No, all the meals were dinners, and it included some really high-priced meals, like Chefs de France.
Well... they won't be seeing very much of mine in the future. The allure is gone and with it went the trap of staying on property to achieve it.
Interesting point. Few, if any, desserts come even close to that price – it’s apparently much more cost-effective for Disney to remove the appetizer from the Basic Dining Plan.
The reaction that I am seing from this board is EXACTLY what I believe Disney intended. I was at Disney the last week in May, and before that, I was there April '06. The difference in the dining experiences were night and day.
First of all, I can remember how easy it was to get ADRs in 2006. I remembered telling other consumers when they saw our food choices the "Magic" of the DDP. Many people "ooo'd" and "ahhh'd" and promised to go on the DDP the next time. I was simply amazed at how many people had no idea what the DDP was, and life was good.
Fast forward to May 2007, and it was totally different. The DDP was being taken advantage of to a point where there was literally a line for folks who had ADRs. A long line. ANd for those who had no ADRs? There was simply no room at the inn. You were stuck eating a burger and fries for dinner at a counter service somewhere. And you had an average 15 minute wait time before you sat down even with an ADR.
Oh, and in 2006, the service was GREAT! I was drinking Cokes, and I was racing with one server to see if I could finish my Coke before he came around with another one. He beat me every time! Our servers were right in our face, and we were just thrilled!
2007? Our server came by about three times total at mostly all of our TS meals. The service was just not as good as in 2006.
So, I think that Disney WANTS some people to make decisions to go offsite to eat. Of course, their best case scenario is for some patrons to pay inside the park without the DDP. But they know many will go offsite to a hotel, and frolic around International Blvd. to find a good place to eat. That's OK with Disney. They raised their rates for tickets, so they'll make their money...
).
The reaction that I am seing from this board is EXACTLY what I believe Disney intended. I was at Disney the last week in May, and before that, I was there April '06. The difference in the dining experiences were night and day.
First of all, I can remember how easy it was to get ADRs in 2006. I remembered telling other consumers when they saw our food choices the "Magic" of the DDP. Many people "ooo'd" and "ahhh'd" and promised to go on the DDP the next time. I was simply amazed at how many people had no idea what the DDP was, and life was good.
Fast forward to May 2007, and it was totally different. The DDP was being taken advantage of to a point where there was literally a line for folks who had ADRs. A long line. ANd for those who had no ADRs? There was simply no room at the inn. You were stuck eating a burger and fries for dinner at a counter service somewhere. And you had an average 15 minute wait time before you sat down even with an ADR.
Oh, and in 2006, the service was GREAT! I was drinking Cokes, and I was racing with one server to see if I could finish my Coke before he came around with another one. He beat me every time! Our servers were right in our face, and we were just thrilled!
2007? Our server came by about three times total at mostly all of our TS meals. The service was just not as good as in 2006.
So, I think that Disney WANTS some people to make decisions to go offsite to eat. Of course, their best case scenario is for some patrons to pay inside the park without the DDP. But they know many will go offsite to a hotel, and frolic around International Blvd. to find a good place to eat. That's OK with Disney. They raised their rates for tickets, so they'll make their money...
Tourism is back and Disney doesn't have to bend over backwards to fill rooms anymore. Appy's gone, tips are gone, ticket prices have gone up, and we still don't know if they're going to charge premium prices for weekend nights as well. Chef Mickey's is now $23 for breakfast.
I think our trips will be shorter this upcoming year and we'll be visiting SeaWorld again (not yet disgusted enough to give US another try though!
How long until they start charging for DME ??
...I have read on these boards about people 'abusing' the DDP. If you have a family set limit , how could this be done? My family has NEVER been on this plan. Should I consider it next year...seems there is a lot of negativeness for 08?
Disney has clamped down on some of the biggest abuses as follows
1. You used to be able to pay for a child credit ($12?) and get ADULT meals at TS resturants so folks would pay cash for thier kids meals and use the "cheap" TS credit to eat more TS meals.
2. The first time they did free dining folks "invented" family members staying with them to get more credits. Now during free dining EVERYONE has to be present at check in.
The "abuses" that you see left are not IMHO true abuses. It's things like sharing all your meals so you can eat at twice as many resturants. Is is an abuse? Probably, but it's not like it's illegal or anything.
I think the other thing that has occured is this "maximum" value. People order food and things they don't really "want" beacause "you get the best value" if you order the steak instead of the chicken, or they get the desert and eat one bite, but "it's free" (Yeah and it's wasted!)
I'll leave it just there
