Dining Reservations -- Why make them?

[ThumperandLitenin]

WDW in August with three infants?

You're a better man than I, Gunga Din!

To quote Bluto in Animal House "my advice to you is to drink heavily!"

We need to send you to Afghanistan to clean up that mess pronto.

In all seriousness, sorry to hear about that delay, that had to be tough. I've eaten at CP twie,a nd have never waited more than five minutes from when we checked-in with the hostess. Hopefully, it's a system problem that can be/is already fixed.

 

[ransom]

reservation for CP was 5:05 and sci-fi was 5:25

You were at CP fairly early for dinner, and still had to wait! Sheesh. That's even worse.

 

[soccerchick]

OP - ouch! That CP ressie stinks!

Counting my lucky starts that we were seated ay our actual ADR times in all cases except one and that one (CP lunch at 11:30) was only delayed by 5 minutes. I was worried about our 6:30 Ohana and our 4:15 Coral Reef, but those ones were right on time too.

We always checked in 10 - 20 minutes early. OP - curious about how much before your ADR you checked in.

 

[purplebelle]

Just returned from Disney trip when they offered free dining. Got up at 7 am, 90 days before trip date and dialed long distance to make these ressies. Got the places I wanted -- but had to wait . . . not 20 minutes but 1 1/2 hours for Crystal Palace to be seated (travelling with three infants, not a good thing) and 40 minutes for Sci Fi Dine In. Why am I making reservations again?Disney standard excuse is "Overbooked, computer glitch . . " Yeah, right. As a PAYING Dining Plan person, because I have a Vacation Club Membership, I am not happy. I shouldn't have to wait that long for anything. And they tried to tack the gratuity on to Crystal Palace . . . even with the wait. Well, that didn't happen. We did get Fast Passes out of some of the trouble with waiting but only after complaining -- alot. Again, I question the reservation system. I don't like the fact that anyone can make them and from what cast members say, no one can "see" the spots open or not open anymore on the system like they used to. So NO ONE knows where ANYONE is sitting. Hmmmm. . . .

Back when it was "Priority Seating" (in the late 90s) we had many long waits for our tables. I remember my dad asking why PS was even offered if we had to wait so long - what's the need for a reservation? I'm sorry to hear it still hasn't been figured out.

My resolution is eating exclusively at counter services. I go to Disney for the rides, not the food, although I am trying free dining next month.

Sorry to hear about your experience.

 

[Mom2SamandJames]

We went to CP our first night at Disney last summer with 7:00 p.m. ADRs, and we weren't seated for over an hour. We had a 3 year old and an infant with us. I ended up feeding the infant his supper outside while my husband entertained our 3 year old. We weren't offered any explanation or offered any apology. This was our first meal at Disney, and we were worried the whole week would be that way. It ended up being our only ridiculously long wait, but it was a bummer for the boys to start their vacation like that.

We will be there during free dining this year, and I am concerned about the same thing. Long waits aren't fun with young children. I am sure we will still have fun. We are trying the CP one more time, but this trip we are eating lunch there. Wish us luck.

 

[mkleinbe]

I think you guys seem to have missed the pleas to leave tipping discussions in the tipping thread......

 

[goofy4tink]

We arrived on the 14th, left on the 21st. We had a TS meal almost every night. I don't think we waited more than 15 mins for any of them. We tried checking in a bit sooner but were told to come back 15 mins before our ADR time.
The restaurants can't control how long it takes their customers to finish eating...and with the heat/humidity last week, I can well imagine that there were many guests dallying over their meals rather than go back out into the heat.

 

[simba35217]

I have always had a 20 to 40 minute wait at CP but never over 15 minutes at Sci-Fi. If I was told the wait would be an hour I would get on the phone and see where I could make asap ressies. Ofcourse you don't have alot to choose from at MK but you do have a little more at Hollywood Studios. I am sorry you had this problem. I love the dining plan and will use it again.

 

[Tricia1972]

Discussion regarding tipping/gratuity has been removed from the thread. A poster shared the link to the Tipping Info Thread earlier in this thread, please read the first post of that thread and direct any tipping questions in that thread.

Please keep this discussion to the venting/frustration about wait times at the restaurant.

Thanks

 

[kool_kat]

Now I am worried. I convinced my family to do the dining plan when we go Labor day week and our first TS reservations is for the CP for 6:15pm. If we have to wait 90 minutes, my family will kill me. I hope this was a glitch for the CP and not the standard during free dining!!!

 

[simba35217]

CP is great character dining. So alot of people stay longer taking pictures etc. So there is always a wait or it has been for my family. Its worth a wait but not a hour or more. Go a little early and see how the crowd looks. If your party is not to large maybe you will not have a long wait. It has helped us before to split up we have 8 or more when we go there. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[ohMom]

we're just home from our trip.....DDP...but i don't see the connection between that and ADR's. if it was noted on the ADR would the server still have to ask?

anyhow, we were told 60 min wait at Sci-Fi and was disappointed. We waited, it was one of the dinners we looked forward too. all others were within 20 mins at most.

at TTS at the podium I overheard the CM telling a guest that there was 'no availability' for dinner (we had 2:30 lunch) the CM suggested coming at 4:15 for outdoor seating for dinner but only offered that option.

 

[hopeandtink]

We too are DVC members and always do TS. The longest we have ever had to wait is maybe 15 mins. We will be going next month and I hope that we do not run into the same problems. Two of my ressies I didn't get the times I wanted and had to settle for what they had. Ohana 8:40 and La Celliar 2:10. I would have tried for somewhere not as popular but we always do these two and couldn't break tradition. It seems like free dining this year is more popular and getting out of control, IMO. What also gets my goat is that they upgraded free diners from value resorts up to SSR and OKW (some getting 1 br that were going to stay in a Value Studio). DVC members paid good money to be able to stay in these resorts. I don't mind that we don't get free dining and some of the other perks. We do get to stay in great resorts, get discounts on tickets, and discounts on other things so that makes up for not getting the free dining. So what I am saying is that it's not right to upgrade people that are getting the free dining package to DVC Delux Villas (getting free food and delux resort at half the cost). Sry had to vent.

Well we were one of "those" that got upgraded to SSR from a value and this is the kind of attitude that we were expecting from the DVC owners. You knew when you bought into DVC the things that you would not be able to get right? One of the reasons we decided not to buy DVC is the perks we wouldn't be able to get. Why would you be mad because others recieved a little pixie dust

 

[simba35217]

CP is a great character expericence for the kids. You will more than likely have a wait. Hopefully not over 30 minutes. We have always had a wait but 40 minutes was the longest. Try to get there early and see how the line is going. If your party is small you probably will not have that long a wait. Our party is always 8 or more, we have split up and that has worked. Good luck with your CP experience.

 

[Goofy_Girl]

We went last October for early dinner and ended up waiting almost an hour. DBF was so cranky and hungry but when they finally seated us that was alleviated quick enough. It was also our first time in WDW and our first meal. We had so much fun and me and DD love Pooh and friends so to me it was worth it, but then again we go quite often to a popular dim sum restaurant in Boston that always has a long wait so I guess I am used to waiting LOL

 

[lizandjason]

Ok everyone....you realize that an ADR does NOT mean that they hold a table for you with your name on it, right?!

From what I understand, an ADR is just like a 'call ahead' at any of the chain restaurants. When you check in and tell them you have arrived, they make sure you actually have an ADR and THEN they add your name to the list of guests that are already waiting for a table. When they get to your name, THEN you can sit down and eat.

If the kitchen is running behind, you're out of luck. If it's pouring out and guests refuse to leave their table, you're out of luck.

Don't think you're entitled to a table at the VERY minute your ADR is scheduled for. And do NOT take it out on the server. It's not their fault at all.

And who cares that you're a DVC member? OR that you're a PAYING Dining plan member. I think I missed the part in the Disney rules that says those two categories of guests should be bowed down to.

Does it suck? Of course it does. I've had to wait ungodly amounts of time as well, and NOT just at Disney. But things happen. It could have been anything. A grill went down, a fryer went down, two cooks in the back could have gotten sick or not shown up, who knows.

I'm sorry for the rant...I worked at restaurants with this same policy and have gotten burned one too many times by guests who take everything out on the servers. We just take your order and bring you the food. We don't control how long it takes for you to sit or for your food to be prepared.

*ok...stepping off the soapbox now*

Lisa, you're my hero!

 

[mkleinbe]

I agree that when people get in the air conditioning and start having fun with the characters it's hard for them to leave, therefore messing up the whole schedule. I know that when we had dinner at 1900, we never wanted to leave. We were all having the best time, even the 2 year old! She kept yelling for Prince Charming and he'd yell back to her across the room. It is probably my favorite memory of the whole trip.

 

[stitch34]

We just got back. Restaurants were a nightmare.
We always do deluxe dining... did 18 restaurants in our 7-day trip.
phew!!

But... the problem with free dining, is people like my dear friend who was also down this week with her family - they NEVER go out to eat, when in disney always do only counter service... yet free dining offered they eat TS meals and spend TWO hours in each meal - backing up the restaurant. Those are the people that do it!
I asked my friend how long they spent in each restaurant and she proudly said yep, 2 hours in each meal. Ugh. We did our first night eating with them at Park Fare - in there forever with them. My kids begging to go get dessert, I'm like um, not yet, that's rude, the other family just was starting their first dinner plate.

I traveled alone with three kids, one autistic, and trust me, waiting over 40 minutes for my ADR is NOT fun with a tantruming child who doesn't understand we have to wait. But alls well, we certainly ate well once we were seated. I went down on this trip kinda expecting dining waits to be a nightmare!

 

[5 for WDW]

We just got back on Sunday night after 6 days on Free Dining. First time in a few years that we have done FD since we too, are DVC members.

Anyway, the longest wait we had for any ADR was about 10 mins at Garden Grill on our first night. It was a late dinner at 7:30.

We also ate at Yak and Yeti (4:45), Akershus (5:15) and CRT (1:15). We were seated almost immediately each time.

OP, sorry for your experience. I would have had a total meltdown if we had those wait time!

 

[mkleinbe]

We just got back. Restaurants were a nightmare.
they NEVER go out to eat, when in disney always do only counter service... yet free dining offered they eat TS meals and spend TWO hours in each meal - backing up the restaurant.

Two hours!!! When I say we were at 1900 forever, I mean for like maybe right at an hour. Rather than 45 minutes. We are dining out pros, so we get in, get out... We have to be with my wild 2 year old. TWO hours.... geez...... You totally just proved my point.