Backstage_Gal
<font color=darkorchid>Let me rephrase the dog ste
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2005
MG, I am not privy to specific details that are driving the perceived food quality issues, anything I say about that would be speculation on my part.
MG, I am not privy to specific details that are driving the perceived food quality issues, anything I say about that would be speculation on my part.
For my family, it is not a perceived food quality issue. The quality is awful compared to the way dining was before they started pushing the dining plan and offering free dining so much. Back then, every restaurant had original menus with quality food on them. Also, while the prices were higher than offsite, they were not ridiculously inflated to try to give people on the dining plan a perceived value or savings they could add up. We used to actually plan to eat at our "favorite" restaurants each trip and try others looking for new favorites. Oh how things have changed, we just came back from a 16 day trip where I had TS reservations every night, after bad quality food at 3 restaurants in a row, I canceled the rest of the reservations and we ate off site. Not only did we have great meals off site, we saved a ton of money too.
For long time and frequent visitors the quality cutbacks all the way around are not perceived, they are the reality we have been served by Disney. Don't get me wrong, we still love Disney but we don't spend money on food anymore, we don't spend money on the generic merchandise anymore and we tend to branch out and go to other non-Disney places more than we used to.
I have to agree and respectfully disagree with some of the posts. I agree that the food quality has gone WAY down, but I don't think it has anything to do with the "free" dining plan. As an AP holder we have used the dining plan and the free dining plan and to be honest the food was better the one time we used the free dining. This past May we paid for the dining plan and the food was HORRIBLE at 6 of the 7 restaurants we ate at. The only one I can say was worth the time it takes to keep an ADR was Tony's. LeCellier was not even close to what it was just 2 years ago; and now they want to charge signature prices for dinner? The Grand Floridian Cafe served me a steak that was full of fat and gristle so most of it was sent back uneaten. Our dinner at 'Ohana was lacking in that the chicken wings were raw at the bone, and we got all of 6 shrimp. I could go on, but most of you get the idea.
I really, really, hope not. I think the basic Disney Dining Plan has done a lot to ruin the quality of Disney Dining, and Free Dining has made it worse!
Amen !
It is all about the money from Disney's point of view. The restaurants are full and so is the bank. Those of us who have started eating more meals off property than on are replaced by those who have the dining plan and feel as if they have gotten a deal. The free dining this year extends though out most of 2011 and with the new strict cancellation rules on package bookings, they will keep a lot of money and make a fortune off interest from the deposits paid on trips that were booked almost a year in advance.
Sorry so long, just wanted to get my $1.50 worth in before that goes up too......
Disney doesn't need free dining to fill the chairs in their restaurants, what they need is fair value for their food, a good atmosphere and good food.
Just for the record when I do eat on property I get sick and tired of being asked if I am on the dining plan, it's like they don't have any real paying guests.
If you think the DDP is a good thing then you probably also think Taco Bell is Authentic Mexican food and Alice Springs Chicken and Bloomin Onions are authentic Australian cuisine.
I always thought it was for their records to see how many guests were on the DDP and who was not. Plus maybe it's a way for the server to know in advance.Now that's one thing I don't get...at least most locations don't have restrictions as to what you can order on the DDP - so why do they need to know in advance? I often wondered if that would potentially affect the service, at least early on when the tip was included.
There is an implication here that somehow you get better food if you are on the free dining plan than if you paid for the DDP. I don't see how that is possible as the servers and chefs wouldn't have a clue whether you paid out of pocket for the DDP or not. The DDP is the DDP. Free dining has simply made it far more prevalent - and THAT is where the problem lies.
From what I understand, dining credit is given a certain "dollar value". That value is fixed, regardless of the location or the food ordered. Since in most cases the choice of food is NOT restricted, you can order something that costs more than the value of the credit. Then when it comes time for the location to do the books, it looks as if they didn't make as much money as they should have. This has reportedly resulted in cutbacks to reduce the wholesale cost of the meal - which could mean cheaper ingredients, lower quality stuff, etc.
I think the DDP/free dining has done what Disney wanted, which includes getting bodies into the restaurants. Otherwise I think we would have seen a number of locations closed down. But I think it has also made it more difficult to get in to some places and a general dumbing down of the food.
But remember race full restaurants do not mean profits. What is happening is almost the same concept as the airlines and retail industry are facing.
You cut the price so low in order to lure people in. your new low price does not net a profit so now you have to cut "cost" either by cheaper quality, lower cost goods or cutting fixed cost like personnel. The airline industry is really suffering from this. We all want flights for $19.99, unfortunately with rising fuel and airport cost airlines are stuck, they can't raise prices because they need to keep consumers in the seats, so we are left with them slashing just about every "extra" you can think of to bring revenue in.
Why do you think most of the menus are very limited and unoriginal? It's cheaper to get one supplier to give you cheap steaks.
Last year Disney saw great profits due to their movie segment. Theme park earnings were flat, so even with all the bodies in the park and free promotions
theme park operating profits fell.
This is just my backwards analysis. I am in no way an expert on any thing. My family was in the restaurant business so I know a little about quality.