2012 dining plan...I don't think so!

[DebbieB]

They're dropping one snack on next year's QSDP. Unless they raise the prices by a lot for QS, we'll do better just out of pocket. As it is now, we hover slightly above/below the break even line and only because we actually use the refillable mugs.

Quick Service is the same price next year (but dropping one snack).

 

[twinklebug]

For our July visit, we cooked most of our meals in the villa. For our December trip we had hoped to segment because we have visitors for one night of our stay, but since that's out we may just have to eat in more. I for one am not too happy with the direction Disney dinning is heading...

I agree, Disney needs to ramp up and do something special with dining overall to make it attractive again. The 'free dining' bit might excite the non-dvc masses for now, but the way Disney's paring down the menus and cheapening quality, they'll smarten up and see that getting a generic plate of glue for rack rate isn't cool. & the pricing on DDP indicates that the only folk they really expect to take it are those looking for the 'free' deal.

I have hopes that the newer restaurants (2 in epcot, are there more?) will bring some of the excitement over eating out back.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

We are TIW people, and have never used DDP. Seeing as though TIW covers booze, we save over $1000 a year using TIW.
Now, I realize we could use the DDP and the TIW for alcohol, but I absolutely HATE being, or feeling restricted in any way. The DDP is too structured for us.

MG

 

[TDC Nala]

I determined in 2008 that the dining plan was not for me. Since then I have only used the quick service plan for one night, and that's not for me either.

 

[dansamy]

Quick Service is the same price next year (but dropping one snack).

That's kind of the point. It's already basically a pre-paid meal set and only if you actually use the snacks and mug, which we do, but losing a snack would make it more expensive than OOP.

 

[karrit2000]

This is all of us.

We have APs and go several times a month. When I am at home on the DisBoards, I am always so jealous of those with DDP. With 5 of us, an OOP for a character meal is over $200. My 5 year old has never even been to one and it makes me sad. But we just can't afford that. All of those pics from the sit downs look amazing!


But then when we are actually at the theme parks, I find none of us eat much at all. It's not the excitment because we go a lot. I think it's the heat. Even my littlest wouldn't touch anything from the bakery in France when we watched Illuminations last time. We just don't feel hungry and the thought of food makes us nauseated. I try to make sure we drink a LOT but it's always the same. I'll be curious to see if we feel the same when the weather cools off.

We just bring outside snacks in, drink the free ice water, and occasionally buy a snack or drink. If I buy any meal at all, it's a QS meal that I share with my kid. It's not out of cheapness....we just can't stomach it!

I don't know how ya'll do it. Maybe we are just wierd!

I definitely don't think you are weird. While I enjoy eating a good meal every once in a while I'm too busy having fun to take the time to have at least one big sit down meal every day. I usually don't even end up doing 2 CS meals each day a lot of the time especially when it is hot. Like you & your family the heat makes me lose my appetite. I also tend to ask for my burgers without the side items which saves a little $. During F & W I graze at the booths around World Showcase so I normally don't eat anywhere else on those days so a dining plan definitely isn't needed for those trips. If they came up with a Snacks Only Plan I'd probably be more likely to make good use of that.

 

[aes74]

While I love WDW and my DVC membership, the whole food thing is getting pretty depressing. The food choices have narrowed, the quality is sometimes lacking, and the price of DDP and out of pocket have really risen. Our last trip was for 10 days, and we ate dinner off site several times because we were tired of paying such high prices. We usually ate lunches in the parks and it was around $50 for 2 adults and 3 children. Our dinner at Cape May Buffet was $175 dollars. Disney is pricing itself out of the average person's ability to pay no matter what the plan!

I could have written this myself! On our last trip we one character meal and some snacks. For lunch, I usually packed one. For dinner, we ate dinner off property or in our villa. We had some great dinners off property for a fraction of the price. Dinners that included appetizers and desserts.

 

[mopee3]

No doubt it had merit to members if it worked and were a fair deal to Disney as well. The perfect plan to us personally would be an al a carte plan or a Dx plan with 2 credits per day instead of 3 PLUS being able to drop the front and/or back day like we could with the Food n Fun plan.

We usually use the DxDP with a few DDP thrown in for good measure, always have probably always will, but I would love a DxDP with 2 credits per day.

I like a sit down breakfast, 1 credit, and typically a 2 credit, Signature, dinner. If I could still have a sit down breakfast and a 1 credit dinner... well for us that would be a really good option. We have always sort of "segmented" our stays it just involves moving to a different resort every 3-4 days with a new resservation, Tada...segments, with a different meal plan.

I too like the TIW card but mostly because it comes with valet service. I too have done the math, for us and we eat it all, the cheapest is DXDP followed by TIW, then OOP.

Have fun and enjoy the Mouse because it may all be gone tomorrow and that would be really sad.

Glad to see this thread didn't turn into a complaint session.



Moe

 

[Bonniec]

I definitely don't think you are weird. While I enjoy eating a good meal every once in a while I'm too busy having fun to take the time to have at least one big sit down meal every day. I usually don't even end up doing 2 CS meals each day a lot of the time especially when it is hot. Like you & your family the heat makes me lose my appetite. I also tend to ask for my burgers without the side items which saves a little $. During F & W I graze at the booths around World Showcase so I normally don't eat anywhere else on those days so a dining plan definitely isn't needed for those trips. If they came up with a Snacks Only Plan I'd probably be more likely to make good use of that.

Yeah Im planning to try some of the F&W booths (never been) and kinda worried if I'll be able to stomach eating anything. Hope so!

 

[xipetotec]

I just think that adding the "collectible mug" as some sort of smokescreen to make it look like added value is ludicrous. Maybe if you took the plan for 1-2 nights. We come down for 8-10 nights. And this will be the first year we really say "Not for us".

 

[Anal Annie]

Not sure if we'll be buying AP's next spring or not 'cuz not sure when our NEXT trip will be...we used the TIW card a few years ago & since we don't do TS meals every single day it took us 2 or 3 trips to get our money's worth. But NOW, DS is 14 (will be almost 15 next time we go) and he is eating like he weighs 250 Lbs not 90 Lbs. (especially if it's a day when he has swim practice - he can easily put down 7 out of 8 slices on a medium pizza after he swims). NOW we might get our money's worth. But when he was 11...not so much. I just looked at that link to the All Ears chart and then I looked at the dining link above here on the DIS...the participating restaurants list don't quite match. For example, I might be interested in that new Italian restaurant at Epcot (Via Napoli). It's listed here on the DIS like it participates but it's not on All Ears...anybody know which list is right? Also, if we DON'T get AP's does that restaurant offer a DVC discount? Do I need to go hang out on the restaurant board?? My ADR window opens next week so our dining options are on my mind...

 

[Dean]

That's kind of the point. It's already basically a pre-paid meal set and only if you actually use the snacks and mug, which we do, but losing a snack would make it more expensive than OOP.

Your margin of savings on the DP is too small if removal of 1 snack puts you more than OOP for the same items.

 

[dansamy]

Your margin of savings on the DP is too small if removal of 1 snack puts you more than OOP for the same items.

The margin of savings isn't what's important to me. As long as it's what we would eat anyway and cost no more than sticker price, I would buy it for the convenience of having food paid for ahead of time.
A 10% savings on $700 of food would still be $70, which is 2 tanks of gas.

 

[Tiger926]

Late to the discussion as school keeps me very busy these days...

I think this discussion is interesting but not really that much of a blip on Disney's radar for us as DVC members.

We have full kitchens, and many of us cook in some fashion, whether it be light snacks, quick breakfasts or full meals, so we are different than regular cash paying guests.

The majority of Disney guests are first/only timers who get the DP added on to their packages. This is who the DP was created for.

They let us add the DP as a way of trying to get us to eat onsite or not in our rooms, but really, if it was that much of a priority for Disney they would offer more DVC dining discounts, kept segmenting, offer TIW to DVC members for a discount or free or offer a discounted DP. They don't do any of these things, so I really don't think we are their target market for the DP.

Also, the DP pricing is set based on menu prices. Buffet meals go up each January by $2-3/pp, plus we have seasonal surcharges, so character dinners are already close to $50.00, and will surely rise a bit more in 2012, so the DP price will be more in line with the actual menu prices.

So, for us as DVC members our price threshold is different than the cash paying first/only timers who just add the DP to their vacation packages. We've eaten pretty much everywhere, and utilized DPs, TIW/DDE and other discounts, and now we are at a point where we prefer to eat in our villa. We are saving thousands of dollars on each trip, yet somehow, I really don't think this is of consequence to Disney, as they haven't offered us any incentives to keep us from eating in our villa.

Interesting discussiong, Tiger

 

[Dean]

The margin of savings isn't what's important to me. As long as it's what we would eat anyway and cost no more than sticker price, I would buy it for the convenience of having food paid for ahead of time.
A 10% savings on $700 of food would still be $70, which is 2 tanks of gas.

One snack isn't a 10% change. The problem with being that close to savings vs no savings is that you have no margin. Say someone isn't feeling well on a given day and you have to bail on your plans, you've just gone from black to red in one move. I don't really care if someone decides to get the plan and it costs them more, I do care that they have the info to make the decisions that are best in their situation.

 

[TLPL]

I don't usderstand why some people think they can "get their money's worth" with the DDP. They are comparing DDP cost with the Disney World restaurant menu prices. instead of spending (for example) $70 per person per day in Disney World, they spent $50 per person per day in Disney World with DDP. They think they saved $20, but at the end of the day, they still spent $50 for food per day each day of their vacation in Disney World. Who would eat $50 worth of food a day everyday and think it is good value? Really?
With Disney paring down the menus and cheapening quality of the food, the question should be: Does it worth it to spend $50 per day per person everyday of your entire trip? How much does it cost to have the same quality of food off property / or cook in your villa?

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

After our last two visits I added up all the receipts and for 7 days for 2 people we averaged $20 a day per person. We ate breakfast in our room so that helped. So the dinning plan would never work for us. Plus the money you save by not getting the dinning plan, you could rent a car and eat off property and save even more money. Our trip this past May a mid size car for a week rental was $86 total.

There is no way I could ever imagine eating $50 worth of food every day!

 

[TLPL]

Yeah i agree with Shelly, renting a car can ended up aving money. Plus you have the freedom to do things "out of DIS world" I love bargin shopping at the Disney outlet stores, and be able to grocery shop, and eat at my favorite restaurants: Sweet Tomatos, CPK, ... (we don't have those in Canada)

 

[Dean]

I don't usderstand why some people think they can "get their money's worth" with the DDP. They are comparing DDP cost with the Disney World restaurant menu prices. instead of spending (for example) $70 per person per day in Disney World, they spent $50 per person per day in Disney World with DDP. They think they saved $20, but at the end of the day, they still spent $50 for food per day each day of their vacation in Disney World. Who would eat $50 worth of food a day everyday and think it is good value? Really?
With Disney paring down the menus and cheapening quality of the food, the question should be: Does it worth it to spend $50 per day per person everyday of your entire trip? How much does it cost to have the same quality of food off property / or cook in your villa?

One could make the same argument related to staying on property. If you don't value eating at the Disney restaurants, have car access and want to spend the time to access the off property options; that may be a good fit for some. We prefer eating out on vacation other than we'll do light in the room for breakfast and we enjoy the atmosphere of the Disney related restaurants even though we always have a car and don't mind using it. However, your point relates to one I've made many times, that there is savings and there is value. Savings is compared to what you would have spent, value is what you get as extra that you would not have gotten otherwise.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

All I can say is that most folks on the DDP make sure they "save" money by only ordering the highest price items (I once saw a parent YELL at a child that "you have to get the steak because we paid for the DDP" LOL!)

Not to mention that the average American, at least, does NOT need desert two meals a day.....(NO folks, the "walk around Disney" didn't burn it off LOL!)