Dining on the DDP - lots of trouble with checks!

[karajeboo]

Let me first start by saying that we totally forgot to take any pictures!!!!! Sorry! This is just a summary of our dining experiences last week - the food was good overall (and we're kinda food snobs!) but for some reason only one server was able to handle the DDP checks accurately. We had a party of 6 adults, 2 children and one infant, and the checks were to be divided among three different rooms. At first we thought there was a flaw in the whole system, until one server finally got it right without a problem. Then we realized that it is either a lack of training, or just servers who were not very efficient. I applaud Disney for seating our family together for every meal, too!

Sunday, May 4th – GARDEN GRILL, dinner
Service – B+
Food – B
Atmosphere – A

We arrived about 15 minutes early and were seated after only a few minutes. We had a party of 9 and were told we may be at two different tables, but we were all seated together. Fantastic character interaction with Mickey, Pluto, Chip n Dale!

The only reason I gave service a B+ was that it took quite a while to get the check straightened out. We were on the DDP with 3 different families and it seemed that most servers had trouble with this. The food was served family style with flank steak, fried catfish, turkey, green beans, mac n cheese, potato casserole and refills were brought out promptly. Food was tasty, especially the green beans and mac n cheese. Yummy puffed pastry dessert! Nothing fancy, just good home cookin!

Monday, May 5th – WHISPERING CANYON CAFÉ, dinner
Service – A
Food – B+
Atmosphere – A

We were seated about 15 minutes late – no problem as it gave us a chance to sit in the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge and relax after a hot, busy day at Animal Kingdom. Again we were all seated together in a back corner of the restaurant, which was both good and bad. Good because it was quiet enough that we could all talk to each other, but not so good because we missed some of the antics that are bound to take place in this fun restaurant. The kids were able to participate in the pony express, riding wooden horses around the restaurant. Very cute and fun for the kids.

Fantastic server!!! Now what the heck was her name??? She was lots of fun, and even chewed me out for taking a call on my cell phone while she was at the table, until I told her that I was talking to my real estate agent, and we had just sold our house in a very tough market. She then announced to the rest of the restaurant that dinner was on us since we just sold our house! She was a hoot the whole night!

We all opted for the family style meal, canyon skillet, and it was very tasty. Nothing fancy, but good food. The ribs were a bit dry, but otherwise everything was good. Everyone in my party raved about the shrimp, too. This isn’t fine dining by any means, but lots of fun with some decent food. I’d definitely eat here again.

Tuesday, May 6th – RESTAURANT AKERSHUS, PRINCESS STORYBOOK DINING, lunch
Service – A
Food – B
Atmosphere – A

We were seated right on time for our 1pm ADR. This was a fantastic experience for us because DD had gone to BBB in the morning and was dressed beautifully as Belle, and who should be the princess posing for photos as we entered the restaurant? Belle!!! It was great for DD. There is no guarantee which princesses will appear but we were fortunate enough to have Belle for the entry photo, then Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine and Alice were making their way from table to table. They were all fabulous and spent just enough time with the kids.

The food was nothing to write home about, but I did particularly enjoy the seafood chowder with my grilled salmon open faced sandwich. The other 3 adults in our party ordered kjottkaker, which they compared to Salisbury steak and said it was just “okay.” Service was prompt and accurate and we were in and out in 45 minutes, which gave us more time to spend in the World Showcase the rest of the afternoon.

Tuesday, May 6th – CORAL REEF, dinner
Service – D
Food – C
Atmosphere – A

We were seated about 10 minutes late, and it went steadily downhill from there. We were a party of 9 and they did accommodate us all together again. This is a beautiful restaurant with views of the aquarium from all over the restaurant, not a bad table in the entire room. So I had to give the atmosphere an A, and this was the first restaurant that had a bit of a “formal” feel to it.

Unfortunately, this is the only server I remember by name (Cathy) because she was not only inept, but incredibly rude, too. When we asked for straws, they literally tossed them to us. She forgot our bread, forgot coffee for one in our party after dinner. We told Cathy (as we did all our servers) that we were on three separate dining plans, and she assured us she would handle it after dinner. We were not sitting with our appropriate groups but she assured us this would not be a problem. Well, she appeared extremely inexperienced and did not have a clue how to handle the checks at the end. We had ordered drinks so she couldn’t figure whose went on which checks, etc. We ran into the manager at the end at just mentioned to him that we had a lot of trouble with the checks. He told us that Cathy complained about us because we changed seats (so the infant’s mother could feed him!) and I found this very unprofessional that he told us this!

Several in our party ordered the crab legs and said they were “tasteless.” I ordered the mahi mahi and as a mahi lover, I found this very tasteless as well. Those that ordered steaks, however, said they were very good. Hmmm, seafood restaurant and nobody enjoyed their seafood dishes. This was my second time at Coral Reef and definitely my last.

Wednesday, May 7th – MAMA MELROSE, dinner
Service – A
Food – A-
Atmosphere – B

We were seated right on time at 7:40 pm, definitely our latest ADR, so by midway through the meal we nearly had the restaurant to ourselves. At this point, this was our favorite meal as the service was very professional, and everyone was happy with their meals. I ordered the wood grilled chicken but could only eat about 1/3 of it as the portions were huge!!! Some ordered the pork marsala and gave it very high marks and several ordered the tender steak with gorgonzola butter and raved about it! One ordered the penne alla vodka and loved it, as well.

The only reason I gave the atmosphere a B was because, well, it’s not nearly as “Disneyfied” as some Disney restaurants, and resembled more of an Olive Garden or other Italian restaurant.

Again, there was a bit of a problem with the check because our server “gambled” and chose NOT to add in gratuity for our party of 9. He won though as we all tipped him between 20-25% for his great service!

Thursday, May 8th – LE CELLIER, dinner
Service – A+
Food – A
Atmosphere – A

By far our favorite dining experience on this trip! Service was incredible, atmosphere was very cozy and intimate, and the food was wonderful!!!! We all ordered steaks and they were cooked to perfection for each of us. I don’t know what else to add to this except to say that all the wonderful reviews were very accurate! And this was the first server that had no problems at all with the separate DDP checks, and got all the extra drinks added correctly. She was the “perfect” server in that she was efficient, friendly, professional, but not overbearing. Just make your ADRs EARLY for Le Cellier – our ADR was for 4pm because it books up quickly!!!!!

Friday, May 9th – HOOP DEE DOO REVIEW – dinner
Service – A
Food – B
Atmosphere – A

This was a great ending to our trip, the night before we check out. Our server was Dallas and he was spot on! I joked that I had been with my inlaws for a week and that I needed a beer quickly and he brought me a pitcher with a long straw in it!! He was lots of fun.

The food was fried chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes, baked bean, and cornbread, all very good.

And the show was lots of fun – my FIL was picked out by one of the gals to harass during the show which always makes it more entertaining. I highly recommend this experience for anyone!


IN SUMMARY
This was our first experience on the DDP but I’m not sure if I’d do it again. It is a LOT of food in one day, and also takes a lot of time out of the parks, which for us is a negative point. I’m glad that Disney took away the appetizers or I might have exploded some days! As it was, I left lots of food on my plate because I wanted to save room to try some of the desserts. In previous vacations, we have had one or two nice table service meals, but because of the heat and the sheer exhaustion we don’t usually like to eat large meals every day. But I was happy to try some new restaurants this time.

I was very pleased that Disney kept our party of 6 adults, 2 children and 1 infant all at one table each meal, even though I was told at the time I made the ADRs that we would most likely be seated at two separate table each time. And we were never seated more than 15 minutes after our ADR time, which really helped to keep us on schedule with more time to spend in the parks.

Next up…… Free Dining in September with ADRs at Flying Fish (my all time favorite Disney restaurant!!!), Le Chefs de France, and Tutto Italia. Can you tell how much we love Epcot and Epcot dining???

 

[KatMark]

Thanks for the great reviews--enjoyed reading them. We love Mama Melrose and LeCellier and go every year. We are trying Whispering Canyon Cafe for the first time this year and can't wait.

 

[daisy112878]

Wow that stinks about Coral Reef. First off the manager has not right to say that to yall and the server had no right to complain. Who cares if one person has to move esp to feed a baby.

Also it's not disney's system when it comes to checks. We always have at least 2 rooms represented at meals in WDW sometimes we have 4 checks needed. Never has it been a problem and the servers have always done a good job with splitting the checks. It seems the servers you got needed to go back for some refresher courses.

At least you had some good meals and sounds like yall had fun.

 

[choirfarm]

We will have 2 rooms, how will this work. There will be 2 adults and 3 kids. How is supposed to work?

Christine

 

[suzimar57]

good reviews, lots of detail - awful experience at coral reef though

 

[karajeboo]

We will have 2 rooms, how will this work. There will be 2 adults and 3 kids. How is supposed to work?

Christine

We were told that the dining credits go by the rooms not the total payment. My inlaws paid for the entire trip, dining included, but we had three rooms so the inlaws had 2 people in their room = 12 TS, 12 CS, 12 snacks (we were there 6 nights), etc. But once we got seated we always told our servers that we were on three separate dining plans and they all said they'd figure it out at the end. It just got nuts because we didn't always sit together by room. Then when we'd order something not included (like alcohol or specialty drinks, etc) it threw them all out of whack. So at the end, we'd get two receipts to sign - one was just for the dining plan, the other would be gratuity and any extras and we always charged that to our room but because of the dining plan, they had to charge it separately. It did get confusing, but I agree with a PP that it was the servers, not the system.

 

[choirfarm]

We were told that the dining credits go by the rooms not the total payment. My inlaws paid for the entire trip, dining included, but we had three rooms so the inlaws had 2 people in their room = 12 TS, 12 CS, 12 snacks (we were there 6 nights), etc. But once we got seated we always told our servers that we were on three separate dining plans and they all said they'd figure it out at the end. It just got nuts because we didn't always sit together by room. Then when we'd order something not included (like alcohol or specialty drinks, etc) it threw them all out of whack. So at the end, we'd get two receipts to sign - one was just for the dining plan, the other would be gratuity and any extras and we always charged that to our room but because of the dining plan, they had to charge it separately. It did get confusing, but I agree with a PP that it was the servers, not the system.

Ok, your explanation just confused me more. For us, with the exception of one day we will all be together, so how will this work since we have 2 rooms being paid by one person??? I am so utterly confused!!!

 

[karajeboo]

Let's say there are two people in each room. When you pay, they will take one room key from each room, and deduct 2 table service credits from each key card (room). Then you will get a separate bill for the gratuity and any extra charges. Our problem was that the server couldn't figure out how to charge for the extras on one check along with the gratuity. So a couple of times we had 3 receipts to sign - one for the DDP credits, one for gratuity, and one for the extras. It is all very confusing, but hopefully I've explained it a little better, if not, hopefully someone else can jump in!!!

 

[choirfarm]

So for us we will have 2 rooms for 4 adults (by Disney standards) and 1 child. How will they divide that up? We may be splitting up sometimes and eating at different places, so will that matter?? Also, I hear people have been having trouble with people charging them a TS for a CS or too many people or a kid for an adult, etc. So I would REALLY need to keep on top of how many credits were on each room key so that I would know if they charged me correctly, is that right???

Christine

 

[Camster0307]

No food porn? BAD Kara!

(Welcome back!)

 

[karajeboo]

So for us we will have 2 rooms for 4 adults (by Disney standards) and 1 child. How will they divide that up? We may be splitting up sometimes and eating at different places, so will that matter?? Also, I hear people have been having trouble with people charging them a TS for a CS or too many people or a kid for an adult, etc. So I would REALLY need to keep on top of how many credits were on each room key so that I would know if they charged me correctly, is that right???

Christine

We had split up sometimes too, just not for TS meals. But they can use any key card from the room (even a child's with no charging priviledges) and they just deduct the credit. So if you have ADRs scheduled and everyone knows that is it, you should be fine. And with CS, if everyone just knows that it is ONE CS per night per person, you'd be fine too. But on the Creative DISigns thread they have DDP cards where you can mark off as you use them. And also your receipts will print out (sometimes!) how many credits you have left. It didn't do it every time for us though.

 

[choirfarm]

But on the Creative DISigns thread they have DDP cards where you can mark off as you use them. .

Help...where is this. I did a search,but it was useless. This sound cool and THANKS KAra for being so patient with me!!!

Christine

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Dallas was our server at Hoop De Doo back in July 2005... So I had to go look at our pics from that trip, and yep there he was giving my BIL a hard time...

 

[karajeboo]

Help...where is this. I did a search,but it was useless. This sound cool and THANKS KAra for being so patient with me!!!

Christine

No problem!!! http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=105 This is the main Creative DISigns forum. You can just scroll through looking for it, or start a new thread and ask where to get one. There are some AWESOME designers on here who will be more than happy to help you out!

 

[suzannews]

Monday, May 5th – WHISPERING CANYON CAFÉ, dinner
Service – A
Food – B+
Atmosphere – A

We were seated about 15 minutes late – no problem as it gave us a chance to sit in the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge and relax after a hot, busy day at Animal Kingdom. Again we were all seated together in a back corner of the restaurant, which was both good and bad. Good because it was quiet enough that we could all talk to each other, but not so good because we missed some of the antics that are bound to take place in this fun restaurant. The kids were able to participate in the pony express, riding wooden horses around the restaurant. Very cute and fun for the kids.

Fantastic server!!! Now what the heck was her name??? She was lots of fun, and even chewed me out for taking a call on my cell phone while she was at the table, until I told her that I was talking to my real estate agent, and we had just sold our house in a very tough market. She then announced to the rest of the restaurant that dinner was on us since we just sold our house! She was a hoot the whole night!

We all opted for the family style meal, canyon skillet, and it was very tasty. Nothing fancy, but good food. The ribs were a bit dry, but otherwise everything was good. Everyone in my party raved about the shrimp, too. This isn’t fine dining by any means, but lots of fun with some decent food. I’d definitely eat here again.

Hey...I think this was me...Heada Lettuce, I remember yelling that you sold your house and dinner was on you. I'm pretty sure I got your checks correct, I haven't had check problems in a long time?! I try to be really organized, even more so when there are multiple checks for one table.

 

[karajeboo]

Hey...I think this was me...Heada Lettuce, I remember yelling that you sold your house and dinner was on you. I'm pretty sure I got your checks correct, I haven't had check problems in a long time?! I try to be really organized, even more so when there are multiple checks for one table.

OMG!!! Yes it was you!!!!! And if you'll notice I gave you an "A" for service! You got the checks perfect!!!!!! We had a blast with you - thank you!

 

[suzannews]

Glad you had a good time!!!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent

 

[Belle5]

Thanks for the reviews! I think our grand gathering is going to be in for some big trouble! We will have four different rooms dining together during our 10 day stay--all using the DDP.

I cannot believe what the Coral Reef Manager shared with you! The server shouldn't have complained, but certainly the manager should NEVER have passed that information on to the guest!!!