Showing Up Late for an ADR

[Balt ravens fan]

Two quick questions - What happens if you show up late for an ADR? What happens if you show up early for an ADR?

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

If you show up late, you may be seated fairly quickly, or you may have to "go to the end of the line."

If you show up early, you may be seated immediately, or you may have to wait a while..possibly even past your original ADR time.

There's really no way of knowing for sure about either scenario.

 

[Balt ravens fan]

If you are late is there a "window" - like if you are within 10 minutes late - it is ok, but 20 minutes late they throw away your ADR and you go into "the line"? Do they have a rule? Or should we plan on just being on time exactly (which will take some training for my family). I have a ton of ADRs planned and I know my family, we will be 10 miuntes late at times.

 

[Bob P]

It really all depends on the restaurant and how busy it is...

You should try to be there 10 minutes before your ADR.

 

[Golden Rose]

Generally, if you're within 10 - 15 minutes either way (early or late), the CM will just put it into the computer as though you were there right on time, and you'll be in the queue to get the next available table. We've never had trouble within 15 minutes... they understand you may have waited a little extra longer than you thought in a line, or your child may have had to make the 300th potty stop of the day.

However, much earlier than that, and there is a reasonable chance they'll just treat you like a walk up. If there is room, they'll seat you, but anyone who shows up with a ADR earlier than yours is likely to be seated before you. And yes, much later than that, and you're likely to lose your ADR. It totally depends on the CM, of course. Some will try to work with you, some won't. I don't think there is an official window, but I don't know for sure.

 

[cajunprincess]

We showed up late on accident for CRT. My Dad had the wrong time for our ressie. He and I were in downtown Disney while we were going to meet my mom and brother there. My mom happened to look and saw the actual time for our dinner ressie and hopped on a bus to go to MK while we headed there for DD. When my mom got there, she explained to them that we were coming and all that, and they said it was ok. She wasn't that late, but we were probably a good 15-25 mins late?? I don't know, but we were extremely thankful we still got to eat there.

 

[ExtinctDino]

Or should we plan on just being on time exactly (which will take some training for my family). I have a ton of ADRs planned and I know my family, we will be 10 miuntes late at times.

If your ADR is at 7, tell your family it's at 6:45. Then when they're "late" you'll still be early or on time. Of course this might work only once.

 

[Pakey]

We've been late a few times over the years. Boma, 20 minutes late, were not seated. Had to go on standby and we waited 90 minutes for an available table. (Party of 6).

50's PTC, 15 minutes late, we were seated pretty soon after arriving, restaurant was not that busy. (Party of 4)

Brown Derby, 15 minutes late, no dice, were turned away. (Party of 2).

Upon arriving early, you sometimes get seated right away and sometimes you wait until your ADR time or even past your ADR time (Coral Reef, Sci Fi and Le Cellier have always been the worst about the waits).

 

[denise5374]

We were about an hour late for an ADR at Coral Reef in 2007 but it wasn't our fault and the hostess was very polite and we still got seated.

The story went like this, we (family of 4) were at Downtown Disney and heading to Epcot, my parents were at Epcot waiting for us. We left DD 90 minutes prior to our ADR, hopped a bus to the grand Floridan(never been wanted to see) to hop on the momrail to EP. We get to GF, go to the monorail platform and wait, and wait and wait....finally a CM tells us the monorail has broken down and we need to find another route. We head down to the busses, thinking ok we'll take a bus, nope. We head to the boat and now everybody is waiting for the boat to MK, we wait for 3 boats to get on, transfer to the Monorail to the TTC and then monorail to EP. We all felt like the movie Planes. Trains and Automobiles. The whole ordeal took us bout 2 1/2 hours, the whole time my parents are waiting at the Coral Reef. Fortunatley we had cell phones and they let the CM know what was going on so we were seated shorlty after our arrival.

Looking back it was funny but it was very frustrating at the time. I don't know what would have happened if my parents hadn't been there the whole time. The CM said something that the restaurant was notified that the monorail had broken down, so they might have made an exception. I even took a picture of the "tow truck" that was sent out to tow the monorail away.

 

[DaveStroem]

We were a good 30-40 minutes late for our dinner at Ohana. I explained that we had a bit of an adventure getting there from POR to every bus stop at POR then to MK then to the Monorail that stopped waiting for the train in front to clear. It took a full 1 1/2 hours for this trip.

She just noted transportation issues and handed us a buzzer. About 15 minutes later we had a great table next to the open grills.

 

[DISNEYNY]

We were about a 1/2 hour late last year at Chef Mickey coming from Epcot. We really underestimated the travel time. The hostess was very nice and we were seated within 10 minutes.