Extremely Upset & In Shock with Chef Mickey

[letsgoagainsoon]

I'm still confused as to why the OP did not have the Boardwalk Bakery deliver to CM? Do they not do this anymore?

When I had a cake for DH at CP, the CMs at CP were SO helpful. They told me they have small cakes there, or I could have the bakery make a custom cake. I opted for the latter and they handled it from there, I even emailed a design to them that they gave it to the bakery. They sang to DH, gave him a signed card and everything. It was great. We also had a large party, but not 20 people. If there was a delivery charge, I wasn't aware of it, the cake was only around 60.00, and it was a fairly large cake.

Is the cake ordering different at all restaurants?

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I'm still confused as to why the OP did not have the Boardwalk Bakery deliver to CM? Do they not do this anymore?

When I had a cake for DH at CP, the CMs at CP were SO helpful. They told me they have small cakes there, or I could have the bakery make a custom cake. I opted for the latter and they handled it from there, I even emailed a design to them that they gave it to the bakery. They sang to DH, gave him a signed card and everything. It was great. We also had a large party, but not 20 people. If there was a delivery charge, I wasn't aware of it, the cake was only around 60.00, and it was a fairly large cake.

Is the cake ordering different at all restaurants?

They absolutely deliver. It sounds like the OP wasn't aware of that, though.

 

[Sammie]

There were other options and it's not like the OP went to Billy's Bakery to buy a cake, they bought it at a Disney property.

Unless the cake was purchased through the restaurant where one is dining, it might as well be from Billy's Bakery.

Any restaurant that allows outside food to be brought into their kitchen is not following code, I am not sure I want to eat there if they did.

I am very sorry the OP was disappointed but I have to agree with others, many times our expectations are responsible for our disappointments.

At Disney if you want a birthday party you have to pay the price for that. Can you imagine the turmoil they would experience if they stopped their usual routines to do this for every guest at no extra cost.

And yes if allowed, guests would start bringing in cakes from Billy's Bakery.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I'm sorry OP. It would have seemed reasonable to me as well that they could keep a Disney cake somewhere in the restaurant. It came from the Boardwalk Bakery, not some unknown place, I don't see an issue with that. It's also customary in restaurants that I go to for the staff to come over and sing happy birthday and yes, light candles. Not sure why anyone would think that is way above and beyond and too much to ask.

This is good information for any future celebrations that we will be spending down at Disney. I understand rules and bureaucracy but sometimes they are so stringent as to be a little ridiculous. I worked in an ICU for over 10 years. Visiting hours ended at 7pm. If someone was perhaps helping to feed their spouse or parent dinner, I didn't say it's 7pm, time's up, get out. That may have been the rule, but it wasn't always necessary to stick exactly to it. Flexibility is sometimes reasonable.

 

[msmayor]

Portobello is not a Disney restaurant; they may not have the same rules. It's possible a Disney restaurant would tell you you can't bring in your own cake at all. I'd guess if anyone wants to order a cake elsewhere and bring it into any restaurant, rather than have it delivered by Disney, they would first need to contact that restaurant directly (not through WDW-DINE, they likely know nothing about policies in individual restaurants) to ask what the procedure is, and if they want the cake presented, sliced and served by restaurant staff, to arrange for that.

Very true. And our celebration may have gone differently at a regular Disney restaurant, I don't know. I think the key though is calling the restaurant direct and asking questions to find out what is and isn't going to work.

Also remember that some restaurants are just more conducive to a 'special celebration' event, one in which there is sufficient staff and a level of service to carry it out. As other posters have commented, because CM is a buffet the servers have much different duties than a regular full-service restaurant. CM is also a "churn and burn" location...the idea is to turn those tables in a certain timeframe to ensure that all ADR's are kept and character visits get timed correctly. Other restaurants will allow you to linger a little longer, and have more interaction with your server.

One more example for our trip would be another special group dinner we had at Whispering Canyon, again for our whole large group. Had to get an ADR at opening (again to ensure we had two tables next to each other). We had special bride/groom ears "doctored" up with golden number "50" to surprise my parents with at dessert. I went ahead of the restaurant opening and asked if they could have our server present my parents with the headgear at dessert. I think because of the raucous nature of WCC and the way the servers really interact with the guests there, this was a good "fit". They were more than willing...in fact, they made a HUGE deal over their 50th and had them do a kissing contest! It was hysterical, and a wonderful event. Again, a little advance planning AND choosing the right venue made it work.

 

[Lewisc]

I said I won't post in this thread. I won't express an opinion but will offer some facts in response to some of recent posts.

1. A restaurant has no way of knowing if a customer supplied cake was tampered with.
2. A restaurant has no way of knowing if a cake brought by a customer was kept at the correct temperature.
3. There is no upside and lots of downside if a manager decides to violate Board of Health Rules.
4. Chef Mickey has a lot of customers. There is no way of knowing if any of the customers work for a board of health or are otherwise familiar with regulations.

 

[es45]

From reading the OP's post, I don't think she was offered to use the cake as a centerpiece, rather, they told her to keep it on the table. I might not think to take it out of the box, spoil the surprise and encourage character interaction either if I was organizing an "affordable" and large celebration at Disney.

She also didn't try to circumvent the delivery charge. It wasn't explained to her. The bakery didn't offer to deliver it to her. Again, she was in charge of a celebration of a large group and she was trying to keep costs down.

Could she have done things differently? Sure, but if no one clues you in then how do you know all the options?

All of us don't think of all the questions that we need to ask for everything we plan. We depend on those who work in the service that we are purchasing to help us out.

 

[Cruella 66]

OMG!! The cake was gorgeous!!! My 7 year old daughter would have loved it too! Great choice! And, it wasn't even the OP's daughter...that was so very nice.

So, on that thread...where is a good place to go to explore cake options at WDW???

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I think what hasn't been mentioned here, and it's important to mention, is that this party of 20 people came in for their ADR at 9:20pm. Not the OPs fault, if that's the only ADR they could get, but a restaurant has a lot to do around closing time, as if feeding a 20-top wasn't enough!

 

[dis-happy]

I just have one comment to make...

That is one GORGEOUS cake!!!!

 

[Dolce27]

There are two rules in running a restaurant.

Rule number 1: The customer is always right.

Rule number 2: When the customer is wrong, refer to rule number 1.

I disagree with this. Strongly disagree with this. The customer is NOT always right. Sometimes they are wrong – very wrong - and they shouldn’t get their way when they are wrong. We’ve created an entitled society that has caused problems for everyone because of this false sense of “I’m the customer – I should get what I want!”
In this particular case (the OP’s story at CM) the manager did present an alternative solution (to keep the cake at the table) to the family but the OP was not satisfied with that solution.

Callisto31:

This is a terrible story, and if this had been my wife whom had been treated so poorly, I would have made a scene that every Disney guest would have remembered forever!

And had I been a guest there to witness it, I would have looked over at you while you were throwing your childish tantrum and thought “Geeze buddy, thanks for ruining my dinner because you’re unhappy about something.” That type of response from you would have reflected poorly on you - NOT on the manager.

I actually think the OP’s DH did the right thing since the manager’s solution wasn’t acceptable to them: He went and found a way to store the cake. I’m aware that it’s one of her complaints that THEY had to find a way to store the cake – but honestly? It really wasn’t the manager’s problem. And I doubt that the manager was being “unhelpful” by not calling concierge – I’m betting that he wasn’t aware that concierge could/would help this family out with this. The manager knew that the restaurant couldn’t store the cake since it was against health codes. He offered the only other solution he had for them right then. That solution was turned down by the OP’s family. Therefore it was the family’s problem to find a solution to – and they found that solution.

To the OP of the thread: I'm sorry that things didn't work out for you that night. I’m sure that being that late of an ADR tiredness played a factor into the event as well. You did have a beautiful cake and things did work out for you. And we all learned about FL’s health codes and what can/can’t be done at Disney’s restaurants. Hopefully with the passing of time you’ll just remember the delight on the 7 year old’s face at seeing the beautiful cake and will forget about a bad experience.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

From reading the OP's post, I don't think she was offered to use the cake as a centerpiece, rather, they told her to keep it on the table. I might not think to take it out of the box, spoil the surprise and encourage character interaction either if I was organizing an "affordable" and large celebration at Disney.

She also didn't try to circumvent the delivery charge. It wasn't explained to her. The bakery didn't offer to deliver it to her. Again, she was in charge of a celebration of a large group and she was trying to keep costs down.

Could she have done things differently? Sure, but if no one clues you in then how do you know all the options?

All of us don't think of all the questions that we need to ask for everything we plan. We depend on those who work in the service that we are purchasing to help us out.

This. You I like.

 

[Dolce27]

From reading the OP's post, I don't think she was offered to use the cake as a centerpiece, rather, they told her to keep it on the table. I might not think to take it out of the box, spoil the surprise and encourage character interaction either if I was organizing an "affordable" and large celebration at Disney.

She also didn't try to circumvent the delivery charge. It wasn't explained to her. The bakery didn't offer to deliver it to her. Again, she was in charge of a celebration of a large group and she was trying to keep costs down.

Could she have done things differently? Sure, but if no one clues you in then how do you know all the options?

All of us don't think of all the questions that we need to ask for everything we plan. We depend on those who work in the service that we are purchasing to help us out.

I just wonder if that was miscommunication since the OP didn't realize that the bakery could deliver it? Actually - this was new info to me as well - I wasn't aware that the Boardwalk bakery could deliver since the Contemporary has its own bakery. Lots of people pick-up from the Boardwalk bakery since that is the only bakery on property you can pick-up from. Since the OP didn’t realize this could be done, maybe none of conversations were steered in the direction to where the bakery thought to ask if they wanted delivery? Like I stated: that bakery has a lot of pick-up’s and are accustomed to people purchasing their cakes that way.

 

[Tricia1972]

I am not sure that BoardWalk Bakery delivers to Chef Mickey's. The example that was cited was when BoardWalk delivered to another restaurant (Crystal Palace). Crystal Palace doesn't have an on-site bakery, so they may be subject to different rules.

 

[blu3d3vil]

Here are some pics of the cake. I think my friend might have some of the images all the way around.

Whoa $120 for that? I hope it tasted good.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

Pirate Jeff, thanks for seeing the customer service side the way I do. Ya'll need to understand that it's not NECESSARILY that the customer is always right, but they should think they are! I have, rarely, let a customer leave angry that I couldn't make happy. In over 20 years I can count on one hand how many times that has happened.

And as far as CM doing very well because they are always packed?? That doesn't mean they are right, that's location.

Example: I used to bartend for TGIFridays here in NC. Great job, loved it. I went to Disney in 1996 and picked up a couple of shifts at Friday's on International Drive. They were one of the highest grossing Friday's in the country. I absolutely hated it. Servers there were not trained well and gave below average service, and knew it. They simply didn't care, and were vocal about it. The reason: These people are tourists and we will not ever see them again, so why try.

After my lackluster visit to Chef Mickey's this past year it will be a long time before we go back as well. I am not surprised at the OP at all. Reviews have been negative on these boards for a while. They are packed and busy because of where they are. But even that will fade with too many years of bad service.

 

[crostorfer]

I am very sorry that your experience wasn't as magical as you would have liked it to be. But DAMN! Thats one beautiful cake! My daughter turns seven next month, I wonder if I can get that replicated at a bakery here in Seattle...

 

[TDC Nala]

I'd think in this instance, the OP's experience was ruined as soon as they said she couldn't store the cake in the restaurant and have restaurant staff bring it out at the time she wanted. If this is indeed a health code issue, there isn't any way they could change that for her. I kind of hope someone had taken the initiative to suggest to her that she set it up as a party with the cake on the table as a previous poster described...but they didn't.

 

[ElizabethB]

Dh and I stopped by for a late dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill recently. The table of four next to us was celebrating a birthday. At dinner's end, they brought out a homemade cake. The restaurant staff happily supplied plates, forks and a knife. No fuss at all. The group invited us to join their celebration. So, plates and forks were brought for us and we joined in the fun.

No fuss. No fuming. Just customer service at its nicest and most pleasant.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

This makes me happy!

Dh and I stopped by for a late dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill recently. The table of four next to us was celebrating a birthday. At dinner's end, they brought out a homemade cake. The restaurant staff happily supplied plates, forks and a knife. No fuss at all. The group invited us to join their celebration. So, plates and forks were brought for us and we joined in the fun.

No fuss. No fuming. Just customer service at its nicest and most pleasant.