10 Days on DDP and STUFFED! The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.... WITH PHOTOS

[Gulliver]

First of all, thanks to the reviewer for taking the time to do this dining report and post pics. I'm a frequent lurker on this forum and it's the only thing keeping me sane as I have six long months to wait before I go to the world in September.

I wanted to make a comment not directly related to this thread but something I've been thinking about that was triggered by reading about the bad experiences the reviewer had with service at some of the restaurants.

There have been many complaints on this board as well as others about the changes made this year to the DP. Now when I heard that Disney had taken gratuities out of the DP this year, I was just as upset as the next person. But when you think about it, Disney is a business. They made the changes they did in order to increase profit from the dining plan, either because they weren't making enough before, or they thought they could get away with making more, or both. In other words, the value from the DP was going to suffer. It's just that instead of raising the price for the plan, they decided to subtract from it instead, in this case the tip and the TS appetizer.

My point is that if they were going to reduce the value of the plan, it's good that they did it the way they did. Instead of raising the price of the plan by, say, five dollars, they took out the tip instead and left it to the discretion of the customer, thus allowing us to decide if service warranted the expected 18% gratuity. I'm sure the reviewer in this thread, for one, is glad she was able to complain with her pocketbook when she received bad service. If Disney had just raised the price of the plan and left the tip "included", she would have been stuck paying the tip, however indirectly, through the increase in the price. I hope that logic's not too convoluted.

BTW, I will be purchasing the DxDP when I go in September which means between my wife and I, going for a week, I expect to pay probably $200+ in tips. It's just that I understand that nothing is ever truly free or included, it's just a matter of how and when you're going to pay for it. At least this way I'll have the freedom to tip well when it's warranted and not tip when it's not.

 

[mefordis]

That night we went to Liberty Tree Tavern. This is one meal we were most looking forward to, so planned it as our first dinner.
One word.... GROSS!!!!!!!
I LOVE turkey dinner, and it is Meg's most fave meal in the world.
The first thing that put me off was our server. I don't remember names at all, but she was a woman in her 40s.
She never smiled once, and you could tell she did not want to be working there.
She brought out the salad. The lettuce was limp and the whole salad was soggy. I think it had been sitting in the dressing for quite some time. I didn't like the taste of the dressing at all. Also, Meg hit it dead on when she said the salad smelled like "smelly armpits". Yes, seriously - the salad smelled like BO!
Our server came over and took it away after a quick snide comment "OH you NOT eating THIS?" in a rather rude tone.
While waiting for the main meal, several characters came around, and the interaction here is very very good. We had goofy, pluto, chip & dale, and Minnie.
The meal came out, and I regret I forgot to take a photo. It was presented nicely. We only got 2 VERY SMALL pieces of turkey and 2 very very small and thin pieces of beef, and 2 very small pieces of pork. A bowl of mashed potatoes, a bowl of green beans, and under the meats was stuffing. Also a bowl of mac n' cheese.

The meats were gross. The turkey tasted like processed lunchmeat, the beef was so salty it was inedible. We don't eat pork, so didn't try it. The potatoes were disgusting and had an odd flavour. The beans were good and the mac n' cheese was very good. Actually the best part of the meal, which is pretty sad. We don't eat stuffing, so didn't try it.
We filled up on mac n' cheese and I joked that thank goodness we were on the dining plan, otherwise I would have just paid over 50 bucks for mac n' cheese.
The dessert was warm apple cobbler with ice cream, and this was VERY good.

During dinner we did not get our drinks refilled and were pretty much ignored by the server.

Here is the kicker though....
our server comes with the bill (I had been asked if we were on the DDP at check in) and when I said we were on the DDP she huffed and puffed really loudly and said "It would have been nice if you told me that!". I told her they asked at check in and I figured they had some sort of communication with her.
So off she goes in a huff and comes back with the new DDP bill where you fill in the tip and she opens it up and says "Is this your first TS meal on the DDP?" I say yes, and she says "Ok, so here is where you write in my tip. These are the recommended amounts, the top one is 18% and the bottom is 20%, most people tip 20%, so just write that amount on this line here and sign", and then proceeds to stand over me to make sure I do it. I was REALLY pizzed off and said "Oh I would like to tip in cash" and wrote cash on both lines and signed.
She left, we got up, and I did not tip her. She didn't deserve it, and I did NOT like her 'tip me 20%' attitude. I was in shock and disbelief and got the heck out of there.
In hindsight I should have talked to a manager, but we just wanted out.
All we could smell was the body odor salad and had to get out.
NEVER AGAIN!!!!
Character interaction 9/10
Food 2/10
Dessert 8/10
Service....won't even go there!

This is the very first time I've ever been in favor of not tipping! Good for you!