Admit it: You lie about having priority seating

[krdisneybound]

I just don't get this whole thread. It is sort of like road rage. "you did it and I don't like it - so I'm gonna rat you out". Big deal - We all know there are many who do it and more that don't do it. That is what the world is made of. Disney is all pixie dust but the individuals that go are not pixie dust. That is just the way it is. Selfish individuals and the world owes them a living and anything else they can get out of it free.

If someone gets in ahead of me while I wait with my priority seating, more power to them - let them eat and enjoy their food. Down the road they'll eventually get what is coming to them - today, tomorrow or next week.

Just my 2cents

 

[majortom]

If people with ADR's can just show up whenever they want, then why do they even give ADR times and ask you to arrive 15 minutes early?

Simply because that is what they would prefer. Most people book priority seatings for times they think they want when they book them.

Why doesn't the dining CM just say "Well, your ADR time is 7:30, but just show up any time you like and you'll get seated."

Because it would confuse people.

I realize priority seating is not perfect, but it's the best Disney has. I think it works better if everyone shows up when they are supposed to-not 2 hours early, not 2 hours late, etc. Just my opinion.

Actually, it would be a disaster if everyone showed up at the time they were booked. That is what you seem to miss. A true reservations system is based on everyone showing at their allotted time, priority seating is based on the idea the many people will be early, late or just not show up at all.

Priority seating is actually best for a theme park vacation environment like Walt Disney World where many things cause people to change their plans often.

In comparison, restaurants like Emeril's and Bayona (both in New Orleans) that have true reservations will tell you that a very high percentage of their non-regular customers are there celebrating a birthday, anniversary, or some other special event. This is simply because for restaurants like these, where one needs to book very far in advance, they need a date that they know they will neither forget nor miss and so it is usually for some special occasion. Disney, in contrast, creates a very weird environment, where people are forced to plan a whole week's meals as far as 190 days out!

Other than there, how many of you can tell me all your dining plans for even 30 days out? This is why Disney switched from true reservations to a system of priority seating (including overbooking).

/carmi

 

[magicmaster]

This happens to us a lot. I make ADR's and when we get to the restaurant there is nothing. 100% of the time the reason is because our name is not spelled correctly. It is quite frustrating.


Why would anyone go to a popular restaurant without and ADR and pretend to have one anyway? Even with one you still have to wait.

 

[jann1033]

Since these are just priority seatings, they do not hold tables at all. They seat people as tables are available. That is the big difference between reservations and priority seatings.

/carmi

not sure why you quoted me since obviously i had already said what you then said??

 

[jann1033]

the world owes them a living and anything else they can get out of it free.

If someone gets in ahead of me while I wait with my priority seating, more power to them - let them eat and enjoy their food. Down the road they'll eventually get what is coming to them - today, tomorrow or next week.

Just my 2cents

while i kind of agree , i don't see how anyone is getting away with anything by going to some place early....so what? they go standby and have to wait longer than they might later with their adr...so what???the table is going to be filled anyway by someone. and conversely, if i happen to have an adr the same time those scumbag early arrivals( ) really did( ie 2 hrs later than they ate, those scamming infidels ) I'll get seated earlier cause they will be long gone by then

i have a feeling this might be the new refillable mug cooking in the room pool hoping wdw thread...great, pop some corn and sit back and watch the fur fly

 

[Alexsma]

Wow I really hope that they don't lose ours. We are going with a party of 12, I made the ADR's thru grand gatherings. Hopefully they won't miss place them. In our party we have my nefew is in a wheelchair, yikes. Hopefully they are there, I have all the numbers and the CM that I spoke with name.

 

[snowwite]

Well, this is a revealation. Maybe, they can be wrong, on occasion. However, I would be willing to bet that a significant percentage of the people who claim to have a priority seating that cannot be found at the time of checkin never had one in the first place. Call me cynical.

We have had a problem a couple of times with the name being misspelled but I always have my PS #s and if all else fails they can look under phone number.The one time we had one for Fantasmick meal at Mama Melrose they messed up and had it for the previous day and were already over booked.They moved us to Holly Wood and Vine for same time.It wasnt same meal we planned and we did have to trot to other end of park but they did fix it. The people who take the PS or ADR whatever you want to call them , are wicked busy and mistakes happen.I would rather give people the benefit of the doubt than assume everyone is lying.

 

[kjs1976]

I've only seen people get turned away. One man came up to Ohanas and they couldn't find his ADR. It was a really busy time. He kept making the lady try to find it. He was even staying concierge and pulled that card. Finally after a while he calls his fiance and she had put it under her last name and they were able to find it by the time his party arrived. Then he made some snide comment about "I'm paying for it and she puts it under her name. It figures." And their two blended families had 6 of the most spolied kids I've ever seen. So glad we were seated next to them

 

[jann1033]

Wow I really hope that they don't lose ours. We are going with a party of 12, I made the ADR's thru grand gatherings. Hopefully they won't miss place them. In our party we have my nefew is in a wheelchair, yikes. Hopefully they are there, I have all the numbers and the CM that I spoke with name.

just take a list of the numbers with you and you'll be fine. you can also request a list at check in which is when i found out mine were in a total mess but you can get them fixed if need be that way with out a surprise when everyone is starving

 

[Sammie]

No I don't, but I have to agree with some of the others.

What purpose does it serve to know if some do.

 

[majortom]

not sure why you quoted me since obviously i had already said what you then said??

I was trying to clarify something, which is that they do not hold tables open at all. For example, if they have a table open at 7:45PM and their next priority seating is scheduled for 8:00PM (they have already seated their 7:45 reservations), they do not hold that table for their 8:00PM reservations, but instead fill it with whomever is there (either a standby, later reservation, etc.).

I also wanted to point out that someone that misses an earlier priority seating is usually seated ahead of standby guests and is simply placed in queue with all other priority seating guest based on when they checked in.

/carmi

 

[kerry34]

We had an experience in december with one of our ADRs. It was our first night there and we had an ADR at Trail's End. Before we left our room I called to confirm just to be on the safe side and everything was fine. Well I left my confirmation numbers in the room accidentally. When we got there and gave the host our name he says to us "We dont have you in the system". I asked him to check again and explained that I had just called to confirm and everything was fine. Well he gave me this smug look and said very sarcastically "Well what number did you call?" The way he said it flustered me and I accidentally said "I called the 800 number"
Of course I knew there was no 800 number and quickly corrected myself but of course I knew then he figured we were full of it. So he said in a very rude tone, "Well you are going to have to wait 45 minutes because since you have no confirmation number and we cant find your name we will have to put you on the stand-by list." I wanted to cry by this time. So DH says " Look can you please just check again because our last name is long and people tend to mess it up". Now people are looking at us because this CM is getting super annoyed by now and there is a big line forming behind us. So DH starts spelling the name again one letter at a time, very slowly and lo and behold, there it was, so the guy says in a very exasperated voice "Oh I thought you said F not S at the end of your name, but your ADR was for 20 minutes ago so you will still have to wait a while to get a table" Thank god I went away having some satisfaction that we proved we were not liars. From that point on I made sure I brought the numbers with me everywhere I went.

 

[jann1033]

", there it was, so the guy says in a very exasperated voice "Oh I thought you said F not S at the end of your name, but your ADR was for 20 minutes ago so you will still have to wait a while to get a table" Thank god I went away having some satisfaction that we proved we were not liars. From that point on I made sure I brought the numbers with me everywhere I went.

that cm was an idiot. "Duh, Smiths, i thought you said Smithf" considering you probably had been there 5-10 mins i would have asked for a manager and demanded a seat ( and i don't usually get riled that easily but that would have done it )

 

[Aimeedyan]

When we hit Alfredo's in Oct, there was a Loooooooooooong standby line but we went in and gave our name. We had the confirmation # with us in case. They couldn't find it - I guess they only search by name and not number? They looked and looked and finally I leaned over the counter and found a butchered spelling of our last name listed there beside our time =) We have a long interesting last name and it was just spelled wrong.

Guess we aren't the first ones to have that happen based on the other posts!

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I *do* think that the system is designed for people to arrive at the time of their ADR (with a 15-20 minute time cushion either way) I've been a little early or a little late (5-10 minutes) without a problem. If someone arrives more than an hour before or after their scheduled time I think they are at the mercy of the system. They should not expect the next available table, but if there are tables available, then more power to them. (Although, I would also like to mention that they should inform the desk to cancel their later ADR) I would assume that most restaurants would use their best discretion in a situation like this. Likewise, if I had a 9 pm. ADR and tried to get in at 6 when it was packed, I, as a guest, would understand that I would not be immediately seated.

In addition, I always have my confirmation numbers with me. You *need* them in many cases (resort parking, MK entry before park opens, etc.) and if it is a seating you really want it is much safer to have it no matter what. People do make mistakes.

 

[tony609]

I had this happen last october. I made an ADR for Tony's Halloween night during the MNSSHP and they had us for the previous night. Our party had to wait close to 90 minutes for a table. I had confrimation numbers and everything. I was not pleased. I even had the CM's name that took my reservation. i was ok with waiting for awhile but after an hour i was getting upset.

 

[bdg100]

I had this happen last october. I made an ADR for Tony's Halloween night during the MNSSHP and they had us for the previous night. Our party had to wait close to 90 minutes for a table. I had confrimation numbers and everything. I was not pleased. I even had the CM's name that took my reservation. i was ok with waiting for awhile but after an hour i was getting upset.

The problem with this situation, is.... What are you going to do about it? Nothing. There is really nothing that can be done. Sure you can express you feelings to management or even write a letter but, the outcome is the same. You waited for 1 1/2 hours for your "priority seating". Thank God you had priority seating imagine how long you would have waited without it.

 

[dcgrumpy]

Of course I knew there was no 800 number and quickly corrected myself but of course I knew then he figured we were full of it.

OT but there is an 800 number, it's 800-828-0228

 

[justhat]

We have had this happen to us before, usually because our last name is hard to spell/pronounce. It begins with a B but Disney has made that a D before so of course they don't find it on the list. What happened last April was that the CM asked me if I had any other ADRs (we booked a few at a time) cause we had to change our party number from 3 to 4 and so I said yes and she said she'd look them up by our name. Well she only found one (we had about 5 others) so she asked me the numbers and when she plugged them in she found out our name was misspelled. She changed them all for us and told us to be sure and check for our name with a D in the future. So any other ADRs we've made since then we've always confirmed that it is a B, not a D.

 

[Becky2005]

I don't remember if it was a dining ADR or something else (we had lots of different things we had reserved!) but I called a few days before we left.

There was one missing (they had looked up the information by our phone number), I did have the confirmation number and they had our phone number off by one digit, hence the not showing up with all the others.

Everything else was not a problem. For us, maybe they have changed it, I did notice at some places they had little paper copies with our names on it, basically already filled out and they just checked it when we came in and moved it to the "to be seated" pile I guess. LOL!

I never lied about an ADR - we showed up just about late to every single one of them though and amazingly enough they got us in (I was pretty sure the Yachtsman one would have turned us away as we were about 45 minutes late - I did tell them I would understand if we were just out of luck - we weren't quite up to speed on transportation and there were extenuating circumstances!)