Do You Foresee Le Cellier Becoming Mostly a DDP Restaurant

[tarheelmjfan]

Since they've changed the menu, especially the steak prices, it really doesn't make sense to pay OOP there anymore. (Naturally, this is just my personal observation. ) For a couple $ more, you can eat steak at a Signature restaurant. We've eaten at LC & several of the Signature restaurants & LC doesn't even compare to the nicer restaurants, in our experience. If you plan to order anything but steak, I suppose it may still be worth paying OOP. LC is now an even better value on the DDP, but ridiculous for those paying OOP. Before someone yells at me for bashing their beloved LC, that's not my intention. It's simply an observation from someone who pays OOP for meals.

 

[simonkodousek]

I personally don't care for Le Cellier, and cannot understand why it is so hyped up on these boards. As I've posted in another thread earlier this evening, you could get better food, better service, and a lower price, at an Applebee's or Outback Steakhouse. There is no reason to pay OOP for this restaurant, and I would even be hesitant about using a DDP credit because of the abundance of good restaurants in Epcot.

 

[dioxide45]

I personally don't care for Le Cellier, and cannot understand why it is so hyped up on these boards. As I've posted in another thread earlier this evening, you could get better food, better service, and a lower price, at an Applebee's or Outback Steakhouse. There is no reason to pay OOP for this restaurant, and I would even be hesitant about using a DDP credit because of the abundance of good restaurants in Epcot.

Outback maybe, but comparing it to Applebee’s is a bit extreme.

 

[simonkodousek]

Outback maybe, but comparing it to Applebee’s is a bit extreme.

Maybe for some, but we have always ordered and received very good steak, even better than Le Cellier's, at the closest Applebee's to our house.

 

[bicker]

Yeah, my experience has put the steaks, themselves, somewhere closer to Outback than Applebees, though definitely in between the two.

Regarding the OP: I suspect that menu prices will all be adjusted over time, so that the signature restaurants will again be substantially more expensive than Le Cellier.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I agree that while I have always liked Le Cellier, it doesn't stand up to the hype about it here on the Dis. But to each his own.

 

[DisOrBust]

IMHO the DDP has made it very hard to eat at any place because the prices are nuts. Thats the perceived value of the DDP.

 

[bicker]

I doubt that the Dining Plan had that impact: Rather, our society is such now that dining out, especially on vacation, is valued very highly. That, in turn, elevates the menu prices we see at restaurants.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I cannot believe they raised the prices as much as they did and no more caesar salad...that is a must for me! That being said DH did request LC for our Oct trip because we have not been there for dinner in almost 2 years. Maybe I can get him to change his mind before then!

 

[Maribel]

You will always pay a premium to dine inside a disney, or any other themed park restaurant, regardless of the quality.
We usually have some food at the parks, mainly character meals, but if we really want to eat a good dinner, we take our van and head out of lake buena vista.
I guess that as long as you have to make reservations 6 months in advance to eat there, they will do what they know best: increase prices and lower quality.

 

[bicker]

That's a really good point. Right now, there is an extended and ongoing discussion going on in this thread:

November 2008-Posting of Hours - ...

The main points raised by the folks who are concerned about the fact that the hours aren't posted yet are with regard to making restaurant reservations six months in advance. Their perceived criticality is very evident in the tone of their messages, even if you don't share their feelings in that regard. They clearly place a very high value on the full-service dining experience -- so much so that on first glance my feeling would be that Le Cellier (for example) is under-priced, not over-priced. (More likely, those folks aren't really representative of all of us, and the prices that Disney has applied do reflect some averaging of "us" and "them", as they should.)

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I doubt that the Dining Plan had that impact: Rather, our society is such now that dining out, especially on vacation, is valued very highly. That, in turn, elevates the menu prices we see at restaurants.

If not for so many DDP guests choosing filet at LC, how would they justify charging $34.99, when you can get a much higher quality filet at Yachtsmen for $35.00, & Jiko for $37.00? It's an inflated perceived value. Of course, the filet at LC is more popular with DDP guests than the filet at Yachtsmen. One takes 2 TS credits & the other is 1 credit. Those paying OOP for the filet at LC are helping to offset the cost of feeding the DDP guests. If it were simply a case of the price of beef going up, the Signature restaurants would have made the huge leap in price that LC did. I have a hard time seeing how the DDP played no part in it.

You will always pay a premium to dine inside a disney, or any other themed park restaurant, regardless of the quality.
We usually have some food at the parks, mainly character meals, but if we really want to eat a good dinner, we take our van and head out of lake buena vista.
I guess that as long as you have to make reservations 6 months in advance to eat there, they will do what they know best: increase prices and lower quality.

I expect to pay more at WDW restaurants, but the price needs to seem warranted to me. The price of the steaks at LC don't fit in with the other non-Signature restaurants. My point was, if you're dining on-property, (which is what we do) & paying OOP, you can get a much better meal for the same price elsewhere on-property.

 

[bicker]

If not for so many DDP guests choosing filet at LC, how would they justify charging $34.99, when you can get a much higher quality filet at Yachtsmen for $35.00, & Jiko for $37.00?

You have to leave the theme park to get to either of the latter two restaurants. Tens of thousands of people walk past Le Cellier each day. Merely thousands (if that many) walk past the entry of Yachtsman Steakhouse or Jiko.

It's an inflated perceived value.

Stemming from convenience, mostly, IMHO.

I expect to pay more at WDW restaurants, but the price needs to seem warranted to me.

That's really the problem: It doesn't. What any individual perceives is pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. We're all pretty insignificant, unfortunately. What matters, in terms of these things, is the effect of the marketplace as a whole, i.e., what (for lack of better words) what lots of other people perceive.

 

[dioxide45]

It is all about supply an demand. Disney knows that LC is an extremely popular restaurant. I think they are just testing the market to see what price point it will withstand.

 

[Brian Noble]

Agreed--this is just a reflection of supply and demand. Le Cellier, along with Garden Grill, are the only two restaurants in Epcot that are "safe bets"---nothing foreign or fishy. So, any party with a picky eater will find LC to be among their top choices. What's more, for a short time, LC was a 2-credit meal (part of the first year, IIRC). When it was dropped, it became a "bargain", and so the fraction of DDPers who are out to "save the most" starting booking it en masse. Finally, for reasons I don't fully understand, it is the place where the cool kids in the disneyana community go to see and be seen. It's the hot restaurant here on DIS and is constantly plugged by e.g. wdwtoday and others.

Add it all up, and LC is harder to book than CRT breakfast.

At the same time, prices are going up all over. Tutto Italia is significantly more expensive than its predecessor, as is Tokyo Dining. Teppan Edo (nee Teppanyaki) cut out the salad and soup while raising entree prices. Akershus has gone the "free" picture route. Count on a significant increase in prices after the China TS restaurant is redone, too.

 

[dioxide45]

Count on a significant increase in prices after the China TS restaurant is redone, too.

As if Nine Dragons isn't expensive enough already. I think we paid about $16 for a dish we could get locally for $8.50 with a larger portion and better quality to boot.

 

[Brian Noble]

That's not at all unusual. Disney's food is generally more expensive and/or of lower quality than comparable restaurants at "home". I live in a town of about 100K. We have better seafood than Coral Reef at the same or lower prices, a couple of steakhouses better than Le Cellier at the same or lower prices, much cheaper teppan (that includes soup and salad), and much better and cheaper Chinese. Plus Indian, Thai, Ethiopian, Syrian, etc. The Mexican here is awful, but at least it's cheaper than the also-mediocre San Angel.

But, for me, many Disney restaurants still have an attraction. We don't have a seafood place with a big ol' aquarium. We don't have a pub themed to a drive-in. The bad Mexican food here doesn't come with a volcano and river. And so forth.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I'd still eat at Le Cellier OOP.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I'd still eat at Le Cellier OOP.

This is the type of reply I was thinking of. I was just wondering how many people paying OOP would still go to LC for the filet. Will there be a significant number paying OOP, or will most patrons be on DDP.

 

[hopey1kenobi]

That's not at all unusual. Disney's food is generally more expensive and/or of lower quality than comparable restaurants at "home". I live in a town of about 100K. We have better seafood than Coral Reef at the same or lower prices, a couple of steakhouses better than Le Cellier at the same or lower prices, much cheaper teppan (that includes soup and salad), and much better and cheaper Chinese. Plus Indian, Thai, Ethiopian, Syrian, etc. The Mexican here is awful, but at least it's cheaper than the also-mediocre San Angel.

But, for me, many Disney restaurants still have an attraction. We don't have a seafood place with a big ol' aquarium. We don't have a pub themed to a drive-in. The bad Mexican food here doesn't come with a volcano and river. And so forth.

As a transplanted Ann Arborite I completely agree with you about the variety and quality of places to eat, but I think Ann Arbor is the exception not the rule.

I think the Disney appeal is more the setting than the food. It would be nice to have the food the same quality of the setting.

btw-I really miss Ann Arbor and Blimpy's especially