Disappointing Change in the Menu at Sunshine Seasons

[Ava]

I just did a liitle research on the price of salmon:
"The oil spill is not the only environmental issue affecting the cost of seafood. The price of salmon has jumped over the past three months, primarily caused by factors as widespread as the Icelandic volcano eruptions and the earthquake in Chile.

Streblow said his cost for salmon has risen from $11.95 to $14.95 a pound in the past three months."
http://www.enquirerjournal.com/view...ushes-up-seafood-price?instance=homeleftmain6


Looks like they may not have had a choice in this case.
I am just so used to Disney taking advantage IMO that I assumed the worst.

Thanks for posting, hopefully this change is just an isolated one due to the cost of salmon. Disney probably figured it was better to eliminate side choices than to raise the price of the meal to cover higher salmon costs.

 

[2Tiggies]

Could it be that they are trying to offer the salmon dinner with salad as a "lighter" choice?
Many people associate fish with being a healthier option, and that it is negated by the starch side dish?
And so many complain there are not enough light, healthy options at Disney, they are trying to accomodate those requests?

Just thinkin'.

So it seems like it's only the salmon that's been affected (so far anyway)? Oh well, I always order salad only with my fish anyway. I was the kind of person in the good old days not so long ago when you got a choice of TWO sides with your Asian meal, who would ask for 2 sides of salad.

 

[DisMN]

I probably missed it somewhere in the thread but are you still able to get those potatoes and the gravy/pesto sauce out of pocket? As long as they're still available I won't whine too much. LOL

 

[Dizneydaz]

Sorry to hear about the change at SS. Hope it isn't too wide spread! We'll be going in just over 2 weeks and it will be interesting to see what has changed. Hope they still have the salad with rare seared tuna. It's so good.

And it can't all be just because of free DDP. Not everyone eating at WDW has free dining. If the quality of the food declines then Disney will see a decline in their profit as well. IMHO.

 

[BriarRosie]

Too late! We just got back from an 11 day trip. With 33 CS credits, we left 10 behind. The food was THAT bad. Breakfasts were ok, but were very repetitive (stayed at AK, so Mara has little variety). We never made it to Sunshine Seasons, sadly, but the rest of our CS credits were pretty bad. Every single hamburger bun was stale. The burgers themselves - Cosmic Rays was ok, but stay away from the Angus Chuck burger. Both times they tasted more like filler than meat. The fries have been awful for years. I remember when different places had different fries, and they were all decent.

And please tell me, with the emphasis on healthy eating and the multi-grain buns, etc, why in the world does everything have to be so salty? And for me to think it's salty, it's SALTY. I'm the master of eating bad fast food. School cafeteria food, fast food, whatever. It doesn't bother me. The stuff at Disney? Much of it was borderline inedible.

Well, I haven't had the Angus burger at Cosmic Ray's, but I don't think it's the same as the one served at Pecos Bill's. Because I'm here to say I can tell you the Tale of Two Burgers. One from my December trip was ABC Commissary (at the Studios), which I avoid like the plague, normally. But since I was with a group of people who arbitrarily decided to lunch there, I had the burger. And then I remembered why I didn't go to ABC Commissary. Bleh.

Then in July, I had the Angus cheeseburger at Pecos Bill's, and it was a world of difference in taste. It was a lot better than the ABC Commissary burger. I think the "filler" comment says it all. There is a decent burger at WDW, but it takes a quest to find it. I avoided the fries and got the apple slices instead. Solves the french fry problem.

I am pretty anti dining plan, the whole thing drives me bonkers esp at counter service locations. It seems to take forever to order for a person on the DDP, certain locations are worse than others. I think it's prob more of an efficency issue since potatoes are cheaper to make than a salad.

I am not saying the dining plan is bad, it just drives me nuts. This trip I will be on the dining plan for the first time since 2005 and I'm not looking forward to it. Still it will be easier than trying to pay OOP for everyone's meals.

Well, I had tried the DDP for the first time on the July trip I just had, and I wasn't looking forward to it. It turned out to be great for a few friends to get together and budget better for meals, but overall, it's not the way I like to eat. I ate way too much at certain meals because I could. And I had a hard time picking snacks I wanted. I think I did well with the carrot cake cookie (lasted a couple days in the fridge), and the raspberry lemonade slushie. I ended up picking up a random cookie at Everything Pop for my flight home.

And while we're on the topic of salmon, it was one of my counter service meals in July. I did get a choice of two sides with it, and I really enjoyed it. I didn't get a dry piece at all. It's a shame if they changed that on September 1st. There was a sauce for the salmon, kind of a salsa of sorts, but I took it on the side. I'm glad I did or my opinion of the salmon would have been different. The sauce would have overpowered the fish had they put it on directly, IMHO.

 

[TDC Nala]

Well, they're not saying you don't have the choice. You DO have the choice. It's just that now you have to pay extra for it.

 

[daddey]

So the price has increased by almost 50% if you want the sides and you do not see an issue with that? (I assume you were being sarcastic, if not I apologize)

The sides are about 2.39 each and if you want the two that came with it last week it will now cost you 14.77 instead of 9.99.

Again my concern is that they start to do this at more QS location and people just accept it.

How many people will really complain about the changes though. You have your loyal visitors like us that notice and don't like the change, then you visitors that this is the first time and they have no idea. They will go away with an impression of that is what it is like @ Disney. It is almost cheaper and better to pay out of pocket than get the dining plan sometimes. Then you don't have the headache and you get what you want. It seems there is more food than I would normally get when I use QSDP or DP.

 

[daddey]

I just did a liitle research on the price of salmon:
"The oil spill is not the only environmental issue affecting the cost of seafood. The price of salmon has jumped over the past three months, primarily caused by factors as widespread as the Icelandic volcano eruptions and the earthquake in Chile.

Streblow said his cost for salmon has risen from $11.95 to $14.95 a pound in the past three months."


So that means that they will adjust the price once the supply is better of salmon right? I don't think so.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

So that means that they will adjust the price once the supply is better of salmon right? I don't think so.

Good One! That's not going to happen!

 

[tony67]

So that means that they will adjust the price once the supply is better of salmon right? I don't think so.

LOL - yeah it never works that way does it.

Kind of like when all the prices went up at the supermarket because of the price of oil.
Never seemed to come back down IMO.

 

[sherylcin]

Seems to me this is what happens when the bean counters and nutrition police join forces. Boo!

 

[Bork]

I won't go back to Sunshine Season because I don't enjoy having to wander around for 20 minutes trying to find a table to eat at while people save multiple tables and have no food.

 

[BriarRosie]

I won't go back to Sunshine Season because I don't enjoy having to wander around for 20 minutes trying to find a table to eat at while people save multiple tables and have no food.

I went in July without any problem finding a table around 6pm.

 

[TDC Nala]

That place is so huge I have never had problems finding a table there. I don't usually go at peak mealtimes though. At those times during peak attendance, I'm sure finding tables is difficult, but it will be that way anywhere.

 

[kmk1180]

Tony may be right about the Free Dining.

It amazes me that any change in menu is blamed on Free dining.
Seems like that's a easy excuse to point a finger at.
It's change. That's it.

What was the reason for menu changes before free dining came along?

 

[Marblies]

So sad to hear. SS is our favorite QS. We are all about the Asian and dessert counters. DD 19 always heads straight for the fresh mozzarella and tomato salad in the case. Is there anywhere else that offers this?

 

[tony67]

What was the reason for menu changes before free dining came along?

We have seen menu changes in the past because of free dinning in our opinions.
Most of the changes were more likely related to the DDP overall, but they seemed to occur during free dinning.
(Lobster tails anyone??)
So that's why we get concerned when we see a change.
Was it a first step to maximizing profits at all the QS locations.?

Before the DDP came along the food was very good overall and even during the first year of the DDP.
There were menu changes all the time.
The chefs changed the menus to be creative instead of having a standard menu and having a lot of the same items everywhere.
The changes were not removing a large portion of it and still charging the same price.
I can remember going to places for an item and it was gone from the menu, but there was always something new and exciting.
There were daily specials, like the fire roasted piranha I had at coral reef. I still talk about it years later.

I recall a puff pastry crabmeat dish I always wanted to try at Chef’s de France and it was gone when I finally got around to eating there.
I was disapointed, but back then the menus changed all the time.
(Now it is a starter in Bistro I think.)

Anyway they started to maximize the profits of the plan.
For me (and others) it has gotten to the point I do not even eat at Disney TS locations.
The menus stay the same. I feel if you pay OOP you subsidize the DDP.
I know that the restaurants get very little money per diner to cover the meal, so they have to make it up somehow.
So every restaurants gets everything from the same central location
Everyone has salmon, lamb shanks and the same fillet on the menu. Buy in bulk and save.
Even at the signature dinners at the F&W festival last year it seemed everyone had sweetbreads.

Had Disney had the common sense to have the employees explain that it was related to the cost of salmon if someone asked it would have avoided this entire thread.
They also could have had a sign at the station. "Due to the oil spill and the cost of salmon...."

If it were not for the DDP they would have raised the price of the dish and not removed the sides.
Because of the DDP they can't do this can they?

 

[Meteora]

I went in July without any problem finding a table around 6pm.

Ditto for Easter week last year. At 6 pm not only did we have no difficulty finding a table, but there was almost no one else eating there. It was extremely mellow and pleasant.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

With the almost permanent status of free dinning I would hate to see the quality and value of the QSDP change.

Like it hasn't already happened ???
. . . more standardized food items
. . . fewer unique menu items
. . . less quality *
. . . greater quantity *

* The American taste has changed from looking for good food to just looking for the most food. Also, most of the food now cantains huge amounts of added sugar and salt to make it taste better, and to appeal to the kids more.

 

[kmk1180]

We have seen menu changes in the past because of free dinning in our opinions.
Most of the changes were more likely related to the DDP overall, but they seemed to occur during free dinning.
(Lobster tails anyone??)
So that's why we get concerned when we see a change.
Was it a first step to maximizing profits at all the QS locations.?

Before the DDP came along the food was very good overall and even during the first year of the DDP.
There were menu changes all the time.
The chefs changed the menus to be creative instead of having a standard menu and having a lot of the same items everywhere.
The changes were not removing a large portion of it and still charging the same price.
I can remember going to places for an item and it was gone from the menu, but there was always something new and exciting.
There were daily specials, like the fire roasted piranha I had at coral reef. I still talk about it years later.

I recall a puff pastry crabmeat dish I always wanted to try at Chef’s de France and it was gone when I finally got around to eating there.
I was disapointed, but back then the menus changed all the time.
(Now it is a starter in Bistro I think.)

Anyway they started to maximize the profits of the plan.
For me (and others) it has gotten to the point I do not even eat at Disney TS locations.
The menus stay the same. I feel if you pay OOP you subsidize the DDP.
I know that the restaurants get very little money per diner to cover the meal, so they have to make it up somehow.
So every restaurants gets everything from the same central location
Everyone has salmon, lamb shanks and the same fillet on the menu. Buy in bulk and save.
Even at the signature dinners at the F&W festival last year it seemed everyone had sweetbreads.

Had Disney had the common sense to have the employees explain that it was related to the cost of salmon if someone asked it would have avoided this entire thread.
They also could have had a sign at the station. "Due to the oil spill and the cost of salmon...."

If it were not for the DDP they would have raised the price of the dish and not removed the sides.
Because of the DDP they can't do this can they?

Sounds like all speculation on your part.

A basic fact is disney has been changing since practically day one.
and will continue to change. that will include the menus.
If it didn't the same people would complain it's the same old thing.

Anther basic fact is there's more choices for meals than ever before at Disney. And despite negative posts here on the dis, real experts have rated and still rate disney food as some of the best in the industry if not the best.

I remember when QS meant burger and frie
or fried chicken sandwich and fries.

I think people here on the dis look for reasons to complain.
Which I find kind of sad. I don't understand how you can take a trip to disney and all you can find to talk about is something nit picky negative.
I have too much fun when I'm there to obsessess of what side came with what meal or not.


Sorry I just don't get that.