I just have to vent about the Liberty Tree tavern

[Reese]

The exact same thing happened to us. It was in Jan on a P&P night. I had my trusty ADR sheets and it said our ADRs for 5:20. DH raced across the park to check us in and she told him our ADR was actually for 4:30 but they would still be able to seat us. There is no way that I got the time wrong...I triple check my ADR's and have them all typed up on our daily itinerary. We waited for another hour to be seated.

 

[02AggieGirl]

Sorry that you had a such a frustrating experience!! I know how stressful it is when you're child is screaming (and you KNOW you are right)!!

 

[myhouseofmouse]

This is our favorite place. The first restaurant that had characters. The second Minnie took our 2 year old daughter away by the hand, had my wife and I balling our eyes out. Well maybe not balling, but the eyes were alittle moist. food is always good(not great) but what I would expect for a Family style dining experiance.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

We have waited nearly an hour at LTT for our time also, it all depends on the diners inside finishing up. I always bring goldfish crackers and juice box for the little ones.

Excellant point. Lat year when I was dining at Crystal Palace, one of those LONG, bad afternnon storms came. People wouldn't leave the restaurant, so no one waiting could get in. I imagine it backed up the whole day's reservations by an hour or more. It seemed to take forever to end.

And I agree with PP, Crying child is a constant, and rude behavior, griping and griping and raising hell, doesn't help make it better.

 

[skater]

I think it was about 5 years ago when we had our first WDW table service meal at LTT. The service was incredible and was what started me down the path of my Disney obsession . It was also not crowded (for lunch). Two years ago we ate there for lunch and had probably the worst service we've ever had at WDW. Not a horror story, just really bad and we sensed a general feeling of superiority there - they know people are lined up and being turned away - why should they go above and beyond anymore?

Last year, we tried it again and it was better, but I still felt that they don't try as hard as they used to (unless I was just lucky to have an incredible server the first time).

 

[BarleyJack]

40 minutes past an ADR time at LTT is not excessive. There are few table service locations at MK to begin with. People have the right to enjoy their meals; did you eat quickly and rush out thinking of the people waiting behind you and their wait times? Sorry if this come across as hateful but sometimes peoples' sense of entitilement really gets to me.

 

[skater]

Venting about a frustrating experience does not show a sense of entitlement.

 

[maxiesmom]

Venting about a frustrating experience does not show a sense of entitlement.

No, but badgering the CMs and thinking that because you have a crying child, you should be seated next does.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I too would be frustrated if I had my computer printout with my scheduled times and was told, despite the black and white proof, I was wrong and they were right. I wouldn't be nearly as annoyed by the wait as by their bad attitude. They should have apologized for THEIR mistake and given her the next available table for her party size. I would definitely write a letter to customer service as this particular restaurant seems to have this happen more than others based on complaints here.

 

[Narnia]

I'd be upset too if I was treated like a walk in. The least the resteraunt could have done is offered the child a snack. A glass of milk and some veggies aren't going out of thier way.

 

[maxiesmom]

I too would be frustrated if I had my computer printout with my scheduled times and was told, despite the black and white proof, I was wrong and they were right. I wouldn't be nearly as annoyed by the wait as by their bad attitude. They should have apologized for THEIR mistake and given her the next available table for her party size. I would definitely write a letter to customer service as this particular restaurant seems to have this happen more than others based on complaints here.

But if you do that you open the door for every shmcuk to "redo" their adr print-outs. It wouldn't be hard to do. And don't think it wouldn't happen, look how many ways people already find to get around Disney rules.

And how do you know they were not seated at the next table for their size party? As another poster pointed out, the Liberty Tree gets backed up quite often. So they could have been the next seated, for all we know.

I do think that whoever has had this problem should let Disney know, and they they can fix whatever glitch is in their system. If people just complain to the CMs at the Liberty Tree, likely it won't get fixed.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I'm not that clever to redo a printout from the hotel front desk. I think that if you tried to white out and type on the paper they would be able to see that but I guess there's always someone who knows how to make good forgeries.

 

[gigi1313]

here's the part that has me confused... if the op thought that ressie was at 5:20 and showed up at 5 and was not seated 'til 6, that is not being treated like a walk-in... that's how adrs work, next available table after all the other adrs that showed up before you are seated... so imo the op was treated as a 5:20 adr, just as expected!

if it were my screaming/tired/hungry child, i would have sent dh to the nearest cs or snack stand and "ruined" my child's dinner w/a snack just to keep the peace... and my piece of mind...

to the op... were the 12 families seated before you already waiting (inside or out, lots of people wait on the porch, so it appears that they just arrived) or did people actually check in after you and get seated before you? (and were they the same party size 'cause that matters too)

 

[cymbaldiva]

40 minutes past an ADR time at LTT is not excessive. There are few table service locations at MK to begin with. People have the right to enjoy their meals; did you eat quickly and rush out thinking of the people waiting behind you and their wait times? Sorry if this come across as hateful but sometimes peoples' sense of entitilement really gets to me.

Thanks for reminding me one more time why In absolutely hate the entire ADR system .... I find it ridiculous to have to call 180 days out to put myself in a line to waste 40 minutes more of my valuable park time to wait to eat in a mediocre sit down restaurant.

It's not too much to expect to be seated promptly - the way the system works now is less efficient that walk up only would be - there is still a long wait time, only now people are ill because they thought that just because they had a reservation that they would get a table <shrug>

 

[RACHELSMOM1]

But, there are so just so many tables. Dinner starts at 4:30pm, and some families take a while to enjoy their meals and visits with the characters. Those with ADRs later than 4:30 will more than likely have a wait, because the families who are still seated have to finish up their meal. LTT is not a fast TS. We have never felt rushed to finish, and when we have a party of 12, we like to sit and visit with our friends while we enjoy our meal. Guests should not ever be rushed to finish a meal - if you want to sit down sooner, make an earlier ADR. We always choose the earliest opening, trying for the 4:30 seating, so we don't have to wait 45 minutes to an hour (which is quite common at LTT).

 

[musicmama]

The point about this restaurant, more than others, is - not only are their times frequently 'incorrect', they LOSE ADRs. (See my previous post) We had a confirmed ADR, the concierge printout (not easy to duplicate hotel watermarked paper) and they still insisted that our ADR did not exist. Had never existed. And then simply fit us in as if we were walkups. In fact, other walkups of a similar size got seated FASTER.

The manager was not at all sympathetic - in fact, the attitude really was "so, go somewhere else". I wanted to, DH didn't. Our ADR was for 4:40 - I have my old info in files so I can compare between years - and we weren't seated until after 6pm. We were not the only ones who got told the same thing - several other families were told they had no ADR. I didn't feel entitled, but I did feel belittled. And with the server's behavior, I was even more disgusted.

 

[jennytablina]

Thanks for reminding me one more time why In absolutely hate the entire ADR system .... I find it ridiculous to have to call 180 days out to put myself in a line to waste 40 minutes more of my valuable park time to wait to eat in a mediocre sit down restaurant.

It's not too much to expect to be seated promptly - the way the system works now is less efficient that walk up only would be - there is still a long wait time, only now people are ill because they thought that just because they had a reservation that they would get a table <shrug>

Well then, what system would be better than the current Dining system in Disney?

I mean far as I can tell the system works fine, everyones catered for in some way; For those who want a quick meal theres the counter services, the vendors and the buffet resturants. Plus a few resturants for those who dont mind giving up a little time to have a slighty more fancy bite to eat.

I mean; if your in the park, and food isnt a big deal, well then the theory goes you'll just get a quick bite from the counter services and so on. This is what my family did the last 5 trips. We went in prepared with a backpack of snacks most days (specially Magic Kingdom ones) and grazed from that if we were feeling peckish or stopped off at one of the zillion counter services about. Sure the queues sucked and maybe the food wasnt a la carte, but it kept us happy.

Next week I'm off to Florida and doing Disney mostly without family. Just me and DBF and we'll be having our first major dining experiences in Disney. I'm going on one of the busier periods of the year so despite making ADRs I'm quite willing to understand I'll still have to wait for my seat, the bookings pretty much free anyways. I'ld be more upset it it was a booking for Cinderellas Royal Table or something, considering you have to pay for that anyhoo

At the end of the day Disney has to deal with high crowds more often than not. There will never be a perfect system that can fully deal with Disneys daily crowd intake. ADR's work, you just have to be aware its not a proper reservation and accept you could lose 2 hours of touring time

 

[Anna_Claire]

I can completely see both side here. Who's right? Who's wrong? Probably a little of everyone...However, as someone with 2 small children planning on a meal here, it makes me nervous, not just for this place, but for the other meals I'm planning as well. Is there any way that you can call the restaurant say the night before your meal to reconfirm? That might be a helpful thing to do. Save everyone a little trouble before it ever starts. I might try that. I think more than anything, we all pay lots of money to go to WDW, and we get all worked up about all of the magic and perfection. We forget we are in the real world, which I guess is the point of it all anyway. Then, when something goes wrong, you get jolted back to reality and it's disappointing to say the least. But can you imagine what those CM's must go through on a daily basis? I think I'd have to kill myself!