For Disney Regs. Any noticeable changes in meal quality for any reataurants?

[sportears]

We're going in April, and have PT's at our usual restaurants. I've heard a few negative remarks about some or our favorites, and am wondering if anyone else has noticed any changes in quality good, or bad at any your favorite restaurants?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Yes. There is a lot less variety and high-end items at most of the restuarants. Since the restaurants get paid a fixed price for each meal sold, not based on the menu pricing, they cannot afford to have stuff like lobster or filets since they wuld lose too much money.

 

[Momelie]

Its a very gradual downturn, but its there. The main thing I've noticed (like the above poster said) is fewer menu choices, fewer quality items, and the two specific things I've noticed a decline in are the meats and (believe it or not) produce. I had to cut spots off my tomato the other day, LOL!

If you go regularly, it will take you a while to say "hey, this isn't the same as it used to be", but if you haven't been since, say, 2004 or so, you'll probably notice right away.

 

[bicker]

The signature restaurants are as good as they have always been. The other restaurants are now all providing the same level of food and service (where previously they provided options along a spectrum, from just barely better than counter service all the way up to just marginally below the signature restaurants).

With regard to menu choices, that's a national trend. Many restaurants have taken industry expert advice, which has been very consistent since 2003-2004, to reduce the number of items on menus, to focus on doing a smaller number of items well, enhancing both quality and profitability. That's completely unrelated to the Dining Plan.

 

[Leota]

Food quality has slipped quite noticeably in the TS restaurants. I have noticed it very clearly in some of the Signatures as well as the more moderate places. Menus are becoming very homogenized, creativity is stifled, quality is declining. The little touches that once made dishes fun are disappearing so they can "pump 'em in, pump 'em out" fatser to deal with the increased demands for tables generated by the DDP.

We have taken to eating most of our meals at non-DDP participating restaurants because of the decline in value we are getting from Disney Dining. My Rose - Colored Glasses do not include getting less (quality) for my money than I used to. I am (obviously) a Loyal Disney Guest, but I am offended by the current trends in Disney's dining offerings.

 

[yearbook50]

Food has definitely gone down in quality across the board. Specialty items are disappearing.
The only places that I haven't see any downgrade are Victoria and Albert's, Citricos and Jiko's.

 

[Leota]

I think even Citricos is suffering homogenization - ie. the removal of quail from the menu. Shame, it was so delicious.

 

[SharonLowe]

Agree that the quality is going down in most places. Jiko is still outstanding but even it has suffered a bit. California Grill has definitely gone downhill - I hope the new chef breathes some life into it. And, with all the advanced planning that has to occur, it is also becoming a chore to eat at WDW. I for one would be very happy if they stopped the dining plans but that isn't likely to happen since it obviously makes WDW a lot of money.

 

[KevinYee]

Unless, of course, enough guests and tourists complain about the dining plan! Then maybe they would scrap it. Or limit its impact, somehow.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Yes, quality is suffering. We loved Jiko and FF and while they are still VERY GOOD they are no longer GREAT, IMO.

 

[LisaInNc]

I have noticed it too. Some of the places we have dined at for years have started to disappoint. I noticed that a lot of the high end food are disappearing, I guess that is what "free dining" did for us.

 

[Caren]

We're going in April, and have PT's at our usual restaurants. I've heard a few negative remarks about some or our favorites, and am wondering if anyone else has noticed any changes in quality good, or bad at any your favorite restaurants?

I truthfully have not noticed that much of a slide in full-service restaurants. Of course, this may be due to my habit of eating mostly at Boma.

One thing that has been very noticable to me is that they've limited the beer selection in the bars. I used to be able to get a Bass Ale at nearly every dining venue except, of course, in the Magic Kingdom. But now, Bass Ale, Guiness, and all the stuff I like seems to have disappeared from hotel bars. I rarely drink beer, but do like to have a few on vacation. I've given that up.

I also think that counter service has been quite limited and mediocre lately. It's mostly edible, but very little is good.

 

[ElizabethB]

The days when WDW was a vacation destination for serious foodies are over. But, if you have a large group and want to stuff yourselves silly with mediocre food, things have never been better. 'Nuff said.

 

[Leota]

Unless, of course, enough guests and tourists complain about the dining plan! Then maybe they would scrap it. Or limit its impact, somehow.

They're not paying attention. I e-mailed Guest Services several monthes ago regarding my concerns, got the standard "Thanks for your interest, we'll get back to you", which of course, they haven't.

As long as DDP brings in the once in a while guests who don't notice the decline, they are willing to sacrifice the likes of us. It's all about the Benjamins.....

 

[KevinYee]

Yeah, I agree in general that a single email won't do the trick. I just fantasize about 200 such emails coming in every single day, from different people... surely then the front-line CMs would "escalate" the complaints to the managers who need to hear it.

I also have to assume that message boards and threads like this very thread have some limited impact.

 

[PortieOwner]

One thing that has been very noticable to me is that they've limited the beer selection in the bars. I used to be able to get a Bass Ale at nearly every dining venue except, of course, in the Magic Kingdom. But now, Bass Ale, Guiness, and all the stuff I like seems to have disappeared from hotel bars. I rarely drink beer, but do like to have a few on vacation. I've given that up.

Regarding beer, I just buy some good stuff off-world and leave it in my hotel fridge.

Regarding restaurants, the biggest disappointment to me has been Akerhus. You can still get an okay meal there but nothing like the old Koldbord/Buffet of 10 years ago. I don't think that their demise was becaause of the dining plan, though.

 

[Cookie Princess]

I hate to tell you, but it isn't just the dining plan causing these changes. They are cutting back on the variety of specialty "grown-up" drinks at the various resorts. The different resorts had cocktails that were in line with the theme of that hotel. The attention to detail is dying, and I think Walt might be rolling over in his grave. Just my 2 cents...

 

[donaldtutter]

The food quality has definately declined in all table service locations including signature restaurants. We used to build our vacations around dining but now dining at WDW is an afterthought.

 

[Leota]

I hate to tell you, but it isn't just the dining plan causing these changes. They are cutting back on the variety of specialty "grown-up" drinks at the various resorts. The different resorts had cocktails that were in line with the theme of that hotel. The attention to detail is dying, and I think Walt might be rolling over in his grave. Just my 2 cents...

I think that it's entirely possible the DDP is affecting the lounge homogenization too. I'm not sure, but I would assume food & beverage covers both restaurants & lounges. If F&B is taking a loss due to DDP, they have to make cuts all across the board, thus food would affect beverage. Every company is set up differently, so Disney may seperate these two out, but I doubt it. The usual business model for resorts & entertainment venues is to lump Food & Beverage together. In the restaurant business, the largest percentage of profit per dollar spent comes from beverage sales. Homogenization/cuts in that area would go a long way towards bringing F&B into the black, certainly a quicker turn in profits than food where the mark-up isn't as great.

I do heartily agree that attention to detail is dying & that Walt would be rolling

 

[picantel]

We are disney fanatics who moved to orlando just to be near the parks. We used to eat there every weekend and loved the food and experiences. I have not been back in a couple of months and will no longer pay their outrageous prices for small portions, less variety, and poor quality. Paying $60+ for a meal of garbage is not my idea of money well spent. The sad thing is disney went out of their way to make their restaurants one of a kind and in a moment of greed they have ruined it all. Add that to crowded parks, escalating room and ticket prices, and a decline in customer service it is pretty obvious I am outraged since it appears we moved here for nothing. We have gone to disney once now in the past 2 months and I do not even wanna go back.