Wait times to be seated when you have an ADR (early to mid-December)

[dreambound]

Just wondering what to expect. When we had the Akershus princess meal last time our wait to be seated was about 30 minutes. Other people were freaking out about it as we waited, but we were pretty laid back. This was our only TS meal for the entire trip, and we were all in pretty good moods.

This time around we are on the DDP and we have a LOT of TS ADRs. Is a 30-45 minute wait the norm? Or does that just happen at character meals, etc?


Thanks

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

Unfortunately there is no way of knowing. It all depends on the crowd at the particular restaurant. We have had all different experiences, from being seated immedaitely to waiting 45 minutes past our ADR time (and we were ten minutes early).

 

[chip 'n dale rule]

We had 7 ts meals on our last trip (early October) and we only waited more than 5 or 10 minutes once. We had ADR for Chef Mickey's at 8:30pm and never got in untill 5 or 10 minutes past nine. My husband went to the podium twice while we were waiting to check on things. He was by no means rude but I would have to say we were less than patient because it was our last night and we wanted to make sure that we made it back to the MK one last time (it was open until midnight that night). When we were finally seated (40 min late) the manager came over to our table and told us we could have a complimentary drink for waitiing

 

[Belle5]

We had 7 ts meals on our last trip (early October) and we only waited more than 5 or 10 minutes once. We had ADR for Chef Mickey's at 8:30pm and never got in untill 5 or 10 minutes past nine. My husband went to the podium twice while we were waiting to check on things. He was by no means rude but I would have to say we were less than patient because it was our last night and we wanted to make sure that we made it back to the MK one last time (it was open until midnight that night). When we were finally seated (40 min late) the manager came over to our table and told us we could have a complimentary drink for waitiing

I am floored (but happy for you ) that the manager felt the need to compensate you for a 40 minute wait. A wait such as that with an ADR is very common for larger parties such as my family of eight. I can't tell you how many times we have waited more than an hour with an ADR.

 

[Uncleromulus]

AS Bob P suggests, there's really no way to tell. The day of the week, time of the meal, size of your party all play a role. We always do TS at WDW and our times have varied from getting seated upon arrival (ten-fifteen minutes EARLY), to an hour wait.
There are just the 2 of us usually and we eat early--6:00 or thereabouts. I'd say that the majority of times we're seated at ,or very soon after, our ADR times. Rarely do we get a pager.

 

[MickeyNicki]

The last 3 years we went the first and second week in Dec....I remember in 04 at H&V we arrived 20 minutes before our ADR time and waited an hour to be seated and the food was nasty. We did 2 dinners at CP before the park closed for MVMCP and were seated right away.

Last year we did not wait long, maybe 5 to 10 minutes after checking in, for Le Cellier, Mama Melrose, CP breakfast, Donalds Breakfast, Kona Breakfast.

 

[Got Quattro?]

ADR just put you in line ahead of walk ups....they do not guarantee seating times.

So, if you have an ADR @ 9:00.....and a bunch of walk up show up between 8:00 and 9:00....you are put in line behind them

ADR's realley do nothing but discourage walk ups.

 

[disnut8]

With an ADR, you are only guaranteed the next available seating for a party of your size. So, if you are a family of four and all the table of four are filled and there are three other families of four in front of you, you will be seated at the fourth table that becomes open. You can't tell how seen the other families will be done with dinner. If they all got there at the same time (unlikely to happen), you could be waiting a long time.

That said, we've never had to wait more than fifteen minutes for our table. We always show up at least ten minutes before our scheduled time. Once, we went to Whispering Canyon with a party of six. My father took one look at the dining area and said we would be waiting forever. We got buzzed ten minutes later.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

In December 2006, the longest I waited was 10 minutes at Ohana's and 10 min. at Chef mickeys. Everything else was under 10 min. but I always dined in off hours.

 

[missminniemouse]

Usually we've been seated very quickly....within 5 or 10 minutes of our ADR time. If we're early, many times we are even seated early.

The only exception to this rule has been Le Cellier. Both of the last 2 times we've been there we waitied at least 45 minutes past our ADR time. Both times we had children with us who grew rather impatient with this excessive wait. We have NEVER waited that long anywhere else....in umpteen trips....over the past 17 years.

 

[IwannaseeMickey]

I'm pretty sure last Dec. 2ndish the longest wait we had was at Coral Reef, where we waited a while for our ADR, the others were probably no more if not less than 15 min.

 

[ParkPrincess]

We're always seated fairly quickly. They say to arrive 15 minutes prior to your reservation, and that's what we do. We end up being seated before our actual reservation.