Be Out Guest reservations are a joke.

[aaarcher86]

1) 3) Almost always, you can count on CP, Tusker, Coral Reef, etc.
QUOTE]

Ahh man. It is still too early for me to make reservations, but every one of these restaurants is on my list for our trip next July! So I could possibly be looking at 4 hours of waiting between BOG, CP, Tusker and Coral Reef!? That is a major bummer. I know it isn't likely to have that wait at all four, but from the sounds of it, it is possible.

I wouldn't bat an eyelash when booking your ADRs. Maybe book them a smidge earlier if you're worried.

But I've been to all of these, and I've been seated right away. And when people say 'slow or running behind' it's definitely not an hour. You may have a 15 minute wait, or with Coral Reef people say the service is slow, so you might be there a little longer than expected. Nothing I'd hardcore plan around.

Enjoy the restaurants

 

[maxiesmom]

1) 3) Almost always, you can count on CP, Tusker, Coral Reef, etc.
QUOTE]

Ahh man. It is still too early for me to make reservations, but every one of these restaurants is on my list for our trip next July! So I could possibly be looking at 4 hours of waiting between BOG, CP, Tusker and Coral Reef!? That is a major bummer. I know it isn't likely to have that wait at all four, but from the sounds of it, it is possible.

The only restaurant on your list I haven't eaten at is BOG. And of the ones on your list, CP is the one that seems to be behind all of the time. We have had quite a few meal there, and I don't think we have ever been seated smack on time. If you can, make an ADR there for right when they open. You may still have to wait, but it should no be for very long.

 

[NMDisneyFan]

I'm not sure if that was directed at me, but if so, you are off base. I know Disney can do wrong. I have had my share of problems during my trips, believe me! Know anyone else who has been downgraded twice?? That's me!

At any rate, the thing people need to know is Disney does not always operate the same as other places. And how they manage their seatings at the restaurants is a good example of it. You ADR does not guarantee you a table at that time. It gets you the next table available for your party size.

Now you can know that, and still get frustrated by long waits. I know I still do! But you have to know what the system is, and not expect it to be something different. Maybe once someone knows the time is not set in stone they will chose to not make ADRs at all. Or choose to make them when the restaurant first opens for the day, when the odds of a delay are slim. But first you got to know what an ADR gets you, and what it does not get you. Knowledge is power.

It wasn't directed at you or anyone else. It was a general statement and I probably shouldn't have made it. I was just tired of reading all the posts that were making excuses for the long wait. It is good to know how ADRs really work, though. I thought it was a traditional reservation.

 

[ls3015]

All these posts on this thread and differance of opinions is funny, the problem with the replys I see, is I have yet been able to do a walk up, to any park set down Disney resturant and ask for a table to be seated, and get one. You have to have a Res, with this being the case at Disney, why would there be a long wait time when they do the bookings and set the times, If people at the tables are done and just setting talking, waiting for fireworks, or what ever, if they are done and have been done, and all they are doing is taking up table space, Why can't they be asked to leave, within a given amount of time. instead of being allowed to set. Clean off the table, give them the bill, stop waiting on them, isn't this what they pay managers to do, make sure everything runs smooth, answer this one for me., once people know they will be asked to leave when done, they will.

 

[TDC Nala]

Disney does not ask guests to leave restaurants. There is no set time by when restaurant guests must finish their meals, they do not "cut off" ordering, and there is no criteria (i.e. they're just sitting and talking) for restaurant managers to ask parties to leave a restaurant. It just is not done, and it is probably not workable.

 

[rebeccaariel]

Either people are allowed to take as much time as they want eating and people may have to wait a bit to get seated, or people are rushed to finish and everyone gets seated on time. In either scenario, people will be complaining. Personally, I'd prefer not to get indigestion from being forced to inhale my food so that everyone can get a seat the second they walk into the restaurant.

 

[maxiesmom]

All these posts on this thread and differance of opinions is funny, the problem with the replys I see, is I have yet been able to do a walk up, to any park set down Disney resturant and ask for a table to be seated, and get one.

With the new credit card guarantee for most ADRs, it is possible to walk up to a table service restaurant and be seated. We did it as a family of 6 over Spring Break.

It does still make a difference what restaurant you are trying to get into. Le Ceiller is still all but impossible to walk up to. Our Epcot day were were given the choice of eating at Teppan Edo, San Angel Inn, Biergarten, and a few others.

 

[Bonniec]

I have yet been able to do a walk up, to any park set down Disney resturant and ask for a table to be seated, and get one.

We walked up to Chef Mickey's a few weeks ago and were seated within 10 minutes. I sure wasn't expecting that. (Not that I think it's okay to have a long wait when you have a reservation. I just agree it is possible to walk up to certain restaurants now.)

 

[NHTikiBeckie]

I totally understand the disappointment and irritation with a lengthy wait. And voicing that frustration is fine.

But to actually expect a table to be ready at the moment your time pops up is silly, particularly when you mention you don't care of people doddle along.

Do tell, how exactly do you expect tables to be ready on the dot if people are lingering around?

If you have 5 tables, and it takes you an average of 1 hour to sit, serve, and clean the table for the next patron, what exactly are you going to do when someone tinkers around for an additional 20 minutes? They're not going to shoo anyone out (and if they did you'd be complaining that they rushed you out after paying a hefty price for a meal). You're unfortunately, running 20 minutes late on that table now.

Yes, Disney has been doing this a long time. Regardless if they've done it 30 years or 2 years... there will always be nights when they're running behind for whatever reason.

Your frustrations are warranted - your reasoning is not.

 

[ls3015]

Disney does not ask guests to leave restaurants. There is no set time by when restaurant guests must finish their meals, they do not "cut off" ordering, and there is no criteria (i.e. they're just sitting and talking) for restaurant managers to ask parties to leave a restaurant. It just is not done, and it is probably not workable.

Your right disney does not ask quests to leave a resturant in a given amount of time, but you know what, maybe they should have a time frame posted, or charge extra, when someone takes up a table for well over given long time frame; like 2 hours, thats money out of their pocket, on another thought, even at all of the Disney resorts, it is posted that checkout time is 11:00 am, maybe we should just stay in bed that last day past 11:00am, than get up, take our shower and maybe be ready to leave around 3:00 pm, how long would Disney go for that? Don't see A lot of differance. generally I have to wait to get in a room, might as well stay a bit longer just like at the resturant, I had to wait an hour or better to get in, might as well get my money's worth, to heck with anyone else out side waiting.
Or how about this, I had to wait over 2 hours to get on the toy story ride, so when my ride ends, I will just stay on it and ride again and than again until I decide it's time to get off, that plan will work. Same as sitting at a table.

 

[BriarRosie]

Your right disney does not ask quests to leave a resturant in a given amount of time, but you know what, maybe they should have a time frame posted, or charge extra, when someone takes up a table for well over given long time frame; like 2 hours, thats money out of their pocket, on another thought, even at all of the Disney resorts, it is posted that checkout time is 11:00 am, maybe we should just stay in bed that last day past 11:00am, than get up, take our shower and maybe be ready to leave around 3:00 pm, how long would Disney go for that? Don't see A lot of differance. generally I have to wait to get in a room, might as well stay a bit longer just like at the resturant, I had to wait an hour or better to get in, might as well get my money's worth, to heck with anyone else out side waiting.
Or how about this, I had to wait over 2 hours to get on the toy story ride, so when my ride ends, I will just stay on it and ride again and than again until I decide it's time to get off, that plan will work. Same as sitting at a table.

That wouldn't work, because there are so many factors in a restaurant situation. You can't count on specific times the wait staff will take orders, or when orders are delivered. That's part of the reason why 90 minutes is a "guesttimated" time, and it can be longer. I've spent longer time in some of the signature restaurants, easily.

 

[aaarcher86]

Your right disney does not ask quests to leave a resturant in a given amount of time, but you know what, maybe they should have a time frame posted, or charge extra, when someone takes up a table for well over given long time frame; like 2 hours, thats money out of their pocket, on another thought, even at all of the Disney resorts, it is posted that checkout time is 11:00 am, maybe we should just stay in bed that last day past 11:00am, than get up, take our shower and maybe be ready to leave around 3:00 pm, how long would Disney go for that? Don't see A lot of differance. generally I have to wait to get in a room, might as well stay a bit longer just like at the resturant, I had to wait an hour or better to get in, might as well get my money's worth, to heck with anyone else out side waiting.
Or how about this, I had to wait over 2 hours to get on the toy story ride, so when my ride ends, I will just stay on it and ride again and than again until I decide it's time to get off, that plan will work. Same as sitting at a table.

I've been at a table in a restaurant for 4 hours before - ordered the entire time... drinks, apps, entrees, desserts... It's not the norm, but I was a paying customer the entire time I was there (and we tipped accordingly before anyone jumps the gun).

There are far too many factors in the restaurant industry to account for to enforce/enable a time restriction. And again, it sounds like on most nights BOG is running fine time wise.

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

Either people are allowed to take as much time as they want eating and people may have to wait a bit to get seated, or people are rushed to finish and everyone gets seated on time. In either scenario, people will be complaining. Personally, I'd prefer not to get indigestion from being forced to inhale my food so that everyone can get a seat the second they walk into the restaurant.

Exactly ! Restaurant ADR's or Resv ANYWHERE have always been subject to things that can be out of the restaurants control. Hotels and rides ARE controllable so whoever said they would "stay on or stay later" is just being silly .

 

[Polydweller]

It is entirely possible that this is all true.

But it is also quite possible that their operations just aren't quite running efficiently yet. One of the reports I saw here was that it took someone 3 hours from seating time until the check was paid and they could leave. And they were not excited about that, and had not been lingering to take in more of the atmosphere.

And I would totally avoid anything new in the first few months if possible. But we don't just pop into Disney when we get the whim. We might not even be back at WDW for a couple years. So it was now. Or much much later.

For the most part I would go with the flow on how long it takes to get in and how long it takes to get out. But we have BOG scheduled on a party night. Thankfully it's early, but if it takes 3 hours, I'll be a less than happy camper.

I'm just assuming that if there are operational issues that they'll be worked out in a couple weeks when we are there. So I'm very excited. But I can understand the frustration of those dealing with issues now.

Wouldn't be at all surprised that there are operational issues and have heard of some. Goes with opening a restaurant and will contribute to the ADR issues. What is being reported though is that it is the average diner taking longer than the planned 90 minutes that is the main source.

But agree, the inevitable operational issues are another reason that people should not expect a restaurant to find its rhythm for a couple of months.

 

[aubriee]

Your right disney does not ask quests to leave a resturant in a given amount of time, but you know what, maybe they should have a time frame posted, or charge extra, when someone takes up a table for well over given long time frame; like 2 hours, thats money out of their pocket, on another thought, even at all of the Disney resorts, it is posted that checkout time is 11:00 am, maybe we should just stay in bed that last day past 11:00am, than get up, take our shower and maybe be ready to leave around 3:00 pm, how long would Disney go for that? Don't see A lot of differance. generally I have to wait to get in a room, might as well stay a bit longer just like at the resturant, I had to wait an hour or better to get in, might as well get my money's worth, to heck with anyone else out side waiting.
Or how about this, I had to wait over 2 hours to get on the toy story ride, so when my ride ends, I will just stay on it and ride again and than again until I decide it's time to get off, that plan will work. Same as sitting at a table.

You may remember a post on here just a week ago about some CS restaurants not letting people sit down until they had their food. Too many people were saving seats for their family, while someone else ordered and people with food couldn't find seats. Apparently some CS restaurants do this during busy times. Someone on that thread posted that her family liked to use that time to get off their feet and rest and did not think it was wrong for them to sit there and rest, even after they finished their meal. This was at very busy CS restaurants, so you know some people feel that's it's even more OK to sit and relax after an expensive TS meal. Personally I don't agree, but obviously others do.

I know I got seated outside at the Rose & Crown about 7:30pm a few years ago and the waiter told me to take my time, as I had a perfect seat for Illuminations and most folks that had a reservation about that time usually lingered to see the show and it was fine. I planned on ordering an appetizer, entree, and dessert, so knew I'd be there awhile, but really didn't plan on lingering if I happened to finish my meal early. What got me though was I was seated right next to that bigger table they have on the upper level, over in the corner. As I was being seated, I happened to glance over at them and noticed that they had already finished their meal and was just sitting there talking. Since it was 7:30pm and Illuminations was at 9:00pm, I assumed they'd be leaving pretty quick. Nope, even though they were completely through eating, they sat there another two hours until Illuminations was over. Even though they were finished and didn't order anything else, but refills on water, no one asked them to leave. They had finished their meal before I was even seated at 7:30, so I don't know how long they had been finished before I arrived.

 

[Mystery Fan]

I understand how the seating works now, thank you for clarification. I still do not agree with Disney's system, Disney has many years of restaurant experience and should have done a better job of accounting for the delay....period. I think that a similar size party with a later dining time should not be seated before a same size party on the basis of an earlier check in time under any circumstance unless the earlier ADR party arrives after their designated reservation time.

I should have named this thread "BOG, expect seating delays, Disney didn't account for excessive patron lingering, don't get upset, don't be un reasonable, Disney is awesome."

FYI, during our week, we had ADRs at Le Cellier, Boma, 1900 Park Fare, Whispering Canyon and Mama Melrose and had no problems, despite their busyness. Speaking of Mama Melrose, initially we did not have an ADR and tried to walk up and was told the restaurant was booked all day, however I was able to use my Disney Experience cell phone app to make an ADR for 30 minutes later, go figure.

I hope in the future, Disney has a plan for BOG diners in case it rains or is really cold...right now Disney isn't letting anyone inside to wait to be seated, that would really help with the after dinner lingering.

So, in retrospect, I guess my issue is really with the poor job at BOG.

 

[gwmort]

My group of 8 were seated early for our reservation at BOG on Nov. 19th, everything was magical.

Our ADR was for 5:35, we checked in at 5:25 and were seated by 5:30. We had a big round table right in front of the big windows with the snow fall mural.

Our service was magnificent, we tipped over the required auto amount and sought out a manager to compliment our server. The food was fantastic. Beast came through every 30 minutes or so and they announced he was seeing guests in the library for a family photo after finishing their meals (maybe incentive to move the off tables faster, I know our kids were anxious to finish and go see him).

We were welcomed to stroll around and check out the other dining rooms after finishing too. The whole place was remarkable, every inch felt like you were really in a castle, transported. A masterpiece of theming and immersiveness.

We noticed there were a few groups seated in the rose gallery, which was more brightly lit and we thought only supposed to be used for lunches. I don't know if they opened it just to help deal with overflow/back-ups. It was nice but didn't seem as intimate or elegant as the other rooms.

I liked that they weren't letting people wait inside. You had to wait outside on the bridge until the pager went off then give it to the gate keeper who let you in the castle doors, felt very special, but I can see they may need a covered area outside in bad weather.

We never felt rushed, were in fact encouraged to linger and look around, and our relatively large group was still outside in less than 90 minutes watching the MSEP.

This one meal was by far the highlight of our entire week.

NOTE: Should add they were turning away anyone without a reservation and directing them to guest relations to make them for the future, we heard the same thing when checking in for our dinner at San Angel Inn in Epcot the next day.

 

[mom2rtk]

My group of 8 were seated early for our reservation at BOG on Nov. 19th, everything was magical.

Our ADR was for 5:35, we checked in at 5:25 and were seated by 5:30. We had a big round table right in front of the big windows with the snow fall mural.

Our service was magnificent, we tipped over the required auto amount and sought out a manager to compliment our server. The food was fantastic. Beast came through every 30 minutes or so and they announced he was seeing guests in the library for a family photo after finishing their meals (maybe incentive to move the off tables faster, I know our kids were anxious to finish and go see him).

We were welcomed to stroll around and check out the other dining rooms after finishing too. The whole place was remarkable, every inch felt like you were really in a castle, transported. A masterpiece of theming and immersiveness.

We noticed there were a few groups seated in the rose gallery, which was more brightly lit and we thought only supposed to be used for lunches. I don't know if they opened it just to help deal with overflow/back-ups. It was nice but didn't seem as intimate or elegant as the other rooms.

I liked that they weren't letting people wait inside. You had to wait outside on the bridge until the pager went off then give it to the gate keeper who let you in the castle doors, felt very special, but I can see they may need a covered area outside in bad weather.

We never felt rushed, were in fact encouraged to linger and look around, and our relatively large group was still outside in less than 90 minutes watching the MSEP.

This one meal was by far the highlight of our entire week.

NOTE: Should add they were turning away anyone without a reservation and directing them to guest relations to make them for the future, we heard the same thing when checking in for our dinner at San Angel Inn in Epcot the next day.

What an awesome report. Thanks so much for posting it!

 

[Epcotgal]

BOG has only been officially open since Nov. 19th. I have never known any restaurant that new with ANY popular demand to be flawless this soon. Sounds like most people love it. Any time you expect perfection you are likely disappointed. I'm sorry the OP was but hope the rest of the trip was magical!

 

[aaarcher86]

I understand how the seating works now, thank you for clarification. I still do not agree with Disney's system, Disney has many years of restaurant experience and should have done a better job of accounting for the delay....period. I think that a similar size party with a later dining time should not be seated before a same size party on the basis of an earlier check in time under any circumstance unless the earlier ADR party arrives after their designated reservation time.

I should have named this thread "BOG, expect seating delays, Disney didn't account for excessive patron lingering, don't get upset, don't be un reasonable, Disney is awesome."

FYI, during our week, we had ADRs at Le Cellier, Boma, 1900 Park Fare, Whispering Canyon and Mama Melrose and had no problems, despite their busyness. Speaking of Mama Melrose, initially we did not have an ADR and tried to walk up and was told the restaurant was booked all day, however I was able to use my Disney Experience cell phone app to make an ADR for 30 minutes later, go figure.

I hope in the future, Disney has a plan for BOG diners in case it rains or is really cold...right now Disney isn't letting anyone inside to wait to be seated, that would really help with the after dinner lingering.

So, in retrospect, I guess my issue is really with the poor job at BOG.

Doesn't that kind of prove the point? If every other restaurant you ate ate sat you on time.... wouldn't you start putting two and two together? It is a brand new restaurant and there are hiccups. Again, not every night... probably not even most nights, but it did happen to you.

If Disney is using their experience to judge the average amount of time it would/should take for a party to sit, eat, and leave.... how are they going to know that they are incorrect until they open up and start operating?

GWMORT - any word if Beast was meeting specially on your night or if that can be expected during dinner hours each day?