MGM crowds

Originally Posted By LadyandtheTramp

Just curious, and was wondering if anyone knows what was going on. We went to MGM on Sunday, planning to have lunch, and every sitdown restaurant was completely booked out for the day (at 1 pm). No one was taking walkins, not Brown Derby, not PrimeTime, not Sci-Fi, not Mama Melrose's. That's the first time that I can recall that ever happening, and the CM at Mama's didn't know why things at the part were so busy. I mean, the line to get into the Muppets extended outside past the entrance to Muppet plaza almost to the Tatooine Traders. Anyone know why the crowd at MGM?

 

Originally Posted By hopemax

Earlier this year, Disney offered a package that included free dining. Those trips are happening now, and as a result the sitdown restaurants are pretty well booked.

As for muppets, I've been in there where a line formed about halfway back in the preshow area and as it started filling in people wouldn't move forward. The CMs would ask people to move all the way forward, and they'd take a step forward and that would be it. In that case the line would snake out of the theater making it look more crowded than it actually was. I don't know if it would make it stretch all the way to Tatooine Traders though.

 

Originally Posted By SJHYM

^^^Disney has made it virtually impossible for a day guest to just to to a park and decide to have a nice meal at a restaruant. If you want to do a sit down meal you need to plan 60-90 days out. It sucks.

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

60 days is best -- but I find once I am there I still usually have success even a few days ahead just maybe eat at 7 vs 5 etc.

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

Growth and success not always a convenient thing -- think of every day there as Friday night in the big city -- I can tell you the waits in most places in Chicago and suburbs are 2 hours if no reservations-- and many nicer places you couldn't possibly get in at all...............same thing.

Even Olive Garden / Chili's etc well over an hour -- so I just don't see the difference.

 

Originally Posted By MrToadWildRider

Are you saying if we want to eat at Mama Melrose in July I need to get priority seating in February or we'll be screwed? :-\

 

Originally Posted By MrToadWildRider

Actually February isn't 90 days I should've said April or May but still

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

eating in July - call for PS in April or at least by May if you want prime times for sure-- yes. If not is will be a crap shoot...maybe you get in , maybe you don't.

It's not like you never get in, but surely summer when it is crowded - and I always have 1 of my yearly trips in June -- it makes things a lot easier.


My wife just booked a reservation for Charlie Trotter's in downtown Chicago for mid December for us ( as a break from Christmas shopping), to ensure a table, and we had to take what they had available date wise.

 

Originally Posted By MrToadWildRider

Wow thanks for the tip. We usually go in August and call for PS either the day of or the day before and typically don't have much hassle. Then again we tend to avoid the peak hours (we like 3-4 to try to squeeze in between the lunch and the dinner crowds)

 

Originally Posted By SJHYM

Once again vbdad and I disagree about the whole dining thing. Though I think besides this topic he is great.

But I dont see the correlation of the big city thing at all. In big cities the majority of the people making reservations are locals going out for a special night out or occasion. And while 90 days might be appropriate for a major named restaraunt, in all the years I lived in NYC I never had to make reservations more than a couple of weeks out.

Having said that I would say:

1) Disney is a theme park and not a major city (foget about the whole EPCOT thing for a second)
2) Most guests are unaware about the dining reservations.
3) The new dining add on to tickets has all but clogged any chance of getting reservations anywhere. I heard today that the complaints about dining options with the meal add on is so bad that Disney has opened a buffet for meal add on people only across from Pirates at the Pirates and Parrots Fast Food location. If thats the case WHAT possible chance does a poor day guest or local have.
4) When added with FP THIS system and the meal add ons has taken alot of the fun of just exploring Disney. I am not sure where I want to have dinner on Friday of this week let alone in 90 days from now.

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

<But I dont see the correlation of the big city thing at all. In big cities the majority of the people making reservations are locals going out for a special night out or occasion. And while 90 days might be appropriate for a major named restaraunt, in all the years I lived in NYC I never had to make reservations more than a couple of weeks out. <

BTW -- I also respect your opinions --unlike WE this actually is a civil board and I am so glad for that

that being said -- yes I suppose I am a local, however Downtown Chicago is 40 miles from my suburb and many suburban people trek in for the trendy city restaurants -- and the best are all weeks to months out in reservations..for dinner -- eating off hours sometimes different, sometimes not. Like traveling to a park I have a commute ( over an hour- and parking to pay --( about $20 - $25) on top of eating - it's not like one walks there..

City vs. theme park -- most cities in this country are far less than 100,000 people whereas WDW has 33,000 hotel rooms ! -- on most days in summer WDW would be in the top 75 cities in the US ( not even counting locals ) -- Lousiville Kentucky is 250,000 to put this in perspective-- so I think the analogy works well -- plus the people at WDW are there for entertainment / dining etc....not at home like many people are in cities...far more patrons than restaurant seats....= long waits or reservations.

I will agree with you that Disney underestimated the use of the dining options and that has certainly clogged up the restaurants even more....the point of giving it away as in the one package I can;t figure--but some marketing genius screwed up to be sure. One the free dining package goes away, things should settle down some.



Also although many people who visit there may be unware ) shame on the travel agents then) -- we also know that most are not looking for sit down restaurants when they see the prices either...the trip is expensive enough.


As far as NY never having to book more than 60 days out -- obviously New York better equipped from a quantity standpoint to handle the volume of requests than most cities....but I can probably bet there are some restaurants there as well booked for certain nights out far longer than 60 days...

it is pure supply and demand-- and right now there is more demand than supply at WDW--maybe they're planning on more sit downs once they get people going to them -- that would be hopeful.

 

Originally Posted By SJHYM

"No one was taking walkins, not Brown Derby, not PrimeTime, not Sci-Fi, not Mama Melrose's."

If I was in Chicago and NYC I would eventually be able to find a sit down restaruant to eat at. But if you look at the original post (above) they visited every venue and couldnt get a table for anytime. We had a similar experience at EPCOT a few months back. A last minute visit with some out of town friends. They wanted to treat us to a nice dinner at EPCOT. We checked every sit down venue and not one had a table anytime during the evening. Again I say...its a theme park for goodness sake. It shouldnt be this difficult to get a nice meal.

Unfortunately I think its going to get worse. As the meal option becomes more popular you may find that because people want to get the most from their plan they will book up venues 90 days out, closing out many other guests.

I remember when EPCOT Center opened. The WS restaruants were busy and booked (the day of because of the old system) but even then there were very few times that I couldnt wait for a table as a walk up. Thats not even possible today.

 

Originally Posted By Blackie Pueblo

As for your question Lady, I was at MGM as well Sunday with my wife, and we also couldn't believe the crowds! I thought for sure the heat would have driven some people away, even the cold rain that came down for a bit, but the crowd never did die down.

We ended up eating at the Commissary, but it took a while to find a table. That worked out ok though because it took quite some time to receive our order.

We never figured out why it was so crowded either.

Blackie Pueblo

 

Originally Posted By ssWEDguy

>> We never figured out why it was so crowded either. <<

Maybe it's the overflow from the Epcot Wine/Food Festival?

Seriously, I know there's a LOT of international folks in the parks right now. They're all wearing a black lanyard with a black colored event tag. They're from a LOT of countries too.

Don't know the event. But maybe this is the reason for the extra crush of guests?

 

Originally Posted By LuvDatDisney

Gotta agree with SJHYM in post 12 again.

I know we've discussed this on another thread,but the current system is broken and needs fixing. I had the same problem at Epcot awhile ago and wound up eating off-property.

This 'free' meal add-on also has only exascerbated an already bad situation.

Although I hear the new Adventureland buffet is quite good because the food is prepared by WDW Conventions Dept. not MK foods. No characters too!

 

Originally Posted By MrToadWildRider

>>This 'free' meal add-on also has only exascerbated an already bad situation.
<<

I never saw a problem in reality before. I think VBDad and SJHYM both have valid points though. I think a lot of guests to Disney don't really understand what dining in a high density crowd means (long waits, reservations etc) because they may not experience that at home. I've lived in Boston (well across the river from Boston) all of my life and getting a table through PS or having to wait an hour or more isn't that out of the ordinary for me (this was the old system) whereas I can recall countless people being SHOCKED that there was that long of a wait without PS. The thing is (I don't know about Chicago I'm still talking Boston here) as SJYHM mentioned if you don't like the wait there's always some place else to go in the city - whereas in the example given above there isn't. And it's not as though there'd just be a long wait for the walkins, they'd just turn you away if I'm understanding correctly. I don't think I've ever seen that in a restaurant in the city. They may tell you it'll be two hours or more but they won't say "Sorry you can't eat here tonight." Likewise even going out to the nicest of Boston's restaurants doesn't require much more than a week or two reservations if even that much - the exception is Holidays of course, you probably won't be able to call up the Top of the Hub restaurant at the top of the Prudential Building for July 4th and get a reservation a week in advance, that's more like a year. This wasn't a Holiday though? It wasn't even in peak season? That seems very weird and quite scary to be honest that it was impossible to eat at a sitdown restaurant in MGM in offseason without having called much further in advance.

I'd be interesting in hearing what time the original poster tried to eat though? Was it later in the day? If so that might explain why they weren't taking walkins, it may have been too gull with too many PS to be able to guarantee you a seat before closing.

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

Toad -- have you eaten at Todd English's Bonfire -- or Jody Adams' Rialto ? Are those reservations reallyonly a week out ? If so , great but I have been to Boston twice in the last 18 months and couldn't get into either....

I think the correct point you make is there are always other options in large cities, but the options are just not that vast for the size of the population in the parks and on the grounds these days....

If Disney continues with as many dining options as they have now I agree it needs to add tables/places --- if not it will eventually turn into a huge negative.

My issue still is, why the free dining packages ? To me it is just another example of how management is making uninformed decisions..not doing the research first-- just implementing without an idea of the impact...very very poor staff work....


<<the exception is Holidays of course, you probably won't be able to call up the Top of the Hub restaurant at the top of the Prudential Building for July 4th and get a reservation a week in advance, that's more like a year. This wasn't a Holiday though? It wasn't even in peak season? <,

now here is the point--- every day is like a holiday for the people visiting WDW isn't it ? And just what is peak season any more ? how many people post threads here asking if it is going to be crowded when they go to WDW -- well yeah....the level of crowdedness is up for grabs, but will it be more crowded at WDW on January 10 than in Chicago / Boston or New York on January 10th -- you bet.

 

Originally Posted By MinnieSummer

I was there last weekend and there were no seatings available at the sit-down restaurants at MK either. The Dining option is definitely having an impact.

When it originally came out people seemed to think it was to get people to the parks during Hurricane season when, traditionally, the attendance is low and people don't want to plan trips in case of a hurricane. Obviously, if that was the reason it not only worked but backfired as well.

 

Originally Posted By pheneix

WDW's business is actually down year over year right now, as is Universal's. It seems more likely that the dining option at Disney has worked like the All You Can Eat deal we have at Universal in getting the people at are there to eat at their restuarants every chance they can.

But seriously, what kind of excuse is there for every decent restuarant in a park to be booked solid when said park is at 1/5 capacity?

 

Originally Posted By vbdad55

<But seriously, what kind of excuse is there for every decent restuarant in a park to be booked solid when said park is at 1/5 capacity?<

obviosuly those traveling at this time have the economic wherewithall to spend more than maybe average guest. Economy is tight otherwise ( regardless of what anyone says) - this higher end spenders and more sit down meals