showing up early for reservation

[disneyMumx3]

we have reservations in November for Be Our Guest - got them for 9:30 at night, not an ideal time at all. I know it's bad form to show up early, but would we be turned away? I'm probably the worst person for posting this, my first post to the site and I'm asking about pushing the limits for Disney hospitality...

 

[loves to dive]

It's sort of up to the CM who is working at the time. We showed up half hour early to breakfast ADR there and went right in, we are actually finished before our ADR time. At other restaurants that require an ADR chances are you aren't going to get in but BOG is a little different.

 

[Allison]

How early are you talking about? I have arrived 20 minutes early to a reservation at a Disney restaurant and been asked to come back.

 

[disneyMumx3]

we are travelling with 3 children, so expecting them to eat dinner so late just isn't going to happen. I don't know if it's worth having a big snack around 6 just to get them to the late reservation, or if I just give up the reservation. I just grabbed it because I stumbled upon it and I know it's hard to get in if you don't book the 180 days out...this was more of a 'spur of the moment' trip, so reservations/fastpasses have been tricky.

 

[greentea]

Both times I had dinner at Be Our Guest, we showed up a few minutes early and then waited on the bridge to be seated for at least 20 minutes past our ADR time. At least one of our dinners was around 8:30ish so we weren't eating at prime dinner time, either. You never know how the wait will be even if you're on time.

If you're planning on showing up significantly early due to your kids, I wouldn't risk it. I'd keep checking for an earlier one or maybe a breakfast or lunch unless your goal was to see the Beast.

 

[disneyMumx3]

Thanks for the input! when searching for ADRs on the MDE app, is it better to search "lunch" or "dinner", or would I have more luck putting in a specific time?

 

[disneyMumx3]

would it be bad if we kept the reservation and used it just for dessert? or do we need to have a full dinner?

 

[Julylady]

You are allowed to just order desserts. Some wait staff will assist you cheerfully, others will be noticeably disappointed as they see a much smaller tip coming than they were expecting. My Mom and I often travel to WDW together and share a meal at a tableservice restaurant. We also only order water to drink (me for medical reasons, she prefers water). We often get a crestfallen look when we order. However, if the wait staff person recovers nicely and serves us cheerfully, we always tip as if we ordered drinks and full meals each. If we get less than great service, we tip on the amount we spent.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

We tried to get in BOG a little early (maybe 15 minutes), and they were very specific about the times. I think they let us check in 5 minutes before our reservation. I'm sure it depends on how busy they are that day.

 

[dvcmom14]

We've shown up 30 minutes early and been told we need to come back closer to reservation time. We've also had the opposite experience where they checked us in early and we got in a bit early.

I don't see any problem at all with ordering dessert for such a late reservation.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

When I went to BOG for lunch in Feb, they were very adamant that the earliest we check in was 5 to 10 minutes before our ADR time.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

How early were you planning on showing up? If it's more than 15 minutes or so, it's not likely.

They will probably tell you that you can't even check in that far ahead of your reservation. If you show up hours early, not gonna happen.

 

[krc99080]

I've found BOG to be one of the strictest with allowing early ADR check-in. Last year we tried to check in about 25 minutes early because we were in the area and there wasn't time to do much but they wouldn't let us check in for our dinner ADR until 15 minutes before.

Previous to this on our trip we had checked in an hour early at one place and 45 minutes at another and it was fine.

 

[eastendlights]

We have tried to check in 25 or so minutes early for both lunch and dinner and were told to come back in 10 minutes-once was for a later dinner ADR-maybe 8:50 or so. We have eaten there 5 times and have always been seated late-at times "only" 20 minutes late and others over 30. We have eaten TS for pretty much every meal on 11 day long trips for many years and they are the only ones that have ever told us to come back.

 

[disneyMumx3]

I've found BOG to be one of the strictest with allowing early ADR check-in. Last year we tried to check in about 25 minutes early because we were in the area and there wasn't time to do much but they wouldn't let us check in for our dinner ADR until 15 minutes before.

Previous to this on our trip we had checked in an hour early at one place and 45 minutes at another and it was fine.

Thank you for the input! I think i'll be cancelling this reservation...

 

[Nancyg56]

Thank you for the input! I think i'll be cancelling this reservation...

I would. If I wanted to eat in the Castle, and I would....I would keep checking for breakfast or lunch. There is no restaurant on property that I would book that late of an ADR with kids.I have booked as late as 8 because my DGD is a night owl, and know we must allow for wait times.

 

[kdisser]

How bad is the wait time during breakfast we have ADR at BOG 9:25am then a 7DMT fp at 9:40-10:40am???