Anyone else completely priced out of the buffets at Disney now?

we are priced out of all disney dining now. we had considered the dining plan but Disney has taken all the value out of it. there is none left. the counter service dining plan is the worst of them. there is no possible way you could make out ahead on that one anymore with the price changes. we plan to eat offsite a lot.
 
So has anyone else pretty much been priced out of buffets at Disney? We are completely. I was thinking about doing a breakfast at Trails End in December if we go but with the recent price increases, we are done. And I do hate it, because the one that we love the most was breakfast at Bomas. That is now what $30 per adult. We just won't do buffet meals any longer. When it cost $100-$120 just for a family of three or four to eat breakfast, we are done.

I am done with Disney. Stopped doing buffets when kids turned 9 (now 11 and 14). Paying adult prices (up to $60 each) for two girls that eat a few chicken nuggets and/or deserts. Just not reasonable! Did not renew AP which we have had for years. This year we are purchasing Universal annual passes for nearly a third of the price. Will use savings to use towards additional trips to universal. Wasn't for fact we are DVC members we would not even stay on property.
 
WDW in general has been increasing prices...on everything! :/ I'm still trying to figure out which price I would be charged, when they list the menu prices between $35-$60 for adults. My wife and I still enjoy the buffets, especially Boma's, but we tend to justify the cost by sharing an early dinner with a couple of snacks in between and a dessert for the nighttime firework/light show. We tried the meal plans but out of pocket was a better value for us. If Disney is not careful, the CM's may end up on the short side with lower tips.
 


I am done with Disney. Stopped doing buffets when kids turned 9 (now 11 and 14). Paying adult prices (up to $60 each) for two girls that eat a few chicken nuggets and/or deserts. Just not reasonable! Did not renew AP which we have had for years. This year we are purchasing Universal annual passes for nearly a third of the price. Will use savings to use towards additional trips to universal. Wasn't for fact we are DVC members we would not even stay on property.
Funny, but I have friends who are DVC members and have teenagers. They stay at a DVC resort and go to Universal Parks because the teens like the rides better. Is that wrong? Maybe that's why WDW is building more resorts/hotels. LOL!
 
Does anyone know where you can see the updated prices since they increased?
We are specifically looking at Cape May for dinner.

:)
 
We will be after my DD turns 10 this September.

I was just thinking the same thing. We may get one more trip in before our youngest turns 10 in August. It's insane to consider 10 and 14 year old girls as adults - especially at buffets! They don't eat enough to justify the price. But like others have said, we do try to eat wherever we want while on vacation and plan ahead for it. Last 2 trips was 'Ohana, and the last trip was truly awesome for my daughter's birthday
 


Does anyone know where you can see the updated prices since they increased?
We are specifically looking at Cape May for dinner.

:)


This link has many of them: https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/d...ws-and-all-you-care-to-eat-platters/#comments

Cape May is 55.38 including tax per adult, 30.89 for a child.

I know not everyone is traveling internationally to Disney, but it's in the forefront of my mind as we are from Canada and have to convert everything to CAD. Dinner at Cape May for a family of two adults and two "children" ages 10 and 12 would be roughly $340 CAD (including tax and tip).

That's not significantly different than the cost of a roundtrip airfare to Disney. Or for a 4 day base ticket (w/ Canadian discount). Or for multiple nights in an offsite hotel. Or for 2 nights at Pop Century in value season.

We're staying at the Beach Club on our upcoming trip and this will be our first time skipping Cape May.
 
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The food quality is not there. We use to do a character meal almost daily where our girls were younger and free or child price. Then a couple a trip when our boys were young. These days it's not unheard of to not do a single character meal or buffet during our trip.

While we're not out priced, it's just not a good use of our money. If I'm going to spend that kind of money it'll be for a higher quality meal.
 
While I can agree with most of what has been said here I did find that Whispering Canyon Cafe AYCTE breakfast buffet, at Fort Wilderness Lodge, was very worth the $19.00 per person charge.

You might pay a few dollars less at someplace like Golden Corral, but are you getting the same quality?
 
I was OK with Boma--the food quality and environment felt reasonably reasonable for WDW prices. Never again for an in-park character dinner, though! I'm usually one those "book what I want and just deal with the bill" types, but I couldn't think of anything we got that was even remotely worth $450/hr!!!

Time to start paying attention, I guess.
 
WDW in general has been increasing prices...on everything! :/ I'm still trying to figure out which price I would be charged, when they list the menu prices between $35-$60 for adults. My wife and I still enjoy the buffets, especially Boma's, but we tend to justify the cost by sharing an early dinner with a couple of snacks in between and a dessert for the nighttime firework/light show. We tried the meal plans but out of pocket was a better value for us. If Disney is not careful, the CM's may end up on the short side with lower tips.

This is exactly what will happen. Only one of our 4 kids qualifies for kid pricing anymore even though my 10 yr old is on ADHD meds that cause her to eat like a bird and my 10 yr old stepson eats baby portions. We are having my stepdaughters birthday dinner at 1900 Park Fare on Sunday and the cost before tip will be $300! Tipping $60 at a buffet where all you do is fill drinks and pick up plates is ridiculous.
 
we are priced out of all disney dining now. we had considered the dining plan but Disney has taken all the value out of it. there is none left. the counter service dining plan is the worst of them. there is no possible way you could make out ahead on that one anymore with the price changes. we plan to eat offsite a lot.
Here is the problem with eating offsite, there is the time is money argument to be made. Let's say it takes you 3 hours per meal to go offsite to eat, that is 3 hours away from your vacation time. Now to determine a dollar value for that time, well you could use your salary and figure out what your off time is worth, but honestly that will vary for everyone to an extent I can't even start to examine it, so let's go with based off the cost of your vacation.

So let's assume that for a 14 day trip you manage to get the price down to $3,500 for two people (Those with DVC is a different story for pricing, but this is doable without the dining plan for two). Let's assume the parks are open 12 hours each day for ease of calculating, that breaks down to about $20 per hour, meaning your cost of those three hours is at least $60. The reality is it will still cost you around $20 for the two of you to eat, so now we are at $80 in cost for a single meal, not counting transportation costs. The standard dining plan is about $75 per person per day and gives you one counter service, one table service and two snacks per day plus the refillable mug and if you drink the meals include alcohol.

Remember while the dining prices have increased, the dining plan prices have not so far.
 
This is exactly what will happen. Only one of our 4 kids qualifies for kid pricing anymore even though my 10 yr old is on ADHD meds that cause her to eat like a bird and my 10 yr old stepson eats baby portions. We are having my stepdaughters birthday dinner at 1900 Park Fare on Sunday and the cost before tip will be $300! Tipping $60 at a buffet where all you do is fill drinks and pick up plates is ridiculous.
Considering that according to the reports out there that all CMs will be making a minimum of $15 an hour by 2021, lower tips shouldn't matter in the long run, but until they reach that point it will be a bummer for many.
 
Ohana's was a yearly "must do"....but it's gotten insanely overpriced and they keep jiggling the food options around. They got rid of the turkey (years ago)....and are really stingy with the "before" fixings......and a whole table to split ONE banana bread pudding that they would also serve to just two people? crazy.....
Isn't Ohana's all you care to enjoy? Just ask for more if it isn't enough.
 
Here is the problem with eating offsite, there is the time is money argument to be made. Let's say it takes you 3 hours per meal to go offsite to eat, that is 3 hours away from your vacation time. Now to determine a dollar value for that time, well you could use your salary and figure out what your off time is worth, but honestly that will vary for everyone to an extent I can't even start to examine it, so let's go with based off the cost of your vacation.

So let's assume that for a 14 day trip you manage to get the price down to $3,500 for two people (Those with DVC is a different story for pricing, but this is doable without the dining plan for two). Let's assume the parks are open 12 hours each day for ease of calculating, that breaks down to about $20 per hour, meaning your cost of those three hours is at least $60. The reality is it will still cost you around $20 for the two of you to eat, so now we are at $80 in cost for a single meal, not counting transportation costs. The standard dining plan is about $75 per person per day and gives you one counter service, one table service and two snacks per day plus the refillable mug and if you drink the meals include alcohol.

Remember while the dining prices have increased, the dining plan prices have not so far.

Meh I appreciate your math work. But, we have young kids. We eat breakfast offsite or in our room before we go to the parks. We then eat a large late lunch / early dinner offsite since the kids don't last all day long anyways then go back in the evening for fireworks.
 
So has anyone else pretty much been priced out of buffets at Disney? We are completely. I was thinking about doing a breakfast at Trails End in December if we go but with the recent price increases, we are done. And I do hate it, because the one that we love the most was breakfast at Bomas. That is now what $30 per adult. We just won't do buffet meals any longer. When it cost $100-$120 just for a family of three or four to eat breakfast, we are done.

We are right there with you. We have 2 daughters who are Disney "adults" and they barely eat. There is no way I'm paying those prices for them. Maybe for dinner, but definitely not breakfast.
 
With the increased price of snacks and water as well, the dining plan has never been a better value. I expect Disney has seen a decrease in DDP users outside of the free dining period, and is trying to nudge people back to the plan.

I never thought breakfast buffets are a good value, and you are always rushed by not wanting to miss park opening or prime touring hours. For lunch and dinner, I do feel the quality and variety at most of the character buffets at Disney (except Chef Mickey... shudder) is really quite good, and still a good price when you think of what you are paying for the character interactions. Much better value than dessert parties anyway in my view.
 

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