Crowding at DTD Rainforest??

[OurMsBrooks]

We had a very bad experience at Rainforest at Downtown Disney, and I'm wondering if others have had this happen to them:

We had reservations on a Sunday evening at 6:00 for a table of nine people. We only had to wait about fifteen minutes, which didn't seem too bad. Unfortunately, though, when we were escorted to our seats we were given a table for six, consisting of three tables for two pushed together. We were told that since the children were "so small" (ages 10, 6, 3, 3 & toddler) that the five of them could easily sit on the bench, and that the four adults could sit in the chairs on the other side of the table. This had us sitting with our plates over the cracks between the tables, and with the sides of the chairs touching each other. Nobody could get in and out unless all of us stood up. Also, this way the adults couldn't sit next to the children to help them with their food. It was awful, and we complained.

The hostess was actually hostile, and said it was a table for eight and it was all we could have. We pointed out that even if it were a table for eight, which it wasn't, we were a group of NINE and had made reservations for NINE. She just said there was nothing she could do and walked away. We were ready to leave, but had been planning this for a long time and the kids had been really looking forward to this meal. We decided to stick it out.

Halfway through the meal, apparently somebody in charge got wind of our complaint, and when the party next to us left, that table was pushed up to our table to give us a little more space.

My theory is that they didn't want to "waste" space on children, since they don't spend as much money.

Being a member of a family of five, table crowding is a pet peeve for me. We are often seated at tables for four with an extra chair put out in the aisle for the fifth person. We typically refuse these tables and wait for a larger one, since we don't think it's fair to leave the fifth person out in the aisle to get banged into by servers and to have our table space all crowded as well.

Has anyone else had this problem at Rainforest? It was enough of a pain that I don't plan to go back there. Just curious about other folks' experiences with large (or odd-number) groups at WDW restaurants. Stories??

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

My family & I have always had great experiences at the Rainforest Cafe in DTD, however on December 25, 2004 we had a similar siutation that you had only with a different ending. The people dinning was my Mom, Dad & I. We had about a 45 minute wait but since it was Christmas Day & no stores outside of Walt Disney World were open we did not mind the wait. When we were seated the hostess put us at a table for 2 with a 3rd chair in the middle. My Mom said why can't we have one of those tables with 4 chairs, because there was about 5 tables empty at the time which were not being used. Well she said if you want to sit there it would have to be another 45 minutes because they were busy. Well then my Mom said we don't want to wait another 45 minutes because we have waited this long, so why can't we sit at a bigger table? Another host had heard us complaining & said he would seat us at a bigger table right away & the Girl who wanted us to sit there just walked away. We thanked this guy & then asked could we speak with a manager. Once he caimed by we told him how rude the hostess was & he agreed with us saying she was wrong & he would have a talk with her. I don't know if he actually did but we were happy with the way it turned out in the end for us. Sorry you had such a bad experience & just curious why you did not complain to the manager?

 

[OurMsBrooks]

Thanks for your story. You asked about why we didn't complain to the manager. Well, I guess looking back on it maybe we should have, but it was our very first night on a much-anticipated trip, I was really focused on the kids, and I think our complaint with the hostess was about all the stink I was willing to make. It was one of those situations where I just wanted to make the best of it, because it was hectic and crazy and I wasn't thinking straight. To put it simply, I was flustered. Our complaint to the unfriendly hostess did get a result eventually, though, when they came and pushed over the additional table for us.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I haven't had it happen there but I know when we go out as five adults restaurants everywhere seat us in a 4 person booth without a chair on the end (many restaurants around here can't put a chair on the end as it's a fire hazard). It is so cramped but our only option is to wait another 20-30 minutes (or longer) for one of the few bigger tables to leave (many of whom are there for parties and get togethers so they hang out for hours).

I refuse to go to RC in DTD. That place is crazy. It is always so crowded and it's like they're just shoving people in wherever they can. RC in AK is so much quieter and less crowded.

Sorry you had a bad experience! We went as a party of 5 adults on our 2004 trip and didn't have any problems, but I think they did put a chair on an end of a booth a couple of times.