CM: "You may not check in until your ADR time" 50s PTC

[Vickis3js]

This happened with us at CRT. We were told we could check in no more then 10 mins before our ADR. She actually made us wait 30 seconds because I guess my watch was a tad fast then their computer. As we were waiting inside they came in and asked if they could take walk ins and someone who was 1.5 hours early and they said yes. So in walked 2 walkin parties and someone way earlier then 10 mins and I was given an attitude for trying to check in 25 mins early.

 

[bumbershoot]

Back in '09, at Disneyland (which I know does things a little bit differently, but in this case it sounds like the same thing), I happened by the restaurant where I had my PS (priority seating, the way DLR used to do things) very early, and asked if I could sign in early since we were there.

They told me that if I followed my original reservation, I had to wait until my reservation time, check in, and then wait for a seat.

But instead, I could cancel my PS and come in as a walk-in. So I did that, and was seated inside of 20 minutes (still well before my PS).

It's possible they are doing things that way.

And in that case, if they were taking and seating walk-ins, I'd send someone else from my party in to ask about a walk-in, and as we were seated I'd go cancel my ADR!

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Rude CM????.............that is plain wrong! and should not have happened

But we have a number of times at various WDW restaurents...been told we cannot check in early..............its stantard during busy times.


I do find it odd they would take in walks ins if its was so busy?

AKK

 

[Eastern]

This happened to us at PT last Easter break. We went to check in early and were told that we can check in no earlier than 10 min prior to our ADR because the computer wouldn't let them check us in. So we waited in the living room. Never heard such a thing before that incident.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

More and more, not just at Disney, people feel they can be rude without repercussions. If they were that busy all the Host/Hostess had to say was, due to the crowds we ask that you check in at your ADR time. Done

When you let these types of behaviors go, nothing will ever get done I'm afraid, after the fact. I would have said , you don't have to be rude about it, and I would have asked for a manager, if I felt his behavior was truly not acceptable. I don't need comps but I do need civility and if you're not a people person, can't handle crowds, or can't push through a bad day without unpleasantness then maybe that individual shouldn't be in the food industry at one of the busiest venues of Florida!

 

[kristenrice]

But instead, I could cancel my PS and come in as a walk-in. So I did that, and was seated inside of 20 minutes (still well before my PS).

It's possible they are doing things that way.

And in that case, if they were taking and seating walk-ins, I'd send someone else from my party in to ask about a walk-in, and as we were seated I'd go cancel my ADR!

I wonder if they will offer this option now that they have the $10/person charge for "no-shows" and last-minute cancellations? Can you just see it?....

"We'd like to check in now, 30 minutes before our ADR"...

..."Sure, we'll seat you right away!"...cancelling the ADR and changing it to a walk-up...and the guest returns home to a $40 cancellation charge on their credit card.

I like to book an ADR for Boma for dinner on the day we visit the AK. I usually make it for about 5:30 or 6pm since that is about the time we are done with AK for the day. On our last trip, we were done touring AK around 3:30 so we took the bus over to AKL. After giving my DSiL and brief tour of Kidani, grabbing a drink at the bar at Sanaa, and walking over to Jambo, we were at Boma at 4:30...well before our 5:40pm ADR. They seated us within 5 minutes without a problem. But, in the future, if this is going to be treated as a cancellation and a walk-up, I will definitely have to rethink this plan.

 

[ktlm]

We ate there a week ago (Sunday Nov. 27), and we had issues too. We got there about 5-10 minutes before our ADR time, and we were allowed to check in. We watched them take walk-ups both ahead of us and behind us. We had to wait about 30 minutes after our ADR time to get a table. That was a bit annoying when I'm pretty sure they had been taking walk ups all night and walk ups were getting seated ahead of us. Then once we were seated at our table it was another 20 minutes before our drink order was taken, and then another 10 minutes before the drinks actually showed up at the table. DH and I got really good food (the fried chicken and pot roast were both great, the meatloaf good, but nothing special), but DD(5) got grilled chicken that looked a little burnt. She took one bite and said it tasted really funny and bad and would not eat the rest of it. I'm really glad that is all she ate because sure enough a couple of hours later she had some stomach "issues" that thankfully only lasted about 1/2 hour to an hour. I'm pretty sure it was bad chicken. Although DH and I really enjoyed our food and our desserts, I'm not sure we will go there again.

 

[Bob NC]

It kind of sounds like the place was packed, and there was no more availability for walk ups.

There was probably a long impatient line of people waiting to check in early.

Since nobody was being seated earlier than their ADR times, I bet a host or hostess walked out to the line and asked that folks wait until their ADR time to check in at the podium.

This would reduce the line for people who aren't getting seated yet anyway, and maybe cut down on a little of the impatience folks were experiencing.

I bet this would have been a great solution unless people start complaining that "The rules say I can check in 15 minutes early.....etc"

Unfortunately, this didn't work for you, because instead of following a simple instruction you got mad and repeatedly attempted to check in early.

Ya know, people aren't ALWAYS out to get you.

 

[MrsLS]

This happened 2 weeks ago at Rose & Crown. Wr tried to check in early like 15-20 mins and she told us to come back at our ADR time. Never happened before to us either and we go to a lot of restaurants on property. The CM wasnt mean and I wasn't annoyed, it was just odd.

 

[Colleen27]

While there's no excuse for rudeness I do understand why some restaurants are starting to draw the line on checking in early. On our last trip we were behind two different families at two different restaurants looking to check in early for their dinner reservations... an hour early for one, and three hours early for the other! And you see that same thinking in ADR conversations on various message boards too - taking an ADR time that they don't really want, counting on the restaurant seating them if they show up late or check in early. Still, you would think it would be a window in either direction, ie 10min before to 15min after the ADR time, rather than not one minute before the scheduled ADR.

 

[mousefan1972]

While there's no excuse for rudeness I do understand why some restaurants are starting to draw the line on checking in early. On our last trip we were behind two different families at two different restaurants looking to check in early for their dinner reservations... an hour early for one, and three hours early for the other! And you see that same thinking in ADR conversations on various message boards too - taking an ADR time that they don't really want, counting on the restaurant seating them if they show up late or check in early. Still, you would think it would be a window in either direction, ie 10min before to 15min after the ADR time, rather than not one minute before the scheduled ADR.

I agree. There was a thread recently here that I replied to where the poster asked if she could arrive at Chef Mickey's at 5 p.m. for a 7 p.m. ADR. I would imagine that gets pretty frustrating for the hosts to have to continually try to accomodate parties that show up hours before their ADRs.

 

[MainMom]

We had 6 ADR's this past week and checked in early at all of them. We ate at LTT, Tusker House, Coral Reef, Rose & Crown, 50's PT, & Crystal Palace. We checked in about 25 minutes early at Coral Reef & were told it would be closer to our 2pm ADR time. No problem we expected it, so we were presently surprised when our pager went off less than 10 minutes later. Rose & Crown was the worst. 40 minutes past ADR time, empty tables everywhere, sloooow service, won't go back.

 

[gobo2]

This is also on our never again list. We are very patient and understand that things happen but they have made mistakes in seating us every time we've eaten there. The food and fun aren't worth the frustration of waiting for close to an hour past our ADRs.

 

[ktlm]

The food and fun aren't worth the frustration of waiting for close to an hour past our ADRs.

Definitely agree. It is one thing when we have to wait 30 minutes past our ADR because the place is busy, but we hear them turning walk ups away during that time. Don't like it, but I can understand. It is quite another thing when I hear them taking walk-ups both before and after us, the walk ups are being seated before people with ADRs; and we had to wait 30 minutes past our ADR time for a table and 20 minutes after that before our drink order was even taken, all while watching walk ups be seated.

 

[tedisney]

It kind of sounds like the place was packed, and there was no more availability for walk ups.

There was probably a long impatient line of people waiting to check in early.

Since nobody was being seated earlier than their ADR times, I bet a host or hostess walked out to the line and asked that folks wait until their ADR time to check in at the podium.

This would reduce the line for people who aren't getting seated yet anyway, and maybe cut down on a little of the impatience folks were experiencing.

I bet this would have been a great solution unless people start complaining that "The rules say I can check in 15 minutes early.....etc"

Unfortunately, this didn't work for you, because instead of following a simple instruction you got mad and repeatedly attempted to check in early.

Ya know, people aren't ALWAYS out to get you.

FYI, I'm not paranoid at all, and I don't think people are out to get me ever - but since you didn't quote in your reply, I'm not sure if you're referring to me or someone else that replied in this thread. This isn't really about me at all anyway - this is about 50s PTC going against the grain of what DRC agents have told people forever and what we've always done at WDW restaurants.

However, I will respond to the points in your comment:

1. It was packed, but they were still taking walk-ups, and quoting them 20-25 minute wait times, despite telling people with ADRs that it would be 30 minutes past their ADR time (and was 40 mins in our case)

2. There was a medium line of people waiting to check in (maybe five or six parties total), but nobody was complaining or being impatient, at least that I heard. I'm used to waiting to check in if we're near the dinner rush, and I only waited a few minutes to get to the check in desk, so it was actually moving rather well.

3. No one came out to walk the line during the entire hour that I was waiting outside the restaurant, though there were always two people at the check-in desk, and either two or three behind the other counter to the left of the check-in desk.

4. Which simple instruction am I supposed to follow? The "be sure to arrive at least fifteen minutes ahead of your reservation time to check in" that Disney has told me over the phone for more than a hundred reservations over the last 12 years, or the snippety "you can't check in, come back later" that a rude CM told me in this one instance?

5. I was mad, that's absolutely true - I choose to spend my vacation dollars at WDW at least partially because they understand service and treating people like guests, not customers. They've almost always hit the mark in the past, so this rude CM stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

[bcrook]

FYI, I'm not paranoid at all, and I don't think people are out to get me ever - but since you didn't quote in your reply, I'm not sure if you're referring to me or someone else that replied in this thread. This isn't really about me at all anyway - this is about 50s PTC going against the grain of what DRC agents have told people forever and what we've always done at WDW restaurants.

However, I will respond to the points in your comment:

1. It was packed, but they were still taking walk-ups, and quoting them 20-25 minute wait times, despite telling people with ADRs that it would be 30 minutes past their ADR time (and was 40 mins in our case)

2. There was a medium line of people waiting to check in (maybe five or six parties total), but nobody was complaining or being impatient, at least that I heard. I'm used to waiting to check in if we're near the dinner rush, and I only waited a few minutes to get to the check in desk, so it was actually moving rather well.

3. No one came out to walk the line during the entire hour that I was waiting outside the restaurant, though there were always two people at the check-in desk, and either two or three behind the other counter to the left of the check-in desk.

4. Which simple instruction am I supposed to follow? The "be sure to arrive at least fifteen minutes ahead of your reservation time to check in" that Disney has told me over the phone for more than a hundred reservations over the last 12 years, or the snippety "you can't check in, come back later" that a rude CM told me in this one instance?

5. I was mad, that's absolutely true - I choose to spend my vacation dollars at WDW at least partially because they understand service and treating people like guests, not customers. They've almost always hit the mark in the past, so this rude CM stuck out like a sore thumb.

Completely reasonable response and reaction to the terrible service. I guess this is another reason not to book ADRs with cc guarantee. If the cm is rude or the situation is not ideal, you can't leave if you have CCG. I am worried about being held hostage by those cancelation fees. PTC doesn't need the card, so I would probably left after the cm was snippy and I talked with manager.

 

[Sophie's Mom]

I am standing outside 50s PTC after being told at 5:30 that I cannot check in for my 5:55 reservation until 5:55. The CM working the desk was very rude and said "there is no way I can let you check in before your reservation time, because we are so busy", after I mentioned that we are told to check in fifteen minutes prior to our ADR time.

I'm normally a pretty mellow guy, but I'm fuming about this CM's rudeness. Also, if this is due to overbooking, what's up with that? I've never heard a CM say anything like this before, though we've had to wait past out ADR times before- I understand that's how the system "works".

Thanks for reading my rant

We had the same thing happen to us here on November 26th. Had a 5:30 reservation, tried to check in at 5:10 told us we couldn't check in until 5:30. The Hostess definately had a bit of an attitude. The place wasn't busy at all. There were several seats at the bar itself and plenty around on the couches. Seemed odd and didn't have this happen anywhere else during our trip. We were seated promptly at 5:33 - so in our case I don't think it was because they were busy.