Showing up early to dinner reservations

[Antonio]

I was looking for dinner reservations for Ohana in July but can't find anything earlier that 9:25. If I show up at 8 do you think they'll seat us a little earlier? Do you think I can find earlier reservations closer to the date?? Any info would be great.

 

[figment_jii]

I was looking for dinner reservations for Ohana in July but can't find anything earlier that 9:25. If I show up at 8 do you think they'll seat us a little earlier? Do you think I can find earlier reservations closer to the date?? Any info would be great.

I would keep looking to see if something earlier shows up. Whether they'll let you check in that much earlier depends on how crowded the restaurant is and how many ADRs they already have. If you were thinking of arriving 20-30 minutes before your ADR time, I'd say there is a chance they'd let you check in, but you're thinking of arriving almost 90 minutes early so most likely they either tell you to come back closer to your ADR time or treat you as a walk-up. 'Ohana is one of the places where I've heard folks being told they could not check in more than 15 minutes before their ADR time.

 

[purple figment]

Unfortunately, 'Ohana is almost always fully booked, there's usually a line of walk ups waiting to be seated and it tends to fall behind schedule by the middle of the dinner service so it's not too likely you'll be seated early.

It would be better to start checking online multiple times a day starting now to see if an earlier time opens up. Because it has the credit card guarantee people will cancel if their plans change.

 

[aubriee]

Unfortunately, 'Ohana is almost always fully booked, there's usually a line of walk ups waiting to be seated and it tends to fall behind schedule by the middle of the dinner service so it's not too likely you'll be seated early.

It would be better to start checking online multiple times a day starting now to see if an earlier time opens up. Because it has the credit card guarantee people will cancel if their plans change.

I agree! Ohana is the one restaurant that we always have to wait way past our ADR time. We have tried to show up early and have been told to come back no earlier than 15 minutes prior to our ADR time. We do that and are still always seated way past the ADR time.

off topic, but Le Cellier and Crystal Palace are two others that won't let you check in early and always seem to be running behind. We always have long waits at both of those too.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

Most places will not even check you in until 15-20 minutes before your reservation. If you arrive at 8 and ask to be seated, you will be turned away and asked to check in later, closer to your reservation time.

 

[Disneylover99]

Most places will not even check you in until 15-20 minutes before your reservation. If you arrive at 8 and ask to be seated, you will be turned away and asked to check in later, closer to your reservation time.

This has been our experience too!

We arrived extra early to our ADR at Biergarten once and we didn't get seated until just after our ADR time. However they did allow two families without ADR's to be seated before us and they checked in after us.

Lesson learned.....ADR times are taken seriously at Disney so don't arrive too early!

 

[kris4360]

Very unlikely

 

[Hopefully]

I laughed at your definition of a "little early". You are talking nearly 90 minutes in prime dinner time.
If they had availablity at 8 you could book an ADR at 8. I agree with PP. For 'OHana the answer is no.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Very unlikely a busy restaurant would sit you that early. Most aren't even on time unless you are the start of the dinner service.

 

[NOLA_Tink]

They don't have any ADRs before 9:25 because they're booked solid, so they won't be able to seat you early. ('Ohana is one of those places that sometimes doesn't even take walk-ups because they have no extra availability.) We got there once b/c my DH was hoping for the same thing (we had a reservation around 9 pm and got there around 8 pm), but we ended up sitting at the bar for that entire time. I think we were seated around 9:15. If 9:25 is too late for you, keep looking for an earlier ADR. You might luck out.

 

[mommycrawford]

No....Since people tend to run late, not early on vacation, the restaurants often seat you after your scheduled ressie! The exceptions, in my experience, were Captain's Grille and Kona Cafe. I have, more often than not, waited 15 mins to 1 hour 20 min past my ressie time.

 

[Donna in NJ]

We had an ADR there last October. It was pouring rain that night and left the park early. We got to Ohana 45 min early. They said they would do there best to get us in early. When our pager went off it was 30 min after our scheduled ADR. It was just me and my husband and we had 2 very nice drinks in the lounge and relaxed. We understood how busy they were and getting in early was a long shot.