screwed at garden grill

[UncleMike101]

We'll be there in May with our Granddaughter.
I'll be unpleasant if she's disappointed.

 

[DisneyLove2015]

WOW! How can they do that to multiple tables?

Back in Nov. we were just about the last table seated for breakfast. Our reservation was 10:15; breakfast ends 10:30. We saw all the characters out and about as we were brought to our table and shortly after we were seated Dale came over, followed by Chip. Then Mickey walked by a couple times but never stopped. Then nobody. Finally after we'd finished eating (and hadn't seen any characters for awhile) and noticed we were one of maybe 4 tables still there, we asked our server if the rest of the characters were coming........she looked confused and nervous, went in search of them and ended up giving us a "golden" FP for Character Spot . Apparently Mickey and Pluto had gone to lunch Now my kids are 14 & 10 and were ok with missing the rest of the characters, and we did use the FP, but I had been looking forward to Mickey in his farmers outfit!

And in all seriousness it really stinks if your kids are younger. That's 2 stories too many regarding the characters missing guests at the same character meal.

I hope this isn't the norm for later breakfasts... I just booked a 10:15 spot for us in September. I wanted a later breakfast so we could just snack around F&W the rest of the day. Now I'm wondering should I make it earlier??? I wanted to get in a ride or two before breakfast. Hmmmm.

 

[DVCcurious]

I went to the front desk this morning to complain to a manager. She said she'll call the garden grill and see what can be done.

She said "you're supposed to complain to the manager at the restaurant". And I said "He'd just been yelled at by 7 people and the family next to us saw no characters and he told them he couldn't do anything other than FPs, so I didn't want to pile on the poor guy. I figured I'd complain to you."

 

[LadyRayado]

Sounds like a major scheduling issue. There are strict rules about character sets, due to the heat and weight of the suits. It sounds like character scheduling and ADR scheduling were out of sync.

Characters are a union role, so they can't just have them stay late, either.

Not all the characters are union. Not even a majority of them are - especially not those at character meals. The Actors' Equity (union) CMs at Disney are usually the stage performers. My sister is a character, works at Garden Grill a few times a month, and is not union. This was most likely a scheduling error and a manager mistake.

Edited to add: OP, I am so sorry you had this experience. It is absolutely unacceptable and I would be complaining to everyone.

 

[Eastern]

3 FPs for no characters is unacceptable; I would still be complaining. You are paying for characters. If they aren't there, you need to be compensated. I would still write a letter to Disney.

We go to GG every trip and we have never had this problem. I'm sorry all those kids were disappointed.

 

[sarah4770]

It's like going to the Hoop De Doo, but the actors went home, so your paying 60 bucks for fried chicken.

 

[KateP85]

Characters at meals like Garden Grill are non-equity, but that doesn't mean there aren't rules about how long their sets can be, or how many hours they can work. The problem with character meals is dealing with two different sets of schedulers; those scheduling the restaurant hours and those scheduling the character hours. If the characters are finished at 8.55pm, there is very little a food and beverage manager can do about it.

Having said all that, I'd be pretty mad to pay that price to see one character! I don't eat at character buffets very often but when I do, it's not for the food (which usually sucks) it's for the characters. If they're not there, no way would I be paying that much money for my meal.

 

[verleniahall]

We had a BAD experience at Garden Grill last year. Server was nasty, told me I was too old to be celebrating my birthday at Disney, and we left almost in tears. Plus, she said that they change to only bringing 1 platter of food for dinner - when she was bringing multiples to the table behind us.

The characters were awesome - we saw them each like 4-5 times. DH started to sing Happy Birthday to me and Chip and Dale ran over to direct him in it. It helped a little.

We wil NOT be going back to garden grill

 

[Nettester]

Speak up, write a firm, but polite letter or email. You paid for character dining, you didn't get it. I would expect a refund for the family dinner bill. I'll bet Disney comes through if you share your disappointment with them.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The union rules on character sets apply across all character performers, even if the individual in the suit isn't union. There are various reasons for this.

 

[DVCcurious]

Just got a call from lead manager of Garden Grill. She said she will call the head manager of Beach Club and have the $168 dinner charge removed.

 

[Barbydoll8]

Wow so sorry this happened and glad they are trying to make it right.
We ate there for lunch a few months ago and it was the first ressie of the lunch hour. We did get seated late which upset my DH cause we checked in early and others went ahead of us but the meal and the character interaction was one of the better ones we've experienced on property.
Hope the rest of the visit goes well.

 

[cavepig]

wow, that would suck glad you will be getting your $$$ money back as yes character interaction is why people eat there. We had a late dinner a few years ago & were about 45 minutes late being seated and one of the last families there of the night and we saw all the characters multiple times, it became a joke of "here comes Mickey again". Definitely sounds like a schedule mess up on the managers end.

 

[oceanmarina]

Our kids are 6 and 4.

The real problem is they were 30 minutes late seating people. If we were seated at 8:10 we would've seen everybody by the time they left at 8:55.

Oh well, I'm not dwelling on it. It's not like getting pissed will change anything. We have Crystal Palace at 8:45pm tomorrow so that should go better.

After all, tomorrow is another day....

Sorry you had this experience. This past summer Ohana seated us 45 minutes past our ressie time, the service was terrible and Pluto skipped our table after the Ohana parade. I told Pluto's CM who did nothing about it. It is usually my favorite character breakfast but after this past experience, we will most likely never go there again, my DH was so annoyed....

I think I would personally send a polite e-mail to guest services regarding the situation.

Yep to this!!

Just got a call from lead manager of Garden Grill. She said she will call the head manager of Beach Club and have the $168 dinner charge removed.

So glad they made things right for you. Plus I had no clue restaurant managers could give you Fast Passes!! ... Had I known that I would have definitely spoke to the manager on our way out at Ohanas.

 

[ariane37]

I hope this isn't the norm for later breakfasts... I just booked a 10:15 spot for us in September. I wanted a later breakfast so we could just snack around F&W the rest of the day. Now I'm wondering should I make it earlier??? I wanted to get in a ride or two before breakfast. Hmmmm.

I sincerely hope you don't have the same experience we did. Now from what I could tell (mainly from eavesdropping ) it didn't appear that the few tables left around us had missed out on the characters. In our case I think it was just us - or at least not a bunch of tables like unfortunately happened in DVCCurious's case. I did wonder at the time if they hadn't quite gotten things down yet, since they'd only been doing breakfast for a couple weeks prior to the day we were there.

If you keep your current reservation, I would just keep a VERY close eye on the characters lol. Maybe even nicely mention to your server when you're seated that you want to make sure you see all 4 characters as you're aware breakfast seatings are coming to an end. And if your food comes out and you haven't seen any, or you've only seen one or two and whomever you haven't seen doesn't appear to be close to your table, just ask again if they're still making their way to you. I'm sure if I had said something we would have caught them before they "went to lunch", I just didn't think I had to.........

As for all the talk about union rules and how many hours character CM's can work, stay in costume, etc., I get that. However as another poster pointed out, it just makes sense to have them scheduled for at least an hour past the last seating for any particular meal. In my case, breakfast reservations went until 10:30, so 15 minutes later than ours. They were running behind that day also and we weren't seated until almost 10:40, and we left at 11:35. So even being seated late we were done within an hour. If the characters had been scheduled until 11:30, an hour after the last breakfast seating, they would have been there the whole time we were.

I also understand there's always the possibility one character may have to leave early? Pluto has a huge hairball that gets caught in his throat and he can't meet guests anymore? But for ALL the characters to have left - something wasn't right. If it is indeed someone outside the restaurant scheduling the characters, they need to work better with the restaurant managers. And it shouldn't be a surprise to them how late people will be eating in the restaurants with character meals, either.

 

[verleniahall]

Plus I had no clue restaurant managers could give you Fast Passes!! ... Had I known that I would have definitely spoke to the manager on our way out at Ohanas.

Yes - they can - even quick service has the ability to - we were at Pecos Bill in November, and they messed up our lunch - gave away my GF lunch and then the servers werent' telling the manager about it apparently.

They reversed the dining credit charge, and gave us two coupons for any ride any time that day

 

[lovin'fl]

We went to GG for the first time not too long ago. We weren't thrilled. I do think they are understaffed as our server was lovely but we didn't get drink refills and had trouble getting seconds of anything. But she was very busy so it wasn't due to servers standing around socializing. And we were late being seated as well. Now my 3 kids are teens so I pay 5 adult prices and would have been ticked had we not been able to see any characters, even though my older kids aren't super into it like the younger kids. But it's why we were paying that much, why we were there, for the characters. I'd have not wanted the character FPs because my teens don't do the character lines in the parks anymore. I'd have likely asked for 2 free meals (so 2 of the 5 fees removed). At any rate...we won't be returning. It was a one and done for us as it just didn't impress (and it's very chaotic meal with kids running around that outer rim and folks piled up waiting at the entrance and the characters and servers trying to get to tables).

 

[tinkerbella16]

We had a BAD experience at Garden Grill last year. Server was nasty, told me I was too old to be celebrating my birthday at Disney, and we left almost in tears. Plus, she said that they change to only bringing 1 platter of food for dinner - when she was bringing multiples to the table behind us.

The characters were awesome - we saw them each like 4-5 times. DH started to sing Happy Birthday to me and Chip and Dale ran over to direct him in it. It helped a little.

We wil NOT be going back to garden grill

That is just terrible! And I can assure you, it is all you care to enjoy, so they do bring out more of whatever you ask for. I hope you spoke to a manager about this also, because that is not acceptable. We always celebrate birthdays, it never matters what age you are. That server sounds like she is in the wrong field of work.

I love Garden Grill, and thankfully never had a bad experience there - characters, food or servers have always been great.

 

[aaarcher86]

Just got a call from lead manager of Garden Grill. She said she will call the head manager of Beach Club and have the $168 dinner charge removed.

Good! I'm usually pretty understanding, but what happened is unacceptable. I've never experienced this, and don't think it's the norm. Hopefully it won't taint your trip!

 

[verleniahall]

That is just terrible! And I can assure you, it is all you care to enjoy, so they do bring out more of whatever you ask for. I hope you spoke to a manager about this also, because that is not acceptable. We always celebrate birthdays, it never matters what age you are. That server is in the wrong field of work.

I love Garden Grill, and thankfully never had a bad experience there - characters, food or servers have always been great.

Yes on our way out - they refunded the table credits to our account