Terrible waits with ADR's?

[Chavaleh]

We just got back from our WDW trip yesterday and we had some horrible waits for our dinners. Granted we did arrive early at some but we still had waits of over an hour at The Crystal Palace, Sci-Fi Diner and 50's Prime Time. We even had a fairly long wait for Chef Mickey's with a 7:05 reservation, arriving before it opened and being at the start of the line. Was it because we had a party of 5 including a baby or did we just have terrible luck? Surprisingly our shortest wait was at Cinderella's Castle which was where I was prepared for the worst after having read some of the reviews.

It really made for some stressful dinners with two grouchy girls and a crying infant. I'm thinking that next time I might have to skip the DDP even though we enjoyed having our meals already paid for and do fewer table service meals.

 

[monkey Q]

We never waited more than 15 minutes, and even arrived 45 minutes early at Narcoosee's and were seated within 15 minutes. It must be the timing, we had mostly 5:00 ish reservations so they wouldn't have time to get too far behind. This was 3 weeks ago.

 

[cajunprincess]

I know when we went to Sci-Fi, we had a terribly long wait. I wasn't too happy (I didn't want to eat there in the first place), but all of our other waits weren't bad including CP.

 

[nanal]

We were in WDW 3/11-3/17 and I was greatly pleased with our wait times for all our ADR. We never waited more than 10 mins for any of our ressies. Ate dinner at Chef Mickeys and O'hana. Lunch ressies at Crystal Palace and Prime Time. Breakfast at Tusker House. Crowds were way more than I expected in the parks but seating was a very pleasant surprise.

 

[aleighjc]

We waited 30-40 minutes at 50's Prime Time. We were actually early too. We were seated 30-40 minutes past our time though. I don't mind a 5-10 minute wait, maybe even 15 minutes. But beyond 15 is a bit much. Wasn't fun waitting with a toddler.

 

[Colleen27]

Out of 3 trips on a dining plan, one with the deluxe, we've only had three waits long enough to be memorable - Le Cellier was running 40+ minutes behind for our dinner ADR (they did tell us that when we checked in so we decided to go elsewhere), Coral Reef took about 30 minutes but we checked in early so it was only about 20 min past our ADR time, and Sci-Fi took about 25 minutes after our ADR time to be seated.

 

[Moneypenny]

We just got back yesterday and didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes for either of our ADRs.

 

[figment41]

We had terrible luck with our ADR in December. We waited for over an hour at LTT and France an Prime Time and at least a half an hour past our reservations at every other restaurant.

When we arrived in France I asked another family how long they had been waiting and they said over 30 minutes but they 15 minutes before their reservation (around 6:30 I believe) so I was concerned but at least our reservation was before theirs 6:00. Low and behold they got seated before us. So, I went up and complained because we had already been there for 45 minutes. I spoke to a manager and he said it is based on what time you checkin.

So, basically all that getting up 5:45AM for ADR's 90 days out gets you is the ability to put your name on this list when you get there. This was proven over and over every day!!!

 

[vicki_c]

So, basically all that getting up 5:45AM for ADR's 90 days out gets you is the ability to put your name on this list when you get there. This was proven over and over every day!!!

This is correct and that's how it's been forever. It's not a reservation as in a reserved table. I liken it more to "call-ahead" seating like you can do at some of the chain restaurants all over. So getting there a bit early is always the best approach, I think.

 

[Cinderella94]

The only place we've ever had to wait (15 min at most) past our ADR was Crystal Palace. That seems to be the norm for us there. Sorry about your luck!

 

[Lynn5700]

Oh that stinks. We have had waits at CP before but no more than 15-20 mins.

I guess because it is a busy time of year with spring break and all is why you had some waits.

 

[bluejasmine]

I think its the time of yr.. Spring Break.. One yr we went and had ADR for PT and waited and waited and waited, ended up going next door to H&V b/c it was almost empty but we discovered why when we ate! LOL! Yuck! It could be the time of your ADR too, its best to do either early dinner or late dinner and with young ones late dinner isnt an option.

 

[pianoronni37]

My husband and I went in October 2009, and the only place we waited more than 10-15 minutes was Coral Reef - our ressie was at 3:15pm, we got there early, at about 2:45pm - we waited until close to 4pm. I understand getting there early and having to wait, but another 45 minutes on top of that?? I don't think that's appropriate at all, and we aren't the only ones who have had this issue with this restaurant.

Customer service like that makes it tough to return to a place where they obviously do not care about their customers.