Son's birthday dinner - need advice PLEASE!

[RickyMouseMom]

Hi everyone! Need some advice....

backgound:
This past February, we had our son's 6th birthday dinner at Chef Mickey's. We have been there before, and the food was great and LOVE the characters, but we were a little disappointed with the service (although we made sure our son didnt notice).

First, I had pre-ordered a cake, and also ordered a table centerpiece and gift bags for our boys. When we were seated we had neither the centerpiece or gift bags at the table. I waited until we were ready to go to the buffet to quietly ask the waiter about it (even though we had confirmed when we checked in). He said he would check on it. I hate feeling like I was nagging him, but I had to ask another time again after we were eating! He said he had no knowledge of our order (even though it was on our reservation).

After eating and the waiter was ready to give us the bill, I had to remind our waiter about the cake (even though we also confirmed this upon check-in). He came out with the cake, plopped it on the table, lit it and left (said nothing to my son). We acted all cheerful, but I was a little upset. By the time he came back again, I mentioned the centerpiece and gift bags AGAIN and he said 'oh yeah. You did order them. I'll let you take them when you leave.' That wasnt the point of ordering them! I wanted to have a little celebration dinner, not a centerpiece to take back to the hotel room! We were given them for free (which was their way of acknowledging the mistake), but I would have gladly paid for them to make our dinner a little more celebration-like!

(Just so I don't get flamed, I completely understand waiters/waitresses have off days, or can be pre-occupied. I was extremely polite and not rude, just sad that all the nicities that I planned fell through the cracks)

So my question is, was this service a fluke or can I have confidence having my son's birthday dinner here again next February? Any stories people can share? Does anyone have advice about a better place to eat with the characters? TIA!

 

[Kathy C]

I would have been miffed too especially when you double checked those things when you checked in. And, paying for them - we all know that Disney isn't cheap. My husband and I took our two nieces to WDW and celebrated one of my niece's 11th birthday at Whispering Canyon Cafe (our waitress was "Prairie Grass Skirt"), and although there weren't any characters, it was amazing. I really do think your wait person can make or break the occasion. Madison still talks about it and how it was the best part of her trip.

First, she made three of us different hats out of our napkins that we had to wear the entire meal, and my 13 yr old niece had seven straws in her hair and when she held a bottle of ketchup upside down she looked like the Statue of Liberty. She took my husband's sunglasses and wore them on her head while we ate. She brought the cake out after our dinner and put it in front of Madison and told her "you're going to have to work for that sister!" She took the two girls to the front of the restaurant and had everyone up out of their seats doing the hokey pokey with the girls leading. Afterwards the whole restaurant sang her happy birthday! Needless to say we left her a big tip - she really made Madison's birthday special and we have some great pictures for the memories!

Surely what happened to you the first time couldn't happen again? We normally give restaurants a second chance, but your son will only turn seven once. I say give it a go if that's your son's favorite place to eat, and we'll all keep our fingers crossed that things go as planned this time!

Let us know!

 

[RickyMouseMom]

It sounds like your niece had a blast! What a special birthday! I have heard really good things about Whispering Canyon. Thanks for the story, your niece must have been soooo cute! It is definitely true that the server can make-or-break a dining experience in some instances. This past trip in July we ate a Biergarten in Epcot. Neither DH nor I are huge fans of German food, but we thought we would give it a try anyway. Our server was AMAZING! Seriously one of the best servers we ever had. We left with such a great impression that we cannot wait to go back again!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

I would send them an email about this. Grant it everbody has an off day. But hey you ordered the centerpiece,giftbags & cake and got that response.
I would let somebody know about it. And I am not a complainer but come on. What's right is right. I'd still go back there.


wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com GOOD LUCK

 

[RickyMouseMom]

I would send them an email about this. Grant it everbody has an off day. But hey you ordered the centerpiece,giftbags & cake and got that response.
I would let somebody know about it. And I am not a complainer but come on. What's right is right. I'd still go back there.


wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com GOOD LUCK

I guess I could. Is it too late? I just hate complaining, plus I figure they will feel they rectified the problem by not charging me for the gift bags and centerpiece. I just don't want a repeat of that experience next February.