Very disappointed in wait times - typical?

ashkash

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Messages
94
We had ADR's for all of our table-service meals. Party of 9 (4 adults, 5 kids), with the understanding that we could be split into 2 tables. We were at WDW last week. Wait times:

Sci-Fi: 4:40 dinner, checked in at 4:30, seated at 5:30
Garden Grill: 5:50 dinner, checked in at 5:45, seated at 6:15
1900 Park Fare: 7:25 dinner, checked in at 7:10, seated at 8:00
Ohana: 9:10 breakfast, checked in at 9:10, seated at 10:00

The only one with little wait time was an 8:15 breakfast at Tusker House.

Is this really typical? We were extremely disappointed & couldn't understand the point of reservations if we ended up waiting as long as walk-ups. We haven't had problems to this extent with past trips. I expect to wait 10-15 minutes, but 30+ just seems unreasonable. Is this the new Disney way?
 
We were just there from May 15-22 and we never waited more than 5 minutes, but we are only a party of 2. I think it had more to do with your party size... did they end up seating you together or split? Waiting for a table that could seat 9 could have been the issue.
 
Not typical in my experience. It may be the fact of your party size, but i haven' ever waited that long with an ADR. Most of ADR's are for lunch, not sure if that matters or not.
 
Wow! That's awful. I have never been to WDW, and we are only going for the first time in Sept. However, a Disney vertan I know told me to expect long waits for my ADR's. She said the ADR is just a "priority" seating, and not really a reservation. Her advice was to show up to the restaurant about an hour early!
 

Party size has a lot to do with it, however I've been with a party of 9 and didn't have to wait that long, the longest wait was for Crystal Palace and it was 20 min.

I have had a long wait at 1900 before, but that was due to them loosing our reservation shortly after we checked in.

Sorry, you had such a bad experience, I hope it's not the new trend.
 
They did seat us together, except Sci-Fi, where we were at 2 adjacent cars. It was just disturbing to see places like Ohana, where half the restaurant was empty once we went in, with a number of empty tables which could have seated us. I don't understand why Disney can't operate like other restaurants that take reservations. I've never waited like that at any other restaurant (outside of Disney), even with bigger groups, if we've had reservations.
 
Wow! That's awful. I have never been to WDW, and we are only going for the first time in Sept. However, a Disney vertan I know told me to expect long waits for my ADR's. She said the ADR is just a "priority" seating, and not really a reservation. Her advice was to show up to the restaurant about an hour early!

I thought it is a reservation for that time, formerly everything was priority seating. I don't think showing up an hour early is needed or reasonable.
 
No it's not a reservation for that specific time, it is a guarantee that you will be seated at the next available table for your party size.

Showing up an hour early seems extreme, I'd say show up 20min early at the most. We normally get there within 10 min of the ADR time, before or after.
 
We're planning to be early for any ADRs where ending time matters e.g. early breakfasts where we still want to make RD, or dinners that we don't want to end too late for the kids (don't want them falling asleep in their food!). Certain other meals aren't as important, and we can relax and kill some time nearby until we are seated.
 
I'm wondering if it was the size of your party that caused the longer waits...did they seat you all together each time? We were there last July and the place was PACKED with people. With the exception of Akershus for dinner (and maybe Tepan Edo? I can't recall if we just checked in super early.) we didn't wait more than about 5 minutes for ANY restaurant.
 
Disney "reservations" are NOT actual reservations. They simply mean that once you check in, you will be seated when the next table for your party size is available. This will include having to wait for those who had ADRs before you to be seated as well. You will be seated before walkups of your party size. They do not promise that you will be seated AT the exact time of your ADR.

The party size of the OP is most likely the problem. Did you mention to the person who checked you in that you would be fine with being at separate tables? They may have waited to be sure they could all sit you together, which would have increased your wait time as only specific areas and/or tables could have done that.

As for there being empty tables, you really don't know why they were that way. They may have had a special reservations for a party, they may have been a bit behind in seating ADRs, or they may have had a server call in ill and were unable to get a replacement in time. Things happen, but if they have no one to cover those tables, then they can't seat anybody there until they do.
 
The last 2 years we have done Ohana around or on Christmas, once with a party of 10 and the other just 5 and we had to wait for awile. We actually waited longer for our party of 5 then 10 though. Teppen Edo was ridiculous when we went. We waited over an hour. Those were our only 2 places where we had to wait more 10-15 minutes. I think larger parties are harder to seat but waiting an hour is still insane.
 
We never wait more than 5 mins for a party of 2 passed our ADR time. Usually we are seated before and this was during busy spring break week 2 yrs in a row. Maybe it's because you had a big party?
 
This was our strategy during the week of Christmas with a party of 12 and it worked beautifully every time. We booked the earliest dinner seating, and we got there a touch early, and we were almost seated instantly every time (even at CRT and other crazy busy places). We also thought the food was much better earlier in the day, and the service (especially at Ohana). I think if you get service when people are just starting their job for the day and the food hasn't been sitting around too long it is always better. And you get seated faster!

Also, I'm really sorry your waits were so long. That is really terrible. I know everyone gets behind sometimes, but its tough when it is so consistent on one trip. I hope the rest of your trip was really great!
 
That is awful! I wonder if it's your party size? We had a 9:15 breakfast (for 5 people) at Ohana on May 19 and we checked in at 8:55 and were seated at 9:10. I've never waited more than 10 minutes past my ADR time and have often been seated immediately (but we're usually a party of 2). But we usually try to book either the first sitting, or one late enough that people are mostly done by then.
 
sorry you had to wait so often. we have a party of 9 going in a few weeks so this kind of worries me. What happens if you don't go someplace that you have an ADR for, and you don't cancel? (not paid ahead, like CRT, but someplace like Liberty Tree Tavern?)
 
We had ADR's for all of our table-service meals. Party of 9 (4 adults, 5 kids), with the understanding that we could be split into 2 tables. We were at WDW last week. Wait times:

Sci-Fi: 4:40 dinner, checked in at 4:30, seated at 5:30
Garden Grill: 5:50 dinner, checked in at 5:45, seated at 6:15
1900 Park Fare: 7:25 dinner, checked in at 7:10, seated at 8:00
Ohana: 9:10 breakfast, checked in at 9:10, seated at 10:00

The only one with little wait time was an 8:15 breakfast at Tusker House.

Is this really typical? We were extremely disappointed & couldn't understand the point of reservations if we ended up waiting as long as walk-ups. We haven't had problems to this extent with past trips. I expect to wait 10-15 minutes, but 30+ just seems unreasonable. Is this the new Disney way?

I don't think those wait times are unreasonable given your party size.

If you don't want to wait, then book your meals when a restaurant first opens. That's what we would try to do (we had 11 people).
 
We were there for 10 days (May 14-23) on the regular dining plan and last year did the DxDP where we ate at over 21 sit down restaurants. We have never had to wait for more than 5 minutes pasted our reservation time. Now sometimes we have arrived early and had to wait until our actual reservation time but never past the time.

I wonder if it was because you had a large group that they were trying to sit all at once even if you weren't all at the same table.
 
I only remember having trouble with waiting a significant time after our ADR time twice. First was in 2006 at Chef Mickey's. We went up to the desk after waiting 40 minutes past our time. They explained that they had a new system that was wacky and didn't bring up our reservation, and seated us right away.

In 2009, we had 11 people, and the only time we had a problem with the ADR time was at 'Ohana, which had just opened at 5 when we had a 5:15 ADR. Still we didn't wait 40 minutes. More like 15.
 

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