'FD' announced for the summer months....

[rteetz]

Let's face it: magic kingdom food isn't very good and is overpriced...that being the most agregious example.

All food in Disney is overpriced but that's because of the name and the fact you're in a theme park. Now I think it's a personal opinion whether the food is good or not. I have had good meals in the Magic Kingdom.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

All food in Disney is overpriced but that's because of the name and the fact you're in a theme park. Now I think it's a personal opinion whether the food is good or not. I have had good meals in the Magic Kingdom.

Ahhh...but before Disney did themepark food it was corndogs and popcorn...they set a standard never seen and forced the others To try to close the gap. They maintained that standard through the 90's before loosing the reigns.

It's still better...but not as high quality overall and nowhere near the value.

I do agree taste is subjective...as are my opinions on the subject. Generally speaking - taste is "regional" by and large.

 

[rteetz]

Ahhh...but before Disney did themepark food it was corndogs and popcorn...they set a standard never seen and forced the others To try to close the gap. They maintained that standard through the 90's before loosing the reigns.

It's still better...but not as high quality overall and nowhere near the value.

I do agree taste is subjective...as are my opinions on the subject. Generally speaking - taste is "regional" by and large.

I can't disagree with any of that

 

[Nancyg56]

I'm not blaming "free dining"...I'm blaming "dining"

As in since the blessed "convenient, discounted" Disney dining plan was hatched...there has been a near mandatory streamlining of menus and near doubling of the menu prices at the sit down restaurants since.

So for me...and I think many ...the "very good" dining in themeparks - something that hooked a lot of us - has fallen to "ok/good" or worse since.

That's my angle.

I realize that the DDp has been linked to the decline in dining in Disney. I am not sure I agree that the DDP is the culprit, free or not. Disney is no different than any other business that looks for ways to bring costs down, and mass purchase of food is one way. The DDP may or may not play into that.

My Dad was an executive chef way back when the were no "celebrity" chefs. He trained and mentored chefs and he was invited to teach at the CIA when it was first built. He declined, BTW. Well my DD and I took a trip with the CT Chefs association to teh CIA and attended a lecture by a Chef who was on Secrets of the CIA, and he would have been a contemporary of my Dad, with the same techniques and mindset my father used and practiced. He explained how chefs are now forced to compromise the way they cook and order in order to meet a bottom line. I believe WDW is falling into that category. Instead of the examples of mass produced high quality stock vs homemade, A Disney example would be the same strip steak for every restaurant that offers that price point steak. Instead of in house pastry chefs a Disney example might be mass produced desserts for most CS restaurants. (He also explained how the Julia ingredients my father used are LONG gone! LOL)

Can restaurants in WDW still maintain high standards and little compromise to the financial metrics they need to meet? Sure....but the cost would most likely increase and price a lot of people who already think theme park dining is overpriced. What none of us know for sure is how much impact the DDP had on the changes we experienced in Disney Dining Quality. Was the role as profound as some say? I have no idea, but I am not willing to blame DDP for all that is lost in Disney Dining because I do believe that they may have taken place anyway.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Things definitely cost more now...

Why is the $28 2004 filet now a $44 tenderloin or a $38 strip?

I know it's parsing a bit but it doesn't invalidate it.

Look at the pricing - massive upticks between 2005-2009 on menu prices...conveniently when right to left ordering under the dining plan was encouraged...funny how those genius tipped waiters picked up on it.

What was laughable was to ask for a recommendation from a server during that period - still to this day. It's painfully obvious that they will pick the price and have no idea what it tastes like. Suggesting the filet over the buffalo at artists point or California is just laughable.

But I digress...my argument against the dining plan is well thought out...I may not be right...but not for lack of thought.

 

[dlavender]

I'm still hurting from our $120 breakfast buffet at the Beach Club in 2010. For 2 adults and 1 child.

No scrambled eggs are worth that.....

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I'm still hurting from our $120 breakfast buffet at the Beach Club in 2010. For 2 adults and 1 child.

No scrambled eggs are worth that.....

Breakfast?

Did you check your receipts before you paid? Should have

 

[dlavender]

Breakfast?

Did you check your receipts before you paid? Should have

At least 10 times.

It was the character one (not sure if there is a different one)

If memory serves me, it was actually $90 before tip. It is one of the few instances where I only left 10%, out of pure shock.

Definitely my fault for not researching before going, but it was literally a last second decision as we were staying at the Yacht Club.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

At least 10 times.

It was the character one (not sure if there is a different one)

If memory serves me, it was actually $90 before tip. It is one of the few instances where I only left 10%, out of pure shock.

Definitely my fault for not researching before going, but it was literally a last second decision as we were staying at the Yacht Club.

Ok...right...I wasn't thinking tip.

Cape may cafe...

At dinner...they have a seafood buffet that I think is a $55-$60 a person. And people rave about it.

But honestly...it smells and tastes like a publix quality shrimp and crableg dump. It's not anything that special.

But it's "can't miss" by most on these boards.

I'd much rather have something from local fish shacks in the keys, gulf coast, or New England.

Better at 1/3 the price.

 

[dlavender]

Look at the pricing - massive upticks between 2005-2009 on menu prices...conveniently when right to left ordering under the dining plan was encouraged

Our breakfast experience leads me to believe you are spot on with this.

As we are planning our trip next year, my wife wants us to use the DDP. Looking at the cost, you could justify it if you are eating $30pp breakfast and lunch buffets everyday. But as I pointed out to her, is that $30pp real? Remember how stupid we felt after eating $100 worth of scrambled eggs just because Donald Duck high fived our 3 yr old? Just my opinion, but prices do seem inflated to justify the high cost of the DDP.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Our breakfast experience leads me to believe you are spot on with this.

As we are planning our trip next year, my wife wants us to the to DDP. Looking at the cost, you could justify it if you are eating $30pp breakfast and lunch buffets everyday. But as I pointed out to her, is that $30pp real? Remember how stupid we felt after eating $100 worth of scrambled eggs just because Donald Duck high fived our 3 yr old? Just my opinion, but prices do seem inflated to justify the high cost of the DDP.

Welcome to my world...

Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times

 

[rteetz]

Our breakfast experience leads me to believe you are spot on with this.

As we are planning our trip next year, my wife wants us to use the DDP. Looking at the cost, you could justify it if you are eating $30pp breakfast and lunch buffets everyday. But as I pointed out to her, is that $30pp real? Remember how stupid we felt after eating $100 worth of scrambled eggs just because Donald Duck high fived our 3 yr old? Just my opinion, but prices do seem inflated to justify the high cost of the DDP.

I could go with or without the dining plan. My last three trips have all with the regular dining plan. Using the dining plan we eat at more places. Before the dining plan we only ate at mainly quick service locations with maybe one ADR the entire trip. For comparison our five adults cost about $160 before tip at Cape May last month, that was before tip and we were on the dining plan but of course we still see what it cost.

 

[sachilles]

The dining plan is such an interesting thing if you think about it as a social experiment.

You are basically paying a premium so that you can vacation without the guilt of buying the more expensive item on the menu. Every vacationer on the planet does it, you can't help yourself.
Somehow choosing anything on the menu for 1 point alleviates the guilt.
Our next trip has no dining plan, compared to our 2 previous trips where we included 1 table service a day.
I'm debating telling my wife I got the dining plan at the last moment, and to order whatever she wants, just to have here avoid the guilt.

I'm on vacation, I'm eating and drinking whatever the heck on want. I'll cry about the bill a week later, when I'm home shoveling snow after a full day of work.

 

[dlavender]

The dining plan is such an interesting thing if you think about it as a social experiment.

You are basically paying a premium so that you can vacation without the guilt of buying the more expensive item on the menu. Every vacationer on the planet does it, you can't help yourself.
Somehow choosing anything on the menu for 1 point alleviates the guilt.
Our next trip has no dining plan, compared to our 2 previous trips where we included 1 table service a day.
I'm debating telling my wife I got the dining plan at the last moment, and to order whatever she wants, just to have here avoid the guilt.

I'm on vacation, I'm eating and drinking whatever the heck on want. I'll cry about the bill a week later, when I'm home shoveling snow after a full day of work.

I agree. This is my wife's main point. She just likes the cruise like idea of an all inclusive. Just scan the band and move on....All paid for in advance. My accounting brain just can't let it happen.
I would have to have a separate spreadsheet making sure that we maximized the plan - don't get a banana, get a caramel apple, don't get chicken, get fish! I feel like I would centralize the trip around my "need" to justify the $67 per person per day DDP cost.
I'm exhausted already....
But to my wife's point, we would never go to Auskerhous or Cinderella's castle restaurant without the DDP.....(because in 20 trips we never have)
So to my point, they obviously aren't worth it to us, if we need the DDP to convince us to go...

 

[Nancyg56]

The dining plan is such an interesting thing if you think about it as a social experiment.

You are basically paying a premium so that you can vacation without the guilt of buying the more expensive item on the menu. Every vacationer on the planet does it, you can't help yourself.
Somehow choosing anything on the menu for 1 point alleviates the guilt.
Our next trip has no dining plan, compared to our 2 previous trips where we included 1 table service a day.
I'm debating telling my wife I got the dining plan at the last moment, and to order whatever she wants, just to have here avoid the guilt.

I'm on vacation, I'm eating and drinking whatever the heck on want. I'll cry about the bill a week later, when I'm home shoveling snow after a full day of work.

I think that we all need to understand how we roll when it comes to dining out. At home, we go out occasionally. WE Oder what we want, and don't really think about the cost, but it is just one meal. WHen we are in WDW we eat every meal out and that adds up. I know I can have whatever I want. I know I am not obliged to look at prices to help me decide what I want, but I do. Every single time. AS a family we all like dessert, (except my DH who is used to not ordering because he finishes up my DGD's ) but no way we woudl indulge all of us every meal. WE woudl split and compromise. Or sometimes just skip it. But for me, that decision would be price driven. I recognize this and so we work around my "issue". WE usually buy the plan and we so far have at least broken even with many times coming out ahead. Not the huge savings at the past, but enough that I am happy. ANd I refuse to why abaout the "extra gratuities" they are built into my budget, and since there is no tax on our foods, the extra is a wash as far as I am concerned.

I chuckle about the cry at home thing. My DH "cries" before! And then it's over. He is our "saver" so I tell him teh cost and he gets it paid for. He prefers that prepaid plan so he is never surprised and never cringes at the menu prices....we convinced him we beat DIsney! LOL!

 

[Nancyg56]

I agree. This is my wife's main point. She just likes the cruise like idea of an all inclusive. Just scan the band and move on....All paid for in advance. My accounting brain just can't let it happen.
I would have to have a separate spreadsheet making sure that we maximized the plan - don't get a banana, get a caramel apple, don't get chicken, get fish! I feel like I would centralize the trip around my "need" to justify the $67 per person per day DDP cost.
I'm exhausted already....
But to my wife's point, we would never go to Auskerhous or Cinderella's castle restaurant without the DDP.....(because in 20 trips we never have)
So to my point, they obviously aren't worth it to us, if we need the DDP to convince us to go...

Exactly. We like signature meals, we like dinner shows, we like character meals. We do them all. I especially think that when we consider the cost of the kids vs the cost of their plan, we really are happy with it. In August we took the little family down the street with us, so we were a party of 9. It was blazing hot, and one of the little girls was especially affected by the heat and humidity. WE had scheduled a bunch of character meals, thinking we would cancel some. Nope. ANd thank goodness we had them....they met most of their favorites, we got out of the heat, and we ate like royalty...literally....we ate in every Castle! LOL! The one time I had to bite my tongue was when my DD ordered a flatbread for her meal. I wanted to yell GET THE STEAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL! I held back..... Yes I did! LOL!

 

[Pkltm]

All food in Disney is overpriced but that's because of the name and the fact you're in a theme park. Now I think it's a personal opinion whether the food is good or not. I have had good meals in the Magic Kingdom.

Truth too depends on where you are from, in Canada we pay close to $10 for a Big Mac meal, we do not have that $1 menu option either. So I actually find the food no too overpriced in WDW.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

The dining plan is such an interesting thing if you think about it as a social experiment.

You are basically paying a premium so that you can vacation without the guilt of buying the more expensive item on the menu. Every vacationer on the planet does it, you can't help yourself.
Somehow choosing anything on the menu for 1 point alleviates the guilt.
Our next trip has no dining plan, compared to our 2 previous trips where we included 1 table service a day.
I'm debating telling my wife I got the dining plan at the last moment, and to order whatever she wants, just to have here avoid the guilt.

I'm on vacation, I'm eating and drinking whatever the heck on want. I'll cry about the bill a week later, when I'm home shoveling snow after a full day of work.

Excellent

 

[sachilles]

For me, the tipping point is the apps. I like apps, and I could care less about dessert. The dining plan doesn't include apps. Heck I'd buy an apps "add on" if it were offered.
Load me up with sampler platters of the whole menu and a flight of beer choices, i'd snack my way around the place if I could.
Heck if they had little sampler folk like they have at costco around the place...I probably wouldn't vacation anywhere else.

Certainly enough research material for any grad student in the psych/sociology fields.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

There's a psych angle to the appetizers/desserts too...

Which one are you most likely to pay out of pocket for? And notice one side is roughly double the menu prices of the other now...