"Plan to arrive 20 minutes prior to...

[mickey916]

your reservation time." Really? Do they really mean this? I'm the type of person that if I'm told to arrive at a specific time, I will. So, if they tell me to arrive 20 minutes early, I'll do so, but I'll be pretty annoyed if that just automatically adds 20 minutes onto my wait time. I know that it's not a real "reservation" and that it just is a priority seating, but do they really plan us getting there 20 minutes in advance and if so, does that improve our chances of being seated by our ADR time? Anyone with real life experience with this?

 

[jill062604]

I have gotten there 20 minutes before ADR and had to wait 10-15 minutes in line to check in (Ohana, crystal palace to name a few). I think they tell you that incase Disney transportation runs late or if the line is long. Shoot for 15-20 min before, so you arent running from monorail or through the park!

 

[Momof3mouseketeers]

We went during New Year's and have arrived right at our res time or 5 minutes before and got seated right away, no prob.

The one place we did arrive 30 minutes early was for our 8:10pm res at Ohana on NYE. Despite that, we were not seated until 9:10! Wishes was at 8:30 that evening and nobody budged from their tables until after it was done. We were still able to enjoy the fireworks from the waiting area.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm an early arriver for my ADRs. And most always I get seated early too. Even during a trip over the 4th of July the only time I wasn't seated early was for an ADR at the Crystal Palace.

I don't think you will be turned away or made to wait longer if you only arrive 5 minutes before your ADR. So just do what works for you.

 

[mickey916]

Thanks everyone. I hate being late to anything so I'll definitely allow enough time. It's nice to know that they may seat you if you're early. I know a lot of it is out of their control, I just didn't want to automatically add on a 20 minute wait each time just cuz I followed their suggestion to be early.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

The only res I'm going to be early for is California Grille. Our res is the exact time that Wishes starts, so I'm hoping to be about a half hour early and either be seated (highly unlikely) or get out on the observation deck.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I think the key words are "plan to...". I always plan to be somewhere at a particular time, but except for work, I don't always make it.

 

[Nadjalu]

I am another who is always early to our ADRs.
We have always been seated within 5 mins of checking in, even when we are an hour early for dinner.

 

[deerhart]

We arrived 45 minutes early to our Crystal Palace ADR last year (it was raining) and we were seated within 10 minutes.

If you check in and they have availability they will seat you early.

Be aware that if your more then 10 minutes late to your ADR, it can be canceled and you end up on the wait list.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

My family also arrives 20 minutes early. We've been seated early. We even arrived 20 minutes early for LeCellier. Waited 5 minutes and still seated early for a 12:30 lunch ADR.

 

[fla4fun]

The reason you are advised to arrive 20 minutes early is because ADR's aren't strictly a "reservation" - i.e., they don't have an empty table sitting there waiting for you to arrive at a specific time. ADR's put you in a queue for the next available table. So when you check in, your name goes on the "available table" list and as soon as it's your turn (as soon as those with ADR's who have checked in prior to you have been seated), you get the next table. That's why sometimes you get in early, and sometimes even with an ADR you may have to wait a while. I liked the old term Priority Seating better, because it more accurately represents what Disney is doing.

So if you prefer to check in at, or just before, your assigned ADR time, be prepared to wait a few minutes to be seated - or check in a few minutes early as suggested and be seated close to your assigned ADR time. It's all in what works best for you.

 

[mickey916]

Thanks for all the feedback. I tend to be an "early" person and usually leave extra time anyways to get to wherever we're going. I just didn't want to feel stressed if we "planned" to get there 20 minutes early but then for whatever reason, only got there 10 minutes early.

 

[thehails]

We always try to arrive early particularly if its a dinning time that we arent too happy with, we have always found in our limited experience (2 visits to WDW & 3 to DLRP) that we are normally seated earlier than our ADR - the only one where this didnt happen was CRT on Friday last week - the reservation was for 12:05 we turned up at 11:50 and werent seated until approx 12:25