lunch lines at Seaworld tip for fast food service?

[oddman]

We were in Seaworld yesterday, and the lines for lunch @ 2:45 were insane.
It was just a total pain, Seaworld was been there for forty odd years, you would think they could figure out how to handle a lunch crowd by now. The staff were just drifting around in fact if I did not know better I would have thought it was a "go slow" protest.
The staff also avoided any eye contact while struggled to carry two trays of food with two small children in thick crowd. Not one member of staff offered to help.
Many people had to stand around to eat, because the staff let people "hold" tables while their (mostly wives) stood in line for 30 mins, and thus tied up at least 50% of available seating for twice as long as needed and reduced capacity ,


A complete let down, I managed not to vent at the staff as clearly they lack any direction at all.


So rant over,


Can I get a tip or two on which places give the fastest food! I need a place that is indoors with AC. The food itself does not matter as long as it does not have too many flies. ( of which we saw plenty on the food).
My kids will eat anything, and I will put up with almost any food in order to avoid the silly lines

We will of course avoid eating between 12- 2:30 but with small kids it can get tricky.

thanks for any advice.

 

[deedeetoo]

I agree they have problems with food service. We ate there once for lunch and once for dinner (both fast food type places). Both times we had a ridiculously long wait because of the way they have the lines set up. Even though they have multiple people behind the counters, they only wait on one person at a time. It seems they would be able to find a way to fix this.

 

[rosiejo]

Counter service at SeaWorld is AWFUL - too many lines and too many $$ for what you get. My tip? Take a packed lunch!

If that's not possible I'd say try and eat as soon as they open - then have some sort of snack in the afternoon.

 

[Jason71]

Assuming you didn't have to park in overflow parking, leave, go to McDonalds on Central Florida Pkwy (or Flippers on Westwood for pizza), then return. Shouldn't take that much longer than waiting in line--you can be in either restaurant within 5 minutes of leaving the main gate--and you'll save a lot of money and your sanity.

BTW, agreed, counter-service is pretty awful and overpriced at Sea World (and Aquatica) even by theme park standards.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

I actually liked CS at SeaWorld much better than at MK. The food was much tastier and offered more variety, in my opinion. I didn't wait a ridiculously long time for lunch and I went at lunch time in February.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I can understand most of what you're saying. However, I'm not sure what you expect them to do about some of your complaints. I've never actually seen workers in any fast food restaurant offer to carry your tray to your table. And do you want employees to make people leave tables if they don't have food in front of them?

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

The kids and I were there last Thursday July 17 and Friday morning.

We found that if you eat lunch by 11:30am the lines were short and there were tables available. But if you waited until later, you would be stuck in a long line.

The folks working were in slow motion. I wanted to jump the counter and give them a hand.

I ordered a shamu brownie sundae at the Polar Ice Cream place and the person didn't know how to make it. I had to direct her.
I kinda thought it was sad and funny at the same time since it meant she'd had no training.

I didn't see any indoor CS places with AC. We ate at Mango Joes Cafe and there was a covered seating area off to their right that had overhead fans but there were a ton of ducks begging for food there. It didn't bother us but it might bother others who don't like birds.

Everything seemed to be outside except for the TS restaurants so you may want to go offsite if you want to eat CS with AC.

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

A CS restaurant with AC is called something like Mama's Healthy Alternatives or something like that. I'm sure if you look at the map you can find it. It's over by the penguin exhibit. I don't know what to tell you about the lines as we have the same problem.

 

[Jason71]

I didn't see any indoor CS places with AC. We ate at Mango Joes Cafe and there was a covered seating area off to their right that had overhead fans but there were a ton of ducks begging for food there.

Seafire Inn and the Spice Mill both have indoor seating with AC, I think Voyagers has some as well (tho also a lot of outdoor tables)--they are all grouped together, more or less, around the "Waterfront" vicinity.

 

[golfmkv]

the best time to go is when believe and blue horizon are playing or before 12 and after 2

 

[Ileana]

Seafire Inn and the Spice Mill both have indoor seating with AC, I think Voyagers has some as well (tho also a lot of outdoor tables)--they are all grouped together, more or less, around the "Waterfront" vicinity.

We usually always eat at the Spice Mill and we wait around for them to open (usually 11am I think??) we go during off season though so it's never that busy.

The food is good and being inside always helps.

I feel you on the table situation but when you walk into a place that's packed, your instinct is to grab a table and send someone up

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Seafire Inn and the Spice Mill both have indoor seating with AC, I think Voyagers has some as well (tho also a lot of outdoor tables)--they are all grouped together, more or less, around the "Waterfront" vicinity.

And Seafire Inn had a dueling piano act when we were there. They were even taking requests.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We normally go to the hospitality centre near the Clyesdales. The food there is normally good - can never remember the queue been unmanageable.

 

[Cobbo]

There's just no doubt about it, SW needs to take lessons from Disney. They're just not set up, trained nor equipped to handle volume at their eateries...
Went there yesterday with the DW & DDs and it took me 45 minutes to get through the counter-service line at Seafire Inn, after 1:30pm....a couple of key points:
1. They do not have registers/kiosks to place your order & relay it to the counter-service, so the cooks get no advance on the put out. This also prevents any "special" orders (ie, no ham on my turkey club) because the customer will have to wait even longer at the counter in order to have one made - and hold up the entire line (no passing the waiting person).
2. No one behind the counter speaka-da-english, and limited signage on which items are what under the sneezeguard (oh so attractive)...more slow down..
3. With even the limited menu, the cook-space is not large enough to keep up with the volume flow, so the whole line is kept waiting while they "grill" the chicken, make the fries, etc...
4. The counter line is set up a** backwards - I understand drinks first, but then going to desserts?...splitting the entrees to have the "stir-fry" station past the kids foods?
5. Staffing. Two registers? Really? That's all for this volume? You have had a line out the door for an hour, and you haven't increased staffing in the kitchen or moving lines through?
6. Set up. Only really able to move volume on one side of the buffet, b/c it is a fire-hazard (and not permitted by the fire marshal) to allow the line on the "inside" side extend past the green pillar at the front of the buffet.

All in all, a horrible experience, that won't be repeated any time soon....thank god for WDW...