Saving Tables....A Complaint

[Mkrop]

So you all dont think a simple solution to this would be rope of the table areas and not let people enter until after they had their food? Remember everyone is on vacation and everyone wants to sit.. why wouldn't this work?

this is exactly what we did at the chain restaurant i managed many eons ago and it worked much better than letting people save tables, and they still do it. honest injun. they studyed this nationwide with stopwatches and everything and it increased the amount of customers served per hour dramaticly. im not argueing i just dont understand how 80% of the people who reply to this thread cannot understand the logic in this. the reason disney does not do this may be their overwhelming fear of p***ing someone off.[/QUOTE]

Then this restaurant chain must not be in southeastern PA because every single one of the fast food chains I go into and all the food courts I go to particiapate in the saving tables practice.

I am not saying your lying but I find it hard to believe if this study found it sooooo efficient that other places would not have adopted this strategy! I know a few people who own sit down places and I know for them it is about fine dining, efficiency and turning the tables over in a reasonable manner.

Disney is a business plain and simple, they would do what is most efficient IMO!

 

[buffy0214]

My hubby usually gets the food while the rest of us wait at a table. On a particularly crowded time we saw a couple having trouble finding a table. My hubby and I put our little ones in our laps (one and 4 year old) and shared our table. I don't see a problem with sitting down while waiting for our food, but we still try to be considerate.

 

[jamimb]

this is exactly what we did at the chain restaurant i managed many eons ago and it worked much better than letting people save tables, and they still do it. honest injun. they studyed this nationwide with stopwatches and everything and it increased the amount of customers served per hour dramaticly. im not argueing i just dont understand how 80% of the people who reply to this thread cannot understand the logic in this. the reason disney does not do this may be their overwhelming fear of p***ing someone off.

Roping the area off would not accomplish (in my opinion) anything but more chaos!! Even if you did rope it off and only let people with food in there would still be times when no tables would be available so you havnt solved any problem there and in addition to that the line to order food would be way way out the door if everybody had to stand in line to order. Not to mention it would probably take longer to order with everyone there. I know if my children are actually in line with me when I order they change their minds a hundrend times before I can even pay for it. It would be crazy and at times you still would not be able to find a table so that would accomplish nothing.

 

[webshark3]

I agree that is rude. I save tables but I am not going to roll over another patron to get to the table. We politely wait our turn!

I forgot about this strategy. I would also call it rude, but it's still a strategy. The opposite of a dine-and-dash. I call it the "dash-and-dine".

 

[jarestel]

Roping off and restricting areas of a counter service seating area to those with food trays isn't a practice I've ever seen or heard of (and I'm no stranger to restaurants of any kind) except for the one instance cited in this thread. It's just not reasonable to expect that Disney will decide to do this. If having a CM at the refillable mug station is too much trouble, then this idea would be 100 times the pain for no real gain ($$$).

 

[webshark3]

Tables are for people that have food and benches are for people who don't.If everyone would eat at a reasonable pace and then leave, nobody would need to save seats even at the busy times.Its people that occupy a table for 60 minutes (30 waiting for the food to come) that cause the backlog.Usually the bad times are during the rainy times when people don't leave and people save seats.

No, you would have a line queue that rivals Space Mountain. The only difference is that all the line-people will be holding trays.

 

[madduck]

Ok,Im back again. Im sure this wont matter to alot of you,but I googled "saving seats at a restaurant etiquette." Good Housekeeping says it is only ok to save seats if the restaurant is NOT crowded.Im sure many will still justify the practice somehow,but the bottom line is it is not considered polite to save seats in crowded restaurants.Also, just because 85% say that something is OK doesnt necessarily make it so. Try using that arguement when you are pulled over for speeding, it doesnt work,ive tried.

 

[jarestel]

Also, just because 85% say that something is OK doesnt necessarily make it so. Try using that arguement when you are pulled over for speeding, it doesnt work,ive tried.

Probably won't work with the police, but it does work at Disney. Disney evidently has no objections to the practice of snagging tables, but the police definitely do have objections to speeding, hence the enforcement of speed laws.

 

[Sorsha]

I can't believe I am responding.
Howver, I have been reading page after page of this hopeless unsolvable thread, and I just HAVE to say that I am going to speak up on the side of the masses here.
Is sitting at a table with my little kids while my husband waits in line to order *rude*? I, personally, don't think so. I can see other people DO think it is rude, and if I am offending you by this practice, my apologies.
HOWEVER! When I am on vacation, on my VERY EXPENSIVE vacation that I have scrimped and saved for, with three very hungry and tired children and a marginally cranky husband, and *we* have the ability to nab a table and sit our tired buttocks down at it while one of the adults goes to order, am I sorry about this? Do I feel guilty? Let me just say OH H*LL NO! If you choose not to do this, your choice. If you cannot do this for one reason or another, I am sorry for that. If you didn't have the foresight to see how crowded the restaurant was and go somewhere else, YOUR choice. Now, if I have finished eating, and see a family looking for a table, you bet I will get right up and offer them my spot. If the table I have is bigger than what my family needs, you bet we will scrunch over and let someone share the table with us. Without question. If I see an elderly couple, or a pregnant lady, or a family with very tiny kids, or a handicapped person who cannot find a table, I would probably offer them my spot and go eat on a bench somewhere.
But if you are just Joe Q. Public and you are annoyed with me cause I happened to be lucky enough or plan ahead enough to grab a table for my family - sorry, no sympathies. As Captain Jack would say - I don't give an a$$ rats how annoyed you are with me. Next time it could just as easily be me how cannot get a table, and be that the case I will go find a nice shady bench somewhere to eat on, and remind myself to plan a little better next time. Sometime you win, sometimes you lose, people, and part of being a grown-up person is realizing that the world DOES NOT revolve around you.
I shall now leave this train wreck of a thread and go back to peacefully lurking elsewhere.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I didn't quote YOU in particular because I wasn't just addressing one person. My vote is in the 83%. How many solo diners are there at WDW that this would concern? I certainly wasn't trying to "pick a fight"....

Then I sincerely apologize. As for how many solo travelers the issue concerns, it matters to the most important one: ME

2. Like another poster, I have yet to see anyone answer my question. A few pages back, I asked whether or not I'd get my table back if I gave it up to people with trays. Again, I ask what happens if my food comes just as you are getting settled in? Do I IMMEDIATELY get my table back? Not in five minutes, not when you are done, but NOW.

Well, no, you shouldn’t give up your table; but if you make a judgment call – for example, you luck into a table as soon as your DH gets into a twenty-person line, chances are it’s going to take him a good ten or fifteen minutes to get your food – and invite some poor wandering souls to join you until your husband arrives with the food, e.g. “I’m not sure this will help you but these seats are available for about ten minutes”. Now, if you’ve already been sitting for ten or fifteen minutes, this quite obviously won’t work, but if you offered me a seat (well, actually just table space since I’d be in an ECV {which isn’t conducive to tray-balancing, or this wouldn’t even BE an issue}), I’d be able to eat enough of the sloppy stuff in that time. I mean, I’m not going to linger… unless you find me very entertaining or personable

 

[shellbel]

Next time it could just as easily be me how cannot get a table, and be that the case I will go find a nice shady bench somewhere to eat on, and remind myself to plan a little better next time. Sometime you win, sometimes you lose, people, and part of being a grown-up person is realizing that the world DOES NOT revolve around you.
I shall now leave this train wreck of a thread and go back to peacefully lurking elsewhere.

Loved your rant!! I agree 100%. If I luck in to a table, I'm going to grab it - WDW or elsewhere. If not, I'd sit someplace else. Not finding a table isn't something that I'm going to get upset about. I'll take my food some place else.

 

[madduck]

Probably won't work with the police, but it does work at Disney. Disney evidently has no objections to the practice of snagging tables, but the police definitely do have objections to speeding, hence the enforcement of speed laws.

Thanks for highlighting the part that actually had nothing to do with being polite.I guess I should have used a different analogy like religion or politics.The fact of the matter is that common courtesy isnt so common anymore.If you dont believe that try holding the door open for people and see how many must figure that you had nothing better to do because they dont even acknowledge your effort with a thank you or a smile.
Im now jumping off my soapbox,hope I dont twist an ankle.

 

[Mkrop]

OT_ but I have a queston, If I quote someone and comment then the next person comes along and quote me but really only wants the others quote it looks like me saying something? Am I accurately describing this?

This is annoying!

 

[kaytieeldr]

OT_ but I have a queston, If I quote someone and comment then the next person comes along and quote me but really only wants the others quote it looks like me saying something? Am I accurately describing this?

This is annoying!

Well, no, that's not how it SHOULD happen (for example, I clicked the "quote" button, so yes, I'm quoting you, correctly ). But sometimes posters - including me - do the 'quote-typing' themselves. I see the post you're referring to, and it looks like either that poster quoted incorrectly or that they meant to quote someone else and you in the same box, then respond.

Make sense?

 

[Mkrop]

Well, no, that's not how it SHOULD happen (for example, I clicked the "quote" button, so yes, I'm quoting you, correctly ). But sometimes posters - including me - do the 'quote-typing' themselves. I see the post you're referring to, and it looks like either that poster quoted incorrectly or that they meant to quote someone else and you in the same box, then respond.

Make sense?

Thank you for clarfiying.

I just dont want something associated with my name that I didnt say!

I can get myself into my own trouble with my own thoughts let alone someone claiming I said something I didnt!

 

[jarestel]

Thanks for highlighting the part that actually had nothing to do with being polite.I guess I should have used a different analogy like religion or politics.The fact of the matter is that common courtesy isnt so common anymore.If you dont believe that try holding the door open for people and see how many must figure that you had nothing better to do because they dont even acknowledge your effort with a thank you or a smile.
Im now jumping off my soapbox,hope I dont twist an ankle.

That's why I gave up trying to make points with analogies... too easy to pick them apart.

Anyway, the way I see it, neither side is "pure" in this debate. Each is motivated by self-interest. The majority wants to have a place to sit and eat and so does the minority. So the goal is the same for each side, it's all about making "my" life more convenient and how "I" can achieve that.

The difference I see is that the folks who are in the minority want what they want and expect the behavior of the majority to change in order to satisfy them. Seems a trifle arrogant to be calling people rude and disrespectful simply because they have what everyone wants... a table!

But bottom line is everyone should now know how this table thing works. If a family wants to refuse to give in to what they perceive of as the selfishness of table-saving on principle, I applaud them. Just don't come back here and complain "I" was relying on the kindness of strangers to give "me" what "I" want and they refused to gratify "me". One loses a bit of that saintly aura under those circumstances.

 

[solgent]

I don't know why I find this thread so fascinating. I guess it is the amateur sociologist in me, enjoying the examination of the (usually) unspoken rules that govern behavior in public places.

We save tables. When we were at WDW in August I was so glad that my kids were old enough that I could dispatch them to find a table while I got the food. They were so great. They'd find a table and then one would come back to help me carry the food and guide me to the location. The lines were short (always less than 10 mins from joining the line to departing with food) and there always seemed to be available tables.

 

[Disney8704]

I dont see any problems with someone holding a table and someone else getting food. DH and I do this everywhere we go thats a CS meal. Weither it be here at home, in Disney, at another theme park. Its a lot smarter to do this. You're saving time by getting a table before you get your food, because while someone is in line getting food, someone else can be looking for a table. You dont have to worry about carrying food for what it seems like forever before you find a table and dont have to worry about it getting cold. I dont know about anyone else, but when Im eating, I dont sit there and watch people getting a table. Im sitting there enjoying my food and talking to DH. If someone comes up and ask if anyone sitting next to us or ask to borrow a chair, fine. Another thing you have to think about is just because you are there 1st and then let someone else sit at your table until your food gets there, doesnt mean they will get up. What if they just started eating when your food arrives or only half way done. Is it nice to kick them out of your seat so YOU can eat? Getting a table is like first come, first serve. You get there first, you have the right to be at that table. If people cant find a table at 1st oh well. Its not the end of the world. Wait for a couple mins, look around to see who is finishing up and wait until the table is clear and go over to the table and sit. Worse comes to worse is to just take your food outside and eat. Another thing to consider is eat at off times. While your eating lunch or dinner people are out riding rides. And during the busy lunch or dinner hr, while people are eating you can wait in shorter lines for rides. Another thing to do is if you are eating at your resort for a CS meal, save all the hassles and just take the food back to your room.

 

[Epcotgal]

So you are branding others as abnormal, that's not very nice!

I should have worded my post differently. My intention was not to label anyone abnormal. The point I was trying to make was that I didn't think there will be any changes on Disney's part since a lot, obviously not all people are accustomed to finding a seat especilly with children along just like at any fast food place. I am sorry if I offended anyone.

 

[goofy4tink]

In 14 trips to WDW, since '99, I can't remember one single time when we have not been able to find a table/seats for CS meals. Yes, sometimes a place is crowded, and we have had to sit in a less desirable area, but we have always been able to find a place to sit.
How have we been so lucky? We try to eat at off times. I hate jostling in that line to order my food, I hate trying to wind my way through masses of people to get to the condiment bar. If people would try to get away from the 'it's noon, so it's time for lunch' mentality, there would be more spots to sit and eat. While we have 'saved' tables, there have always been plenty of other free tables open. So, I guess I'm in the 'it's okay to save tables' camp. But, a little courtesy goes a long way here. Counter service meals are not meals to be lingered over..not when there are others waiting to be seated. Eat and begone with you!! Go find another spot to sit and relax, and catch up on what you want to do with the next 4 hrs. of your day. Simple courtesy. I can not believe this thread is still going. There is no way that you guys are going to come to an agreement here..no possible way.