La Hacienda and Illuminations timing?

[dani0622]

I was only able to get a 7:30 reservation for La Hacienda. I haven't been to WDW in a few years so I can't remember how good they are at honoring your actual reservation time. I'm wondering if this particular place is good with their timing for seating and with service and food. Will we be in and out before Illuminations? Or should I count on viewing it outside? Thanks!

 

[dani0622]

bump

 

[princesscharming]

I know I can't really answer. I haven't been in a while either. I made my ressies for 7:45pm. This is based on postings that even with ADRs ppl are often waiting for a bit. And IMHO a prime viewing restaurant would have back ups around then. Just a guess. I was originally thinking 8pm. Even with a 30-45 min delay, we'd still get in b/f Illuminations. But I just didn't want to press my luck any further with three kids.

 

[jandmmom]

I can only speak from the one experience that we had there a few weeks ago, but here is what happened:

We had a 7:45 ADR. When we got there, I asked if they had any seats near a window. The hostess was extremely nice & said that there would be one available if we would be willing to wait. We got a little buzzer thing & walked over into the Mexico pavillion. At about 8pm the buzzer went off & we went back. They gave us a seat right next to the window. We were still eating when Illuminations started. Unfortunately the weather was bad & we couldn't even really see it It had been raining a lot that day & there was a ton of fog. We could see the globe on the water, but none of the fireworks. No one could really, just one of those days.

We will try again for the same thing this summer.

The food was really good, btw.

Enjoy!

 

[dani0622]

thank you both

it seems like it might be better to view from outside

 

[hannahryan]

thank you both

it seems like it might be better to view from outside

Much better view and overall experience outside. We saw a lot of fog also from our window table.