Showing up early for ADR?

[lexmelinda]

I recently subscribed to TGM and I'm tweeking my ADRs a little to fit in my itinerary. I tried to change my ADR at Le Cellier from late dinner to early dinner or lunch on Mon., Sept. 25th but no luck due to the fact that we are a party of 5. Has anyone ever shown up early...like 2 hours early...for your ADR and asked if they can seat you early? Is there a chance or will they just laugh and tell me to hit the road? Thanks in advance!

 

[Fire14]

i'd say they will tell you to come back closer to adr time. I've shown up as much as 30 min early.

 

[bicker]

It depends. If you have ADRs for 8PM and show up at 6PM, you'll generally be asked to come back later. If you have ADRs for 7PM and show up at 5PM, you may very well be accommodated early.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Just depends, and I think it's worth asking if you're near the restaurant anyways.

We went 1.5 hours early to Brown Derby a trip or two ago. It was the day we flew in (7am flight) and we completely overdid it by thinking we'd want to stay all day and eat at 630pm. So we stopped by around 5pm and prayed for a table. They told us it wouldn't be long so we got comfy in the lobby area and we ended up not being seated until after our reservation time. Funny thing is, we didn't even bother leaving because those couches were so comfortable and we were so tired that DH just fell right to sleep and I was half out of it.

So even at an early time, the place was still packed and we couldn't get in. You just never know!

 

[Stacerita]

We tried showing up early on our last trip. It was our arrival day (we flew in on the red eye) and over did the first day out. We had an ADR for dinner at 6pm, but by late lunch time we didn't think we would make it so we went and asked if we could check in and do lunch instead. They were booked up and couldn't help us out. So we went and got a snack and plopped on a bench and waited for the parade and sat there till out dinner time came up.

It doesn't hurt to ask. The worse they can do is tell you to come back later.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I agree with the other posts above.
I have arrived as much as 45 minutes early. (And did not mind if I had to wait.) One example was just last Saturday at Sci Fi.
What I was told there, and at other restaurants, is they will seat first the guests who are there for their actual time before they will seat you. But every time I do this I have still been seated before my original ADR time.
But I have never been earlier than 45 minutes ahead of time.
Except -- I think once years ago at Le Cellier I tried an hour or so ahead and they told us to come back closer to the original time. I think we returned within a half hour of that time, and juat waited until it was nearly the original check in time. There were four of us. That may have been our first real WDW trip.

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

We arrived at LC about 20 minutes early last week and ended up waiting 45 minutes PAST our ADR time. With them, the excuse is, "We're the most popular restaurant in Epcot," and it takes them nearly 25 minutes to bus, clear, and set tables. We had an incredibly poor experience with them and waiting was one of the issues of contention. Also, make sure that when you check in, they have your party size correct. We got blamed for that one being our mistake

 

[stitchfan18]

I think other restaurants would have a better possibility of being seated early. When we ate of LC this past week we ended up waiting about 30 minutes past our ADR time, but the food was amazing so we didn't mind so much after we ate. On the other hand when we ate at San Angel Inn in Mexico we checked in about 45 minutes early because we were a party of six and wanted to sit on the water, they told us we might have to wait about an hour, which was fine. We looked around the shops for only about 5 minutes before our buzzer went off. I think being seated early just depends on your luck and how popular the restaurant is.

 

[Evad]

The earliest we were ever seated for an ADR was 50 minutes before our scheduled time. Other then that we were always told to wait.

 

[Lwilson2006]

I think other restaurants would have a better possibility of being seated early. When we ate of LC this past week we ended up waiting about 30 minutes past our ADR time, but the food was amazing so we didn't mind so much after we ate. On the other hand when we ate at San Angel Inn in Mexico we checked in about 45 minutes early because we were a party of six and wanted to sit on the water, they told us we might have to wait about an hour, which was fine. We looked around the shops for only about 5 minutes before our buzzer went off. I think being seated early just depends on your luck and how popular the restaurant is.

We are eating at San Angel on our upcoming stay. If we are arriving at the park in the evening specifically for dinner, how long would you say it takes to get from the entrance of EPCOT back to the World Pavilion/Mexico? Bear in mind that our party has 3 young children.

Thanks for your help.

 

[lexmelinda]

Thanks, everyone. Having worked in restaurants for many years, I know about no-shows and getting people seated who are on your list, just not sure how Disney handled it. From what I am hearing the host/hostess's hands seem to be tied by what's on their computers....they are not simply working out seating themselves. Also I wonder how many people (during free dining) may be making multiple reservations that they will not keep? Any experience on this from free dining last year? Thanks again.

 

[mollyseven]

I don't think at Le Cellier you will get in that early. Last week we had res. and got in right on time but as people would come up and ask about early seating they were told they would have to come back. I don't think they get many no shows and are booked fairly tight. You don't see empty tables there so either change the time or just go when booked. It will be good don't worry. Work your schedule around it.

 

[basketrn]

We showed up an 1 1/2 hours early for our ADR at Le Cellier at our last trip in April and they said it was too early to even check us in. They told us to come back.

 

[Barbers2005]

Our last trip, we arrived 15 minutes early or more for most ADR's, but the norm was that we still ended up waiting 20-30 minutes after the ADR time to be seated. I didn't really mind, though, as they were pretty popular restaurants (LC, CP, 'Ohana- during Wishes, no less).

 

[stitchfan18]

We are eating at San Angel on our upcoming stay. If we are arriving at the park in the evening specifically for dinner, how long would you say it takes to get from the entrance of EPCOT back to the World Pavilion/Mexico? Bear in mind that our party has 3 young children.

Thanks for your help.

I would say that you need atleast 15 minutes. It's not that far from the front of the park since it is at the front of the world showcase. Make sure you give yourself extra time to wait in line to check in at SAI and if you need to rent a stroller or locker think about the time it will take you to do that as well.