how early is too early to arrive for ADR?

[jkluttrell]

I know you are supposed to arrive about 15-20 minutes ahead of your reservation but how early is too early to arrive? We have an ADR at 5:20 at Chef Mickey's the night we go to MNSSHP. I would really like to move that up (and I will try to get an earlier time) but if I arrived at 4:45 or so, would that help me? Or is that too early?

 

[catne]

I know you are supposed to arrive about 15-20 minutes ahead of your reservation but how early is too early to arrive? We have an ADR at 5:20 at Chef Mickey's the night we go to MNSSHP. I would really like to move that up (and I will try to get an earlier time) but if I arrived at 4:45 or so, would that help me? Or is that too early?

You can try it...they'll put you in the line up. You might end up waiting until close to your regular ADR, though, if they're particularly busy because they will seat people with ADRs at that time ahead of you. We have had luck getting seated early, though, especially if we are showing up for early dinners because most people seem to prefer 6-8 p.m. for dinner seatings. Not sure that will work at Chef Mickey's though -- that's a popular place for families with little ones so seems like it would be busy for the early dinners too. Can't hurt to try if you don't mind waiting.

 

[jkluttrell]

Yea I figure we (I) can just walk around the resort a little bit and take some pictures. There is nothing else available for Chef Mickey's on that day (except a 7:05 breakfast, no thank you), so I figure it might be packed anyway. I am going to keep trying though.

But now, I notice it says they serve dinner from 5:00 to 9:00 (I think). So does that make a difference on what time I can show up?

 

[Nadjalu]

Yes you can show up early, but at Chef Mickey's dinner starts at 5pm, so you won't be seated until at least then.

We went early to that adr last time and was seated 1/2 hour early.