More Changes for Disney Dining Locations as Things Return to Normal

1. When i'm on vacation...a big part of that is disconnection from " the screen . Don't want to be on my phone..... 2. The Disney apps frequently goes down. 3 it drains your phone battery terribly.

want to see Dinning plan.

I just returned from a week in Disney and this was not my experience. I love Disney and have been many times, but this was by far my worst experience. The app is fine when it works, but it often glitches, making dining a bit of a challenge and sometimes requiring you to uninstall and then reinstall the app in order to book dining reservations. We had several table service meals with reservations, and every restaurant where we dined in the parks appeared to be operating on about 50% capacity, with as many empty tables as occupied tables. This is particularly frustrating in light of the difficulty in booking a dining reservation at Disney. Additionally, I personally witnessed numerous restaurants turn away walk-ups even though half of the restaurant was empty. The food was generally subpar and certainly not up to Disney standards. We often left more food on the table than we consumed, and, considering Disney prices, most of the meals we consumed were not worth what we had to pay for them. Although I navigated mobile ordering quite effectively, I saw many people in the parks (other than Epcot) who were very frustrated because they could not obtain food at quick service locations, due to their lack of familiarity with mobile ordering, and could not get service at a table service restaurant. I heard numerous people tell cast members at dining locations, " we can't get anything to eat." In general, Mobile ordering is very frustrating. You cannot enter any of the quick service restaurants in the parks until you show the cast member (standing at the door like a hawk to prevent people from entering the restaurant) your phone with proof that you have placed a mobile order and received the push notification that your food is ready. You cannot use any spontaneity and decide on a whim that you are hungry, unless you are making a purchase of snack type food from a snack cart or you are in Epcot obtaining food from one of the festival booths. You cannot communicate effectively with cast members inside the quick service locations, because with masks and plexiglass and the noise level they cannot hear you. At docking Bay 7, we were not permitted to enter the location even though we had received the push notification that our food was ready. By the time they finally allowed us to enter, our order had been canceled. Cast members seemed completely perplexed as to how to handle that situation. Rather than to communicate with us, they tried to give us someone else's food. The only thing they seem interested in doing is looking at your phone to see your order number. When they finally gave us our food, it was cold and pretty disgusting. The covid protocols in place are laughable.. I realize people have differing opinions and respect that. For those who think a mask mandate is necessary, that is fine and I am not trying to engage in a debate. My household does not subscribe to that ideology. We moved our trip several times to wait until there was no mask mandate at Disney. Unfortunately, the indoor mask mandate was reimplemented the week before we arrived. Rather than move our trip once again, we decided to go. Regardless of your perspective on mask mandates, the policies and procedures at Disney are just silly and are only in place for show. At least half of the hand sanitizer stations in the parks are empty. Although a covid message plays on a loop about every 30 minutes in the parks warning guests to social distance and remain 6 ft from other parties, on every ride and in every queue cast members insist that guests "fill in all available space," packing people in like sardines in a can. None of the tables at quick service locations are sanitized between parties, which I would assume is a concern for people who are very fearful about covid and is certainly a concern in terms of general cleanliness. Unlike table service restaurants, which appear to be operating at about 50% capacity, the quick service locations are packed, with tables so close together at some locations that it seems you are actually dining with the strangers seated next to you. The parks and our Disney resort were the dirtiest I have ever seen any Disney location. All that having been said, we still had a good time. I mean it's Disney, so it's virtually impossible not to have a good time. In light of the cost to go to Disney, I just think people need a realistic perspective of what it's like there currently, and it is far from normal. By contrast, Universal is normal. We had an absolute blast at Universal! Universal appears to be fully staffed; the parks were clean; restaurants were open and fully operational; the food was great; there was no requirement to depend on your phone in order to eat, because you could simply walk into a restaurant and order food; if you did choose to use Universal's app, it worked perfectly; and for those who do not want to wear a mask, you are not required to do so at Universal. We are already planning another trip to Universal, but, for our family, Disney is on the shelf until things improve there.

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