Time of Travel Between Airport, Check-In, and Reservation

All -

My family and I arrive in Orlando at 11:10 AM on 10/1. We are taking the Magical Express to our hotel, Bay Lake Tower. We then have a lunch reservation for 1:50 at Mama Melrose’s in Hollywood Studios. Am I cutting this too close? In your experience, will we be able to make this reservation?

Given that you don’t encounter any flight delays and you get right on the bus to HS 2.5 hours should be enough time. But you’d probably be pretty hurried. You can always take a cab if the bus looks to be too slow. Can you delay it at all? Not sure if there are any ADR’s still open.

If the stars align and you’re the first stop and there are no delays anywhere for anything… Sure. You’re scraping it close and not allowing any room for any problems or delays.

I see loads of ressies all over Hollywood studios for Wednesday. If it was me I would cancel. Wait and book something once I’ve landed in Orlando and am on the bus to WDW.

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I am a big believer in arrival day ADRs, but I do think that will be cutting it a bit close. I would try to either push it out - maybe make it for dinner - or do one close to BLT, like The Wave or Grand Floridian Cafe. And the CS spots at both the Contemporary (Contempo Cafe) and the GF (Gasparillo’s, I think) get good reviews.

not to strike the fear into you, but I’ve always had some sort of delay getting into MCO. So I rarely make arrival day ADR’s. To many variables for my taste.

that being said, i do agree that you’d be cutting it close, mostly on account of rushing or feeling rushed. don’t forget you have to get through security once you are at the parks. that takes up time too.

Good luck and safe travels!

Thanks for the feedback. I can’t change at this point, but am thinking about sending the family ahead as soon as we get to bay lake tower. Should this give me some more comfort? I suppose another option would be to send the family to the hotel to check in via mcg express, and I take a cab from the airport to HS?

Also, we did the fantastic package. Hence, my reasons for not changing.

ahhh… ok… that makes sense to keep it. You should probably be ok, barring any delays. You might feel a bit rushed, but once you get there, you’ll be able to sit and enjoy your meal.

All depends on the flight. Too stressful for me. I’d go a different route on day of arrival: either the Brown Derby Lounge or Tune-In. Both better than MM anyway.

Will definately be close, but barring any major flight delays, you’ll probably make it. Make sure to do on-line check-in for the hotel in order to reduce your turn-arouns time. Room probably won’t be ready anyway, but even if it IS, just leave bags with bell services and go straight to the DHS bus.

If you DO end up running late, don’t give up on the ADR; you might have to wait, but they will do their best to get you in. I was 90 min late to a 50s Prime Time once due to circumstances outside my control and they were still able to work me in (without too much of a wait).

FWIW - I just checked availability on MDE, and there are MM F! packages available (for 4; didn’t know your party size) at 3:05 and 3:45 on Oct 10th…