WDF
Well-Known Member
And I am assuming it is soon to be table service with reservations. Amazing how restaurant reservations have worked for years (not just at Disney)...how did all those people know when they would be hungry?!
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New Be Our Guest lunch line procedure (Test?)
- Thread starter mm52200
- Start date
And I am assuming it is soon to be table service with reservations. Amazing how restaurant reservations have worked for years (not just at Disney)...how did all those people know when they would be hungry?!
RayTheFirefly
Well-Known Member
CDavid
Well-Known Member
The lack of good customer service with the Be Our Guest dining experience - or a person's willingness to wait in a lengthy queue - is literally not the point (though it can be argued that a queue line is less customer unfriendly than being told all return times are exhausted). The strongest argument is rather that the idea of needing a reservation for a quick-service (fast-food) restaurant is completely foreign and incompatible with the very concept of "quick service" dining.
How many other common quick, casual dining establishments (within or outside of Disney) can you think of which require a reservation? Nobody really likes waiting in lines (a willingness to do so, for the "reward" at the end, is another matter), but how well do you think a similar plan would go over at any McDonald's or Chick Fil-A across the nation? The manager who came up with such a moronic scheme would be ridiculed. Yet in a theme park this is somehow supposed to be acceptable (and you have posters rushing to Disney's defense. Guys, sometimes a dumb idea just needs to be recognized as an ill-advised mistake which may have looked good on paper, but in reality is unworkable and idiotic).
Guests are accustomed to waiting in lines, particularly at a theme park, to dine, experience attractions, or even enter the park. We all understand that we have to wait our turn in line; They'll get to us after all the people that got there first are accommodated. When you suddenly tell people they aren't allowed to wait their turn anymore, you have to expect confusion and resentment. All the return cards really do is change how the supply is rationed - but why work so hard to reinvent the wheel? The very idea of 'return cards' for quick service dining is unusual and unexpected.
Of course, the idea of advance or at-the-door reservations for table service, or more formal, dining is a very different matter. Guests are not expecting to be served quickly and the meal is more of an event (granted, BOG blurs the distinctions a bit). If Disney insists on requiring reservations for the restaurant all day, then it should be completely table-service all day; That idea makes perfect sense, and given the popularity, they could easily fill the tables. Reservations work for table-service dining; They do not work for quick-service restaurants, and indeed, are not compatible with the very concept of being served rapidly. If you have to come back in an hour or two, it is not quick service dining anymore.
WDF
Well-Known Member
That was a joke.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
I think you have forgotten the worst aspect of this system, Wait in line 20-40 minutes and be told tickets are 'sold out' for the day. Now you have a disappointed guest who in all likelihood WILL NOT be back certainly not to BOG and perhaps their NEXT vacation will be a non-Disney one.
This would not be so bad if at some point Disney closed the line, But they don't so it's like the old Soviet Union where people would get in line at the shops and many times return empty handed. So this system is the worst of all possibilities i.e. stand in the hot sun for a substantial fraction of a vacation hour and possibly NOT get what you waited for. Who came up with this BRILLIANT idea!!!!
TDO just seems to double down on stupid.
This would not be so bad if at some point Disney closed the line, But they don't so it's like the old Soviet Union where people would get in line at the shops and many times return empty handed. So this system is the worst of all possibilities i.e. stand in the hot sun for a substantial fraction of a vacation hour and possibly NOT get what you waited for. Who came up with this BRILLIANT idea!!!!
TDO just seems to double down on stupid.
Mike S
Well-Known Member
Shared this earlier in this thread. Thought it would be appropriate to put it up again.
cabihler
Member
i received an EXCLUSIVE EMAIL INVITATION to TEST a new BE OUR GUEST lunch reservation Pre-Selection process. It sounded great. It looked great. I decided to go ahead and be one of the TESTERS. i click on the new website URL and get transported to the reservation process... ALL IS GOING GREAT ----- BUT THEN ---- the magical recent failures of Disney's LACK OF PROJECT/PROCESS MANAGEMENT took over (BTW informational i am now a retired 40+ years Executive IT Management dummy 
).... they give you a range of dates, in my case a 7 day window, to select from and that is just fine EXCEPT the last date i can select is 2 DAYS BEFORE MY CHECKIN......... you can call it an Alpha Test, you can call it a Beta Test, you can call it a User Stress Test... but i call it DUMBASS SYSTEMS DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT.
).... they give you a range of dates, in my case a 7 day window, to select from and that is just fine EXCEPT the last date i can select is 2 DAYS BEFORE MY CHECKIN......... you can call it an Alpha Test, you can call it a Beta Test, you can call it a User Stress Test... but i call it DUMBASS SYSTEMS DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT.
CDavid
Well-Known Member
How are more people getting to experience Be Our Guest? Unless the restaurant is now operating longer hours for lunch than previously, dining capacity remains exactly the same.
dupac
Well-Known Member
The only way this could be true is if utilization improved...
WDF
Well-Known Member
Perhaps that poster meant a wider variety of people.
Captain Chaos
Well-Known Member
Well, if I am booking my ADRs at 180 days out, which is asinine in and of itself, I will know 6 months in advance when I am going to be eating, say, dinner. Therefore I plan my day around my 5:30 ADR at Ohana. if I know I tend to get hungry again about 5 hours after a meal, then I plan a lunch around 12:00. If I did not get an email invite to BoG, or if I wasn't on a fan site and knew about the BoG website, then I'm not booking a FP for it. My little girls want to have lunch there. We figure 11:30/12:00 is a good time. We figure we would have to wait in some sort of line to order our food cause all QS restautants are like that. We do not know (cause Disney SUCKS as letting guests know these things) we had to either book a FP+ (remember no email invite, no knowledge of the website) or we now need get a pass come back to standby (which now no longer makes it STANDBY, makes it a second FP line). CMs, only doing the job their clueless moronic managers are having them do, hand us a fast pass return time to standby at 2:30. Won't work for us. We are dining at 5:30. We won't be hungry three hours later. 11:30/12:00 lunch fits our schedule.
We planned to see the parade at 3:00. Being forced to return when it is inconvenient for us is not good customer service. My girls are now crying cause they had their hearts set on eating where Belle lived with Beast. We leave MK. Have lunch offsite. Thankfully, Ohana is our only ADR. WE dine there at 5:30 like planned. But the rest of the trip, we eat off property cause one bad experience is enough for me to tell WDW to screw off. We go to Universal and IOA. We go to Three Broomsticks. Ordered our meals, sat down. No return time. My girls were selected by the wand in Ollivanders. They enjoyed their butterbeer. They interacted with the Marvel characters. Had a blast getting soaked on Popeye. Rode Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley. Opened an account at Gringotts. Got wizarding money. Had a butterbeer ice cream. Watched the amazing puppet show. Heard Celestina sing. My girls were able to perform magic spells with the interactive wands. We had dinner at Finnegans.
Our vacation ends. On our way home we ask the girls "where did you have most fun?" They say Universal cause we weren't rejected by them unlike Disney. I discuss a future Orlando trip with the wife. We feel Disney didn't really want our business. We feel Disney has become too much of a chore. We discovered we have to book every minute of our day with Disney. We realized Disney is not abut guest satisfaction anymore. We are only dollar signs to them, cattle on a conveyer belt (as @ParentsOf4 noted once or several times before). They want to dictate. They want to control. We can no longer tour the theme parks the way we wanted. We had to do it DISNEYS WAY. So, the highway it is. We book a week long stay for the follow year at Cabana Bay. So, we don't get free dining. At least we can dine when we want to. At least I know we are going where our business is appreciated, not expected. Where we are treated as guests, not as ATMs. Where we would be more than happy and willing to spend our money on our children cause they are having a good time, not because Disney says we must or else we are bad parents.
You know what I say to TDO? KISS MY BACK SIDE!!!!
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
Do you really think Disney is trying to "increase intrigue" for Be Our Guest? That's like saying that the movie "The Internship" came out to get people to start using Google. The "intrigue" for Be Our Guest far exceeds the restaurant's capacity. Reservations are booked 180 days in advance for dinner. It regularly has 30-45 minute waits for lunch. There is plenty of intrigue. This is 100% to re-distribute crowds.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
Have you ever gone to a restaurant and they didn't have a table available? Let's not pretend this is anything different than a waiting list. What's stupid is that they're not utilizing the Magic Bands/mobile apps to tell people that they're table is ready. That's what a normal busy restaurant does.
WDF
Well-Known Member
Different people...first timers, maybe...people who didn't want to stand in line...it seems that all the concerns are from people who eat there regularly, maybe other people who hadn't eaten there before will now.
It is all speculation of course unless someone wants to stand there and ask the people getting the cards if they are first timers at BOG.
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
Apologies if this posts twice. My browser just did something weird.
This line change is to get people out of line and doing something else. Most people will probably ride rides, but if a percentage of them spend money that they otherwise wouldn't have spent, that's even better. It's the same motivation for Fastpass.
Wife and I hardly to do ADR's anymore. If we can get a TS on MDE or by walk-up, we do it, so this change at BoG does not affect us. That being said, what does upset me is the agenda at hand, especially when people rush to defend it so quickly. IF this were simply Disney trying to make your day go a little smoother I wouldnt mind, but it is not. Not at all. Its simply another drop in the bucket of the endless attempts as of late to get you to spend as much as possible. Its a blitz of moronic decisions trying to separate you from your money but its wrapped up like a present so people think its a good thing. lt is the overall strategy they are using to "get a bigger share of your wallet" and this new BoG system is part of that and that is why it is a bad thing (IMO). The people that defend these decisions and claim Disney is doing this for guest benefit are horribly misguided and theyre enabling Disney to continue making crap instead of magic.
@WDW1974 touched on the same topic in his thread and he was right. People have to wake up and realize that Disney is NOT doing ANY of these things for your benefit, only THEIRS. Stop thinking that TPTB give a damn about your vacation experience. They DONT. The 22 year old CM working the queue at Peter Pan queue might, or the Haunted Mansion CM who actually plays the part of a scary butler and makes the experience better may care also, but the folks making decisions like this BoG return time DONT. They just need you to spend more money so the other moronic decisions they have made look more profitbale. They disguise their lack luster efforts as "enhancements for you and your family" and people eat the crap by the spoonful. If they actually cared about your vacation and what you experience they would offer something new that DOESNT cost money to attend or they would get off their lazy and add attractions in less than 5 years. They could bang out the Poly lobby in 2 months if they really wanted to, but they wont. They will let a Deluxe resort on the monorail sit in shambles for months and still charge insane prices, but dont worry, they will give you a pass to Typhoon Lagoon to pacify you and its accepted as "good enough".
@WDW1974 touched on the same topic in his thread and he was right. People have to wake up and realize that Disney is NOT doing ANY of these things for your benefit, only THEIRS. Stop thinking that TPTB give a damn about your vacation experience. They DONT. The 22 year old CM working the queue at Peter Pan queue might, or the Haunted Mansion CM who actually plays the part of a scary butler and makes the experience better may care also, but the folks making decisions like this BoG return time DONT. They just need you to spend more money so the other moronic decisions they have made look more profitbale. They disguise their lack luster efforts as "enhancements for you and your family" and people eat the crap by the spoonful. If they actually cared about your vacation and what you experience they would offer something new that DOESNT cost money to attend or they would get off their lazy and add attractions in less than 5 years. They could bang out the Poly lobby in 2 months if they really wanted to, but they wont. They will let a Deluxe resort on the monorail sit in shambles for months and still charge insane prices, but dont worry, they will give you a pass to Typhoon Lagoon to pacify you and its accepted as "good enough".
seahawk7
Well-Known Member
WoW. And to think you paid to get into the park to experience the parks attractions and you can't even take pictures of the exterior. I wonder what Walt would say about that and I'm not trying to be trite, but I often wonder what he would think about how TDO's "ideas" affect the guest's experience.