Ridiculous wait at Mama Melrose...

[alicat8]

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.

Hahaha!!

An hour isn't reasonable, especially when you know they overbook on purpose. They can't control how long peoole sit, but they can control how many adrs they allow in certain time frame. I'd send a letter now. Disney tends to go out of their way to make it right (usually). Make sure you mention that you missed fantasmic and it messed up more than an hour of your plans. Not being there "early enough" for your reservation is no excuse to me, busy season or not.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I feel ya, OP. I get upset when I have reservations and thenot air to wait more than 5-10mins. To me, that says that they allowed too many people to reserve for the same time slots. Which we know is a problem with disney, since it is basically a requirement to have a reservation to get into any table service meal. So instead of doing something that would better accommodate their guests, like booking 70% -80 capacity ADR and leaving the rest for walk ins/stand by, they book 100% capacity for ADR, then when someone takes a bit longer to eat, everyone else gets bumped back. And those that have to wait and hour for their reservations are out of luck, because Disney has them in a cancellation fee chokehold. I try to avoid TS and stick with quick service or eat in my condo. The sub par food is not worth the hassle.

 

[kashzan]

f you guys defend waiting 1 hour for a table you really don't get it. THIS IS THE REASON THEY HAVE ADRs!
I don't want to hear this BS check in 15 minutes early! NO WHERE IN THE WORLD DO YOU GET TO A RESERVATION 15 MIN EARLY! IT'S A RESRRVATION!!!!

Well, technically, it IS NOT A RESERVATION. Sorry, but you really have nothing to complain about.
Apparently OP is now angry that not many people agreed with him. He has not been back.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

You Disney excuse people are the best!!!!

1) Not a Disney excuse.
2) Just a few possible reasons for the delayed seating.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

For those who say it isn't a reservation, then what is it, exactly? When I make ADRs on my disney experience they call it a reservation. They require a credit card guarantee and charge me a cancellation fee, just like a reservation. And if I don't show up on time, I'll lose my table, just like a reservation. So what is an ADR, if not a reservation?

 

[dancemonkey]

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, im not sure w

I've worked at restaurants for years. I would not have seated a party of 3 at a 6 top. Yes it's stinks you had to wait but I generally arrive 15 minutes to a half an hour before hand. It must be crazy there this week. I'm so sorry you had to wait. I hope the food was good and I'm glad you got a fast pass.

 

[Baklava]

So.... ALL week no issues ANYWHERE. And this is acceptable? I really hate people defending terrible service.

I say this as gently as possible... You asked what people would have done. You deliberately solicited opinions and now you're upset that people are giving them. Is it possible that maybe you're over reacting a little?

I think that they should have offered a profound apology, a voucher for the later Fantasmic and yes, the fast pass was a nice touch.

I would be annoyed at the wait. I would probably be a pest about "when will we be seated?" I would expect the manager to fix the Fantasmic problem. If it was an isolated incident I would chalk it up to a bad night and let it go.

 

[kashzan]

Behind The Scenes Of Disney's Reservations Systems
Though they're called Reservations, most reservations at Disney World don’t guarantee you a table at a specific time as they would at your typical hometown restaurant. Disney restaurants operate on what they call a “template system.” Instead of scheduling Reservations for actual tables, reservations fill time slots. The number of slots available is based on the average length of time that guests occupy a table at a particular restaurant, adjusted for seasonality.

Here’s a rough example of how it works: Let’s say Coral Reef Restaurant at Epcot has 40 tables for four and 8 tables for six, and that the average length of time for a family to be seated, order, eat, pay, and depart is 40 minutes. Add 5 minutes to bus the table and set it up for the next guests, and the table is turning every 45 minutes. The restaurant provides Disney’s central dining-reservations system (CDRS) with a computer template of its capacity, along with the average time the table is occupied. When you use Disney World’s dining website or call its dining hotline (at 407-WDW- DINE, 407-939-3463), both access CDRS for your requests.

Thus, when you use the website to make Reservations for four people at 6:15 p.m., CDRS removes one table for four from overall capacity for 45 minutes. The template on the system indicates that the table will be unavailable for reassignment until 7 p.m. (45 minutes later). So it goes for all tables in the restaurant, each being subtracted from overall capacity for 45 minutes, then listed as available again, then assigned to other guests and subtracted again, and so on, throughout the meal period. CDRS tries to fill every time slot for every seat in the restaurant, or come as close to filling every slot as possible. No seats—repeat, none—are reserved for walk-ins.

Templates are filled differently depending on the season and restaurant. All Disney restaurants now charge a no-show fee; this has reduced the no-show rate to as little as 2%, and these restaurants are booked every day according to their actual capacity.

 

[kashzan]

An ADR is not considered a reservation in the typical sense. It is more of an advances seating procedure. See my post above taken from a Disney web site.

 

[3DisneyFanz]

An ADR is not considered a reservation in the typical sense. It is more of an advances seating procedure. See my post above taken from a Disney web site.

Right it's called a reservation but it's not really a reservation it's more of a possibility except the possibility is greater that you won't be seated at your time than you would be so on some ways it's more of a recomendation that you try to be on time or else they'll give away the table that they didn't have ready for you anyway.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The everlasting problem with averages is that no one is actually average.

I mean, does any family actually have 1.86 children? Of course not. If a table turns on average in 45 minutes, it means some will turn faster (42 minutes? 41?) and some will turn slower (50? 60?). Depending on the restaurant, these swings can be much more extreme (see also: people with a BOG "dinner" ADR who have only wine and a dessert). These extremes later go into the rolling average for forecasting, although it is to be hoped they also drop true extremes as they can influence the data in ways that don't help everyone.

Overbooking can be a problem anywhere, as well.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

an hour is too long to wait. Actually the best thing you could have done was go to guest services.

They don't hold a table open and waiting for you, which is what most persons understand to be a reservation. They give you the next table to open up that fits your party.

You have to put a credit card down because WDW was having enormous issues with no-shows. At least at Le Cellier which is one restaurant I heard about, instituting the cancellation penalty for the day of the reservation caused that particular place to go from two full pages of no-show names to half a page.

 

[JaimeK]

I think if you walk up to a restaurant, any restaurant, and there's a line out the door you know things are backed up inside. The ONLY part I'd be upset about is that they initially told you it would be 30 minutes but turned out to be quite a bit longer.

 

[brinkley07]

We were there a few days ago and although we were seated within 15 minutes we ended up waiting for 15-20 minutes at the table without any wait staff arriving. Finally we stopped someone to ask and then we had 3-4 people checking on us and taking our orders. It was a glitch and it happens. The food was great and we were able to sit and relax. It may not have been perfect, and it started off in a non Disney/vacation bliss way, but oh well. The manager was aware and multiple wait staff, but not one fastpass was given or expected. Even though it happened I still have it as a reservation for my next trip as well. Just an FYI there is actually a waiter there who was a WDW employee of the year. In case anyone doesn't realize what an honor and achievement that is he told us he had to have a perfect record without complaint to receive it and he had worked there for around 20 years or more. Next time I will remember to ask for him as our waiter!

 

[DIS_MERI]

An hour is too long of a wait, but this is why 330pm is the latest you can get a Fantasmic! dining reservation for the 7pm show. Because a reservation after 5pm is incredibly unlikely to get you there in time. You likely wouldn't have gotten in even if it was an on time reservation.

 

[larryz]

I wouldn't be too upset as its Christmas week and the busiest time of the year. They do tell you to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your ADR time.

Does that mean get in the 20-minute-long line 15 minutes early, or try to be at the podium 20 minutes early?

 

[Disneylover99]

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.

I'm not so sure about that. I think maybe that is one of the reasons why fp+was created.

 

[larryz]

I think think people are bending over backwards to defend anything, we just disagree that one isolated incident at a restaurant with a good on time track record constitutes poor management. The parties of 6 took a different table size than you. It is highly possible a 6 top came open before a 4 top, which your party would have needed.

But I thought ADRs were for the "next available seating." Forcing a party of 3 to wait longer than a party of 6 with a later ADR seems to run counter to good customer service...

 

[Baklava]

But I thought ADRs were for the "next available seating." Forcing a party of 3 to wait longer than a party of 6 with a later ADR seems to run counter to good customer service...

That's a thing at most restaurants. If I check in for a party of 3 at Applebee's and you check in behind me for a party of 6, when the next table that opens is a 6 top you're going to get it because while I may wait 10 minutes more for a 4 top, you could be waiting 30 more for another 6 top. They know what tables are likely to open in a reasonable time frame and they'll accommodate the harder to seat party out of turn when it makes the most sense. It sucks a little for me, but it's standard practice.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

true, if they have a 6 top open up they are not going to give the 6 top table to the party of 3. They will have to wait for a table that fits them.