A little annoyed with seating policies

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by ilovefh
Tiffany you are correct, but what I was actaully responding to was my on original post about th holiday procedure. CRT (for lunch and dinner) on major holidays (i.e. xmas and thanksgiving) makes very few PS's 60 days out. The rest have to be made in person at the podium the morning of and they are made by hand. One CM will have a clipboard with slots for dinner and one CM will have a clipboard with slots for lunch. I actually was the CM with the lunch clipboard last Xmas freezing my butt off!! I never ased why, but I would assume it is because of the chance of park closing....for themselves, so they mke sure they have people...and so people dont make PS's then are unable to get into the park and have to pay the $10 cancellation fee. Many other restaurants have started doing this as well. A previous poster mentioned they saw it at LTT.

Thanks for the clarification. That is why I tend use the quote functin alot so that there is no question as to what post I am responding to. I know that some people don't like the quote function because they think I am picking on them but I just use it for clarification purposes.

 

[ilovefh]

LOL, yeah and I should have used it in my post I wish I was going to be in Disney for Xmas this yr....working or otherwise!!

 

[Bill3]

My wife and I have been to WDW 4 times now with just the two of us.We are going again 12/29/02-01/04/03. In times past and this time I have always made some PS and have never had a problem. I n fact I just called Monday and got the PS I requested at each time I asked for. Maybe I just got lucky.

 

[A1A1]

I think the problem is for the more intimate restaurants. I requested Le Cellier and Cinderella's and can't remember what else. No tables for two, but plenty of fours. It may be that the restaurants were busier with couples at these times. I guess Cindy's is supposed to be romantic at night, but I started requestin a table for two from 4pm opening, and none were available.

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by A1A1
I think the problem is for the more intimate restaurants. I requested Le Cellier and Cinderella's and can't remember what else. No tables for two, but plenty of fours. It may be that the restaurants were busier with couples at these times. I guess Cindy's is supposed to be romantic at night, but I started requestin a table for two from 4pm opening, and none were available.

I am truely sorry that you are having so much trouble getting a seating of two. My husband and I have been going to WDW for many years(see sig.) and I have never not been able to get a table at a place we want to eat at the time we wanted as long as I called in advance. I always call 120days out with no issues. We are going to be at LeCellier this coming Feb. We have a 6:30pm ressie. I wish you luck on getting the resturants you want. Just yesterday I changed our 8:30am p.s. at 1900 Park Fare from one day to another day without any issues. We are a party of two always have been and since we are not planning children always will be. I truely do wish you luck on getting into the places that you want to. I cannot remember are you traveling at a busy time? Did you call 120days out for the EC places and 60days out for the MK places?

 

[Janet2k]

All you two-sies out there, don't give up! Like other posters have stated in this thread, I was at WDW last month with my daughter and all of our PS reservations were for "two." We also did a lot of last minute PS reservations and had no problem whether walking up to the podium and asking for whatever was available, or using the "*88" from the pay phones in order to make a PS reservation for "two" on-the-spot. Don't give up the faith! All of us "two-sies" must unite!

 

[A1A1]

Tiffany,
Yes, it is a busy time that we are going. Dec 18-26. I am sure this is causing the problem, as well. I haven't had trouble before either. Just never thought that they wouldn't seat us at a table for four. Didn't think it mattered that much

Thought it was funny that a party of three couldn't be seated at a table for four either. Forgot who posted that.

 

[A1A1]

Just was shocked by my countdown!!! It's coming up quickly....Yea~!

 

[Grumpy92]

Most of the time the PS system works wonderfully, but on major holidays it does not. That is one of the reasons the CC policy was established, too many no shows. It also sounds like you are choosing restaurants that are among the most popular. Unfortunatley with the CC policy the change before you arrive will probably not work. I would suggest flexibility on your dinner times (anything around 7pm is the most popular) try an early dinner or late lunch on xmas day. You also might want to consider some other restaurants. It sounds like you are looking to eat in the parks. I would call WDW dine and ask the CM what restaurants do have available two tops. Then you will know what you can do. I would also do this IMMEDIATELY!!! The closer it gets the harder it will become.

 

[GEM]

Just wanted to say that DH and I have never had trouble getting a table for two anywhere. We have tons of PS for our trip this month, and they are all for two. Of course, we did call early on to make all the arrangments. If we had waited and all the tables for two were taken, we probably would have had a problem. Their reluctance to seat two people at a table for four makes perfect sense to me. They loose money that way.

 

[A1A1]

Gem
- While I can certainly understand economics, I do not agree that it is the best policy.

Picture yourself walking up to an establishment to eat(one that doesn't take reservations) and you see a vacant table. You and your spouse ask for a table. You are told that you can't sit at that one remaining table, because they might get a table for four that would spend more money than you. Consequently, you either have to wait for a table for two to open up or eat somewhere else. By the way--nobody else comes to eat there for another hour. You could have been done eating by then. They would have had double (or more) the money from that table.

How would you feel about that? Does it make things more acceptable because the request is over the phone?

 

[GEM]

Originally posted by A1A1
Does it make things more acceptable because the request is over the phone?

Yes, I think it does. If you are calling a month or so in advance to get a ps and you have a party of two and the only table left is one that seats four, it makes sense for them to go ahead and hold that table for a party of four. There's a very good chance that a party of four will eventually call up and want the ps, and they will make twice as much money off that party. I'm not saying it wouldn't tick me off, I'm just saying I understand why they do it that way. It's a pretty safe bet that some party of four will grab that seating for Cindy's and it definately won't go empty.

 

[Tiffany]

Originally posted by A1A1
Gem
- While I can certainly understand economics, I do not agree that it is the best policy.

Picture yourself walking up to an establishment to eat(one that doesn't take reservations) and you see a vacant table. You and your spouse ask for a table. You are told that you can't sit at that one remaining table, because they might get a table for four that would spend more money than you. Consequently, you either have to wait for a table for two to open up or eat somewhere else. By the way--nobody else comes to eat there for another hour. You could have been done eating by then. They would have had double (or more) the money from that table.

How would you feel about that? Does it make things more acceptable because the request is over the phone?

Booking in advance compared to in person is different.

Your example is that you are calling in advance. Therefore it does not make economic sense to book a pary of two into a table for four if there is a high probability based on historicly data that the table for four can be filled with four people.

In your above example if you walk up to a place and a table for four is empty and there is no party of four on the P.S. list that is due to arrive and there is no party of four in line waiting to request a table then in this case it would make economic sense to sit a party of two at a table of four if the other choice is to let that table of four go empty and lose the business of the party of two to another establishment.

The restaurant should do everything it can to fill a table of four with four people but when it gets down to that table going empty and turning two people away then they should fill the table of four with less people because getting some money is better then getting no money.

It is the same logic that drives room discounts. You do not discount a room unless you are sure you cannot fill the room at rack rate.

 

[eeyore0062]

Although we have never been during Christmas, DH and I have made PS for 2 without any problems. Some of the places we did this were:

Le Cellier
San Angel Inn
Cape May Cafe
Narcoosee's
Artist's Point
Tony's
Mama Melrose
Brown Derby
Fulton's
Chef Mickey's
Boatwrights
Boma


Be careful about making the PS for 4 when you only have 2, if they do require a CC number. Find out specifically how far in advance you will have to cancel not to be penalized, then call and cancel 2 of the seats at that time. If they don't require a CC number, then tell them when you show up... we have had times that parts of our party didn't show up, legitimately, and it was no problem!