Pre-park ADR and late members of our party

uchi

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Hi! I'm planning my ADRs and was thinking of having breakfast at the parks before they open. I know cast members let people with ADRs inside the parks early and was wondering if anyone knew if the whole party on the reservation had to be there together in order to enter. Since we are 2 different parties staying at 2 different hotels (with one reservation since we want to sit together to have breakfast), if one of those parties arrived later at the park would the other party be able to get a head start, go inside the park and check in at the restaurant?
Thanks so much!
 
Never heard this one before. I would do my best to have everyone together to enter. They will not seat you at the restaurant until everyone is together. Maybe that policy will hold true for park entrance? If I were to gamble, I would say they will not let your party in until you are all together. Or deny entrance to the latecomers as your party already entered

Has anyone experienced this?
 
Agree with Pumbaa. Since the castmember at the turnstile has a list of those with dining reservations and will check your name off the list when you enter it's very possible the other half of your group won't be allowed in if they're late.

Also, there's no "get a head start" because the restaurant will not seat you until everyone is present so you may as well wait outside the turnstile and enter together.
 


Take Disney’s reply w a grain of salt. What happens in a call center w no direct park people can be very different from what happens on the ground in reality.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll call Disney to find out for sure.

Please do not rely on a call to the WDW call center if this matters to you. The restaurant will NOT seat you until the entire party has arrived, so even if your late arrivals are allowed entry after you , your party will not have any head start. Not only that, depending on how late they are, you may either be turned away, although that would only occur under extenuating circumstances, or more likely, you will be at the back of the list.

I am not a control freak when we vacation, but the one thing I insist on is that if I book meals, my party better darn well show up on time. If not they need to find a CS restaurant at their own convenience.

I also need to add that I cannot understand booking meals at times that make meeting them nearly impossible. If you know your family will likely not meet your ADR time, change it. I have run late when I lost something, or transportation got held up, and it is stressful at best. I sure would never plan to do so.

I also want to add that with the increased crowds that WDW is expecting, I imagine that individual restaurants may feel that they must adhere to whatever policy they have in terms of late arrivals. We have no idea yet how they will manage the chaos that I imagine may occur once GE opens, but I sure would not press my luck before I saw how late arrivals are handled.
 
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Thanks for the replies. I'll call Disney to find out for sure.

Not the best idea. They can tell you one thing over the phone, and yet something else will happen once you are in the parks. And they won't care if you say "but I called and they told me.."
 


I called and they said we could go in the parks separately but won't be seated until the everyone on the reservation was there (this, I knew). I will take this with a grain of salt, like most of you recommended.

Regarding the "head start", I did not mean getting a head start on the meal, but entering the park, taking pictures, going over to the restaurant and checking in. I know that most of the time restaurants do not seat you until everyone is there.

I also need to add that I cannot understand booking meals at times that make meeting them nearly impossible. If you know your family will likely not meet your ADR time, change it. I have run late when I lost something, or transportation got held up, and it is stressful at best. I sure would never plan to do so.

I didn't say that my family members would be late for sure or not meet the ADR time, I meant, since we would be at two different hotels it's almost certain that both parties wouldn't get to the park at the exact same time. That would be quite a coincidence if it happened. So my question was basically if one party would have to wait outside the park for the other party, or if the first ones to arrive could get in the park and wait inside while taking pictures or looking around.

I'll either make sure my family members know when they need to get to the parks for the ADRs or make separate reservations.

Thank you all for your replies.
 
I called and they said we could go in the parks separately but won't be seated until the everyone on the reservation was there (this, I knew). I will take this with a grain of salt, like most of you recommended.

Regarding the "head start", I did not mean getting a head start on the meal, but entering the park, taking pictures, going over to the restaurant and checking in. I know that most of the time restaurants do not seat you until everyone is there.



I didn't say that my family members would be late for sure or not meet the ADR time, I meant, since we would be at two different hotels it's almost certain that both parties wouldn't get to the park at the exact same time. That would be quite a coincidence if it happened. So my question was basically if one party would have to wait outside the park for the other party, or if the first ones to arrive could get in the park and wait inside while taking pictures or looking around.

I'll either make sure my family members know when they need to get to the parks for the ADRs or make separate reservations.

Thank you all for your replies.


We generally just meet at the entrance gate and enter together. The CM asks the name of the party and the number of guests, and then checks the party off. I would agree that if you are not sure you can meet up before you enter, seperate ADR's woudl be best. BOG is seat yourself, so you could still all sit together.
 

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