Can you show up early???

Charjen

Member
Original Poster
Do Disney reservations work the same as outside reservations? Meaning if you have a reservation at 12:30 and you show up at 12:00, do they normally go ahead and seat you if there is availability? Or, do they normally wait until your reservation time?
 

nickys

Premium Member
It all depends on how busy the restaurant is, but I would never count on getting seated before your reservation time.

Agreed.

Except for PPO (pre park opening) reservations in the parks. For most, if not all, of those they will seat people in the order they arrive rather than by time. So someone with an 8:50am breakfast booked showing up at 8:00am will usually be seated ahead of someone who turns up right at their reservation time of 8:15am.
 

Queen of the WDW Scene

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Honestly I would not advise showing up early.
Make the ADR for the time you want not 30 minutes past the time you want.
IF there is availability AND they didn't have any walk ups ahead of you then they would likely accommodate you but really just DON'T do it unless there's a valid reason to.
 

OneofThree

Well-Known Member
I would definitely say it varies by location. Much of the time, we'll check in 15 minutes early and be seated shortly thereafter. I can tell that one of our preferred restaurants right now, Flying Fish, has been a 20+ minute wait beyond the reservation time.
 

Bronson55

Active Member
When forced to make reservations many months in advance it's next to impossible to make one at exactly the time you want so you grab the closest time to your actual desired seating. Have I arrived early and asked if there were available openings...absolutely. I have been seated early perhaps 60 percent of the time. In fact they are often happy to get one more seated to ease up on what they know will be be a more crowded time. I demand nothing. If it works for all involved great. If not no harm done. It works the other way too. If you are lucky enough to book the exact time you want to eat there is no guarantee you won't have to wait a long time to be seated.
 

Queen of the WDW Scene

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Hmm, how late can you show up to an ADR?
Really all depends on the situation. Stuck on a ride? They will likely take you even if you're an hour late. You're just late because they may not.
It's up to the CMs and how busy the restaurant is when you do get there.
General rule of thumb is don't be more than 15 minutes late or face the $10 per person no show fee.
 

bUU

Well-Known Member
I have seen where they sit the walk ups and make you wait for your ADR, you can always ask, but not something I see happen a lot
I've seen them seat walk-ups who arrived before me, but I don't recall ever seeing them seat before me a party that was the same size as mine, didn't have a reservation and arrived after I checked in (early) for my reservation.
 

Nottamus

Well-Known Member
We have, and have been seated early, the most...

And we have, and have been seated the original reserved time.

Only a party of 2..so that might be easier
 

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
We are usually at the restaurant earlier than we are supposed to be to check in. I hate being late for anything so I'm very aware of our timing especially if we are park hopping and taking the buses to another park to dine. We also have the added need to make sure the host or hostess got the message that my DW needs a table that seats a wheel chair. We have occasionally been allowed in early but most of the time its been the case of waiting up to the ADR time that appears in the restaurants reservation screen and later.
 

Tornat

New Member
we always get deluxe dining plan and we show up 30-15mins early most the time I would say 50% of the time they seat you before your reservation time. But we also go I would say one of the lest busy weeks of the year.
 

Ghostdog

Well-Known Member
We've used the dining plan many times and on occasion have showed up early due to staring kids/adults and have never had a problem getting seated.
 

ppet

Well-Known Member
Depends on your group size. I've checked in early with a small group and don't really remember a time when we weren't seated early. On the other hand when I've been with a large group, we always seem to wait past out ADR time.
 

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