mickeyfanz
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2001
- Messages
- 188
I was at WDW last week for the 1st week of Free Dining. I was excited to try out the new Tusker House lunch buffet and had a reservation for 1:35pm so qualified for the priority seating Nemo tickets for the 3:15pm show.
I checked in at 1:30pm at Tusker House and was given a pager and was told it would be a 15-20 minute wait. I exchanged looks with my husband as we both worried we were going to be rushed to eat this lunch. The Nemo ticket said to arrive 30 minutes prior to the show which would be 2:45pm.
Other people who had checked in were complaining about getting seated and I was surprised when I noticed that they were accepting WALK UPS and giving them the Nemo passes as well.
When we finally got seated just before 2pm, we did feel a little rushed but tried to enjoy our meal. I was not really that impressed with the buffet. I had read on here that it was like Boma but I did not feel like the food was even close to what I have had at Boma. There was also a dead fly in the chocolate pudding on the kids' buffet which was a real turn-off. I did tell a CM and she promptly dealt with the situation. New meaning to death by chocolate!
I guess I was a little mad that they had taken walk-ups if they couldn't seat people with reservations earlier - especially when we had a show to get to.
After we finished and paid our bill, we booked across the park to the Nemo show. We made it at 3pm and went to the side entrance they told us to. I told the CM we had the Nemo ticket and she said that those doors had closed already and that if we wanted in the show, we needed to go to the regular line. She pointed out that our ticket said we were supposed to get there 30 minutes ahead and I told her that I was aware of that but we didn't get seated until almost a half hour late!
My DH started watching me turn into my alter ego - the mom who has spent months of planning and looking forward to having this special seating and doesn't like being disappointed! I was just amazed that this was happening. This was why I ate at Tusker House to begin with so I could get this priority seating for the show. We were forced to go in the regular entrance and I kept showing my ticket from Tusker House to all of the CMs I passed and they were all saying that section was closed. Not only was that section closed but they were running out of seats in the regualr seats too.
By some stroke of luck, when I asked the last CM if there were any seats left in the special section he kind of signaled down to another CM and apparently there was 4 seats that they had been holding for handicapped that were no longer needed (no more people were being let in and everyone else was seated) so they let us sit down there. Whew - my husband was thrilled that I didn't have to go postal. We enjoyed the show tremendously and it was great being so close and seeing the actors faces.
I just wanted to post this as a "buyer beware". Just because you have the Nemo ticket does not mean you will get to sit in your "reserved" seat. I am sure all of those walk ups that got seated before me and got to the Nemo show before me felt that they won the lottery that day!
Next time I will go to Boma for dinner and try the Picnic in the Park for lunch instead. If you do the Tusker House with Nemo package, be sure to get the earlier reservations (1:00).
FYI!
I checked in at 1:30pm at Tusker House and was given a pager and was told it would be a 15-20 minute wait. I exchanged looks with my husband as we both worried we were going to be rushed to eat this lunch. The Nemo ticket said to arrive 30 minutes prior to the show which would be 2:45pm.
Other people who had checked in were complaining about getting seated and I was surprised when I noticed that they were accepting WALK UPS and giving them the Nemo passes as well.
When we finally got seated just before 2pm, we did feel a little rushed but tried to enjoy our meal. I was not really that impressed with the buffet. I had read on here that it was like Boma but I did not feel like the food was even close to what I have had at Boma. There was also a dead fly in the chocolate pudding on the kids' buffet which was a real turn-off. I did tell a CM and she promptly dealt with the situation. New meaning to death by chocolate!
I guess I was a little mad that they had taken walk-ups if they couldn't seat people with reservations earlier - especially when we had a show to get to.
After we finished and paid our bill, we booked across the park to the Nemo show. We made it at 3pm and went to the side entrance they told us to. I told the CM we had the Nemo ticket and she said that those doors had closed already and that if we wanted in the show, we needed to go to the regular line. She pointed out that our ticket said we were supposed to get there 30 minutes ahead and I told her that I was aware of that but we didn't get seated until almost a half hour late!
My DH started watching me turn into my alter ego - the mom who has spent months of planning and looking forward to having this special seating and doesn't like being disappointed! I was just amazed that this was happening. This was why I ate at Tusker House to begin with so I could get this priority seating for the show. We were forced to go in the regular entrance and I kept showing my ticket from Tusker House to all of the CMs I passed and they were all saying that section was closed. Not only was that section closed but they were running out of seats in the regualr seats too.
By some stroke of luck, when I asked the last CM if there were any seats left in the special section he kind of signaled down to another CM and apparently there was 4 seats that they had been holding for handicapped that were no longer needed (no more people were being let in and everyone else was seated) so they let us sit down there. Whew - my husband was thrilled that I didn't have to go postal. We enjoyed the show tremendously and it was great being so close and seeing the actors faces.
I just wanted to post this as a "buyer beware". Just because you have the Nemo ticket does not mean you will get to sit in your "reserved" seat. I am sure all of those walk ups that got seated before me and got to the Nemo show before me felt that they won the lottery that day!
Next time I will go to Boma for dinner and try the Picnic in the Park for lunch instead. If you do the Tusker House with Nemo package, be sure to get the earlier reservations (1:00).
FYI!
