's at Prime Time Cafe and the Plaza they were for after 11:00 AM and once we checked in we were seated 2 minutes later, since they were not very busy at the time. When we have made dinner ADR's at Chef Mickey's, Ohana or Boma sometimes we were seated a long time after checking in and other times like at Boma we were seated 10 minutes later. So I say it depends on what they day make your ADR's for, the time and a lot of other things.
 
we are a family of 6...we check in about 5 minutes before our ADR time. HOWEVE...........we schedule our ADRs for off-peak times. We are not trying to get a table for 6 at 6pm or whatever.

I think it is not too crazy to wait quite a while for a table for more than 4 people. Our longest wait ever was at Sci Fi Dine-in. we waited nearly an hour (our ADR was for 5:20 I think, and we checked in at 5:15.) Walkups were being turned away, there was nowhere to wait inside, and it was sweltering hot outside for that looooong wait!

Beth
 
We check in about 15 minutes early and are usually seated by our set time, if not before. However, we are only a party of 2. We had an ADR at Les Chefs and were seated within 5 minutes while other larger groups said they'd been waiting for at least 20 minutes already.
 
Last November we checked in 15-20 min early at Primetime 50s for a 7pm ADR. We were told to come back at the time of our ADR and check-in. They would not accept us early. We then came back and checked in right at 7pm. Then we still waited at least 40-50 min for a table for three.
 
Last November we checked in 15-20 min early at Primetime 50s for a 7pm ADR. We were told to come back at the time of our ADR and check-in. They would not accept us early. We then came back and checked in right at 7pm. Then we still waited at least 40-50 min for a table for three.

That's very weird. I never heard that before.
 





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