Why is Disney so inefficient at seating people

[bonoriffic]

After spending the last week at Disney World, one thing was very consistent... poor restaurant management. This wasn't an isolated incident, it happened at almost every restaurant we visited.

Without fail, once our ADR was found we were asked "4 adults?". The answer was always no. 2 adults, 1 kid, 1 infant. This information was provided to them ahead of time. In some cases pre-payment was required so I know they got it right, yet at the hostess stand they always had 4 adults. Are we on the Disney dining plan, no. Is a high chair needed, yes. Here is where the insanity always began.

For some reason, the person who takes this information has no further involvement in your transaction. Eventually someone else will call your name, and lead you to your table based on instructions printed on a small slip of paper. Without fail, we would arrive at a table without a high chair. Of course the piece of paper had no mention of this, and it would be impossible for the person bringing us to the table to solve this themselves. No, that has to be solved by the person who entered your information at the start. Some times we would just have us stand to the side for a moment while they huddled to solve this difficult problem, and other times we were sent back to the waiting area as the top minds in the industry were called in to solve this problem. In one case this was a 10 minute delay, and we ended up back at the table we were originally brought to. Maybe placing a high chair at a table is a union job.

I understand in rare cases you may be assigned a table, more likely a booth, that doesn't allow for a high chair. In those cases, maybe a momentary pause is needed. But in every other case, think for yourself and grab a high chair. Why Disney insists that everyone be controlled by the small slip of paper is beyond me.

Some of the more baffling aspects of Disney restaurants is their incredibly small waiting areas. People are crammed into very small spaces, as they wait for the magical printing machine to assign their fate. Why design a restaurant with a capacity of 200 and a waiting area that can hold about 15? Worse is you can see the restaurant is half full, with multiple people standing around waiting for the paper God to tell them where to seat someone. Clearly they knew what the crowd size would be, to say the restaurant appears half full because they didn't have enough servers is a poor excuse. That is valid on a Tuesday afternoon at 3pm when 30 walk ins show up. To not be prepared for a crowd when ADRs were gone weeks ago is just poor management.

 

[GirlDreamer]

Wow, sounds like you had a case of very bad luck! It certainly wasn't like that when I worked at a Disney restaurant. If the hostess at check in noted in the system you needed a high chair, there would always be one at the table when you arrived. In the few cases it didn't, the seater just went and got one, no problem. The restaurant I worked in had the outside as the waiting area (Akershus at Norway), so space wasn't usually a problem.

What happens when you're checked in is that your reservation will go over to the assignor, who then has to assign you a table. Usually the assignor has to go into the reservation prior to assigning the table to see any preferences the guest may have. I really don't understand why the seater just couldn't get you that high chair though.

 

[Hopefully]

After spending the last week at Disney World, one thing was very consistent... poor restaurant management. This wasn't an isolated incident, it happened at almost every restaurant we visited.

Without fail, once our ADR was found we were asked "4 adults?". The answer was always no. 2 adults, 1 kid, 1 infant. This information was provided to them ahead of time. In some cases pre-payment was required so I know they got it right, yet at the hostess stand they always had 4 adults. Are we on the Disney dining plan, no. Is a high chair needed, yes. Here is where the insanity always began.

For some reason, the person who takes this information has no further involvement in your transaction. Eventually someone else will call your name, and lead you to your table based on instructions printed on a small slip of paper. Without fail, we would arrive at a table without a high chair. Of course the piece of paper had no mention of this, and it would be impossible for the person bringing us to the table to solve this themselves. No, that has to be solved by the person who entered your information at the start. Some times we would just have us stand to the side for a moment while they huddled to solve this difficult problem, and other times we were sent back to the waiting area as the top minds in the industry were called in to solve this problem. In one case this was a 10 minute delay, and we ended up back at the table we were originally brought to. Maybe placing a high chair at a table is a union job.

I understand in rare cases you may be assigned a table, more likely a booth, that doesn't allow for a high chair. In those cases, maybe a momentary pause is needed. But in every other case, think for yourself and grab a high chair. Why Disney insists that everyone be controlled by the small slip of paper is beyond me.

Some of the more baffling aspects of Disney restaurants is their incredibly small waiting areas. People are crammed into very small spaces, as they wait for the magical printing machine to assign their fate. Why design a restaurant with a capacity of 200 and a waiting area that can hold about 15? Worse is you can see the restaurant is half full, with multiple people standing around waiting for the paper God to tell them where to seat someone. Clearly they knew what the crowd size would be, to say the restaurant appears half full because they didn't have enough servers is a poor excuse. That is valid on a Tuesday afternoon at 3pm when 30 walk ins show up. To not be prepared for a crowd when ADRs were gone weeks ago is just poor management.

WOW! You have sarcasim down to a science!
Sorry you had a bad experience

 

[mom2of2]

If you made your ADR's online it will always put in adults, I have no idea why but it does. The Greeter is the one that has to put the correct information in so that the Assigner can see it. The Seater is the one that takes you to the table. So in essence it's 3 people at minimum who get you to your table. If the Greeter drops the ball where a high chair is concerned that could cause issues. The table may not be the proper size or in the right area for a high chair. It could block walkways or whatever. That means you have to be reassigned to a different table. The Seater can't reassign...the Assigner has to. This has nothing to do with Union and everything to do with assigned position. Not every Seater can Greet, not every Greeter can Assign.

The little white paper? That contains all the info that your Server needs. It should have your name, party amount and make-up, ADR time, time arrived and time seated, table number and server name. It will also note if there is an allergy, celebration, high chair, wheel chair or DP involved. That paper will be stapled to your closed check and the server has to hand that in at the end of the shift.

As for half seated restaurants....depending on when your ADR is empty tables but with guests waiting could mean a few different things. Most servers have different start and end times. It could be that not all of the servers are on the floor just yet or it could be that some have already worked their shift leaving half the stations closed.

 

[mom2maggie]

We had the DxDp on our last trip, with a 7 month old who required a highchair at every table service restaurant we went to (at least 2 daily, usually 3 for 8 days) and we didn't have one incident like you are describing. We had to wait 1-2 minutes tops for a high chair if there wasn't one already at the table.

 

[sylw]

I think Disney does a great job!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Worse is you can see the restaurant is half full, with multiple people standing around waiting for the paper God to tell them where to seat someone.

1) You need to look at logistics.
2) You CANNOT seat and feed a whole room at one time
. . . waiters cannot wait on everyone at once
. . . kitchens cannot cook for everyone at once *
. . . buffets lines are not long enough for everyone at once
3) EVERY restaurant in existence
. . . flows people into the eatery at a controlled level
. . . seats and waits upon people in a methodical manner
. . . flows orders to the kitchen on a manner that allow cooking
4) So, it is very common to see vacant seats
. . . at the opening of the eatery
. . . during food or people changes during the open hours

* EXAMPLE:
. . . Shula's opens
. . . all tables get filled at the same time
. . . there are 100 orders for steaks
. . . the kitchen can grill only 15 steaks at one time
. . . it take 15-minutes for a 2" steak to grill
. . . some people will wait an 1½ hours for their steak

 

[disnut8]

WOW! You have sarcasim down to a science!

Yeah, I had to laugh too.

I've been to so many restaurants in the Atlanta metro area and it's all been what you said. Everywhere. You get somewhere, you see half the tables are empty but you wait a half hour because of some excuse - "we don't have enough servers", "we had more people show up than expected and we weren't prepared", whatever.

As for the high chair, I'm curious as to the age of the infant. Sometimes, parents (and their kids) are offended when children are assumed to be in a high chair. We have never been offered a high chair just "because". We've always been asked. And I think if my grandson is now assumed to be in a high chair, he just might want to go a few rounds with the host or hostess who suggested it.

Sorry, I say chill out.

 

[Kim&Chris]

After spending the last week at Disney World, one thing was very consistent... poor restaurant management. This wasn't an isolated incident, it happened at almost every restaurant we visited.

Without fail, once our ADR was found we were asked "4 adults?". The answer was always no. 2 adults, 1 kid, 1 infant. This information was provided to them ahead of time. In some cases pre-payment was required so I know they got it right, yet at the hostess stand they always had 4 adults. Are we on the Disney dining plan, no. Is a high chair needed, yes. Here is where the insanity always began.

For some reason, the person who takes this information has no further involvement in your transaction. Eventually someone else will call your name, and lead you to your table based on instructions printed on a small slip of paper. Without fail, we would arrive at a table without a high chair. Of course the piece of paper had no mention of this, and it would be impossible for the person bringing us to the table to solve this themselves. No, that has to be solved by the person who entered your information at the start. Some times we would just have us stand to the side for a moment while they huddled to solve this difficult problem, and other times we were sent back to the waiting area as the top minds in the industry were called in to solve this problem. In one case this was a 10 minute delay, and we ended up back at the table we were originally brought to. Maybe placing a high chair at a table is a union job.

I understand in rare cases you may be assigned a table, more likely a booth, that doesn't allow for a high chair. In those cases, maybe a momentary pause is needed. But in every other case, think for yourself and grab a high chair. Why Disney insists that everyone be controlled by the small slip of paper is beyond me.

Some of the more baffling aspects of Disney restaurants is their incredibly small waiting areas. People are crammed into very small spaces, as they wait for the magical printing machine to assign their fate. Why design a restaurant with a capacity of 200 and a waiting area that can hold about 15? Worse is you can see the restaurant is half full, with multiple people standing around waiting for the paper God to tell them where to seat someone. Clearly they knew what the crowd size would be, to say the restaurant appears half full because they didn't have enough servers is a poor excuse. That is valid on a Tuesday afternoon at 3pm when 30 walk ins show up. To not be prepared for a crowd when ADRs were gone weeks ago is just poor management.

AMEN!!

We were also in Disney last week. Six adults, three children. Without fail...each and every time....they repeated some incorrect variation of this at the podium. Then, I'd correct them, and the girl at the podium would get a confused/concerned look on her face, type in some corrections, and ask us to wait for the next available table.

For the Cinderella Character dinner at the Grand Floridian, my group had 7:20 reservations. What time were we seated? 8:15. Ridiculous.

I agree, OP....Disney has very poor restaurant management.

 

[Owlpost23]

Like any other restaurant,the good and great people go where they're paid well.

 

[mom2of2]

Its not management. Its guests that check in late, show up with more people then their ADR, check in without their whole party or camp at the table. The computer quotes times by how long a guest has been at the table. What do you want Disney to do? Put a time limit on your meal? Oh that would go over real well.....

 

[bonoriffic]

Some people seem to think I was expecting to walk in and be handed a menu. I understand you can't predict individual eating paces, no shows, and late arrivals.

What you can control is 3 people being required to get you to your table. Every other restaurant from Applebees to 5 star establishments can do it with 1 person, why does Disney need 3? And as others have pointed out, one person in the process may lack the "credentials" to fix a problem the earlier person made.

We arrived at Garden Grove for 5pm, the first ADR possible. The restaurant was empty. We were the first to arrive. It took 7 minutes from greeting to actually being seated. Our eventual server was standing at the doorway. The food was prepared. It took 7 minutes to go through a system that a well trained hostess could handle elsewhere in 30 seconds. Nobody moves until their paper slip master commands them to, it is just insane.

 

[Figmificent]

I would bet no Applebee's seats nearly the number of guests that most Disney restaurants do. I'm sorry, if 7 minutes, who cares? Slow down and enjoy Disney and your family. Most of the reasons things are done this way have been explained to you, including why it probably took 7 whole minutes to seat you since the restaurant had just opened.

 

[JasmineEvans]

Sorry to hear about such a bad experience. Luckily we have never had that kind of problem. Our Disney visit was simply great both for us and our kids!

 

[maxiesmom]

AMEN!!

We were also in Disney last week. Six adults, three children. Without fail...each and every time....they repeated some incorrect variation of this at the podium. Then, I'd correct them, and the girl at the podium would get a confused/concerned look on her face, type in some corrections, and ask us to wait for the next available table.

For the Cinderella Character dinner at the Grand Floridian, my group had 7:20 reservations. What time were we seated? 8:15. Ridiculous.

I agree, OP....Disney has very poor restaurant management.

One thing to remember is an ADR is not a reservation for an actual time, as it would be in the real world. What it is supposed to do is give you the next table available for your party size. The problem is, especially with character meals, is that people like to linger. And a few people taking an extra 15 minutes or so throws everything out of whack.

You can't compare Disney restaurants to off-site restaurants. They serve more people and have characters and photos to juggle as well. Whole different animal.

 

[ElizabethB]

My complaint is different but related. A computer now decides where people will sit -- taking all discretion away from the hosts. As a result, we often found ourselves at a crummy table, when plenty of nice ones were available. Why? Because the computer is seating based on criteria having nothing to do with whether a table is a good one or not! We often just asked for another table. But, this involves going back to the computer, asking for another seating slip, etc. All very annoying. Why make it so a hostess can't just look at the room, the tables, the balance of tables and the balance of waiters and use her judgment and discretion? Oy vey!

Disney is becoming very successful at taking away all discretion and judgment from their employees. This must be preparation for the time when the entire resort will be run by robots! No wages, no sick days, no judgment calls -- what could be better.

Reminds me of the old joke about flying sophisticated jets. Soon, a cockpit will have one dog and one pilot. The dog is there to bite the pilot if he touches any of the controls and the pilot is there to feed the dog!

 

[honeydiane1953]

Some people seem to think I was expecting to walk in and be handed a menu. I understand you can't predict individual eating paces, no shows, and late arrivals.

What you can control is 3 people being required to get you to your table. Every other restaurant from Applebees to 5 star establishments can do it with 1 person, why does Disney need 3? And as others have pointed out, one person in the process may lack the "credentials" to fix a problem the earlier person made.

We arrived at Garden Grove for 5pm, the first ADR possible. The restaurant was empty. We were the first to arrive. It took 7 minutes from greeting to actually being seated. Our eventual server was standing at the doorway. The food was prepared. It took 7 minutes to go through a system that a well trained hostess could handle elsewhere in 30 seconds. Nobody moves until their paper slip master commands them to, it is just insane.

Would you like to driv-thru or eat in?????????

 

[mom2of2]

My complaint is different but related. A computer now decides where people will sit -- taking all discretion away from the hosts. As a result, we often found ourselves at a crummy table, when plenty of nice ones were available. Why? Because the computer is seating based on criteria having nothing to do with whether a table is a good one or not! We often just asked for another table. But, this involves going back to the computer, asking for another seating slip, etc. All very annoying. Why make it so a hostess can't just look at the room, the tables, the balance of tables and the balance of waiters and use her judgment and discretion? Oy vey!

Disney is becoming very successful at taking away all discretion and judgment from their employees. This must be preparation for the time when the entire resort will be run by robots! No wages, no sick days, no judgment calls -- what could be better.

Reminds me of the old joke about flying sophisticated jets. Soon, a cockpit will have one dog and one pilot. The dog is there to bite the pilot if he touches any of the controls and the pilot is there to feed the dog!

Actually you get seated by server rotation, the computer keeps track of how many guests each server has/had so it's fair for all servers. When you turn down a table you take that server out of rotation and then the server has to wait for the next party that will fit the table size. Most restaurants have tables that no one ever wants but a server has no say in what section they are in, that too goes in rotation

 

[minushka72]

Some people seem to think I was expecting to walk in and be handed a menu. I understand you can't predict individual eating paces, no shows, and late arrivals.

What you can control is 3 people being required to get you to your table. Every other restaurant from Applebees to 5 star establishments can do it with 1 person, why does Disney need 3? And as others have pointed out, one person in the process may lack the "credentials" to fix a problem the earlier person made.

We arrived at Garden Grove for 5pm, the first ADR possible. The restaurant was empty. We were the first to arrive. It took 7 minutes from greeting to actually being seated. Our eventual server was standing at the doorway. The food was prepared. It took 7 minutes to go through a system that a well trained hostess could handle elsewhere in 30 seconds. Nobody moves until their paper slip master commands them to, it is just insane.

I also have 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant in my party size but have never had the problems you have described. While we may wait a few-15 minutes for our table, I know that this may happen since the ADR is not an actual time reservation, just an estimate of when you will be seated.

Also, at Applebees and similar restaurants, you are seated by the hostess and then your server is someone different so it would normally be at least 2 people in that instance. Since Disney serves more people they need a 3rd to assign the seats rather than just the hostess/greeter.

 

[cbg1027]

I'm not saying their system is perfect by any means, but they're handling things fairly well for having to deal with so many people.

The waiting areas are small because when these restaurants were built, not as many people were using them. They weren't as popular, and most people didn't even have ADR's because you didn't really need them most places way back in the day.

Disney overbooks the restaurants by 25% most of the time to make up for all the no-shows. Sometimes, like during free dining periods, there are fewer no shows....so you end up with a lot more people waiting and a much more crowded entry.

It's a constantly evolving system because the guests' habits constantly change. This what dining at Disney is right now. Sometimes, those long waits really suck. But you can choose to eat a CS. I'll deal with the inefficiencies and chance a bit of wait because I enjoy the dining experience enough to make up for those negative aspects.