Be our guest

[FCDub]

Same - I often have seating requests. I convey them in a manner that makes it clear that I understand that sometimes they can’t be met. No big deal.

Definitely ask. You don’t get what you don’t ask for. And I think some people have forgotten this, but Disney is in the business of making people happy. Every single waitperson I interacted with in my last visit was so lovely, and so accommodating (and I tipped them to reflect this amazing service). But why can’t we ask for stuff anymore when we are paying hundreds of dollars for a meal. It’s silly.

You seriously don't see the difference between the OP's original question and someone who knowingly books reservations at places they don't like the food at and asks them to make something different?

 

[Kmk2]

You seriously don't see the difference between the OP's original question and someone who knowingly books reservations at places they don't like the food at and asks them to make something different?

I was directing my comment to OP, clearly

and we are talking about an establishment at a theme park known for culinary delights such as the cheeseburger spring roll and specifically a restaurant where a person walks around in a giant wooly beast costume. This is not a Michelin starred restaurant.

People should feel free to ask for whatever they want — as long as they are polite and respectful. Who cares.

 

[Merlin's Magic]

People should feel free to ask for whatever they want — as long as they are polite and respectful. Who cares.

Except, people should exhibit common sense and tact. There used to be a lot more magic at Disney. A LOT more. And I have a feeling that they fielded so many of these requests and asks for things that yes, possibly, could happen, but the asking made it feel like people were never satisfied. The magic gradually stopped. Nobody wakes up Tinkerbell. There's no towel animals. No quick little bits of things that were quite nice surprises.

People began asking for EVERYTHING because they felt they should and they had a right to. There was no chance for surprise kindnesses because they became expectations from the park guests. Of course the surprises stopped.

I'm not saying that it's all the people (Disney did their fair share of cutting out magic for cost-saving), but can you imagine how tiring it must be to field all these requests all the time? If it were us, and it was a restaurant I really wanted to go to, I'd pay the extra $10 to snag some chicken fingers for the kid to eat before we went in. At that point he could choose to try the menu or not, but he'd be satisfied, we'd be satisfied, and the staff could get on with their jobs without having to accommodate something that shouldn't have to be accommodated at all because personal responsibility happened.

 

[Kmk2]

Except, people should exhibit common sense and tact. There used to be a lot more magic at Disney. A LOT more. And I have a feeling that they fielded so many of these requests and asks for things that yes, possibly, could happen, but the asking made it feel like people were never satisfied. The magic gradually stopped. Nobody wakes up Tinkerbell. There's no towel animals. No quick little bits of things that were quite nice surprises.

People began asking for EVERYTHING because they felt they should and they had a right to. There was no chance for surprise kindnesses because they became expectations from the park guests. Of course the surprises stopped.

I'm not saying that it's all the people (Disney did their fair share of cutting out magic for cost-saving), but can you imagine how tiring it must be to field all these requests all the time? If it were us, and it was a restaurant I really wanted to go to, I'd pay the extra $10 to snag some chicken fingers for the kid to eat before we went in. At that point he could choose to try the menu or not, but he'd be satisfied, we'd be satisfied, and the staff could get on with their jobs without having to accommodate something that shouldn't have to be accommodated at all because personal responsibility happened.

You are paying $62 dollars per adult (plus 25% tip and tax that is $80ish dollars per person ) - for the lovely setting and experience. Let’s be honest - the food is not amazing there. You are paying a premium price and the wait staff are being tipped on that premium price - this is not like going into McDonald’s and asking some poor kid making $9 an hour for something off menu.

As someone said previously- attitude is everything - be kind and accepting of a no.
And you shouldn’t expect it. But I keep seeing that people shouldn’t even politely ask - and that is not fair - especially at a fairly higher price point.

 

[Merlin's Magic]

You are paying $62 dollars per adult (plus 25% tip and tax that is $80ish dollars per person ) - for the lovely setting and experience. Let’s be honest - the food is not amazing there. You are paying a premium price and the wait staff are being tipped on that premium price - this is not like going into McDonald’s and asking some poor kid making $9 an hour for something off menu.

As someone said previously- attitude is everything - be kind and accepting of a no.
And you shouldn’t expect it. But I keep seeing that people shouldn’t even politely ask - and that is not fair - especially at a fairly higher price point.

No one is forcing anyone to eat there. The attitude is, if you choose to eat there, you choose their menu. Asking for a slight deviance because of an allergy is one thing -and Disney even puts which foods are allergy friendly on their website.
If you are not happy with a $62 menu, DON'T EAT THERE.

Constant asks wear people down. Any parent could tell you that straight up. Now several different requests all day? Every day? Because people think that they're entitled to more than what a $62 menu consists of if they don't like the $62 menu? It does not matter if you are being polite or bless-your-heart-ing through the whole shebang. Staff gets tired. It takes away from the routine of the kitchen to prep and put together a different plate using different ingredients than what is on hand. It throws off the timing.

Stop pretending that the act is fine as long as your words are nice. It's rude. Like, that's not even up for debate. It just is. And it's tiring, and it does change how the parks react over time.

 

[Kmk2]

No one is forcing anyone to eat there. The attitude is, if you choose to eat there, you choose their menu. Asking for a slight deviance because of an allergy is one thing -and Disney even puts which foods are allergy friendly on their website.
If you are not happy with a $62 menu, DON'T EAT THERE.

Constant asks wear people down. Any parent could tell you that straight up. Now several different requests all day? Every day? Because people think that they're entitled to more than what a $62 menu consists of if they don't like the $62 menu? It does not matter if you are being polite or bless-your-heart-ing through the whole shebang. Staff gets tired. It takes away from the routine of the kitchen to prep and put together a different plate using different ingredients than what is on hand. It throws off the timing.

Stop pretending that the act is fine as long as your words are nice. It's rude. Like, that's not even up for debate. It just is. And it's tiring, and it does change how the parks react over time.

Ehh, agree to disagree then! Though I would strongly advocate for people to feel fine asking politely for anything they want - particularly in a place where you would be spending $300 ish dollars for a group of 4 adults for lunch (without add ons) and giving a $70 tip. But you do you!

 

[Merlin's Magic]

Ehh, agree to disagree then! Though I would strongly advocate for people to feel fine asking politely for anything they want - particularly in a place where you would be spending $300 ish dollars for a group of 4 adults for lunch (without add ons) and giving a $70 tip. But you do you!

You keep bringing up the cost like it's some random price and not a price that directly correlates to a product they exchange for that price.

I don't get it. We all know the price. Everyone knows the price before they go in. Everyone looks at the menu and determines if they want to exchange that price for that product. It's a conscious thing.

You make it seem so random, like "I don't know why they're charging me $62 if I'm getting something I don't want!"

So, fine, do you. But I'll tell you what - when a restaurant gets enough requests from picky eaters, they start to reconsider their menu and take things off that make the restaurant unique in order to put on those chicken fingers and cheeseburgers so people can then complain that the menu sucks and they're charging $62 for plain food you can get anywhere else.

And that, that is the crux of why your rudeness is going to affect everyone. It's not something I would encourage and feel proud about.

 

[Kmk2]

You keep bringing up the cost like it's some random price and not a price that directly correlates to a product they exchange for that price.

I don't get it. We all know the price. Everyone knows the price before they go in. Everyone looks at the menu and determines if they want to exchange that price for that product. It's a conscious thing.

You make it seem so random, like "I don't know why they're charging me $62 if I'm getting something I don't want!"

So, fine, do you. But I'll tell you what - when a restaurant gets enough requests from picky eaters, they start to reconsider their menu and take things off that make the restaurant unique in order to put on those chicken fingers and cheeseburgers so people can then complain that the menu sucks and they're charging $62 for plain food you can get anywhere else.

And that, that is the crux of why your rudeness is going to affect everyone. It's not something I would encourage and feel proud about.

You get better and more attentive service at higher end restaurants- this can’t be news to you?

 

[Scubadaddy32]

Just a little FYI, the Lamb Chops are back... but off the menu.

 

[tink2424]

Ehh, agree to disagree then! Though I would strongly advocate for people to feel fine asking politely for anything they want - particularly in a place where you would be spending $300 ish dollars for a group of 4 adults for lunch (without add ons) and giving a $70 tip. But you do you!

Agree with you! And to be honest Disney has offered this in the past. I highly doubt that this is what has caused the Disney magic to go downhill... I'm really sure it has more to do with cost cutting.

From what I have heard in the past is that the chefs in the kitchens enjoy being able to whip something up for people who have allergies or are just picky eaters. It happened to me about 10 years ago at Sci-Fi Diner where nothing on the menu worked for me and the server offered to have them make me something that wasn't on the menu. So this isn't foreign to these restaurants.

God forbid you are the only picky eater in your party and everyone else wants to go to any of the restaurants. Or maybe you want to go for the atmosphere and actually get something to eat. Disney could do way better with their options on their menus to make it easier for people.

Obviously the other poster is entitles to their OPINION and so are we...

 

[focusondisney]

Just a little FYI, the Lamb Chops are back... but off the menu.

What does this mean? You can ask for them? We just ate there 2 weeks ago, I wish I would have known.. I love lamb & it’s not on the menu anywhere else we went.

Actually, I hope all restaurants start putting the items they used to have back on the menus. All the menus are still so limited. We enjoyed everywhere we ate, but a little more variety & more options would be great.

 

[wideeyedwonder]

I'm not saying that it's all the people (Disney did their fair share of cutting out magic for cost-saving), but can you imagine how tiring it must be to field all these requests all the time?

I’ll say my piece, then bow out as i don’t think people will convince each other on this matter.

I don’t have to imagine, I was a CM at Disneyland. My oldest daughter was also a CM at Disneyland. At times it can be a hard and annoying job, but in the end, we truely believed that our job wasn’t just our job description, but was mainly to help our guests have a magical time, whenever reasonable or possible, even if it was saying “no”, in a polite way. More often than not, the answer was “let’s see what we can do”. That’s customer service. Even if we felt “annoyed”, we always gave great customer service and experiences, because that’s part of the Disney brand, and that’s what allows Disney to charge such high prices on their experiences (*ahem* DCL *ahem*) and what makes people willingly PAY their hard earned money (*ahem* ME *ahem*) for these experiences.

Be respectful, be kind, and go ahead and ask, and be ok with a kind “no”.

Lastly, if having this opinion labels me “rude”, then there is not much left to say, except to “agree to disagree”. As a poster before posted “you do you.” Peace.

 

[tink2424]

I’ll say my piece, then bow out as i don’t think people will convince each other on this matter.

I don’t have to imagine, I was a CM at Disneyland. My oldest daughter was also a CM at Disneyland. At times it can be a hard and annoying job, but in the end, we truely believed that our job wasn’t just our job description, but was mainly to help our guests have a magical time, whenever reasonable or possible, even if it was saying “no”, in a polite way. More often than not, the answer was “let’s see what we can do”. That’s customer service. Even if we felt “annoyed”, we always gave great customer service and experiences, because that’s part of the Disney brand, and that’s what allows Disney to charge such high prices on their experiences (*ahem* DCL *ahem*) and what makes people willingly PAY their hard earned money (*ahem* ME *ahem*) for these experiences.

Be respectful, be kind, and go ahead and ask, and be ok with a kind “no”.

Lastly, if having this opinion labels me “rude”, then there is not much left to say, except to “agree to disagree”. As a poster before posted “you do you.” Peace.

You said this perfectly!! And this has been my experience at most places (even outside of Disney) but of course at Disney. Being polite and not expecting anything is your best bet with this type of a request. I don't think you are rude and you are right that there are people who will not change their opinion based on your post or mine.

At the end of the day if you are very picky, have allergies or even if you are vegetarian/vegan it can be very hard to eat at most of the restaurants at Disney. I think they realize this and will try to do what they can to accommodate. I always have a back up plan just in case as should anyone else who goes to one of these restaurants and has a hard time ordering off the menu.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

You said this perfectly!! And this has been my experience at most places (even outside of Disney) but of course at Disney. Being polite and not expecting anything is your best bet with this type of a request. I don't think you are rude and you are right that there are people who will not change their opinion based on your post or mine.

At the end of the day if you are very picky, have allergies or even if you are vegetarian/vegan it can be very hard to eat at most of the restaurants at Disney. I think they realize this and will try to do what they can to accommodate. I always have a back up plan just in case as should anyone else who goes to one of these restaurants and has a hard time ordering off the menu.

even with allergies what you think is a simple fix might not be or work. at small park I work at had a mother come in and demand that we give her daughter some mac before we added the cheese. only problem it came premade with cheese. mother went on for like 5 minutes it would simple just give mac before cheese added. I kept saying it was already made and we could not do what she wanted. finally my boss came into window with a frozen bag and asked mother how she would do what she was asking. her response was what you do not make it from scratch now what can I get daughter. offered to make allergy chicken tenders and star tots which allergy wise were fine for her daughter but her daughter did not like either of those so mom left to go complain at office cause we could not feed her daughter and she was not allowed to bring food in at our park

 

[tink2424]

even with allergies what you think is a simple fix might not be or work. at small park I work at had a mother come in and demand that we give her daughter some mac before we added the cheese. only problem it came premade with cheese. mother went on for like 5 minutes it would simple just give mac before cheese added. I kept saying it was already made and we could not do what she wanted. finally my boss came into window with a frozen bag and asked mother how she would do what she was asking. her response was what you do not make it from scratch now what can I get daughter. offered to make allergy chicken tenders and star tots which allergy wise were fine for her daughter but her daughter did not like either of those so mom left to go complain at office cause we could not feed her daughter and she was not allowed to bring food in at our park

I'm not sure what this has to do with my posts. Of course restaurants have limitations on what they can provide and I have never advocated to be rude or yell at the staff. Asking questions and seeing what would work for both the person & the restaurant is perfectly acceptable. Maybe nothing works and as a customer you have the be ready for that and accept the answer.

 

[FCDub]

You said this perfectly!! And this has been my experience at most places (even outside of Disney) but of course at Disney. Being polite and not expecting anything is your best bet with this type of a request. I don't think you are rude and you are right that there are people who will not change their opinion based on your post or mine.

At the end of the day if you are very picky, have allergies or even if you are vegetarian/vegan it can be very hard to eat at most of the restaurants at Disney. I think they realize this and will try to do what they can to accommodate. I always have a back up plan just in case as should anyone else who goes to one of these restaurants and has a hard time ordering off the menu.

Being a picky eater is a CHOICE. Plain and simple. I would not expect someone to go out of their way to accommodate me because of my choice not to eat something. That would be, in my opinion, rude. Taking something off a sandwich is fine. Purposely booking a place you do not like the food at and then asking them to make something to suit your needs is RUDE.

That's the last thing I will say here.

 

[tink2424]

Being a picky eater is a CHOICE. Plain and simple. I would not expect someone to go out of their way to accommodate me because of my choice not to eat something. That would be, in my opinion, rude. Taking something off a sandwich is fine. Purposely booking a place you do not like the food at and then asking them to make something to suit your needs is RUDE.

That's the last thing I will say here.

Bless your heart...

And no, it isn't a choice. I could vomit up what I'm eating if you like to make you happy or would that be rude... Trust me I would be much happier if I didn't have the limitations on food that I do...

 

[wideeyedwonder]

Hi all, I have a Be Our Guest dinner reservation but the problem is my grandson won’t eat anything on the menu. Does anyone know if I could ask for some kind of chicken tenders? Thanks!!

Danadest, this is directly relevant to your question, from a recent “DFBGuide” video (“how to avoid these magic kingdom disasters”) on YouTube...AJ says :

“Disney is incredibly accommodating, with special dietary or picky eater needs. Ask your server what can be done; this is something they hear 20 times a day. If you’re on a special diet, or you are allergic to an ingredient, they can show you the allergy menu to help make your choices. If necessary, the chef will come out to speak with you and see what they can do. We’ve seen chefs make special meals just for guests that can’t eat off the menu. If you are allergic to a particular ingredient, the chef might be able to modify the recipe for you so you can still eat the food safely. As for those picky kiddos, or, hey, maybe it’s you, no judgement here, you have options too. Talk to your server; often they have choices for children not listed on the menu. Your kid is likely not the first picky eater they’ve encountered. We’ve had servers hook us up with chicken nuggets and fries, or Mac and cheese at restaurants where it wasn’t on the menu. If you ask, you might be surprised what they can do for you.”

As always, ask in a kind and respectful way, and be prepared for a kind “no” in return, if it comes to that. Have a great time!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I'm not sure what this has to do with my posts. Of course restaurants have limitations on what they can provide and I have never advocated to be rude or yell at the staff. Asking questions and seeing what would work for both the person & the restaurant is perfectly acceptable. Maybe nothing works and as a customer you have the be ready for that and accept the answer.

just adding to your posts that it is not always as easy as you think it should be to create what you want

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Danadest, this is directly relevant to your question, from a recent “DFBGuide” video (“how to avoid these magic kingdom disasters”) on YouTube...AJ says :

“Disney is incredibly accommodating, with special dietary or picky eater needs. Ask your server what can be done; this is something they hear 20 times a day. If you’re on a special diet, or you are allergic to an ingredient, they can show you the allergy menu to help make your choices. If necessary, the chef will come out to speak with you and see what they can do. We’ve seen chefs make special meals just for guests that can’t eat off the menu. If you are allergic to a particular ingredient, the chef might be able to modify the recipe for you so you can still eat the food safely. As for those picky kiddos, or, hey, maybe it’s you, no judgement here, you have options too. Talk to your server; often they have choices for children not listed on the menu. Your kid is likely not the first picky eater they’ve encountered. We’ve had servers hook us up with chicken nuggets and fries, or Mac and cheese at restaurants where it wasn’t on the menu. If you ask, you might be surprised what they can do for you.”

As always, ask in a kind and respectful way, and be prepared for a kind “no” in return, if it comes to that. Have a great time!

but you need to be prepared for a no answer see my above post