Return Time for ADR's

[SteveAZee]

I did a search and couldn't find an answer for this (official or otherwise)... but what is the window for dining reservations... assuming I have a 6pm dinner reservation, how early (or late) can I arrive and still have the reservation honored? I assume that if the restaurant isn't busy, they'd work to accommodate me, but assuming the place is packed, at what point do they turn me away?

 

[Disvillain63]

Most of the time, they ask you to arrive about 15 minutes before your ADR. We've actually arrived a half hour before and been seated within 15 minutes. We were about 10 minutes late once and they still seated us.

 

[rt06]

I believe it is 20 minutes. I've often arrived 10-15 minutes late.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We have arrived about 30 minutes early and been seated shortly after arriving but it depends on the restaurant and availbility. The latest we have ever been is maybe 5 minutes, if that. We are always early.

 

[NYwdwfan]

I would imagine being an immense theme park complex they encounter people arriving 30 minutes to either side of the reservation as the norm. Even with the best intentions to be early or on time, things happen. Monorail goes down, bus is late, etc. We were late to Whispering Canyon last year because my son got his foot stuck in the chair in our room at WL and we had to wait for the guy with the saw to come (we did call downstairs to let them know). That being said - I always strive to arrive 10-15 minutes early as I assume the restaurant has a full set of ADRs and being late could impact other diners for the rest of the night.

 

[SteveAZee]

Thanks everyone. My plan is to show up on time, but given the possible luck (or lack thereof) with FP+ and other hiccups, I didn't want to have to rush if I didn't need to.

Twelve more days.

 

[Weather_Lady]

If worse comes to worst, perhaps you could call the WDW restaurant line if you have a major problem (e.g., stuck on a stopped attraction or a broken-down bus) and see if they will let the restaurant know about your delay, or shift the time of your ADR.

 

[shipley731]

We generally show up 5-10 minutes early for any ADR's that we make. However, we had a 7:55pm ADR for California Grill back in September on a Monday night. The weather that day was super crappy & we were staying at AKL. We were running late. Due to weather & traffic we got to to the CG desk at 8:15pm. I apologized profusely for being late & the CM said it wasn't a bother. (He knew the weather was bad.) He mentioned however that they have to hold a reservation for the entire night. Our table would have still been available if we had showed up at 9pm. I don't know if that's actually the case. Seems that would be counter-productive to keeping the restuarant full. If we had been turned away because we had shown up late, I would have understood.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

We were running late to an ADR at Narcoossee's due to Disney transportation. We called them and they told us we had a 20 minute window. We got there 25 minutes late and were seated. I would never intentionally be late though.

 

[durangojim]

I've heard that the official line is 45 mins after. Before it's up to the restaurant's discretion. This was from someone in management that I spoke with.

 

[JohnD]

The earlier you arrive the better. I've found that I'm likely to be seated at my actual ADR time. Since I arrived early, I didn't mind waiting. If you arrive on time, or late, you'll have to wait for available seating.

 

[luv]

When it's busy, if you're more than 15 minutes late, you may not get a table. Some restaurants (I think it might just be buffets, but am not sure) will refuse to seat you until everyone is there.

We almost lost our Crystal Palace reservation once, because my sister and one of her kids were late. Funny how SOME people are always on time, you can count on them...and SOME people will always arrive late, with a story about how it was so out of their control, lol.

Disney was really nice and apologetic about it, but they were about to tell us we were out of luck.

 

[Minthorne]

Thanks everyone. My plan is to show up on time, but given the possible luck (or lack thereof) with FP+ and other hiccups, I didn't want to have to rush if I didn't need to.

Twelve more days.

Hey! I'll be there in 12 days too!!

 

[SteveAZee]

Hey! I'll be there in 12 days too!!

I'm down to only 8 days now... pouring over my FP+ and dining reservations to see if I need to do any tweaking.

Congrats on being only 12 days away!

 

[LucyK]

Last trip I misread my reservation for Arkershus and we arrived 40 minutes late and they seated us. But it was all my fault and I would be OK if they hadn't honored my ADR.

When I approached the booth to check us in they couldn't find my name and I was SO mad at them, saying how I was sure they had misplaced my reservation, I said, LOOK, I can show you my reservation confirmation, all smug and ready to accept their apologies. Well, what was my surprise when I opened the email and saw the actual time of my reservation; I was sure our ADR was for 2:50pm when in reality it was for 2:10pm. I was so upset with myself I had a mini meltdown, apologized to them and was going to tell my mom I screwed up when the CM managing the check in booth said she would see what she could do, left to talk her superior and came back saying they would accommodate us.

Two valuable lessons learned here: always check the time of your ADR before leaving the hotel and ALWAYS apologize when you're wrong.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

There are a couple of restaurants that have very strict check in policies...CRT and BOG are coming to mind. I believe CRT will turn you away if it's any more than 10 min and BOG will turn you away if it's anything more than 15 min. While not Disney owned, T-Rex in DTD also did something similar...although if we checked in prior to our reservation time, we would just be lumped in with everyone else trying for a walk up.