No substitutions for Dessert in DDP--are you kidding me Disney? REALLY?

[Mikey'swife]

This would be a great complaint IF you had to buy the ddp to stay on property. But it is not required!

Kids can get fruitan yougart everywhere and adults can get no sugar added or fruit at many places.

It is vacation we enjoy our desserts.

 

[catne]

No, doesn't bother me at all. We've used the dining plans, we've paid cash, and we've used the Tables in Wonderland discount card, too. Most of the time now, we opt for the cash/Wonderland discount so we can order exactly what we want. That's the beauty of Disney...you don't HAVE to buy the dining plan. There are other options to save money on your vacation.

If the dining plan components don't match what you want to do with your food $$, then don't buy it. Simple as that. Just like some people love to buy the park hopper option, but others find it a total waste of money because they would not ever go to two different parks in one day. You just have to shop your vacation, and buy what you want.

If you want an appetizer instead of dessert, don't buy the dining plan.
The Mouse is perfectly happy to take cash for your meals instead of dining plan...and with cash, you can always order exactly what you want. If you're full after a couple of appetizers, you can pay your bill and leave If you want to just share an entree, that's OK too. If you'd rather just snack your way through the park and skip a full meal, cash works great for that.

 

[n2mm]

OP, yes, many of us don't like it, but this is old news and no matter what we think, we can't change it, so we've moved on. Yes, we would love to sub appetizer for desert and once upon a time servers had more say and would let us do it. As time has gone on, the rules got tighter and tighter and more enforced. We hardly ever do the DDP, but do when we are at a resort 1 night. We have been TIW (then DDE) cardholders since 2005 and this works better for us. We generally share an appetizer and sometimes share a desert, but only if we want to. Often we grab a desert much later elsewhere. As mentioned, the DDP does not fit everyone, but lots of folks do love "prepaying" for their meals. I've done the breakdown between DDP and TiW for our eating habits and we don't save on the DDP, because we feel obligated to get all of the entitlements. With the TiW card we eat when we want and what we want and never have to worry about using up our credits if we cancel a meal because we're just not hungry! I believe some of the theories on why they don't let us sub the desert for appetizers (price of appetizers high on my list as a reason).

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Wow, come back after dinner (with dessert, LOL) and tons of responses. Thanks for all the feedback. Feels like I stepped in the "is it okay to wear shorts in the cruise dining room" minefield. As I said, the biggest thing for me is that the way the program is set up, it's hard to make it pay for itself w/o dessert. Maybe I'll write Disney and suggest they offer a "healthy alternative" option that omits the dessert for $x cheaper. It would be good for them marketing-wise, they can promote themselves as "health conscious" .

My feeling is the reason that Disney does not offer an appetizer is that some people including myself are full after an entree and have no room for dessert, thus skipping it and resulting in Disney saving money. If I had a chance to order an appetizer, I would always order that before taking the dessert option, even if I had to leave some of my entree uneatin . I am not a big dessert fan, but with the snack and counter service meal, I still find that the meal plan suits my needs.

I think you are probably exactly right: profit is probably behind the decision. Good to know that you can still find work-arounds to make the plan work. I may give it a try for this reason.

OP, yes, many of us don't like it, but this is old news and no matter what we think, we can't change it, so we've moved on.

Being a mostly left coast Disney visitor, it's all new to me so sorry about that. I have read quite a bit about the DDP on the threads, but didn't go back to the time the plan was changed (when I suspect there was more on the subject).

Thanks to everyone who posted about the dessert alternatives for TS and QS (yogurt, fruit, etc). I've been scouring menus, but as someone stated, I guess you have to ask since substitutes don't seem to be printed. Again, it would be helpful if they did print this stuff so people would know they have choices when making the decision on whether to participate.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

You will be able to get fruit, that is our usual dessert when on the dining plan. When we eat at the resort, we take the fruit "dessert" and save it for breakfast the next morning. I agree with you though, in that offering dessert with every counter and table service meal is not the best way to go. I would prefer maybe dessert with TS and salad with CS or vice versa.

 

[canopynut66]

You know that SNL skit, "Really? Really?" That's what I'm thinking right now.

I usually go to Disneyland so I don't follow the DDP discussions, but I have a last minute quick trip to DW planned for next month and looked into it for the first time.

I was *shocked* to see that there is not an option to substitute for people who don't want dessert! I find this appalling on so many different levels, but for a major corporation to be implementing a "dining plan" like this in light of the diabetes and obesity problem in America seems incredibly ill-conceived. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/obesity-america-20-year-forecast-epidemic_n_1496439.html

With the new HBO documentary on the subject coming out, there has been so much press on the issue, I'm tempted to write the major news publications and point out the DDP. Maybe Disney will be publicly shamed into changing the substitution rules. I mean how much can it cost to have an option for a house salad (when restaurants offer this) instead of dessert? The basic DDP as it exists right now has dessert for every meal--give me a vegetable or fruit option instead. Considering that most of the snacks are junk, it's even worse. I'm all for treating myself on vacation, but the balance is definitely off in the DDP.

Does this bother anyone else?

We also wish had choice of a salad or dessert with the TS on the DDP. as some nights we would just rather have a salad..but is not an option

 

[Pixiedust34]

Before you start your letter writing campaign, i would suggest you do your research -- as a frequent user of the DDP, and a person who is genetically at risk for Diabetes -- i HAVE exchanged the dessert option with the following.

1) Grape Bowl
2) Fruit Salad
3) Veggie Sticks
4) No Sugar added Cheese cake.

It wasn't written anywhere, all i did was ASK.

Yes--you can usually substitute dessert for one of the above or the kid's grapes or apple slices that come with their meals if you don't want sweets. Some places have whole fruit and others do not, but whole fruit is easy to find in general.

Overall, there are a lot of healthy choices offered at WDW if you pick your cs places with healthy choices in mind, order water or milk instead of Cokes, etc. We did the quick service plan for 11 days in August and with the exception of one burger at Pecos Bill (I wanted to use the toppings bar), we had a fantastic variety of food---items such as salmon (Wolfgang Puck Express), hummus sandwich (CCH), various Asian food, salads, baked chicken with vegetables, schwarma platters, etc. It's VERY easy to avoid the typical burgers, hot dogs and fries and to get a healthy dessert if you want to.

 

[Danibelle]

Dessert is not a problem for everyone. Obesity is not a problem for everyone. Changing the rules to fit your ideals doesn't work for everyone anymore than disney's rules do.

We don't buy the dining plan because it doesn't work for us. If it doesn't work for you then don't buy it. And if you're going during free dining, just skip dessert--it's "free" anyway.

Unfortunately for most Americans, overeating is a problem and will become a greater problem in the years to come. I think the DDP makes a lot of money for the company. Most of my family does not use the plan. It rarely works out financially for us.

OP, I think you hit a sore point for some reason.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I am quite amazed when people tell me they save money by paying OOP. How do you do it? We did a 2 night room-only pkg prior to our 7 night park pkg starting, and in those two nights we paid OOP for our meals and spent A TON OF MONEY! A TON! My son eats a lot, esp snacks. Thats why it amazes me when ppl say they save more money by paying OOP. Maybe we eat more than most folks?

 

[jagafen]

In general, I think if you're buying the DDP, it's because you want dessert. Otherwise, it's obviously not the best option for you. Unfortunately, Disney did not design it to be a "create your own dining plan". Their rules, you can choose to buy it, or to pass.....

 

[Pixiedust34]

I am quite amazed when people tell me they save money by paying OOP. How do you do it? We did a 2 night room-only pkg prior to our 7 night park pkg starting, and in those two nights we paid OOP for our meals and spent A TON OF MONEY! A TON! My son eats a lot, esp snacks. Thats why it amazes me when ppl say they save more money by paying OOP. Maybe we eat more than most folks?

We get the DDP ONLY when we get it for free. Otherwise, we certainly save by buying OOP for food.

We're fine with free ice waters for most meals. We don't need desserts at every meal. Sometimes dd still prefers a kid's meal even though she's 13. We buy snacks we can share, and I keep snacks and breakfast food in our rooms. We bring our own water bottles to the parks. We'll do a couple of ts meals, but we're still ahead NOT buying the plan. Our trips are usually 10 nights. Four adults on the DDP for 10 nights is a lot of $$$ for extra food we wouldn't buy otherwise.

We have been lucky to get free dining with some of our trips, including our upcoming one, and that is the only time we do the DDP. The DDP is convenient to have, but certainly not necessary to have in order to eat well.

I have a hard time wrapping my brain around complaints about the DDP because no one is forced to buy it. If it doesn't work for you (if you never want dessert, don't like keeping track of credits, have teens who still eat kid's meals, don't like to be tied down to ADRs, etc.) then pay OOP for food. If the DDP is free and it still doesn't work for you, opt for a room discount code instead of the FD promotion. They almost always run room discount codes at the same time FD is offered.

 

[Steve's Girl]

This would be a great complaint IF you had to buy the ddp to stay on property. But it is not required!

Exactly! It is simply an option like many other things Disney offers. It is not meant to meet every dietary need or want. My family enjoys the DDP. It is a real treat for my kids to be able to order anything they want off the menu including dessert. That is not something they are allowed to do any other time other than vacation.

If the DDP doesn't meet your needs, don't use it. Pretty simple.

 

[mommyrosa2]

I am quite amazed when people tell me they save money by paying OOP. How do you do it? We did a 2 night room-only pkg prior to our 7 night park pkg starting, and in those two nights we paid OOP for our meals and spent A TON OF MONEY! A TON! My son eats a lot, esp snacks. Thats why it amazes me when ppl say they save more money by paying OOP. Maybe we eat more than most folks?

You are not alone here. We too spend more money OOP than we do getting the DP. We are a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 teens) and while we do like desserts (and none of us have a weight problem or have any health issues), we have often substituted a rich dessert for a healthier option (on occasion). We still come out ahead with the reg DP, but we prefer to eat our TS meals for dinners and we choose higher end restaurants, not to get our money's worth either, but more b/c that's how we like to dine (especially on vacation). My girls have been brought up eating steaks and seafood and have quite the palate but we do realize that the DP is not for everyone and if it doesn't work, then don't get it...it's really not that the complicated.

 

[TisBit]

I am quite amazed when people tell me they save money by paying OOP. How do you do it? We did a 2 night room-only pkg prior to our 7 night park pkg starting, and in those two nights we paid OOP for our meals and spent A TON OF MONEY! A TON! My son eats a lot, esp snacks. Thats why it amazes me when ppl say they save more money by paying OOP. Maybe we eat more than most folks?

I think it really depends on HOW or WHAT you eat. I have done the math a lot and found that we would at best break even on the dining plan. Reason being the way we tour. We will typically eat something in the room for breakfast (pop tarts, granola bars, etc) and we head out. I will typically get more snacks and not a full lunch. We than will typically have a nice dinner, but not EVERY night. Sometimes we will just hit a CS and skip TS in an evening or again go with snacks or splitting a CS meal. On snack credit a day is not nearly enough for me, because I would rather eat a snack than a full meal.

I enjoy my meals and will venture out to get something more expensive, but I don't want to feel I have to order the more expensive meals just to break even. If I just want a burger, I don't want to feel that getting that "cheap" meal compared to steak will cost me in the end. We also NEVER do desserts a restaurant, so that is a loss straight off the top. Plus, some of the times, instead of a soda with my meal I will just get an adult beverage (after having mugs at the resort I can use a break from soda), again a couple dollars I don't pay out of pocket if I were to eat my "normal" way.

 

[grammimouse]

Dining plan is an option. If you don't want all that it offers don't get it . That seems pretty easy to understand.As for "shorts in the dining room on a cruise ship" that's a no-no.

 

[rentayenta]

Not a fan of the DDP for many reasons, this being one of them.

 

[mukorasirish]

Don't buy it. You wouldn't buy a dress that doesn't fit properly, would you? If this doesn't fit your needs, don't spend the money.

BTW - if said dress didn't fit you, would you go to the press and complain as well? Seems silly to complain about something that is an option.

 

[bumbershoot]

We also wish had choice of a salad or dessert with the TS on the DDP. as some nights we would just rather have a salad..but is not an option

It's an option, just not paid for by the dining plan. Just order it and pay OOP for it! But if you find that you want that salad too many nights of your vacation then the dining plan isn't for you.

I mean how much can it cost to have an option for a house salad (when restaurants offer this) instead of dessert?

You can sub dessert-y options, but you can't have an appetizer instead of a dessert. A few years ago when the dining plan was morphing into its current state, many said that they wanted one or the other (appetizer or dessert) to better streamline meals and make them a bit quicker. So here we are!



DDP doesn't work for us. We eat salads for a meal too often, we get various sides, we don't drink soda and I don't drink the "coffee". Desserts are shared, we bring our own water, etc etc. Just doesn't work for us! So far we've only had an AP for our visits there, and therefore qualified for the Tables in Wonderland card, and that's been GREAT.

 

[daisyduck123]

No one at Disney is forcing you to eat dessert. They also are not obligated to offer any dining plan at all. So it is up to them as to what they want to offer for alternatives or if they want to offer any at all. Disney tells you before hand what their plan includes so if you don't like it don't get it,

Yep. Well said.

 

[bluejasmine]

Yes almost all dessert menus will have no sugar added desserts.. I think it makes sense to not be able to sub dessert, they'd loose money if they let ppl sub an $9 appy for the $5 cake. Been PURCHASING DDP since 2005 and our experience is that in most cases they bend over backwards to accommodate guests..