Wait time with reservations

[Dis703]

I've read that even with ADRs at some restaurants you can still have an hour wait before you get seated. It sounds like this happens particularly in the restaurants with harder to get ADRs like Le Cellier. Have you found this to be true? Does it depend on the time of year, time of day, etc?

We were able to snag a reservation at Le Cellier and another seemingly difficult one at Chef Mickeys, but with a 2 year old I'm not sure it would be worth it to stand around for an hour just waiting to be seated. I mean I do want to eat in these restaurants, but I'm not sure if I want it that bad.

Heather

 

[DCDisney]

It really depends on when your reservation is. Eating at Chef Mickey's at opening at 5pm we usually had a 10-15 minute wait as they get everyone seated because people start lining up 45 mins early to get checked in which we don't care to do. When we'd be leaving at 6ish there would always be at least a 30 min wait and the same at 1900 Park Fare. At Le Cellier we've never waited less than 45 mins for dinner and usually an hour and we do eat early before the "rush" and only during Value season. An ADR is more like call ahead seating than an actual table just reserved for you. The more off the time you eat and less popular the place then typically less wait. We've eaten a few lunches at Le Cellier and never waited more than 15 mins. The pacing of the meals there is slow as well so we usually plan on being there 2-2.5 hours which may not be great with a toddler plus the tables are very close to one another. Lots of the chracter meals seem to run late because people hang around waiting to see all the characters but Akershus does waves of seating which seems to keep them more on time. When my kids were little we did the best we could on a few TS meals but did lots of QS when we knew it just wasn't going to work that time frame. If you get to Chef Mickey's and it's just too much you can always cruise over to the Contempo Cafe quick service which is supposed to be quite good. If you are doing the DDP you may want to reserve 2 meals per day like breakfast and dinner in case you have to cancel some meals you'll still be able to use your credits. We always reserve a breakfast for our last day just in case we miss any of our TS meals and sometimes we need to use up credits, sometimes we decide we can't miss it and pay oop, and other times we cancel it. Sit down breakfasts did work best for us at the toddler age though because most are buffets and they don't tend to have waits as much in the am plus the kids aren't wiped out yet

 

[TheRustyScupper]

I've read that even with ADRs at some restaurants you can still have an hour wait before you get seated . . . Have you found this to be true? Does it depend on the time of year, time of day, etc?

1) This is a frequent occurance.
2) The later you are into a mealtime, the longer the waits become.

 

[everythingALICE]

It definitely depends on the restaurant, time of day, and season.

The one restaurant that I've consistently had to wait for has been Ohana. This month during free dining we waited 45 minutes past our ADR, and even in January with an 8PM reservation we waited at least 20 minutes. However, during our January trip we never waited more than five minutes at any other restaurant (including Le Cellier). This September during free dining we got into most places with no wait or within 5 minutes of our ADR (although we checked in earlier), with the exception of Ohana (as mentioned) and Raglan Road (probably because it was a late ADR on a Saturday night).

 

[AuroraMeansDawn]

It would be fine if we are seated on time but we're almost hoping for a wait. We have an 8:35 at Le Cellier and have a bit of a hope that we can catch Illuminations while we wait to be seated. Thought that since we're a party of five that we may have a bit more of a wait since a six top is not so fast to turn over but if we don't that is ok too. We're pretty flexible and can roll with the punches. So long as we're together it will be fine.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

One time on New Years Eve at Boma my family and I waited an hour & a half past our scheduled ADR time, so during that time of year it could happen and since Boma is a popular buffet that would increase it's chances. We were also told that they accepted to many ADR's then they could handle, so I guess part of the blame if you want to call it that is with Boma for allowing it to happen.

 

[Sugar Jones]

We were just there this past week and we waited no longer than 10 minutes for our ADR'S. There were:

Chef Mickey's at 6:30pm
CRT - 1:15pm
Ohana's - 5:30pm
Sci-Fi at 1:35 pm - Sci Fi was crazy busy, but we still didn't have a long wait.

 

[mrs.sammich]

Last October we had reservations at Chef Mickey's for breakfast, Ohana for dinner and a few other popular places. Free Dining was offered, we eat before the dinner rushes, to avoid the cranky kids (our own) We cannot remember waiting for more than 10 minutes anywhere. I guess we lucked out.

 

[LilyWDW]

I've read that even with ADRs at some restaurants you can still have an hour wait before you get seated. It sounds like this happens particularly in the restaurants with harder to get ADRs like Le Cellier. Have you found this to be true? Does it depend on the time of year, time of day, etc?

We were able to snag a reservation at Le Cellier and another seemingly difficult one at Chef Mickeys, but with a 2 year old I'm not sure it would be worth it to stand around for an hour just waiting to be seated. I mean I do want to eat in these restaurants, but I'm not sure if I want it that bad.

Heather

You can wait and sometimes for quite awhile. We had to wait at Le Cellier for about 30 mins and Crystal Palace for about 15 (during a pretty slow time of year). It seemed the later the reservation, the more likely there will be some wait. The busier times of year will mean more of a chance that you will be seated later.

What you have to remember is that these are not "reservations". Instead, they simply mean you will be seated at the next available table for your party size.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Last summer we waited -

2 hours past our adr at Sci-Fi
45 minutes past our adr at 1900 Park Faire (went and had champagne at the hotel bar while we waited so that was at least enjoyable )
30 or 40 minutes past our adr time at Crystal Palace
20 minutes past our adr time at Chefs de France

The other 6 were within 15 minutes of our adr time.

On previous trips we never had significantly long waits and they were all around the same time of the year.

 

[Silver Queen]

Our experiences have been quite good in this regard. We are generally seated within 10 minutes of our arrival. I only remember waiting for Le Cellier and Coral Reef (perhaps about 20 minutes). We going back to both restaurants in March so we'll see.

 

[mastermind307]

We were there Sept. 12-17 and we had adrs at
Liberty Tree Tavern - 5:20
Chef Mickey's - 5:35
1900 Park Fair - 5:10
Akershus - 10:35am
Crystal Palace - 8:05am

We didn't wait more than 10 minutes at any of the places. In fact we probably got seated earlier than our times because we would check in 10-15 minutes ahead of time.

 

[RMulieri]

We had that problem alot in December 09..BUT we were dining at Epcot for the majority of our meals and between the Free Dining and the Candlelight Processional dining pkgs, we often had waits of 5-45mins past adr time, and these were FIRST dinner slot adrs,we showed up on average 15-20mins EARLY,so my guess is the later adrs were even more backed up.The longest we waited was CP at MK and Les chefs at Epcot.

 

[TisBit]

oops

 

[TisBit]

We have never had a major/noticable issues with waiting with ADR's. But, I am very paranoid and usually get everywhere early, so maybe I just don't notice the wait. I will typically arrive about 15-20 minutes early and will be seated either early or within a few minutes of an ADR. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the waits have to do with late/just on time arrivals. If your ADR is at 6pm and you are in line at the podium at that time, the computer systems get a little funky in queuing people up.

 

[nbs2]

Following up this question, how far away from the podium can you go without being too far? Can you be a couple hundred yards away? If Akershus is backed up, and there isn't a line for Maelstrom, could you do a quick ride while you wait? Or is it more of a "you have to be within the sound of my near-whisper" scenario?

 

[Belle & Ariel]

Following up this question, how far away from the podium can you go without being too far? Can you be a couple hundred yards away? If Akershus is backed up, and there isn't a line for Maelstrom, could you do a quick ride while you wait? Or is it more of a "you have to be within the sound of my near-whisper" scenario?

It depends on the cm. At Le Cellier we have been told by the check in person "It will be 30 minutes, so you can go see the Canada film/ This pst Saturday, we were told we had to stay there. It was raining and the 3 benches inside were full. DH stayed and we went to see the film, positioning ourselves at the exit with the phone on vibrate in case they called us early. We saw the film and still waited 10-15 minutes.
We checked in 20 minutes early and were told they were running 25 minutes late, but we had to stay there--45 minutes????
They were very consistent that everyone had to be there to check in. My kids were watching Off Kilter in Canada and they would not let me check in.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We check in at the 15 minutes prior, sometimes up to 25 if there is nothing to kill the few minutes and are usually seated prior to our ADR time. The exceptions as someone posted are LeCellier and Crystal Palace. We got in Chefs de France, Biergarten, Coral Reef, Whispering Canyon, and Sci Fi all before our times.

 

[Dis703]

Okay thanks for all the responses. I have been looking to move my Le Cellier reservation and was lucky enough today to get a lunch ADR. Sounds like lunch is generally not as long of a wait and if it is it would be easier on DS that time of day.

I'm also thinking of doing Chef Mickey the night we arrive because they had an earlier ADR than the night we originally planned to go with family. Then we'll take grandma and great-grandma to Ohanas for breakfast instead.

Thanks again.

Heather

 

[tinka-belle]

The consistently delayed seating ones we have found over the years, all are for dinner:

Crystal Palace, but not too much of a wait. Just the luck of the draw on timing and party size. If the characters have just done their rounds then people will leave. We find this to be the case at lots of character meals.

Mama Melrose, 50's Prime Time, and Sci-FI are always delayed other than when they just open.

Coral Reef and O'hana have always had a long wait. LeCellier has been a bit late in the past year too. I suspect that each location overbooks now that ADRs are online, but there are fewer no shows and cancellations for LeCellier.

Of course there are exceptions for all of these.