Do WDW Resturants seat late?

[chimoe]

Hello All,

We are heading on our 1st trip to WDW in late November. We got all our dining plans booked but I have read several threads about people being seated 1/2 hour after ADR times.

How bad of a problem is this? We have set aside roughly 1.5 hrs in total dining time per ADR. Some of our FP+ are right after.

I reviewed my trip plan and I now am a bit worried. Here are a few examples:

6.30PM @ The Wave at Contemporary
8.30PM @ HEA Dessert party

Another example - slightly different. (I guess with this being seated late would be an advantage for us?)

1.20PM - 2.20PM FP+ to Slinky Dog Dash
1.45PM ADR at Hollywood &n Vine (trying to move this past 2PM).

 

[Hopefully]

An ADR is NOT a traditional reservation. It places you in line for the next table for your party size after you check in. They are not holding a table for you.
Yes. You may wait 15 - 30 minutes to be seated

 

[kastoney]

Yes you could have to wait, but we have never experienced any waits even close to 30 minutes. I'd say 10 tops is the most we've ever waited.

For your specific meals I'd look to move The Wave a bit earlier just to be on the safe side or show up early (its usually not too busy). For H&V just do slinky dog first and then lunch. You can show up for your FP 5 minutes before the official start time so you'd be fine

 

[Marthasor]

Hello All,

We are heading on our 1st trip to WDW in late November. We got all our dining plans booked but I have read several threads about people being seated 1/2 hour after ADR times.

How bad of a problem is this? We have set aside roughly 1.5 hrs in total dining time per ADR. Some of our FP+ are right after.

I reviewed my trip plan and I now am a bit worried. Here are a few examples:

6.30PM @ The Wave at Contemporary
8.30PM @ HEA Dessert party

Another example - slightly different. (I guess with this being seated late would be an advantage for us?)

1.20PM - 2.20PM FP+ to Slinky Dog Dash
1.45PM ADR at Hollywood &n Vine (trying to move this past 2PM).

If you can, I would move your Wave reservation to an earlier time. Even if you are seated on time at the Wave and it takes 90 minutes, that only leaves you 30 minutes to walk back to MK, get through security and walk back to Tomorrowland Terrace. Plus, you might not be very hungry for dessert if you've just eaten dinner.

For DHS, I would scan your MB at Slinky at 1:15 pm. If the FP+ line is moving, you should be off the ride by 1:30 pm and then will just make your ADR. I would definitely look for a later H&V time though.

 

[Aimeedyan]

In all my years of eating at Disney, I've only been seated super late once. Every other time we've been seated immediately or within 5 minutes.

We dine at The Wave frequently and have never waited more than 2-3 minutes to be seated but the service can be a tad slow. I would look to move that reservation earlier - they usually have plenty of availability (esp day before). Upside is that you can walk to MK following it (10 minutes) and there is rarely a wait at the sidewalk security check except at peak times. I will also say that I might reconsider a true dinner before the dessert party... we were going to eat after the dessert party but we all filled up so much on the included food that we didn't even have dinner that night. It might be worth considering a lighter dinner (CS in the park) if you're worried about time and rushing esp since you've paid a premium for so much food at the party.

For Slinky, you'll be fine unless the ride goes down and then you can always come back after dinner to ride it. Tap in at 1:15pm; we have always been on the ride within 10 minutes of tapping in.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If the weather is bad, guests who are sitting inside, nice and dry, are hesitant to leave that area to go out into the park. On our very first trip, we had a breakfast reservation at Crystal Palace and were almost an hour late being seated because it was raining so hard and no one wanted to leave to go out into the rain.

 

[kiramay]

We usually check in early or try to book the first seating. (Like if Chef Mickey opens at 5, we book dinner at 5.) Eating at off times helps too. Lunch at 2:30 is less busy than lunch at noon. Most time we wait 10-15 minutes. Longest was around 45 minutes at Ohana in 2012. We’ve never been back.

 

[soniam]

I think we have only been seated late at Tusker House. That was once out of the 2 times we have eaten there. We might have been seated 10-15 minutes late at Crystal Palace. I am wondering if it's worse at buffets.

 

[GillianP1301]

Of the 150 or ADRs I've had over our last 7 trips, I have only waited 30 minutes maybe a half dozen times. We are almost always seated 10 - 15 minutes from time of check-in and often times less than that. That being said, planning a meal for 90 minutes in your touring plan is a good estimate as it will cut down on any stress of trying to make your next part of your scheduled plan.

6:30 @ The Wave followed by an 8:30 Dessert Party should be just fine. The Wave is not known as a busier location with unusually long wait times to be seated. As long as you are out of there by 8:00, you'll be fine for the dessert party time.

Your 2nd example may be a bit tighter because SDD is so popular and the FP line may have a bit of a wait to it. I would probably count on the wait and the ride being 30 minutes and then you have a few minutes walk to the restaurant. You can check in for your FP 5 minutes early, but you may still run a few minutes late for that ADR. That would still be fine, but may cause some stress depending on your personality (for me being even a minute or two late for something totally stresses me out). 2:00pm would be more ideal for sure.

 

[mckennarose]

There's not much I can add about ADR times that hasn't been covered. We've been seated on time, up to 45 minutes late and we've even been seated 15 minutes early, if we happen to arrive early. But I do want to comment on this:....

..... Plus, you might not be very hungry for dessert if you've just eaten dinner.
.....

We've done several dessert parties and I would definitely reconsider eating dinner right before one. We usually eat a later lunch or grab a small snack in the afternoon on a dessert party day. There is A LOT of food at the parties, both sweet and savory items.

 

[gharter]

It really varies.
Last week we were at WDW.
Most times we were seated within 5 minutes of checking in.
We checked in at Sci Fi and were told it could be a 20-30 minute wait. We were called in under 5 mintues.
At Jiko, we were told it would be about 15 minutes and was 30.
If you have 90 minutes planned for an ADR and are seated late, even if you have a FP right after, you should be OK as the FP is good for an hour, plus about a 10-15 minute grace period after.

 

[crabbygal902]

I would absolutely change that Wave dinner to an earlier time, it should be no problem. A little extra time to digest dinner and not have to rush would be great before heading over to the party. You might even have some time to putter around the Contemporary. I highly recommend puttering around, sometimes that's where you find the magic at WDW.

I would also push back H&V if possible, I wouldn't want to watch my watch during the entire ride experience. You never know when the FP line is going to crawl along for some reason or another.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Lorelei18]

If you have the HEA Dessert party at 8:30, are you doing the before party or after party? Plaza Garden Viewing or Tomorrowland Terrace? Are fireworks at 10pm or 9pm that night? If you are doing the before party, they may let you check in a bit earlier than 8:30. Odds are good people will be lined up earlier than 8:30 to check in. And, depending on how crowded MK is, you may want to give yourself time to enjoy your desserts and make it down to the Plaza garden to grab a spot. For the cost of the dessert party, it's worth it to be able to take your time and enjoy the experience, particularly if the rest of the park is crowded that day. If you are going late November I am assuming it's maybe Thanksgiving week? I'd personally, as some others have mentioned, maybe not do a TS dinner right before the dessert party.

 

[FSU Girl]

Almost all my dining reservations I was seated within 5 to 10 minutes of waiting. I have had a few occasions of having to wait a long time though. At Via Napoli we waited over 45 minutes to get a table and then another hour before we got our mediocre food. Chef Mickey took about a half hour, but I knew that one could get backed up and wasn't really surprised. When timing things think about the distance between the meal and where you need to go. For the Wave I'd go at least a half hour earlier so you aren't rushing to make your dessert party.

 

[HopperFan]

I have had many times where I was seated 30+ minutes after my ADR.

It seems to be the same places and more than once.

Coral Reef (every time)
Le Cellier
Chef Mickey
Ohana (every time)
Liberty Tree Tavern (just last month again)
Tonys Town Square (but not last time)
Garden Grill

But plenty of times we had to wait 15-20 past at many places,
so common I now try to always buffer 2 hours.

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We usually book ADRs for 5:30pm and have never waited more than a few minutes over 10 visits.

 

[chimoe]

Thanks for input all. We actually found an ADR for 6pm at LIberty Tree restaurant. So we now have a 2.5hr gap between dinner and HEA dessert party.

Still trying to push my garden grill Rez 1hr earlier and my Hollywood and Vine Rez 1/2 hr later.

Just gotta keep stalking the Rez site. We are just at 1 month from our trip and I’m starting to see bunch of ADRs for better times appear.

I’m assuming for buffets 1.25hr and table service 1.5hr.

 

[chimoe]

If you have the HEA Dessert party at 8:30, are you doing the before party or after party? Plaza Garden Viewing or Tomorrowland Terrace? Are fireworks at 10pm or 9pm that night? If you are doing the before party, they may let you check in a bit earlier than 8:30. Odds are good people will be lined up earlier than 8:30 to check in. And, depending on how crowded MK is, you may want to give yourself time to enjoy your desserts and make it down to the Plaza garden to grab a spot. For the cost of the dessert party, it's worth it to be able to take your time and enjoy the experience, particularly if the rest of the park is crowded that day. If you are going late November I am assuming it's maybe Thanksgiving week? I'd personally, as some others have mentioned, maybe not do a TS dinner right before the dessert party.

We are plaza garden view. Desserts before Fireworks. HEA is at 10pm that night.

 

[MomOTwins]

Thanks for input all. We actually found an ADR for 6pm at LIberty Tree restaurant. So we now have a 2.5hr gap between dinner and HEA dessert party.

Still trying to push my garden grill Rez 1hr earlier and my Hollywood and Vine Rez 1/2 hr later.

Just gotta keep stalking the Rez site. We are just at 1 month from our trip and I’m starting to see bunch of ADRs for better times appear.

I’m assuming for buffets 1.25hr and table service 1.5hr.

If it's a character buffet, I'd say assume 1.5 for both. Sometimes it can take a while to cycle through the characters.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We've had a number of instances where we've had to wait. We've also had some close calls with ADRs vs FP times. This past trip, we were seated about 25 min late for Tusker and had to rush through our meal so we could make our FoP FP. I didn't want to have a meal and FP so close together, but it was a matter of taking all we could get. We've also found it impossible to predict. Sometimes we arrive at a place like 'Ohana, that's notoriously late (often 45 min for us), and get seated immediately/early. Sometimes we arrive at a place like Brown Derby where we've always been seated on time and wind up waiting over an hour (yes, more than an hour). And then there are places like California Grill that have consistently been a 35 min wait on all of our visits.

My tip...if you can't get better FP or ADR times, go in with a game plan. Like are you going to ditch the FP if it gets down to the wire or rush through your meal.