They should start limiting the time people can stay at a buffet

[Princess Disney Mom]

I've been to many many character meals with various family. I've been just myself and my elderly uncle, I've been with my family/sisters famiy/grandparents/uncle and all combination in between.

I will say we have never ever stayed longer than we needed to. I'd say we averaged 1 hour probably max 1 1/2 hour. Never longer than that, reason being who wants to. There is too much to do to be sitting in a resturant.
Now if Disney said you have until 7:00 and must leave we would be stressed.
I doubt Disney would ever do a time limit. How would they even enforce it?

Maybe a family here or there stays longer than 1 1/2 hour but how many do that? Do we really know why? One trip to Chef Mickey my autistic child was having a hard time, we may have taken longer then our normal 1 hour. Maybe a family with some sort of special need takes longer, does not bother me.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Somehow I can see a time limit in Vegas.

 

[Dopey420]

Character meal buffets take us at LEAST 90 minutes. I am always the last one finished because I LOVE the Disney buffets!

 

[MusiqChic99]

If you want a fast meal...eat counter service.

Personally I think the buffets are faster because as soon as I get seated, I can start eating!!!! This is especially great when you have hungry children!

 

[seashoreCM]

More of my USD 0.02.

It's OK to eat slowly but once everyone is done eating it's time to get going and not linger over additional servings of coffee or drinks.

For those who often take a long time to eat, try not to make reservations or walk in close to the restaurant proper's closing time.

If the restaurant seats you late for your reservation, it can expect you may be correspondingly late (but not exaggeratingly late) to get up and leave.

 

[inkkognito]

LOL, this thread gave me a flashback of living in Chicago! There was a buffet place (no characters of course, or at least not the Disney kind) where carloads of church people would come on Sunday afternoon for lunch...and literally stay all the way through dinner. They'd have a nice post-church meal, then sit around and chat in their Sunday best till dinnertime, eat again and go home. The place was infamous in the area...everyone knew it. Finally shut down, and no wonder. Most likely went broke from the double dippers.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

My family had a 5:45 ADR for Cape May. We arrived early as Disney suggests, the restaurant opens at 5:30, and were seated within five minutes of opening. As the previous poster suggested, people were seated and then immediately hit that buffet line. It became mobbed. The table next to us was in and out. The server brought us our check and we took that as a hint to get moving. At Chef Mickey's, 5:25 ADR arrived early before opening, seated asap, the server mentioned go through the line now before the characters come. Which is what we did. It was a great suggestion. We did have to wait for Minnie, my daughters favorite, so it took us longer. I would suggest ADRs at opening if you don't want to wait, especially with little ones. However, early ADRs can stop your day mid-afternoon, because you have to take into account freshening up and travel time. An example would be an ADR for Boma, but you are at a waterpark and your resort is POFQ.

 

[Sandy321]

Do you think the problem could be that the restaurants are overbooked? Really I think it takes close to 90 minutes to enjoy a character buffet.

ITA - with a few exceptions -

CRT - However this one gets HUGE complaints for "rushed" service

Ohana Stitch and friends - this one I think does the best job - they have somehow divided the restaurant into sections - wait until an entire section empties, reset it then seat that entire section - then the characters come thru - and I think the characters do have fun with the guests - Stitch, Pluto have all given us some LOL'd moments!

1900 - the worst - its so hit and miss - the characters tend to go here and there and run back and forth - and its such a HUGE open space!

 

[Iwant2BAprincess]

Although it may not be a published policy, when we ate at CP week before last we did notice that they appeared to be seating in large shifts-by the time we left there was almost no one inside and they were starting to seat by the windows-it makes sense to keep the flow of everything-we had more than enough time though.

 

[Wants2Live@WDW]

I know that we had ADRs at Hollywood and Vine (buffets are the only way that we can get my family full and happy b/c we have very "particular" personalities that prefer certain options...1 vegetarian, 1 pooh sized dad, and 1 very allergic person). We had a ressie at 5:30 pm, and we weren't seated until 6:45 pm, which was just such a LONG wait in the hot July sun. (especially since we showed up at the recommended 15 minutes early time). We weren't even a large party that time (as my husband was deployed).

However, at other buffets, like CP, our wait to be seated is usually around only 15-30 minutes.

I am on the boat with the fact that people don't usually stay longer than they have to at buffets. Once you are stuffed and the characters are met, it is time for our family to leave. We have never intentionally stayed to see ALL of the characters...just the ones that happen to show up during dinner, which is usually most of the ones available.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I agree...a bit. At 1900 PF, dinner, we had to wait an hour past our reservation time because (as the CM put it) the diners that were done eating were not done visiting the characters...I was very very angry.

Now for the two of us we are in and out in under an hour so I would not want to be rushed anymore than that.

 

[waltskids]

Our DS loves the character buffets and we may tend to take longer than the average customer. By the time we get seated, get food for DS, get food for us, feed DD her bottle (if needed), and a potty break for DS (or two or three,lol), some time has passed, not to mention waiting for characters. We will stay for all of the characters that are at the meal, but this has never been a problem. This last trip we did 3 buffets (CM, CP, and H&V) and our average time from sitting to leaving was about 90 minutes. We don't hang out when we're done eating, but it's nice to relax and not rush through the meal either. Counter service is the way to go for people who want a fast meal.

 

[disnut8]

Now if Disney said you have until 7:00 and must leave we would be stressed.
I doubt Disney would ever do a time limit. How would they even enforce it?

Very good points. If a family of 4 was seated at 6:00 and told they have until 7:30 to do their entire meal, how relaxing is that going to be? Would the family take time to let little Johnny go to the bathroom three times because he's excited or would they keep constantly checking their watch to make sure they weren't going over their time? Or on the other side, what if a family was there and they were promised eight characters but they had only seen six by their ending time? What to do then? And the reason they hadn't seen the last two characters is because they were on a break for the next ten minutes?

Enforcing would be a nightmare. How would they do it? Have a sign on your table with your ending time on it? Have a clock sitting at your table counting down the minutes? And when would this time start? When you are seated? When you are first acknowledged by your server? When you get your first plate of food? And when would the time end? When you get your check? After you've paid it? When you were heading for the door?

Honestly, it all even outs. Some groups eat in an hour, some take longer. Big deal. It's not like every single group in the restaurant is staying for 2+ hours. There are a lot that have a quick turn around. Just like in every other restaurant in the world.

 

[mickaholic4077]

LOL, this thread gave me a flashback of living in Chicago! There was a buffet place (no characters of course, or at least not the Disney kind) where carloads of church people would come on Sunday afternoon for lunch...and literally stay all the way through dinner. They'd have a nice post-church meal, then sit around and chat in their Sunday best till dinnertime, eat again and go home. The place was infamous in the area...everyone knew it. Finally shut down, and no wonder. Most likely went broke from the double dippers.

There's a buffet I go to up in NY that says if you stay past 4pm you will be charged the dinner price-even if you come in,say 3:30,so that place stays in business!!

 

[goofy4tink]

In well over 20+ trips to WDW, eating at several character buffets on each trip, I have never waited more than 25 mins to be seated. Most times the wait is about 10 mins. The worst I've encountered was at CP. For some reason people really linger there.
But, no way do I ever want to see a time limit put on meals. I can't imagine my child's distress when, at the end of the time limit, she has seen only 2/3 of the characters!!! There are always going to be those people who feel it is within their rights to monopolize the characters and hold them up for long periods of time, or that allow their children to butt in when a character is with another family..which makes the meal longer. There isn't much you can do about that.
We usually spend about an hour per character buffet.

 

[lucyem]

Having to wait an hour past a reservation time is not an option for us. I would be livid and off getting counter service with 2 little kids. I would also be annoyed to get pushed out quickly after eating if I had paid for a character meal and not yet met a character.

The only answer I can see on Disney's end is if they spread out reservation times for the character meals.

 

[DjdBrit]

I saw this thread the other day and I m wondering.... What does the OP suggest the time limit be?