We had a California Grill "Situation"

[MichiganMomto4]

I will try to make this brief but it won't be easy.

We were in Disney for a dance competition (for my daughter, not me) so there were a lot of us with the team although everyone mostly did their own thing when there were no dance obligations. Way back months ago I had scored an ADR at Cali Grill for the 4th fireworks. I passed on that information to others and some families also chose to make their own ADRs. Because of the credit card policy at that restaurant, no one wanted to take responsibility for a huge ADR. Anyway, so it turned out that 6 families had seperate ADRs within 15-20 minutes of each other. We never linked these ADRs in any way and Disney had no way of knowing that we all knew each other.

Fast forward to the evening of the 4th. We all arrived early to go up to the observation deck to watch the fireworks. At the 2nd floor desk we all checked in separately for our respective ADRs and were each given a buzzer and told we could go up to watch the fireworks but our tables wouldn't be ready until our ADR times. Totally expected and acceptable. The elevator operator check our ADR confirmations given to us at check in and takes us up (not all together as we were a large group). We go up, we watch the fireworks (which were Absolutely Amazing!!!) and linger around inside and out waiting for our buzzers to go off. One by one, each of our buzzers went off and we were seated. Again, Disney had no idea that we all knew each other and we were not expecting to be seated together nor at the same time. But I would say that all but one of the 6 families was sat within 10-12 minutes of each other.

Here is where it gets bad, sad and unbelievable. That other family was still waiting 20 minutes after we all had been sat; then 30 minutes. Parties of the same size and larger who arrived after them were being sat. Finally the husband of this family goes over to the hostess and asks why his family has been waiting so long. Apparently she has no information so she goes and gets the manager. The manager comes over and tells the family that they have no reservations how can they have no reservations when they are up on the 15th floor holding a buzzer? So he shows them their ADR confirmation #. The manager tells him there is no ADR in the computer under that # and that the buzzer is not turned on or linked to an reservation at all. Well, anyone who's eating at the California Grill knows you are not getting up that elevator from the 2nd floor without checking in with the desk and getting a buzzer, which they had. At this point, another one of the husbands who had been seated with his family gets up and intervenes, talking to the manager. The manager tells him the same thing.... no reservation for this family of 5 and also says that they are totally booked and they had to leave. (even though I counted at least 3 empty tables and one that had been empty since before we were sat). Now this family is shocked, embarassed and mortified. They are not the type of people to cause a scene, so they leave. We were all in disbelief and shock but had already started to eat first courses so we stayed. (especially since the family told us "everything's fine, we'll just go somewhere else").

It's after 10 p.m. on the 4th of July, they've had no food for 3 hungry kids and the reason that they are mortified and seething on the inside is because they are a black family. The only black family in the entire restaurant.

If someone had told me that Disney was prejudice I would argue with them up one side and down the other. Absolutely, positively not. Disney is the most culturally diverse place I have ever been and they go out of their way to embrace people from all over the world. I still hope to God that this was all just a terrible, terrible mix up and it had absolutely nothing to do with the color of this family's skin but the situation looked horrible because they were the only black family in the restaurant. And why wouldn't the manager acknowledge that a mistake had obviously been made somewhere and seat them at one of the available tables?

Absolutely none of this makes sense to me and I was mortified for them. Being probably the biggest Disney fan on this dance team made me even more embarassed that this would happen. Like I mentioned, this is a good family who would never make a scene. I have suggested that they write to Disney and explain the situation (not that anything can be done at this point but to let them know what happened and how horrible it appeared even if it didn't have anything to do with the fact that they were black it most certainly "appeared" that way and felt that way to them.

So I guess I'm telling you all this because I'd like to know if anyone else has ever experienced something similar and/or if anyone else has ever gotten up to the Cali Grill with an ADR confirmation # and a buzzer and been turned away. I am still stunned and shocked that this happened.... I keep going over it in my mind trying to figure out what really happened and I am at a loss

 

[goofyintoronto]

Are you serious? WOW!! Thats awful. Although I honestly dont think it was a case about racism. I really dont. Although I wasnt there, so how would I know. Im just DISGUSTED as to how the manager handled the situation. I cannot believe he turn them away! Poor family. I'd be TICKED beyond words if i were in that situation. lets just say i'd be eating there one way or another. Lol.

 

[everythingALICE]

Admittedly, I do not have an answer to either of your questions.

There are many stories regarding ADR confusion on the boards, and I'm sure it was probably some sort of confusion or glitch in the system. In any case, mistakes happen, even at Disney. I do think that the manager probably could have tried harder to accommodate them/rectify the situation, but I really wouldn't jump to the conclusion that it was related to their race.

 

[MichiganMomto4]

Trust me, I do not want to jump to that conclusion. I find it beyond belief that it would be the reason why. But quite honestly, as a white person that would not be my thought process because it's not something that I have ever experienced and I want to believe that that doesn't happen in the United States anymore. But sadly it does. And sadly, the parents in that family HAVE experienced prejudice in their lives and were the first to quietly state that it certainly looked to be the case. I doubt it occured to any of the rest of us before they said it but once they did we realized that yes, indeed, if you looked around at all the happily seated and eating white people - it's exactly how it looked. Nothing of that nature was ever said to the manager; he was not accused of discrimination but if he had thought for just a second, he would have seen that because of that, it was a unique situation.... maybe beyond the usual mixed up adr and he most certainly could have accommadated them at an empty table. For whatever reason, he chose not to.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

The only thing I can say is that this had to have been one major screw up by someone at the California Grill, because as you said how did this family even be given a pager and allowed in their specifc elevator to get into the restaurant. Someone working at the 2nd floor check-in desk area must have saw their name when looking into their computer and then gave them the pager and that meant they were obviously in the system of guests with ADR's that night.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh gracious, that's just awful.

You mentioned a CC situation...do they charge if you no-show there? If so, they might want to watch for their CC bill.

But they really do need to follow-up. Have a nice concise timeline (made reservation and here's the conf#, showed up, was looked up and given a buzzer, watched fireworks, THEN was told I had no ADR). And if they are billed, also include that! I'm sure they are upset, but I do hope they will follow-up. I'm sure that a manager making a ridiculous mistake or making a nasty decision, or trusting some computer fluke (haven't there been reports of such things recently?) over the person in front of them with the confirmation number...I'm sure that Disney wants to know about any of those scenarios.

 

[hogwartsdropout]

I'm guessing a CM accidently deleted their name from the list or it was a computer glitch. That's the only thing I can think of. I do think they should have let them into the restaurant though, because how else would they have got a pager? Could the CM who gave them the pager not clarify that they'd seen their reservation?

 

[danceintherain]

Wow. I feel bad for that family. I've had checking in problems before. Once it was a good thing I had my reservation number, because somehow that ADR was under some random name.

It really is strange that they were checked in and everything, and then were told no reservation existed. My best guess is that the CM checking you all in probably accidentally deleted the reservation, or it's even possible that someone else did. It doesn't make sense that they didn't try harder to accommodate them though.

 

[bitohoney]

Ohhhhh no. I was wondering what the big deal was and thinking it may have been a simple mistake and hoping in your story, they would have solved the situation and seated them. But then you said they are black. Now I don't like it when other races throw the "It's because I'm black" thing out there. But, this sounds suspicious. They had a buzzer for goodness sake and I know they check your name as soon as you check in BEFORE anyone is given a buzzer. And you mean to tell me none of the workers saw them waiting for that long?? If I were you I'd politely contact the manager and tell he/she of the situation to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

[WEDWDW]

Wow. I feel bad for that family. I've had checking in problems before. Once it was a good thing I had my reservation number, because somehow that ADR was under some random name.

It really is strange that they were checked in and everything, and then were told no reservation existed. My best guess is that the CM checking you all in probably accidentally deleted the reservation, or it's even possible that someone else did. It doesn't make sense that they didn't try harder to accommodate them though.

Excellent Post-that is most likely what happened.

PLEASE have the Family send the information about the situation(Be as SPECIFIC as possible-date,time,names and descriptions of Cast Members,The actual ADR # if they still have it,etc.) to the email address below.

If the Family doesn't want to do it,ask if you can do it for them

Disney NEEDS and WANTS to know about situations like this.

WDW.Guest.Communications@disneyworld.com

 

[TisBit]

I am not even going to address the racism allegation, unfortunately it is too often that as soon as a minority patron has a problem they want to blame their race. I just don't see any manager denying service based on race when that person has a confirmed reservation. Those numbers don't just disappear if they are deleted from the restaurant system or even canceled by the guest. It would open a huge can of worms for WDW and the manager himself (maybe if it was an individual CM or they were a walk up, someone could make that inference if a non-minority came in behind them and were seated).

Here is the real questions, did they really have an ADR at Cali Grill and not some other location. What happened when they checked in, did the original CM have a problem seeing the reservation and directed them upstairs to try to get it sorted out?

Maybe while they were waiting for 20 or 30 minutes the restaurant was talking to WDW Dining to try and figure out what the reservation number was for, etc. There just isn't enough information to really know what occured. Did you have a chance to talk to the family about it. They really might have had a different reservation and thought they could try to get into CG with that reservation number.

As for there being empty tables at a restaurant, that is normal, seating is based on the number of servers on duty at that time. You might see 5 tables sit empty the whole night, but if there is no server to work that section, they can't just seat them. Servers can only handle so many tables without causing lots of grief for customers (not geting refills, being able to order in a timely manner, etc) and when they are over sat, it actually slows the whole restaurant down. They try to stagger the tables a server has so they are at different points in their meal.

Quite honestly, if they did not have a Cali reservation and the manager or CM's knew that the whole group was together, they might have been able to do something when they sat other peopel (put them at a larger table, split the family up, etc) to try to accomodate them. But, the restaraunts can't just try to "fit" people in at any time whenever someone says there is a problem with a reservation number.

 

[minniebride]

OP: I do not think it was a race issue, but I"m so sorry that family was treated that way I think the manager really dropped the ball here in how he handled it.

I also agree with the below statements:

Excellent Post-that is most likely what happened.

PLEASE have the Family send the information about the situation(Be as SPECIFIC as possible-date,time,names and descriptions of Cast Members,The actual ADR # if they still have it,etc.) to the email address below.

If the Family doesn't want to do it,ask if you can do it for them

Disney NEEDS and WANTS to know about situations like this.

WDW.Guest.Communications@disneyworld.com

As for there being empty tables at a restaurant, that is normal, seating is based on the number of servers on duty at that time. You might see 5 tables sit empty the whole night, but if there is no server to work that section, they can't just seat them. Servers can only handle so many tables without causing lots of grief for customers (not geting refills, being able to order in a timely manner, etc) and when they are over sat, it actually slows the whole restaurant down. They try to stagger the tables a server has so they are at different points in their meal.

 

[HelenParr]

It is puzzling that they were given a buzzer but then told not on the reservation list. I suspect we will never know what the glitch was.

Not excusing Disney for perhaps making a mistake -- but July 4 (and other big holidays) is such a madhouse. I'm sure the managers are more frazzled when it's high capacity. Then again, the manager gets paid for being able to troubleshoot, even when frazzled.

I've never had a problem at CG, but I have had several times with confusion at WDW regarding a reservation -- more often than in the real world. I always have my printed resevation with me -- which so far has worked. I've never had to reach the "let me speak with the manager" stage for dining.

I would guess that this episode was just WDW being big and busy.

 

[prttynpnk]

I don't know how to address the race issue on this, but the whole thing needs to be addressed. Obviously they didn't bring their own buzzer from home and an elevator code, so it's the restaaurants fault and some serious managerial tapdancing should have occured to fix THEIR mistake and make this right. That manager needs some retraining and soon.

 

[JimmyV]

I am not even going to address the racism allegation, unfortunately it is too often that as soon as a minority patron has a problem they want to blame their race.

Ummmm....by posting the second half of that sentence, ya kinda just did.

No idea what could have happened, and I find it hard to believe that the computer system cannot be used to trace back the ADR number to see when it was made and when it might have been cancelled. Maybe they had a different ADR and when they found out that the rest of the group was going to the CG, they double booked and their second ressie got kicked out of the system? Maybe the host/hostess on the 2d floor didn't find their ressie in the system, but saw their printout and found that to be sufficient, whereas the manager did not? I am at a loss. But I'd love to hear from mom2of2 who posts here who works at Kona. Maybe she can tell us how the computer system works and how this mess could have happened (and can be avoided in the future).

While I cannot say that I always do this, I often ask the concierge at my resort to re-confirm my important ADRs. I give him/her a printout with all my ressie numbers and ask that they double-check them for me. While I have never been told that I am not in the computer system, I would hope that a concierge could solve that problem for me ahead of time if the situation ever called for it.

 

[psac]

Terrible response from the manager. He should have just made it work. Even if he sat them at the bar or sushi bar, or in an un-staffed area and made a sever help them, or serve them himself. Totally unacceptable. I would have complained to the greeters on the second floor as well, obviously they sent them up. We were there (cali grill) on the night before at the third, and had a great time.

 

[PoohsFan1]

No idea what could have happened, and I find it hard to believe that the computer system cannot be used to trace back the ADR number to see when it was made and when it might have been cancelled. Maybe they had a different ADR and when they found out that the rest of the group was going to the CG, they double booked and their second ressie got kicked out of the system? Maybe the host/hostess on the 2d floor didn't find their ressie in the system, but saw their printout and found that to be sufficient, whereas the manager did not? I am at a loss. But I'd love to hear from mom2of2 who posts here who works at Kona. Maybe she can tell us how the computer system works and how this mess could have happened (and can be avoided in the future).

While I cannot say that I always do this, I often ask the concierge at my resort to re-confirm my important ADRs. I give him/her a printout with all my ressie numbers and ask that they double-check them for me. While I have never been told that I am not in the computer system, I would hope that a concierge could solve that problem for me ahead of time if the situation ever called for it.

I agree, it could of been a fact of matter that they forgot that had already made an ADR at another restaurant and when they heard about Cali Grill, booked that too. I am not sure how the system works when it comes to double booking and which ADR will get canceled first, but that could definitely be a possibility. I also am at a loss at how the manager handled this situation, we have had problems with our ADRs in the past and have talked to managers about it, and the managers have always been so accommodating and wonderful to work with (another reason why we love Disney so much)...they would some how be able to fix the problem at hand, but then again we don't go at super busy times of the year either. Like JimmyV mentioned, I always call a couple of days before we are to arrive to double check all of our ADRs and resort confirmation. I don't want to get down there and have something like this happen to us. I feel so sorry for that family and like others have said, please let Disney know what had happened, don't look for something in return, but rather leave a customer satisfaction with them.

 

[skier_pete]

While I cannot say that I always do this, I often ask the concierge at my resort to re-confirm my important ADRs. I give him/her a printout with all my ressie numbers and ask that they double-check them for me. While I have never been told that I am not in the computer system, I would hope that a concierge could solve that problem for me ahead of time if the situation ever called for it.

THAT is a really good idea! I have seen cases where (1) Disney screwed up and canceled the ADR and (2) the patron screwed up and wrote down the number wrong or booked on a different date by accident.

It is best to check, re-check and then check again your ADR #s, dates, and times. This suggestion of having the hotel concierge confirm them all for you when you arrive is BRILLIANT, too.

I am sorry that this would happen to anyone, and can totally get the family's feelings of discrimination. I agree with "How do they get up to the restaurant without an ADR?" I hope they were able to find a happy alternative for dinner, at least for the kids. (The parents were probably too upset to really enjoy any dinner.)

 

[Ramsfan28]

I would say race played no factor - Disney tries very hard to accomodate everyone.

Disney cares about one color - green. If you have the $$ they will glad serve you (as long as you have a reservation, etc.). California Grill has a "dress policy" and I have seen it broken every time I go there - they would have a hard time sending away a paying customer just because of an outfit, etc.

 

[MichiganMomto4]

No idea what could have happened, and I find it hard to believe that the computer system cannot be used to trace back the ADR number to see when it was made and when it might have been cancelled. Maybe they had a different ADR and when they found out that the rest of the group was going to the CG, they double booked and their second ressie got kicked out of the system? Maybe the host/hostess on the 2d floor didn't find their ressie in the system, but saw their printout and found that to be sufficient, whereas the manager did not?

This is very possible about the second ADR, I guess. I will try and find out. We are on haitus with the dance team but I can contact them and see if they had originally made plans elsewhere and when they heard a bunch of us were going to the CG, switched there. I don't think it's possible they JUST made adrs at the wrong place because I know they were concerned that after all that unpleasantness they would appear as a 'no-show' and their CC would be charged.... meaning they gave one at the time they made the adr. Not too many restaurants require that so it would more than likely have been made at the CG and not another restaurant by mistake.

To the poster who supplied the address to write and the information that should be included - I thank you. I will pass it along. I will probably go ahead and write myself also. Being, like I mentioned, the biggest Disney fan in this group, I feel like I personally did this to them because all I ever talked about was how superior everything about WDW is and how impressed everyone would be.