Ridiculous wait time with ADR -common?

[rmbean]

We just arrived at WDW yesterday and had our first TS meal today. We had an ADR for 4:55 at Crystal Palace. We checked in at 4:50 and was told the wait would be 35 mins. I was very surprised by that since we did have reservations, but sat quietly to wait. We were finally called in at 5:40 - 45 minutes after our ADR time! Is this a common occurance? We have 8 other meals with ADRs coming up and would like to know if there is a way to be smarter (i.e. Check in 45 minutes before ADR time).

Besides being annoying, my mother is a diabetic and carefully plans her snacks and meals to keep her blood sugar in check. A 45 minute delay is potenially unhealthy for her and difficult to plan around.

I look forward to hearing if I should be exectimg similar ever day. My hope is that this was an unfortunate 1-off occurance.

Thank you in advance!

 

[mmmears]

I haven't had that happen to me (luckily). We do try to show up 10-15 minutes before our ADR times, and we are either seated right away or at our ADR time. We were just there last month and didn't have any problems -- I'm so sorry you did... IMO 35-40 minutes wait time is really not acceptable. Since this is a health issue, I would recommend that you get to your ADRs earlier, just in case this happens again.

 

[Bama_C]

This has not been my experience at all. In fact, we have rarely had to wait (done free dining the past 4 years for 10+ days each year... so over 40 TS dining experiences.) I will say that I try to book early ressies, and usually get there at least 15 minutes early. I don't know what the problem was with yours, (...was it raining? people tend to linger over their meals if the weather is bad, making it hard to clear tables for those next in line. This happened to us at O'hana last year.) I hope the rest of your dining experiences go a lot more smoothly.

 

[daisyduck123]

That does not usually happen to us, although Crystal Palace is the one place that usually has the longest wait for us.

We usually show up 15 min. early & are usually seated almost right away...esp. at: CM, CP, & LTT.

 

[snowwhitenyc]

Our experience is that we always wait a bit at Crystal Palace, regardless of how early we show up at our ADR. Not sure why...it is a big restaurant, and it can take a while for all of the characters to make their way around...but it is frustrating.

It sounds like you didn't mention this to anyone at the CP, but I think it is perfectly acceptable to tell the host/hostess about your mother being diabetic -- that is a very legitimate reason to need to eat at a certain time, and if they couldn't have gotten you seated earlier they could have given her juice or a snack.

You probably won't encounter long waits at other TS restaurants, but it is a good idea to try to get there about 10 mins before your ADR.

 

[Meriweather]

We have only had a long wait at 1900 Park Faire......45 minutes.
I think the buffets tend to have the longest wait because it is harder to estimate how long people are going to take, maybe??

 

[goofy4tink]

I really think Crystal Palace is the worst as far as waits go. You can try to checkin 45 mins early but many places will not allow you to do that. We tried getting there 30 mins early last month and were routinely told that we had to come back within 15 mins of our ADR time.

 

[CarolinaBlue]

We had to wait over an hour beyond our ADR time at 1900 Park Fare (dinner) last September. They seemed very unorganized that night and said something about the computer crashing.

 

[madalex]

I've done three trips totalling 23 days in last 18 months. I do TS every night for dinner and usually arrive for ADR 5 - 10 mins prior to scheduled time. For all those meals, I did not have to wait past the ADR time to be seated (and was usually seated early).

 

[JoanneNC]

I would definitely recommend showing up 15 mins early like they request when making your ADR's - that may help some - but sometimes you get in early and sometimes you get in a little late and sometimes right on the money...

 

[Kathy Z]

Our experience is that we always wait a bit at Crystal Palace, regardless of how early we show up at our ADR. Not sure why...it is a big restaurant, and it can take a while for all of the characters to make their way around...but it is frustrating.

It sounds like you didn't mention this to anyone at the CP, but I think it is perfectly acceptable to tell the host/hostess about your mother being diabetic -- that is a very legitimate reason to need to eat at a certain time, and if they couldn't have gotten you seated earlier they could have given her juice or a snack.

You probably won't encounter long waits at other TS restaurants, but it is a good idea to try to get there about 10 mins before your ADR.

Good advise from snowwhitenyc to notify the person at the podium that your mother is diabetic.

Now that I think about it, CP was our longest wait beyond our ADR time. We arrived for all about 15 minutes prior as Disney Dining suggests. We were usually seated within 5 minutes of our ADR time but CP was at least 20 minutes after our ADR time and we had the first lunch slot time of the day. They were busy getting all of the late breakfast people out and changing over for lunch.

 

[pumba]

we were there a week ago and we were seated within 20 minutes of our check in time.....I too am a diabetic and I had scheduled all my snacks and eating according to my meals....
We were seated almost immediately for our other six reservations by the way...

 

[pennst8r]

You didn't mention how many were in your party. I know with the 5 of us we sometimes see smaller parties seated before us. And you can hear when they check in what their ADR times are. But we've never had to wait that long. Maybe all the free dining is causing them to book times closer together?

 

[GovieMom]

During our last trip our party of four endured long (45 minutes to an hour) waits at two restaurants: Crystal Palace and Le Cellier. Both of our reservation times were before 5:30, so it wasn't like we were dining during peak time. We realized both those places are very popular, but that's still a pretty long time to wait considering we had ADRs.

 

[TillyMarigold]

We were at WDW for free dining earlier this month and did 9 TS meals. Our wait averaged about 5 minutes--at several places (Narcoossee's, Jiko, Boma, Sci-Fi, Kouzzina) we were seated immediately. Our longest wait was 20 minutes at Akershus (but part of the problem was that Akershus's computers were down so they were having to check people in manually off a printed list--the 20 minutes includes the time to check in as well as wait time).

To the person who said it depends on party size, of course it does to an extent—if there are 5 of you and the restaurant has mostly two-top or four-top tables, then you'll be waiting longer than parties of 2-4, because you need a five-top or six-top. The reservation guarantees you the next available table *of a size appropriate to your party*.

 

[bytheblood]

The only restaurant I have ever had to wait a long time at was Coral Reef. We waited almost an hour. It was during Candlelight Processional in 2007. So not worth the wait .

 

[MomofLogan&Evan]

We've had long waits last October at Crystal Palace (30 minutes) and LeCellier (30 minutes). But our longest wait was at Tusker House Breakfast. Our ressie was at 10:15 and we didn't get into the restaurant until 11:15!!! And we showed up 15 minutes early! It was crazy and made the rest of our touring day difficult. The character interaction and food were great - but next time I'll know to make any earlier reservation even though we are NOT morning people!

 

[AStamm]

We do many ADR's each trip and the only consistant place that makes us wait is Coral Reef. (30-40 minutes)

DW does not want to go back anytime soon, my DS and I both like it, but the excessive wait is big time turnoff.

I would say most times at most is a 5 minutes wait, we are a party of 3 and usually do 12:00 and 5:00 ADR's.

 

[Pakey]

We have done 70 days at WDW in the past 4 years and do at least one TS a day. Places we have waited significantly past our ADR time have been Coral Reef (every time), Le Cellier (1 hour), Ca Grill (50 minutes), Bistro de Paris (20 minutes), Crystal Palace (20 minutes) and Sci Fi (15 minutes). We have only been seated before our ADR time twice, once each at Le Cellier and Jiko. Most of the time we are seated right at our ADR time or within 10 minutes after.

 

[jcc0621]

CP is always a wait, but it can happen at other restaurants. My mother is a serater at Artist Point. She gets yelled at, alot ::, when people have to wait becasue they have a "reservation" and they shouldn't have to wait. However, an ADR is just gauranteeing you the next available table for your party size...it is not a true reservation.

The problem usually isn't the restaurant, the CM's, the service, etc. It is is usually the other diners. As a customer service industry they can't force people to eat fast, not wait to see the characters, etc. so if one party takes 2 hours to eat a meal, that can back the whole thing up.!