How Strict Are Dining Reservation Times?

[JessiMommy]

I wouldn't plan to be late - why not try the Touring Plans reservation finder?

I did and it worked, thanks!! Got what I wanted.

 

[JessiMommy]

So you want to purposefully show up 10 minutes late because you wanted a 5:20pm ADR vs a 5:10pm ADR?
10 minutes is not going to make that much of a difference in you being more "ready for dinner".
I would not risk being late because you could very well find yourself with a $10 per person no show fee depending on how the CM's are feeling that day.
Try to get a later time.
If you can't then get there on time or just don't bother going and cancel by the night before.

We're trying to catch the 5 PM Voices of Liberty show. We miss it every trip and are only coming into EPCOT for dinner that night. 10 minutes makes all the difference in this particular scenario. It's a mute point because I found a later dining time. I knew I likely would but was curious what others experiences had been.

 

[JessiMommy]

NOt sure ten minutes would make you that much hungrier??

LOL! No it wouldn't, I was nervous about having time to catch Voices of Liberty before our dinner.

 

[mousehockey37]

You pretty much have 15 mins to play with.....we were once stuck on Tower of terror and it made us 30 minutes late for our 50s Prime time reservation.... when we got there they were like no problem

Being stuck on a ride and being made late for a reservation is completely different than just showing up 10 minutes late to a reservation. If it's out of your control, they should be able and willing to accommodate it. If you're just trying to stretch things out for a later reservation, you honestly deserve to get hit with the no-show fee as someone else who would've wanted that ressie and couldn't get it (and they would've showed up when they were supposed to).

In the end, like with most things that CM's are a part of, you're at their discretion. Higher demand places will have less wiggle room however.

 

[JessiMommy]

I would never intentionally be late to a reservation simply because it seems inconsiderate to other diners or people trying to made reservations, especially if it's a large party.

If you don't want to dine at 5:10, cancel and make a reservation somewhere else for a more suitable time. Whether or not there will be a penalty for showing up late shouldn't be the most immediate consideration.

We're a party of 3 and the penalty was not my most immediate consideration, nor was I trying to be inconsiderate to other diners. It was what is the policy? Would I be seated? I was pretty confident that in 3 months I'd find a better time but was just curious about a worse case scenario. We're trying to catch Voices of Liberty prior to our dinner. Used Touring Plans Dining Finder and had something better within a day.

 

[mousehockey37]

We're a party of 3 and the penalty was not my most immediate consideration, nor was I trying to be inconsiderate to other diners. It was what is the policy? Would I be seated? I was pretty confident that in 3 months I'd find a better time but was just curious about a worse case scenario. We're trying to catch Voices of Liberty prior to our dinner. Used Touring Plans Dining Finder and had something better within a day.

The Voices of Liberty does several shows throughout the day. Perhaps catch a different show other than the one directly prior to the meal?

 

[JessiMommy]

The Voices of Liberty does several shows throughout the day. Perhaps catch a different show other than the one directly prior to the meal?

LOL we wont be there earlier in the day and like I said we already found a better time.

 

[Roxyfire]

I'm gonna put on my flame suit before I say this, it's a dining reservation and not a court summons. Obviously, people should try to make it for a time they know they'll be free. But realistically speaking, there's folks who are late for everything and that's gonna include reservations at a theme park restaurant. I think OP has it handled but I just wanted to put that out there, being a few minutes behind isn't the end of the world, CMs are people too.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

ADR Times and Tardiness "411":
1) WDW advises you to be at the ADR 15-minutes early.
2) You are expected to meet your ADR time, just like any other appointment.
3) Being on-time is your responsibility, not that of WDW.
4) If late, they *can* cancel the ADR.
5) Under normal conditions, they usually allow up to a 15-minute lateness, but this is kindness allowance, NOT a Grace Period.
6) If really busy, (eg, Free Dining, Holidays), there might be zero allowances.
7) If you miss the ADR, you *might* have the ability to wait for a table.
8) For waiting times, there is no estimate, waits of 1-1½ hrs are common.
. . . if the eatery is not too busy, wait times could be minimal
. . . just depends upon the individual day-time-etc
9) They also have the option of canceling and just sending you away.
10) These options are at the discretion of the SEATER on duty at the podium.
11) Plus, it is up the eatery manager to decide if you get charged the $10/person no-show fee.

NOTE:
If it is near the end of the ressie period or the end of park hours, do not expect ANY leniency in being late.
You are expected to make your ressie time, with zero excuses.
Courtesy is courtesy.
Plan to make your ressie or ADR times.
Selfishness does not count.

 

[JessiMommy]

ADR Times and Tardiness "411":


NOTE:
If it is near the end of the ressie period or the end of park hours, do not expect ANY leniency in being late.
You are expected to make your ressie time, with zero excuses.
Courtesy is courtesy.
Plan to make your ressie or ADR times.
Selfishness does not count.

Ok upon further reflection my question was probably a stupid one. I knew with three months to spare I would find a better time for my reservation and I did. I never had any real intention of showing up late for my dining reservation. I'm one of the most considerate people on the planet.

 

[GillianP1301]

IMO, until Disney is able to seat everyone with a few minutes of their ADR time, then they have no leg to stand on cancelling your ADR if you are 10 minutes late. I'm a notoriously early/on-time person so I don't have much experience with checking in late, but there are plenty of people who do. They may end up waiting a little longer because they'll need to seat those who were on time first, but you don't read many instances of people being outright cancelled.

 

[DisBuckMan]

To be quite honest, I don't find Disney restaurants to be any less "on-time" with ADR's than any other popular restaurants around the country. Restaurants allot a certain time for how long an average meal there "should" take, and base their reservations system on that. They cannot control how long folks loiter around during/after a meal.

 

[JerseyJanice]

LOL we wont be there earlier in the day and like I said we already found a better time.

I’m glad things worked out for you.

This is the wrong forum to ask about “bending” a Disney dining “rule.” The school marms here always come out in force with their cyber hickory sticks if you dare to ask about doing anything outside their strict interpretations of ADR policies.

They certainly did not disappoint on this thread. LOL! Hope you enjoy your meal.

 

[TeresaWen]

Voices of liberty is worth it! It is something we do at least once a trip. The walk to via Napoli is pretty short (and I think down hill). Glad you found a late time but you would not have been that late. Voices starts on the dot and was a little shorter this trip than in the past.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

IMO, until Disney is able to seat everyone with a few minutes of their ADR time

This is a chicken-egg scenario. When everyone shows up late, or early, or with 3 extra people, or books a 5PM California Grill with intent to camp the table until 10PM, it makes things not especially possible to run as a well-oiled machine. And if Disney were to pressure people to leave their table after X minutes, people would have a fit about THAT.

 

[Roxyfire]

To be quite honest, I don't find Disney restaurants to be any less "on-time" with ADR's than any other popular restaurants around the country. Restaurants allot a certain time for how long an average meal there "should" take, and base their reservations system on that. They cannot control how long folks loiter around during/after a meal.

I think it depends on the restaurant. Some always run behind and some will turn you away if you're more than 5 minutes early. I realize there are "policies" in place but considering they don't even enforce other certain policies all that well, I can imagine a serious "your mileage may vary" situation when it comes to dining reservations. That coming from a person who's usually 10 minutes early to most dining reservations, mainly because I'm hungry and ready to eat!

 

[Wubar]

This is a chicken-egg scenario. When everyone shows up late, or early, or with 3 extra people, or books a 5PM California Grill with intent to camp the table until 10PM, it makes things not especially possible to run as a well-oiled machine. And if Disney were to pressure people to leave their table after X minutes, people would have a fit about THAT.

Of course they would. How DARE Disney infringe on their perfect well-planned expensive trip!

These are probably the same people who have no problem infringing on other people's good time or bending rules if doing so benefits themselves, no matter if it puts other people at a disadvantage.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I will grant that there are some eateries where Disney is clearly underestimating the average table turn time, and it shows. They're clearly trying to pass maximum volume through (cough cough 'OHANA). Dealing with a few of those would be great.

Because many Disney restaurants tend to run 100% full during key meal periods, all they can do is book based on average. BUT NO ONE IS AVERAGE. Some people leave faster! Some people take longer, due to kids/Pooh running behind/grandma/it's raining and they stall/it's hot and the eatery has AC/chewing every bite 100 times for better digestion. So average will break.

But there's probably not really a better way than average, although potentially holding 25% of tables for walk-up/list would be an interesting experiment.

 

[McNs]

We turned up on time for our ADR and they made us wait 30 minutes to be seated...

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Also important to remember: An ADR is kind of like a FastPass, only for a restaurant. It doesn't guarantee there will be a table promptly at a time, just like a FP+ for Test Track doesn't promise it won't be down, or delayed, or a FP for Frozen doesn't promise that there's not going to be faceless Elsa to haunt your nightmares.