Dining Reservations -- Why make them?

[CRZY4DIS]

Just returned from Disney trip when they offered free dining. Got up at 7 am, 90 days before trip date and dialed long distance to make these ressies. Got the places I wanted -- but had to wait . . . not 20 minutes but 1 1/2 hours for Crystal Palace to be seated (travelling with three infants, not a good thing) and 40 minutes for Sci Fi Dine In. Why am I making reservations again?Disney standard excuse is "Overbooked, computer glitch . . " Yeah, right. As a PAYING Dining Plan person, because I have a Vacation Club Membership, I am not happy. I shouldn't have to wait that long for anything. And they tried to tack the gratuity on to Crystal Palace . . . even with the wait. Well, that didn't happen. We did get Fast Passes out of some of the trouble with waiting but only after complaining -- alot. Again, I question the reservation system. I don't like the fact that anyone can make them and from what cast members say, no one can "see" the spots open or not open anymore on the system like they used to. So NO ONE knows where ANYONE is sitting. Hmmmm. . . .

 

[MHSweb79]

I understand your frustration, and I'll be mad if I have to wait 90 minutes for my ADR's in September.
But those ADR's got you into the restaurant- people who didn't make reservations were most likely turned away from every restaurant they tried to walk into.
Not a great consolation, but you did get SOME value out of your ADR's. Otherwise you would have had to eat CS all week, and since you paid full price for your dining plan, that would have been worse.

 

[brergnat]

And THAT is why we don't do the dining plan....

I like the flexibility to WALK AWAY when I feel the wait is excessive, or I just don't feel like wasting 2-3 hours on ANOTHER sit down meal.

I did the DDP once...and that was enough!

Next trip, we're doing the QS DDP, and we'll throw in a FEW sit down meals here and there, with the knowledge that we can cancel them if our plans change, and be out NO money. And, if we arrive for an ADR, and are not seated within 15 min, we can WALK AWAY. Our kids are on the Autism spectrum, and waiting 1.5 hours would just NOT be do-able. That's unacceptable. I would have been out of there at 20 min, max. And I would have told the manager why, too. I would have taken my TS credit to another restaurant, another day...

Sorry that happened to you.

 

[disneycountrygirl]

I am with you - they wouldn't have gotten any gratuity with that wait. That would be pert near to ruining the whole day for my party because they'd be just as happy doing CS (not me!), so I am desparately hoping that for our Nov trip, the restaurants I made my ressies at don't have long waits - or I will feel really bad for not just taking the CS dining plan. So for us, the long wait would bring irritation and guilt, and those are the types of things that can ruin an entire evening.

I don't think my hubby would even wait. He is one of those people that thinks every millisecond at the parks matters and has a hard time even taking a break to eat TS cause it takes too long. One of our ressies isn't till 8:20 because he isn't willing to eat till the park closes!!! But on the other hand, he is a health nut, so CS the whole time isn't an option either, so he is willing to sacrafice a little time to accomodate his health.

But a 90 minute wait would simply be too much sacrafice for our party! That's ludicrous!

 

[catne]

what a bummer...cannot imagine waiting that long with babies. Sure hope it's not like that when we're there!

We've never had to wait more than 20 minutes, tops. Usually we check in about 15 minutes before and are seated within 5 minutes of actual ADR time - that was our experience during extremely slow week in January, as well as several years in late May and also last Labor Day week for Free dining.

But then we're usually either a party of 2 or a party of 4, and we tend to eat early so maybe we just naturally hit restaurants before they get backed up? Sounds like your group was bigger...maybe that was part of the issue getting you seated. The larger tables are few & far between, and according to my sister (former waitress) the larger parties always take longer to get through a meal, so tables don't turn over near as fast. But whatever the reason, you're right, it just shouldn't be those kinds of waits when you have ADRs.

The other thing I sometimes wonder about...Every time I read about someone calling their concierge desk to get their ADRs, and they "magically" get everything they wanted when others are reporting nothing available - makes me wonder if concierge is over-riding the "full" status on a restaurant to get those ADRs. If so, they're deliberately over-booking. Which may work during the rest of the year when they can expect a fair percentage of no-shows. During Free Dining, though, I would suspect there's a much lower no-show rate since that's the very component that makes the vacation so attractive to people. They are coming for the Free Dining - they will show up at their ADRs.

 

[catne]

Post Deleted

Just an FYI- all discussion and questions regarding tips are only allowed on the official Tipping Thread...the moderators will lock any other threads with tip discussions. Here's the link to the tipping thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2056032

 

[holcomb-mania]

And THAT is why we don't do the dining plan....

I like the flexibility to WALK AWAY when I feel the wait is excessive, or I just don't feel like wasting 2-3 hours on ANOTHER sit down meal.

Next trip, we're doing the QS DDP, and we'll throw in a FEW sit down meals here and there, with the knowledge that we can cancel them if our plans change, and be out NO money. And, if we arrive for an ADR, and are not seated within 15 min, we can WALK AWAY.

Bingo for our upcoming November trip. I don't want meals dictating how we tour. The QSP spiced with Boma here and maybe Sci-Fi there will give us flexibility.

 

[CRZY4DIS]

Yes, the ressies did get us into the restaurants. But two years ago this was not like this and apparently concierge is overbooking to compensate for no-shows -- in that case, the ones paying should be flagged as customers more likely to show up. As I understand it, the system for dining is new and not the same one as two years ago and there are many problems abounding. I do not want to spend my entire time in Disney eating CS -- I like the dining plan, don't get me wrong, I just think they are overbooking and need to slow down. We did have a large party BUT did tell them that they could split us up into more manageable tables. We arrived early. We actually got seated after a party that had reservations AFTER us were seated first -- they had two less in their party . . . tables as CP seat 4, sometimes 5. We had 10. But like I said, we were willing to split up. And as for the other issue . . . we took care of waitress personally. She was not at fault.

BTW -- no place we went to were taking walk ups -- at all for the entire night and our ressies were always in the 4/5 time frame.

 

[ransom]

Just returned from Disney trip when they offered free dining. Got up at 7 am, 90 days before trip date and dialed long distance to make these ressies. Got the places I wanted -- but had to wait . . . not 20 minutes but 1 1/2 hours for Crystal Palace to be seated (travelling with three infants, not a good thing) and 40 minutes for Sci Fi Dine In. Why am I making reservations again?Disney standard excuse is "Overbooked, computer glitch . . " Yeah, right. As a PAYING Dining Plan person, because I have a Vacation Club Membership, I am not happy. I shouldn't have to wait that long for anything. And they tried to tack the gratuity on to Crystal Palace . . . even with the wait. Well, that didn't happen. We did get Fast Passes out of some of the trouble with waiting but only after complaining -- alot. Again, I question the reservation system. I don't like the fact that anyone can make them and from what cast members say, no one can "see" the spots open or not open anymore on the system like they used to. So NO ONE knows where ANYONE is sitting. Hmmmm. . . .

I'm just curious -- when were your ADRs for Crystal Palace and Sci-Fi?

 

[brandylouwho]

OMG, what day was this? I am so there with you...we had a 5:10pm at the Crystal Palace on August 16th...we checked in a bit early and waited well over an hour to be seated (my husband will remember the exact wait time)...with 4 kids age 5 and under. We were ready to pull our own hair out after about 30 minutes. I have never been a big dining plan fan and only did it this trip because the family we travelled with loves the plan (we stayed in the same room). I should have talked them out of it once free dining was announced to be during our trip.

Felt the same way...we paid out of pocket for the plan and regretted every minute of it. This was our first TS and we never even heard a sorry, just "no tables for 8" are ready yet....We were given a fast pass to use that same day (which was useless to us--we had already decided we had to get these kids fed & home after waiting so long). I suppose it is the thought that counts, right? We did get the fast pass changed to a different date, but never ended up using it.

Luckily, this was the only really bad experience out of 4 TS meals. 2 others went very smoothly and the 4th was a bit of a wait, but only about 30 minutes. But it was still enough for us to know we won't be doing the DDP again--probably ever.

Oh, and our friends had tried & tried to get the Mary Poppins breakfast at the GF for a month or so before our trip & were always told nothing was available. They ended up just showing up right when the restaurant opened and got in without a problem.

Anyway, glad to have a kitchen in my 1 bedroom...as I'll be using it.

 

[CRZY4DIS]

reservation for CP was 5:05 and sci-fi was 5:25

 

[MarkinNM]

Trust me here we would NOT be waiting 1.5 for a table at CP...... You have more patience then I do and I dont care who has to listen to me.....

 

[mkleinbe]

but 1 1/2 hours for Crystal Palace to be seated and 40 minutes for Sci Fi Dine In.

Those were the exact two that we had issues with in June. Sci Fi was a terrible wait and it was mass chaos at check in. We had 1:15 ressies, not even a usually busy time. I agree that the reservation system is totally messed up.

 

[CRZY4DIS]

i am sure we were there with u on that date. that was when we went. LOL! DDP is really not that bad minus these awful wait times. two years ago, it was great! then they changed things. . . we like the TS and eating different things. and we also got a fast pass for that day -- though we got out of there at 7 and kids were ready to call it a night.

 

[maxiesmom]

I don't get it. We ate at the Crystal Palace on July 3, and were seated right on time. We did a lot of table service meals that trip, and we were usually given our table early. If they can do that over a busy holiday week, what on earth happened during your trip to cause such chaos?

Makes no sense.

 

[Sandy321]

I don't get it. We ate at the Crystal Palace on July 3, and were seated right on time. We did a lot of table service meals that trip, and we were usually given our table early. If they can do that over a busy holiday week, what on earth happened during your trip to cause such chaos?

Makes no sense.

new online reservation system?

 

[Colleen27]

I seem to recall a lot of speculation when the online dining reservation system came up that this would be happening. I can't recall exactly what it was that was going on, but something gave me the impression that overbooking was a problem, especially when all of a sudden it seemed like everyone who was told there was no availability over the phone suddenly found the ADRs they wanted online. Bringing up that new system at the same time ADRs opened for free dining was a real bonehead move, but hopefully the problems will resolve in a couple-few weeks when we get to 90 days out from when Disney got the online system working right.

 

[disneygirlinnj]

Just returned from Disney trip when they offered free dining. Got up at 7 am, 90 days before trip date and dialed long distance to make these ressies. Got the places I wanted -- but had to wait . . . not 20 minutes but 1 1/2 hours for Crystal Palace to be seated (travelling with three infants, not a good thing) and 40 minutes for Sci Fi Dine In. Why am I making reservations again?Disney standard excuse is "Overbooked, computer glitch . . " Yeah, right. As a PAYING Dining Plan person, because I have a Vacation Club Membership, I am not happy. I shouldn't have to wait that long for anything. And they tried to tack the gratuity on to Crystal Palace . . . even with the wait. Well, that didn't happen. We did get Fast Passes out of some of the trouble with waiting but only after complaining -- alot. Again, I question the reservation system. I don't like the fact that anyone can make them and from what cast members say, no one can "see" the spots open or not open anymore on the system like they used to. So NO ONE knows where ANYONE is sitting. Hmmmm. . . .

Ok everyone....you realize that an ADR does NOT mean that they hold a table for you with your name on it, right?!

From what I understand, an ADR is just like a 'call ahead' at any of the chain restaurants. When you check in and tell them you have arrived, they make sure you actually have an ADR and THEN they add your name to the list of guests that are already waiting for a table. When they get to your name, THEN you can sit down and eat.

If the kitchen is running behind, you're out of luck. If it's pouring out and guests refuse to leave their table, you're out of luck.

Don't think you're entitled to a table at the VERY minute your ADR is scheduled for. And do NOT take it out on the server. It's not their fault at all.

And who cares that you're a DVC member? OR that you're a PAYING Dining plan member. I think I missed the part in the Disney rules that says those two categories of guests should be bowed down to.

Does it suck? Of course it does. I've had to wait ungodly amounts of time as well, and NOT just at Disney. But things happen. It could have been anything. A grill went down, a fryer went down, two cooks in the back could have gotten sick or not shown up, who knows.

I'm sorry for the rant...I worked at restaurants with this same policy and have gotten burned one too many times by guests who take everything out on the servers. We just take your order and bring you the food. We don't control how long it takes for you to sit or for your food to be prepared.

*ok...stepping off the soapbox now*

 

[Mickeyfollowers]

We too are DVC members and always do TS. The longest we have ever had to wait is maybe 15 mins. We will be going next month and I hope that we do not run into the same problems. Two of my ressies I didn't get the times I wanted and had to settle for what they had. Ohana 8:40 and La Celliar 2:10. I would have tried for somewhere not as popular but we always do these two and couldn't break tradition. It seems like free dining this year is more popular and getting out of control, IMO. What also gets my goat is that they upgraded free diners from value resorts up to SSR and OKW (some getting 1 br that were going to stay in a Value Studio). DVC members paid good money to be able to stay in these resorts. I don't mind that we don't get free dining and some of the other perks. We do get to stay in great resorts, get discounts on tickets, and discounts on other things so that makes up for not getting the free dining. So what I am saying is that it's not right to upgrade people that are getting the free dining package to DVC Delux Villas (getting free food and delux resort at half the cost). Sry had to vent.

 

[Ktharee]

Yes, the ressies did get us into the restaurants. But two years ago this was not like this and apparently concierge is overbooking to compensate for no-shows -- in that case, the ones paying should be flagged as customers more likely to show up. As I understand it, the system for dining is new and not the same one as two years ago and there are many problems abounding. I do not want to spend my entire time in Disney eating CS -- I like the dining plan, don't get me wrong, I just think they are overbooking and need to slow down. We did have a large party BUT did tell them that they could split us up into more manageable tables. We arrived early. We actually got seated after a party that had reservations AFTER us were seated first -- they had two less in their party . . . tables as CP seat 4, sometimes 5. We had 10. But like I said, we were willing to split up. And as for the other issue . . . we took care of waitress personally. She was not at fault.

BTW -- no place we went to were taking walk ups -- at all for the entire night and our ressies were always in the 4/5 time frame.

Geez, that's a bad experience. We've done the DP three times and the most we've waited was 10 minutes-at the Crystal Palace. Glad to hear about your private transaction with the waitress...that was very good of you.