Need to vent on prices

[Tiger926]

Actually people did pay the prices, I think the difference now is that disney knows the quality is not worth the price. Most of the restaurants have been open since the parks opened, they managed to survive.

You hear it here all the time. People tolerate the food because it's discounted.

Yup, we are agreeing on the same thing. We had no problems paying cash when quality was better, restaurants were less crowded, and service was better. Those restaurants survived because things were better, but now that Disney has set up a discount culture of free food, I don't know if things will ever go back. Chefs have been stripped of creativity in creating fresh and new dishes, generic menus, and poorer food products are the way of life now at Disney. It's ok for some guests, and not ok for others. So, for those of us who are tired of it, we eat elsewhere, whether that be in our villas or off-site.

Disney has decided to use food to secure bookings, and so, I don't think things will change for quite awhile. I think they really are trying to force guests to purchase the Dining Plan, and there are many of us who don't like that way of thinking. Why else do guests on the Dining Plan pay less during peak season than those of us paying cash?

Tiger

 

[vicki_c]

Why else do guests on the Dining Plan pay less during peak season than those of us paying cash?

Tiger

That is no longer true, Tiger - now there are peak season DDP prices just like the menu prices go up for cash guests @ those times.

 

[babyrich]

I'm not sure where everyone is eating but I have not had a bad meal at WDW or bad service. Some meals are better than others but I've never had anything to complain about. This past October was our first time with free dining, we usually include the DP in our package. We did not notice any difference in food or service with free dining.

WDW is a very popular destination so I expect higher prices and big crowds. We save our money knowing what we will need for food and fun.

For me if the quality goes down, I will stop going.

 

[Tiger926]

That is no longer true, Tiger - now there are peak season DDP prices just like the menu prices go up for cash guests @ those times.

Thanks, but you misunderstood - I said why do we pay "less". The peak season DP pricing is only $2.00/pp/day - there is only a $2.00 price increase per day between regular and peak DP.

Whereas if you were paying cash for a meal, it is $4.00/pp. Disney does not advertise the buffet surcharge, but having paid it for 3 years now, as we go during peak season, it is $4.00/pp for adults, and $2.00/child.

Tiger

 

[vicki_c]

You misunderstood - I said why do we pay "less". The peak season DP pricing is only $2.00/pp/day - there is only a $2.00 price increase per day between regular and peak DP. Whereas if you were paying cash for a meal, it is $4.00/pp. Disney does not advertise the buffet surcharge, but having paid it for 3 years now, as we go during peak season, it is $4.00/pp for adults, and $2.00/child.

Tiger

Thanks - I didn't know / remember how much the DDP plan went up at that time. Not a huge difference, but I do remember feeling frosted in 2008 when 2 of our 4 trips were during peak dining times, knowing that DDP buyers were not paying the surcharges. At least it's closer to the same now.

 

[aml3679]

This will be our first trip staying on site for 11 days. We purchased the Deluxe Dining Plan with BLD and 2 snacks. The price seems high, but we will get our money's worth.

Even though the prices seem high, what are you going to do when you are on vacation and are spending all of those days on site.

We are not renting a car -- that is saving us a bit of money.

Prices are high everywhere - plus you are paying for convenience.

When we go to the movies, it costs more for a popcorn and a soda than it does for the movies.

We are paying for the atmosphere.

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

I went to the Circus in April and spent $50 on 2 baskets of chicken fingers and fries. They charged $10 for cotton candy.

Actually Disney prices aren't THAT off base compared to the real world.

I buy lunch at work on a daily basis - the equivalent of CS. If I cheap out, I can get a soup and bread at Au Bon Pain for about $7 including tax (no drink). For a sandwich at Au Bon Pain (no chips, no drink), it'll run you between $8 and $9 after tax. I can never walk away from Devon and Blakely for under $10 and I never buy a drink. That's comparable if not MORE than Disney CS prices. The only places I can get a full meal for less than Disney Prices are McDonald's, Taco Bell and the like. But I enjoyed my meal at Pecos Bills a lot more than Mickey D's!

As for TS, some is more expensive, but a lot is comparable. Olive Garden, TGI Friday's and Chili's are cheaper, but we don't eat there (yuck). For decent (i.e. non-bottom of the barrel) family type restaurants, most entrees run in the teens to $20s. We went to a casual Mexican place on Saturday. My entree was cheap at $13 (I had a seafood chimichanga - yum!). DH had steak and rib fajitas for $22. Each kids meal was $7. Is that terribly different from a lot of Disney places?

No, it might not be Le Bernedin, but the Disney restaurants offer a lot of variety and the food is better than national chains.

 

[leroy26]

DH and I went to the movies yesterday, at the "matinee discount price" of $10.50 each. There we bought a medium (Ha!) popcorn and drink combo, at the "discounted" price of $12.50. I have never spent $12.50 on a CS meal in WDW, even with tax included. So I figure WDW prices aren't as bad as they could be.

Very true! The movies are way out of line as far as their food and soda. That popcorn just cost them pennies, and fountain soda the same! That is a huge profit! No Disney isn't looking so bad!

 

[MyTwoPrincesses]

Oh and on whether free dining is free... I've priced on site and off site and it works out cheaper to do a mod with free dining than to stay offsite.

When staying onsite, we don't rent a car and can take magical express. That right there is several hundred dollars in savings for a week. We have the convenience of eating onsite without having to drive around and look for dinner spots in Orlando.

 

[Tiger926]

Thanks - I didn't know / remember how much the DDP plan went up at that time. Not a huge difference, but I do remember feeling frosted in 2008 when 2 of our 4 trips were during peak dining times, knowing that DDP buyers were not paying the surcharges. At least it's closer to the same now.

Disney made it the same last year, but this year, they lowered the peak season DP again. I think it's to force everyone to buy the DP.

When I called and checked prices, the Dining computers were still showing the cash upcharge of $4.00 and $2.00, so that is frustrating when there is a blatant difference. Peak season pricing should be the same, IMHO. We are lucky as DVC members, as we don't have to pay the peak season price for the DP. Not sure how long that will last for...?

Tiger

 

[ElizabethB]

Many years ago, I said Disney pricing works like this:

Take an item, a meal, etc.
Use your imagination to thing of the absolutely most outrageous price that one could charge for it.
Double that price.
That will give you the Disney price.

My formula held years ago, and it still does!

My complaint, now, is that the quality of the food and dining experiences for that high price are declining precipitously. I challenge anyone to order a dessert at any restaurant that takes the DDP and compare it with dessert at a restaurant that does not. The difference is astounding. The quality of the dessert at a DDP restaurant will be low -- they are now mass produced due to DDP and free dining. And yet they still cost $10 a dessert!!

The last Artist Point dessert we had, before we swore off AP forever, was nothing more than a glorifed zebra dome, which I am no fan of anyway. It was only slightly larger than a zebra dome, was obviously supplied by the thousands by some third party vendor and simply pulled from the freezer and slapped on the plate with a squirt of sauce whenever dessert was ordered.

I contrast that with the absolutely scrumptious desserts we had at Fulton's, last month which does not take DDP. I would say their $8 key lime pie and cherry cobbler with ice cream were the two best desserts of our vacation (aside from the kona chocolate souffle at V&A).

We also used to love the cheese plate at CG. This time, although it still cost $20, it clearly had been pre-plated hours before. The cheese had already dried out. Disappointing. That, together with the wines by the glass, which were way past the point of being able to be served in terms of age and oxidation mean we have now sworn off CG as well.

Aside from Jiko, we now avoid any restaurant that takes DDP. And, we won't order dessert at Jiko anymore because their silly slab of "Peruvian" chocolate something we ate last month (not sure how we got from Africa to Peru, but whatever) was not worth $10 and was a pale shadow of the amazing desserts of yesteryear. So, we will continue to dine at Jiko due to the appetizers, entrees and excellent South African wine list, but we won't order dessert anymore.

Our best meals last month by far were had at Il Mulino, Bice, Emeril's, Fulton's and V&A.

Seems to be a pattern there.

IMO, food at Disney has simply become a way for management to improve the bottom-line. How can food (which is cheap for Disney) be used to keep people on site, and to maximize hotel room revenues. It's no longer about dining -- at all. I miss the Eisner days when things like dining and wine and sommeliers and the Disney Institute actually mattered. These days it is all numbers crunching, all the time. It shows everywhere -- from the quality of the food to the fact that lots of places around WDW looked surprisingly dirty and unkempt last month.

 

[Tiger926]

Many years ago, I said Disney pricing works like this:

Take an item, a meal, etc.
Use your imagination to thing of the absolutely most outrageous price that one could charge for it.
Double that price.
That will give you the Disney price.

My formula held years ago, and it still does!

My complaint, now, is that the quality of the food and dining experiences for that high price are declining precipitously. I challenge anyone to order a dessert at any restaurant that takes the DDP and compare it with dessert at a restaurant that does not. The difference is astounding. The quality of the dessert at a DDP restaurant will be low -- they are now mass produced due to DDP and free dining. And yet they still cost $10 a dessert!!

The last Artist Point dessert we had, before we swore off AP forever, was nothing more than a glorifed zebra dome, which I am no fan of anyway. It was only slightly larger than a zebra dome, was obviously supplied by the thousands by some third party vendor and simply pulled from the freezer and slapped on the plate with a squirt of sauce whenever dessert was ordered.

I contrast that with the absolutely scrumptious desserts we had at Fulton's, last month which does not take DDP. I would say their $8 key lime pie and cherry cobbler with ice cream were the two best desserts of our vacation (aside from the kona chocolate souffle at V&A).

We also used to love the cheese plate at CG. This time, although it still cost $20, it clearly had been pre-plated hours before. The cheese had already dried out. Disappointing. That, together with the wines by the glass, which were way past the point of being able to be served in terms of age and oxidation mean we have now sworn off CG as well.

Aside from Jiko, we now avoid any restaurant that takes DDP. And, we won't order dessert at Jiko anymore because their silly slab of "Peruvian" chocolate something we ate last month (not sure how we got from Africa to Peru, but whatever) was not worth $10 and was a pale shadow of the amazing desserts of yesteryear. So, we will continue to dine at Jiko due to the appetizers, entrees and excellent South African wine list, but we won't order dessert anymore.

Our best meals last month by far were had at Il Mulino, Bice, Emeril's, Fulton's and V&A.

Seems to be a pattern there.

IMO, food at Disney has simply become a way for management to improve the bottom-line. How can food (which is cheap for Disney) be used to keep people on site, and to maximize hotel room revenues. It's no longer about dining -- at all. I miss the Eisner days when things like dining and wine and sommeliers and the Disney Institute actually mattered. These days it is all numbers crunching, all the time. It shows everywhere -- from the quality of the food to the fact that lots of places around WDW looked surprisingly dirty and unkempt last month.

Fabulous post!! I know this is such a sore subject for many on these boards who like the DP, or, who always utilize Free Dining, as they feel we are insulting them, and that's not the case. Of course I expect guests to take advantage of promotions, especially ones that are free!

It is Disney's fault, as you, and several of us have mentioned. Food is now used to make more profit, and secure bookings. When that happens, it actually devalues the food department, and we then see problem areas.

We are looking forward to eating many of our meals in our villa on our next trip, as we are going to save at least $1500.00. It is sad though, as we really used to enjoy eating @ WDW.

Tiger

 

[eliza61]

This will be our first trip staying on site for 11 days. We purchased the Deluxe Dining Plan with BLD and 2 snacks. The price seems high, but we will get our money's worth.

Even though the prices seem high, what are you going to do when you are on vacation and are spending all of those days on site.

We are not renting a car -- that is saving us a bit of money.

Prices are high everywhere - plus you are paying for convenience.

When we go to the movies, it costs more for a popcorn and a soda than it does for the movies.
We are paying for the atmosphere.

Very true but the difference is that when you go to the movies you are pretty certain that the popcorn & soda will always taste the same. Now lets say they started charging you the same outrageous prices and 1/2 your bag of popcorn was kernels or the popcorn was burnt, or if that jug of soda was flat and filled with ice. How would you feel about the "convenience".

Convenience is all well and good if the item you are getting is worth some thing. I think the problem most people have is that often times the meal isn't worth the price, so no matter how convenient it is, you don't like paying for some thing that is mediocre.

Don't agree about the atmosphere either. My ticket price is the what I'm paying for the atmosphere. And once again, we're not talking about fine french dining. How hard is it to make scrambled eggs and waffles. you mean to tell me, you charge 50 bucks to eat with the princesses and you can't pump out hot scrambled eggs with a little seasoning and bacon that is not sitting in grease.

So I don't understand why eating onsite can't be tasty. very few people go off site solely because of the high prices, most do so becasue they are tired of getting below average meals along with high prices. Every one I know expects a markup

 

[RMulieri]

Disney is NO worse than any other themepark ,in fact after spending a few days at Hershey Park, Dutch Wonderland and Six Flags Great adventure, I have to say it is actually cheaper in price and BETTER quality.I hate that the prices rise, but it is what it is.I am on vacation and I am not going to spend my time hoofing it offsite to find something cheaper.I budget it into my expenses and accept it.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Food prices have gone up, food quality and portions have gone down. We travel almost yearly to Disney and there has been an ongoing decrease in quality/portion size over the past five years. We used to plan our days around where we wanted to eat. Now we plan our days around leaving the parks early for dinner reservations off-site or arriving at the parks late so we can have a decent meal before park time.

This past November we decided to give Cape May a try since we had in the past enjoyed the buffet. This time, the food temps were not even in the safe zone, foods which should have been hot were warm, foods which should have been cold, warm... We should have complained but we had taken guests and did not want to make a scene.

So sad.

 

[tinkerbellybutton]

I have to agree with original poster for the most part. We've found that the price for character meals especially has gone up considerably since we first started visiting WDW. That would be OK, except that the food quality is going down just as steadily as the prices are going up. For the first time in all our 13 trips, our upcoming March trip we've not booked any character meals. Our kids are older and are fine with this. We've also switched from "free" dining discount to the military discount, and are saving much, much more this way. We are going to try to really tone down our TS meals this trip. We find the CS locations, as well as snacks, to be decently priced, but the buffets, family style meals, character meals, and just about any TS meal is way over priced in our opinion.

And I also agree with those who say that Disney is right in line with any other theme park/sporting event, but we think they are all severly overpriced. We've just decided that we'll take matters into our own hands and eat at less of these pricey places. After all as long as everyone continues to pay the prices they'll contine raising them.

 

[18sprint]

Food prices always seem to be a huge suprise to everyone the first couple trips. All I can suggest is ....do your homework.....and, no, it's not mis-print and the prices are not going down by the time you go. Do they over charge? Yep, just like everyone else who thinks they have a captive audience. But YOU have choices. Don't like the prices, don't buy. There are tons of alternatives. Get advice on boards like this on the portion sizes at all the places to eat. Buffets can not be included but there are many, many places that the portion sizes are so large it can be ecomonical to share and cut the cost in half. If more people would do this, it would send a message to mgt that things are out of whack. Of course, the risk is that they would cut back on the portion sizes for the same amount of money, but we are the consumers and a Disney vacation is a luxury. Only you know when to boycott. If you can, bring snack items with you, or if you rent a car, stop and get something. Let me say this...we went to Jimmy Buffett concert this year (1st in 30 yrs) and I couldn't believe how expensive everything was! I refused to eat or drink anything because of the cost. Disney prices would've been a relief.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I don't think going to Disney is like going to Six Flags or some other theme park where you are generally in and out in a day or two. People spend significant time and money to immerse themselves in the magic being offered at a premium price for extended periods of time. In the past few years, the number of items on the menus has been greatly reduced, the portions are much smaller, the prices are much higher, the quality has deteriorated. I equate their holiday surcharge to price gouging. I don't really expect much from the counter service places but it's pretty sad they can't get buns that don't fall apart. The service is usually fine but there are times we felt rushed through the meal. It is well worth it for us to spend the extra money to rent a car so we could get some groceries to keep in the room and have the freedom to go eat off site.

We were there last month - we spent $70 on a dinner at Captains Grill. This was for 2 steaks neither of which were prepared properly or tasty, a side salad, a soda and 2 drinks. The next day we went to Longhorns up the road. For $75 we had an appetizer, side salad, 16oz prime rib, full rack of ribs, 3-4 drinks and 2 sodas. There was no comparison in which meal we enjoyed more and luckily we had leftovers. The extra 10 minutes it took to get to Longhorns is negligible to us since a good meal is part of what makes vacationing enjoyable.

We spend about 7-10 days in Disney a year with our DVC and they lost a lot of our cash out of pocket business because of this dining situation. The cost and convenience of everything onsite is lost on us. Since we do not want to leave restaurants unsatisfied and an empty wallet we go off site more and more each trip.

 

[reiella]

Personally, I've seen food quality drop in general [not really specifically Disney or park food, since haven't gone to parks in a very long time], while the cost has gone up. We've had some really bad seasons for tomatoes lately that I recall, and just poor vegetable quality. More recently, the economic situation has rather been poor for the food industry as well with the increase in fuel costs really hitting them hard independent of the demand-side of the market's changing attitude.

Of course, there is a difference between quality of the materials and quality of the preparation.

 

[txtara]

These were some of the issues I looked at before I booked my vacation as this was the first time we have been to Disney in 10 years:
- in order to purchase any dining plan you have to purchase park tickets. My husband's place of employment offers discounted tickets. Savings of 200.00 on the tickets for us as free dining is not offered when I am going.
- DDP is over 150.00/day for my family and that is two meals and a snack. I know how much my family eats and honestly feel I can be a little more creative with that much everyday and experience more for the bucks.
- Reviews: everytime I read a review of a dining experience where the tab has been 150.00 for two people and they hated it! Why oh why! I just cannot take chances with my money like that.

My husband and I stayed at the AKL just after it opened in 2001. At the time we had two children ages 7 and 2. We ate breakfast every morning in Boma...did not know about Mara...oh well....anyway for two adult breakfasts and a child we paid around 30 dollars and it was fabulous every morning. This time around I am going to pay close to 90 dollars for CP and yes, I understand I am paying for the experience, however I really hope it will be worth it becuase in the real world I would never pay that much for breakfast.