Dining family Vent!!!!

[wubbogirl]

I'm so frustrated I can scream. we are meeting my sister in disney they live in florida we live in nc. Mom is flying down from new york and staying with us in the resort so my family and mom are on the dinning plan my sister's family is not. I made reservation for us 5 only. Reason: 1. I had no clue if she was even going with us or not. 2. they don't have the dinning plan. 3. they don't have much money. 3. adding additional 4 people would make us a group of 9. 4 having a large group makes it harder to find reserservation for that number of people. 5. large group=paying more for gratuity. Now she mad at me because I didn't add her to the chef mickey's reservation and there's no opening for 4 people on 9/19/11 around 11am. she could just walk in but can't guarantee she'll be able to get a seat around that time. I tried my best but I did tell her I didn't add you guys to the reservation you could have found your own reservations for those places around that time for her 4 people.

 

[lin7]

I totally understand your frustration, it makes it so much harder to vacation together when everyone is on a different budget. Really it should be a joint effort if not her own effort to find reservations suited to you guys.

A large group does not mean larger gratuity, it just means a guaranteed gratuity. Unless you plan on not tipping the server at all or tipping less than 18% if you were a smaller group than you have nothing to worry about. I believe 18% is the automatic gratuity rate. Which is pretty reasonable.

 

[Disney Crazy Debbie]

I understand your frustration. I had made reservations (not dining but package) for myself, my DS, my niece and her three children when my brother found out wanted to tag along. So, I had to cancel the previous reservations, reserve 2 connecting rooms instead and figure out what everything would cost for everyone. My brother will be brining his 10 yo DS and he is an extremely picky eater and not very good at minding adults, so it should be interesting.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I hope your sister doesn't read this. If she does, you may not need to worry about the inconvenience her family adds to your plans.

 

[disnut8]

Why are you frustrated? You get to enjoy Chef Mickey's. I wouldn't really worry about your sister all that much. If she really wants to be at the breakfast, she will figure it out. That's not your responsibility. What you need to do is have fun with your family. Isn't that why you booked the vacation? Sounds like your sister is a grown adult so she needs to put on her big girl pants and deal with the situation and not harp to you about it.

 

[wubbogirl]

Thanks for letting me vent. I'll keep looking this week see if there's another cancellation its quite possible I can get another ressie for 4 people we'll see and its quite possible she could just walk in someone will either forget to go you know never know.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Thanks for letting me vent. I'll keep looking this week see if there's another cancellation its quite possible I can get another ressie for 4 people we'll see and its quite possible she could just walk in someone will either forget to go you know never know.

Chef Mickey's is SO expensive when it's not on the dining plan. Does your sister want to shell out that kind of $$$? Correct me if I'm wrong (and someone will, no doubt!) but I think it's $35 for adults and $28 for kids. There's no way anyone in our family could eat enough to justify that expense!

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

I guess I don't get why you didn't ask her if she wanted to join and see if you could get a reservation big enough. I made a reservation there for 20 people before with no problem. I would have let her know she needed to pay for her family and her part of the gratuity. I don't know, I can understand why she may be hurt if its supposed to be a big family trip.

 

[wubbogirl]

I think the problem was it was in the middle of the day If I had done it maybe ealier or later it probably wouldn't have been a problem. The thing is tho she lives in florida they've been to disney serveral times. I haven't been to disney since 2003 and the kids have never been this is their first trip. The trip is basically for the kids not for us. I could have taken my money and spent it on trip for me and my hubby but didn't

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

I would pick a few meals and eat together so either make new ressies for those meals or keep trying to add people. Keep the rest of ressies , the ones you care about and dont worry about it. I personally dont like to eat every meal with other people even my relatives. Too crazy to eat with 9 people for every meal.

 

[RadioMom]

I understand your frustration. It's difficult to plan for everyone and keep them all happy too.
Can you maybe keep your Chef Mickey reservations and meet up somewhere else for a family meal? And if she's low on funds, maybe you could make it your treat? Or even just meet up for ice cream? Is she upset because it's Chef Mickey's she's missing out on or the family time?

 

[cluvsdisney]

I guess I don't get why you didn't ask her if she wanted to join and see if you could get a reservation big enough. I made a reservation there for 20 people before with no problem. I would have let her know she needed to pay for her family and her part of the gratuity. I don't know, I can understand why she may be hurt if its supposed to be a big family trip.

This is sort of what I was thinking. I would have given her the option to say no instead of excluding her. Even without knowing what she wanted to do, made ADRs for everyone since it's generally easier to reduce the party size then to increase it.

Several years ago, DH & I arranged a big family trip and agreed to make all the group ADRs. Before we called, we went over the dining with everyone so they can decide if the were interested or not. We took care of those ADRs but everyone else took care of other meals they wanted to schedule. Other then time on the phone, it wasn't a big deal at all.

I hope it all works out & that you have a great trip!

 

[wubbogirl]

ugh!!!!!! I 've been checking all night and all day and afternoon finally I see an opening for chef mickey's same day at 10:45 granted not at the same time but pretty darn close to our 11:10 that I don't think you could get any closer for 4 people. then she tells but she doesn't think all of them could go and that asks how expensive it is and her husband doesn't want to eat there. Why did I even ask her if she wanted to go seriously when you do something nice and you get stepped on.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

You could try to get her in with your reservation.
If they say no, she can just eat 10 feet away at the Contempo Cafe and still hear the singing dancing...see the characters a bit...and then just meet up after.
They pretty much share the same area. Plus it would be a fraction of the cost for her to pay cash.

 

[poohbear13]

Try not to stress... there is nothing worse than being at Disney and not having a good time because of family drama... do your best to have a good time!

 

[princessSunshine]

Why are you frustrated? You get to enjoy Chef Mickey's. I wouldn't really worry about your sister all that much. If she really wants to be at the breakfast, she will figure it out. That's not your responsibility. What you need to do is have fun with your family. Isn't that why you booked the vacation? Sounds like your sister is a grown adult so she needs to put on her big girl pants and deal with the situation and not harp to you about it.

"big girl pants"


I totally agree

 

[princessSunshine]

I think the problem was it was in the middle of the day If I had done it maybe ealier or later it probably wouldn't have been a problem. The thing is tho she lives in florida they've been to disney serveral times. I haven't been to disney since 2003 and the kids have never been this is their first trip. The trip is basically for the kids not for us. I could have taken my money and spent it on trip for me and my hubby but didn't

It's for the kids - then your sister should understand, have you tried to appease her by making a different and seperate ressie for all of you? in a different family setting? like whispering canyon? or o'hana? Good luck. It's good to have an anonymous place to vent hey?

 

[princessSunshine]

ugh!!!!!! I 've been checking all night and all day and afternoon finally I see an opening for chef mickey's same day at 10:45 granted not at the same time but pretty darn close to our 11:10 that I don't think you could get any closer for 4 people. then she tells but she doesn't think all of them could go and that asks how expensive it is and her husband doesn't want to eat there. Why did I even ask her if she wanted to go seriously when you do something nice and you get stepped on.

You know wubbogirl you can't please everyone all the time - just have fun with your family and let the drama slide off your back

 

[BriarRosie]

It's not your responsibility to make dining reservations for your sister and her family. Don't stress out about it. She should be making her own ADRs. And dining with others who are not on the DDP doesn't have to be a big deal. If you do manage a meal with all 9 of you:

You just tell your server before you order (when he/she asks if anyone is on the Dining Plan) that "the 5 of us are on the dining plan; the 4 of them are paying out of pocket". Servers will issue separate checks. I've done this with others without a problem.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

This is why I don't go to WDW with adults that don't live with me. Tried it in 07, and will not do it again. My knowledge of the parks and how things go actually worked against me. The people that we went with were really out of shape and had to stop every 5 minutes to eat and sit. They complained about the food at Boma not being American enough. They complained about the walking even though I told them months earlier to start walking around the neighborhood to "train" for the parks. They left the parks at 3 for the day to lay around the resort, which is fine except for the fact that they had their son cramped in the room. Not at the parks, not at the pool, just in the room because they were so lazy. The list goes on. We learned quick to just go without them.