Any Luck Eating Earlier Than Your Ressie?

[mickeys_princess_mom]

Just wondering...have you ever checked in a few hours earlier than your ressie and had success? We have arrived a little earlier for some, but I was wondering especially about Ohana. Can only get late night times, so far.....

[chrim]

I really doubt you could be seated hours early, especially at a popular and crowded place like Ohana.

Heck, I arrived 20 minutes early at the Grand Floridian Cafe and they said they could not seat me before my reservation time.

[mickeys_princess_mom]

I was just hoping if I hit it right when they open. Worth a try. Or I just need to break it to DH that we're gonna have to deviate from the norm and be adventurous with a late meal. It's still worth it.

[SBETigg]

At some restaurants, it might work, but 'Ohana is pretty rigid with the schedule. They often have a line of people waiting for ADRs before they even open, and the wait frequently extends well past your normal ADR time. Not saying there's no chance, just that the likelihood is slim enough that I wouldn't recommend wasting time to go out of the way to check when you could be doing other things.

[mickeys_princess_mom]

At some restaurants, it might work, but 'Ohana is pretty rigid with the schedule. They often have a line of people waiting for ADRs before they even open, and the wait frequently extends well past your normal ADR time. Not saying there's no chance, just that the likelihood is slim enough that I wouldn't recommend wasting time to go out of the way to check when you could be doing other things.

Thanks for your response. Do you know if they're still doing the two lines recent posters have talked about? This is our favorite restaurant, but this was kind of a last minute trip, so we are a little behind...

[greengeen]

A few minutes, maybe, a few hours - no!

[Butters]

We've actually tried this a few times... I think my problem is I book dinner rescues the same time we would eat at home, but with all the running around the parks all day we find ourselves hungry earlier... Anyways it has worked once or twice for us at the slower places, but most of the time we are turned away and we just use our snack credits to hold us over.

[iceicebritney]

We leave tonight and have no ADRs for our trip. Its a long story but i was not allowed to formally plan anything for this trip! Anyhow, We are hoping to hit O'hana next Wednesday. What we are planning to do is get a walk-up reservation. In the past, we've had our readies very late like it sounds yours are. We always got to the POLY early, checked in, and had a few Lapu Lapu's at the Tambu Lounge. The bar tenders there are a lot of fun and definitely help pass the time until our buzzer goes off. We've shown up at 5 when the restaurant opened (with a 9 pm reservation) and been seated around 7.

If it's a must do for you, it's definitely worth a try!

[BugeyedMuggy]

Keep checking online many times a day for a better time slot. I did this for Ohana's and got just about the time I wanted for October.

[the real Alice]

We actually got in several hours early at 'Ohanna a few years ago. We had a reservation at 9, but it was our last day and we were exhausted! We went at opening and and asked if we could get in then instead of at 9. We were told we could have to wait an hour, but it was only 10 min! I think we probably just got very lucky. This was also before they made changes to the stand by line, so i'm not sure if it would work now. Good luck

[PopPhan]

I've been trying every 15 minutes or so, daily, since we booked (late booking, already well within the 180 day mark) to get into 'Ohana for dinner and am getting nothing!!! This was the only real request DW had for our ADRs....Don't want to sit for 'walk up' seating, because with the new 'two line -- ADR vs. Walk Up' situation you may have LONG waits for your party size and we are only a twosome.

[magicofdisney]

As with everything in life, you'll find someone with the exception.

My mom and aunt had 9ish reservations at 'Ohana (during free dining) 2 yrs ago. They arrived around 7ish and were seated within 20 min. I'm guessing it was because they were only a party of 2. It could happen for you also.

[ledudes]

It is always worth a try. Keep trying for the time you want online also becasue we tried for months to get an earlier one and finally got what we wanted. Check online at different times during the day and something is bound to open up.

What is a Lapu lapu?????

[darthmacho]

Last year, they took us early at Whispering Canyon. I had gone to confirm our time, and they offered to take us on the spot. I thanked them but politely refused, but within a half hour, I was back again and they took us happily. I think at that point we were about an hour early.

Keep in mind, the restaurant was only at about half capacity when they took us, but even so, filled up by the time we were through. They probably were glad to move us up.

Now I'm guessing your odds will be much lower because your talking about Ohana, which is very popular. You can always try, but don't get your hopes up. Good luck!

[jonahbear2006]

Twice at LLT . once we got right in. the next trip we had to ask twice within 15 min time period. she told me no then i returned a 2nd time and her manager was standing there and i said please fit us in, we simply cannot wait anymore and if you cannot seat us we want to eat somewhere else. We were starving to death and our ressie wasnt for another 2 hrs. we got right in!!

[mickeys_princess_mom]

Thank you all for your posts! Interesting! I am absolutely planning to be in line when they open, but we will enjoy it whenever we get in.
I am working on the online thing, and the phone! Maybe the Magic will happen for us!

[buzznwoodysmom]

Maybe its just me, but I'd rather eat late than spend hours in line waiting to get an earlier ressie. Our time is too precious in WDW to spend it waiting in a hotel for a meal! And Ohana's is our favorite, don't think we could go to WDW and not eat there, and I also rather not eat too late, but I still wouldn't want to spend vacation time waiting hours for a meal.

For what its worth. We've had late ressies at Ohanan's twice, around 9:30ish both times. The food was probably the best its ever been on those two trips. Super fresh and we never felt rushed. Good luck!

[mickeys_princess_mom]

Maybe its just me, but I'd rather eat late than spend hours in line waiting to get an earlier ressie. Our time is too precious in WDW to spend it waiting in a hotel for a meal! And Ohana's is our favorite, don't think we could go to WDW and not eat there, and I also rather not eat too late, but I still wouldn't want to spend vacation time waiting hours for a meal.

For what its worth. We've had late ressies at Ohanan's twice, around 9:30ish both times. The food was probably the best its ever been on those two trips. Super fresh and we never felt rushed. Good luck!

Thanks, that's about when ours is, too. I do not plan to spend hours waiting; we are just going to give it a shot a little before opening time, and see how it's looking. My DH likes to eat early--makes no difference to me. One way or another!

[SandmanGStefani24]

gotta agree with the previous posters...

We had reservations at Rose and Crown and weren't seated until 20 minutes AFTER our reservation time. Getting in earlier seems unrealistic. It would pretty much be equal to a walk in without a reservation. And we all know how that goes...

[johnO]

We've gotten in early everytime we've made the attempt