Get Rid Of Dining Plan!

[Luv2Roam]

I was somewhat puzzled by what "madness" has over taken the WDW restaurants too. Supply and demand, not diners running amok.
There are PLENTY of central FL places to dine, especially for "we" locals who know the area, can drive and pick and choose where we like, on most any day we desire.
There are even places locals go that require advance reservations, or expect to wait for a next avilable table. It's not like walk up at any restaurant is guaranteed.
I am not sure what the DDP fuss is all about. But seems like there is a weekly anti-DDP rant and the same old postings get rehashed.
Mods: How about just one anti-DDP sticky thread at the top from now on? Those who care to rant, can.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

WE? WE? What we are you talking about? Are you on the Board at Disney? I think WDW has gotten their feedback, the restaurants are full!

You've hit the nail right on the head. People vote with their feet. And they have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the DDP. And as long as they continue to do so, the DDP isn't going anywhere. Of course the excuse is always along the lines of well the rif raf do not truly know food like I do.

 

[jodifla]

Any passholders or florida residents sick of the dining plan!!...it has ruined so many good times we all have had in the past esp at epcot..do you agree?..vent here

We HATE the DDP! It's torpedoed the good menus. Ruined the Yachtsman in particular!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Service was in decline everywhere in January while we weret there....largely, it seemed like they didn't have enough help.

All the nice little touches are gone from WDW Dining magic.

I understand the chicken and egg argument. But there's no denying, IMO, that the DDP is a HUGE cog in the wheel of making WDW dining less magical, and more like the Olive Garden.

But here's what I think will happen: The DDP will jump up in price enough to cut down on the people using it, or it will just go away. They've always had dining plans, and they've always changed. NONE have lasted.

 

[drakethib]

Some people need something to botch about and it seems that DDP is the topic for this qtr.

 

[Lewanc]

Exactly, my point. Food service in general has declined...Not just in WDW. This is what I mean about using DDP as a scapegoat. It is easier to blame one entity than to try to understand that there are many contributing factors. The economy has changed dramatically from pre-9/11 to now. Gas prices and food prices are through the roof therefore the cost of doing business for a restaurant increases. How do we think the food gets to these places?

So restaurants have a choice...they can tweak their offerings a little in order to reduce cost or they can raise prices or do both. In Disney's case, they may have done a little bit of both. If anything, the DDP increases overall revenue for Disney Dining possibly helping to keep things somewhat stable. In addition, Disney makes interest off of every DDP which is purchased so the total revenue actually ends up being more than you actually paid for the plan.

BRAVO FOR YOUR POSTS REGARDING THE DDP Both you and mom2taylorandemily have posted very valid issues, and I think all reading this forum that have complaints about the DDP take into consideration everything you both have stated. If they don't like the service, food, etc., they should either stop using the plan, or take the bitter with the sweet when using the plan, as you can't have your cake and it too. Again, 3 star restaurants cannot provide 5 star services.

 

[MickeyNicki]

The dining plan doesnt effect us at all...we do have AP's and go about 6 times per year..mostly last minute trips...I am always able to get into the restaurants that we want (exception is Le Cellier dinner but I can always get lunch). May not get the exact times but very close to it

 

[Nancyg56]

How many TS restaurants would be left in Disney if the occupancy were still 50%. I believe DDP has saved many of the TS's. I remember going to R&C and there were not 15 tables occupied, walking in at noon at PTC and walking by many empty tables on the way to ours. Eating at GG and no one at either adjacent table. Disney wants and needs to make money or they will close places. And most of the carping in this thread is by two posters with a total of 32 posts, half in this thread.

I think that you have hit the nail on the head. IMO, the DDP combined with ME is Disney's way to entice people to stay on site and eat on site. There may be a downside, it is better to plan in advance if you want to eat at a certain restaurant at your favored time. The upside is that tables turned means that the restaurant is going to stay open.

While there are inconveniences with the DDP and ME, I wonder how many of those who complain about it being the root of all that is changes in Disney Dining can honestly say that the TS restaurants were all filled prior to DDP. Budget considerations forced families to eat off site and many of those families also stay off site. Now more spend their vacation dollar in Disney, which iis exactly what the marketing department had in mind.

Changes in menu and portions may not have anything at all to do with the DDP. They may have everything to do with the bottom line in each restaurant. Disney is a business and operates as a business. If the majority of consumers were not happy with the plan it would disappear.

 

[sunee]

I'm starting to agree that it is the DDP that led to this. Now that Disney has all these folks guaranteed to eat in their restaurants, they can cut back on selection, quantity and quality.

This will work for them for a while, but is just one more thing. All these cutbacks are going to bite them in the butt eventually.

 

[jodifla]

I'm starting to agree that it is the DDP that led to this. Now that Disney has all these folks guaranteed to eat in their restaurants, they can cut back on selection, quantity and quality.

This will work for them for a while, but is just one more thing. All these cutbacks are going to bite them in the butt eventually.

Exactly!

 

[MissionMouse]

... I believe DDP has saved many of the TS's. ..

I believe you are definately biased if you truly believe this since the TS restaurants have been around for decades...way before DDP. Adopting a dining plan does change the dynamics of the business as the concept is focused on providing value.

 

[Princess_Lanie]

If you think that the food quality at Walt Disney World has declined than you are obviously not going to the right places- Try going to Jiko-The cooking place at the Animal kingdom Lodge, Narcoossee's at the Grand Floridian, California Grill Comtenporary, Le Cellier Epcot Canada, Victoria and Albert, and so many more amazing places that can be used with or without the dining plan another thing is that even if Disney did not sell the dining plan it would still be impossible to just walk up and get a table whenever we feel like, I live in Orlando and yeah I miss the times that I could just walk up to a restaurant and be sat at anytime but I understand that things have changed and that Walt Disney World is a place that people came from all over the world not just the US so yeah there are a lot of people here at the same time and they all want to be able to enjoy dining at Disney like us, so we need to understand that time has changed and that Disney World is one of the most traveled place in the world!!!!

 

[marivaid]

I live in Orlando and yeah I miss the times that I could just walk up to a restaurant and be sat at anytime but I understand that things have changed and that Walt Disney World is a place that people came from all over the world not just the US so yeah there are a lot of people here at the same time and they all want to be able to enjoy dining at Disney like us, so we need to understand that time has changed and that Disney World is one of the most traveled place in the world!!!!

Exactly. It cracks me up when WDW locals say it's horrible because they can't walk up to a restaurant with a reservation anytime. Newsflash : YOU LIVE IN ORLANDO !! What do you expect ?? I live in Paris and I don't expect to get into a popular restaurant whenever I please. That's one of the disadvantages of living in a city that's a major touristic destination.

 

[Camicar]

Making reservations 6 months out is absurd. We didn't even decide to go until April!

That is one of my two main complaints about the DDP. While filling the restaurants is good for Disney, it makes last minute (anything less than 6 months) trips impossible in the sense of getting into TS restaurants, which is our dining preference. And we've found that without an ADR, we were unable to get into any restaurant as in the one night we were at MGM and the CS had all closed by the time we got to them -- a brownie and a Diet Coke we bought from the snack shop for dinner was not a good thing.

If it continues this way, our debate about whether or not to go to WDW when we can get time off unexpectedly will not be a positive one. Some of us simply dont have the luxury of planning that far in advance and we get screwed by the system. So, while the DDP may be doing magic for WDW, it's not being very magical for us when it comes to actually eating at a TS restaurant there.

 

[yankeepenny]

seriously, what was it like beforehand?

 

[marivaid]

That is one of my two main complaints about the DDP. While filling the restaurants is good for Disney, it makes last minute (anything less than 6 months) trips impossible in the sense of getting into TS restaurants, which is our dining preference. And we've found that without an ADR, we were unable to get into any restaurant the one night we were at MGM and the CS had all closed by the time we got to them -- a brownie and a Diet Coke we bought from the snack shop for dinner was not a good thing.

If it continues this way, our debate about whether or not to go to WDW when we can get time off unexpectedly will not be a positive one. Some of us simply dont have the luxury of planning that far in advance and we get screwed by the system. So, while the DDP may be doing magic for WDW, it's not being very magical for us when it comes to actually eating at a TS restaurant there.

Again, SAME problem at Disneyland where there is no DDP.
How do you explain that one ?

BTW, I just changed my ADRs again today and got everything I wanted at the times I wanted - we're going in about 6 weeks.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I love love love the dining plan. I hope Disney sticks with it forever. I have never had a problem with it. Service was outstanding. I got all the ADR's I wanted because I called early. Food quality was excellent at almost every single restaurant. I can't see my family doing Disney without the dining plan.

 

[Bichon Barb]

DH and I are going for a weekend getaway in October. We are going to try to eat mainly at restaurants that AREN'T on the plan, like Bongo's.

I agree that quality has gone down. We ate at Rose and Crown with our kids last October, and I wasn't impressed. I ordered a stew that was like a bowl of salty gravy. It was packed, and although our server was really sweet, we didn't see a lot of him.

I haven't eaten there since DDP was started, but I have looked at the menu of our beloved PYC, and there seems to be lack of choice now.

Prices seem high too. I wonder how much they've gone up since the plan was started.

If we weren't staying at the Swan in October, we could jump in and get the plan, but I don't know how worth it it would be for us. We usually split an appetizer and hardly ever order dessert. We usually drink wine with dinner and rarely soft drinks. If we were AP holders, then the DDE would be a great deal for us.

Oh, one more thing. For those of us who have kids that are considered adults, the DDP may not be a good money saver for our families.

 

[brerrabbit]

Never used the DDP but I have no problems with it. We have been going since 89 and we will usually book three to four ADR's for each week long trip. We seem to always get the ADR's we want without much problem and without booking six months in advance. Honestly, my DW, DD and DS feel the same as I do, the DDP is really just to much food. We don't eat that way at home and while we are on vacation and food is a special part of the occasion, we would literally get sick eating a TS meal at a nice place every day of our vacation. As far as quality of the food goes, honestly going once or twice a year and doing different resturant each time, how is one able to really tell the difference in quality? I can tell you if the quality drops at my local Tex-Mex resturant because I eat there twice a week on average, but a WDW resturant that I may eat at every other year over a period of years, I just don't know. When I am at WDW, I am on vacation in one of my favorite places in the world and guess what? Everything tastes great to me and the service is excellent. If I lived so close and included Disney Dining in my weekly eating plans then yeah, I might see quality drops, and service drops but I thank God that I don't live as close so that each and every trip is still very special and I don't have to get upset because the food at (fill in the blank with your favorite WDW resturant) is going down in quality because for the past several weeks the ffod just hasn't tasted as good.

I really love Dom Perion Champagne but I don't spoil my love for it by drinking a bottle every week.

 

[Camicar]

Again, SAME problem at Disneyland where there is no DDP.
How do you explain that one ?

Gee...Maybe DL restaurants were popular enough that they didn't need the DDP to get full up?

But as been posted here a lot of the WDW TS restaurants were NOT full and it was easy to get into them before DDP. Therefore, it seems clear that the the WDW restaurants are NOW full is BECAUSE of DDP. Or else it's some bizarro world coincidence that at the same time WDW is pushing the DDP that the restaurants are suddenly full.

At WDW, we stay on site and do not rent a car because we also eat on site. We make this choice to maximize our time at the parks during our limited annual vacation. If I have to rent a car or pay cab fare in order to freaking EAT, then I won't be choosing the already-expensive WDW as my vacation choice bec it will simply make it unaffordable. It will also take time out of my park stay to get back to the parking lot, drive, eat, and then return. Spending part of my day driving somewhere to eat a sit down meal is not the best use of my very limited vacation time every year.

And again, if you can get ADRs where you want, great. And if you don't mind making ADRs for every meal, great. But if you want the slightest bit of spontaneity with TS restaurants, it doesn't work. And that day in MGM when we ended up with a brownie and a Diet Coke for dinner because we couldn't get into any TS restaurant and all the CS restaurants were closed, was following a lunch at Prime Time with a surly, unresponsive server who sucked any fun out of not only our lunch but the meals of everyone in our section -- everyone was complaining about her. And it followed a prior day in which we ate dinner at LTT and had almost no character interaction (the max was 2 minutes with Minnie and Chip and Dale spent a grand total of 45 seconds at our table). Again, others were complaining about the experience too. And it followed every morning at our resort's when our food got cold because the people in front of us did not understand the DDP and it took forever to check out.

So, whether or not it's the DDP that's doing it, the magic is rapidly disappearing from WDW dining for me and my family.

And again, if it works for you, great. Disney dining did not work well for us last time.

 

[kathyg]

I have to agree that the DDP has affected Disney dining. I mean, really, how ridiculous is it to have to call six months ahead for ressies???

I really feel sorry for all those poor souls who remember the good old days...when you decided on the spur of the moment where to eat and you went there with no problem. Just booking a trip to Disney, without DDP? Well, forget it...you won't be able to get into any restaurant you want because they're all booked. Never heard of the DDP? Well, too bad...you're probably out of luck!!!!

That being said, I also believe that the DDP gives people the opportunity to try restaurants they would normally try...and that, in fact, keeps those restaurants full.

Quality has certainly suffered...most particularly the 1TS restaurants. But for those who do not know better, disney dining is still great.

Disney, of course, has to make a profit. But I'm sure they could think of many other incentives to lure people in without sacrificing one of the best things about Disney, i.e., the restaurants.

Ah, were it only the way it used to be.....Florida resident or not...the DDP has not only made dining at disney a chore that should not be one in such a vacation, but the quality has also suffered. However, the bottom line is what counts...the DDP gets them in....Just my opinion of course!