Half Hour Late is the New Normal

[North of Mouse]

Actuall, I feel it's really one sided; at WDW, the GUEST must show up early but the HOST can make you wait as long as they want!

Kind of like the Dr.'s office, eh???

How many people do you see get up and leave, and those are actually appointment times - and you'd better be on time LOL. And, no, you are 'not' compensated when 'they' don't get you in on time!!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Ooof sounds like they're over-scheduling some of this stuff

OK, the REAL story:
1) Meal ressies are way-way-way down.
2) Many restaurants are starving for guests.
. . . food sales are way down
. . . several eateries are giving away food at discounts up to 40% to TIW-DVC-AP guests
3) One reason (other than price) for low sales is the inability to get the time the guest wants.
. . . surveys of guests show inabilities to get desired times is why some folks chose not to visit a particular eatery
4) So, WDW reset the average "table time" (the amount of time to order-eat-clear a table) for many eateries.
. . . example: a meal is statistically 95-minutes at a certain eatery
. . . example: the new time allowed for a ressie has been reset to 80-minutes or 85-minutes per table
5) This allows more ADRs.
6) Thus, there is a backup at lots of eateries.
7) People are happy they got their ADR, but have to wait in line far past their scheduled time.
8) But, you ARE there, instead of passing up the ADR and just eating QS . *

* Some folks get really upset at the long-long-log waits past their ADR time.
Guests YELLING at podium Cast Members is not unheard-of.
In fact, some folks have resorted to throwing the vibrating beepers against brick walls in anger and shattering them.

 

[Wubar]

OK, the REAL story:
1) Meal ressies are way-way-way down.
2) Many restaurants are starving for guests.
. . . food sales are way down
. . . several eateries are giving away food at discounts up to 40% to TIW-DVC-AP guests
3) One reason (other than price) for low sales is the inability to get the time the guest wants.
. . . surveys of guests show inabilities to get desired times is why some folks chose not to visit a particular eatery
4) So, WDW reset the average "table time" (the amount of time to order-eat-clear a table) for many eateries.
. . . example: a meal is statistically 95-minutes at a certain eatery
. . . example: the new time allowed for a ressie has been reset to 80-minutes or 85-minutes per table
5) This allows more ADRs.
6) Thus, there is a backup at lots of eateries.
7) People are happy they got their ADR, but have to wait in line far past their scheduled time.
8) But, you ARE there, instead of passing up the ADR and just eating QS . *

* Some folks get really upset at the long-long-log waits past their ADR time.
Guests YELLING at podium Cast Members is not unheard-of.
In fact, some folks have resorted to throwing the vibrating beepers against brick walls in anger and shattering them.

People have actually lashed out by breaking the beepers because they didn't get seated on time? I hope Disney kicked those people out and locked their accounts, that type of behavior isn't acceptable. What happens if their food arrives cold or the wrong item is brought to the table, will they resort to throwing their plates against the wall?

 

[Disneylover99]

OK, the REAL story:
1) Meal ressies are way-way-way down.
2) Many restaurants are starving for guests.
. . . food sales are way down
. . . several eateries are giving away food at discounts up to 40% to TIW-DVC-AP guests
3) One reason (other than price) for low sales is the inability to get the time the guest wants.
. . . surveys of guests show inabilities to get desired times is why some folks chose not to visit a particular eatery
4) So, WDW reset the average "table time" (the amount of time to order-eat-clear a table) for many eateries.
. . . example: a meal is statistically 95-minutes at a certain eatery
. . . example: the new time allowed for a ressie has been reset to 80-minutes or 85-minutes per table
5) This allows more ADRs.
6) Thus, there is a backup at lots of eateries.
7) People are happy they got their ADR, but have to wait in line far past their scheduled time.
8) But, you ARE there, instead of passing up the ADR and just eating QS . *

* Some folks get really upset at the long-long-log waits past their ADR time.
Guests YELLING at podium Cast Members is not unheard-of.
In fact, some folks have resorted to throwing the vibrating beepers against brick walls in anger and shattering them.

So Disney has made this decision. Now guests may wait an additional 10-15 minutes after checking in at restaurants that they would probably already be waiting at. Bad move IMO.

I'd rather eat quick service than have a long, long wait past my ADR. A huge wait because Disney wants to turn tables faster at the expense of their customers leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

 

[mom2rtk]

3) One reason (other than price) for low sales is the inability to get the time the guest wants.
. . . surveys of guests show inabilities to get desired times is why some folks chose not to visit a particular eatery

Don't underestimate the impact of price. Disney has continued to raise prices on already overpriced restaurants in an efforts to get their margins up. And many many guests in the parks do not have access to DVC/AP/TIW discounts.

 

[Elle23]

We are at WDW now. In all of the restaurants we have eaten at, we never waited more than a few minutes. I have actually been impressed with how quickly we have been seated.

At Be Our Guest last night, I received the table ready text as I was walking away from checking in.

Unfortunately, that has been the best thing about most of the restaurants we ate at. I was not impressed with a lot of the service or the meals.

 

[allsaintsatx]

So Disney has made this decision. Now guests may wait an additional 10-15 minutes after checking in at restaurants that they would probably already be waiting at. Bad move IMO.

I'd rather eat quick service than have a long, long wait past my ADR. A huge wait because Disney wants to turn tables faster at the expense of their customers leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

Agreed. The table service restaurant is an themed experience, much like a resort or a park is a themed experience, and there is a level of immersion that I've gotten used to and also really look forward to. It helps to soften the blow of an expensive meal if there is a Disney Experience involved, be it cast member interaction, ambiance, theme, that kind of stuff. But. If I have to wait over 30 minutes past my reservation time, and then I get subpar service on top of that it makes me wonder why I'm spending $120 on an experience that, at that point of frustration and hangriness (because we always show up nice and hungry so we can eat literally everything in front of us) is no better than a quick service meal. If anything, with the new implementation of mobile ordering, the most frustrating part of the QS meal equation - waiting in line, waiting for food - has been extracted altogether. After eating a burger and fries at Village Haus that we literally walked straight up to the window and picked up and were done eating in under 15 minutes, I have to seriously reconsider as many TS reservations in the future. And I'm not super happy about that because we do love TS restaurants but the pre-souring of the experience before you even sit down in the restaurant is making us do fewer and fewer ADRs each trip. We used to do a character meal in the morning and a TS dinner at night and maybe a lunch if we were feeling extra fancy, but now we find ourselves maybe having one TS per day, and 1/2 the time we end up canceling because we don't want to take the chance that tonight is the night we have a 30 minute wait. Luckily places like Satuli Canteen exist so we can have a somewhat similar food experience but ready in minutes.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

OK, the REAL story:
1) Meal ressies are way-way-way down.
2) Many restaurants are starving for guests.
. . . food sales are way down
. . . several eateries are giving away food at discounts up to 40% to TIW-DVC-AP guests
3) One reason (other than price) for low sales is the inability to get the time the guest wants.
. . . surveys of guests show inabilities to get desired times is why some folks chose not to visit a particular eatery
4) So, WDW reset the average "table time" (the amount of time to order-eat-clear a table) for many eateries.
. . . example: a meal is statistically 95-minutes at a certain eatery
. . . example: the new time allowed for a ressie has been reset to 80-minutes or 85-minutes per table
5) This allows more ADRs.
6) Thus, there is a backup at lots of eateries.
7) People are happy they got their ADR, but have to wait in line far past their scheduled time.
8) But, you ARE there, instead of passing up the ADR and just eating QS . *

* Some folks get really upset at the long-long-log waits past their ADR time.
Guests YELLING at podium Cast Members is not unheard-of.
In fact, some folks have resorted to throwing the vibrating beepers against brick walls in anger and shattering them.

I really wish Disney would try harder to turn tables that wanted to be turned faster. My family can’t escape in less than 75 minutes no matter how much we want to. We’ve waited up to 30 mins a few times to get a table but we wait forever to order dessert or pay more often than not. We waited 45 mins at 50s Prime Time once and then our waitress disappeared for 20 mins when we really wanted to leave. Since there were still people waiting that was 20 more mins someone had to wait when we would have gladly given them our table.

Disney should get Ziosk. That would make things much more efficient while not making the people who want to hang out feel rushed.

All that said, the behavior you mention is awful. CMs should not have to put up with that.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We used to do a daily ADR for a TS restaurant, usually dinner along with one character breakfast per trip. We routinely use AP, TIW, and DVC for our TS meals. Over the last two years, we’re reduced our ADRs to alternate days or so, eating QS or in-villa leftovers along with fixing breakfast in our villa. We always pay OOP, so the price increases at a lot of the Signature restaurants has pushed us to reducing our visits during a typical vacation. We still enjoy the Signature restaurant experience, but have to choose our spots to stay within budget. We haven’t notices long waits at the restaurants, but we’re not there every night anymore.

 

[J and R's mom]

Some here may not remember, but for a good long time they were called "Priority Seating"...

THANK YOU!!! I was trying to remember what they used to call it while reading through these pages. I remember all of the "debates" on here (yep...I've been on here THAT long) about Priority Seating not being an actual "reservation" back in the day. I also remember when they changed the name...although NOT the actual meaning/process...and those debates.

...In fact, some folks have resorted to throwing the vibrating beepers against brick walls in anger and shattering them.

To the OP...that stinks. Hopefully those wait times do not become the new norm. I'm glad that they made it right in the end and offered some compensation.

 

[mom2rtk]

I really wish Disney would try harder to turn tables that wanted to be turned faster. My family can’t escape in less than 75 minutes no matter how much we want to. We’ve waited up to 30 mins a few times to get a table but we wait forever to order dessert or pay more often than not. We waited 45 mins at 50s Prime Time once and then our waitress disappeared for 20 mins when we really wanted to leave. Since there were still people waiting that was 20 more mins someone had to wait when we would have gladly given them our table.

Disney should get Ziosk. That would make things much more efficient while not making the people who want to hang out feel rushed.

All that said, the behavior you mention is awful. CMs should not have to put up with that.

I totally agree! Some don't want to be rushed, but many are in a hurry to leave, but just sit there waiting to settle up. I'm shocked Disney hasn't looked at a way to make this happen more efficiently. It's penny wise/pound foolish to cut back on staff when people are sitting around waiting to pay so others can take their place.