I'm not the type whose late but...

[Pluto777]

-how late can you be for an ADR before you lose it? Also what are the chances of early seating (if you are early)?

 

[Lesley Wake]

-how late can you be for an ADR before you lose it? Also what are the chances of early seating (if you are early)?

I believe it’s 20 minutes. But that is definitely risky.

For early, it depends on the restaurant and the time of reservation. Sometimes I’ve been let in no problem even if I’m 30 minutes early and they aren’t even letting any walk-ups in (via Napoli). Other times they’ve told me to come back no earlier than 5 minutes before (Be Our Guest). You can also consider if you will be in the first wave of guests sitting down, ie in first hour of restaurant opens or reopens. If they have not seated anyone before you are due to arrive, then you are more likely to be let in early (so, say you have a 5:30 ADR for a restaurant that closes for lunch and reopens at 5. They aren’t going to fill up the restaurant entirely at 5 with people with ADRs or walk-ups, so if you were to arrive at 5:15, you’d probably have no problem getting seated.)

 

[lovin'fl]

I noticed that resort dining tends to be more able to let you get seated early while it's, pretty much, never for park dining. Edit to add...except maybe lunch time at Epcot TS places...they aren't super busy then and we walk up to Spice Road or Coral Reef.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

There is no official grace period for being late. It will really depend on how late you are, how busy the restaurant is, and how nice the CM is feeling that day Being late always runs the risk of not being seated and/or being charged the no show fee.

As for being seated early...it's always a possibility but never a guarantee.

 

[KenHutch]

It really does come down to the restaurant. I being a good Marine am incapable of being late but several of my daughters relatives were cutting it close at Coral Reef. The check in people said as long as we showed up within an hour, this got me curious so I asked several places we ate at later in the week what their policy was. BoG said 15 minutes, Boma said 30 to 45 minutes, 59 Primetime said30 minutes. Ohana even told me that as long as everyone showed up eventually they honored ADR's although the late party would have to wait for an opening.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

15 mins are the latest I've heard they would take.

In regards to being seated early, I've been seated roughly an hour early at several WDW restaurants.

 

[BK2014]

-how late can you be for an ADR before you lose it? Also what are the chances of early seating (if you are early)?

With being early, I don't think it ever hurts to ask. During our trip in January (2018), DW and I would often find ourselves arriving at our ADRs earlier than expected, once up to 45 minutes early. I think we were seated upon arrival each time without issue. But we don't tend to schedule our ADRs during the busiest times either, so that helps.

As for being late, the only experience I have with that is when DW and I were in a group of 8 in December of 2016. We had dinner ADRs at the Biergarten in EPCOT. We arrived on time, but the other 6 were coming from another location. The rest of the group ended up being over an hour late. DW and I were not happy, but the restaurant still sat us when the others arrived. I would not have have blamed the restaurant for canceling the ADR.

 

[Lisa F]

I've been up to 20 minutes late and no one said boo to me. I try to be early but sometimes stuff happens, like get off a ride later than you planned and then the kid has to hit the bathroom and there is a line and it is crowded. I have had explanations but no one has ever asked. I think you should not aim for it though!

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

There is no set grace period on ADR's.
Generally if you're only a few minutes late its fine but its all up to the CM at the time.
You could lose your seat and have to pay a $10 per person no show fee or you may be accommodated with no problem.
The reason for why you are late could effect what happens as well. If you're 30 minutes late because you were stuck on TOT they could easily verify that and accommodate you for example.
The key is DON'T CUT THINGS SO CLOSE THAT YOU COULD BE LATE.

If you arrive early if its busy its unlikely you'll be seated early. If there are plenty of open tables they may seat you early.

 

[GillianP1301]

I agree with the previous posters that there is no set amount of time you can be early or late for an ADR. In each case, all you can do is ask and hope for the best. I don't being late often and at most it was 10 or so minute and no problem. I have tried checking in early with mixed results. If it is very busy, they will usually ask you to come back 15 minutes before your ADR time, I specifically remember that happening at 50s PTC. On the flip side, I have gone over an hour early and asked if they could accommodate at other restaurants (Garden Grill comes to mind) and they were able to take me early. It really all depends on the current situation at the restaurant, availability and how far behind schedule they are.

All that being said, I would never plan on being late or overly early or expect to be accommodated.

I do think that if you have extenuating circumstances, i.e. stuck on a broken down monorail, waiting on a bus for an unusual length of time or stuck on a broken down attraction, they will do their best to accommodate.

 

[bonjing]

It happened to us. We got stuck (quit a few times) on the safari and hadn't moved for a while. So I made a phone call letting them know that we will be late for our reservation and explained the situation. Not sure whom I talked to, whether a help desk or the actual restaurant, but they said it happens all the time and just told me to get there as soon as I can. I'm really not sure how late we actually were, but I'm sure a phone call to let them know would be truly appreciated, plus it could save you a no call/show cancellation fee.

 

[addiln]

I am not sure about the late part since that has not happened to us as of yet but we have been lucky enough to be seated 30 mins early before. I am sure it will have to do with how busy the restaurant is at the time and we just lucked out but it has happened a couple times for us.

 

[Lisa F]

I once showed up at Le Cellier early for a first dinner seating and they told me they were running 30 minutes behind actual ADR times (so it was going to be an hour wait). That sucked so we sat down to wait and got out devices and then 5 minutes later we were seated in an empty restaurant. Not sure what that was all about!

 

[Happyinwonerland]

On different trips we have been an hour late to Be Our Guest lunch and Ohana breakfast, and were still seated as soon as we arrived. CM omat reservations said as long as we show up in the same meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) as our ressie, we won't be considered no-show.

I try not to make a habit of it. BOG was due to friend's daughter losing magic band between the parking lor and MK gate, I went in and hit guest services at the town hall, to get her ticket replaced but the line was waaaay out the door and took forever.

Ohana breakfast we were late due to a myriad of things, including potty breaks for a young child and delayed monorails.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

We’ve only been late once in all the years we’ve been going to DW. We over slept after our flights were delayed & arrived 15-20 minutes late @ Via Napoli. Restaurant was busy but CM was nice & sat us right away.

 

[sjrec]

On our trip this past April we made a same day reservation for Prime Time in HS-our only choices for seatings were pretty late-8 and later. We showed up an hour early thinking we’d hang out in the bar but they seated us within 10 minutes. Now, it was only two of us, so that probably helped. I can’t recall ever arriving late-I would think they would try to seat you-it just might take a while especially with a large party.

 

[freshmanjs]

Official answer from WDW to this question:

We understand that things can happen to make you late to your
reservation. Although there is no official grace period, our dining
locations will hold your reservation for 15 minutes or later. When
you arrive, go to the counter and give the Cast Member your dining
reservation number and your name. They will seat you as soon as
possible.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

It really does come down to the restaurant.

that says it all. Some accommodate early check in, more popular spots will tell you they will try to accommodate, in essence it means NO. We arrived early at Jiko, hoping to be able to jet to MK afterwards, no, not only did we not get in earlier, we were seated 20 minutes later than the reservation, though there were ample empty tables! Same thing at Hollywood Brown Derby, many empty tables! Narcosees, seated us on arrival, 25 minutes early, as well as, Tepan Edo. Rose & Crown, checked in 20 minutes earlier, seated 25 minutes after actual reservation time, the pager never went off, we called your name yada, yada (fib, we were right there at the beer stand) Raglan’s, terrible rain, bus no show for 55 minutes , arrived 25 min late but they seated us 15 min. later. Never hurts to ask!

 

[Mome Rath]

IF a WDW transportation vehicle has a breakdown with you on it, we found them very accommodating...

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Yah, just be on time.