here is my dining complaint from last week...

[Stiff]

the lines to check in for your PS are ridiculous.....and most of the time its walkups trying to pick a time they can come back.....I stood in lines 20 minutes sometimes just to check in.

They should have two lines....walkups and PSs

oh and then we were at the brown derby (which was probably the worst of the check in lines)....after I got thru we were waiting to be called and the line continued to grow. Well in walk a group of folks in suits and nice dresses and they walked right past the line to check in saying "well, WE have a reservation"...so I yelled "SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE, GET IN LINE"....the woman checked them in before the rest of the line

 

[JudicialTyranny]

I agree.

We encountered the same thing at the Sci-Fi. We had a PS for 6:20 PM, and had to wait in line to check in while some walk-ups were practically arguing with the hostess as to why they couldn't get a table!

One woman in front of us had a PS for 6:25 and she wanted to be seated at the first available table - the hostess told her "no" - that she would be seated, but only after those with earlier PS's had been seated. She didn't like that.

Then there was the guy who walked up past the line to the desk and did the "I have Priority Seating thing", as if he shouldn't have to wait in like with the rest of us. It ticked me off when they looked up his name and checked him in instead of making him get in line.

 

[ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

I agree, that is pretty annoying. I've seen it happen to a few people at Ohana (we were hanging out at the Tambu lounge) and there were some mean mad faces.

If I may ask, what restaurant are you guys in that picture? Is that at disney? I need to find out where they sell Tuchner in the world!

 

[Stiff]

that picture is from the brown derby

the beer was great, I had a couple

 

[lillygator]

In March at Ohana's we encountered the same thing - long check in line....there were many people who tried to just walk up in front....lots of us in line made sure they made it to the end of the line though.

 

[eeyore45]

Pardon me, but why cant we bombard Disney with emails asking for help with this obvious problem? Or do I just live in a Dream World? With the Dining Plan it will get worse, and how do I explain to my kids that just because you yell louder doesnt mean you get ... oh wait, sometimes it does..

Its just sad, and maybe if they (powers that be) dont know, they cant change???

(hoping)

again I still think if emails are worded in such a way, I dont 'want' anything, here's my experience, can you make changes? I think 2 lines is a great idea! and I didnt think they held PS longer than an hour, no wonder the whole thing is getting messed up! Between that and people making more than one PS (not knowing which they'll accept... using different names of course) and no penalty for not canceling a ps (except CRT, )

ah well, my dream world again..................... where everyone is honest and kind, and wait in lines...........................

 

[grimgrningghost]

unfortunately when I emailed disney with a suggestion they just say that they don't take ideas from anyone outside the company and they are deleting my email. I think it has to be more in the form of a complaint if they are going to respond to it.

 

[Grumpy92]

The best thing you can do is fill out those Guest comment cards. Do it before you leave the restaurant or resort. At one of the hotels they post these on a board in the cm backstage area. They saw the good and the bad. The idea of emailing guest comments is another good one.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I completely agree. Anytime there is any restaurant check in beyond a few people there is always the person who walks up to the side, going around the line, and gives their name and/or wants to be seated.
I have yet heard a CM ask them to wait their turn.
It is becoming a pet peeve I see it so much.

 

[Suzanne74]

I totally agree, we were there a few weeks ago. We not only waited 10min before we reached the desk at Ohana's but was informed they were running 20-30min behind schedule I was HUNGRY as I save up all day to eat at Ohana's. We sat back and relaxed and had a drink but we literally had a 7:40 ressie and sat in our seats at 8:25. I wasn't so happy since I wanted dd to go to bed after the fireworks. We didn't get our first skewer until after the fireworks and left around 10pm barely touching the pineapple as we just wanted to leave. Long evening!!!!

This is a warning though - if you want to watch the fireworks at Ohana's book EARLY. The people that sat down next to us AFTER the 9pm fireworks had 8:20 ressies and were VERY upset the entire dinner.

DD and I also went to Chef Mickey's our first night before DH arrived and encountered a line of AT LEAST 15 people before us almost back to the Steakhouse. There were tons of people and kids all hanging out to get seats. People were livid when they tried to walk up and get seated. Like hello - are you crazy?? One guy argued and ask the CM to put him in at the end of the night, yada yada yada. I felt like saying, give it up and let us with PS get on with this line please. We only waited about 15min after we checked in but I know it was only because it was myself and dd that time and they threw us ALL the way back in some corner. It was just WAY too crazy. I can bet some big families waited up to an hour total that night.

 

[DebbieB]

We ran into this last week at Rose & Crown. We had a PS for 7:20. We checked in about 7:10 and I requested an outside table. The cm said she was out of pagers and just to stay in the general area and check back in 5 minutes to get a pager. I was standing off to the side and the line was long. I went up a couple of times to see if a pager was available with no luck. I heard them say they were seating about 15 minutes after priority seatings. There was a woman who checked in right before me and she was also still waiting about 7:45. People were walking up and complaining about the wait, I didn't want to complain because I really wanted the outside table for Illuminations. After 7:30 they stopped accepting walkups. We were finally seated about 8:00 and got a great table right down by the water, so it was worth it. But they needed a better system, how can they run out of pagers? The area around the check-in booth was jammed.

 

[Kae]

I think the problem is just like Fast-pass. The people won't get out of the way while they are waiting.

Kae

 

[LSUDis]

I'm afraid that I have been guilty of going to the front of the line to ask the CM for direction. Last year at Chef Mickey's, we got there 15 mins. b/f our P.S. time and saw a huge line...I mean really long. Not knowing that there was one line, I went up to ask the CM where I should check in. I assumed (I know, I know) that the long line was a "standby" kind of line. I thought that if I had a P.S., then the restaurant knew that I was coming, along with the other P.S. people whose times were staggered, and that our check-in times would also be staggered and there would be no line if the check-ins were handled efficiently.

I must admit that I was a bit angry when I found out that the long line WAS for both check-ins and walk-ins. How did they know that we were there if we were still in line for check-in and they gave our table to a walk-in?

Of course, when I found out that it was one line, I got at the end. I was not upset with the people in line, just the organization for check-in.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Unfortunately, when there is no "pure" actual reservation system, this sort of thing is likely to happen. Disney used to have such a system, but I believe they had to abandon it due to people not showing up at all, or showing up hours early and/or late.
Anyway--now that the restaurants seem to be getting more busy,problems like this are bound to increase. The cure??--I really don't know. Most of the waiting areas at Disney restaurants (like the Brown Derby) are quite small, with little room for any overflow crowd. Maybe a seperate "walk-in" podium would help?? But them giving tables to walk-ins as opposed to those with PS--that's plain wrong.

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

I'm so glad that you posted this. I've been doing PS reservations for years and for some reason thought it was very confusing this year and thought maybe I was crazy. There was such a fiasco at the Biergarten with people fighting with the hostess and with each other. My family kind of thought ot was funny, but we are easily amused!

For the record, Alfredo's in Italy does have different lines for checking in. If you have PSs, don't wait in the line outside, go inside to the desk in the lobby.

 

[Stiff]

and dont get me started on the crazy stories walk ups use to try and get a seat

one night at le cellier, one couple just got married in another country, flew to orlando immediately and rushed to le cellier for dinner....with no PS and in a nascar shirt...yeah...ooooookkkkkkkk

another family wanted to do something special for their parents 50th anniversary....so they figured they would walk up to sci fi without a ps for lunch? no plans...and you picked sci fi? please, Im not buying it

we heard stuff like this almost every time we waited....and then when it was our turn, the person checking me in would be rolling their eyes talking about they hear stuff like that all the time

 

[ncbyrne]

During busy times when PS are backed up, there should be NO walk ups allowed. I'm hoping that the new system will help somewhat.

 

[tigerlilly]

In my two trips to WDW and many trips to Disneyland I have noticed the more obnoxious and loud you are when trying to get a table NOW that you usually get one! We actually watched one family throw a temper tantrum at Tony's when we were waiting to be seated at breakfast...there were over 8 of them and they were immediately seated just to shut them up. Things like that bother me so much while I am on vacation and many times it takes every ounce of good will I have not to let the offender have it (I have on occassion much to my DD embarasment )
I too have a feeling with the MYW Dining plan this will only get worse. Do you think going in off eating hours or lunch rather then dinner will help at all?

 

[LisaS]

The idea of one line for walk ins and PS check ins is silly enough, but then when the walk ins find out they can't get a table for a reasonable time that evening, they often start talking with the CMs about making a PS for some other night during the trip. The CM starts checking availability and the family starts discussing which nights and times they might want to come back to have dinner at this particular restaurant. ARRGGHHH!

This was going on the night we ate at San Angel Inn and as a result the line moved very slowly. The line wasn't all that long but it took almost 15 minutes to get to the podium! My DH and I joked that it reminded us of a scene in the movie "Honeymoon in Vegas" where Nicholas Cage's character is in line at an airline's "Purchase tickets" counter at the airport desperate to buy a ticket and fly to Hawaii ASAP and is stuck in a long, slow-moving line while Ben Stein's character is slowly and methodically discussing all possible Super Saver options for a trip to Cleveland he will be making in about 3 months.

 

[mickeymel]

Thanks for the info. I may show up 20-30 minutes before PS to try to get in "near" the actual PS time.