Am I the only one?

[queenofthehive]

You are certainly not alone on this subject. Here is what I posted on another thread - "I have been thinking a lot on this subject since we just spent a quick trip at the parks (two nights at CSR) after our trip back from Vero Beach. IMHO, the food quality at Disney is rapidly declining and I dislike having to pay a premium for disgusting food. The snacks (popcorn, cupcakes, cookies etc..) are fine but the meals were dreadful. So for this next trip, we will mostly go out to eat once a day and eat the rest of the meals in our room. Breakfast will be cereal, fruit (sliced strawberries, blueberries, pineapple etc..), and granola bars. Some ideas for non-cooked meals : 1. avocado, black beans, and tomatoes in a tortilla wrap 2. Hummus and sliced peppers 3. Pita stuffed with chick peas, red onion, sliced cucumbers and lettuce with yogurt dressing. 4. Turkey/cheese or Tuna in a wrap or pita with tomatoes/lettuce 5. Cheese /pepperoni with crackers. Sides choices will be fruit/ chips, and carrots. Looking forward to hearing others non-cooking recipes."
I have now rethought some of those recipes as it will be a pain to make salad stuff in a hotel room so we will most like opt for sandwiches for lunch with fresh fruit or veggies. We will still go out for dinner.
Yep, I do feel your pain....

 

[crisi]

I don't think it just all disney that has bad food, other parks can be the same way. Some times on a vacation I get tired of eating out and just want home cooked food. It is almost like I want to pay to use someone's kitchen to make a meal….

True, but the issue is that Disney isn't simply an amusement park - its a resort destination. And its also true that if you go to an All Inclusive in Mexico or on a cruise, the food may be just OK. But if Disney wants to compete for my vacation dollars with a trip to San Francisco or New Orleans - I need better food.

 

[dhardawa]

If we didn't have free dining, I'd be packing a lot! The food isn't great anymore and the prices are atrocious. It's bad when my 20% tip at a restaurant is about what I'd pay for the actual meal at a non-Disney restaurant. (Ex. Chef Mickey -1 adult, 1 child (adult price), and 1 child = $96.97 before tax. Tip = $19.39. One adult and two kids at the local buffet is almost exactly the same.)

 

[usnuzuloose]

True, but the issue is that Disney isn't simply an amusement park - its a resort destination. And its also true that if you go to an All Inclusive in Mexico or on a cruise, the food may be just OK. But if Disney wants to compete for my vacation dollars with a trip to San Francisco or New Orleans - I need better food.

I know it is not just an amusement park, it is a destination. Believe me I would love to see better food all the way around every where. I am not here to upset anyone. Anyone has the right how to spend money on food. I want the best that I can get for my money as well. Not just something that looks limp.

I have eaten at some places in San Francisco that are excellent and would return and pay the price, and some other places there no. Only live a few hours drive. When I go there I look for different food not the same thing I can get at home. I love clam chowder. But not all places make it well. So I love the samples as to make up my mind. I think if Disney took a step back and looked at how much it costs to buy fresh , as opposed to say the fake chicken mcnuggets, I bet it would be cheaper. As they buy in bulk from the suppliers. For all the money WDW makes they could buy fresh and cook better for everyone if they set there minds to it.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

You're not the only one. We don't even eat at WDW TS restaurants anymore because the quality just isn't there. Two years ago my sister and BIL joined us for dinner at Kona and Boma. After we'd talked them up for so long, they were expecting an amazing meal. Kona was good but Boma was a huge disappointment. In the past, Kona has always been EXCELLENT and so has Boma. That was the last time we've eaten TS onsite.

 

[puffkin]

We do get Tables In Wonderland to help out with food costs, and we do have a few favorites, but we are eating less and less in the parks over the years. Once the kids outgrow character meals, I don't know that we will eat much at all in the parks. It just isn't worth the prices for what you get. We aren't foodies or food snobs, but I do expect quality for those prices and I agree, the kids choices are HORRENDOUS. We pretty much only do buffets now so that my kids can eat real food and not pay for outrageously priced adult entrees so that they can have real food.

I must say, we did the Play & Dine character meal for lunch last trip and I was really impressed. The food was really good, fresh, and not just the usual buffet things. We found a really good variety there and it was really, really good. In the past we weren't impressed at all here and only had gone because DS2 is really into those characters so we were pleasantly surprised. We also always do Cape May Clambake. Not the biggest selection, but we do enjoy the seafood and even though its expensive, we feel we get our moneys worth there with the buckets and buckets of clams that we eat. We also really enjoy the Plaza and feel their prices are reasonable for a theme park restaurant...nothing fancy in their food, but it is good. Other than that we usually plan one or two other TS meals a trip, but nothing has blown us away the last few visits. I was especially disappointed with Ohana's. YUCK! What the heck happened to this gem!

We have started cooking some meals in our villa. We pack lunches (especially on water park days). There is also every chain restaurant known to man kind on 192 behind AKV (where we stay a lot) so we have started trying out chains that we don't have near here. Disney is losing a bigger and bigger chunk of our dining money every year, but I honestly don't think they care

 

[WildGinger]

The food has definitely declined however I am still on vacation and have zero interest in making sandwiches, etc for lunch or dinner. We will eat breakfast in the room, yogurt and fruit, bagels, etc.

I also don't agree with the kids meals. Most of the TS have some healthy choices and no so healthy choices. They have grilled chicken, etc. Some of the CS have turkey sandwiches with grapes or carrot sticks. For a theme park/resort I think they do a fairly good job with providing a healthy option and a not so healthy option (which I am sure most of the kids order).

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

I totally agree with you. Even since last year the ohanna breakfast did away with the friendship bread. Kona has reduced their meals and desserts. Chef Mickey is too salty and just not good. The prices went up on all. We will do a few character meals for my autistic child. But over 12 days that is just 3 meals. We will have a car and go buy food and bring from home.

 

[texasroni75]

My family enjoys the Counter Service meals in the parks - it really isn't just nuggets, pizza and burgers. And, it's much better than the food in any other theme park we've been to. We just buy a few CS adult meals and share with the kids.

Our last few trips we skipped most TS restaurants, largely because the waits (even with ADRs) means meals take a big chunk of our time. 1.5 to 2 hours per meal by the time you are seated, order, and eat. Time and cost for CS meals is half that.

We do supplement our meals with some in-room food and snacks though, just to keep costs down and to add a little more variety, and to make things simpler for my toddler who has a nut allergy. We've brought: granola bars, sandwich stuff, chips, waters, juice boxes, fruit snacks and rollups, bagels, and more.

 

[Suzie13]

Now I do think that some of the problem is that I read glowing reviews and probably get my expectations up. That happened to me with Le Cellier. After reading review after review about it being uber wonderful, I was sooo disappointed. I had my lips ready for a great steak and it was Friday's quality at best. Same thing with BOG, after hearing so much that it was the best place people had every eaten at, my lunch was just ok.
.

I don't think I am going to have the problem of high expectations when everyone seems to be saying bad things about the food lately(maybe I am just reading the right forms) so my expectations can only be higher lol

 

[TravelMommy]

Our last trip, I cancelled many of our ADR's as I had enough of yucky, expensive food. We did have some great CS meals, including an excellent lobster roll at Boardwalk Bakery (was much better than any TS I had this year). Sunshine Seasons, very good pork chop! I agree the kids meals are laughable. I had a kids meal, turkey sandwich at HS on the fish shaped bread with the paltry mini bag of blah carrots, really??? best they can do was horrible. I would rather fresh, healthy food. We probably cooked in the villa more this trip than any other and will continue to do more and more on vacations because we like good food and eat more organic whole foods at home.

 

[starwart]

In my opinion most wdw restaurants are overrated. Wdw restaurant Food quality is not at par for what I pay and I would like to venture out to Restaurants (no chain restaurants) outside disney on my next trip. Can anyone recommend some (something like Boma) or is there a forum about wdw restaurant alternatives?

 

[Teresa Pitman]

We've mostly been very happy with the meals we've been served at WDW. My family is vegan, so we have to talk to the chef and generally they prepare us something really delicious (and healthy too!). We try to be clear about what we like and the results have generally been very positive.

I know that in terms of kid's meals, when Disney did try for healthier choices (not so much chicken nuggets and mac and cheese) they got a lot of complaints from parents who said their children would only eat chicken nuggets and fries and it would ruin their vacation if they had plain grilled chicken instead.

TP

 

[ceecee]

We love to eat at the World! Some of our favorites over the years have been replaced with new places and some of the new places we try we probably won't go back. We enjoy trying new places and over the 15 years we have been going we have been mostly pleased. We look forward to many more!

 

[Granny square]

Disney food reminds me of the train food we experienced about 20 years ago. On the way to boston we thought it was wonderful. We were tired and just finishing off a difficult semester. After two weeks of truly good restaurants, and quality home cooked food the return trip's meals were disappointing. Reheated, like many of disney's and blandish.

It just depends what you are accustomed to.

 

[AquaDame]

No, you are not alone - I am right there with you. The food is mostly passable but for the price...? Ouch! I still can't believe what we spent back in January and even now almost seven months later I still regret some of those meals... such a waste of money. If I am going to feel disappointed I'd rather do CS and at least have it be cheap without a tip if I *need* the convenience!

Alas, my parents do like the food, so I think next time I'll be doing a bunch of TS again. Oh well - its their vacation too after all - but I REALLY need to figure out how to bow out of dinner at Be Our Guest. Worst dinner for over $100 we had since we started going!

 

[Praying Colonel]

I think there's a great variety of food for "park food." So grading on that curve, I think their food is OK to above-average, generally. The only time I eat a burger or hot dog is when I make a choice to do so. There are always other good options in the parks.

But since this is the Budget Board, I will say I find the prices shocking at times. For example, on our last trip we ate at Sunshine Seasons. My meal (tuna salad, carrot cake cupcake, soft drink) was $20 on the button. It shocked me, that I was paying that for counter service. It's hard to find a meal that's less than $9 now, and that's without drink.

But by the time you get out of the parks and get someplace less expensive, you've burned time that you could've been spending in the parks or time you set aside for your afternoon break, so you're not just paying for the meal, but you're also paying for the convenience of having that meal in the park and not burning that time. At least, that's what I tell myself.

I'm also disappointed at the value that's getting shaved off the Tables in Wonderland card. We learned that Chefs de France no longer takes TiW for dinner, for example--only lunch. I wouldn't be surprised to see it go away for lunch, too, putting Chefs with other EP restaurants that don't take TiW at all. So the opportunity to get a little value is taken away.

 

[pigletto]

We've mostly been very happy with the meals we've been served at WDW. My family is vegan, so we have to talk to the chef and generally they prepare us something really delicious (and healthy too!). We try to be clear about what we like and the results have generally been very positive.

I know that in terms of kid's meals, when Disney did try for healthier choices (not so much chicken nuggets and mac and cheese) they got a lot of complaints from parents who said their children would only eat chicken nuggets and fries and it would ruin their vacation if they had plain grilled chicken instead.

TP

I think the difference you are seeing here is that your meals for the most part are being individually prepared. DD is vegetarian and has had a few meals made special for her by a chef at the restaurant. Instant quality difference. It's going to be freshly made and warm. I had a meal at Chefs de France last trip that had so clearly been under a heat lamp that it was kinda gross. I mean the mere fact that it came out 3 minutes after I ordered it should have told me something. I think a lot of the quality suffers because of the sheer volume of food they are serving in a night. I've felt rushed out of several restaurants as well with dessert coming to the table before we were done the main course.
It seems whenever there was a really good place with a fabulous menu item it has shrunk considerably or disappeared altogether. If not, the price has gone through the roof.
We absolutely adored 'Ohana and went on every single trip. I tried for a long time to ignore the decline in quality and service as well as the atrocious wait past our ADR time. But with no free dining I am looking at paying $130 without drinks or tip. So lets say $160 out the door. My daughter is a vegetarian, so by choice she is going to eat the noodles, veggies, salad and bread. I just can't justify the cost this trip for one dinner.

All isn't lost, we're excited to try offsite places, and like someone else mentioned my expectations are lower for the CS places so I am pleased with Sunshine Seasons or Fish n Chips or Wolfgang Puck Express and we'll be happy to stick to CS in the parks and TS offsite.

 

[puffkin]

I also don't agree with the kids meals. Most of the TS have some healthy choices and no so healthy choices. They have grilled chicken, etc. Some of the CS have turkey sandwiches with grapes or carrot sticks. For a theme park/resort I think they do a fairly good job with providing a healthy option and a not so healthy option (which I am sure most of the kids order).

I think my issue with the kids menu is that yes, they may have a healthy choice, but a piece of bland grilled chicken isn't exactly appealing to an 8 year old on vacation. His palette is a bit more refined to handle some adult style dishes...but does he really need an adult sized $35 portion? Why can't they offer a few more innovative dishes for kids than just the normal blech offerings or the boring grilled chicken? And while we aren't "big" eaters by any means, we typically cannot share Disney portioins. Maybe with my DS2, but not with DS8. Buffets work for us now, but we probably will be eating CS or almost exclusively off site once DS8 becomes a Disney adult

 

[eliza61]

We've mostly been very happy with the meals we've been served at WDW. My family is vegan, so we have to talk to the chef and generally they prepare us something really delicious (and healthy too!). We try to be clear about what we like and the results have generally been very positive. I know that in terms of kid's meals, when Disney did try for healthier choices (not so much chicken nuggets and mac and cheese) they got a lot of complaints from parents who said their children would only eat chicken nuggets and fries and it would ruin their vacation if they had plain grilled chicken instead. TP

Lol, so basically your getting " made to order" meals. That would make quite a difference