My first time at Chef Mickeys and my HM cake - both were disasters -UPDATED CAKE PICS

[Disneyliscious]

So months ago I tried for 3 weeks and finally got my Chef Mickeys reservations for 10/12 at 7:50pm. It was for my sons 16th birthday.

On 10/01 I called the cake hotline to order my sons cake - the famous Haunted Mansion cake as seen by Cake Man Brian on the cakes thread....the green wallpaper, gold picture frame, bats, coffins, skeletons, etc. I was told that I had to email the cake folks and tell them what I wanted since it was custom. I was given an email address and I emailed that day. I never heard back from anyone. I called back and was told it could take a few days for a response. Nothing. Finally on 10/09, after we are already in Florida I called again and told the lady that I had not heard from anyone. I wanted to change the photo frame on top to something different which is why I had to email them in the first place.

I was informed that they didn't have time to order anything new to put on top of the cake at this point and that the cake decorator could "paint" a graveyard scene on top. I told her that I liked the 3-D effects of the cake I had seen and that we woulod just go with that one, gold photo frame and all. She said this was a very popular cake and that lots of people were asking for it.

We arrive at CM tonight and were seated within 15 mins. Minnie immediately came to our table, followed by Donald and Goofy. Shortly thereafter Pluto came by. We saw Mickey but he was busy at other tables. The food at CM was good, but not "blow your mind" good.

I asked the server to bring the cake out so we could use it as a centerpiece since we were taking it back to the rental house with us and not eating it there in the restaurant. She said she would. Her service was not even sub-par to say the least. Three of the four of us sat for over 10 minutes with nothing to drink....not even glasses as she had taken them to refill them and I guess she forgot about us.

She finally brings us something to drink and then comes out with the cake. I was mortified. It was not even close to the cake I ordered. It was a basic white cake (10 inch), trimmed in horrible black icing, with 5 hard crunchy red roses on top and a SCREEN PRINT of the Haunted Mansion. There were no bats, no coffins, no skeletons, no wallpaper, no black/red roses, no photo frame, no ribbon with the inscription - nothing. The words "Have a Hauntingly Happy 16th Birthday James" were screen printed in red letters on the cake. I specifically asked for it to be written on the ribbon.

I didn't say anything in front of my son, but I went to the podium and told the hostess that I had gotten a cake that I did not order. She said she would go pull my cake order form and come back to me. The cake manager came back with my cake order form and sure enough there it says - bats, coffins, skeletons, golf photo frame, green wallpaper, white chocolate ribbon.

She looks at me and says "Well what do you want?". I told her that I don't mind paying for what I ordered, but that I did not get what I ordered. She never once apologized and went on to say how sometimes people get things wrong. I said I understood, but it didn't change my situation. She asked if I wanted the cake at all and I said "Well yes....its my sons birthday and this is the only cake he will be getting.....and his birthday is over in about 3 hours. She said that the basic cake costs $45 and the extra decorations were $20 which brought it to the $65 total. She said she could let me have the cake for the basic $45, which I agreed to. I didn't want a free cake. What I wanted couldn't be provided to me at that point - the cake I ordered.

We then paid our tab and Mickey still hadn't come around. We sat another 35 minutes (already been there over an hour) and he finally came by. It does take him longer because more people want pics with him. Understandable.

Oh yeah, once the server brought the cake out, she lit 4 candles and my son blew them out. She said "oh let me light them again because Mickey and the gang will come and celebrate with you". We sat there until the candles were dripping wax on the cake and never seen any characters. We didn't expect any at that point, but the server seemed totally clueless. Not happy with her service AT ALL.

On the flip side, my 8 year old son who has been asking me all week if the characters are "fake" people in costumes.....he flipped out when the characters came by and it was totally magical for him. He "got it". He got the magic and never was even thinking about if they were costumes or not. Minnie kissed him on the cheek and it just tore him up. We really enjoyed seeing his un-anticipated interaction with the characters.

In the end, I can't stress enough to call and call and call again about checking on your cakes. I was SO dissappointed in the fact that we didnt get the cake my son and I looked at on here. I hate to say it, but the cake was just plain ugly. It tasted great and was moist, but it was just ugly.

I don't think I'll be going back there or ordering another cake again.

And thats my experience, FWIW.

[disney1995disney]

Well early on, it was clear they never had your order..

But the hostess should be more understanding about how your request was not put though..

But in the end, your son is 16 and not 5, so I am sure he can understand that cross ups happen.. Hope it worked out later in the night

[Sandy321]

BTDT - our fiasco was at 1900 Park Fare - I ordered a Tinkerbelle cake, and wanted the expensive whit chocolate tink - we got a cut out of Tink - and the server CM I believe waited till DH left (for the washroom) to bring out the cake - I waited (and aske 4 freakin times for hte cake!) 35 min - her and her 3 friends (servers) brought out the cake -

I wanted to scream ARE YOU KIDDING ME? but it was DD bday, and it was the thought that counted...

(There was the same problems with drinks being brought out - and plates being cleared - we were seated right by the staff door too - it was a "never again" experince - as much as I love some parts of 1900 Park FAre - never again!!)

and I swore to NEVER AGAIN give Disney cake $$ - but after seeing some of the GORGEOUS cakes - and esp that Haunted Mansion Cake you speak of - and that the Contepmorary Chef posted on the Cake Chatter thread - I am - no WAS sorely tempted to "maybe" just "maybe" give it a go again - as we are celebrating our 29th Wedding Anniversary at the Cal Grill -

no thank you!

Thank you for sharing your honest feelings, and experiences! It truly is inexcusable!!

[JeffGoldblum]

That stinks. Oh man what a disappointment. Care to share pics of the cake? I am curious to see what it looked like compared to the amazing HM ones we've seen

[LittleStinkerbelle]

Oh no! I'm really sorry to hear this and sorry this happened to you.

My DH is drooling for the Haunted Mansion cake for his bday during our next trip. We're not planning to eat anywhere at the CR, but I was thinking of adding an ADR there just to order that HM cake. But gosh, what a kicker that would be to get the wrong cake after going through all that trouble.

I too would be interested in seeing a pic of the cake if you're willing to share.

[minniebeth]

I'm sorry this happened. Yes, mix-ups happen and even though DS is 16, it does not take away the disappointment factor when anticipating a special celebration. Disney has built up the hype of celebrating special occasions and is falling short of delivering in an effective way in many situations. We had several disappointments with celebrating on our recent trip. Somewhere there are disconnects allowing for these situations to happen.
I hope despite the evening, your DS had a wonderful birthday!

[jb01]

Wow. Disney really messed that cake up. Op I think you are too kind to pay anything for the cake since it wasn't what you ordered and the cake manager acknowledged. Maybe you should email Disney and tell them what bad service you received?

[Disneyliscious]

I took some pics of it but I can't get them on my PC until we get home. I'll take a pic of it with my cell phone and send it to my email so I can show you all. The cake has been cut at this point, but you can still see it enough to compare it to the cake I ordered.

I also need to add that Cake Man Brian did NOT make this cake. I specifically asked for him and was told he was not availalbe that day but that another cake decorator had made Brians cake many times and would "fix us up just fine". Boy did he!!

[JandT'smom]

yikes I have cake ordered through Pat and the GF for our trip over thanksgiving and it is supposed to be of Nightmare before Christmas cake and because it is a special occasion I said I would go up to $100.00. I am worried because I have read on the cake chatter thread you are not the first person this has happened to. So Sorry for your experience what a disappointment. I would still contact Disney and let them know what happened so maybe they can fix the issues.

[n2mm]

This reminds me of my 50th BD. I was celebrating in the Castle during the 50th DL birthday celebration. They brought me out an regular yellow cake and I was touched that my DH went to the trouble or calling. Only after my birthday did he tell me that he ordered me a Chocolate cake and that they gave it away to another party. I noticed he disappeared for a long time with the server prior and he said they were trying to sort it out. I got a ordinary white cake with yellow inside and he had to pay for it as he was without a cake that he ordered. He didn't want to ruin my day so waited to tell me later. That was the one and only (or last time) we tried to order a cake for a celebration.

[Tricia1972]

I'm sorry to read about your bad cake experience and bad service on your sons birthday. That really sucks.


Just a reminder to everyone that tipping discussion is limited to the Tipping Info thread. I snipped the little bits about tipping from the two previous posts, just so this thread stays on topic and doesn't need to get closed.

[jc040404]

We had our first visit to Chef Mickey's back in June on our sons' birthdays. They were turning 1 & 3 on the same day. I had a simple cake order. We were doing nothing more than a print with a specific color that we'd had done at Tony's on our older son's first birthday. I saw no reason why this would be difficult to get right. Sure enough, completely wrong. My little guy was so thrilled with his cake and seeing Mickey that I just let it go and paid. Hasn't the same "messed up order" story played out a lot on the cake thread lately? They seem to mess up sooo many cakes. I guess they know they'll be paid no matter what they do to them. You're the first I've read about complaining when it happened.

[Sleeping Becca]

Soooo sorry about the cake! What an incredible disappointment!

[Disneyliscious]

Here are some pics of the cake I received. I have some pics of it before it was cut, but they are on my camera and not on my computer yet. I'll post them when we get home.

For those of you who know what the cake looks like that I ordered, you can see that they look nothing alike.

I hope this works....I've never posted pics in a post before....

[Disneyliscious]

Originally Posted by jc040404

We had our first visit to Chef Mickey's back in June on our sons' birthdays. They were turning 1 & 3 on the same day. I had a simple cake order. We were doing nothing more than a print with a specific color that we'd had done at Tony's on our older son's first birthday. I saw no reason why this would be difficult to get right. Sure enough, completely wrong. My little guy was so thrilled with his cake and seeing Mickey that I just let it go and paid. Hasn't the same "messed up order" story played out a lot on the cake thread lately? They seem to mess up sooo many cakes. I guess they know they'll be paid no matter what they do to them. You're the first I've read about complaining when it happened.

The bakery manager just seemed in disbelief that I complained about it. She just kept saying "Well what do you want?". I just wanted to choke her and tell her that what I wanted was the freakin cake that I ordered and that was clearly described on the order form she was holding in her hand.

The order form had in big letters written across it "GOLD PHOTO FRAME ON TOP", and the smaller details were written underneath it.

Yesterday we went to MNSSHP and rode the haunted mansion. All I could think about was the cake. I saw the green wallpaper in the mansion and the photo frame that was supposed to be on my cake. Im just so dissappointed in how that bakery provided service and then their actions in trying to rectify the situation.