WDW Eateries Test Seating Program

[WDWKOOK]

Magic Kingdom eateries take control of seating to boost efficiency and help diners relax

By Jason Garcia
Sentinel Staff Writer

October 6, 2009


Walt Disney World is experimenting with new crowd-control methods in some of its busiest in-park restaurants, hoping to make the facilities more pleasant for guests and more profitable for the resort.

Inside four quick-service restaurants in the Magic Kingdom, Disney has begun restricting access — but guaranteeing seating — during particularly busy lunch rushes. Managers say the approach helps smooth out traffic in part by eliminating the need for groups to split up and send someone to order food while another person holds an open table — something that can clog up as much as one-third of a restaurant's capacity at any given time.

"This has been very helpful for us from an efficiency standpoint, because everything's so well-organized," said Liz Clark, general manager of food and beverage in the Magic Kingdom.

The tinkering illustrates one of the small ways theme parks have sought to squeeze more money out of existing operations — beyond top-level cost cuts — in the midst of a recession that has sapped attendance and guest spending.

Disney does not break out how much restaurant sales contribute to the revenue of individual theme parks. But experts say it is substantial.

"The food-and-beverage operations are very significant in the overall bottom line," said Mary Jo Ross, a former multi-unit restaurant manager at Universal Orlando and an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

Disney says the restaurant changes are part of an internal initiative called "The Basics," in which employees have been urged to re-emphasize customer service.

Busy, in-park restaurants are an obvious target for improvements; around noon on a busy day, they can rival the longest ride queues in terms of crowds, noise and stress levels.

"It wasn't really a good way to decompress or relax. So we've been really focusing on how we can enhance the whole dining experience," Clark said.

Under the controlled-access and -seating program, guests in certain Magic Kingdom counter-service restaurants are steered through a single entrance so workers can keep tabs on how many people are inside.

A greeter hands menus and steers the entire group to cash registers to place their orders. After they get their food, they are guided by another employee to an empty table.

Implementing the change is trickier than it may sound. For example, the restaurants have multiple entrances, so Disney restaurant managers have had to work with the resort's "Imagineers" to work out new ways of guiding traffic through a single point.

Clark said the program has already evolved based on feedback from guests. The menus that greeters hand out were initially only available in English and were done entirely in text; they have since been changed to include multiple languages, pictures of the menu selections, and information about using a pre-purchased dining plan that Disney sells to resort guests.

Disney began testing the concept in the Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café. But it has since been rolled out to three other busy counter-service restaurants: Columbia Harbour House, Pinocchio Village Haus and Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café. Those restaurants range in size from about 400 seats to more than 1,000 at Pecos Bill and Cosmic Ray's.

The controlled access is used only when that day's park attendance warrants.

Clark said the results have been overwhelmingly positive, both in terms of praise from guests who report a more-relaxed dining experience and in terms of reducing congestion inside the restaurants, where, like on a busy highway, small backups can cascade over the course of a day into lengthier delays.

Disney has also made other, subtler changes. At Pecos Bill, for instance, the resort has added self-service ordering kiosks, though guests can still opt to order from a human cashier.

Workers also recently replaced highly themed, high-backed chairs at Pecos Bill with smaller, less clunky stools. The switch, which Disney said was made on the suggestion of a restaurant worker, has allowed the restaurant to add an extra seat at many tables and improved the aisles between tables, helping alleviate further bottlenecks.

[WebmasterCricket]

Wow.

Assigned seating.

Magic = Magic-1

[SarahandPaul]

Oh no they're out of Pecos Bill's fastpasses.

[WDWKOOK]

Did anyone else notice at the end of the article where WDW extolls the virtues of stools at PB, they forgot to mention that since the stools are more uncomfortable than a chair with a back, guests will spend less time in the QS and WDW can shove more bodies in there throughout the day.

And, I'm going to be unhappy if I can't sit on the second level of CHH next to the window with the fake flowers - how do I reserve that spot? Do I slip a tip to the seater?

[Chopair1]

You can go to a restaurant supply and buy chairs based on how long you would like a person to sit in them.
If after 15 min your butt hurts you get up and move on.
Disney is the king time and movement study's

[WebmasterCricket]

Originally Posted by WDWKOOK

And, I'm going to be unhappy if I can't sit on the second level of CHH next to the window with the fake flowers - how do I reserve that spot? Do I slip a tip to the seater?

I'm sure there will be a method of "Just wait in the corner until you see the seater motioning a code "42" and then get in line so you get better seats in the good section of CHH rather than being stuck in the corner by the toilet"

The first time I get stuck by Sonny Eclipse, I'm going to snap.

[WDWKOOK]

Originally Posted by Chopair1

You can go to a restaurant supply and buy chairs based on how long you would like a person to sit in them.
If after 15 min your butt hurts you get up and move on.
Disney is the king time and movement study's

Wow. So, do you think WDW purchased the "7 minute move-ons"?

Originally Posted by WebmasterCricket

I'm sure there will be a method of "Just wait in the corner until you see the seater motioning a code "42" and then get in line so you get better seats in the good section of CHH rather than being stuck in the corner by the toilet"

The first time I get stuck by Sonny Eclipse, I'm going to snap.

Yep, can't you just see the DIS thread devoted to reporting what the table numbers are in all the QSs:

"Oh, don't EVER take a #13 at PB, you'll get fixin' bar sauteed mushroom scent wafting by your table."

And, "It happened to us! We had table #666 at CHH right next to the toilets! But thank goodness for those new stools, they helped us stuff down a Lighthouse Sandwich and a bowl of chowder in record time!"

[Metro West]

Disney was doing this seating "experiment" at Pecos Bill's in 2007 during Spring Break...it worked great! You didn't have to stand around hoping someone would leave...the greeters were directing people to tables. I don't think it's been done a lot since but I really liked it...especially during a busy time.

[Cheshire Figment]

As a person who often goes to the parks alone and uses an ECV this is one of the best things that can happen.

It is not unusual for me to be at a QSR, get my food, and then try to find an unoccupied table. This is while driving my ECV with one hand and trying to keep the food from spilling with the other. And being unable to maneuver between tables as they are so close to each other.

And I have had people without food sit down and "claim" a table that I was trying to get to. While I could have gotten there and eaten and been out before the rest of their group got their with the food.

What I have started to do recently is pull up next to a table where there are people wiuth no food and park there and start to eat. If they say anything to me I have suggested they get a CM or manager, but that the table is for people to eat at, not to relax at.

Now all they had to do is set this in place at Sunshine Seasons Food Court.

[tjkraz]

Originally Posted by WebmasterCricket

Wow.

Assigned seating.

Magic = Magic-1

I doubt that Disney is going to force guests to one table or another during slow periods when multiple options are available. But as others have said, when the restaurants are busy and you're stumbling around with a tray of food and no place to sit, having someone looking out for you is quite magical, IMO.

[WebmasterCricket]

I don't know if I have ever been at CRSC when it didn't look like the hallways of a hockey game between periods. Does it ever get slow?

[Luv2Roam]

I'm glad if this is in operation. And just in time for the impending busy holiday season.
If you have been in the position of using a garbage can as a table, you will appreciate this set up. And sorry to say I have done this more than a few times.
The one and only time I ate at Pinocchio Haus I ended up getting a refund since I could not locate a table. (Threw out the food as it was stone cold.) If ANY table opened up hordes were diving for it, even shoving others out of the way.
Those are times they should have limited the number coming in. And many of tables were just being staked out for those waiting.
Have seen this at numerous locations where an available table is not to be found.

[Jason71]

Saw the early variation on this in Pecos Bills during Spring Break. Weren't necessarily guiding people, but were there to help if you looked like you needed it, and signs clearly stated tables were reserved for people who have their food already. Seemed to work great, and addresses what can be a real problem during the busy periods.

[Wall-E1]

I heard from a bus driver that they are planning to expand on this experiment in order to get people in an out of the restaurant faster. They will have cm's stationed at each table. When the music starts, all diners must stand up and walk around their table. The cm then will then remove one chair. When the music stops, the diner who is without a chair must exit the restaurant immediately. This will continue until all diners have been removed. I think this enhanced experiment will really free up a lot more tables and am very excited about it.

[WDWKOOK]

Originally Posted by Wall-E1

I heard from a bus driver that they are planning to expand on this experiment in order to get people in an out of the restaurant faster. They will have cm's stationed at each table. When the music starts, all diners must stand up and walk around their table. The cm then will then remove one chair. When the music stops, the diner who is without a chair must exit the restaurant immediately. This will continue until all diners have been removed. I think this enhanced experiment will really free up a lot more tables and am very excited about it.

You gotta love those bus drivers

Now, can this be done with stools?