mickey quits chef mickey's?

[BayLakeTowers]

Now that I think about it, they were doing the same kind of thing at Akershaus in Epcot with the Princess Dinner last December. Belle was the princess at the main entry. She did not walk around and greet at the tables like the other princesses, so the only photo we have of her for that dinner was the prepared photo. That was our fist time to eat there, so I don't know if that was usual or not. However, she was wearing her decorative yellow ball gown, so it would not have been practical for her to walk through the tables.

[NaCler]

BLT - That's the same experience we had when we went in May. However, they let us take as many pictures with our camera as we wanted. They didn't seem to care as much there as they give you the photo for free (or included in the overpriced breakfast).

It would only seem fair to give you a free photo with Chef Mickey.

[boilerbabe]

When you think about it, that's basically what they do at Cinderella's Castle too, you wait in line to meet Cinderella herself, they take your picture and then you head upstairs to eat. They do a little performance with the Blue Fairy and the Mice, but that's it. Granted, the Cinderella picture is included with the meal but I would hope so! They make you prepay and the cost escapes me at the moment, but I remember it being pricey. We did enjoy it though, it's not something I would do on every vacation. But, for a special occaison, it's fun!

[Len90]

When you think about it, that's basically what they do at Cinderella's Castle too, you wait in line to meet Cinderella herself, they take your picture and then you head upstairs to eat. They do a little performance with the Blue Fairy and the Mice, but that's it. Granted, the Cinderella picture is included with the meal but I would hope so! They make you prepay and the cost escapes me at the moment, but I remember it being pricey. We did enjoy it though, it's not something I would do on every vacation. But, for a special occaison, it's fun!

I believe it is around $58 per person or 2 sit down credits on the DDP.

[nicklesm17]

so i followed my own advice and contacted wdw. here's what i got. my text:
Original Message Follows:------------------------i have heard of the latest greedy idea concerning mickey not being inside chef mickey's walking from table to table as he should. rather, extorting guests for an additional $30 beyond the already outrageous price of breakfast here, for a photo outside. i always thought it was a shameful cheap ploy at tuskerhouse, but this goes even beyond. are you aware of the name of the restaurant? the character your children are there for can only be photographed outside... breakfast with mickey mouse except you won't see any photo's of him next to your table full of food? come on, do the right thing here, what do you think walt would have thought of this?
their response:
Dear Nick, Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World Resort. While we sincerely appreciate your interest, this electronic mail department does not have access to the Dining System. For all questions regarding dining reservations, it will be necessary to contact the Walt Disney World Dining Department directly at 407-WDW-DINE (407-939-3463). They will be happy to assist you. Nick, we hope this information will be of help to you. If you have questions or need further assistance, feel free to contact us. Please include your full name, E-Mail address, and reservation number ifapplicable on all correspondence. Sincerely, Melissa AcevedoWDW Online Communications

now, i'm not going to waste time picking apart this non-response, i think it speaks for itself. i would like to know if anyone else has attempted this channel. have you had success? or the same dusting under the carpet? as i said earlier, i'm not expecting this to be changed over a couple of e-mails. just hoping to stop it before it spreads to places like the garden grill (as one person suggested) and eventually everywhere else. typically anything that receives large public feedback has some one keeping tally, but if they refuse to accept the feedback? i'm hoping this is an isolated instance of a lazy feedback rep. did anyone's contact get proper treatment?

[Mousekedude]

Just to play Devil's Advocate here, isn't this similar to Cinderella's Round Table? You make a reservation, and the price includes a professional photographer for the "special picture" with the Princess herself. You can still bring your own camera, but you're paying for a special professional shot already, so it's not necessary. The only thing is, since you've already paid for the occasion, you might as well get the professional shot. You don't have a choice if you want a picture with her. Seems to me that Chef Mickey's is now doing the same thing, in a way, but in this case they are not adding the cost of the professional photographer to the meal reservation, so you don't pay for it unless you want the professional picture. You can simply get in line and use your own camera if that's the way you want to do it, so in this case you get a choice. So in reality, it's actually more economical because you get to choose what you pay for. How is that a bad thing?
Really, as far as the fact that you have to get in line and use your own camera to get a shot with Mickey, how is that different from any of the other character meet-and-greets where you get in line and get a picture with your own camera? Yes, Disney could offer the Photopass option at Chef Mickey's, but if you think about it, not all character meet-and-greets offer that service anyway, so what's the difference, really? In actuality, it seems like Disney is just making the Chef Mickey's thing more consistent with other similar venues such as Cinderella's Round Table, but in this case they are giving you a choice instead of just automatically adding the price of the professional photographer to the meal reservation. Isn't that better, actually?
Again, just playing Devil's advocate... feel free to rip me to shreds now.

[Len90]

M-dude you are making a valid counter argument for this. However, that only addresses the idea of having the professional picture of your family with MM. I think another one of the big issues that we all seem to be ignoring is the fact that it is a CHARACTER meal. What Disney has defined as a character meal includes the characters VISITING your table. This particular restaurant is officially named "Chef Mickey's Character Breakfast/Dinner". Having Mickey Mouse just standing there for you after check-in is taking away from the whole character dining experience. Instead it is switching it out with the idea of a Meet and Greet. Disney is having the dining patrons wait in line to potentially see the character they wanted to see the most. In my opinion, this was not very well thought out.

nicklesm17: Thank you for sharing that email response. I find it is just another example of how Disney is losing/has lost touch with their guests. A generic reply like that does not resolve your reason for emailing. They did not answer any questions that you had. Instead they just sent a generic pre-typed message to hopefully shut you up.

[nicklesm17]

M-dude you are making a valid counter argument for this. However, that only addresses the idea of having the professional picture of your family with MM. I think another one of the big issues that we all seem to be ignoring is the fact that it is a CHARACTER meal. What Disney has defined as a character meal includes the characters VISITING your table. This particular restaurant is officially named "Chef Mickey's Character Breakfast/Dinner". Having Mickey Mouse just standing there for you after check-in is taking away from the whole character dining experience. Instead it is switching it out with the idea of a Meet and Greet. Disney is having the dining patrons wait in line to potentially see the character they wanted to see the most. In my opinion, this was not very well thought out.

nicklesm17: Thank you for sharing that email response. I find it is just another example of how Disney is losing/has lost touch with their guests. A generic reply like that does not resolve your reason for emailing. They did not answer any questions that you had. Instead they just sent a generic pre-typed message to hopefully shut you up.

occasionally, this is how i feel w/ disney customer service as well len90. i think they may have farmed their online and phone service out. typically they are much more attentive and professional in the parks. i did send a reply re-stating the facts and not particularly nicely asking her to forward the original to her supervisor, since she had no intent of forwarding it or tallying it, in it's proper location.
now as far as m-dude, this isn't a shredding, it's hoping to mold your perspective w/ facts. cinderella's b-fast is outrageous, but you know that when you pre-pay for the meal. you're paying for entrance to a part of the castle you never get to see. you're paying for a tricked out medieval studio portrait w/ all the surroundings. they usually take it 'til they get it right, and take as many w/ you're camera as you like, no hassle! the b-fast in my opinion is not very good, but you get all the interior splendor, bragging rights (ya i was in there) and the characters floating table to table. as another person said, you won't do this that often. to my knowledge, this has always been how this character b-fast worked...since day one.
the other character b-fasts do not work this way, not until recently. in the case of chef mickey's, it is not particularly ambient, you do get the monorail, but the reason this one is so popular is the core characters m, d, g, and p. this is what you pay for. the food is fine, but there's no way you're eating the $27 price tag per person. you are paying for the characters. so people do. now they want to capitalize and basically have you pay twice. this is neither proper nor honest. if everyone lays down on this one w/out a fight, eventually they will do it at every character meal.
it even lacks the style of a character meet and greet that you spoke of. they've been doing this at tuskerhouse, and they're not polite about it. they rush you through. when you ask "could you take 2 pics w/ my camera" they give you the stink eye, take one and say sorry, and oh boy you should see the pic they take w/ your camera. since i've never purchased their $30 set, let's just say i dine there every year and still don't have a pic of us w/ donald. i don't see the justification you do. whenever you lose something, that's just what it is, and it's very hard to get it back. i hope more people get involved in this. many wrongs are done because passive attitudes allow them to be so.

[Mr.ToadWildRider]

occasionally, this is how i feel w/ disney customer service as well len90. i think they may have farmed their online and phone service out. typically they are much more attentive and professional in the parks. i did send a reply re-stating the facts and not particularly nicely asking her to forward the original to her supervisor, since she had no intent of forwarding it or tallying it, in it's proper location.
now as far as m-dude, this isn't a shredding, it's hoping to mold your perspective w/ facts. cinderella's b-fast is outrageous, but you know that when you pre-pay for the meal. you're paying for entrance to a part of the castle you never get to see. you're paying for a tricked out medieval studio portrait w/ all the surroundings. they usually take it 'til they get it right, and take as many w/ you're camera as you like, no hassle! the b-fast in my opinion is not very good, but you get all the interior splendor, bragging rights (ya i was in there) and the characters floating table to table. as another person said, you won't do this that often. to my knowledge, this has always been how this character b-fast worked...since day one.
the other character b-fasts do not work this way, not until recently. in the case of chef mickey's, it is not particularly ambient, you do get the monorail, but the reason this one is so popular is the core characters m, d, g, and p. this is what you pay for. the food is fine, but there's no way you're eating the $27 price tag per person. you are paying for the characters. so people do. now they want to capitalize and basically have you pay twice. this is neither proper nor honest. if everyone lays down on this one w/out a fight, eventually they will do it at every character meal.
it even lacks the style of a character meet and greet that you spoke of. they've been doing this at tuskerhouse, and they're not polite about it. they rush you through. when you ask "could you take 2 pics w/ my camera" they give you the stink eye, take one and say sorry, and oh boy you should see the pic they take w/ your camera. since i've never purchased their $30 set, let's just say i dine there every year and still don't have a pic of us w/ donald. i don't see the justification you do. whenever you lose something, that's just what it is, and it's very hard to get it back. i hope more people get involved in this. many wrongs are done because passive attitudes allow them to be so.

I understand your concern and I agree to an extent but I disagree in a few places:

First, I've never been to Chef Mickey's, but from what I've read here it seems to be that they haven't actually changed anything outside of the fact that they switched Donald and Mickey's roles in the service? Donald formerly greeted people with a pay-to-purchase pro picture with Mickey wandering the dining area, but now they've switched roles? If so, I understand the disappointment but they haven't really changed any feature you weren't previously happy with as the meal was always advertised as dining with the Fab 5 though Donald didn't walk around. Now it's Mickey not walking around and you feel lied to. Why? As others pointed out, Cinderalla's Table is named after a character who doesn't actually mingle amongst the tables. I understand the argument is "that's how it's always been" but so has Chef Mickey's sort of. If you think they've deceived you now then you I think you should've felt equally as deceived when you realized Donald, an advertised character, didn't actually go table to table.

And second, I've never had a problem with ANY Disney photographer taking the best picture possible with your camera, even if it was someone who was there taking pictures for you to purchase later. None of the Photopass people or the guy outside of Askershus etc. In fact I've had Photopass people actually ask other guests seeking the Photopass picture of themselves to wait because I asked for a pic on my camera and he wanted it to come out as good as possible and he changed all the settings to get the optimal picture. Reading your complaint blew my mind, but then I noticed it sounds like it was a one time happening and you've just assumed that the picture would be bad and you'd get grief for asking them to use your camera and as such have never asked again? Maybe there was an annoyed photographer that day or something but I assure you that is the exception not the norm. Give them a try, I'd be surprised if you'd be as disappointed the second time around.

Again, I understand your disappointment, but I kind of feel that this is one issue that may not warrant such ire. Frankly, I'm more disturbed by the response you got from Customer Service. What you wrote clearly has nothing to do with dining reservations, but it seems as though the representative simply skimmed (if that) your complaint and saw "Chef Mickey" or "restaurant" or something and just shipped it off as wrong dept. to avoid doing the work. I've never used any of the electronic systems so I don't know if it's a total auto-response or if the representative just didn't do her job up to par; either way it seems very un-Disney.

**EDIT: As a side note, if you send an e-mail expressing your disgust over the change and then show up for your ADR they aren't going to pay attention. It's only if, and hopefully when, people like you start cancelling your ADRs and stop attending in response to the change that they'll really start to care. This all sort of goes back to another thread "What would it take for you to stop visiting?"- A lot of people have been feeling unhappy on these boards and similar boards frequented by regular visitors to the parks, but the thing is I haven't heard many, if ANYbody, actually say "It's too bad now for me to go" (other than maybe Schnemo and some guy that used to say he only goes to Tokyo Disneyland now on another board) which is what it will unfortunately take Disney to start getting their act together. If they aren't losing business then why spend the resources to improve their product? I realize that is completely contrary to Walt's beliefs but that's where business is. And to someone who wrote earlier, "Doesn't Disney make enough money already?" the simple answer is "No," it's a business, that's what is designed to do- make as much money as possible without breaking any laws. In fact a publicly owned company (like Disney) that does NOT try to maximize profits is liable to be sued by its shareholders for failing to meet their fiduciary obligations and responsibilities.

[Mousekedude]

I love the debate, and all the great comments. There's no question that a person's perspective makes a huge difference in their attitude toward changes and procedures. From Disney's perspective, they're caught in the middle between trying to satisfy purist die-hard visitors and shareholders who want to see a profit on their investment. And the C.M.'s in the trenches get the full force of the conflict from both sides. So despite everything, I personally feel like Disney is doing a pretty good job of balancing competing interests here, and I can't blame them for experimenting with different ways to do things just to see how it works. No doubt when the complaints build up and/or people start canceling ADR's, they'll decide that there has to be a better way. That's always the way it is. The shareholders are important, but the customer is King. Honestly, in this economy, with the way costs have skyrocketed for everything from paper to diesel fuel, it's a wonder they're still able to offer any kind of magical experience at all in some things. Gotta hand it to them for trying. I vote we cut them some slack. Yeah, let them know what you do and do not like, and leave it at that. Walt's spirit will win out eventually, I'm guessing.
On a side note, the non-response that nickelsm17 got is totally unacceptable, and like someone else said, is obviously the work of one lazy employee who didn't pay attention to what was really being said. Pursue it up the chain and I'll guarantee you'll get better results.

[nicklesm17]

updated info: supposedly this is a "test" that they are doing until oct 3rd. to see the public's general feeling/response. i urge now more than ever for people to take the time to contact them. clearly some people can't comprehend what's wrong about what they are doing here, but those who do, please get involved.
i will say this, i like many, am a disney shareholder. i like to see them profitable, i also like to not shake my head in shame at how the profits are made.
it has been a couple trips since i last went to chef mickey's, i never experienced the "donald" scenario mentioned. additionally from the update i saw, they claim there has never been a "paid" photo here. that this is a 1st time experiment. since i actually have eaten here and have never encountered this, i tend to believe wdwinfo on this one.
"character" meals (meals w/ character) have the characters factored into the price. this is what you are paying for. the cinderella's table photo is included in your price. having someone come to you while your eating and say "$30 if you want this picture, otherwise we're throwing it away" is an attempt to receive payment twice. there's no two ways to look at this. i can go to a buffet, say trails end restaurant at fort wilderness for instance. here i will pay $14 for a breakfast buffet. i can go to chef mickey's "character" buffet where mickey is the star and pay $27. about twice the price. twice the food? no. character's, yes. i am paying for it for every person at my table. still believe this is "good" business? yes, seemingly i'm naive, but i like disney to have slightly more scruples than the standard business. the only shareholder litigation that i remember occured any time decisions were being made to tarnish the disney image. thing's that went against what "walt would have wanted". so far, the majority of shareholders have voted as i have. standard business practices (by today's cynical viewpoint) are not acceptable here. there are some profits that cannot out weigh their cost. we're all on this website for the same reason. the appreciation, and love of what's disney. do you still want to be here if the day comes when you're ashamed of what's disney? i hope i never see that day, so i feel obligated to let them know when they do little things like this, in hopes of curbing the bigger things down the road.
i do not believe cancelling any reservation is a feasible option. they will not notice it here, but my kids will. they're not quite at the age yet where they can appreciate a moral standpoint.
i've been going to wdw every year for most of this last decade, w/ the exception of going to disneyland for their 50th. i appreciate the appreciation of photopass photographer's. most times they are professional, polite and good. we go to tuskerhouse every trip (just as i have adr's for this one). the results there are consistent. rude, one pic w/ your camera, either out of focus, or one person chopped. i'd call that a little beyond chance. hopefully, playing the odds, i'm due for a keeper photo this trip, but i sure wouldn't bank on it. just like i sure do not want to see this happening anywhere else in wdw.

[davea61]

We went to Chef Mickey's a few years ago and it was Goofy who we took the professional picture with, not Mickey. We bought the photo, but I remember thinking at that time I would have liked it to have been with Mickey instead. However, after all pictures were taken, Goofy did work the tables. If the public will be as upset about this as a majority of you all are, I'm sure Disney will change the plan and have Mickey do the same.

[Amy]

We went to Chef Mickey's a few years ago and it was Goofy who we took the professional picture with, not Mickey. We bought the photo, but I remember thinking at that time I would have liked it to have been with Mickey instead. However, after all pictures were taken, Goofy did work the tables. If the public will be as upset about this as a majority of you all are, I'm sure Disney will change the plan and have Mickey do the same.

We went to Chef Mickey's out in Cali in 2003 and we have a picture with Goofy as well. I don't think Mickey was there at all...never really thought about it though, guess I'm not as observant about characters

[BayLakeTowers]

I was at Chef Mickey's last December. There was no character photo-op at the front, just the traditional family photo around the plate. To my recollection, you had to pay for that if you wanted it. Then you went inside and took photos of the characters as they visited the table. So the way I see it, the situation hasn't changed much. You still had to pay extra for a professional photo, it just now has a character in it rather than the big plate. As for Mickey not being in the resturaunt itself, I would hope that Mickey would still come to the table and rotate out with the other characters at the front like davea61 mentioned. If Mickey didn't come to the table, I would innocently ask a cast member when Mickey would be coming by and voice my complaint directly to them if they had taken him out of the visits. They take this feedback directly to the managers and the people who (hopefully) will listen. I would also suggest talking with WDWdining, since they are separate from the WDW resorts as nick's message indicated. Though it would have been proper customer service for them to forward the message to the appropriate department.

[Mousekedude]

All in all, I sure hope they get this resolved to everyone's satisfaction before December. We have a reservation for Chef Mickey's and would love to be able to get good pictures with His Mouse-ness himself.