Having a party member save a table while others get the food?

[DABIGCHEEZ]

I have always ordered the food for my family while they go find a table and get utensils, fixins, etc. for many of the reasons mentioned already. I will continue to do so.

As far as the hovering for a table... that is just plain rude IMO. I would never allow my family to do it and if someone was standing over us while we ate our meal, I would just eat slower and make a few comments look enough to be heard by that rude family.

 

[dsnyfreak]

what about the times you may be first in line at an eatery but the person in the line behind you in a different line gets your food first..disney problem i know...we do this when its busy but try to go off times if possible..what about ppl in electric chairs who are capable of standing and walking...and lazy alot to times and just dont want to wait in line..unfair to the rest of us...oh dont get me started about this japanese couple who were in the exit side of under the seas with nemo who when it was my families turn to get in the clamshell..they cut right in between my husband and me almost knocking my over with my 5 year old...the wife trying to push me out of the way and trying to get seat next to her husband and son..ed me off to say the least.. back to subject at hand... we do it especially at the resorts at breakfast...unbelievably ruse ppl there sometimes..the young kids in the big cheerleading groups and foreigners in big groups...so yea.... im sending my husband to get a table....he hates cold food....he can go get his own coffe though!!:animwink: personally i dont like cold food...if theres quit a bit of tables..he still will go grab one cuz we have a stroller and hate to manuver them around QS food lines...

 

[dsnyfreak]

i think at places like the food courts at the resorts its almost necessary to grab a seat cuz the more ppl standing around with their parties while one person gets the breads..milk..juice..etc..just clutters everything and causes angry guests cuz ppl are just in the way....i have been there without my kids and that is annoying to be standing in line with ppl in front of you with 15 others who are just there for the ride and not buying anything seperate....again ...clutters up all the space for nothing...just go grab a table..sit down and wait for the food..dont stand around and take up space that could be occupied by guests buying the food..it makes it hard to walk and manuver around with food causing spills on guests and floors which will in turn cause a cm to have to put up a wet floor sign and take up even more space while they clean up the mess....oh you have touched a nerve today!!

 

[DisneyMusician2]

With small children or large strollers I can understand it. Especially in areas with outdoor eating options and you don't want to bring them inside the venue or they won't fit.

As a rule, I try not reserve a table if I can avoid it. I think that most places have enough seating where you can generally find a table without camping one out. I do like it at Pecos Bills when they do the assisted seating, as it tends to make everything move a bit smoother.

 

[Sweet Melissa]

They had a system like this at Pecos Bill one year, where the CM's 'made' you get your food first then they would have a seat waiting for you. I don't know if they still do this, but we wound up walking around for a good while until we found a seat after someone left. Never doing that again, whether they're trying to make us do it or not. I'll tell my dad what I want, and me and whoever else I'm with will sit and wait till he gets back then we'll eat.

I think that a couple of the busiest counter service locations still do this, but only at peak mealtimes during high season. I've read reports of people at Pinocchio's Village Haus being told to either wait in line or stand outside, because they won't be allowed at a table until they have food in hand. Perhaps people visiting over Christmas week will tell us whether this is still the case this year.

 

[draybook]

With small children or large strollers I can understand it. Especially in areas with outdoor eating options and you don't want to bring them inside the venue or they won't fit.

As a rule, I try not reserve a table if I can avoid it. I think that most places have enough seating where you can generally find a table without camping one out. I do like it at Pecos Bills when they do the assisted seating, as it tends to make everything move a bit smoother.

Well, if the table will be there when they have their food, what does it matter if they grab one a few minutes early?

 

[Silver Figment]

Not acceptable.

It means tables are occupied for longer, meaning less capacity. If everybody orders first, then finds a table next, capacity greatly increases and nobody would even have to reserve a table while the others order food. As ever, ill-disiplined crowds are their own worst enemies.

This in a nutshell. I don't hold tables when I go either.

 

[sbkline]

But that's a flawed argument. If we finish eating, then continue to sit around the table talking for 10 minutes, then at that point, we are occupying the table for longer and possibly making someone else wait for us to leave (assumming a very busy meal time where all the tables are full). But if we occupy the table for an extra 10 minutes BEFORE eating, that has nothing to do with the person looking for a table at the END of our meal. When we get up and throw our trash away and leave the restaraunt, it makes no difference to the next guest whether we initially sat down at the table at 12:00 or 11:50. In fact, by having my family get the napkins, condoments, etc, and sit down 10 minutes early, we have just seen to it that we will be done with our table 10 minutes early, thus opening up the table for the next guest SOONER.

Think of it this way: say it takes 10 minutes to stand in line, order and get your food. Then it takes another 5 minutes to get all situated: stake out a table, get silverware, napkins, condiments, etc. So 15 minutes to get seated at the table. But what if we split the party up and take care of those things simultaneously? The 5 minutes that it takes to find the table, get condiments, etc, can now run simultaneously with the 10 minutes it takes to stand in line and get the food. So you start eating 5 minutes early and, thus, finish up 5 minutes early.

As far as the "what if everyone did this" nonsense, it's best to just use a little common sense and realize that these silly "what ifs" just don't happen, or if they do, then we deal with them as they come along. In the event that the restaraunt is so busy that I might be taking the last remaining table from the person who is just now leaving the counter, then Disney can have a system in place like the one described at Pecos Bills. But if we walk in there and there are only 5 families eating, then use a little common sense and realize that there is no harm to anyone by my wife staking out a seat. Too many people like to build an absolute rule based on the extreme situations which are oftentimes too extreme to even be realistic. But in my opinion, it makes much more sense just to have the general everday practice, and then deal with the extreme situations accordingly when they come along. Kind of like the issue mentioned earlier about stopping on Main Street to take pictures. Just because the extreme circumstance (needing clear pathways for the parades), should we make an absolute rule against taking pictures at all times, just because doing so would interfere with the parades? Or because "what if everyone did it all at the same time"? No, they allow the practice as a general rule, but make exceptions accordingly when the extreme circumstances arise. This is the same way we should look at the practice of staking out a table while the other person orders.

At any rate, though, even if a place is so busy as to require restrictions on staking out a table while the other person orders, I will let Disney make that decision and enforce it accordingly. If we see fit to stake out a table while I do the ordering, that's what we will do until if/when a CM tells us that we cannot.

 

[twinnstar]

I dont think theres anything wrong with having your party sit down and sending up one person to put in the order. I think its more complicated if you dont do that, actually. I dont usually do it unless I'm with more than one person though, and I havent had the experience at WDW of it being so crowded that other people werent able to find a seat, personally.

The thing I HATE though, is when people are finished eating and they stick around to chat or to relax or whatever they are doing - when there are clearly no tables. That I think is rude. Also, when one person sits at a table to read a map or something. Go sit on a bench, table hogger!

 

[WDW 3]

I'd rather have a table saved than have an entire family roaming with food looking for a table. I'd much rather also have one person order for the family than being behind a family all ordering one at a time with mom dragging it out of each kid what they want. Sheesh they stand in line for 5 minutes and haven't got it figured out when they get up to order?? It gets too congested at the counter as it is when you don't have the whole family there. Ok, I guess I've wandered off topic.

 

[sbkline]

Like I said, I have no problem saving a table. Except it did get me hot under the collar one time when someone staying at Port Orleans came into Pecos Bills and had their whole party take up a table while they filled up everyone's refillable mugs, which looked like the previous year's design. It further irrated me that the one filling up the mugs was a perfectly healthy young man, but he was driving an ECV, and put the mugs in the front basket of the ECV! But it really set me over the edge when I heard them discussing their intention to go back to the monorail station and take the monorail over to the Poly for some pool time. I have to draw the line there...

 

[mergatroid]

Like I said, I have no problem saving a table. Except it did get me hot under the collar one time when someone staying at Port Orleans came into Pecos Bills and had their whole party take up a table while they filled up everyone's refillable mugs, which looked like the previous year's design. It further irrated me that the one filling up the mugs was a perfectly healthy young man, but he was driving an ECV, and put the mugs in the front basket of the ECV! But it really set me over the edge when I heard them discussing their intention to go back to the monorail station and take the monorail over to the Poly for some pool time. I have to draw the line there...

I think we've been here before, yes there's too many people who don't need these vehicles by definition of the numbers seen. However somebody can look perfectly healthy but have a condition that requires the use of such a vehicle or wheelchair. Whilst tempting to think like this (I try to stop myself doing it also) it's easy to pick on the wrong person who 'looks fine' but in fact isn't.

I suffer from dystonia and it effects my walking (I don't use an ECV or wheelchair but do suffer pain after a long day, my decision) and sometimes I receive the opposite opinion. If I'm limping when my leg is bad I often find people staring at me, last time some guy said out loud "That guy should be in one of those motor wheelchairs". I thought that's a first, somebody complaining about somebody choosing not to use an ECV!!! :lol:

 

[Unomas]

I have always ordered the food for my family while they go find a table and get utensils, fixins, etc. for many of the reasons mentioned already. I will continue to do so.

As far as the hovering for a table... that is just plain rude IMO. I would never allow my family to do it and if someone was standing over us while we ate our meal, I would just eat slower and make a few comments look enough to be heard by that rude family.

I see no problem with saving tables. Some people need to just relax a little bit. In WDW, not everyone obeys "YOUR" social norms.

But yeah. The hovering is ridiculous. And the nerve to ask? I'd simply tell them "As long as I like..."

 

[steve2wdw]

This is what happened to my wife and 21 year old daughter and I last Friday (12/2) at Pecos Bill's.....We all waited for our food, my daughter stayed towards the back of the room while my wife waited in line with me (we weren't sure if our food would be on one tray or two). After receiving our food, we headed to the toppings bar. We all finished "topping" together and headed out looking for a table. 10 minutes later, we finally got an empty table, past the top of the ramp heading into the Tortuga Tavern. Our food was tepid at that point, but we were "really hungry" so that didn't matter. Once we started to eat, I noticed that out of the 11 other tables in our small room, only one other table had food on it. The other 10 tables had "holders" saving tables. Meanwhile there were dozens of other guests (with trays of food) looking for tables. We ate in less than ten minutes. When we got up to leave, only 4 of those 10 "holding" tables had food, the other 6 were still waiting for food. (And this was at 2:30pm)

Obviously Disney wasn't using the restricted table policy they've been employing during the busy periods (no food = no table). The only time we've ever "held" a table was when there were dozens of empty tables in a restaurant. When it's busy, we all stick together and hunt after getting our grub. When it's busy, personally, I couldn't hold a table when others need the table....I'd end up giving it to the first person with a tray that needed a seat. To me (and I'm 50), it's just a shift in "our" society where many seem to be out for only themselves, ignoring what's going on around them. And I say "our" society, because there are still others out there in the world that look at how their actions affect those around them. I don't think the word "polite" is in the dictionary anymore.

And by the way....we weren't upset at any of this, we just shrugged our shoulders and remarked that things are so much different from when we were young. That's probably why the 70's were such a great time at WDW. No FastPasses, no cell phones to divert our attention away from what was going on around us. Just WDW all around us in glorious detail. We all waited in long lines, talked to everyone around us, making new friends and we came away from the experience all the richer.

 

[sbkline]

I think we've been here before, yes there's too many people who don't need these vehicles by definition of the numbers seen. However somebody can look perfectly healthy but have a condition that requires the use of such a vehicle or wheelchair. Whilst tempting to think like this (I try to stop myself doing it also) it's easy to pick on the wrong person who 'looks fine' but in fact isn't.

I suffer from dystonia and it effects my walking (I don't use an ECV or wheelchair but do suffer pain after a long day, my decision) and sometimes I receive the opposite opinion. If I'm limping when my leg is bad I often find people staring at me, last time some guy said out loud "That guy should be in one of those motor wheelchairs". I thought that's a first, somebody complaining about somebody choosing not to use an ECV!!! :lol:

I was waiting for someone else to comment on my post, but since no one did, I will go ahead and tell you that my comment was made in jest. Very hot topics around here include people using ECVs, using previous year's refillable mugs, and pool hopping. Many people (myself NOT included) get hotter than a hornet about those issues and my most recent post was an apparently lame attempt at throwing a little humor into this thread by integrating those controversial topics into the current topic. The above scenario never happened. :wave:

 

[disneydiva72]

I had no idea some people frowned upon this in WDW :lol:

I tend to do this when I go with more than one person. One gets the food the other finds a seat.

I have been in Pizza planet with our tray on top of a garbage can while we eat our lunch since there are no tables available. It sucks. A special thank you to the families that offer up the extra table next to them so you don't have to stand and eat. :wave:

:lol: Me either!! All this thread proves to me is that people will nit pick over anything in large groups. :lol:

(i would never allow my family to hover tho! Never!)

 

[mergatroid]

I was waiting for someone else to comment on my post, but since no one did, I will go ahead and tell you that my comment was made in jest. Very hot topics around here include people using ECVs, using previous year's refillable mugs, and pool hopping. Many people (myself NOT included) get hotter than a hornet about those issues and my most recent post was an apparently lame attempt at throwing a little humor into this thread by integrating those controversial topics into the current topic. The above scenario never happened. :wave:

Wow, I completely missed that sorry . I do agree with you and it's amazing how upset some folk can get on here over certain issues, getting personal with strangers on the net over differences of opinions :lol:. Somebody could start a thread on how they quite like the birds in the trees around Tom Sawyers Island and within ten posts somebody will be arguing with someone else about the standard of plastic forks at Cosmic Rays and calling them an idiot :lookaroun

 

[Tigger#1]

:lol: Me either!! All this thread proves to me is that people will nit pick over anything in large groups. :lol:

(i would never allow my family to hover tho! Never!)

I agree completly
Our family does this where ever we go not just at Disney. And as a previous poster stated sometimes you just want to sit down for a few minutes out of the heat. Disney has done such a wonderful job of turning all the quiet out of the way places into meet and greets they are driving this.
I truely miss the theatre in Main Street it was a great place to stop and relax with the family for a few minutes.

 

[Fievel]

We have always saved tables when with our kids. We usually travel as a group of 4 adults, and 2 kids, and we always send 2 adults to get food, and the other 2 get the kids situated. Often times, that's a good time for anybody with a baby to quick feed him/her so that when the adult food arrives, they can eat knowing the baby has already done so. Things tend to go a lot quicker when you have a few adults that already know the system working to avoid each other with trays than to have kids who are always moving, and below sight of the trays when you have them in your hands.



Now...much more annoying to me is the people that don't go to the most inside line to the counter to get food after paying....stay to the inside, and the outside will be open to leave unimpeded. Many times those who have the whole family along in line will clog both inside and outside lanes, making it impossible for anybody to get away from the counter once they have their food.

 

[R W B]

When it's just my GF and I we usually order together and then she will go get napkins, spoons/forks and find a table while I'm waiting for the food. I don't see a problem with that.

When my GF and I and her parents came though, we always let her parents go find a table while we ordered food but her dad is almost 70 and is in a wheel chair at the parks. Again I don't see a problem.

I guess I do have a problem when a large party sending 2 people to try and save tables for 10 others. Idk why but I've always had a problem with people saving seats for alot of other people.