$43.66 for a 10 year old to eat at Chrystal Palace!!!

[smidgy]

different discounts are better for dif. people. for us, it is just hubby and I, and the room only discounts are better that the Free DDP, which is great for a family of 6.

and, for anyone, it is only a good deal if you are going to eat that way anyway.

it was better when the appetizer and tip were included. and, of course they upped the price, so what you are "saving" sounds like more than it is.

but sometimes I still like the free dining, cause I get to order things I normally wouldn't order.

I still think the last free dining offer, making you purchase a $100 photpass book , stunk. and I think disney agreed, they tried it, but not as many bought into it as they wanted, so they offered a room only after. and the next free dining, they eliminated that parameter..

hey, can't blame them for trying..... but it didn't work.. peopel have been willing to buy a one day ticket, and the last year or so, 3 day ticket (even if they have Annual passes) to get the free dining (the AP holders just bridge those tickets for the next year's AP) but not enough were willing to buy a $100 photo pass book.. thank goodness!

 

[MrRomance]

We are planning a 3rd of July visit to Magic Kingdom. I know the crowds are going to be monstrous, but we (like everyone else there) want to see the 4th of July fireworks. Knowing from past experience that it would be nice to have a dinner break and an hour of air conditioning, I thought we'd try Crystal Palace. After making the reservation I checked the prices and was shocked to see the sticker price for 10 year old children is $43.66 including tax, NOT gratuity or the seasonal price increase.

My 10 year old will eat two chicken legs and dessert. No way I'll pay upwards of $60 for that!

I'm think character dinning is over for us.

I cancelled the reservation and we're eating at the Plaza Restaurant. Still air conditioned, I think LOL.

I think the fact that a 10 year old is considered an adult is just wrong all the way around.

We have problems in a different way with our 7 year old. She is not a "typical" kid and doesn't like "kid food". She won't eat mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza etc. If we go to McDonalds she orders a grilled chicken salad! People think it's because we won't allow her normal kid stuff but that's not the case, she just doesn't like it. We try to encourage her to eat that kind of stuff so that she isn't "the odd one" at her friends birthday parties!

It was always better for us to eat at buffets so that she wasn't restricted to the kids menu but now our older daughter is considered an adult, it can be a costly meal!

 

[RedfromNL]

I always advise people to look at how the ddp fits with their family life style. for me it's not solely about money. first I too stay on site and eat where I want. I do it cheaper without the ddp and with less stress. My prepaying in a savings account is just as simple as buying the ddp except oop fits my life better.
For example we never eat desserts and always get an appetizer so that right there makes the ddp a waste.

So it's really not about whether your spoiled or not.

Everyone really has to look at how it would work for them.

Yep, and that's why we do room-discount. I looked at menu's and prices and what we would probably eat. I added a bit for extras, for whatever I forgot and sudden appetite attacks.

Then I looked at what we would save with the room-discount. That was significantly more. It saves us about 400$ more than Free Dining.
Probably more but when I budget I always take the higher cost plus an added 10%. That way I never get any nasty surprises

 

[Tiger926]

I get your post. I would never prepay for the meals either. But, the only reason that the DDP works under your scenario is if the buffet prices are jacked up to prices so high that the DDP makes sense. Which is exactly what happened. Disney raises all the character and buffet meals to crazy prices so DDP makes sense. They also raised the price of DDP. I am spending two full weeks next summer, we are budgeting $2000.00 for food and will do just fine with it. The DDP for the two weeks would cost me $3000.00.

Yup, this is exactly what Disney does.

As I stated, I just returned from 11 days at Disney, and most character buffets (wasn't able to check them all), rose a few bucks, as they have been doing each January.

As well, the 2012 DP just rose in price last week too - it is not a coincidence.

Disney knows exactly what it is doing, but the question is when will guests have enough?

From what I saw in the full parks, resorts and restaurants, guests aren't even close...

Tiger