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Credit: DisneyA Disneyland Resort guest said her family was “bullied” and “harassed” for not spending enough money at Blue Bayou, one of the most popular restaurants at Disneyland Park. The guest made a special reservation for her daughter’s 19th birthday, but was disappointed by what was supposed to be a magical dining experience at The Happiest Place on Earth.
Blue Bayou Restaurant
All day long, Disneyland Park’s Blue Bayou restaurant offers “perpetual twilight” in a moonlit setting along the path of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. The Table-Service dining location serves New Orleans-inspired cuisine for lunch and dinner, and offers dining packages for special events and certain entertainment offerings.
Bullying and Harassment
On January 21, Redditor u/PandaMotor visited Blue Bayou for her daughter’s 19th birthday. Unfortunately, the pair left feeling “bullied and harassed” by several Disney cast members at the pricey Disneyland Park restaurant.
Bullied & Harassed at Blue Bayou
Bullied & Harassed at Blue Bayou
byu/PandaMotor inDisneyland
“We knew/heard the food wasn’t great there; we were there for the ambience,” the disappointed mother said. “Still, I happily spent 27.75 on coffee, lemonade and an appetizer for the privilege. Lunch/Dinner (was right before 4pm) or dessert wasn’t completely out of the question, but this is what we started with. Apparently this wasn’t good enough to them.”
The guest alleged that Disney cast members treated them poorly because they didn’t immediately order full-course lunch or dinner.
“The waitress, and who I presume was the manager (in a different outfit than the servers), bullied and harassed [us] until we left,” she explained. “We were there less than an hour, and there were plenty of open tables. We weren’t by the water. We weren’t rude. We just wanted to enjoy the special time and were unable to do so because of harassment by the staff for not ordering full course dinners.”
The trouble began when the waitress reportedly forgot cream and sugar for the guest’s coffee:
“The waitress brought me coffee without any cream and sugar even though I had asked for such, asked if we were ready to order, we said no, and then blatantly ignored our table until my coffee was cold before she returned only to again ask if we were ready to order yet, I said no, Id just like some cream and sugar right now. (We were still eating our appetizer) By the time she brought some, my coffee was cold but I didn’t complain. I drank it and then sat there with an empty cup.”
Their server switched halfway through the meal as Blue Bayou swapped from the lunch to the dinner menu. According to the Disney Park guest, the manager took over and asked if they would be ordering meals from the dinner menu.
“My child, clearly starting to get shaken / upset by this point, was still polite and stated that we were fine thank you,” the Disney Park guest recalled. “…The manager asked us if we were magic key holders, and other strange questions, I didn’t ask why she as asking, I just wanted her to go away as other people were starting to stare at us now. I said I’d just really like a refill of my coffee, and my waitress who was in ear shot serving the other tables, spoke up and said ‘I can do that’, and then after a few more awkward moments with the manager, she walked away.”
“The waitress continued to serve the tables around us, they never switched staff,” she continued. “…She eventually brought me 1 refill of my coffee, and when she did, she looked at my kid, smirked, and said ‘Oh I meant to say, Haaappy Biirthday, Sorry, we don’t offer free pieces of cake here.’ I said, ‘We knew that, and we weren’t expecting anything free, thank you.'”
At this point, the guest’s daughter wanted to leave the restaurant:
“The manager was standing by the entrance directly behind me, but my kid had line of sight of her, and when I told my kid that we weren’t going to let them bully us and to just ignore all of this and try to enjoy the experience, that maybe the problem wasnt “us”, but maybe that word was out that their food wasn’t great and so they were extra aggressive to get people to order – my kid shook her head and said, the manager had been staring at her and if I could see the looks that the looks she is giving her – it feels personal, like she hates us.
It was making her so uncomfortable, and she wanted to just leave. So we did.
So thanks Blue Bayou staff for ruining my child’s birthday celebration and special night for no good reason. I am still stunned and confused that you felt we deserved that treatment.”
Have you ever felt pressured to spend more money at a restaurant at Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World Resort? Share your story with Inside the Magic in the comments.