With an ADR-How long do you wait?

[paintnolish]

I have my comment card in hand, ready to compose my email...I just returned from a 10 day trip and paid for the dining plan. I have used the dining plan 5 times now and have been going to and dining in WDW my whole life. I have never had a problem until this trip. We had a 7 adr at CR one night and an 8 at Sci-Fi the next night. We waited an hour each night! At CR, we were offered free drinks (alcohol) and the kids were given souvenier cups. We were not offered anything at Sci-Fi. I complained, nicely, at both places and spoke to the concierge at our hotel. I am more than patient, being a server myself, and understand that things happen, but 2 nights in a row? Both places said they were either double or triple booked...how is that my fault? We missed Illuminations at Epcot and we at DHS to enjoy EMH, but we got out of Sci-Fi at 11. I have never encountered this at WDW and was wondering if anyone had similar experiences.

 

[KatMark]

We have never had to wait an hour. We've waited over 30 minutes at two locations--Whispering Canyon and Boatwright's--and both were two of the worse meals we've ever had at Disney--not worth the wait. We normally wait no more than 10 minutes for anything and that includes Crystal Palace, LeCellier, Mama Melrose, etc.

 

[Pakey]

We've always been seated late at both Sci Fi and Coral Reef. Which is why we now only do both of these for the first lunch seating before they can get backed up.

Other places we have found to frequently run behind are California Grill, Whispering Canyon and Le Cellier. We've waited an hour on occasion for these 3 but not as consistently as we have waited at Coral Reef and Sci Fi.

Most other places have been within 5-10 minutes.

You have to remember that Disney Dining doesn't do reservations in the way you are thinking because they don't hold tables open. You just get the next available table for your party size in priority order of checkin. They never guarantee that they'll seat you within a certain time.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Both places said they were either double or triple booked...how is that my fault?

1) It is not your fault.
2) Some of us have "dining override" codes.
3) This allows for more bookings than the restaurant can hold.
4) Effectively, the eatery is severely over capacity.
5) This is done more often than normal guests realize.
6) Especially during busy dining periods.

 

[perkinsrose]

We've never waiting more than 20 minutes with ADRs in WDW.

I'm surprised when I hear such stories from WDW.

I had a bad experience (non-dining related) at AllStarSports. I was shocked that several CMs didn't offer anything to make better their error/problem. Basically, just said sorry-you're out of luck. We won't be back to AllstarSports. With such high standards, its especially jarring to have those -few&far between experiences- with CMs that don't seem to care about customer satisfaction.

 

[77SU]

We were there 4-11 June and our longest wait was at LeCellier and it may have been 15 minutes after check-in. They told us they were backed up and it would be 30 minutes. With all of the posts about CR running behind, we made our ADR at 5pm. We checked in early and I think we were seated by 5:10. Most of our waits were less than 10 minutes from check-in. We seemed to have a longer wait at CP, but they had moved the parade from 3:30 to 5:30 because of a rainstorm and I think that affected the availability of tables.

General consensus was that the crowds at the parks increased beginning 8 June and we noticed the waits increased at the restaurants.

 

[grace&philipsmom]

Other than Coral Reef (45 minutes on our last trip), we usually wit 10 minutes or less.

 

[Sammie]

I have waited many times over an hour, especially Whispering Canyon Cafe and recently at Grand Floridian Cafe and Cape May.

 

[disneygirlinnj]

And aren't these ADRs NOT really reservations? They don't hold a table for you. When you check in, you're put in the queue for the next table on the list after everyone before you. It's like that at a lot of restaurants now. Yes it sucks if they're really behind but it's the only way they can keep tables full and not 'waiting' for guests

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

If you were eating at Sci-Fi during SWW, I'm not surprised. That restaurant looked absolutely nuts the Friday we walked by it.

We've waited for 45 minutes for Le Cellier. But that's the only restaurant we waited on for that long.

 

[Colleen27]

We've never run into really bad waits, though Sci-Fi was one of the longer waits that we had at probably 20-25min (absolutely inexcusable to be that far behind at noon, IMO!). LeCellier was the only one that was really, really bad - we checked in a few minutes early and were told at the hostess stand that they were running 45min behind. She suggested we enjoy the park and check back in later. We cancelled right then and there and went elsewhere, as we weren't interested in waiting until 9pm for dinner. But for the most part our waits were in the very reasonable 5-10 minute range, and those two are the only ones that stick out in my mind out of 23 ADRs on our last trip. I hope that good luck continues to hold for us!

 

[MarkinNM]

1) It is not your fault.
2) Some of us have "dining override" codes.
3) This allows for more bookings than the restaurant can hold.
4) Effectively, the eatery is severely over capacity.

Do you work for the airlines also!!!!!

Even being able to do that is just stupid and should not be allowed!!!


GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

 

[redrosesix]

Yup -- we've waited an hour at Sci-Fi, CP, and Akershus (probably longer) at times. But we're at WDW around Pres. Day -- it's pretty busy in general at that time.

 

[rlovew]

We were there June 1-6th. We get dinner reservations for 5pm and earlier most of the time. When we checked in at Le Cellier, before opening some people were walking up and asking about table avaiability for the entire night and were told that they had been overbooked due to the change over in dining reservation systems- it seems they were almost fully booked by both systems and so they expected it to be a crazy night. I know it was the meal in which our food came out most quickly in comparison to every other place for the week- it was our shortest meal- in about 50 minutes we had all 3 courses and paid.

 

[RMulieri]

The most i have waited is 45 mins past my adr time...I think the later in the afternoon/ earlier in the evening your seating is the better off you are.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Even being able to do that is just stupid and should not be allowed!!!

1) But, I agree it should be stopped.
2) However, GM's, Vice-President's, and such love the ability.
3) They like to be able to have friends/relatives get into sold-out meals.
4) Plus, you have to add all the ABC folks that want that ability.
5) And it goes on-and-on.

NOTE: On some days, I have seen more than 150 extra people (more than 25-40 tables) tossed into CRT for breakfast and lunch. That really delays and backs up the whole day.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We were there June 3-10 and had many dinner and a few lunch ressies, we never had to wait at all...as soon we put our name in we were seated.

There have been times where we have had to wait 15-30 minutes, mostly at character meals.

 

[Beauty & the Best]

An hour wait is pretty ridiculous. But as I like to say, when you make a restaurant reservation at Disney, you're really just making a reservation to wait in line at a specified time (kinda like a fastpass for the restaurant!)

We've waited about 15-25 minutes for ADR's at Boma, Ohana and Le Cellier.

At Tutto Italia, Biergarten and Tusker House we've been seated right away.

Based on this, it seems like the wait is longer at restaurants that are more popular (which gives some weight to the overbooking theory)

We just expect a 20 minute wait and plan on getting a drink while we wait whenever possible...if you adjust your expectations you won't be so peeved about waiting.

 

[paintnolish]

I was annoyed the first night but understanding-stuff happens! When it happened the next night, with no compensation (not even an apology), I was really annoyed. I spoke with concierge at our hotel and she basically said that nobody likes the new dining system-guests and CMs. My complaint, however, was the first she had heard of. She offered to give us a complimentary meal at Maya Grill (in our our hotel, CSR) but at that point in our trip we had no ADRs we wanted to give up. I have been to CR and Sci-Fi (once in May and twice in Aug.) several times and they are some of our family faves. We've never encountered a problem (last year in CR we had one of the best servers and experiences ever) but these experiences in addition to the comitment to planning ADRs require has me considering the QS plan for next trip.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I don't think we have ever waited more than 15-20 minutes to be seated for our ADR's with the exception of Coral Reef, where we waited about 30 minutes.