Changes to 2 Credits?

[Lisa F]

I don't think anyone is trying to spin it as "good" business, but it is a business. The rumors have been out there for the 6 months you suggest, and anyone on these boards buying the dining plan is probably aware of them. The only date that matters is the paid in full date. Before that date, you can make any changes to your package without penalty. As long as the announcement (IF there is a change at all), is before that date, a decision to keep or toss the dining plan is still yours to make. And my guess is that Disney would not penalize anyone who changes even if it's after the paid in full date since they are the ones who changed the parameters.

At this point, with the 2017 packages already out AND the changes to the dining plans already announced, I'd be surprised if this rumor plays out at all.

why wouldn't they penalize people then? if they are going to throw customer service to the wind and not care what people think, why not follow that to the letter of the law as well also?

 

[sharonabe]

why wouldn't they penalize people then? if they are going to throw customer service to the wind and not care what people think, why not follow that to the letter of the law as well also?

I don't think they are throwing customer service to the wind. They are looking at heavily booked restaurants and acting like a business that wants to make money. IF they decide to do this, there is no good time to announce it. Whenever they announce it, it will affect somebody. I choose to believe that if that decision causes someone to drop the DDP after they've paid in full, that Disney will be gracious. I could be wrong.

 

[supersnoop]

Comparing a 50 cent price increase to a doubling in price are quite different

I disagree, as I stated, the reaervation and the payment are two separate things. But how about this; when they eliminated the lunch menu from certain restaurants? I had Hollywood Brown Derby booked, fully intending for my daughter to order the (inexpensive) fettuccine alfredo. But when we arrived, it was no longer on the menu and only the more expensive dinner choices were available. Should they have honored the lunch menu for me, since that was my option (and intent) when I booked it?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Logistically speaking, it would be next to impossible to have people who made 180-day ADRs pay one price on DDP and people who got last-minute ADRs pay another, save for pre-paid experiences. Handling it at the POS would be an IT nightmare for a company that IS an IT nightmare.

 

[Mac30188]

I disagree, as I stated, the reaervation and the payment are two separate things. But how about this; when they eliminated the lunch menu from certain restaurants? I had Hollywood Brown Derby booked, fully intending for my daughter to order the (inexpensive) fettuccine alfredo. But when we arrived, it was no longer on the menu and only the more expensive dinner choices were available. Should they have honored the lunch menu for me, since that was my option (and intent) when I booked it?

I just don't view those as the same thing. The doubling of credit cost at the last second on a product you have been marketing is not the same as a 50 cent price increase. The elimination of the lunch menu is a legitimate reason for the "reserve the right to make changes". Doubling the cost across the board on a large number of your TS lunch and dinner meals on short notice is not ethical. Plus you are completely disregarding the absolutely largest part of the Disney mistake (the timing of the communication). It is not about Disney making changes to its business model or changing a restaurant from a QS to a TS. They are just scamming money. If they announce in March the changes starting in October, it is pretty much a non-issue. People would know what the cost of the restaurant and would book accordingly. On the other hand, when they announce a huge promotion of free dining to help fill up empty rooms and then at the very last minute gut the program, it is negligent at best and intentional bait and switch at worst. Maybe they have been watching too much Zootopia. Its a hustle. Shoot, its less then three months away and they have not even warned people they are going to do it. I would like to believe they would not role this out to DDP in October for that reason, but I just don't have confidence in WDW leadership.

 

[Mac30188]

Logistically speaking, it would be next to impossible to have people who made 180-day ADRs pay one price on DDP and people who got last-minute ADRs pay another, save for pre-paid experiences. Handling it at the POS would be an IT nightmare for a company that IS an IT nightmare.

Agree with this 100%. It would be a logistical nightmare. The answer is for Disney to do their homework and announce the change with enough time for people to make plans.

 

[rdominy]

Agree with this 100%. It would be a logistical nightmare. The answer is for Disney to do their homework and announce the change with enough time for people to make plans.

I agree it would be a nightmare but people on the dining plan for 2016 in December will move into January with the 2016 plan still in place for them.

Disney will have some way of knowing that those people don't get an extra snack but do get dessert with their meal at a quick service.

Two people paying out one right after another will be offered different options.

 

[Nancyg56]

Agree with this 100%. It would be a logistical nightmare. The answer is for Disney to do their homework and announce the change with enough time for people to make plans.

How can this be possible. There will always be a set of people who are affected at 180 days out. There will be a set who reserve the room and book a package long before 180 days out, and those who add it 7 days prior to their arrival. How can Disney keep this straight?

DIsney can make the change if they choose, and people can decide if they want to go to that restaurant, drop it and choose another, or drop the plan entirely. If they drop due to the change withing the window that incurs a penalty, I woudl imagine Disney would forgive the penalty.

I know people believe this is bad customer service. I do not think it is. I do believe it is a pretty short-sighted business decision though. Disney has upped popular restaurants to 2 credits before, and then had to reverse that decision. These were normal TS restaurants, and were not buffet. I do think if these popular character meals are bumped up to 2 credits, and the cost of the meals increased to reflect that value, it will not be long before Disney is forced to rethink that decision. We all know that Disney Dining is not inexpensive. We know that the DDP costs a good amount as well. It is one thing to look at a CS restaurant and determine that it is a "good value" on the DDP, and another to look at the value of your credits, allocate them to meals, and then see that you still have three days that you need to eat but have no credits left. That DDP just took a nosedive. Families can choose to avoid CG, CRT, and YSH, and still feel they have had a good time dining in Disney. They can choose CP, AKershus and CM, the kids all get their character experience, and they still can eat dinner on the plan during their trip. Doubling many experiences will reduce the value of a plan that Disney seems to be trying very hard to sell. I know if this happens I will rethink many of my dining decisions, and once that starts, perhaps I look at teh est of the costs on the trip. If I need to compromise my dining, what else gets compromised? For some the entire tip is scrapped and they go to Hershey Park.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Just because they print it on the brochure doesn't mean people can't be frustrated. If you are travelling at the beginning of the year, by the time you know what your dining plan is worth, it is too late to cancel it. Regardless of the caveats on the brochure, people have a right to be mad about that.

Why would it be too late to cancel? Don't packages have a 30 day cancellation policy? What's making you think any changes wouldn't be announced long before then?

Finally, buying the Disney Dining plan locks you into a specific set of restaurants.

Well, it "locks you into" every Disney-owned restaurant and probably 90% of on-site leased restaurants.

They should be able to tell consumers the cost of reservations (at least within 1 credit or 2 credit magnitude) 6 months in advance. The fact it is less then 3 months to the rumored change in October and it has not been announced.

If they announce in March the changes starting in October,

I'm completely confused where you're getting the impression that any major change like this rumor would go into effect in October. Is it because somebody mentioned the contract negotiation period? When Le Cellier went from one credit to two, it was absolutely announced well before the change went into effect.

 

[Mac30188]

How can this be possible. There will always be a set of people who are affected at 180 days out. There will be a set who reserve the room and book a package long before 180 days out, and those who add it 7 days prior to their arrival. How can Disney keep this straight?.

No one can reserve a restaurant before 180+10. Announce dining changes and have them in the system 180+10 in advance and then people will be quoted the correct TS credit amount when they book the restaurant. If you are going to massively overhaul the number of lunch and dinner credit values, you need to let people know of the change before you release free dining. Its not that the can't, it is Disney chooses not to.

 

[Nancyg56]

No one can reserve a restaurant before 180+10. Announce dining changes and have them in the system 180+10 in advance and then people will be quoted the correct TS credit amount when they book the restaurant. If you are going to massively overhaul the number of lunch and dinner credit values, you need to let people know of the change before you release free dining. Its not that the can't, it is Disney chooses not to.

I know what you are saying, but I am saying that even though no one can reserve prior to 180+10, people book their plans at way earlier than that. I booked a BB almost a year in advance, and I locked in FD> Folks in the UK book dining packages and specials way in advance of 180 days. There ae just so many bumps in your plan that it still would, IMO, result in a mess at the table.

In the great scheme of Disney Dining, with all of teh choices there ae to spend your credits, changing a total of perhaps 6 or 8 meals does is not considered "massive" unless you are the one who booked those meals, or who would choose to book them at your 180 day mark. Personally, I think the bigger message to DIsney would be to cancel those ADR's if the cost was too high.

Coral Reef and Le Cellier used to be 2 credits each. Both had to reduce their credits to 1 in order to maintain their occupancy. Le Cellier has since bounced back to 2, which in my opinion is twice what it is worth and then some. I choose not to eat there, but it seems that enough people find the value to be sufficient. CR on the other hand, has never reverted back. I will occasionally choose to dine there, but if it bounces back to 2....off my list.

IMO, there is not one character buffet or AYCTE dining experience that is worth 2 credits, or the increased cost that goes along with those credits. I would choose to to go. I bet a lot of others would as well, and Disney woudl rethink their strategy, as they have had to do in the past. I do believe that consumers who say "no" are way more powerful in forcing business to stay within a price point than asking the business to accomodate a number of them in dining credits use.

 

[Mac30188]

Why would it be too late to cancel? Don't packages have a 30 day cancellation policy? What's making you think any changes wouldn't be announced long before then?

Well, it "locks you into" every Disney-owned restaurant and probably 90% of on-site leased restaurants.

I'm completely confused where you're getting the impression that any major change like this rumor would go into effect in October. Is it because somebody mentioned the contract negotiation period? When Le Cellier went from one credit to two, it was absolutely announced well before the change went into effect.

The rumor as I saw it is every character buffet lunch and dinner would move to 2 TS Credits starting first of October.

 

[Nancyg56]

The rumor as I saw it is every character buffet lunch and dinner would move to 2 TS Credits starting first of October.

I saw TH, CM and Akershus. I did not see H&V, 1900 PF or CP. Oh wel, time will tell, and I bet you a buck that if the cost is raised, there will be a lot of availability for them on the dining site! LOL! And Disney may need to do more than allow swapping a dessert fo a side or letting a guest use a credit to get folks to buy the plan. Right now the reason so many families purchase it is because the cost of those character meals helps to justify the cost of a prepaid meal plan. Once the value goes from questionable or negligible, to less then none, that plan is useless. And once you negate the value of the plan the consequences of substantial. Perhaps people plan to eat offsite more, which involves ending a car. Once you go down that road, you might as well stay offsite. No more dedicating every vacation dollar to Disney. Yu just ate dinner after a day at DHS for 10 bucks at Golden Coral, bought a burger and fries and shake at Steak and Shake on your afternoon beak to swim for a faction of the cost of Cosmic Rays, and enjoyed your complimentary breakfast buffet at your hotel before you strolled into DAK.

No. This would IMO be a terrible business decision and I woudl nto want to be the one who had to explain it down the road.

 

[Mac30188]

I saw TH, CM and Akershus. I did not see H&V, 1900 PF or CP. Oh wel, time will tell, and I bet you a buck that if the cost is raised, there will be a lot of availability for them on the dining site! LOL! And Disney may need to do more than allow swapping a dessert fo a side or letting a guest use a credit to get folks to buy the plan. Right now the reason so many families purchase it is because the cost of those character meals helps to justify the cost of a prepaid meal plan. Once the value goes from questionable or negligible, to less then none, that plan is useless. And once you negate the value of the plan the consequences of substantial. Perhaps people plan to eat offsite more, which involves ending a car. Once you go down that road, you might as well stay offsite. No more dedicating every vacation dollar to Disney. Yu just ate dinner after a day at DHS for 10 bucks at Golden Coral, bought a burger and fries and shake at Steak and Shake on your afternoon beak to swim for a faction of the cost of Cosmic Rays, and enjoyed your complimentary breakfast buffet at your hotel before you strolled into DAK.

No. This would IMO be a terrible business decision and I woudl nto want to be the one who had to explain it down the road.

I believe the TH, CM, Akershus were the ones that did appear as 2TS credits in error and were quickly changed back. The rumor that followed up was the clarification of it would be to all of them in October. IMHO, what gives some credence to the rumor is the impending pricing changes due seem to try to bucket the Character buffets in a similar price range that would support the change. They seem to be trying to consolidate all their dining options into very neatly arranged pricing buckets. I do think it may be a bold over reach in pricing, but that doesn't bother me near as much as the timing. Consumers are smart enough to adjust to pricing changes. It is only when you spring them at the last second that it is an issue. I am again cautiously optimistic that the window for announcing a change of that magnitude may have closed, however I don't have enough confidence in Disney leadership to disregard the rumor.

 

[Nancyg56]

I am again cautiously optimistic that the window for announcing a change of that magnitude may have closed, however I don't have enough confidence in Disney leadership to disregard the rumor.

I cannot argue with you there! They do seem to be on the path that leads to more money for less total experience. It makes me pretty sad.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

This is really complex I know that. Thinking about those not on the DDP booking at 180 days and paying at the rates when they dine. Nobody is locked to the price on the day they book expect maybe CRT. I expect these meals have increased for everyone so even though it's 2 credits it has gone up a lot for me also. I booked HW & v thinking it was 34.99 but it then became a character meal and nearly doubled! I cancelled...

 

[socaintexas]

Deleted

 

[Lisa F]

I do think that the only reasonable way to do it is to announce the change at 180+10 days before it goes into effect and have everyone's confirmations state the new amount. I DO think it is a massive change because the dining plan has the most appeal to people who do many character meals. I'm not sure how much it would affect me if it changed in october because all of my character meals are breakfasts except for the H&V seasonal dine with F! package and at the prices they charge it would not be an awful deal at 2TS - I am doing the deluxe DDP so I can just pay OOP for a couple more kid meals to make up the difference and it will not have a significant effect on my budget at all. I am doing 6 character meals but 5 of them are breakfasts, which are not rumored to change. But if I were doing all 6 dinners and suddenly had to pay for half of them OOP when it was too late in the process to change my plans to something else because everything else is all booked up, I'd be pretty ticked off.

I think Disney needs to do this cleanly and have ADR confirmations match the actual rules. Having tens if not hundreds of thousands of people out there with confirmations that say this is 1TS and then having them show up and find out it is 2TS is not "good business" or even "business." It's a stupid way to handle it and will create so much customer dissatisfaction and acrimony at the restaurants that I can't believe anyone would think this was a remotely good idea. I think a lot of people make their plans and get their stuff in order and to show up and have what they are getting be significantly different than what all of their confirmations say would be a HUGE customer service gaffe. IMO the only remotely reasonable way to handle this is cleanly and have the ADRs confirmations that list the number of TS entitlements for the meal match what is going to happen when people show up. If they roll it out in october, it should be for meals that are 180+10 later, ADR confs will reflect it when people book, and then when that day arrives 6 months later, the meals are bumped up to 2TS. If they do it any other way I would not want to be a manager at any of these restaurants when people start getting angry.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Why would it be too late to cancel? Don't packages have a 30 day cancellation policy? What's making you think any changes wouldn't be announced long before then?

Because someone on this thread said the final plan details would not released until January. And others pointed out that the brochure language says that it can be changed at any time even after final details are announced.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Because someone on this thread said the final plan details would not released until January. And others pointed out that the brochure language says that it can be changed at any time even after final details are announced.

"Final plan details" = non-Disney-owned restaurants contracts likely won't be finalized, and those restaurants' participation announced, until December or even early January. "Subject to change without notice" has not, in over eleven and a half years, included any venue's credit 'cost' increasing with little or no notice.