Ohana ... which ADR time is better?

[Chompu]

We will arrive MCO about noon and wonder if ADR at 4pm is good for the arrive day. We will be staying at Poly. I see other ADR option at 8pm on another day but not sure if it is too late for dinner with 5 year old since he probably has long day at the park. Will 8pm still have the same fun as early reservation?

 

[Hopefully]

We will arrive MCO about noon and wonder if ADR at 4pm is good for the arrive day. We will be staying at Poly. I see other ADR option at 8pm on another day but not sure if it is too late for dinner with 5 year old since he probably has long day at the park. Will 8pm still have the same fun as early reservation?

Travel day is full of uncontrollable delays. I never make an ADR sooner than 5 hours after my scheduled arrival. I have traveled extensively both domestically and internationally for work, and I have frequently been delayed that long or longer. You should make it, but you need to be comfortable with the $10/person no show fee if you make that ADR.
There will still be games and music and fun for the young ones at 8 PM. They finish at 9:30, I believe.

 

[ErinsMommy]

IMO 8:00 p.m. would be too late for a 5 year old especially on arrival day when adrenaline is likely to make the night prior sleep a short one as is. Plus Ohana has a tendency to run behind on schedule and 8:00 can quickly become 8:30

 

[buzzrelly]

I would definitely take the 4pm ADR. It should not take you 4 hours to get from MCO to the Poly, unless there's a serious flight delay. I think 8pm is much too late for a 5 year old to eat dinner unless that is the time you usually eat at home.

 

[LilyWDW]

Are you willing to eat the no show fee if you don't make it in time?

Arrival days are tricky. Having an ADR on them, especially when flying, means being okay with the possibility of missing that reservation due to travel delays. Delays happen. It's a part of flying.

 

[cassie58]

I would definitely take the 4pm ADR. It should not take you 4 hours to get from MCO to the Poly, unless there's a serious flight delay. I think 8pm is much too late for a 5 year old to eat dinner unless that is the time you usually eat at home.

I agree, you should have enough time, even with a short delay, especially since you are staying at Poly, so you don't need any additional transportation time to get to ADR. As PP mentioned, Ohana tends to run behind, so 8 is definitely late. I would keep checking for a slightly later ADR, like 5pm, for more piece of mind, or an earlier time on the other day. Times often pop up in the last few days, and even the nt before, as people finalize plans.

 

[figment_jii]

I agree that you should get the Poly by 4:00 pm, but the no show penalty is $10 per person on the reservation. So if there are flight delays/cancellations/etc, you have to be willing to pay the no show fee if something happens. Personally, I tend not to make a reservation for the arrival day just in case something happens and we're delayed. I look to see what dining reservations are available either when I'm on my way to WDW from MCO (e.g., on the DME bus) or when I reach my resort. That way I have a pretty good idea of when I'll be able to get somewhere.

 

[Lisa F]

We will arrive MCO about noon and wonder if ADR at 4pm is good for the arrive day. We will be staying at Poly. I see other ADR option at 8pm on another day but not sure if it is too late for dinner with 5 year old since he probably has long day at the park. Will 8pm still have the same fun as early reservation?

If you for some reason have a very long flight delay and don't think you can make it, you can change the ADR to something else on the MDE app on your phone... you can just move it way out into the future day of and then cancel that... and it will open up a last minute ADR for someone else if they are looking, rather than just missing it and paying the fee. I landed at the airport at 10am and was in the MK and through security by 11:30 so I'd think that as long as a delay won't get you there past 2pm you'd be fine to make your 4pm ADR.

If you are worried about not getting another ADR if you miss your arrival day one, hold the 8pm for a backup and cancel it once you know your arrival day has worked out.

 

[Hopefully]

If you for some reason have a very long flight delay and don't think you can make it, you can change the ADR to something else on the MDE app on your phone... you can just move it way out into the future day of and then cancel that... and it will open up a last minute ADR for someone else if they are looking, rather than just missing it and paying the fee. I landed at the airport at 10am and was in the MK and through security by 11:30 so I'd think that as long as a delay won't get you there past 2pm you'd be fine to make your 4pm ADR.

If you are worried about not getting another ADR if you miss your arrival day one, hold the 8pm for a backup and cancel it once you know your arrival day has worked out.

I can't agree about holding the 8 PM 'OHana ADR for "Just in Case". It is one of the toughest, most sought after ADR's. If you hold 2, only planning on using one, some other family is denied the opportunity to secure the unused one while planning their trip. I feel strongly that this is not fair.

 

[Lisa F]

I can't agree about holding the 8 PM 'OHana ADR for "Just in Case". It is one of the toughest, most sought after ADR's. If you hold 2, only planning on using one, some other family is denied the opportunity to secure the unused one while planning their trip. I feel strongly that this is not fair.

some other family will pick it up at some point. What does it matter if it's 3 months before or 3 days before? someone who did not book at 6 months for whatever reason will be able to pick it up and enjoy it.

 

[Hopefully]

some other family will pick it up at some point. What does it matter if it's 3 months before or 3 days before? someone who did not book at 6 months for whatever reason will be able to pick it up and enjoy it.

It surprises me that you ask "what does it matter...?" Based on reading months of your post here I would say You are such a planner. You planned and replanned and planned again. Being able to schedule the ADR's you really want ahead of time and have your parks, your days, your ADR's and your FP+'s scheduled in advance matters a lot for many of us.
Having "Just in Case", multiple ADR's for hard to secure restaurants is selfish, In My Opinion.

 

[Lisa F]

It surprises me that you ask "what does it matter...?" Based on reading months of your post here I would say You are such a planner. You planned and replanned and planned again. Being able to schedule the ADR's you really want ahead of time and have your parks, your days, your ADR's and your FP+'s scheduled in advance matters a lot for many of us.
Having "Just in Case", multiple ADR's for hard to secure restaurants is selfish, In My Opinion.

yes I did plan but the things that were most important to me I booked right at 6 months and did not move. anything I was able to change after the fact was a bonus to me (I actually did not change a whole lot around though and nothing that was hard to get). I had no expectation of being able to get a very HTF ADR too far past the 6 month window, although a lot of stuff opened up around the 60 day FP+ window as well... i did not personally move anything around and was able to fit my FP+ within my ADRs and Disney does not make it easy with making so many things a moving target until very close to your trip, but it is what it is. As long as someone gets to enjoy it, it doesn't much matter to me when it is released. I changed my mind about BoG lunch the day of and released it. I didn't feel guilty that I didn't realize it months before. Also if I were booking a PPO breakfast at some place that I really wanted to actually eat at, I would also make a backup around 10am in case Disney changes the park hours on me. But I'd release it as soon as I was sure of my plans. Someone will enjoy it even if I don't get to!

 

[Marthasor]

We will arrive MCO about noon and wonder if ADR at 4pm is good for the arrive day. We will be staying at Poly. I see other ADR option at 8pm on another day but not sure if it is too late for dinner with 5 year old since he probably has long day at the park. Will 8pm still have the same fun as early reservation?

If your 5-year old doesn't typically eat dinner at 8 pm, I wouldn't make that ADR. While the restaurant will still have the music and games going at 8 pm, if your 5-year old is hungry, tired or in melt-down mode, nothing that is happening in the restaurant will feel fun for the child.

Personally, I would make the 4 pm ADR for your arrival day and then take the advice that Lisa F gave of moving that reservation if your flight is delayed. If your flight goes as planned, you should be at Poly by 1:30/2:00 pm at the latest. That will give you time to settle into the resort and have your early O'hana dinner. If there is another date and time that would work better in your trip and you don't see it available right now, I would suggest signing up for the Touring Plans dining reservation finder to see if you can snag something that works better for you: https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/reservation-finder

 

[Chompu]

Thank you for all your advice. I think we will keep 4pm ADR. Do you think we still have time for the park, maybe EP or MK after dinner?

 

[Micca]

Thank you for all your advice. I think we will keep 4pm ADR. Do you think we still have time for the park, maybe EP or MK after dinner?

You'll probably be at your table over and hour at 'Ohana, then there's the possible wait time to consider, but at 4PM it should be minimal. You could likely be at MK by 6, it's a short trip to MK from Poly. Depends on how late the park is open, and whether it's worth it to burn a ticket (If you have AP that's moot.) For a 5 yr. old, maybe some down-time at the room or exploring the resort and watching Wishes from the beach would be an easier evening.

 

[Lisa F]

You'll probably be at your table over and hour at 'Ohana, then there's the possible wait time to consider, but at 4PM it should be minimal. You could likely be at MK by 6, it's a short trip to MK from Poly. Depends on how late the park is open, and whether it's worth it to burn a ticket (If you have AP that's moot.) For a 5 yr. old, maybe some down-time at the room or exploring the resort and watching Wishes from the beach would be an easier evening.

when we had 'Ohana at 3:30 before MVMCP we made it to Peter Pan by 5:45 for a FP+ window of 4:30-5:30.. I thought we were going to miss it but the grace period turned out to be true. So I'd say you need to give it a good 2 hours from time of seating to being into the MK...

But that said, we took an early morning flight and spent the day at MK our first day and were completely exhausted by the time dinner was over (we had a 6:45 Sanaa). I think that is a long day for a 5 year old but you might be able to catch fireworks from the poly.

 

[Chompu]

You'll probably be at your table over and hour at 'Ohana, then there's the possible wait time to consider, but at 4PM it should be minimal. You could likely be at MK by 6, it's a short trip to MK from Poly. Depends on how late the park is open, and whether it's worth it to burn a ticket (If you have AP that's moot.) For a 5 yr. old, maybe some down-time at the room or exploring the resort and watching Wishes from the beach would be an easier evening.

Hope the park hour will change. I checked last year crowd calendar, the park close pretty late during memorial day weekend.

 

[Micca]

Hope the park hour will change. I checked last year crowd calendar, the park close pretty late during memorial day weekend.

Oh I would think over that weekend it would be open pretty late, I wasn't aware of your trip time. I'd question whether a 5 yr old would be up for a late night, but you'd know that much better than me. About 27 years ago we took our twin DDs (who were 6) to a late night MK event. We did have a break for an afternoon nap, but they were champs and made it through the event until (I think) 2AM. It was AWESOME.

 

[Marthasor]

Thank you for all your advice. I think we will keep 4pm ADR. Do you think we still have time for the park, maybe EP or MK after dinner?

Yes, definitely. We've done this a few times. We'll have an early dinner at an MK resort and then end our evening at MK with some rides and fireworks. I would definitely recommend going to MK that evening as it is so close to Poly. That would make quite a magical arrival day, IMHO! Poly, O'hana, MK!

 

[Chompu]

Oh I would think over that weekend it would be open pretty late, I wasn't aware of your trip time. I'd question whether a 5 yr old would be up for a late night, but you'd know that much better than me. About 27 years ago we took our twin DDs (who were 6) to a late night MK event. We did have a break for an afternoon nap, but they were champs and made it through the event until (I think) 2AM. It was AWESOME.

That would be awesome if we can do that