Dining Plan Now that the Genie is out of the bottle

[Aluminum Falcon]

Just looking for thoughts on this. Now that Disney has announced Genie for this fall, do you think that the dining plan could/ would be reimplemented at the same time? To me it seems like that would be a natural progression, but curious what everyone else thinks

 

[Narcoossee11]

Dining is part of a package. I would guess it would start in 2022 since packages normally start in January.

 

[Nelly Tsunami]

Dining is part of a package. I would guess it would start in 2022 since packages normally start in January.

I agree. Plus there are so many other things being rolled out in September/October. Which means there are a lot of things that will probably go wrong and need to be ironed out. So waiting to re-introduce whatever dining plan Disney will give us, is probably a wise idea.

 

[twincruisers]

I think AP's are up next before dining plans, but that's just my humble opinion

 

[Garyjames220]

My guess is the dinNing plan will return on 28th September 2021

 

[Pens Fan]

Personally I hope the don't restart the dining plan until all of the restaurants are reopened and functioning at full capacity. It's hard enough to make ADR's now, and if they brought the dining plan back with the current capacity it would be even worse.

Disney did mention in the last earning call that they hope to back at full capacity and fully staffed by the end of the year, so I'd guess the dining plan will be back around the same time. Disney makes a fortune off of it and I'm sure they can't wait to offer it again.

 

[GrandAdmiralStrife]

based on our last trip a few weeks ago, for our family we saved SOOOO much money paying out of pocket, and that was with a sit down restaurant every day. We found that we were just grabbing what would be considered snacks for breakfast (only did platters one time) and really just did not eat enough to justify going back to the dining plan.

 

[lowcountrygamecock]

based on our last trip a few weeks ago, for our family we saved SOOOO much money paying out of pocket, and that was with a sit down restaurant every day. We found that we were just grabbing what would be considered snacks for breakfast (only did platters one time) and really just did not eat enough to justify going back to the dining plan.

I agree. We quit with the dining plan years ago and came out way ahead. We like to eat on the run and felt tied down with the dining plan. We saved a ton of money by paying out of pocket and booking a room discount instead.

 

[cakebaker]

I agree. We quit with the dining plan years ago and came out way ahead. We like to eat on the run and felt tied down with the dining plan. We saved a ton of money by paying out of pocket and booking a room discount instead.

We never did the dining plan, but it was easy to figure out that we saved a ton of time and money by skipping the high $$$ dining. They're overpriced to make the dining plan look good and the quality is generally mediocre at best. There are a couple of restaurants where we actually like the food but we didn't do a single sit down restaurant on our trip in Jul. While the food was not as good as it used to be ( Satu'li being the one bright spot) I loved not being tied to reservations and not spending $300 to feed us dinner.

I wish they'd focus on getting shows and the parade back, but I know the dp is a huge money maker for them so I expect to see it back as soon as they get enough restaurants open to do it.

 

[New Mouse]

Disney did mention in the last earning call that they hope to back at full capacity and fully staffed by the end of the year, so I'd guess the dining plan will be back around the same time. Disney makes a fortune off of it and I'm sure they can't wait to offer it again.

This is why earnings calls are a complete sham meant to fluff the stock. I can hope that I win a million dollars, doesnt mean I have much of a chance of achieving it. Disney would be lucky to be at full staff by the end of 2022 at this point.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

based on our last trip a few weeks ago, for our family we saved SOOOO much money paying out of pocket, and that was with a sit down restaurant every day. We found that we were just grabbing what would be considered snacks for breakfast (only did platters one time) and really just did not eat enough to justify going back to the dining plan.

I definitely see where you’re coming from, when it was just my wife and myself, the dining plan makes a lot of sense, we used the deluxe, and only booked high end restaurants. We did it because we always came out ahead. With our (DD) who is 2, I can’t see any value in it right now, unless we booked every character meal available, and now that I say that, it may not be a bad idea down the road haha

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

This is why earnings calls are a complete sham meant to fluff the stock. I can hope that I win a million dollars, doesnt mean I have much of a chance of achieving it. Disney would be lucky to be at full staff by the end of 2022 at this point.

where I agree earning calls are a little fluff, if they miss their own projections, it would hurt the stock in the long run, so in terms of business, they usually just keep their mouths shut if it would be considered unattainable. Better to keep your mouth shut, then put your foot in it

 

[cmmelzer]

Can’t wait for the dining plan to come back. As a family with two young kids that love character dining it easily makes financial sense.

 

[HopperFan]

Personally I hope the don't restart the dining plan until all of the restaurants are reopened and functioning at full capacity. It's hard enough to make ADR's now, and if they brought the dining plan back with the current capacity it would be even worse.

Disney did mention in the last earning call that they hope to back at full capacity and fully staffed by the end of the year, so I'd guess the dining plan will be back around the same time. Disney makes a fortune off of it and I'm sure they can't wait to offer it again.

THIS^

It would be a bad decision to sell a dining plan without having the full offering. Also the end of the year is when they negotiate the reimbursement contracts with each dining location. Given that the program has been closed for 1.5 years this would be a start from scratch situation. Dining locations would need their menus all set in order to do this. I would be SHOCKED if it came back before January. Time will tell.

 

[Aprilshack]

THIS^

It would be a bad decision to sell a dining plan without having the full offering. Also the end of the year is when they negotiate the reimbursement contracts with each dining location. Given that the program has been closed for 1.5 years this would be a start from scratch situation. Dining locations would need their menus all set in order to do this. I would be SHOCKED if it came back before January. Time will tell.

Disney won't care if everything is open or not, as long as they think enough is open and they can make a buck.

 

[mommy2mrb]

We did dining plan a couple of times. Too much food for us. Now we figure out where we want sit downs take the highest price item, add tip and tax and add to our budget. Budget $75 day for counter service, snacks and then put it all on gift cards. My DD (21) only do a couple sit downs per trip, love snacking and being able to pick and choose.

 

[HopperFan]

Disney won't care if everything is open or not, as long as they think enough is open and they can make a buck.

I disagree. I get lots of folks are mad about lots of things and have the belief that Disney doesn't care about ANYTHING - but they do.

I don't think they will sell a plan until they are fully operating AND as several have posted, it is a yearly program that starts at the first of the year. It makes sense that would be their goal. Besides who in their right mind would buy the plan when there aren't enough restaurants open? They are complaining now they can't get reservations. Add that the Genie is being absorbed into the MDE and likely will go through a few changes .... why add DDP calculations to the pot?

Of course with all things Disney, WHO KNOWS, but it's not logical.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I disagree. I get lots of folks are mad about lots of things and have the belief that Disney doesn't care about ANYTHING - but they do.

I don't think they will sell a plan until they are fully operating AND as several have posted, it is a yearly program that starts at the first of the year. It makes sense that would be their goal. Besides who in their right mind would buy the plan when there aren't enough restaurants open? They are complaining now they can't get reservations. Add that the Genie is being absorbed into the MDE and likely will go through a few changes .... why add DDP calculations to the pot?

Of course with all things Disney, WHO KNOWS, but it's not logical.

I tend to agree with you, it wouldn't make sense to bring back a plan, (that i'm sure will cost more than it did) if you cannot offer at least what was offered in the past. They could theoretically bring it back at a lesser cost to justify the limits currently in place, but doing that, and subsequently raising prices in the following months after the launch would leave a sour taste in a lot of peoples mouths, even though it would be justified at that point