Ridiculous wait at Mama Melrose...

[Alesia]

OP, if you were so upset by it, why didn't you go to guest services? At this point, the only thing you can really do is let it go and chalk it up to experience. There's no use crying over spilled milk.

 

[maxiesmom]

Thanks, its just Disney has no issue charging people for not showing up to a ADR, least they could do is get me seated within an hour!

Going by your time line, they did.

And yes, you should have shown up a bit earlier than you did. Judging by what you are saying the park was busy, did you not think they may be busy too?

 

[supersnoop]

People bend over backwards to defend VERY poor management at Disney sometimes, im not sure w

There are lots of things you can find on the internet, but empathy isn't very common. I don't think folks are defending Disney, but they're trying to explain what likely happened. Yes, it sucks that you had to wait so long. I've frequently waited over 45 minutes at Biergarten, and I still get upset about that. But this isn't a common complaint at Mama Melrose, so a lot of people will write it off as a single bad experience.

 

[DisneyHardin]

That stinks that you had such a long wait. Unless there were lots of empty tables that they just weren't seating, I'm not sure what they could have done. You can only be seated when there is an empty table.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

And if they HAD started throwing people out to clear tables, one of them would have come here to complain about "being rushed."

 

[3DisneyFanz]

You should have arrived at 3:30 and paid for food with a 40% tip and just gone straight to Fantasmic being appreciative of the fact Disney allowed you to give them money.

 

[maxiesmom]

There are lots of things you can find on the internet, but empathy isn't very common. I don't think folks are defending Disney, but they're trying to explain what likely happened. Yes, it sucks that you had to wait so long. I've frequently waited over 45 minutes at Biergarten, and I still get upset about that. But this isn't a common complaint at Mama Melrose, so a lot of people will write it off as a single bad experience.

I find it hard to be empathetic with someone who complains about the line they had to wait in to check in. Umm, so many other guests were checking in at the same time. What are they supposed to do, not let them check in? Sometimes there are long lines at WDW, especially now in the Studios with the whole Osbourne lights deal. Yes, it stinks when you have to wait a long time past your ADR time. Many of us have been there, done that. But when the parks are busy there isn't much that can be done about it. They are not going to time every person's meal and then kick them out.

 

[katt789]

Had ADR last week for Mama Melrose for 5:10 Fanatsmic. Got there at 5:05, HUGE line out the door for check-in.

They told me it would be 15-20 min they were running late. 20 minutes i check back they said it would be a little longer, then they say you only have been waiting 13 minutes. I told the lady i couldn't check-in on time due to their HUGE line.

Was finally given a seat at 6:05! Manager knew I was mad, gave me 1 fastpass, which made me even more mad! Couldn't make early Fantasmic which we planned, was not happy.

What would you guys have done, i never went to Guest services

As someone who used to work in f &b, arriving at 5:05 was totally fine. You are told to arrive between 5-10 mins before reservation time

Otherwise, yeah, and honestly, we had a pretty bad experience in Mama Melrose when it came to this. I asked if it was possible to check in early, and was told it would be upwards of 50 mins, so I opted not to & we still ended up waiting AGES when we checked in on time. Things don't seem to run so smoothly over there, but that could just be me.

In f & b perspective, things do end up running behind, sometimes it's completely out of our control as well. Dining line also likes to "open up" reservations day of, so say we were fully booked at 100, now we all of a sudden have 200. It sucks. a lot. There were a lot of times there was nothing we could do, absolutely zero open tables,we literally couldn't seat on time. It does happen. And it sucks.

 

[katt789]

Oh, i forgot to mention, guy directly in front of me had 6 people in his party and a guy a few behind also had 6. We were a party of 3.

BOTH parties were seated WAY before us.

Yes Disney can't control getting people out of the restaurant, but, no where else were there an issue like this including BoG. THIS WAS NOT Christmas week. Yes busy but not that bad.

People bend over backwards to defend VERY poor management at Disney sometimes, I'm not sure w

To defend this (but nothing else!) at my location, we had larger tables that would accommodate 6, so they would have specifically been placed at them at the time, maybe even had those tables to be sure to be cleared for them when they arrived, they wouldn't want to seat a party of 3 at a table of 6 since a 4 top is much more common and more likely to open up quicker. Smaller parties take less time than the bigger parties

 

[yooperfan]

Disney requires you check in 15 min before ADR. Taking into consideration for all others checking in for the same time slot, you should also have tacked on another 5-10 min to reach the podium. You showed up 5 min before your ADR. If you had checked in the 15 min+ required you wouldn't have been almost an hour after ADR before being seated. Somewhat off topic...if Disney would stop handing out FP+ for every time they want to make amends, maybe Pirates wouldn't take 45 min. In the FP lane. This handing them out so much is totally screwing up the system. It wasn't created with the intent to pacify guests when their upset. Not saying they shouldn't compensate, just don't feel they should make FP the go to solution for everything.

 

[SmallWorld71]

I was there last year between Christmas and New Year's; waited about 5 min. for our Mama Melrose ADR. I agree with PP; people were taking their sweet time waiting for the lights and this caused the back-up. We all know that the crowds for the lights has been huge this year, and let's be honest, there's not a ton else to do at the studios. Mama Melrose is in the perfect position to just exit and stroll on over to the lights.
I would have been very annoyed, but not sure I would have done anything. Just tried to do as Elsa said....

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

Perhaps the two parties who were seated before you checked in earlier than their ADR time, earlier than you did for yours, or perhaps they had seating available right away for the larger parties. It's unfortunate but it's to be expected and the only thing you can do is be patient. The staff is under a lot of stress when things like this happen and irate customers don't help.

 

[jillt2ph]

OP, you did not say if you had booked the F! dinner package. If so, I hope you had them remove that and just let you pay for your food. I was there in early December and had a bad experience. As soon as we got there (20 mins before our ADR!) and saw how backed up things were, I asked to have F! dropped and we would just pay for what we ordered. So glad we did that, because once we got seated service was so horrible we could not get out fast enough. Server only stopped by once after dropping off our beverages, and that was just to comment that she was glad to see someone had brought out our food. She never asked if we needed refills, and we had to ask repeatedly for our check.

That experience was our only bad one for the week.

 

[steves100]

Perhaps the two parties who were seated before you checked in earlier than their ADR time, earlier than you did for yours, or perhaps they had seating available right away for the larger parties. It's unfortunate but it's to be expected and the only thing you can do is be patient. The staff is under a lot of stress when things like this happen and irate customers don't help.

#1. You check in early, you get a table faster???? What is the point of a reservation????
#2. Yes their table might have been avalible faster than mine except these were put together tables, they were not just large tables that fit 6
#3. THE STAFF IS UNDER PRESSURE!!!! YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!. This is their job!!!! I AM ON VACATION!!!
I was not irate, i did not do anything!l! As I said I got more mad that the manager thinksmthatbgiving 1 fastpass fixes their terrible management style!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) All ADR's say to arrive at least 15-minnutes early.
2) You arrived 5-minutes early.
. . . it is possible that you would have far further ahead in line if on-time for the check-in
. . . one does not know how many people got into line during the 10-minutes you did not check-in
3) CM's cannot control how many people get in line.
4) CM's frequently seat people with different party sizes prior to other smaller or larger party sizes. *
5) You have little for which to complain.
.
NOTE1: The number of people in other parties does not determine if they get seated before or after you. Reservations Are made for table sizes. The ADR even states that an ADR gets you seated for the next available table at a specific time for your party size.
.
NOTE2: The delay in being seated may have also been caused by people staying at their tables longer than the "average" table-stay. Disney cannot force people to vacate their table, and many do take longer, especially if they are trying to kill time before fireworks or shows.
.
NOTE3: Another possible delay factor is the use of Dining Overrides at popular eateries. Certain Concierge, and others, have the code to insert parties into any restaurant at any time on any day for any party size, even when the eatery is sold out or over-sold. When this is done, the ADR's with times after the override are delayed.

 

[katmatry]

OP, your angry avatar says it all. You really need to just Let it Go, Let it Go!

 

[dashofsunshine]

1) All ADR's say to arrive at least 15-minnutes early.
2) You arrived 5-minutes early.
. . . it is possible that you would have far further ahead in line if on-time for the check-in
. . . one does not know how many people got into line during the 10-minutes you did not check-in
3) CM's cannot control how many people get in line.
4) CM's frequently seat people with different party sizes prior to other smaller or larger party sizes. *
5) You have little for which to complain.
.
NOTE1: The number of people in other parties does not determine if they get seated before or after you. Reservations Are made for table sizes. The ADR even states that an ADR gets you seated for the next available table at a specific time for your party size.
.
NOTE2: The delay in being seated may have also been caused by people staying at their tables longer than the "average" table-stay. Disney cannot force people to vacate their table, and many do take longer, especially if they are trying to kill time before fireworks or shows.
.
NOTE3: Another possible delay factor is the use of Dining Overrides at popular eateries. Certain Concierge, and others, have the code to insert parties into any restaurant at any time on any day for any party size, even when the eatery is sold out or over-sold. When this is done, the ADR's with times after the override are delayed.

One of the things that I always look forward to in a Rusty reply is he always tells you like it is. Lol. No sugar coating.

 

[steves100]

OP, your angry avatar says it all. You really need to just Let it Go, Let it Go!

You Disney excuse people are the best!!!!

We had NO issue ANYWHERE!!!! Except MM. I have let it go and did not escalate the issue. I am sorry if I EXPECT good service when I am on vacation.

 

[steves100]

One of the things that I always look forward to in a Rusty reply is he always tells you like it is. Lol. No sugar coating.

You mean ALWAYS sticking for Disney?????

 

[dashofsunshine]

#1. You check in early, you get a table faster???? What is the point of a reservation????
#2. Yes their table might have been avalible faster than mine except these were put together tables, they were not just large tables that fit 6
#3. THE STAFF IS UNDER PRESSURE!!!! YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!. This is their job!!!! I AM ON VACATION!!!
I was not irate, i did not do anything!l! As I said I got more mad that the manager thinksmthatbgiving 1 fastpass fixes their terrible management style!

Yeah, it's their job. But they're just human. Good Lord. Just because they work at Disney doesn't mean they're actually magical. They deal with hundreds of people every single day, and have to try to make every single one of them happy. I mean...that's really difficult. Not every employee at every restaurant can make every customer happy 24/7.

People have this expectation that everything always goes right at Disney and if it doesn't, they are entitled to free stuff or groveling or whatever. Disney may seem magical, but underneath it all its just another business. They apologized and offered you a fast pass, which was nice. Stuff happens that no one can control sometimes

I get why you were upset, anyone would have been. It sucks that you had to wait so long and miss Fantasmic. What would you have had them do? If your waiter tried to tell his supervisor that he had comped your entire meal or something over them not having any clean tables because it was busy, the waiter probably would have gotten in big trouble.