Disney Dining Plan Going Downhill? Your Thoughts???

[ClareH37]

I do feel that the quality of the food has deteriorated since the dining plan was introduced, not to the extent it's terrible, but certainly over priced for what it is if one is paying OOP.

I will still eat at the Disney restaurants but I prefer some of the non dining plan restaurants such as Blue Zoo and Shulas, although not cheap in monetary terms, the food is far superior than the so called Disney signature restaurants, but that is of course just my opinion

If I am going to eat at all Disney restaurants I will have the dining plan because to pay OOP does not make sense for me cost wise.

 

[shortchange1026]

Enjoying reading all the posts. Many great points came out of this. Seems there is a mixed set of opinions. We also dined at sit down in China. We were at DHS that morning and went to Guest Relations to ask for an ADR and were told that they were full until 9PM. We do not want to eat dinner at 9PM. We went to China at 6PM and were told it would be a 35 minute wait, so we waited 8 minutes exactly and then got called in. We were told that they had 4 no-shows for their ADRs moving us up the list. Do people make more multiple ADRs and then just choose what is most convenient? Our food in China was better than 'Ohana by far, but we were in at 6:08PM, 2 adults and 2 kids ate and outta there by 6:45. We felt very rushed and when we were done eating, we just wanted 10 minutes to digest a bit and talk with the kids. We were asked if we wanted desert or coffee and we replied, "no". We were given the check and asked if we needed anything else. The staff then asked us again if there was anything else we needed. We decided to leave instead of dealing with it. Needless to say the tip reflected the service received.

We had the same experience at Le Cellier 2 years ago. We weren't on the DDP and paid OOP. I could only get a 4:30pm reservation (too early for us but took it because DH wanted to eat there again) and I think we were out by 5:15pm. WWAAAYYYYY too rushed for us. No sooner than we had sat down and ordered, our soup was out, as soon as we put our spoons down, our entrees were out and my prime rib was raw and had to fight with the waiter to take it back. Whether we were on the DDP or paying oop, that is too quick for us. We do not like the DDP and never get it when we go. I do feel the quality and service has gone way down from years ago, and I don't like the fact that I have to make reservations 6 months before my trip. I liked it better when we could make reservations when we were down there.

 

[christinec68]

shortchange1026 , you are so right about getting rushed through the meal. There were so many times we had to juggle appetizer plates to make room for entree plates. So annoying. I know a lot of people think sitting down to eat is a waste of time and want to rush through the meal and get back to the park (we are not those people) but I am pretty sure no one wants to have 2 courses sitting on the table at the same time.


I think it was at LTT for lunch - the waitress insisted we order our entire meal when we sat down because she wouldn't be able to add on the dessert if we waited to decide. If we ate as fast as the food/check came out, we would have been out the door 25 minutes after we sat down.

 

[Lewisc]

NOT AT WDW..A waiter wanted to serve my entree before I finished my appetizer. I made them take the entree back. I told the waiter to put in a new order, I wouldn't accept the entree if they kept it under a warming lamp. The waiter complied, he got a nice tip instead of no tip.

 

[connorlevismom]

shortchange1026 , you are so right about getting rushed through the meal. There were so many times we had to juggle appetizer plates to make room for entree plates. So annoying. I know a lot of people think sitting down to eat is a waste of time and want to rush through the meal and get back to the park (we are not those people) but I am pretty sure no one wants to have 2 courses sitting on the table at the same time.


I think it was at LTT for lunch - the waitress insisted we order our entire meal when we sat down because she wouldn't be able to add on the dessert if we waited to decide. If we ate as fast as the food/check came out, we would have been out the door 25 minutes after we sat down.

At that point I would have gotten up and left. If I am paying for a meal, I am going to take as long as I want to eat. Good lord, it seems like you can get more time spending less at a CS meals that a TS meal. And CS are designed for those who want to be in and out.

Kristine

 

[Kurby]

NOT AT WDW..A waiter wanted to serve my entree before I finished my appetizer. I made them take the entree back. I told the waiter to put in a new order, I wouldn't accept the entree if they kept it under a warming lamp. The waiter complied, he got a nice tip instead of no tip.

that actually happened to us at the Coral Reef.

the first and so far only time we've been there. We arrived 15 minutes before our reservation time and were given a pager 30 minutes later i went in to check how much longer. they forgot to put us in that we had arrived so they reset the pager and we waited another 30 minutes

when we finally got in our waitress gave us the menu and left us for over 20 minutes - we coulnd't see her anywhere

when she finally came back she took our apply order and asked for our main course - which was fine but then she asked what we wanted for dessert - humm never been asked for our dessert order before we even got appy's. i told her that we did not want our main course coming before we finished our appy's. well we weren't even half finished when the main course was being brought out.

they were even trying to push the dishes over so they can cram them all on the table.

we sent them away and i made sure i had moved stuff on the plates and told them we wanted newly cooked food not these plates back.

well we weren't near finished our main course when they brought out dessert - i just shook my head and sent it back

the waitress never did return to our table but runners were sent out with the food - the waitress finally came back to give us the bill

we did call when we got back to our room and we were given the credit off the ddp back but that didn't matter since we were leaving the next morning. so it went unused

everytime i suggest going back dh reminds me of what happened and my interest in going goes down

 

[tjctoy]

We have eaten at Ohana's 7 times in the last 2 years and TBH the food and service has been fanatastic. They even went out of there way to accomodate one of us that is sugar and flour intolerant. I find it hard to believe that anyone wouldn't talk to a manager if the food or service wasn't up to par. Try going there again and speak with the manager up front and voice your concerns.

On our Xmas trip we even commented that all the food at Disney has been better then we have seen in the past and we are very frequent visitors.

Disney is trying to keep all there guests on property which does increase the amount of guests making dinner reservations but we have yet to see a decline in service and quality. But again if you are not happy with the service/quality tell someone till they fix it.

The food at Disney is a major part of the fun of going to Disney, and since there are so many places to eat you are bound to find a location that you love.

 

[Bummbok]

How wood that work?
We are on the DXDP. We need two points to eat at lets say Cali Grill.
So if I order steak or lobster I have to pay a surcharge or just eat chicken fingers?
I think this is a real good idea to make people cause an uproar in the restaurant.

I suppose it would work the same way it worked in June 07 when we went to Raglan Road, waitress asked if we were DDP and when we said yes she went over the menu with us, there were one or 2 dishes that she told us weren't included in the plan but we could still order them for like 5 bucks or something. No big deal, plenty of other good food to eat, and the second time I went that trip, same restriction except this time I chose to buy it. *shrug* I guess 5 more dollars for a higher end dish wasn't enough for me to complain about.

I guess you *could* make a big fuss and get whatever you wanted, seeing as how Disney's customer service works that way, but how would a surcharge for certain dishes be worse than them just deciding not to sell them at all?

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

I suppose it would work the same way it worked in June 07 when we went to Raglan Road, waitress asked if we were DDP and when we said yes she went over the menu with us, there were one or 2 dishes that she told us weren't included in the plan but we could still order them for like 5 bucks or something. No big deal, plenty of other good food to eat, and the second time I went that trip, same restriction except this time I chose to buy it. *shrug* I guess 5 more dollars for a higher end dish wasn't enough for me to complain about.

I guess you *could* make a big fuss and get whatever you wanted, seeing as how Disney's customer service works that way, but how would a surcharge for certain dishes be worse than them just deciding not to sell them at all?

I think that makes A LOT more sense than just raising costs for DDP'ers or limiting the entire menu for OOP'ers! I don't know why they didn't do that from the start. If you go to a QS place like a bakery quite often there are items that qualify for a snack credit and those that don't, right? So, why can't some entrees qualify and some require a paid upgrade?

I use TIW and I do miss the variety and uniqueness that existed pre-DDP. I also hate seeing huge piles of uneaten food getting cleaned up from tables.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I noticed CMAlumni's comments about the Grand Plan and other resort-based plans.

Prior to the DDP any of the plans, such as the Grand Plan, reimbursed the restaurants based on the menu price of what was ordered, and the included gratuity was based on the menu price. This is a key point as the restaurants would get paid properly for high-end menu items.

With the advent of the original and current DDP the restaurant gets a fixed price per meal, no matter what is ordered.

Under the original DDP where the gratuity was included, the servers would only get the gratuity based on this fixed repayment, and you may not have gotten the best service or recommendations.

Under the current DDP you may get better service, but now the server's gratuity is based on the menu price and not a fixed amount. This does lead to a potential conflict as the server wants to maximize their gratuity while the restaurant management wants to have the lower cost items ordered so the restaurant will make a profit.

 

[Tribe0701]

As the OP, I did not foresee the thread yielding so much controversy between posters. Let me share my next two cents here. I feel that our family tends to vacation differently than others. We do not use the Magical Express. Instead we rent a car for the freedom to experience Disney at our leisure. While some might think that it is more expensive to rent a car, please let me share our vacation experience and cost analysis for our family or 2 adults a teenager and a baby (6 mos) versus using the ME and DDP.

Our last stay was 12 days:
Car Rental: $300
Fuel: $50
Groceries: $200 - Snacks for the pool, breakfast goods, water, soda, etc...
Breakfast Meal: (we eat breakfast in the room, bagels, donuts, as the family gets ready for the day)
Lunch: $ 36 - For the Family. This is an very very close average to 3 adult meals with drinks and desert that our family eats at a counter service in a Disney Park or resort.
Dinner: $40 - For the Family with gratuities. offsite normally at a Chilis, Fridays, Outback, Olive Garden style restaurant.
Snack: $10 - @ approx. $3 per snack (ice cream, popcorn, etc) per person.
So dividing the $200 for groceries by 12 days came to $16 per day for the family. Dividing the $350 for the rental car with fuel came to $30 per day for the family.
So now for my math in public. Adding up a days worth of costs for a family of 3 adults (baby not included):
Car: $30
Breakfast: $16
Lunch: $36
Dinner: $40
Snack: $10
TOTAL: $132
X 12 days = $1584

Using the DDP when we visited the week before Easter was $46.99 per person X 3 adults a day = $140.97 minus gratuities. Times that by 12 days and it came to $1691.64 for the 12 day stay, minus gratuities.

While the monetary value is better for us, the bigger value is the freedom to come and go when we wish. While Disney Transportation is fabulous and we use portions of it, we like the freedom to come and go when we want. We also have some favorite local restaurants that we like to visit as well.

I received a random survey card in the mail last week and completed a survey online. I got a call today from a DVC rep and he was following up on our displeasure that we reported in the survey. It was nice to see that they respond to the surveys and that they work, then again I would not expect anything less from Disney. Again, just my extra two cents.

 

[Lewisc]

Under the original DDP where the gratuity was included, the servers would only get the gratuity based on this fixed repayment, and you may not have gotten the best service or recommendations.

Under the current DDP you may get better service, but now the server's gratuity is based on the menu price and not a fixed amount. This does lead to a potential conflict as the server wants to maximize their gratuity while the restaurant management wants to have the lower cost items ordered so the restaurant will make a profit.

Not true. Disney operated restaurants based the servers gratuity on the menu price of the order. Non-Disney run restaurants, including some of the restaurants in the WS, based the tip on the reimbursement.

 

[MELSMICE]

Interesting thread.........subbing! We were there over the weekend & will be heading back today for another 10 days.

With the exception of O'Hana, I did not book any dining. After reading the OP & many of the replies, I will most likely cancel O'Hana..........been there, done that many times & don't want to be disappointed in something I had previously enjoyed.

 

[keishashadow]

NOT AT WDW..A waiter wanted to serve my entree before I finished my appetizer. I made them take the entree back. I told the waiter to put in a new order, I wouldn't accept the entree if they kept it under a warming lamp. The waiter complied, he got a nice tip instead of no tip.

when ordering an appetizer, especially @ WDW, i never finalize my entree or dessert until the appetizer appears...usually to great rolling of server's eyes...so sad too bad. We don't 'linger' but i do expect to receive a full hour to take a break & enjoy my meal.

i don't see the issue with FDP or even DP pre-fixe menu w/limited selections (same as many of the menus are now with 5 entrees or so). It's really not about quantity but quality, i'd rather a restaurant do a few dishes very well vs large number of mediocre offerings. It would allow those who want to pay OOP for their meals or upgrade to a higher priced plan ability to order from 'special menu' as many restuarants do with their daily offerings. Cost would be equivalent paying OOP as those reflected in 2TS venues but wouldn't restrict non-DP guests to eating at those limited number of restaurants.

another suggestion i don't ever see being offered (as it defeats the cost-effectiveness of the DP for Disney-assume there is certain profit margin built into current offering based upon unused/under-utilized credits) would be an ala cart plan where u can add/subtract TS/CS as ur needs dictate and pay accordingly. It could be set up akin to current MYW base tix add-on features.

 

[MurphyJoe]

another suggestion i don't ever see being offered (as it defeats the cost-effectiveness of the DP for Disney-assume there is certain profit margin built into current offering based upon unused/under-utilized credits) would be an ala cart plan where u can add/subtract TS/CS as ur needs dictate and pay accordingly. It could be set up akin to current MYW base tix add-on features.

I've heard rumours a while ago that Disney was wanting to move to an all inclusive model at WDW. From a management perspective, having all park restaurants and snack carts only accept dinning credits is very attractive. The idea is that everybody who isn't on a dinning plan would buy dinning credits at select locations (Guest Services, ticket booths, in park stations). Prices would be removed from the menus.

Disney benefits (to them) include less locations handling cash (thus reducing cashier errors / theft, less tills to count which means reduced operating costs), less credit/debit card transactions and locations (reduced fees paid to the processor), customers are less likely to leave to eat if they have unused credits, and unused credits equal free money.

---Edit----

Also, without menu prices customers are more likely to order what they really want, versus trying to maximise their used credit. Thus, costing Disney less money.

 

[princessallegra]

Dinner: $40 - For the Family with gratuities. offsite normally at a Chilis, Fridays, Outback, Olive Garden style restaurant.

I find it extremely hard to believe that 2 adults and a teenager can eat at any of the above restaurants for $40 including tax and gratuity. My husband and I are just two adults, and a Chili's or Olive Garden bill is easily $40 for just us. If we get an entree that is $14.95 each plus sodas and tax and tip it's at least $40.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I've heard rumours a while ago that Disney was wanting to move to an all inclusive model at WDW. From a management perspective, having all park restaurants and snack carts only accept dinning credits is very attractive. The idea is that everybody who isn't on a dinning plan would buy dinning credits at select locations (Guest Services, ticket booths, in park stations). Prices would be removed from the menus.

Disney benefits (to them) include less locations handling cash (thus reducing cashier errors / theft, less tills to count which means reduced operating costs), less credit/debit card transactions and locations (reduced fees paid to the processor), customers are less likely to leave to eat if they have unused credits, and unused credits equal free money.

---Edit----

Also, without menu prices customers are more likely to order what they really want, versus trying to maximise their used credit. Thus, costing Disney less money.

I would hate if they did that.

 

[Kurby]

ya it's not as good as you think. while our min wage may be 10 buck an hour we also pay more for stuff like gas, transportation, houses (4-500,000 average price in Toronto)

but we do have good medical

 

[Tribe0701]

when ordering an appetizer, especially @ WDW, i never finalize my entree or dessert until the appetizer appears...usually to great rolling of server's eyes...so sad too bad. We don't 'linger' but i do expect to receive a full hour to take a break & enjoy my meal.

oooohhhhh... That is a good idea. Thanks for that piece of information.

 

[Tribe0701]

I find it extremely hard to believe that 2 adults and a teenager can eat at any of the above restaurants for $40 including tax and gratuity. My husband and I are just two adults, and a Chili's or Olive Garden bill is easily $40 for just us. If we get an entree that is $14.95 each plus sodas and tax and tip it's at least $40.

Find it "extremely" hard as you may...but that is our average. A prime example is Chilis where we get chips/salsa. 3 entrees and 3 sodas/tea. Our eating styles must be lightyears different. We opt for lighter entrees as we become stuffed easily, but those are chicken meals, fajitas, burgers, etc. and moreso, on vacation this leaves us extra room for a desert at EPCOT, Ghiradelli or just a passing Mickey Bar!!!