Disney Dining - Honest Opinion

[mark@saratoga]

We have been to WDW on a number of occasions but have not been since 2006, we have always enjoyed the food there and have had some really memorable meals, but since then Disney have introduced the DDP and I was wondering if this has had an adverse effect on the quality of the food.

All opinions good and bad would be helpful.

 

[tinks86]

Hi, we were there this summer & had some of the best food we have ever eaten! We weren't on the dining plan & have only been 4 the last 2 years so can't compare over time - but the food last year was good!
Make sure u try - Jiko's, Cali Grill and Yachtsman steak house!

 

[mark@saratoga]

I will have to try Jilko's as we are staying AKV, we have eaten at the Cali grill and was very nice how does the Yachtsman steak house compare?

 

[iluvpluto27]

Honestly I really enjoy disney dining. We went for 2 weeks in 2005, 3 weeks for 2007 and just returned from a 3 week trip yesterday. Each of these trips we've used the DDP or this time the DXDDP so we've eaten in a lot of restaurants and I haven't noticed a decline in food quality.

What I have noticed however is a slight change in both the size of the menus, which are now pretty streamlined at most of the 1 TS credit restaurants and the amount of tables that are crammed into each restaurant. We now much prefer signature dining where normally both the food and ambiance are very nice.

Overall I really enjoy disney food, this last trip I think we ate at 29 Table service restaurants and didn't have a terrible meal once.

 

[tinks86]

We loved the steakhouse! We had Chateuxbriand (can't quite remember how 2 spell!!!) and it was the best steak I have EVER had! We loved it, I love the beach and yacht club theming & the food was fab!

 

[mark@saratoga]

iluvpluto27 - So what is a typical day on a DDP plan? Can you have breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Example:
Breakfast - cerial and a juice
Lunch - Burger and fries at MK
Dinner - Californian Grill

Is this what you can have on a daily basis?

What did you do when you went outside disney for the day? We want to have a couple of days at universal so would you still have breakfast skip lunch and have dinner onsite somewhere?

Sorry lots of ?'s I know

 

[The Fetherstons]

We have had DDP for the last 2 years and we loved it we had some excellent CS & TS Meals, such as Narcoosees, Citricos Tepan Edo all lovely, we are definitely fans of the DDP

 

[paulh]

iluvpluto27 - So what is a typical day on a DDP plan? Can you have breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Example:
Breakfast - cerial and a juice
Lunch - Burger and fries at MK
Dinner - Californian Grill

Is this what you can have on a daily basis?

What did you do when you went outside disney for the day? We want to have a couple of days at universal so would you still have breakfast skip lunch and have dinner onsite somewhere?

Sorry lots of ?'s I know

If you use a snck on the DDP for breakfast you get a box of cereal and milk.
lunch would be at any CS eatery so more than just a burger.as for evening meal TS there are plenty of options and California Grill takes up 2 credits.
Is it worth it yes and no for us if its free yes,paid for no.if on old ddp would and have paid for it
Paulh

 

[wickesy]

Bear in mind that, depending on the time of year that you go, a lot of the Disney restaurants get booked up quickly so you have to make reservations in advance. Are you the sort of person that wouldn't mind reserving a table at a restaurant 6 months before you are going to eat there? Also do you want to spend most of your days watching the clock to make sure you are at your next meal in time, or do you want to have your meals when you have finished what you are doing?

 

[Revtel]

We've been to WDW every year for the last twelve years, mostly as DVC members. We tend to dine on-site a couple of times on each stay, and we enjoy the experience. But, to be honest, it is ludicrously expensive compared to the value and variety we can get outside the parks.

It's all about opinions but, for us, we don't think the added magic of eating in Mickey's world justifies the fifty percent premium, sometimes more, that they charge.

 

[iluvpluto27]

iluvpluto27 - So what is a typical day on a DDP plan? Can you have breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Example:
Breakfast - cerial and a juice
Lunch - Burger and fries at MK
Dinner - Californian Grill

Is this what you can have on a daily basis?

What did you do when you went outside disney for the day? We want to have a couple of days at universal so would you still have breakfast skip lunch and have dinner onsite somewhere?

Sorry lots of ?'s I know

It really depends what plan you choose. If you go with the normal DDP then you could have a snack at breakfast, counter service at lunch and a table service for dinner (but signature restaurants cost 2 TS credits, California Grill for example).
This time we did the Deluxe dining plan, so where you get 3 meal credits and 2 snacks per day. We used a snack for breakfast, ate at a table service restaurant for lunch in the park, then had dinner at a signature restaurant which used our other two credits. This plan was a lot of food, and involved spending a large portion of the trip getting to or dining in restaurants, but I loved it and it suited me and DH.

You can use credits any way you want, ie use them all in the first few days if you like, so when we went outside Disney we used the spare credits on signature dining. It sounds complicated but once you get your head round the plans they're really easy to use. The dining plan board on this site has a ton of useful info on the various plans.

Hope this helps.

 

[Graeme]

I've eaten in most of the Disney restaurants I want to, (a lot just don't appeal to me), and have found many of them to be overpriced with little variety. Exceptions would be the Boma dinner Whispering Canyon and the Yachtsman steakhouse. Other than that I've found that the value, quality and variety offsite wins every time.

Wickesy's point is pretty much a clincher for us. Eat when you want to, not when there was a gap when you phoned up 6 months ago.

We tend to have two or three onsite meals in a fortnight. The rest are all over the place.

 

[mikki.young]

Has DDP made a difference to the meals at Disney? A short answer is: Yes. Service has deteriorated, menu options have shrunk and possibly prices have increased in some areas. Restaurants are a lot busier and getting ADRs is harder, especially same day or within a stay. If you are going in a free DDP time and want to eat at a table service restaurant you need to book as early as possible (180 days say). If non free dining you still need to book a lot earlier than you used to. I now eat off-site a lot more than I used to. Food, service and value for money tend to be a lot better. I always get a hire car so I do have that option. In my view even the CS meals have gone downhill since the introduction of DDP.

 

[mark@saratoga]

Thanks everyone I will have to have a real think about this.

Due to the new ADR system delays I guess I will have plenty of time

 

[Lesleyluvsdisney]

We paid for it 2006, got it free last week. Personally I think its great, found a few more restrictions this years though. If you are on site most of the time, you would be paying anyway. It doesnt have to be like breakfast/lunch/dinner you can use it how you like.

xxx

 

[Gingernut]

All I can add, is we went to Crystal Palace for lunch this year and the food was to die for, defintately workth a visit. But we did Chef Mickey's for breakfast and we actually thought it was really really poor. We don't usually do disney dining or ddp, but after this year, probably won't again,- for a proper meal anyway, what with the prices they charge.
We are going to try some Universal this year, hoping its a bit better.

 

[disneyholic family]

we haven't noticed the DDP has had much impact other than making ADRs more difficult during free dining...

those restaurants that were bad before still are, those that were good still are...

our favorite restaurant is Citricos at the Grand Floridian...
the food and service are outstanding....on par with the finest restaurants anywhere in the world..
i can't say enough about the quality of the service and food...

 

[ScottishDisMam]

We just came home last night, and this was the 2nd year we've done the dining plan. Personally I wont go on the plan again- but only because we stayed at Old Key West, and felt we had to be too planned in advance, and actually we turned up early (2 hours in one case) for some reataurants and got in no problem so we felt we didnt necessarily have to have booked so much reservations in advance - we also came home having not used some counter services.
All of our meals were excellent the favourites being Capn Jacks, Spoodles, and The Wave. Actually when we went to the wave my husband didn't think he liked the look of the menu - it's all organic with a focus on healthiness, but he ended up raving about it. He especially enjoyed the small trio of organic beers that he got.
Unfortunately got a huge disappointment at Cinderellas Royal Taable. We were absolutely rushed through - 5 of us , 3 courses a floorshow and photos, all in 40 minutes. Our server came with the main courses before we had finished the starter, and just took away our plates mid eat! mind you my daughter refused to give hers up . He then handed me the bill ALONG with dessert and said goodbye come back again, and stood nearby looking at his watch - unbelievable. If it wasn't so bad it was actually hilarious - Oh yes and we had to request my daughters wand at the end, as everyone else seemed to have been given theirs at the start.
But I do have to say that was totally one off - we really enjoy Disney dining

Lisa x

 

[pixiepower04]

We just got back last week and had a great time with the food. We had free dining (well, paying £600 extra to stay in the moderate instead of value isn't really free dining).

We were there for 3 weeks and used up all our table service credits, most of our counter service and most of our snack credits.

We ate in alot of nice restaurants, most of the food was great, only Mama Melrose was disappointing. The best meal I had in Disney was at Wolgang Puck in Downtown Disney West Side and California Grill.

Outside of Disney was Bahama Breeze on International Drive.

If the free dining is on when we go back in 2010 we will probably have it again as we thought it was great, we would never eat in these places usually so for us it was a great experience.