I have a Beaches & Cream ADR for Friday at 12:00 pm, but I just got a notification my flight on Friday morning is delayed and won’t be arriving until 10:30 am now. We’re taking the DME to BCV. It will be very tight, I know.
Should I keep the ADR, or just cancel it. There’s no other availability right now for an hour or so later and obviously I will continue to check with the res. finder. But I really wanted to take DS4 there for lunch and ice cream. If we keep it and miss the ADR time, is a delayed flight enough of an excuse to waive the fee?
Possibly. I’d honestly just cancel it though. You could still get a sundae at the takeout window, or could go to Ample Hills which everyone says is far better ice cream.
Great tip! I didn’t know this was an option. I think I’ll just do that. When did B&C become such a hot ADR? As a kid I remember just walking in and sitting down…
I think it depends on the location and maybe even the CM working there at the time. I’ve only been late once, but that was very late - 3 hours at 50s. I discovered that I had lost my iPhone at an off-site convention hotel and went back to try to locate it (I never did). I got to the check-in and told the CM what had happened and her response was “You had a reservation, hun, so we’re gonna get you in” - and they did with only a 20 minute wait.
This is a single data point from about 6 years ago - so I don’t know how things are now…
They didn’t start accepting ADRs until 2013 - until then it was first come, first served. I remember the scrum of waiting diners every time they unlocked the door…
Seriously. I mean, I honestly haven’t been to B&C in 20 years, but I do remember thinking “let’s go get ice cream” and we literally walked in and sat down. Although, I also look back at those pics from the 90s and Mickey was just walking around EP with no accompanying CM and there was not another soul in sight. Everything is just more crowded now…
I’d keep the 12:00. I think you’ll make it close enough in time that you won’t have much issue. You’ll be dropped off not far from the restaurant. I hope you’re checking your bags
20 years ago we didn’t have the internet to make reservations. I miss those days. Nowadays, if you don’t reserve your movie seat on the internet you risk not getting in. I like the old way better. I think this reflects that I’m getting old.
On our trip 2 weeks ago I was told they always hold your reservation for 15 minutes after the ADR time. But you can also call if your plane is delayed and see if they can modify the time. I had success doing that with an ADR at Sana’a that we were running way late for. But of course Sana’a has a lot more availability than Beaches n Cream. At the least I’d guess your chances of them waiving the no show fee would be good if you call and explain about your plane being late.
We had a flight delay for our ADR at Le Cellier one year and then also ran into an issue with our tickets at the Poly as we’d technically booked a split stay to take advantage of a deal and they had the tickets starting on day 2. Anyway that took some time to wrangle at the front desk - the Poly actually called Le Cellier to push our ADR back and even provided a free cab to get us to Epcot ASAP. They got us in and we had a great meal. It likely did help that our ADR was like 1:30 and we pushed to ~3 or 3:30 so we were sliding into a less busy time. Le Cellier has a ton more seating than Beaches & Cream too so the wiggle room there will be less, but if you end up really late, grab a CM at Boardwalk when you arrive and I’m sure they can get the $10/ fee waived if needed.
We liked the burgers at B&C well enough, but were a little underwhelmed by the ice cream. Glad we did it once, but likely will not be in the regular rotation…
I wouldn’t want to start my vacation stressing out about timing and missing an ADR. What if there’s weather event or something and your flight gets delayed another hour or so? You have to decide how important it is to you to try for that B&C experience, but to me it wouldn’t be worth the stress.
I vote for reimagining your first afternoon - instead of having a really charming environment but just ok food and ice cream, grab lunch on the boardwalk (you can get pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork, margaritas… ) and eat at an outdoor table, maybe near the pizza window. Per Dad’s Guide to WDW:
There are a couple of places where the only dining available is outdoors. One of them qualifies for one of the most scenic and interesting places in all of Disney World to eat outdoors. That’s the Pizza window on the Boardwalk. It’s a great place to sit and watch people in a mind blowing environment. You sit on the shore of Crescent Lake, with the Swan and Dolphin and the Yacht Club and Beach Club in the background.
Then you can get some really good ice cream at Ample Hills.
That’s my two cents! If you decide to try for B&C, I wish you lots of luck and some pixie dust!
They are pretty forgiving with ADR’s and I bet if you showed up 2 hrs late, even if they couldn’t seat you, they wouldn’t penalize you…but I bet they’d still seat you anyway. I would keep it and if you land and it looks like you aren’t going to make it, bump and run it. (Modify it to some date in the distant future, then cancel it).
Thanks for the info! I still have the ADR and my flight takes off in T-64 minutes. Now I just hope we land in time and DME is running smoothly and we’re the first stop Otherwise, we’ll check out Ample Hills instead, as the consensus seems to be that they have better ice cream anyway (thanks for the tipoff @missoverexcited).
) and eat at an outdoor table, maybe near the pizza window. 
Otherwise, we’ll check out Ample Hills instead, as the consensus seems to be that they have better ice cream anyway (thanks for the tipoff