Wait time for a table? ADR

[sethschroeder]

I have just been reading about potential wait times to be seated for ADRs that could be at times 25-30+ mins. My question is if I show up and they say it could be 20 mins before we are seated can I tell them to just cancel my reservation without the cancel fee?

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I’m sure you could, but I would say 30 minutes is the exception not the norm. I’ve generally been seated within 5-10 minutes at the most.

 

[kimwoje]

Just got back from a stay over 4th of July and was seated almost immediately at every ADR I had, including Ohana! I am sure they would probably not charge you if you showed up but could not wait but definitely found the wait times to be next to nothing over a very busy holiday week.

 

[kiford]

I've rarely had to wait more than 10 minutes or so and that was largely because we showed up early. It may be that there are certain restaurants where this might be more common, but we've never had issues with long waits.

 

[holden]

There are some places where I've found I've always had to wait a while for a table despite having an ADR...Coral Reef, Yak & Yeti, 1900 Park Fare are the ones that come to mind.

 

[MikeNamez]

Just as a point of comparison, I dont know if it answers your specific question or not. We had an Edison ADR and showed up about 40 minutes early. Instead of checking in we wanted to have a drink at the bar first. We loved the bar tender so we wanted to just have dinner there... I spoke with the hostess and she cancelled our ADR with no fee. I would say as long as you are spending some money there they would cancel for free. Just walking up to cancel and leaving may not have the same outcome. Also, i never waited more than 5/10 min once we checked in for any of our other ADR's.

 

[TwinkleKS]

I'm not sure on the fee and how they would handle that. The only time we have really had to wait a "long" time has been during the Christmas season. A couple of weeks ago we were quoted a 30 minute wait at Le Cellier and were seated in five minutes, so there is that too.

 

[Missyrose]

Also, most places won't tell you how long the wait will be. Disney's standard line is "we try to seat guests within 15 minutes of their reservation," but that's about all you will get out of the CM when you check in.

 

[DisneyHardin]

If you are polite and ask them if they are running behind when you check in. If they say yes, then you should have no problem cancelling without a penalty.

If they are running approx 20 minutes behind though, I'm not sure it would save you much time to cancel and go to a QS somewhere because of the time it will take to get to the QS and then wait in line there for ordering.

We've been to Disney once a year for the last 10 years and have only had to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes past our ADR time about 3 times and each time the hostess was very honest that they were running behind and apologized for our wait.

 

[MomOTwins]

As others have said, it is not as though they know what the time will be: you'll be seated at the next available table for your size of party based on your ADR time.

I also think it totally depends on your party size. Parties of 2-4 will typically be seated much faster than parties of 5 and up. We are a family of 5 and we know the wait is pretty much always going to be 20-40 minutes every time unless we have an ADR right at the restaurant opening--but that doesn't surprise me in the least because they have fewer tables we can sit at.

It also depends on the restaurant for sure. A good rule of thumb is the more popular the restaurant/harder to get the ADR, the longer the wait to get in. For those really popular restaurants, there are no tables that just sit open and unused waiting for guests to arrive--they are filled the moment they are cleared off.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I think it will really depend on the restaurant. In over 40 onsite stays at WDW, we've been quoted extensive wait times exactly twice - once at Mama Melrose (we decided to stay) and once at Flying Fish (where we told them our DS was too hungry to wait 30-40 minutes and they said no problem, no fee charged). That being said, in our experience, excessive wait times are a rarity.

 

[mommycrawford]

see below

 

[mommycrawford]

I have had waits of over 40 minutes on several occasions, and once at Le Cellier for more than 70 minutes. Epcot near fireworks time and character meals saw these long wait, but 15-30 minutes is not abnormal in my experience for groups of 3 and 2. I believe that showing up at the podium, they do not charge a fee.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We have had a few times when they told us at check-in how far behind they were running and asked if we were okay waiting. The Plaza was the most recent.

We could have canceled then with no fee and gone elsewhere.

 

[DISNEY1975]

A couple of weeks ago we were quoted a 30 minute wait at Le Cellier and were seated in five minutes, so there is that too.

Le Cellier is probably the longest wait I had (6:15pm ADR), about 45 minutes, but we were a party of 11.

Ohana is second, 30 minutes (6:30pm ADR), party of 6

Crystal Palace breakfast...every time, party of 3 - 5, 15 - 20 minutes, usually around 8am.

San Angel Inn - 15 - 20 minutes around 7pm

Chefs de France - 15 - 20 around 7pm

All others, parks and resorts less than 10.

 

[OfCourseTheresAlwaysMyWay]

May 2019 most recent trip. I waited 25ish minute for an end of day Le Cellier ADR, which actually ended up being pretty cool because I got to be at the park even later past closing.

Otherwise most places were 5ish minutes. I thought it was interesting that nowhere sat you immediately, even if they clearly had the space.

 

[teruterubouzu]

The Skipper Canteen was the only place we experienced a wait -- perhaps 10 minutes or so. At two of our reservations they took my phone number and then immediately texted saying the table was ready. It was quite silly.

 

[married2mm]

Our first few experiences of ts adrs;
We seemed to encounter long waits at every restaurant.
It actually put us off ts dining for a few years.

More recently the only restaurant we had a 15min+wait was tusker house.

And the big boys known for keeping us diners hanging around-no problems encountered at all.
In fact - most we checked in & we instantly seated.
I’m trying to remember from our last trip (my memory is terrible!)

Ohana
Crt
Jiko
Coral reef
Yak & yeti
Artist point
Tiffins
Sci-fi diner (early!)

 

[gharter]

Most times our wait is under 15 minutes. But we have waited up to 30 minutes.
Several times the wait was longer due to a specific request by us - sitting in a specific room at Skipper Canteen and BoG.