No problem Stinky Pete. Maybe I should explain my take better:
As I see it, the manager is 'being bashed' here because of their response to a legitimate concern of a paying customer. Some on the post have said they don't think guests should have been advised that a 'fairly significant' portion of the menu was going to be unavailable for their meal. Others, like me, are taking the view that before they sat there for 30 minutes waiting with hungry kids (and thus not exploring other dining possibilities), they should have been informed. (A possible middle ground on all of this being that if there was not a wait, then the waiter could have just told them this, upon being immediately seated).
My view is that the staff didn't post a sign, or inform the guests who were about to commit to a waiting time to dine there, of the downed fryer - because they didn't want them to elect to go elsewhere. By not giving the guest, who is wrangling hungry kids, that information, the guest didn't have the opportunity to make an informed decision for themselves, to stay or go elsewhere. By the time the guest waited the 30 minutes, then found out, they were probably time committed to stay. Their only other option would have been to regroup, settle the hungry kids without their food, and then try to go somewhere else, after having wasted 30 minutes at B&C waiting to be seated.
All that aside, in the original post, it says "
the waitress said the hostess should have told us when we gave our name". When questioned directly about why the hostess didn't notify them (as per the waitress), the manager gave a lame response to the OP customer (about not knowing what people would be ordering), instead of seeking to address the problem for that guest, or to try to keep it from affecting further guests. From a manager's standpoint, that's a total cop out. The manager's attitude was not very customer service driven, especially for a WDW establishment. In the end, it appears the manager did not address the customer's concerns, or even tokenly deal with the problem at hand. The manager made an excuse.
No tone of voice or facial expression information needed for that.
Simply, the manager made an excuse, and did nothing proactive or customer service oriented, to help resolve or lessen the problem (for this guest or the next ones). If there was indeed a breakdown in communication at the hostess stand, as alluded to by the waitress, the manager should have at least looked into it, not just made a weak excuse to the paying guest who brought it to their attention.
From the OP:
"I said exactly, that is why you should tell people, no fries, no onion rings before they wait 1/2 hour and let them make their own decision."
If you tell the guests up front that the fryer is down, and anything fried isn't likely to be available, and they choose to stay anyway, they have made an informed decision.
If you let them put their name in, they hang around and wait 30 minutes, then spring that on them once they sit down, you have taken away their ability to decide for themselves. I believe that the OP has made a very valid point, as noted above from their original post.
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Very good post!!!! 
Its sometimes hard to relate when you don't have children , I totally understand. But I hope I did shed some more light on why it was a big deal for the fryers to be down.
