Grog Grotto wait times

[Visualauren]

Trader Sams Grogg Grotto
We went in august and walked rght in at 8:30 with two people, I'm a little nervous because we are going in a week...on a Tuesday night... and November seems busy as far as restaurants booking up. We will have 4-6 adults...anyone know how the wait times have been?
What's the better time to go?
When we went it was self seating. And had no problems but I can't see waiting hours as we will be paying for Lilos clubhouse for the kids.

 

[ChrisNY2]

Sorry I don't have an answer to your specific question. But the two times I've been (a while ago), I was quoted 90 minutes and my pager actually went off after 15 minutes the first time and after 20 minutes the second time. So wait times may be much shorter than quoted by hosts! (Probably because it's open seating, and it's hard to tell whether a group will be quick or will be hanging out for a while.)

 

[SaraMc]

We were there in August and October. August twice we were able to walk straight in. October we had to wait, sat out on the patio which was lovely and then headed in about 40 minutes later.

 

[Oswin]

When me and my sister went on July 4, we walked in at 6:30 with no wait. We went a couple of times earlier in the week with no wait either. When my parents went last Thursday, they had to wait 60 minutes. I was really surprised by that.

 

[Brocktoon]

Went twice in late October with 3 adults. On FRIDAY 10/23 we dropped by around 7 PM before they kicked the kids out, and we had ~ 1 hour wait. Figured it was busier due to being Friday. MONDAY 10/26 around 8:30 PM and we still had ~ 45 - 60 minute wait.

Does seem like wait times may have gone up ... possibly due to more adults being around for F&W?

 

[Whatsthegoodword]

Don't get too excited about this place. It's just a bar, and a small one at that. It has eight tables, plus a few bar seats. ...and it doesn't look like much of an eating place...

 

[Dano1182]

What are wait times now?
If any?

 

[scrapquitler]

Trader Sams Grogg Grotto
We went in august and walked rght in at 8:30 with two people, I'm a little nervous because we are going in a week...on a Tuesday night... and November seems busy as far as restaurants booking up. We will have 4-6 adults...anyone know how the wait times have been?
What's the better time to go?
When we went it was self seating. And had no problems but I can't see waiting hours as we will be paying for Lilos clubhouse for the kids.

I just looked up my text messages: when we went Sat. January 13th, we put our name on the list and got the welcome text at 4:38PM. At 5:40 we got the text that we could go in.

A Tuesday night in November will likely be a MVMCP night, so you'll have people leaving MK early who aren't attending the party and they may be heading over to Trader Sams or other places outside the park. I'd try to go as close to opening as possible (3PM if I remember corrrectly). And aren't the kids clubs closing this summer?

 

[kniquy]

when we went Sat. January 13th, we put our name on the list and got the welcome text at 4:38PM. At 5:40 we got the text that we could go in.

So is this how they are doing notifications? or do they do the hand buzzers. My family (will be a party of 7) will be trying to go at 4:00 when they open, but i figure we will eat and drink outside if the wait is too long.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

This is an old thread, and it's not so crowded as it was in 2015, but restaurant capacity and saturation will likely have no effect on wait times at Trader Sam's. It's not a restaurant. You likely won't be waiting hours. If it's a weekend night Fri-Sat, there might be a bit of a longer wait.

The other thing is that they will buzz you in where there is capacity in the room for your party, but not necessarily seats. They can and do expect some guests to stand until a seat can open up for them.

When you try to go at opening, the issue is this. The bar has a capacity of around 50 people. The first 50 or so in line are offered to get in first, whether they are notified by buzzers or texts. Those persons have to all be served at about the same time, so if you are right behind them, you have to wait until they start leaving. Later in the night the entries and exits are more staggered, you don't have to wait for a group of 50 to start leaving. Some people have a quick drink and leave, others like to linger for a couple of hours, but at opening is the only time you have a group of 50 all going in at once.

 

[scrapquitler]

So is this how they are doing notifications? or do they do the hand buzzers. My family (will be a party of 7) will be trying to go at 4:00 when they open, but i figure we will eat and drink outside if the wait is too long.

They took my cell phone number and texted me. They said that once they text you, you have to show up within 15 minutes or you lose your spot. This is better than the buzzer because you can go farther away from the restaurant if you wish, the buzzers usually have a fairly small range.

I didn't find this odd at all....many restaurants we frequent at home use the cell/text thing instead of the buzzers now.

 

[Moliphino]

So is this how they are doing notifications? or do they do the hand buzzers. My family (will be a party of 7) will be trying to go at 4:00 when they open, but i figure we will eat and drink outside if the wait is too long.

We got pagers in December, but it sounds like they may have switched to texts since then. They were running out of pagers to give out when we were there, so they had a line of people waiting for pagers in the hallway. Texts would solve that issue.

 

[nkereina]

We were there about three weeks ago. We got there around 3:45 (they open at 4) and waited in a line of about 15 people ahead of us. Someone came by with a clipboard and took all of our names, and checked us off as we walked in when they opened. By the time they opened, there was definitely people in line that got cut off from being let in. But this is the second time we've arrived shortly before opening and had no issue getting a seat as a party of 4.

 

[kniquy]

We were there about three weeks ago. We got there around 3:45 (they open at 4) and waited in a line of about 15 people ahead of us. Someone came by with a clipboard and took all of our names, and checked us off as we walked in when they opened. By the time they opened, there was definitely people in line that got cut off from being let in. But this is the second time we've arrived shortly before opening and had no issue getting a seat as a party of 4.

So is it safe to say that people probably start lining up around 3:30? and once they took your name did you stay in line or were you free to roam around a bit?

We are planning on going on a Monday so maybe it isn't as bad on a weekday vs weekend -- although most typical rules don't apply to WDW

 

[nkereina]

So is it safe to say that people probably start lining up around 3:30? and once they took your name did you stay in line or were you free to roam around a bit?

We are planning on going on a Monday so maybe it isn't as bad on a weekday vs weekend -- although most typical rules don't apply to WDW

I would say 3:30 is a fair guess at what time people start lining up. Once they took our name, we had to stay in line. We weren't given a pager or anything. It was assumed we would stay there until they opened, and then once they opened, we all filed in in order and they checked off our names and number of people to confirm. I assume anyone who didn't make it in got a pager and were able to roam around.

 

[katherine52478]

It’s not an exact science (and I hate to share my secret ) but I found it empties out around 5:15-5:30. The first round of people usually spend an hour or so with their drink and then leave so it was a mass exodus both days we went in January. However, it didn’t stay empty very long!

 

[nkereina]

It’s not an exact science (and I hate to share my secret ) but I found it empties out around 5:15-5:30. The first round of people usually spend an hour or so with their drink and then leave so it was a mass exodus both days we went in January. However, it didn’t stay empty very long!

This seemed true in our experience as well. We entered right at 4pm when they opened, and were done by 5pm. There were people loitering around and grabbed our seat when we got up. I'd imagine 5-6pm is also dinner time for many people, so may also be another reason there is a lull during this time as well.

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

This seemed true in our experience as well. We entered right at 4pm when they opened, and were done by 5pm. There were people loitering around and grabbed our seat when we got up. I'd imagine 5-6pm is also dinner time for many people, so may also be another reason there is a lull during this time as well.

I agree with this, and for this exact reason am planning to hit it around 5:30. Hoping for no or minimal wait- just wanna grab one drink and then head off to an evening in MK!