Alcohol Pressure

[Yahweh]

We are planning a trip to Disney with my parents who don't drink. And out of respect for them, my wife and
I will likely not order wine (or any other happy juice) with our meals.

Does anyone else feel pressure, particularly at the signature restaurants, to order alcohol during sit-down meals at Disney from the wait staff? I know the $13 glass of wine really helps the waiters' improve their average bill total, and I get that, but I really don't want to feel like I'm being cheap when we simply order food. Plus none of us are huge eaters. We usually just order a main course and share a dessert. The glasses of wine has traditionally balanced out the lack of appetizers.

My concern primarily stems from an experience at the California grill where my wife and I both ordered sushi, with two $12-14 glasses of wine, mind you. The waiter kept telling us that the Sushi was not big enough for a full meal and was more of an appetizer. He seemed really put out that we were not ordering main courses. When he dropped off the Sushi, his comment to us was simply "here are your appetizers." And was as cold as I have ever seen a waiter be. If he was at all pleasant about it, he would have quickly found out that we'd have ordered another round of Sushi, and two more glasses of wine. Probably, dessert to boot. BTW had TIW card and the 18% tip was already guaranteed.

Anyways I was curious if anyone else was treated poorly due to what they ordered or not ordered, particularly alcohol? I just want to be loved by my servers !

 

[Pumbaa_]

your experience was not because of what you ordered but because you had a poor server.

Enjoy your dinners with your family, you will be fine (and we rarely if ever order alcohol when dining out and never experienced that)

 

[Lisa F]

I never used to drink until I was divorced and NEVER felt pressure to order wine or other alcohol. Like, it didn't even occur to me to worry about it because it was never even a blip on the radar. With so many kids I am sure disney servers are used to dry tables, even at signatures.

 

[Nancyg56]

I agree that your server was not professional. Most of my family does nto drink, and we never have any issues.

 

[pumba]

no need to order anything that you dont want to eat or drink....hubby and I dont drink much...maybe a few times a year.. but we always first when the wait person comes..we order a diet coke ..and then our meals..no one ever bothers us.. but Epcot walking around there or at the American restaurant ..if it is hot we order a beer at the kiosk right there...

 

[bumbershoot]

That would have been a perfect time to talk to the manager. Explain just what you said. If you just left without telling anyone your experience, the server will never learn that he's creating the situations he seems to be expecting.

I'm sorry you're having to change what you normally for your in laws. This is something they expect? That you won't drink because of them?

 

[Imagineer5]

You will not have a problem, and that server was awful! We had the opposite experience at California Grill. My friend ordered a sushi app and was about to order a main dish as well, and our server stopped her and asked if she wanted to try out the sushi platter first before ordering an entrée since it was quite large. She did, and was too full for an entrée.

 

[Dis703]

I don't drink and I've never felt pressured to buy a drink at Disney. Sure many servers will try and upsell because it benefits them to do so, but I can't recall any of them treating me poorly when I don't buy alcohol or the pricier entrée. I agree with the others this was a matter of your server not being very professional.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've had occasions where I've had a server give less than stellar service...and I'm pretty sure it was because there were no 'adult beverages' ordered. He was very smiley and cheerful as he approached our table...there were four of us. This was at Yachtsman Steakhouse by the way. He happily welcomed us, asked if we had any questions. We said no, and he asked for our drink order....that's exactly how he put it...'Can I take your drink order?'. Okay....we all ordered soft drinks. This guy's attitude had an almost instant make over!!! He just looked at us, heaved a huge sigh, and wrote down the orders. It took him about 10 mins to return with the drinks. He took our meal orders, and it took forever for them to come out. Close to 30 mins. I've eaten there before and it never took that long for food to come out. When it did come out, my steak was badly overcooked. When the server finally came to ask if everything was okay...about 15 mins later...I told him that my steak was very overcooked. He sighed and asked if I would like to return it and get a new order. No, not at this point....everyone would be done eating and my meal would just be coming out. So, I suffered through well done beef. I put my TiW card away that night!!!! No way was he getting an 18% tip!!! I tipped at 15%, and stopped by to speak with the manager to explain why I had tipped so little. He was appalled and said it would be dealt with and what could he do to make it up to us. I said nothing....I wasn't looking to be comped, I just wanted the server to understand why we were unhappy.

I've had other instances where I have felt the server was a bit put out by the lack of alcohol, but it didn't impact the level of service we got. We normally tip at 20% or more.

The funny thing? I just returned from a trip to Cabo, with my dh. It was a company reward trip for him. It was all expenses paid..alcohol was included. He just had a meeting with his boss....his boss jokingly said that the company lost money on us...we had about 4 drinks over 5 days!!! And it was must me...2 glasses of wine, with meals and 2 pina coladas in the pool!! It seems to be the big joke now!! Everyone else sat by the pool, drinking all day, then continued with dinner and into the night. But we just don't drink much.

 

[Puffin]

I don't know why, but I always thought most people have soft drinks in amusement park restaurants.

 

[Lisa F]

I don't know why, but I always thought most people have soft drinks in amusement park restaurants.

It's true. I'm not a huge drinker and will sometimes get a glass of wine or a cocktail but lots of booze + rich food at restaurants + walking around in muggy florida swampy heat is not a great combo!

 

[HM2012Butler]

Not alcohol but I understand your situation. Back when I did my CP, my parents came to visit. We had an 8:30 reservation at California Grill. We decided to stop in at the Turf Club around 5:00 to have some appetizers to hold us over for dinner. We asked the server about lighter options and what she thought was good since we had never been but had heard good things. She kept pointing to options and saying "well that's pretty cheap" and things of that sort. We were not eating appetizers because we were being cheap. We were ordering light because we didn't want to fill up before our very good, fairly large dinner. It just put us off

 

[goofy4tink]

I don't know why, but I always thought most people have soft drinks in amusement park restaurants.

True, but WDW isn't truly an 'amusement park'!!! Six Flags is an amusement park. I know that when my dd and I went to WDW last May, she was thrilled to have her first adult beverage while in WDW!!! And in Sept? She insists on eating at BoG, so she can have a glass of wine in MK!! We don't drink a lot in WDW....especially when it's hot. We're really water people..seldom drink soda, especially in the heat/humidity.

 

[gorkt]

I don't drink either and I have never felt pressured to order alcohol at WDW. However, I have shied away from certain restaurants that I want to try because alcohol seemed like an integral part of the experience, wine pairings etc....

 

[Yahweh]

I'm sorry you're having to change what you normally for your in laws. This is something they expect? That you won't drink because of them?

No, they'd be fine with it I'm sure. They know we occasionally drink, we simply have never done it in their presence before. We usually go to WDW twice a year, so one trip alcohol free won't kill us. Think of the money we'll save!

 

[Yahweh]

With so many kids I am sure disney servers are used to dry tables, even at signatures.

That's a really good point. We'll have our two girls with us as well.

 

[Yahweh]

I've had occasions where I've had a server give less than stellar service...and I'm pretty sure it was because there were no 'adult beverages' ordered. He was very smiley and cheerful as he approached our table...there were four of us. This was at Yachtsman Steakhouse by the way. He happily welcomed us, asked if we had any questions. We said no, and he asked for our drink order....that's exactly how he put it...'Can I take your drink order?'. Okay....we all ordered soft drinks. This guy's attitude had an almost instant make over!!!

That was totally our experience at CG, the instant change in attitude. We have always had awesome service there before. Likely what everyone has said it was probably just a outlier of a poor server.

 

[tomatecerise]

I Never feel pushed to consume any drinks at Disney restaurant, even The signature ones.

 

[OKW Lover]

Does anyone else feel pressure, particularly at the signature restaurants, to order alcohol during sit-down meals at Disney from the wait staff?

Never felt any pressure in our many, many years of dining at WDW Signature restaurants.

 

[Yahweh]

Not alcohol but I understand your situation. Back when I did my CP, my parents came to visit. We had an 8:30 reservation at California Grill. We decided to stop in at the Turf Club around 5:00 to have some appetizers to hold us over for dinner. We asked the server about lighter options and what she thought was good since we had never been but had heard good things. She kept pointing to options and saying "well that's pretty cheap" and things of that sort. We were not eating appetizers because we were being cheap. We were ordering light because we didn't want to fill up before our very good, fairly large dinner. It just put us off

I wonder if there is some pressure on the servers to increase their average $ per person by the restaurant itself. I was a server for 15 years and have had this pressure put on me at a few of the restaurants I worked at. We would get around it by occasionally fudging the number of people at a given table...especially if the group included kids. I personally never enjoyed working at restaurants that did that.