Sci-Fi, Toontown, and GMR gripes.

[Sketch105]

So, yesterday we visited Star Wars Weekends at Studios, and we had a great time. As expected the crowds were heavy but all the entertainment offerings were there at the Studios to help alleviate problems. Everywhere you turned were characters, parades, and stuff going on. It was our first time for myself and my roommate and it was a pleasant surprise.

We did have our snafus..let's be honest, they're more interesting to hear about!

1. GMR- So the GMR has gone downhill IMO. The past few times I've been the hostess had no energy, both on slow days and overcrowded days. I like to give the benefit of a doubt, and our hostess today was cute and accented, but she made a big mistake- no stall material. For five minutes our car broke down after the Wicked Witch scene, and we stood IN SILENCE. She sat there for five minutes, sitting down and not talking to anyone.

2. SCI-FI Dine-In- We had a 1pm reservation for a party of two with our friend who works at the restaurant. We specifically asked for her. Now, thanks to the GMR snafu, we ran 10 minutes later to our reservation. So our table had been scuttled. I wouldn't take offense to this normally, but many people rolled in after us and were shafted while the hostesses searched for parties that were not there. Often two or three people would keep calling for a party which never materialized. If they worked so hard for 20 minutes for one party, why was our reservation not honored after showing up a mere ten minutes late? When we were finally seated, the hostess mentioned we were in "So-and-so"'s section, and we spoke up saying our reservation specified we were with a certain friend there. She grimaced, looked over, and asked us to go back to the lobby for a moment then found a saucer table for us to sit at. No car for us..but it hurt that not only was our reservation shunned while "Joe Schmo" kept getting his name called for half an hour, but our paperwork that clearly said we asked for a certain server was ignored.

After lunch we headed to MK, which brought my one major gripe.

3. ToonTown Judges Tent- It irks me that the Disney Princesses sign notes WHICH princess is out that day, but the Disney Fairies sign does not. Myself and my roomie wanted to meet Rosetta or Faun. We had already met the other 3 already. We asked the character host if she knew if Rosetta was in the room.

She shrugged and said "Tinkerbell and her two friends are there". Being an older woman, I figured she wouldn't bother with such trivial knowledge. We asked the merchandise attendants. They didn't know. Then another character host walked up next to the previous one. I approached her and asked if she knew if Rosetta or Faun were in the Fairies room. The two hosts looked at each other and did the shrug, saying they "didn't know who was in there besides Tinkerbell".

Okay..if you don't know whose coming out,here's what you do:
a.) Look at the set list that most escorts or hosts should carry.
b.) Radio a lead to ask.
c.) Have one go check while the other one stands there.

The line was 60 minutes. They honestly wanted us to gamble. You know what we did? WE WENT TO THE EXIT AND HAD TO ASK GUESTS COMING OUT. They knew better than the hosts!

We lucked out. Rosetta was one of them, and we did wait 60 minutes with another unsure family.

We went to City Hall and (Nicely) complained that they should list the fairies like they do the Princesses on the signage to save people time. I told the guest services agent about how the hostess just answered us "I have no idea" and she was genuinely surprised they had not done any work to help us out.

 

[ChipmunkStar]

But the attendants may not have honestly known who was in there. If the fairies were rotating through (a la Princess Fantasy Faire at Disneyland), you could have honestly gotten Tink and any of her four friends that are available to meet and greet. Perhaps the attendants didn't want to get your hopes up and make you wait an hour on their incorrect information.

If the fairies rotate in that sort of system (which I honestly don't know, I haven't seen Pixie Hollow at WDW), it would be a possible safety hazard to have someone continually up and down a ladder to change the character signage to the current Fairies visiting. Not to mention you could get in line specifically because Fawn and Iridessa are advertised (in the hope to see Fawn), and end up with Iridessa and Silvermist because the sign changed after you'd passed it.

Would you be more upset because you took the gamble on their answer of "I don't know" or end up with 'the wrong' fairies because they confirmed that the ones you were requesting would be there?

 

[Philo]

1. GMR

I've never been taken by this ride. I've seen good and bad CM's and even the best don't really grab my attention because the ride is (IMO) so poor. I think it would have been nice to have some chat whilst the ride was down (a bit of "where are you from?", "who's seen x, y, z?") but I wouldn't really complain if it was silence (I always get a headache after riding GMR thanks to the VERY loud speakers).

2. SCI-FI Dine-In

I see what your getting at here but Disney do ask you show up 30 minutes before your reservation time. Even if you only plan 15 minutes and with the GMR problem (which you said yourself was only 10 minutes) you should have been there 5 minutes early which would have solved the problem. I honestly think that the staff at restaurants do a great job of keeping things moving and yes, mistakes will happen from time to time. Bottom line: if you have made a special request: make sure you're there early to get that request.


Sorry, that all seems a little more confrontational than I meant it to be. Don't take it as critisism - just a third-party opinion.

 

[TURKEY]

1. I agree on GMR. Doesn't sound good.


2. How did you think you guaranteed yourself in someone's section? As far as I know, there is no way to do so. It's only a request. The ADR system works as you get the next table available for your party size. The computer system has no idea which servers are there and what tables they are assigned to. The computer spits out the table number.

The reason your table was bypassed was because you hadn't checked in. The names being called were of people that had checked in and the restaurant knew was there.


3. There are a lot more friends of Mickey's friends than there are fairies. I'm not sure how many of Tink's friends there are. I'm guessing it's a select few and that due to breaks and possible delays, there is no way of knowing which friends will be there at the exact moment you get through a posted wait time of 60 minutes (that likely wasn't exactly 60 minutes).

 

[westie]

I agree and shrug at the OP's post. Most WDW employees don't know squat to the point of not knowing where the nearest bathroom is. You should feel fortunate for getting a table at Sci-Fi instead of the dreaded car. At least you didn't have a "hitchiker" spill his coke down your back. Curse those small car tables! And as for res-ies, it never makes any sense does it? We had a cast member tell us we had no res, then as we walked away dumbfounded she says,"Suprise!" and all the CM's had a little laugh and I loudly mentioned to the wife no tip...And nothing makes me angrier than when they put a CM from NY in GMR as the cowboy. I want to take his gun and shoot myself! Its like the gangster scene and western melded into one untolerable moment! Nice post!!

 

[fosse76]

2. SCI-FI Dine-In- We had a 1pm reservation for a party of two with our friend who works at the restaurant. We specifically asked for her. Now, thanks to the GMR snafu, we ran 10 minutes later to our reservation. So our table had been scuttled.

Your table hadn't been "scuttled." You aren't reserving a table. Essentially dining works like a doctor's appointment. You show up at your time, and you're seated in order of arrival/check-in.

I wouldn't take offense to this normally, but many people rolled in after us and were shafted while the hostesses searched for parties that were not there. Often two or three people would keep calling for a party which never materialized.

The people they were calling checked in before you arrived, so were on the list to recieve the next available table that met their party size. Even though you had an earlier reservation, you showed up late, so you went on the list as if the time you finally showed up was your dining time. Just because you had an earlier dining time doesn't mean you get to jump ahead.

If they worked so hard for 20 minutes for one party, why was our reservation not honored after showing up a mere ten minutes late?

It was honored. You got a table. You're upset that they didn't let you cut ahead of the people who checked-in before you. I understand it isn't entirely your fault that you were late...but Disney wants those tables filled, which is why you only reserve a time and NOT an actual table. All the people who checked in before you were on time for their reservations, so why should they be punished because you were late. Think of reservations like a FastPass. You get seated in the order you arrive.

When we were finally seated, the hostess mentioned we were in "So-and-so"'s section, and we spoke up saying our reservation specified we were with a certain friend there. She grimaced, looked over, and asked us to go back to the lobby for a moment then found a saucer table for us to sit at.

Personally, I would NEVER sit at a table my friend was servicing. It can be very uncomfortable having someone you socialize with "working for you." That aside, there are only so many spots, and you were called when your number was up...the people checking in guests don't know who's section a table is in until it is ready to receive guests. I think you're griping just to grip here.

No car for us..but it hurt that not only was our reservation shunned while "Joe Schmo" kept getting his name called for half an hour, but our paperwork that clearly said we asked for a certain server was ignored.

You are also Joe Schmo to the other people dining. Your reservation was honored...go to ANY restaurant late and many of them may not even seat you at all. Disney's system is actually very fair. Even if you showed up on time you wouldn't have been seated until all the people who checked in before you were seated.

Now I have a question for people in-the-know: if you you had a reservation at 1:00pm and showed up at 12:30pm and checked in, and someone who had a 12:45pm reservation arrived right after you and checked in (same party size), do they get seated first, or do you?

 

[Sketch105]

1. I agree on GMR. Doesn't sound good.


2. How did you think you guaranteed yourself in someone's section? As far as I know, there is no way to do so. It's only a request. The ADR system works as you get the next table available for your party size. The computer system has no idea which servers are there and what tables they are assigned to. The computer spits out the table number.

The reason your table was bypassed was because you hadn't checked in. The names being called were of people that had checked in and the restaurant knew was there.


3. There are a lot more friends of Mickey's friends than there are fairies. I'm not sure how many of Tink's friends there are. I'm guessing it's a select few and that due to breaks and possible delays, there is no way of knowing which friends will be there at the exact moment you get through a posted wait time of 60 minutes (that likely wasn't exactly 60 minutes).

Hey Turkey..I see what your saying, and I do believe you have a couple points, but first of all I must explain a couple things:

When we got to SCi-FI, we did, in fact, check in (with request form) and from that point we waited 60 minutes while parties who came in AFTER us were seated immediately. We figured we were waiting for her section to open up, so no problem. When we were stuck in another section, I was angry at the fact that they did not communicate with us from the start that "We're gonna put in first available, not what was on your request form". So people who came in after us with no reservation were seated first yet we still waited an hour for what turned out to be not the correct section.

I used to work in a high capacity restaurant. I understand that Disney might be different, but the term reservation has implicit details when you request a certain server. I was willing to wait for her table for an hour, not another section.


As for the fairies, I understand a rotation system. I worked in entertainment in another park.. Its the communication system I had a problem with. The general rule we've known (which is pretty simple) is "An answer is sometimes a radio call away". You never say "I don't know" to a guest. She could've said that the fairies go in and out of Pixie Hollow all day, or "Rosetta might be out powdering flowers but, if you wait a few more minutes, she should make an apperance".


Anything is better than "I don't know ::Shrug:: it's Tink and her two friends" in an "I Don't Care" tone of voice.

It was, in fact, a 60 minute wait also. Does the CM for the Pixie Hollow room have to wait till the transition room empties before filling it again, or can they take in small groups consistently? Because that was the thing that slowed down our line the most.