I loathe the existance of the DDP. Why would that be?
Primarily because it is yet another step down the "value engineering" ladder for Disney, further removing themselves from being a premium entertainment experience.
In most cases, you're not truly saving any money. Disney is banking on people's perception of value when paying up front and their forgetting about that "spent" money, while simultaneously decreasing the quality of their food offerings due to artificially increased demand. It's undoubtedly a win for Disney's bottom line, but most likely a personal loss to those participating due to either their paying for uneaten food, receiving an inferior quality product, or getting charged rack room rates when tacking on "free" dining.
On a personal note, and I know this will make me sound like a jerk, but I'm mostly irritated by the decline in the quality of food and the absolute catastrophe getting ADRs has become due to the vast increase in TS patrons who otherwise wouldn't be frequenting TS establishments if not for the DDP.
Words can't express how much I hate the DDP.
Primarily because it is yet another step down the "value engineering" ladder for Disney, further removing themselves from being a premium entertainment experience.
In most cases, you're not truly saving any money. Disney is banking on people's perception of value when paying up front and their forgetting about that "spent" money, while simultaneously decreasing the quality of their food offerings due to artificially increased demand. It's undoubtedly a win for Disney's bottom line, but most likely a personal loss to those participating due to either their paying for uneaten food, receiving an inferior quality product, or getting charged rack room rates when tacking on "free" dining.
On a personal note, and I know this will make me sound like a jerk, but I'm mostly irritated by the decline in the quality of food and the absolute catastrophe getting ADRs has become due to the vast increase in TS patrons who otherwise wouldn't be frequenting TS establishments if not for the DDP.
Words can't express how much I hate the DDP.
- obviously, if there is any possibility you'd want to go offsite to eat (for financial or other reasons), the DDP would make NO sense. And for many of us who use the DDP, we do not feel like we're being forced to eat or being told what to order, or that we're making sure we get our money's worth. Many of us have looked in advance at menus and/or been there several times and know How and What we like to eat. Doing the math to FIT that (how WE want to eat, not fitting what we eat to the plan), and finding it a financial savings (to the tune of almost $300 for our family in 2009 and even more in 2007), it becomes a no-brainer for some of us. And helps to make the vacation even more carefree (though the tip not being included cuts back on some of that to be certain). Just want to point out that for those of us where the DDP IS set up for how we want to eat, it can be a great thing. If it is NOT set up for how you eat/want to eat on vacation, I could see it being a real drag!
