Dining plan. tooooooo much food

[2Tiggies]

I think the other thing with me is, I hate seeing stuff wasted and there were regularly tables left with 4 or 5 desserts pilled up in the middle of the table. Now I am guessing that although they were un touched I am pretty sure that if the law is the same as here in the uk, those desserts have to be thrown away.

Yes they do have to be thrown away. We have learned when not to take the dessert either due to not being able to eat it, not wanting it, or because we are heading off to do something that will make carrying a dessert around a PITA. But like so many visitors, we learned the hard way the first time, ordering our meals and within 3 days that room fridge was so full with leftovers and untouched food that went into the trash .... to clear more space for MORE leftovers ...... took us about 4-5 days to figure out that we needed to order less and go back for more if we were still hungry. Which brings me back to the point where I would prefer an additional snack and only one dessert per day on the QSDP

The only kick in the whatsits are the flights.

Steve

Oh you don't need to be telling me that right now - I will not be arguing with that statement

 

[stevechase]

But like so many visitors, we learned the hard way the first time, ordering our meals and within 3 days that room fridge was so full with leftovers and untouched food that went into the trash .... to clear more space for MORE leftovers ......

Very true. We thought great idea to keep the infamous choc cakes 'for another time' only to realise that the 'other time', they wern't needed because we then had more chocolate cakes. Bit like trying to empty bath water out only using a fork. I can hear my wife now, "Keep that, we can put them in the fridge for later" Jesus! we blew 12 grand on a holiday, we can afford a chocolate cake when we want one!!!!!

What a fantastic holiday tho, miss it so much

Steve

 

[Elise79]

Every time I refused desserts with meals (both QS & TS) I was looked at like I had 2 heads as we were on the DDP

Seriously - we had the regular DDP and used all the TS credits, bought 10 snacks home and left 24 CS unused and we only started with 48!

Combination of heat so not eating as much and offsite time meant we just didn't need the meals.

There is too much food and I don't like to just have a bite and throw something away as it seems so wasteful - I wouldn't do it if I was paying cash. We certainly wouldn't buy the DDP.

 

[chmurf]

If I had the remaining 78 meals at, say for argument $12 a pop $936. If they had converted it to all snacks (for the purpose of this) worth $5 each say, that is $390. Their cost for the $936 would be higher than their cost for the $390.

I totally understand this.
But, just to continue on this hypothetical point (just for the sake of the calculation), your demonstration above is based on Snacks credits being exchanged on par with the QS credits (1 snack for 1 QS)

Historically a QS credit was converted to 3 snack credits, and some CMs still use that rule and allow guests to convert on their last day (it's very hit or miss)

So with your calculation, 78 QS meals at $12 a pop is $936, but 78 QS credits converted to snacks would make 234 snacks credits, and at $5 a piece it's $1170

So, here, if converting was allowed (and it used to be), guests who have "too much food" on the QSDP, would convert a lot of QS credits, and as showed above, it would cost Disney even more money, because a QS meal is cheaper than 3 snacks, even though it as the same "potential" value on the dining plan.

In that light it is logical (from a business standpoint) that Disney stopped converting QSs to snacks when they scaled the Dining plan down to 1 snack per night.

Disney would lose money, unless the QS credit only could be converted to 1 or 2 snack credits. But guests would probably object, since it would be a clear scale down of the QS value as compared to the snack credit.

Now, about the "point" system, it's more or less already possible. Child QS meals are 1 entrée, 2 sides and a beverage. The sides can be substituted and can either be 2 sides, or 1 side and 1 child "dessert" (or whatever there is for kids, which is far from being awesome, but that's another issue)

On the Adult QS credit, substitutions can also help if you don't care for dessert
some CMs allow guests to get 2 bottled beverages and 1 entrée for the QS credit (and no sides)
but it really depends on the CM at the register.

But in "spirit" it already works with points, even though it requires a bit of luck and the right CM

 

[stevechase]

I would have based it on a 1 for 1 swap. 1 meal, which is made up of 3 parts = 1 snack.

Why, if you have nearly 100 meals left, 4 days before you come home, would you want to convert that to 300 snacks? IF they did it, you would lose a full meal to gain a bottle of water. That is fine because quite obviously you wouldn't get there looking at 3 weeks holiday and immediately change 210 meals (in our case) and expect to get 630 snacks added to the 105 snacks you already had.

I wasn't aware that in the past they had done this and I am surprised that they counted a meal the same as 3 snacks.

It seemed a very fair thing to ask, we had 98 meals to go and 3 days to take them. We had 9 snacks and we used them with a couple of days to go.

It was an observation that would be cheaper for Disney to provide. Surely better to allow swaps than for me to have 3 items, leave the meal and the dessert just so I can have a slushy lemonade!

Steve

 

[2Tiggies]

Very true. We thought great idea to keep the infamous choc cakes 'for another time' only to realise that the 'other time', they wern't needed because we then had more chocolate cakes. Bit like trying to empty bath water out only using a fork. I can hear my wife now, "Keep that, we can put them in the fridge for later" Jesus! we blew 12 grand on a holiday, we can afford a chocolate cake when we want one!!!!!

What a fantastic holiday tho, miss it so much

Steve

I am ashamed to add that there are only 2 of us, one of whom is a child, in a room We have since become much wiser with our use of credits, thankfully

I remember being served an enormous meal at dinner the one year when we stayed at POFQ and didn't even manage half of it. DD and I sat for a while waiting for the couple behind us to leave and I kept looking behind me to make sure nobody saw me throwing so much food away. I felt terrible about it!


Chmurf you are correct in your breakdown of how Disney views this from a business perspective and also in that the value as shown on a menu bears little to no link to the actual cost per item. I would however love to see that dessert ditched once a day in favor of another snack though, especially useful when going to the F&W Festival

Consumer logic and business logic are so different and while I understand the business logic, if I'm the consumer I'd rather promote my interests That said, I do believe that Disney could tailor the system to cater better for the guest without incurring any losses. It's all about restructuring rather than adding or removing features.

 

[stevechase]

The points system doesn't work at the moment does it. If something is all down to the CM you get then that can hardly be called a system.

On another day, I might have got a yes from the lady at reception when I asked, but sadly I got a grumpy looking woman from Puerto Rico, not a smiling pleasant CM from Florida.

They cut the snacks in half since last year, why? Cost.

The dining plans are good but they could work better.

 

[chmurf]

I would however love to see that dessert ditched once a day in favor of another snack though, especially useful when going to the F&W Festival

I hear you, lol
we'll be there for F&W this fall, and I'm already doing calculations
there are 3 of us, on the DDP, for 21 days, and that's only 63 snack credits to use for F&W ... not enough to taste everything ...

But I'll also shed a different light on the "too much food" issue, for balance.
We don't consider ourselves big eaters (but still I'm 275lbs and love my food) and we're on the regular DDP. 1TS + 1CS + 1 snack is not enough for us.
To be fair it will be our first time on the free DDP, but previous years, we did at least 1CS and one TS onsite everyday, and wen't out to eat offsite for the 3rd meal (cici's, mcD, Perkins, and stuff like that) or make ourselves sandwiches

This year on the DDP we know that we won't get enough food and we will need to, at least, shop for groceries. Because we usually don't have enough (when paying OOP) with the same kind of meals the DDP will get us.

I do understand that for some, skipping dessert and have it converted to a snack credit would be a very nice addition. But for others the regular DDP is barely enough (and the DxDP is too much for us though)
Still I do agree that for people who eat *less than us* it would be very nice to get more flexibility.

 

[tinks_1989]

We have only ever done the 1 TS 1 QS 1 snack a Day

You don't have to have the desert. They will let you change it for a drink as well we often have the extra drink. As DH and I will share a QS and don't agree on drinks lol.

We used the card in January and really liked it. At the time though there were very few people who had it and the queues were very short.

 

[stevechase]

I remember being served an enormous meal at dinner the one year when we stayed at POFQ and didn't even manage half of it. DD and I sat for a while waiting for the couple behind us to leave and I kept looking behind me to make sure nobody saw me throwing so much food away. I felt terrible about it!

First time we took the girls in 2002, we ate at The Rainforest Café in Animal Kingdom and the waiter told us to get one meal for the girls (in the days when they did agree on something) and an extra plate.

I know we joke about the Americans about their appetite, but some of the meals are ridiculous and as you say, coupled with 100 degree temps, 12 hours of walking and argumentative kids, the last thing I want is a huge mountain of food in front of me.

The value of the DP is very good, the range and quality I would have said is no more than ok. I suppose they must have looked at the All Inclusive hols available now and thought they had to do something similar and it must have worked because it was busier than ever we found this year

I don't suppose the menu will change a lot from the American fare they offer now. But I bet that all of us say during our trips to Disney "Ooooh, I would love a............."

In my case it was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

Steve

 

[Elise79]

I don't suppose the menu will change a lot from the American fare they offer now. But I bet that all of us say during our trips to Disney "Ooooh, I would love a............."

In my case it was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

Steve

See I don't ever find myself saying that! I cooked a full roast beef dinner this trip and eat most of the other food we have here out there anyway (either onsite or offsite).

I have no objections to using a kitchen in Florida - it's a second home to us now

I do at home find myself thinking 'I wish I could eat at...' 'Or I wish I could have...'

For me the restaurants I miss are mainly offsite and today I really wanted some Chick-A-Fil-A nuggets!

 

[tinks_1989]

For me the restaurants I miss are mainly offsite and today I really wanted some Chick-A-Fil-A nuggets!

Oh me too. I'll have some if you are getting some lol.

 

[flortlebap]

From memory last year when you got two snacks per day, we came back with about 100 snack credits and bought enough bags of candy to half fill a suitcase!

Even on QS you get a LOT of food!!!

 

[2Tiggies]

I hear you, lol
we'll be there for F&W this fall, and I'm already doing calculations
there are 3 of us, on the DDP, for 21 days, and that's only 63 snack credits to use for F&W ... not enough to taste everything ...

If you do your homework when the F&W menus are out (they must be out by now) for the booths, you can get an idea of which of the foods you might like to try are 'good value' and which are better to pay OOP for. Generally speaking, we found that the samples from the booths had a much better value than the average snack that we like in the parks and we will order the snack we feel like, rather than trying to get the best bang for our buck, if that makes sense. The upshot of this is that our snack value often falls a little below par so F&W offerings with credits and paying for popsicles with cash worked well for us.

I don't suppose the menu will change a lot from the American fare they offer now. But I bet that all of us say during our trips to Disney "Ooooh, I would love a............."

In my case it was roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

Steve

The menus have changed over the years since the DDP was introduced and they are brining back some more variety of late but about 3 years ago it was not always easy to get something 'different'. I am not sure that I feel the DDP is great value now compared to what it once was. We were toying with an Easter trip next year which would have meant paying OOP or paying for the QSDP the dining plan wasn't really a saving, although I would still have purchased it for the convenience and to avoid mentally tallying up costs every time we ate somewhere.

Now in the good old days when the regular DDP was the only one they had and included the gratuity and an appetizer ..... that was another story entirely! They also introduced single servings as a restriction for snack credit redemption rather than a fixed monetary value after guests were using one snack credit to buy a whole box of donuts

Part of it is a business approach, but I do believe that this has largely been influenced by guests abusing the system. Same with the refillable mugs now changing to RFID.

 

[nighttowll]

Steve,

You are welcome to buy our meals anytime. Promise not to give you wired looks. Party of 7, be there Sept. Didn't qualify for free dining.

 

[NicolaFred]

DDP is not too much food, you eat as much as you like. There is no rule about what you can and can not eat in terms of quantity. Ive never done the quick service plan but Id find it quite easy to plan meals as there is such a great variety in food and places to visit. We love resort dining.

Lots of people forget that you can use counter service for breakfast as an extra meal if youre heading offsite. I can go over there for a few weeks and never eat a burger once the entire trip, its all about knowing where you can get the things you need. For instance... roast dinner... available at wolfgang puck express and riverside mill, as well as several other places do carving stations. Although, if youre visiting Riverside Mill, do try the create-your-own pasta - its amazing.

 

[MrRomance]

I hated the QS DP when we had it in July '12 and I wouldn't get it again. I think all of the points the OP made were completely valid, but it suits Disney from a business standpoint to keep it the way it is. We did manage to covert our CS credits for 3 snacks each, we also "bought" lunch for 2 families who were paying OOP on our last day to use some up.

I think the Regular DP is a different beast. We rarely come back with any credits whenever we have it. I would always upgrade from free QSDP to the regular DP because it is less wasteful for us.

I think Disney need to overhaul all the dining plan options but I am doubtful that they will because they make too much money with it the way it is. I'd favour a points system where you get an amount of points that can be used in any way.

For example, the QS Plan, you would get 5 points per night. Regular 6 points per day and Deluxe 11 points per day. Say 3 points for a TS meal, 2 for a QS meal and 1 for a snack. You get the amount of points relevant to your DP but you can use them in any way you want. It would improve the guest experience & reduce waste. For Disney it wouldn't be a winner because people wouldn't leave with too many points left, but it would make better sense for the guests.

 

[2Tiggies]

I think the Regular DP is a different beast. We rarely come back with any credits whenever we have it. I would always upgrade from free QSDP to the regular DP because it is less wasteful for us.

I couldn't agree more with that statement (the bold portion above) and completely see where you are coming from with the rest. I firmly believe that the regular DDP is probably a fair 'average' in terms of quantity of food. Personal preference for us is slightly different, but that is down to our touring style and lack of mealtime routine (by choice) so QSDP is ideal for us. Next trip will by our first time using QSDP since they eliminated the second snack and I can see us using our credits slightly differently which may resolve some of the excess issues in terms of quantity of food. I would prefer to have the second snack and lost a dessert per day as per a previous post I made, but again, that is personal preference.

 

[queendisney]

I couldn't agree more with that statement (the bold portion above) and completely see where you are coming from with the rest. I firmly believe that the regular DDP is probably a fair 'average' in terms of quantity of food. Personal preference for us is slightly different, but that is down to our touring style and lack of mealtime routine (by choice) so QSDP is ideal for us. Next trip will by our first time using QSDP since they eliminated the second snack and I can see us using our credits slightly differently which may resolve some of the excess issues in terms of quantity of food. I would prefer to have the second snack and lost a dessert per day as per a previous post I made, but again, that is personal preference.

Yes this is us exactly as well.
We would never go for the sit down dining plan, to us its a complete waste of our time.

 

[2Tiggies]

Yes this is us exactly as well.
We would never go for the sit down dining plan, to us its a complete waste of our time.

I have a feeling you and I would travel very well together lol