What a strange read. It’s clear that people have different expectations of dining. For some it seems to be sitting at a table with long periods between eating to talk and figure out what to have next. For others it’s the food. Some want drinks. Actually, many do. I don’t. Unless it’s an early breakfast, and in that case just please give me the coffee pot.
Am I crazy to think that after spending $550 on a meal we could sit and enjoy the company a little bit enjoy the music, the entertainment, etc...?
Might be worth pondering what it was that stopped you from sitting and enjoying those things? If it takes your family a certain amount of time to eat, what was it about having food crowded on the table that caused you to go faster than you wanted? You had quite a bit of control there. Slow yourselves down, and ignore any perceived speeding-up by the server, if you want a long experience at the restaurant.
I'm sorry but I wouldn't have left a tip at all.
With a big group they would have had to talk to a manager to have it taken off.
I don't think 2 to 2-1/2 hours to eat a 4 course meal (salad, appetizers, main course, and dessert with coffee/tea) is an unreasonable amount of time
Holy gosh. I sure do.
Then again I rarely eat four courses. Let alone have coffee/tea at the end, especially if I drank anything at all during the meal. And if I did drink during the meal I’m definitely not hitting four courses.
WE do not feel we need to pace our meals to match how you pace yourself or anyone else for that matter.
Well, but...you’re in public. You’re at a popular restaurant where you know there are others waiting, and where you probably had to wait. It might be worth thinking about a little bit.
We were brought up to treat meals as a time to discuss our day.
Isn’t that thinking for those who are separated by work and school all day? Aren’t you together in line most of the day during a Disney vacation?
This post got me thinking about big family dinners, like Thanksgiving. Don't you all put all the food out at once and just help yourselves during those types of meals? You eat at whatever pace you want, but the food is all laid out for the taking.
Exactly. And that’s my fave kind of meal. That way I can see what all is there and choose wisely.
On our last trip were were just trying to relax and enjoy the evening, and were constantly being asked if we needed this or that. It felt like they were subconsciously telling us to get the heck out if we were done.
They were asking what else they could get and do for you, and you felt that was them telling you to go? Many others would feel that that is kind and solicitous service.
I really don't understand why this place is still so popular. Nostalgia?
There are brand new diners at every restaurant every moment.
In general, children are in bed by somewhere between 7:00 and 8:00 PM so I cannot see how "Lots of families with kids waiting for their tables" enters the discussion.
Broader perspective is needed.
First off, by no means is everyone there from your time zone. Disney brings people from all over. 7 disneyworld time is 4 my time. You want me to put my kid to bed at 4 for his body’s time?
Second, it’s vacation.
Third, not everyone has kids who need to stick to strict schedules at home, so it’s definitely not going to happen on vacation.
Sort of like first you wrote one post about how long this meal should take and then quoted a google concentrating on ways to increase revenue, declared that as the definitive response on how long it takes the average person to eat a meal and went with that.
They said a feeling. Then they looked it up and reported on that.
She told us this was the only opportunity to see that character so if we were not ready we would miss that character. I kindly explained that we would see all of the characters during the meal, bank on it.
Out at
Disneyland there’s* an expensive character meal where they seat you until 11 but the host characters are GONE at 10:30. No exceptions. A CM telling you that this is the final round of a character might very well know what they are talking about.
(*or maybe it’s changed now. I didn’t move that character meal so I only did it twice, and I think it’s all different now. But it used to be like that. We weren’t told by the hostess and were surprised by the lack of host characters.)
we had not even had the chance to remove our outerwear and put our umbrellas down
Isn’t that restaurant all the way inside the GF building and down a hallway? And on marble flooring? Maybe I’m misremembering from what I glimpsed while walking through. But it seems confusing that you still had outerwear and umbrellas on or out while being seated.
One thing we discovered is if you tell them you have TIW at beginning then you might get crappy service (as they get guaranteed 18% tip).
It’s never been true for me. And I know from my cousin’s experience that you can get that tip taken off if you talk to a manager. If you feel you got lousy service, speak up. Better yet, speak up while getting the lousy service.
. Although I have to admit there are plenty of times I want to correct grammar, usage, spelling... 
