Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder ...Anybody else find a 20 minute wait for valet parking, then wait 90 minutes past your reservation time (1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in this case)? Apparently the food was good once you were able to eat, but was there a lack of seats for those who were waiting, along with a just a chaotic disorganization to the day?
Originally Posted By cstephens Hmmm, no, no problems here at all. Except for last year, we've been going every year for the last multiple years now. The service was still really slow (our person either wasn't around for us to ask for refills or it took two or three requests to get actual refills of things), but other than that, I thought the food and dessert selections were actually much better than in recent years. I do self-park, not valet, so I don't know what the normal valet situation is. The wait for a table seems awfully long, especially if you had a reservation, but it also seems like you were there during the busiest part of the day. We usually make a brunch-time reservation. We were seated probably within 15 minutes or so. We left at about maybe 2:00, and the waiting area was *extremely* crowded. We were surprised there were still so many people eating at that late hour. /cs
Originally Posted By TinkerMellyJ We also had Mothers Day Brunch this past Sunday at the D-Land Hotel. The waiting room was absolutely packed wall to wall- It was amazing! We had to wait about 45 minutes from our check-in. They had cartoons for the children to watch but very few chairs to sit in. There was complimentary coffee, tea and OJ. This was a nice touch but there were empty cups on every flat surface - it looked very messy. There were garbage cans there with nice covers but as people tend to do- they can't make it a few feet to throw their empties away. The staff seemed overwhelmed trying to keep up with the drinks for the waiting room crowd. Inside the dining room was very lovely. We were amazed by the gorgeous giagantic floral arrangements - so pretty. On the edges of the ballroom were beautiful "stages" where the little and big kids could meet princesses and characters. The food was pretty good but it seems crazy to say this but there could have been a few more food choices. As I posted in another area, I am having a growing issue with paying huge prices for these special meals, having the tips included beforehand and then getting mediocre service. We waited 15-20 minutes after being seated and servers were all around us and no one stopped at our table. My husband has an issue where he needs to have liquids with his meal and we didn't want to begin eating until we had placed our drink order. Finaly he caught a passing server and asked if she knew which server was assigned to our table and she said, Oh it's me. It just seems that sometimes they don't try very hard because they know the tip is there no matter what and it is a good one for just serving drinks for sure! People are making the effort and saving their money to attend these special events to make Mother's Day or birthdays extra special for someone they care about and there is nothing worse than spending your meal trying to "catch" your server instead of enjoying the celebration and being served properly. There were many nice things about this event but Disney needs to put on extra servers for special events- they can afford it at $57 a head for goodness sake! And they need to tell the servers that attentive service is must when so much $$$ is being forked out and there is so much expectation at such a special event.
Originally Posted By Elderp Sounds like the tip shouldn't be included. I have noticed that whenever the tip is included it is usually a bad thing.
Originally Posted By cstephens TinkerMellyJ wrote: > The food was pretty good but it seems crazy to say this but there could have been a few more food choices. The only thing I would have wanted was asparagus but that's because I love asparagus, and I love that it's available for breakfast at Storyteller's. With the plethora of items available at brunch, I am indeed surprised to hear that someone wanted more choices. What didn't they have that you would have wanted? As for the tip and service thing, I agree that the service has definitely gone downhill. Tip has always been included, but when we first started going, the service was exceptional. I don't know if they're not hiring enough waiters or the waiters aren't of the same caliber, but they definitely need to work on that. /cs
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder My wife took her mother and her father to the brunch. They were the ones who waited 90 minutes past their reservation time. Her mom has two bad knees and is 63. No younger able bodied male offered her a seat the entire waiting time. When one did open up, someone else would get there before she could. Her dad has Alzheimer's, and according to my wife, when the staff was asked if there were extra chairs, she was told no, even after she explained the medical conditions of both and how long they had begun to wait. The waiting area was full of complaining people. According to my wife, it wasn't that people were making late reservations, it was that they were being made to wait so long. The only explanation was that they were "running behind". She wanted to valet park because of their condition, but they ended up walking. As I said earlier, the food was apparently very good, but as post 4 said, getting server help was hard to do. She's done the DL brunch thing for a long time, but she says without some guarantee that they'll get their logistical planning down, this could be the last one. No planning or learning from the past went into this one.
Originally Posted By Elderp ^ Despite all that people will come back next year and the service will be a little worse but the price will be a little higher.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains SingleParkPassholder - I would call DisneyDining and speak to a supervisor and explain what happened and how bad the *experience* part of the day was - they may not refund any money, but if everyone who had such an experience let them know - they would know how to make it better next time - It can't hurt to make the call.
Originally Posted By cstephens Actually, I would recommend that your wife use the official website to submit a comment and have her explain everything that happened. After our much-less-than-stellar experience at the Easter Brunch last year, I did that, and they actually called me to talk to me. If more people don't complain, there's no reason for them to make a change. /cs
Originally Posted By AZDLDad My wife absolutelty loved her brunch at the Napa Rose! I scored, nuff said!
Originally Posted By DlandJB Didn't go for Mother's Day brunch but we did for Easter and we had a wonderful server. It may be more the person than the tip that makes the difference.
Originally Posted By mrquisp I took my wife to the Brunch this year (this was our fifth in a row) and we had no problems whatsoever. Our reservation was at 10:30, and they actually had us seated 10 minutes before that. I guess when you have your reservations does matter in the whole analysis. Those earlier experienced no wait; those later did. The only thing missing this year was the pasta bar which was my wife's favorite. I do agree that the service was bad... it took me a couple of eye contacts to finally get someone to our table for drinks.
Originally Posted By mrquisp I took my wife to the Brunch this year (this was our fifth in a row) and we had no problems whatsoever. Our reservation was at 10:30, and they actually had us seated 10 minutes before that. I guess when you have your reservations does matter in the whole analysis. Those earlier experienced no wait; those later did. The only thing missing this year was the pasta bar which was my wife's favorite. I do agree that the service was bad... it took me a couple of eye contacts to finally get someone to our table for drinks.
