arriving early to ADR

[germanhc]

On a trip two weeks ago we arrived at Ohana at 6:20 for a 6:30 ADR. We knew we were in for a wait when they told us they had no beeper to give us as they were all out. While waiting my wife asked another family how long they were waiting and they told her they has an 8:00 pm revervation but arrived at 6:00. The actual quote was "Disney will seat you when you arrive." Thank goodness they weren't seated before us. I would have not taken it well. Why bother making ADR times to show up when you feel like it. It's people like that that make the restaurants get backed up and Disney should be more strict regarding ADR's.

[Natazu]

The hosts generally treat you as a walk-up until there is less than 20 minutes before your ADR. I've never heard they'll seat you whenever you arrive.

[baby minnie's mommy]

I don't know the official process, but I don't think the host gives away tables. :) The reason you went in ahead of them was because you had the priority seating ressie. If they had plenty of tables open, they'd probably seat you and the other people, too, and cross out their later ADR.

The other people have probably lucked out and gotten in restaurants that had plenty of tables open when they arrived, not that they took away a free table from someone else. Like Natazu said, it would be like a "walk-up." A "walk-up" would not affect someone else's priority seating (ADR).

So yes, you can get seated early, but no, they don't simply "seat you when you arrive."

[Stickey]

I have seen this occur at WDW. Yes, it can be a problem when people arrive substantially early for their ADR, and then are seated ahead of those with earlier ADR times. These ADR jumpers were not told to return closer to their proper ADR time. Thus a 7:30 ADR can leapfrog ahead of 6:30 and 7:00 ADR's. :mad:

The proper protocol is to arrive 10-15 minutes prior to your ADR time. 30 minutes early is not too bad, especially if the restaurant is not overly busy. Disney should not allow people to abuse the ADR system by arriving at their desired time instead of their ADR time.

[Jared]

Disney encourages guests to arrive at least 10-15 minutes early, but 30 minutes is definitely pushing it a little. The Cast Members should, and usually do, use common sense when seating groups. I have never heard of any rule suggesting parties are seated when they arrive, either.

:tasty:

[Young@Heart]

The proper protocol is to arrive 10-15 minutes prior to your ADR time. 30 minutes early is not too bad, especially if the restaurant is not overly busy. Disney should not allow people to abuse the ADR system by arriving at their desired time instead of their ADR time.

ITA! I know we had some issues w/ this at 1900 Park Fare, and it can really detract from the Disney "magic".:(

[irish1967]

I think that the CMs at the host/hostess stand take the current seating situation into account when making a decision about seating people early.

During our January trip, we INQUIRED about eating before our ADR at 2 restaurants.

At the first (Kona Cafe) we arrived at the Poly about an hour early - thinking we would get a drink at the O'hana bar before dinner. The bar was packed (there was a football game on the tv) and Kona Cafe had several empty tables and no line at the hostess stand. So, we thought that it wouldn't hurt to ask. So I went up to the hostess and said, "we have an ADR in an hour but were wondering if we could be seated a bit early" No problem, she took us immediately to be seated and we had our drinks seated comfortably at the table rather than scrunched in at the bar!

The second was LeCellier and as we were walking by about 45 minutes before our ADR, someone in our party mentioned, "I'm getting hungry, I'm going down to see if we can get in early." The hostess at the stand said, "I'm really sorry but we have a very full house tonight so we won't be able to seat you early, please come back and check in 10 minutes before your ADR." No problem, we knew we were early and so we looked around for 35 minutes and came back 10 minutes early. We were seated right at our ADR time.

Probably like anything else in the world, the difference is the CM and how they choose to handle the situation!

[elmjimmlm]

I myself would not want to wait an hour or 2 for our reservation...There is too much going on everywhere else to stand and wait for our table...

[HndrdPrcnt]

Why make an ADR and then show up 2 hours early wasting those 2 hours of fun when that was the whole idea of making the ADR in the first place??? I don't get it. I love making ADRs so that I can maximize my fun and still know that I am going to be able to have a good meal at my scheduled time!!

I do agree, however, that if someone's had a change in plans (possibly due to cranky children or the likes) that if they need to try to dine earlier, they should have that option, but should be treated like a walk-up and be fit in ONLY if they have spare tables.:thumbsup:

[RockinRollerMom]

I was actually TOLD to do this my Disney. When we were booking our ADR's for our last trip we had to take the the last ADR of the night for Coral Reef because that is all that they had available. When I was making the reservation the CM told be that I might be able to get in earlier if I stop by the restaurant early to check. She told me to do it a few times because you never know when a table will open up. We never did end up try to get seated early. We showed up at our regular ADR time and got seated right away. It was actually a blessing that we had that late ADR because we got to leave the park so late. There was not another soul in site for our whole walk from Coral Reef out of the park. Not even a CM. It was the neatest thing to see a totally empty EPCOT!