Dining plan. tooooooo much food

[stevechase]

Hi All

We are back, very down at the moment and sleeping at random times throughout the day.

Had a great time as always but just wanted to mention a few things.

The new entry into the parks with the contactless cards, I find a bit stupid as well as slow. The idea of contactless cards is to speed a process up, the idea of holding your card and then the fingerprint check seems a bit odd to me. Why not go with either or? The fingerprint renders the card read pointless and we did notice a lot longer queues getting into the parks that we had previously.

The other thing is the dining plan. We had the QS for the second time with 5 of us for 3 weeks it was 210 meals and 105 snacks (reduced by half from 2012). We ate as much as we possibly could and left with 78 meals but used all of the snacks. I asked if some of the meals could be converted into snacks and they said no, tough luck.

Now, as someone who runs a business, I would jump at the chance to have converted these as it would save them a fair bit of money.

The QS is very good, but I think it could be tweeked a bit. Instead of 1 point being 1 main, 1 drink and 1 dessert/side. Why not make it 3 points, 1 point for each. Then cut down on the amount of points per person and you could decide just to have mains and no desserts?

Stay with me here! There must be loads of people out there, us included who say to the server, 'But I don't want a dessert'. It works very well but could work a little better, it would save them money and cut down on the waste, there must be god knows how many chocolate cakes wasted each day. Either that or a very large American guy eating his way through them.

I cant see that we would ever upgrade to the table service or the deluxe one, jesus, the whole holiday would be taken up with eating

Steve.
Please don't make me eat a cake, I don't want one!

 

[tinkerpea]

Hi All

We are back, very down at the moment and sleeping at random times throughout the day.

Had a great time as always but just wanted to mention a few things.

The new entry into the parks with the contactless cards, I find a bit stupid as well as slow. The idea of contactless cards is to speed a process up, the idea of holding your card and then the fingerprint check seems a bit odd to me. Why not go with either or? The fingerprint renders the card read pointless and we did notice a lot longer queues getting into the parks that we had previously.

The other thing is the dining plan. We had the QS for the second time with 5 of us for 3 weeks it was 210 meals and 105 snacks (reduced by half from 2012). We ate as much as we possibly could and left with 78 meals but used all of the snacks. I asked if some of the meals could be converted into snacks and they said no, tough luck.

Now, as someone who runs a business, I would jump at the chance to have converted these as it would save them a fair bit of money.

The QS is very good, but I think it could be tweeked a bit. Instead of 1 point being 1 main, 1 drink and 1 dessert/side. Why not make it 3 points, 1 point for each. Then cut down on the amount of points per person and you could decide just to have mains and no desserts?

Stay with me here! There must be loads of people out there, us included who say to the server, 'But I don't want a dessert'. It works very well but could work a little better, it would save them money and cut down on the waste, there must be god knows how many chocolate cakes wasted each day. Either that or a very large American guy eating his way through them.

I cant see that we would ever upgrade to the table service or the deluxe one, jesus, the whole holiday would be taken up with eating

Steve.
Please don't make me eat a cake, I don't want one!

See I agree with you on the Qs it's too much for a family,
But I believe that the TS works in a very different way, you do buffets and sit downs so you use each of the meal points up.
It still may be a lot of food but we have never come home with a TS credit only QS credits, and what we did at our resort was to take the drink and the dessert/snack part of the meal and tell them we didn't want the burger!
Since you can take bag of sweets or crispy treat etc as you dessert then we used our QS part up like that.

 

[2Tiggies]

Since you can take bag of sweets or crispy treat etc as you dessert then we used our QS part up like that.

That's what we do as well. If eating at the resort or anywhere where there is a fruit pot or crispy treat as an option for dessert, we always go with that and then keep it for breakfast the next morning. If DD and I both get our own meal (we share a lot) then we will get say, one fruit pot and one dessert, split the dessert between us and save the fruit for breakfast. Also, a lot of the CS places will allow you to take a bottle of water instead of the dessert. Some CM's will say no, but almost all the time, we've managed to do this so that's an option for you for next time

Regarding the exchange of CS meals to snacks, you used to be able to do this in the good ol' days. They would allow you to take 3 snack items for one CS credit. In 2011 they got a bit more sticky about it and with the new system they were not able to actually convert the credits, but you could still do this with permission, the change being that you could only get snack/side items from the food court.

Last year they were a lot more strict about it and said we had to redeem our credits in the food court as with the previous year, but it had to be one dessert/side item, a bag of chips or piece of whole fruit and a bottled beverage.

No doubt the rules would have changed again by next trip though lol

Sounds like you have a really good time though. Looking forward to hearing more about it

 

[stevechase]

I see what you mean (I think). Its silly to moan about it, but the snacks have been reduced to 1 each per day (from 2) and we did use those being typical kids, its was "Dad, can I have a churro?" "Dad, can I have a Mickey ice cream" "Dad, can I have my own drink" "Dad, when can I get a car" ooops, sorry got off track a bit there.

You get the picture, in the end we were looking for families who were paying for their meals to see if they wanted a freebee. Although you do tend to look a bit of a freak when you say to a complete unknown family of 10, "Can we buy your lunch?"


Steve

 

[2Tiggies]

I see what you mean (I think). Its silly to moan about it, but the snacks have been reduced to 1 each per day (from 2) and we did use those being typical kids, its was "Dad, can I have a churro?" "Dad, can I have a Mickey ice cream" "Dad, can I have my own drink" "Dad, when can I get a car" ooops, sorry got off track a bit there.

You get the picture, in the end we were looking for families who were paying for their meals to see if they wanted a freebee. Although you do tend to look a bit of a freak when you say to a complete unknown family of 10, "Can we buy your lunch?"


Steve

Yes, I agree with the snack reduction being a nuisance. I wish they would rather give one CS credit per day including a dessert, one that does not and give back the second snack. Even older kids like my DD like to nibble their way through the parks rather than stop for a full meal. Admittedly I am not much different

What did the family of 10 say? That must have been priceless!!

 

[stevechase]

It was, they look at you like some kind of freak! "Security"!

They politely rejected the offer, which then made me look like a complete pillock as they backed away! and bare in mind this is America we are talking about, I would have thought the only thing better than food, was free food!

But if you think about it, we stop at the Harbour House for the tuna sandwich or lobster rolls (which in themselves are just huge). Now for all five us 1 meal each, 1 drink and 1 dessert it would have come to approx. $80-$90, x 2 for 10 people that's easily $150+ for basically a sandwich each. £100 in real money. So the QS is very good value, even more so, when you consider it was free

Ironically, I am sitting at my desk, hungry!

Steve

 

[chmurf]

Now, as someone who runs a business, I would jump at the chance to have converted these as it would save them a fair bit of money.

forgive me here, but I don't see the logic in that

if you're left with 78 QS meals, Disney as a business will not save money by allowing you to convert your QS into snacks
On the contrary, Disney would lose a significant amount of money if they allowed this

A credit entitles you to go get food from Disney.
Disney pays for that food before they can *sell* it to you.
If you don't go get the food, even though you have a credit, Disney keeps the food and can sell it to someone else.
If Disney allowed a guest to convert QS into Snacks, that guest would raid Goofy's candy shop, and Disney would have to give out a large amount of snacks (some have managed to exchange on a 3 snacks per 1 QS credit basis, so you'd have had 224 snacks to take home)

As a business, if a customer has an entitlement and does not use it because it expires and the guest is unable to "eat" through those entitlements, then you save big time.
If you allow the customer to get "something else" for that entitlement, you have to give out products you have paid for. It means you lose money

If you have paid for the dining plan, then Disney has your money, for something you won't be able to buy. (and the dining plan is designed so that a large quantity of guests do not manage to use all of their entitlements, or get their money's worth out of it)
If you have had the dining plan for free, then if you don't use a meal entitlement, that's food Disney does not give you. And whant a company does not give its customers, this actually saves that company some money
(it's not really that it saves money, it's money that the company doesn't have to spend, so in business it's a saving.)


I might have misunderstood you, but here's my $0.02

 

[Azza1987]

We did the DDP this year, and found it just right for us. We had a TS meal every evening being a 'young' ish couple, had a bottle of wine etc.

During the day we'd split breakfast QS & a Lunch QS between us, and then use snack credits for peak hungry times. We saved our desserts from our QS meals and ate them later on if we rememebered. I will admit the QS desserts did get binned quite a bit!

I think if we had done QS DDP we'd have been left with a lot of food at the end, but the fact we had normal DDP we each had a sit down meal that couldn't be split in a sense so it worked perfectly for us.

When we go back Im considering bookig POFQ which just missed out to SSR this year, so if the free dining is still on offer we'd get the QS DDP but I'd probably pay to upgrade if im honest!

Too many chocolate and carrot cakes for me!! Im surprised your still hungry now

 

[stevechase]

forgive me here, but I don't see the logic in that

if you're left with 78 QS meals, Disney as a business will not save money by allowing you to convert your QS into snacks
On the contrary, Disney would lose a significant amount of money if they allowed this

I might have misunderstood you, but here's my $0.02

Apologies, I was just making a hypothetical point (and not well).

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. Now as we had the dining plan free of charge, they would have had a cost but no sale price. So it would be in their interest to reduce the cost price as much as possible for the items they are 'giving away'

If you are 'giving something away' that you paid for then it is going to create a loss quite obviously. So you must reduce what you 'give away', which the swap would have done. Subsequently, in their ideal situation, they give me a pop in exchange for a full meal and then sell the meal to someone that has not got a free dining plan.

That's a point, maybe they would consider the swap if the dining plan was free, not paid for. Having said that, how many actually pay for the dining plans.

Steve

 

[stevechase]

Will there be a 2014 trip?

Don't know yet. Each time we go to Disney we say it will prob be our last, more so the good lady than me, I would go every year.

The kids are bit older now, Beth is 16 (45 in the head) Ellie is 14 and Josh will be 10 in December and we are trying to take them to as many places as we can before they fly the nest.

We had a long 5 week trip last year which was fantastic, so I would like to do that next year, but start on the west coast and work our way across the country over say 2 or 3 weeks finishing at Disney for another 2 or 3 weeks.

We had some fab hols, but the States always seems to draw us back more than anywhere.

Steve

 

[Lisash]

I think we will end up leaving dessert most days. We'd rather have an appetiser. We ate at Big River Grill last night and had the cheesecake. Portions were huge and both DS and I left at least half. It's a waste really. You end up ordering just for the sake of it then leaving it. I agree a points system might be better.

 

[stevechase]

I think we will end up leaving dessert most days. We'd rather have an appetiser. We ate at Big River Grill last night and had the cheesecake. Portions were huge and both DS and I left at least half. It's a waste really. You end up ordering just for the sake of it then leaving it. I agree a points system might be better.

Thank you for your support.

Help yourself to a free chocolate cake!

Hows the hols going?

We are suitably depressed. House full of bloody ironing, kids asleep everywhere.

Steve

 

[stevechase]

Lisash,

You cant be there now and go back in December! That's just bloody greedy!

We tend to go for one trip but longer stays. I cant stomach flying very well at all, so the fewer flights suit me and we stay longer. Plus I am always inclined to believe, it is cheaper to fly once but stay longer than to make shorter, more frequent trips as the bulk of the holiday costs tends to be the flight

Having said that, I am fortunate enough to be able to take the longer hols.

Steve

 

[kamik86]

Apologies, I was just making a hypothetical point (and not well).

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. Now as we had the dining plan free of charge, they would have had a cost but no sale price. So it would be in their interest to reduce the cost price as much as possible for the items they are 'giving away'

If you are 'giving something away' that you paid for then it is going to create a loss quite obviously. So you must reduce what you 'give away', which the swap would have done. Subsequently, in their ideal situation, they give me a pop in exchange for a full meal and then sell the meal to someone that has not got a free dining plan.

That's a point, maybe they would consider the swap if the dining plan was free, not paid for. Having said that, how many actually pay for the dining plans.

Steve

But this logic only works if you would have gotten the meal. Disney knows that the reason you want to change meals to snacks is that you don't want the meal. The only way they lose money is if you do what the person above said and order a burger get the drink and Mickey head bar to go with them and then throw away the burger and take your two items that could have been snacks.

As for your idea of making each item a "point" (main, dessert, and drink) is that you have a vastly different cost to Disney to those points. You have a drink that costs very little (fountain sodas probably cost them less then 50 cents, desserts maybe a dollar, the main food probably costs a few dollars) So if they go to that plan and someone forgoes dessert but orders two hamburger platters now Disney is losing money.

Also your assuming Disney wants in any way to fix the system so that you can use all of it. Frankly I dont' think they do. They like that its not the most convenient to use all of. Because then you do things like leave with 70 entitlements that you didn't use. They like this even more with people that actually paid for it, but even if its free dining they still got you to spend all the other money on vacation without giving away nearly as much food as they might have had to.

 

[kamik86]

I think we will end up leaving dessert most days. We'd rather have an appetiser. We ate at Big River Grill last night and had the cheesecake. Portions were huge and both DS and I left at least half. It's a waste really. You end up ordering just for the sake of it then leaving it. I agree a points system might be better.

I think the reason at table places for this is a bit different becasue I don't think the desserts in general are much cheaper then appetizers but what they want to avoid is that you will go in as a family of 4 and 2 get apps and two get dessert. Because then you just took what would have been a 2 course meal and without paying extra made it three. So you split the apps and dessert and now probably sat at the table for at least an extra 20 min. If in the time they are open even 1/4 of the tables were on the dining plan and doing that it would mean significantly less people they could sit for a meal.

 

[Lisash]

Lisash,

You cant be there now and go back in December! That's just bloody greedy!:

Steve

I know. To be fair we booked that before this one. This is a special one off for our 25th wedding anniversary. its probably just as well though as while we are here our Universal tickets are still in an envelope at home! So need to come back before end of year to use them. It's good job DH has sense of humour or I'd be all over Fox News by now

 

[stevechase]

But this logic only works if you would have gotten the meal.

I know that, I did say it was a hypothetical point.

And it doesn't matter how you dress it up. They have a cost to get a meal in, say they charge $4 for a tuna sandwich. They give that to me as part of the QS, which is free. So on that sandwich they 'lose' $4.

They swap it for a snack, which by its very nature is cheaper. They now give me a ice cream, $2 for example, they now 'lose' $2

You are correct, if I don't have it at all then they lose even less.

While the DP gets people through the door, there is must be a huge cost to it and if they can save somewhere, they will. I would bet good money that they address the way the dining plans work over the next couple of years.

Another thing it has caused is that there is now a noticeable difference in how busy the restaurants were this year and when we last didn't have the dining plan in 09. The food court at POR was rammed and for the pasta and fried meals you could wait a good 30 mins easily. This has a knock on effect, myself and Josh went to eat one day while the girls were by the pool. I had the pasta he wanted the nuggets. I waited for 20 mins for the pasta and then in the queue for the nuggets which was a good 15-20 mins. So you either end up all waiting in a queue till you all have your food or eating individually.

The dining plan is very good (even better if free) but it has raised a few issues as far as my humble opinion is concerned.

Steve

 

[stevechase]

I know. To be fair we booked that before this one. This is a special one off for our 25th wedding anniversary. its probably just as well though as while we are here our Universal tickets are still in an envelope at home! So need to come back before end of year to use them. It's good job DH has sense of humour or I'd be all over Fox News by now

Ha ha. Would you not have 'saved a few quid' by staying long now, rather than have the extra flights in December? We noticed this time round the flights are getting ridiculous compared to the cost of the hotel/food/tickets

Steve

 

[2Tiggies]

I know that, I did say it was a hypothetical point.

And it doesn't matter how you dress it up. They have a cost to get a meal in, say they charge $4 for a tuna sandwich. They give that to me as part of the QS, which is free. So on that sandwich they 'lose' $4.

They swap it for a snack, which by its very nature is cheaper. They now give me a ice cream, $2 for example, they now 'lose' $2

You are correct, if I don't have it at all then they lose even less.

While the DP gets people through the door, there is must be a huge cost to it and if they can save somewhere, they will. I would bet good money that they address the way the dining plans work over the next couple of years.

Another thing it has caused is that there is now a noticeable difference in how busy the restaurants were this year and when we last didn't have the dining plan in 09. The food court at POR was rammed and for the pasta and fried meals you could wait a good 30 mins easily. This has a knock on effect, myself and Josh went to eat one day while the girls were by the pool. I had the pasta he wanted the nuggets. I waited for 20 mins for the pasta and then in the queue for the nuggets which was a good 15-20 mins. So you either end up all waiting in a queue till you all have your food or eating individually.

The dining plan is very good (even better if free) but it has raised a few issues as far as my humble opinion is concerned.

Steve

I totally get what you're saying with this. Many people actually pay for the dining plan. I know that we are spoilt here with very few black out periods in the UK for FD but we have actually paid for the DDP before and I can assure you, we made sure that we used up every last credit at check out. It is a lot more difficult to get Free Dining through the US site due to so many black out dates and limited availability and also, often having the option of a room discount rather than FD, this works out a better discount for many parties than free dining. And you can bet your bottom dollar that those folk will make sure they max out the usage of their credits before departing, even if the food is given/thrown away. On this basis it would make sense for Disney to be a little more flexible with converting unused credits by downgrading their status. The systems have no way of telling who paid for dining and who got it free.

FWIW, the policy varies greatly from one CM to the next and also from one resort to the next. The value and moderate resort food courts seem to be a lot more lenient whereas the higher end resorts tend to stick more strictly by the rules.

 

[stevechase]

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.

This all said and done, it is a good deal for the UK. We had 21 nights at POR, tickets and QSDP for 5 of us for £3750. I think that is a pretty good deal. The only kick in the whatsits are the flights.

Steve