Garden View Tea - Getting in early?

[DisneySarah80]

Anyone ever gone to the Garden View Tea room a half hour or so before their reservations, and gotten seated? We are going at the end of October (on a MNSSHP night if that makes a difference) and have reservations for 3:40pm. I try every single day, several times a day, for an earlier reservation, but so far, no luck.

The reason I want to go a little early, is because I have reservations at the barber shop for my daughters at 5pm, and while I don't want to be late for it (plus its their last reservation for the day, so if we don't show, they will just leave), I also don't want to be rushed at tea.


TIA

 

[PoohsFan1]

Sorry I can't answer your question for you since the the two times that we had done this tea my Daughters and I had 2pm ADRs which is when the first seating is. If I were you, I would keep checking back and hopefully an earlier ADR will open up. Good luck. I want to say that you should have enough time to do the tea and then go to the Barber shop, but then again you never know how slow they could be. Again good luck.

 

[MinneyME]

We went last January to the GVTR and loved it! We did try to get in early, and even though the restaurant was half empty, we were not seated until our res time. Not sure if this is their policy or if it was just that CM. If you try to get in early I hope you have better luck than we did!

 

[Marblies]

Our experience is the same as the above poster. We waited 30 minutes for our actual ressie time even though the restaurant wasn't full. In fact they turned away walk-ups, saying that they were completely booked. Must have been low on staff. It is a great experience, but is meant to be a leisurely affair. It really seems like a waste of money to me, unless you are just ordering a scone and tea off ala-carte, as you have maybe 50 minutes max. Keep trying for a cancelation. Maybe they will have a no-show and can sit you early. Good Luck!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Getting in early is almost impossible.
2) Even if the eatery is half-full.
. . . guests and servers are balanced
. . . you can't have too many guests, or service is slow
. . . same reason you don't fill an eatery at the opening hour
. . . a full eatery can't be serviced by waiters or kitchen
. . . so, table seating and service has to be staggered
3) There is also another reason.
. . . the other tables could be reserved for a little later
. . . many stay 1-1½ hrs or more, so you might interfere with another ADR
. . . even though the next ADR is for much later
4) Like others,
. . . we have seen people waiting, even though tables are open
. . . we have seen people turned away, even with open tables