Anyone else notice this?

[Masonmj84]

In general, I’ve found that Disney’s upcharge for dining (vis a vis the outside world) is almost more of an absolute dollar amount than a percentage, regardless of the level of dining.

As a rule of thumb, it seems to me that the average price of a Disney meal is roughly $10 more per person than a comparable meal outside Disney. This seems to more or less hold true if the meal is counter service or signature.

This is why I’ve always felt that the higher the level of dining at Disney, the more bang for the buck on a percentage basis. Put another way, the more you spend, the closer the value prop is on a percentage basis to dining outside WDW. This is particularly true for table service resort dining (as opposed to in-park dining).

Conversely, the cheapest dining venues tend to be the biggest rip offs on a percentage basis relative to a comparable dining experience outside of WDW. This is particularly true for counter service in-park dining (as opposed to resort dining).

The same holds true for dining plans. While it has become increasingly difficult to drive value out of any dining plan, the more expensive the dining plan, the better the value prop versus paying OOP generally speaking.

Major exceptions to this include special dining experiences such as character meals and dinner shows, which from a strict food cost perspective, tend to be very expensive relative to any dining experience anywhere else. But many of these involve an overall experience that extends well beyond the food and, in any event, many of these tend to be very unique to WDW so it’s hard to make apples to apples comparisons between these dining experiences and outside WDW dining experiences.

 

[Arielfan98]

So what you're saying is that unique and high-quality experiences such as California Grill are worth the $$$, but the experiences at say The Wave, would not be worth it? I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, I'm just asking for clarification.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I can see some of this. While I have a few too many experiences where the food I'm being served isn't close to the price being charged (even with the $10 upcharge you've noted), I'm more likely to feel the meal had more value if there was a special experience tied to the dining. It's part of how they get away with serving lesser quality food at character meals and how I could walk away from Cali Grill several times with meh feelings on my entrees but an overall positive feeling on it because of the setting and experience of dining there during fireworks.

 

[rwdavis2]

I tend to agree. Although I think the WDW premium for higher end dining is ever more. That's why we don't obsess over table service meals there. I can do way better here at home in quality and price. But, the unique experiences make some of the meals worth the premium.

 

[alltwelve]

In addition to the food, I've noticed the same thing with wine offerings at the table service restaurants- a glass of wine that is usually relatively cheap in the outside world has a really high price tag at WDW. However, the finer wines that are expensive in general, relatively speaking, don't appear to be that much more at WDW. Similar to the $10 rule of thumb the OP mentioned regarding food, I think the same holds true for some drinks as well.

 

[rwdavis2]

In addition to the food, I've noticed the same thing with wine offerings at the table service restaurants- a glass of wine that is usually relatively cheap in the outside world has a really high price tag at WDW. However, the finer wines that are expensive in general, relatively speaking, don't appear to be that much more at WDW. Similar to the $10 rule of thumb the OP mentioned regarding food, I think the same holds true for some drinks as well.

I think the more expensive the wine is at wholesale the more "value" you get at a restaurant. The $10 bottle at a retail store will probably run you $50 for dinner. But the $100 bottle won't cost $500. They just wouldn't sell.

 

[Anthony1971]

First I think this is very dependent on where you live... in NYC the prices are on par with NY being higher on a lot of things but yes you can find better quality and poorer quality all in the same price range. As far as CS at Disney no matter where you go they serve the exact same things and quality except the CS at some resorts tends to taste better being it is general freshly made. The exceptions are DTD non Disney owned and EPCOT non Disney owned. As far as CS that depends... In general as an example Steak is way overpriced compared as to the quality as you can easily spend what they ask but at a much better place... Other things can be priced very comparable to the outside world for similar quality. With that said years ago this was not the case. Most menus had 2 steaks a Filet and a NY strip they were close in price as they are in the real world and they were not much higher then the Chicken which is also the case in the real world in a non specialty. At Disney for example an NY strip steak in in general 15 more than a chicken dish??? While buying yourself steak is more expensive but when you take into account the 8oz steak you get compared the almost pound of chicken you get it begins to come a lot closer in real cost. Further there is no better way to have no one order the steak than charge almost twice the price as the chicken. With the introduction of the DP slowly the pricing went out of whack because everyone wants the best value so Disney gives them a great value on the menu...while I can not agree with your logic with the exception of the CS grossly overpriced and poor quality burgers--but again a great value on the DP I will certainly say if you want to eat decent at Disney with a few exceptions eat at Non Disney owned places where the food and for the most part the value is greater.

 

[alltwelve]

I think the more expensive the wine is at wholesale the more "value" you get at a restaurant. The $10 bottle at a retail store will probably run you $50 for dinner. But the $100 bottle won't cost $500. They just wouldn't sell.

I hadn't considered that- it makes sense!

 

[TIME4DIZ]

So what you're saying is that unique and high-quality experiences such as California Grill are worth the $$$, but the experiences at say The Wave, would not be worth it? I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, I'm just asking for clarification.

What are the experiences at The Wave?

 

[Arielfan98]

What are the experiences at The Wave?

Well they do offer a nice breakfast buffet so I heard, but essentially I picked a random 1 TS credit restaurant with nothing extra to it to ask for clarification. I don't quite understand what OP means. My family for example, LOVES Turf Club at Saratoga Springs even though there are no characters, no "special" experiences and we think the food prices are justified.

 

[TIME4DIZ]

Major exceptions to this include special dining experiences such as character meals and dinner shows,

I thought it was clear that OP meant special experiences included character meals or dinner shows. I thought you were sharing that The Wave has either of these, which would have made it even more appealing to me.

 

[Pygoplites]

I've noticed this too, and is a main reason I tend to find that the higher-end restaurants do offer a better value. It is not unique to Disney; it's more of a "resort pricing" situation and "plus $10" seems accurate. WDW food prices seem comparable to upper-middle/lower-upper resorts in the US (Sheraton/Westin/Hyatt/Meridien/Loews/etc.). I find the WDW resort room rates to be way more out of line than the food prices.

 

[MomOTwins]

Lol, coming from Washington DC we are always pleasantly surprised by the dining prices at WDW (aside from character dining, where you are paying for the meet and greet more than the food). A glass of wine is often $10-11 at WDW, compared to $15-20 here. And most non-signature TS restaurants have entrees in the $20-30 range when here they would be $30-45.

The one thing that seems consistently overpriced to me is counter service, so that is in line with what OP is saying about lower value=higher markup. But that is mostly because I find counter service meals to be largely inedible, so I would think they are overpriced at any price. They are actually fairly standard pricing for theme park food, so I guess I can't complain.

 

[Arielfan98]

I thought it was clear that OP meant special experiences included character meals or dinner shows. I thought you were sharing that The Wave has either of these, which would have made it even more appealing to me.

See, I'm the exact opposite, which is why I was asking OP for clarification. My family has found the best restaurants on property aren't necessarily $$$$ or character dining. Also, my family is from NY where prices are $$$ for anything, so we never paid mind to WDW food prices. I think a restaurant can offer value-worthy experiences with or without characters, with or without signature titles.

 

[BK2014]

As a rule of thumb, it seems to me that the average price of a Disney meal is roughly $10 more per person than a comparable meal outside Disney. This seems to more or less hold true if the meal is counter service or signature.

I don't see this applying to counter service meals. Looking at a menu like Cosmic Ray's, all of their entrees are between $8-$14. There is no way way that those are $10 mark up over comparable meals elsewhere.

 

[TIME4DIZ]

See, I'm the exact opposite, which is why I was asking OP for clarification. My family has found the best restaurants on property aren't necessarily $$$$ or character dining. Also, my family is from NY where prices are $$$ for anything, so we never paid mind to WDW food prices. I think a restaurant can offer value-worthy experiences with or without characters, with or without signature titles.

I 100% agree that some of the best Disney food experiences can be exactly how you described. But, the OP defined “special dining experiences” to make a point that you can’t make a cost comparison based on the price of food alone if one of the places has the added value of characters or a show.
Again, I agree with your assessment of value.

 

[Ben E N]

I agree that the small items cost a lot more comparatively than the large meals do. The wine comparison upcharge message also makes sense when considering a meal. When Disney charges $13 for a hamburger (about $4 above other places for a comparative meal) I think to myself "darn, it's marked up $4. Oh well, it's only $4..." If they were to charge $16 extra for a steak, I would say to myself "nope. I'll go with the cheaper chicken." Because steak is marked up everywhere, and only done so an extra $4-5 dollars at Disney, they are getting double the markup money off of me. Some of their premium dining experiences could actually be considered a bit of a deal. I would eat at Boma at least a couple times a year if it was located close to me. The amount of good food that you get for that price is hard to find in major cities. Victoria and Albert's is insanely expensive, but so are all restaurants at that level, and their prices are actually a little better than what you pay for comparable meals in Chicago.