Bad experience at T-Rex on 10/20

[draybook]

So, we went to Legoland on Monday, 10/20 but had my birthday dinner set at T-Rex at 8:15pm. We got there on time and got checked in and seated within 5 minutes. Everything was pretty good and the service was alright. Kinda weird that our server never asked if we were celebrating anything, because I sure was looking forward to a birthday brownie but whatever.

So , the time comes to pay and we had brought over $1k in Disney gifts cars with us with the intention of using some to pay for this dinner. Well, THAT is when our server decides to tell us the system has been down all day and they couldn't take those as payment. Not before we ordered, but after we've already eaten. So, she begrudgingly used her debit card and on the way out, she spoke to the manager who said he couldn't do anything there and that we needed to speak to guest relations but they would probably offer gift cards. He was nice as was the hostess.

But you're telling me that the lady at the check-in podium outside, the check-in girl at the inside podium, the hostess, the server AND the manager who is supposed to be roaming the tables ALL couldn't put together two brain cells to let us know beforehand about the system being down?

Sure, we had the money to pay but we brought gift cards specifically for it and shouldn't have been put in that spot. We would have left and found something else had we known. Now we only have today and tomorrow in the parks and we're sitting on about $700 in gift cards. I get that some folks won't agree with us but meh, it was a bad showing from them. It really put a damper on a good day.

 

[networkpro]

If you were not aware, on Monday cloud based services were impacted with the Amazon DNS outage. Those stored value cards redemption were impacted world wide. So you see while everything is working, they can be used like cash, but they are dependent on so much other infrastructure. Cash does not.

 

[Jon81uk]

T-Rex isn't owned or operated by Disney, I would have double checked before ordering that they can definintly accept Disney gift cards. If you had a Landry's gift card though then it would be different.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I would have expected as diners were being seated they should have informed you that there was a system outage. Maybe being at Legoland and not on Disney property they were not expecting to handle Disney gift cards. With over 1K in cards you would have had I assume quite a bit of left over gift cards with paying for one dinner at T-Rex. Why not buy yourself a nice B-day gift or sit on the cards for a return trip. They won't expire.

 

[Calmdownnow]

I would have expected as diners were being seated they should have informed you that there was a system outage. Maybe being at Legoland and not on Disney property they were not expecting to handle Disney gift cards. With over 1K in cards you would have had I assume quite a bit of left over gift cards with paying for one dinner at T-Rex. Why not buy yourself a nice B-day gift or sit on the cards for a return trip. They won't expire.

I suppose it's a different cultural viewpoint, but the outage hit the UK as well as the US and my son was planning to take me out to lunch so we checked before ordering at the restaurant that all of our payment systems were working, whereas in the US, you are expecting someone to advise you when they probably wouldn't have known what your payment plans were. (Also. possibly our news streams are faster at warning us about this sort of thing.)

 

[Jon81uk]

I would have expected as diners were being seated they should have informed you that there was a system outage. Maybe being at Legoland and not on Disney property they were not expecting to handle Disney gift cards. With over 1K in cards you would have had I assume quite a bit of left over gift cards with paying for one dinner at T-Rex. Why not buy yourself a nice B-day gift or sit on the cards for a return trip. They won't expire.

The T-Rex restaurant is at Disney Springs not at Legoland.

Most places at Disney Springs will take Disney gift cards I think, but as those venues are not owned/operated by Disney I have usually double checked.

 

[draybook]

Yeah, they take them and we've never had this problem before. I knew about the Amazon thing but like I said, they failed at telling us upfront that they couldn't accept the gift cards. If that's the only payment option we had on us, what would they have done?

 

[JIMINYCR]

The T-Rex restaurant is at Disney Springs not at Legoland.

Most places at Disney Springs will take Disney gift cards I think, but as those venues are not owned/operated by Disney I have usually double checked.

The way it was stated by the OP it sounded like it was at Legoland not DS. That's what I was going by. Ive never been to Legoland and was thinking that there was a T-Rex there.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I suppose it's a different cultural viewpoint, but the outage hit the UK as well as the US and my son was planning to take me out to lunch so we checked before ordering at the restaurant that all of our payment systems were working, whereas in the US, you are expecting someone to advise you when they probably wouldn't have known what your payment plans were. (Also. possibly our news streams are faster at warning us about this sort of thing.)

That's fine if the dining guests are aware that there is a system wide outage that has occurred. I was not aware until much later in the day that there had been one and had I gone to a lunch I wouldn't have known. Not everyone is watching news reports at work or during their normal day.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Yeah, they take them and we've never had this problem before. I knew about the Amazon thing but like I said, they failed at telling us upfront that they couldn't accept the gift cards. If that's the only payment option we had on us, what would they have done?

Make you wash lots of dishes... LOL.

 

[donaldtoo]

Don’t they have AI robots that do that now…?!

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

So, we went to Legoland on Monday, 10/20 but had my birthday dinner set at T-Rex at 8:15pm. We got there on time and got checked in and seated within 5 minutes. Everything was pretty good and the service was alright. Kinda weird that our server never asked if we were celebrating anything, because I sure was looking forward to a birthday brownie but whatever.

So , the time comes to pay and we had brought over $1k in Disney gifts cars with us with the intention of using some to pay for this dinner. Well, THAT is when our server decides to tell us the system has been down all day and they couldn't take those as payment. Not before we ordered, but after we've already eaten. So, she begrudgingly used her debit card and on the way out, she spoke to the manager who said he couldn't do anything there and that we needed to speak to guest relations but they would probably offer gift cards. He was nice as was the hostess.

But you're telling me that the lady at the check-in podium outside, the check-in girl at the inside podium, the hostess, the server AND the manager who is supposed to be roaming the tables ALL couldn't put together two brain cells to let us know beforehand about the system being down?

Sure, we had the money to pay but we brought gift cards specifically for it and shouldn't have been put in that spot. We would have left and found something else had we known. Now we only have today and tomorrow in the parks and we're sitting on about $700 in gift cards. I get that some folks won't agree with us but meh, it was a bad showing from them. It really put a damper on a good day.

This seems like a stretch to be honest.

If the restaurant's entire payment system was down, and people could only pay in cash...i would 100% be in agreement they should have said something first.

But is sounds like it wasn't a problem with all electronic payment options as you were able to pay with a debit card. It seems like the problem only in connection with Disney Gift cards, which while they might be taken at Disney Springs restaurants, are gift cards of another company (Disney doesn't own T-Rex.) I don't think it would be strange that a restaurant/service staff might not think to notify everyone that they couldn't process third party gift cards at this time.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Don’t they have AI robots that do that now…?!

View attachment 889091

No. Those unfortunate non payers must wash dishes which gives the robots a break. They go in the back room to get their joints oiled and greased up.

 

[draybook]

This seems like a stretch to be honest.

If the restaurant's entire payment system was down, and people could only pay in cash...i would 100% be in agreement they should have said something first.

But is sounds like it wasn't a problem with all electronic payment options as you were able to pay with a debit card. It seems like the problem only in connection with Disney Gift cards, which while they might be taken at Disney Springs restaurants, are gift cards of another company (Disney doesn't own T-Rex.) I don't think it would be strange that a restaurant/service staff might not think to notify everyone that they couldn't process third party gift cards at this time.

Except that the indoor podium girl asked my wife if our server has told us when we were seated, so they know it was a problem.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Except that the indoor podium girl asked my wife if our server has told us when we were seated, so they know it was a problem.

I am not saying they didn't know it was happening. There was a major widespread internet issue that day, everyone should have been aware that there were impacts stemming from it.

However, if that was the only thing that was being impacted, gift cards from third party sources, then its NOT that unusually that someone might have forgotten to mention it to every single person checking in to be seated that day.

 

[wdwmagic]

I think if it was an obscure third party gift card it would be acceptable not to mention it, but with it being Disney gift cards at Disney Springs, I would think that should be worthy of being mentioned ahead of time.

 

[draybook]

I am not saying they didn't know it was happening. There was a major widespread internet issue that day, everyone should have been aware that there were impacts stemming from it.

However, if that was the only thing that was being impacted, gift cards from third party sources, then its NOT that unusually that someone might have forgotten to mention it to every single person checking in to be seated that day.

Thus why I said that all they had to do was write up a sign and place it at the podiums.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

The outage on the 27th was pretty significant, but I have had this happen to me other times at WDW, while dining at a WDW owned restaurant. One time it was when we went to pay the bill at a TS, the other was a mobile order. The mobile order looked like it had gone through, I had a verified order #.

But when I pick up my food the order had vanished from the system. It was a pain to have to redo the entire order and also pay w a cc. It was on the tail end of my last WDW day, so the extra 20minutes was less than ideal.

It would be nice to be warned of a system outage, but I can see how the staff was not fully aware of the problem when I was there. The problem had been intermittent all day.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Ive never been to Legoland and was thinking that there was a T-Rex there.

There is. But it's made of Legos. And you can't eat it. Well. I guess. Maybe you could.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Jeez dude, it aint the end of the world. It's Disney world, you will find a way to use those gift cards. I'll bet you were real nice with the tip too.

I start collecting my gift cards for my next trip after returning home ( many come to me for my b-day, Christmas, etc) and accumulate quite a substantial amount of $$$ on them and have yet to leave a trip to WDW with ones not cashed in. I have no trouble managing to find something to use them on. If not I pass them on to DW or DS to redeem.