Anybody else want DDP to end!!

[Lizzy2]

I havent read many of the posts since my last post cuz I've been sick for the past 2 days, still sick infact,

Sorry you're sick!! Are you feeling better now?

 

[Disney8704]

OK maybe not completely get rid of ADRs. But it should be to where you can only make ADRs for that day when you get to the park but only if you want to. They shouldnt make it to where once they get so many people, thats it. They wont take walk ups. If you have to wait, wait. Oh well. Its not any different then restraunts around where you live. Like around here where I live. If I have to wait for less then an hr to get seated, its a miracle. If you dont like to wait, leave and go to another place and maybe try back that place at another day. Like I said, not everyone knows what their actual plans are gonna be for that day and not everyone know when they are gonna be hungry. Trust me, I have been trying to find someway to work out my days for my next trip which is like a yr away still and its really hard because I dunno what time I should make my ADRs for breakfast and dinner. Lunch is easy because they all are CS. I have done ADRs before and it wasnt fun. If I made it to early, there would be days we wouldnt be to hungry when our ADR came around. Or if I made it to late, we would be so hungry and would have to wait for our ADR just to eat.

 

[Disney8704]

One thing I love about the DDP is that its easier to save up money for the entire trip becuase its all in one little package. I dont have to worry about saving up for the trip and then money for food. Which means I wouldnt be tempted on spending the disney fund money on other stuff. However, I will be saving extra money for like breakfast and extra water because the DDP wont cover my breakfasts and only on so many waters. So thats gonna be hard to not spend it, but if I keep reminding myself, disney, disney, disney, then I should be ok. One fun idea that disney might wanna do is include disney dollars in your package that you can pay for and use it towards any additional food and souviners. You could tell them how many disney dollars you want. There wouldnt be any minimum or max amount you could have. And at the end you wouldnt be loosing any money, because before you leave, you can always get whatever you have left, transfered back to regular dollars. This way everything is included in your package and you defiantly wont be tempted in spending your disney fund money.

If I were planning a trip with family, I would absolutely buy the DDP for precisely the reason others do -- so we could pre-pay for meals and enjoy a nice dinner each day without having to worry about who's eating what, splitting the bill, etc. Plus, Dad (a depression-era child) won't eat anything in a restaurant, generally. However, if he knows I've already pre-paid, and he can have what he wants, he'll eat. And, that counts for a lot with me. So, I would definitely do DDP with family.

 

[lovemickeyshouse]

well i like the food at liberty tree tavern and crystal palace and le cuellar
tryin the one place which takes 2 ts so will let you all know its nacrosse

 

[Juliaki]

My bf and I are foodies....a decent part of the reason why we enjoy WDW so much is for the eating experiences (and the ability to walk off the calories to keep our ideal physiques!). I tend to be a cheapskate and always had stayed off-property, but the DDP and ME package tilted the scale enough that we stayed on-property for our last trip. Given that we rented a car the last day so we could visit some local friends and didn't use the ME return trip service, I can honestly stay that the sole reason we stayed on property was the DDP. It made it *much* easier to plan a budget for our trip (and pay for it all in advance).

We did a combination of walk-up and phoned-in priority seating for table service restaurants during the trip... restaurants where we thought it would be busy (Le Cellier, Artist Point, Boma) we called in priority seating in advance. Out of those, the only one that was turning away walk-ups was Le Cellier for a Saturday night dinner (no shock there). In fact, for Artist Point, we had almost a private dining room and did have a private server. Other places we ate (Rose and Crown, Crystal Palace, Hollywood & Vine, Nine Dragons) had small or no wait times for walk-ups. YMMV, however, but we're huge fans of the DDP and hope it sticks around.

 

[bicker]

OK maybe not completely get rid of ADRs. But it should be to where you can only make ADRs for that day when you get to the park but only if you want to.

Let me try to explain it a different way. How does this benefit me, personally? It basically means I have to work hard, every morning of my vacation, to secure the ADRs I wish. That sounds like a very bad thing. I see no personal advantage in this suggestion.

Now I focused on what would or wouldn't be a personal advantage to me, because I wanted to demonstrate how little personal preferences really matter. Just because something is good or bad for me or for you is practically meaningless. What matters is what's going to make the most amount of the highest revenue-generating guests happy the most. There really is no reason to believe that the ADR system, as it is, doesn't do that. A change such as you're suggesting will almost surely cause a lot of such guests a lot of frustration and perhaps even anger.

 

[DiszyDean]

I have read through the thread and not sure I understand the complaints..

1. Disney offers the DDP (free or otherwise ) because there is some advantage to them in doing so. Disney is first and foremost a business and a lot of the magic they provide is to keep you coming back for more and to fill their hotels/parks with paying customers. Trust me in that no one is "Ripping off the mouse".

2. I think someone else previously mentioned that there are still signature dining establishments within Disney that are not part of the dining plan. There are very few true 4 and 5 star resteraunts within Disney. There are certainly better places to go than Disney if you are that interested in fine dining. Places like Le Cellier, Coral Reef, Concourse are all very nice places but no where near fine dining and people should not expect the type of food or service there that you would get at a true fine dining establishment.

3. ADRs for the more popular resteraunts are just a fact of life. With or without the Dining Plan, this would be true. This argument does not really hold water. If you do not like to plan your meals, I can understand but be prepared for the consequences because this will not change.

 

[bluejasmine]

I have read through the thread and not sure I understand the complaints..

1. Disney offers the DDP (free or otherwise ) because there is some advantage to them in doing so. Disney is first and foremost a business and a lot of the magic they provide is to keep you coming back for more and to fill their hotels/parks with paying customers. Trust me in that no one is "Ripping off the mouse".

2. I think someone else previously mentioned that there are still signature dining establishments within Disney that are not part of the dining plan. There are very few true 4 and 5 star resteraunts within Disney. There are certainly better places to go than Disney if you are that interested in fine dining. Places like Le Cellier, Coral Reef, Concourse are all very nice places but no where near fine dining and people should not expect the type of food or service there that you would get at a true fine dining establishment.

3. ADRs for the more popular resteraunts are just a fact of life. With or without the Dining Plan, this would be true. This argument does not really hold water. If you do not like to plan your meals, I can understand but be prepared for the consequences because this will not change.

You hit it right on the head there Dean... I agree completely..

 

[Disney8704]

Well regardless what I think or say I think sean-1966 is just trying to I mean I have to agree on one factor I hate having to plan my meals 180 days in advance, but this person should realize to many people love the DDP and this post was gonna cause a lot of fighting, disagreeing, etc. Now one thing when it comes to ADRs I wish disney would start doing, is being able to make your ADRs online like through their website. It would save us for having to make that call early in the morning, plus having the possibility of waiting forever just to talk to someone to make ADRs. This way you can make your ADRs anytime of the day. Another thing they need to start doing is allowing you to make ALL of your ADRs when you call and not have to call back everyday just to make another ADR just because its on a different day, if you call before the 180 day mark.

 

[vonpluto]

OK maybe not completely get rid of ADRs. But it should be to where you can only make ADRs for that day when you get to the park but only if you want to.

This type of system was in effect at EPCOT from 1982 - 1987-88. Dining reservations had to be made same-day at the World Key System screens in Earth Station. Old hands will remember that when the rope dropped at EPCOT, the mad dash was for dining ressies and not an attraction line. The system changed in 1988 to allow resort guests to make ressies same day by phone. The timeframe was extended to two days ahead, then longer, until we arrived where we are today. ADR Heaven.
Disney might want to consider a return to this type of system for EPCOT. Since EPCOT's attendence supposedly always needs a boost, use this as a marketing tool to increase the numbers. You want to eat at WS, same day ressies only.
Just kidding, those days are gone forever.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

Places like Le Cellier, Coral Reef, Concourse are all very nice places but no where near fine dining and people should not expect the type of food or service there that you would get at a true fine dining establishment.

But to some people, such as my fiance and I, these ARE fine dining, and something we couldn't afford without the use of the dining plan. When we found out that DDP was available, we jumped on it, simply because neither of us really want to eat nothing but Counter Service the entire trip. We didn't really mind making ADR's, and I made them 2 days ago with no problem. Have things changed? Of course... things are always changing. I remember when Cinderella castle wasn't a character breakfast... when my family went in 92 for dinner we were basically the only ones in the resturant.

Whether things have improved or declined really depends on your frame of reference. From what I can remember of the trip back then and what I'm hearing about dining and looking at the menus now, I think things have improved. People that have been there reciently, say things have declined. If things truly have declined in quality... don't you think they'll improve again? It seems to me that these things kinda come in cycles, in every park, everywhere. (I've been attending both Cedar Point and Kings Island since I was little. The same as Disney? No... but the trends are still there) Somehow I doubt that the Disney Dining Plan alone is the cause of this downtrend... and even if it is, it will pick back up.

Just my

 

[srgibbs]

I must say that we LOVE the dining plan. We are going in Sept. for the 2nd year in a row with 2 small children so we must plan anyway. We really enjoyed all the different restaurants we got to try and it really took the budgeting for food out of the trip/made it so much more fun. We had never been prior to the dining plan starting so I cannot say how it was before. We like to go on multiple vacations throughout the year, and the dining plan (especially free) has made it where we can go to Disney once a year or at least every other year. I do understand where you are coming from, and would be fine if they took some of the higher end dining 2TS credits off the plan. With small children we wouldn't eat at those places anyway.

 

[DizmoDean]

Interesting thread. As with everything those disinterested in quality will only look for the cheapest prices thus the DDP is favorable to them!

 

[Disney8704]

I know someone posted on here earlier that they felt like 2nd class when they asked if you were on the dining plan when making the ADRs. Dont feel that way. Do what I do. Feel special. Feel like 1st class, like royalty, cuz you are gonna be eating 1st class meals while everyone else arent on the dining plan and cant normally afford all that yummy food. Like someone told me one time when I was trying to decide to go with the DDP. While everyone is eating CS and some TS meals only ordering like the entree and maybe a desert, everyone on the dining plan eat like Queen and Kings.

 

[Lewisc]

Disney could do something like extend restaurant hours. Last December I had a 6:00p PS at Mama Melrose. They were turnning away people who didn't have a PS. The restaurant was half empty. I don't know if all the empty tables represented guests who were no-shows but it seemed like a waste. I wonder if it was a staffing issue but given the demand it still didn't make much sense.

Let me try to explain it a different way. How does this benefit me, personally? It basically means I have to work hard, every morning of my vacation, to secure the ADRs I wish. That sounds like a very bad thing. I see no personal advantage in this suggestion.

Now I focused on what would or wouldn't be a personal advantage to me, because I wanted to demonstrate how little personal preferences really matter. Just because something is good or bad for me or for you is practically meaningless. What matters is what's going to make the most amount of the highest revenue-generating guests happy the most. There really is no reason to believe that the ADR system, as it is, doesn't do that. A change such as you're suggesting will almost surely cause a lot of such guests a lot of frustration and perhaps even anger.

 

[dd316]

Maybe we should do away with Summer since that time seems to attract crowds.

 

[PatriciaH]

The menus do not all have the same 5 things. All you have to do is look at some of the menus on here or wdwig.com to see that. Some are even changed out every few days or every week! DH and I eat at WDW at least once a week at either a hotel, park, DD, etc.. The only thing we see changed is due to Disney themselves-laying off bus people and the ecconomy-WDW is desperate for help due to people not being able to work for the low wages.

 

[bassoon2]

"Anybody else want DDP to end!! "

Well, I suppose if I was super rich and looked down my nose at people who didn't stay concierge at the Grand Floridian I would....

wait a sec...if i was super rich I would GO when DDP was not going on!

 

[Uncleromulus]

This has gone on for quite awhile--anything else relevant that hasn't already been said??

 

[Cool-Beans]

wait a sec...if i was super rich I would GO when DDP was not going on!

It is always "going on." It isn't always free, but just try to make a reservation at a time nobody will be there on the DP.

I don't like the DDP. It is a scheduling hassle for me, doesn't fit my style, and I don't eat enough to make it cost-effective.

And I really hate what it has done to the ADRs.