I'm probably guilty of not helper either, Dreamfinder
Unfortunately unless the meal was truly awful, generally I don't complain. And that's my dilemma. I haven't had a really bad meal, I just haven't had a meal that was really great and I use to have those. I remember leaving spoodles and saying "Man, that was great". Now when we ask each other how our food is, we give answers like. it's ok, or it's bland, etc, etc.
Also I find even here on the dis, we tend to give excuses (why
)
We say stuff like "the economy is bad" or "it's better than other theme park food". which for me doesn't cut it. Saying the food is better than six flags is not a glowing reconmendation in my eyes. If you charge me $40 bucks for a steak, I donot want some thing tough as shoe leather. sorry.
I think Disney will eventually have to change. Did you see it's 2nd quarter profits. Spending in the parks is down 15-20%. Sure they have been able to get us there with the free promos but when people come, they are not spending money. I think that has a lot to do with quality.
Eliza, you're probably on to something here.
We've been to WDW so many times, and so frequently, that I forget what it's like to be a newbie. It seems like every trip, however, we take a guest or guests with us who either have never been to Disney or haven't been in years. They are routinely blown away by EVERYTHING - the
DVC resort, the attractions and, yes, the food.
But if it were just my family going, I think we'd eat in the villa more (I love to cook and am pretty good at it, IMHO), and make our dining out experiences more of an
event. When we lived in the area and were going weekly, we'd routinely bring sandwiches in the park and just buy drinks. I think there is a LOT of that going on now.
One thing the DDP has done, for better or worse, is that it has skewed the real value of things. When everything is pre-paid, and a discount is involved, then it's easy for a neophyte to forget that a $30 entree is, well,
thirty dollars. If we/they were counting out their meal cost in $1 bills, then it might dawn on folks - dude, this is
expensive for what I'm getting, by most guest's standards.
We're using the DDP next week and I'm going to try to be objective about the whole experience. But my objectivity is someone else's subjectivity, you know? Walt Disney World isn't exactly a bastion of haute cusine, but I continue to feel that the best of WDW meals are just fine. I've had a handful of less than stellar experiences, but never anything
awful. We did go to Big River Grill once, and it was pretty nasty (as in dirty), and I have unfond memories of the ABC Commissary on my last visit, and slipshod service at the old Concourse Steak House and Pepper Market, but otherwise, we've had great experiences. After hundreds of Disney meals, I think our hit-to-miss ratio is pretty amazing. My opinions reflect that.
I just try to remind myself, on any given Disney day, that I am surrounded by hundreds of people who have saved and sacrificed for years to make this once-in-a-lifetime trip. They are having the time of their lives, and even if I'm dissatisfied with a meal, a long wait in line, or whatever, I can still celebrate along with THEM, they who are blessed even to be there and experience what I take for granted. This discussion we're having would be, to them, so trivial as to be laughable.
But it's important to us; hence, the DISboards.
and we had a quick bite to eat in the Foodcourt. Four of us....DS had some type of Panda Express meal....DD had Nathans...chicken fingers and fries...and a drink....DH had two hotdogs at Nathans and fries and a drink and I had subway with a drink....Guess how much I spent?...and make sure you don't even consider anything under $50. It was 51.22.
