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

unkadug

Follower of "Saget"The Cult
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.

What's the difference between one person saving a table for four people and two people saving tables for ten? Would it be better to have three people saving the tables? :confused:
 

draybook

Well-Known Member
What's the difference between one person saving a table for four people and two people saving tables for ten? Would it be better to have three people saving the tables? :confused:



No, I think people who think this way would rather have those 10 people hovering over them as they eat, instead of finding an open table to begin with.

I just don't understand the thinking behind this. If they get the table before or after they eat, what's the difference? Is the table still not there? Is the table they chose in the beginning sacred? Have we been warped into a different dimension where illogical thinking is the norm? I just don't get it.
 

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
No, I think people who think this way would rather have those 10 people hovering over them as they eat, instead of finding an open table to begin with.

I just don't understand the thinking behind this. If they get the table before or after they eat, what's the difference? Is the table still not there? Is the table they chose in the beginning sacred? Have we been warped into a different dimension where illogical thinking is the norm? I just don't get it.

I'm not arguing with you my friend as it's not a huge issue (just made me think last visit when tables where at a premium) but I'll try to explain the principle behind the 'possible' problems which could occur. I'll reduce the numbers in the example but the principle remains the same when near capacity.

A room has 3 tables with 4 chairs at each table (capacity of 12). 10 people are waiting in line for food with all the tables empty. They would obviously all get a seat with 2 chairs left over as it stands. A group of 4 more come in and 3 sit down straight away and send 1 to join the line for food. That now means that there are only 9 seats left and someone in the line won't have a seat because a group who entered after them have taken the table.

Now obviously the above example is very simple and in many cases doesn't relate to the everyday scenario of filling your face with food in a Disney eatery but could happen and is why on busy days I personally wouldn't reserve a seat in advance. It doesn't take into consideration people in groups crowding the line or people who need a seat for medical reasons etc. The majority on here do reserve seats and the consensus is that that's ok to do and I'll happily accept that, I'm sure that if it becomes a major problem Disney will tackle it accordingly (and possibly do already). It really was just a question that seems to have taken off a bit and made a few get annoyed which wasn't the intention :wave:
 

draybook

Well-Known Member
I've only been one time during a very busy season, and that was in March of this year. Cosmic Rays was completely full, even the outside tables. They actually had CM's manning the doors letting people in as the traffic allowed it. I would guess that this is how it is done during most peak seasons?

However, during non peak seasons, I have yet to see a restaurant bust enough to need this type of attention. So if the chances of "saving tables causing capacity issues" is no better than me winning the lottery, why would anyone find it offensive? I don't mean to come off as combative to anyone, I'm just a very logical person and I tend to only think in terms of basic logic.
 

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I've only been one time during a very busy season, and that was in March of this year. Cosmic Rays was completely full, even the outside tables. They actually had CM's manning the doors letting people in as the traffic allowed it. I would guess that this is how it is done during most peak seasons?

However, during non peak seasons, I have yet to see a restaurant bust enough to need this type of attention. So if the chances of "saving tables causing capacity issues" is no better than me winning the lottery, why would anyone find it offensive? I don't mean to come off as combative to anyone, I'm just a very logical person and I tend to only think in terms of basic logic.

Makes complete sense my friend, as I said it was our last visit when things were manic it got me thinking. There's worse things to argue about such as the burned out light bulbs after all :lol:
 

sbkline

Well-Known Member
I've only been one time during a very busy season, and that was in March of this year. Cosmic Rays was completely full, even the outside tables. They actually had CM's manning the doors letting people in as the traffic allowed it. I would guess that this is how it is done during most peak seasons?

However, during non peak seasons, I have yet to see a restaurant bust enough to need this type of attention. So if the chances of "saving tables causing capacity issues" is no better than me winning the lottery, why would anyone find it offensive? I don't mean to come off as combative to anyone, I'm just a very logical person and I tend to only think in terms of basic logic.

The reason why people find it offensive is that many people on here are incapable of examining the specifics of a situation to determine the appropriate action in that circumstance. They are not capable of distinguishing between a general practice and a specific situation which calls for deviating from that general practice. They see everything in black & white absolutes. They take the extreme "what if" scenario and apply it to the everyday situations and come up with an absolute rule based on the extreme "what ifs" which are, at best, rare and unlikely, and at worst, just flat out impossible. As I said before, it makes more logical sense to look at the times when the restaraunt only has 5 parties eating and to look at the times when every table is full, and recognize that there might be a different "right" answer in each situation, to the question at hand.

Kind of like a question someone asked a while back, I think on this forum, but I can't remember for sure. The question was, if you prepay your gas at the pump, should you pull away from the pump and up to the front of the building if you need to go inside? Or is it okay to stay parked at the pump when you go inside to use the restroom? Once again, my answer is that it depends on how busy the gas station is. If I am the only patron at the gas station, I have no problem staying parked at the gas pump and then going inside to use the restroom. However, if it's very busy and all the pumps are full, then I would say it is more polite to pull away from the pump and park at the front of the building so someone else can get in to get gas while I am using the restroom. The right or wrong answer depends on how busy the gas station is. If we're talking about a slow period when no one else is at the other pumps, it is completely ridiculous to criticize me for leaving the van parked at the pump by posing the hypothetical question of "what if everyone did that".

When people pose ridiculous questions like that, sometimes you just have to give the same answer I give my 5 year old when he asks those "what if" questions: "we'll just worry about that when it happens, alright?". lol
 

minniemickeyfan

Well-Known Member
Hovering is so rude!
Once we ate at Pinocchio's right at open, so we got our food and was lucky to find a table by the window to Its a Small World. We were getting close to being finished and it was getting much busier when a Mom came over and stood her 7/8 year old son at our table and told him, "When they get up, you grab their table, okay?" and off she went. We spend the rest of our meal with a standing kid at our table:lookaroun We did finish however before the Mom got back, but wished we hadn't.
 

R W B

Well-Known Member
What's the difference between one person saving a table for four people and two people saving tables for ten? Would it be better to have three people saving the tables? :confused:

As I think more about this I think my problem has to do with outside Disney and not lunch tables. I'll go a little OT here to explain myself. Saturday was my GF's college graduation, it was for 2pm. I get there with 5 of her family members about 1:15 and it's already getting full inside. Well it seemed every opening we tried people were saving for others. Finally I had 2 different people tell me at 2 different sections they were saving seats for 10 people. Well the second person who told me that gave me a huge attitude about it like she was a queen and how dare I ask her about the empty seats. So I looked at her and as the family I was with were sitting down in the "saved seats" I told her "thats not my problem, your party of 10 should of got here earlier if they wanted seats by each other" needless to say, she wasnt happy. So with that said, I guess I don't have a problem with saving a table for 10 at disney for lunch/dinner.

For the record, if any one hovered over me while I finished eating I would definitely say something, I would probably be nice about it but I would say something.
 

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
First of all, chances are that "entire family" holding a seat while one person is getting food, probably isn't going to find that table right away. With us, one person is, unfortunately, "vulture-ing" while someone else is waiting on line. And last time we went (first time with a baby), we had one occasion where the food was ready but a seat still wasn't found. SO we were walking around, with our baby girl, and our getting-increasingly-cold food, looking for a place to plop.

There is no 100% perfect solution for the seating problem at WDW. Best you can hope for is that people don't take seats without intention of ordering (the BYO crowd), and guests are willing to not lollygag so the table can turnaround quickly, and everyone stays cordial, maybe even be willing to share seats with strangers.
 

ddrongowski

Well-Known Member
I do not care one way or another, as we really only do table service now. But I have seen this scenerio many many times at Cosmic Rays, and Pecos Bills.

There are people at tables without food, waiting for their person to bring it. There are 2 or 3 groups of people with their food looking for a table to sit at. The 2 or 3 groups finally give up and just eat their food while standing. They finish their food, and leave and the people that are sitting at a table still do not have their food yet. Pecos Bills actually was doing a thing where unless you had your food with you (aka carrying the tray of food) you could not get a table.

So Disney is aware of the situation.
 

stratman50th

Well-Known Member
I always send someone to find a table. Always will. The longer you stand around with an overloaded tray of food and drinks the greater the possibility of a spill. The more people wandering around looking for a table, the more opportunity for those spills.
I have hovered around a table at Casey's Corner before, and to be honest, it didn't even dawn on me it could be construed by the people sitting there I was trying to rush them. :( We just wanted to have a place to sit when they got up and there were a lot of people standing around with trays. Had absolutely no intention of rushing the people sitting there, but now I could see how they might get that idea.. (Ok, Duh on my part for that one) Never seems to be enough places to sit at Casey's, inside or out.
 

Larry Mondello

Well-Known Member
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:

You wouldn't believe some of the things people frown on here.
 

jmicro59

Member
As a CM myself, I think it's the best to have the family sit down and have one or two people place the order.

It's extremely annoying when you have 10 people in one party and they change their mind 15 times. Disney keeps track of the keystrokes and every time you go back to the order to edit something. Do it to many times and you will get talked to.. apparently they think you are trying to scam them or something when it's really just the guest(s) fault.

Also, if you child is 2 years old, please don't ask them what they want to eat, they don't know! You should know as their parent what they like and will eat. Asking them if they are hungry 20 times over and over is a waste of my time and yours.

End of rant? lmao

I'm with Kobe. We save a table, alwasy have always will.
 

Jim Chandler

Well-Known Member
Getting a table while one goes for food not an issue
I'm more concerned about those that sit long after finishing or those sitting near a parade viewing spot that do not get up and leave.
 

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