Anyone else annoyed..

[ilovejsparrow]

by the Disney Dining Plan? In years past, you could walk around the parks and choose a place to eat and usually get a reservation with no problem. Now, if you're not booking 90 days in advance, you're probably not getting into your favorite restaurants. It's a pain planning a trip AROUND meals.. what happened to a leisurely vacation

 

[Allison]

It's been this way since the dining plan started which has been several years now.

 

[disneynuts777]

I do not find it a pain at all. In fact I am quite relieved to know that we do have some place to eat and not worry about it.
If we do not feel like keeping an ADR we cancel to free up that space for someone else.

 

[disnut8]

You can still have a leisurely vacation. You just have to not be that picky about where you eat. There are still plenty of dining reservations to be had, even some on the same day. But it's not going to be in the castle or at the California Grill or LeCellier or whatever is the popular place of the month. However, you can enjoy a nice dinner at the Captains Galley (very nice) or at a resort hotel (nice break from the parks and a chance to see a resort). If you want a seating at a popular place, just make those arraignments 90 days in advance.

I go to Disney World often and will make ONE dining reservation at the 90 day mark (or the old 180 day mark). Everything else is simply whatever we feel like once we get there.

 

[TDC Nala]

Here's what I've found.

The signature restaurants (with the exception of CRT) are easier to get into because they are not the best value on the dining plan. And the food is better.

There are plenty of very good restaurants (at the Swan and Dolphin and Downtown Disney, mostly) that do not accept the dining plan, and it's pretty much a cinch to get a table at those. And, the food is better.

The bars and lounges at many WDW restaurants are not subject to the dining plan. Many of them serve the full menu from the restaurant, and it's generally easy to get space at most of them. And sometimes, if they have their own appetizer menus, the food is better.

Of course, that doesn't help with eating table service at the parks (all in-park restaurants except one accept the dining plan) but I don't find it that difficult to go to a nearby resort. (And the resort restaurants often have better food than the in-park restaurants)

The dining plan isn't going anywhere (Disney loves those packed restaurants!) so I've adapted to it like the Borg adapt to phaser fire. (A Star Trek reference actually IS the best I can come up with here.)

 

[5boyz]

I dont think it is a pain, but I dont do the plan because I dont want to plan my meals and times 90days before I go on vacation. I tried it 2 yrs ago for one week of our 2 week stay and I was totally stressed the whole time. Last year did oop and this year I am trying the QS.

 

[Tricia1972]

Here's what I've found.

The signature restaurants (with the exception of CRT) are easier to get into because they are not the best value on the dining plan. And the food is better.

There are plenty of very good restaurants (at the Swan and Dolphin and Downtown Disney, mostly) that do not accept the dining plan, and it's pretty much a cinch to get a table at those. And, the food is better.

The bars and lounges at many WDW restaurants are not subject to the dining plan. Many of them serve the full menu from the restaurant, and it's generally easy to get space at most of them. And sometimes, if they have their own appetizer menus, the food is better.

Of course, that doesn't help with eating table service at the parks (all in-park restaurants except one accept the dining plan) but I don't find it that difficult to go to a nearby resort. (And the resort restaurants often have better food than the in-park restaurants)

The dining plan isn't going anywhere (Disney loves those packed restaurants!) so I've adapted to it like the Borg adapt to phaser fire. (A Star Trek reference actually IS the best I can come up with here.)

This says it so well that all I am going to say is "Yeah that"

 

[mybabesuz]

I for one would like to not have to make ADR's for EVERY TS Meal planned.
We do find ourselves planning our day around our ADR's.

Last time we tried to change a few to later times and had no luck.

It would be nice to just wake up and just go to Breakfast without having to worry about being late or early.
Some places do take walk ups but not many...

 

[ancestry]

I have to say that I agree with those who don't like to make ADR's for EVERY TS meal. I don't like it at all but I do it since we enjoy several TS meals each day while on vacation.

I do feel as though our entire vacation is planned around food and that there is no flexibility for us to choose what we are in the mood for on that particiular day.

 

[connorlevismom]

I am very frustrated with DDP and always have been. I don't want to decide where to eat 90 days before I even go. We are going in a few weeks and I will be 5 months pregnant. There is NO WAY I can tell you now, what I am going to want to eat then. I don't even know what I want for dinner. And what I like now, will probably change by the time I go. So we never do the DDP and miss out on lots of great restaurants because of it.

Kristine

 

[summermac]

I'm about 60/40 with my feelings on it, I guess. We chose quite a few resort meals so we aren't tied to a park, especially at the end of our trip when we aren't sure what we're doing over. It is annoying to not be able to say, hey let's eat at _______ and do it but on the other hand, it's simliarly annoying to hop from restaurant to restaurant and let the wait dictate where you want to eat.

When we vacation for a week pretty much anywhere, we tend to know where we want to eat ahead of time (our other spot is typically either Myrtle or Gatlinburg) so maybe that's why it's not that frustrating to me to pick out choices ahead of time. As soon as we started talking about WDW, my sister declared she MUST eat at LeCellier, my husband had to have 50s, I must have Crystal Palace for my kids (love Pooh) and my parents & other sister would like Rainforest Cafe again. Obviously Rainforest isn't on DDP so that's annoying but we could always eat there on our own OOP. We might still do that.

 

[ilovejsparrow]

Thanks for your opinions, everyone. You all make good points. I guess it just frustrates me that if I ever did a spur of the moment vacation, I might not get into my favorite restaurants. I don't know about you guys, but the food is one of the main reasons why I love Disney

 

[TDC Nala]

Thanks for your opinions, everyone. You all make good points. I guess it just frustrates me that if I ever did a spur of the moment vacation, I might not get into my favorite restaurants. I don't know about you guys, but the food is one of the main reasons why I love Disney

If you go spur of the moment, you may have to do what I had to do, and seek out some new favorite restaurants. (It wasn't that difficult - the food quality in a lot of the one-credit restaurants has declined. There's a couple of one-credits I still like but they tend to be the not extremely popular ones, like Turf Club, Olivia's, Biergarten, Raglan Road and the Wave.

 

[La2kw]

I hate the DDP. The restaurants are now more crowded than ever. The menus have been dumbed down. The service is lousy. I don't like planning 90 days ahead of time. The prices are constantly increasing and those of us not on the
DDP have to pay more. Thankfully, I have a kitchen in my DVC villa and I can just eat what I want whenever I want at "home". The DDP may be good for Disney, but my experience is diminished.

 

[Pumbaa_]

resistance is futie, you will be assimilated.....

i agree with those that go regularly and find alternatives. We haven't been to Le cellier in years and I don't miss it and won't be back any time soon

The way the ts meals are heading, pretty soon we will be heading off site to eat. I never ever thought i would even think that, never mind be considering it.

But it is what it is and Disney has decided their profit lies with the DDP. So be it. We are heading down in May for a weekend for the F&G show. Not a single ADR,. We will do season food court, maybe B&C or the fountain and figure ou the rest while we are there.

I think i will like it better

 

[La2kw]

resistance is futie, you will be assimilated.....

i agree with those that go regularly and find alternatives. We haven't been to Le cellier in years and I don't miss it and won't be back any time soon

The way the ts meals are heading, pretty soon we will be heading off site to eat. I never ever thought i would even think that, never mind be considering it.

But it is what it is and Disney has decided their profit lies with the DDP. So be it. We are heading down in May for a weekend for the F&G show. Not a single ADR,. We will do season food court, maybe B&C or the fountain and figure ou the rest while we are there.

I think i will like it better

It does seem like there's a lot of "assimilation" going on with the DDP. We've priced it out and we never spend as much money on food as we would have to spend with the DDP. We've been going 20 years, so I have a pretty good idea what it costs us. We do enjoy HOB, Bongo's Cuban Cafe, Picabu, Fresh, Garden Grove, and occasionally RFC. Fortunately, none of these are on the DDP and the Swan/Dolphin restaurants give DVC members 20% off.

Going offsite isn't too bad either. We usually enjoy meals at Romano's Macaroni Grill, Chili's, Qdoba, Panera Bread, Jersey Mike's, Whataburger, and Outback.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I do not find it a pain at all. In fact I am quite relieved to know that we do have some place to eat and not worry about it.
If we do not feel like keeping an ADR we cancel to free up that space for someone else.

Completely agree.... it works so well for us.

 

[twooley2]

I think the Disney Dining plan used to be a way to keep people stayign onsite at their resorts. This year we are booked onsite for this reason but after thinking about it offsite is looking better even without the dining plan. I am just frustrated to get a value that isnt a value but more for a piece of mind for fear of not setting enough cash aside for eatting onsite. I cant sit down at TS 3 X but need a sit down breakfast and a main sit down so we are out on this plan makeup. The CS goes to waste of course on the Deluxe.

 

[k5thbeatle]

I have NEVER been a fan of the dp since it's inception for numerous reasons.

I hate the DDP. The restaurants are now more crowded than ever. The menus have been dumbed down (iow the food quality has greatly declined). The service is lousy. I don't like planning 90 days ahead of time...The DDP may be good for Disney, but my experience is diminished.

 

[Britgirlus]

This is my first time to WDW in 20 years - and then I had no money so just didn't eat I always said when I went back, I would do it right - so we're staying on site (POFQ), and have the quick service plan. Not knowing the restaurants is probably a good thing - we won't know what we're missing by having no ADRs, we don't have to plan our week around meals, and will be able to eat CS whenever we're hungry. I don't know yet if we'll get our money's worth, but to me it's the convenience of it being prepaid that makes it worthwhile. I want our trip to be fun - not a whirlwind of running around trying to get stuff done so we can get to our ADR on time, and having to be in the right place at the right time If Disney hadn't had the QS plan, I probably wouldn't have gone with the dining plan at all I guess in my case, ignorance is bliss