Getting seated for 1900 Park Fare

[Mark Hammond]

We’ve got a dinner reservation at 4:45pm for 19:00 Park Fare, and have planned to go onto the Magic Kingdom afterwards.

I’ve got FastPasses booked, and was planning to arrive towards the back end of the first FP window at Splash Mountain to be able to then go straight onto the next FP for Big Thunder, but must have got mixed up with my times somewhere along the line, as I may have cut things a bit too tight.

If we were to arrive at 1900PF in time for the beginning of the dinner service at 4:00pm, would we likely to be seated earlier, or still made to wait until the time we’d booked? We wouldn’t be waiting for a table to be cleared from anyone else as it doesn’t open until 4:00pm, but I’m not a regular Disney visitor, so am unsure of the general situation regarding early arrivals etc.

Would anybody be able to help me on this please?

TIA.

 

[TOBS2010]

I can't speak about arriving that early to 1900 PF---but there have been times where we have arrived early to an ADR in WDW and sometimes they seated us right away, other times we had to wait till closer to our scheduled ADR time. I think it depends on the place. However, given the fact that your ADR is at 4:45 p.m. and that the place has a great deal of seating, I think you likely will be able to get in early.

 

[Haley R]

I can't speak about arriving that early to 1900 PF---but there have been times where we have arrived early to an ADR in WDW and sometimes they seated us right away, other times we had to wait till closer to our scheduled ADR time. I think it depends on the place. However, given the fact that your ADR is at 4:45 p.m. and that the place has a great deal of seating, I think you likely will be able to get in early.

I agree with this. It depends on the restaurant and also how busy they are. We tried getting in early at tusker house and we actually ended up waiting 40 minutes after our adr time. We’ve gotten in early at other adrs though. We always try if we plan to be there early anyway but go in knowing it might not happen

 

[Betty Rohrer]

We’ve got a dinner reservation at 4:45pm for 19:00 Park Fare, and have planned to go onto the Magic Kingdom afterwards.

I’ve got FastPasses booked, and was planning to arrive towards the back end of the first FP window at Splash Mountain to be able to then go straight onto the next FP for Big Thunder, but must have got mixed up with my times somewhere along the line, as I may have cut things a bit too tight.

If we were to arrive at 1900PF in time for the beginning of the dinner service at 4:00pm, would we likely to be seated earlier, or still made to wait until the time we’d booked? We wouldn’t be waiting for a table to be cleared from anyone else as it doesn’t open until 4:00pm, but I’m not a regular Disney visitor, so am unsure of the general situation regarding early arrivals etc.

Would anybody be able to help me on this please?

TIA.

one more time saving tip as for bill early when seated as it is buffet

 

[wendlle]

I agree with this. It depends on the restaurant and also how busy they are. We tried getting in early at tusker house and we actually ended up waiting 40 minutes after our adr time. We’ve gotten in early at other adrs though. We always try if we plan to be there early anyway but go in knowing it might not happen

this was our Tusker House experience as well. never again.

 

[cruisin5]

Keep checking for an earlier reservation; if there aren't any that usually means you will wait.

And I would expect that those arriving after you but with reservations before you to be seated first.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I wouldn't bank on being seated early. I've had really inconsistent experiences with seating and timing at 1900 PF. We've had visits where we were seated 20+ min late, we've had some where we were seated early, and some on time. We've also had everything from super slow, super rushed, to well paced experiences after being seated. Even asking for your check early isn't a given, since we've had servers there go MIA for a while. Ultimately, when it comes to these things, better to plan on things taking longer than expected.

 

[ktlm]

1900 Park Fare is typically a must do for my DD. You can try, but I wouldn't count on it. We have arrived about 30 minutes early for a 1900 Park Fare ADR, and they would not even check us in--- they told us to come back when it was 15 minutes before our reservation. I think we may have even had that happen twice. 1900 Park Fare is the only WDW restaurant where we have ever had that happen.

1900 Park Fare is notorious for not getting you seated at your ADR time. I can only recall one time where we were actually seated early- about 5 minutes before our ADR time -(and the ADR was at 7:15), and I remember being excited. We think it is a good day at Park Fare if we are seated within 10 or 15 minutes after the ADR time. Strangely we have had better luck with our ADRs between 7- 8- than we have with our ADRs between 5:00 and 6:30. I think the shortest time it has ever taken us to have a meal there was about an hour and 20 minutes. Once you are seated, a lot depends on where the characters are as to how long it takes you to get out. The restaurant is big and the characters sometimes get really spread out. I recall once time we had 6:00 p.m. ADR, did not get seated until over an hour after that and by the time we saw all the characters, left the restaurant at 9:00 p.m. I also recall one time we were staying at the GF and had an ADR at 6:40 (AK day), and planned to watch the MK fireworks from the GF boat dock. We left the restaurant at 9:20 as the fireworks were ending- we were seated right as the characters had left our area and it took forever for them all to get around to us again. We try not to plan anything concrete or important after 1900 Park Fare because you never know how long it is going to take.

I think being at 4:45 hopefully, you will get out in plenty of time to spend some evening time at MK. I would not plan any FPs that you are going to be upset if you miss them though.

 

[Mark Hammond]

Thanks for the input everybody. I’ll just have to keep looking for an earlier reservation, but will arrive especially early for our 4:45pm one if I get no luck, and ask about the possibility of being seated earlier. No harm in trying I suppose.
At least we’re not waiting for a table to be vacated from a previous sitting, as they wouldn’t have been able to turn a table around within 45 mins of it opening.
We’ve got 2hrs 25 mins from the ADR time until the FP for Splash Mountain expires. Won’t be the end of the world if we miss it, ‘cos at least we won’t be soaking wet for the rest of the night!

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

I would try for an earlier ADR. I’ve always had excellent luck with Touring Plan’s reservation finder. We haven’t eaten at 1900 Park Fare but I know with my other ADRs we’ve never been successful at getting seated ahead of our reservation time.