Melissa, it's not that simple. On any given day, less than half the people in the parks are staying on property. BUT, and it's a big but, most of those staying off property are in one of 2 groups; first time visitors that haven't done much planning, and people trying to save money. Both of these groups end up eating mostly qs meals plus eating some meals off property. So most of the TS customers are on property, and most of these have DDP. I am a big guy, so it suits me to a T. But after several of yours(and Eliza's) posts I realize it ain't for everybody.
I want to know, though, who are all these children not eating enough to be a value. I have been a cook for over 30 years. The last 7 have been in a children's behavioral hospital. These kids flat out eat. The little boys are always wanting more. The teen girls put away as much as the teen guys, which is a ton. I think a lot of folks are projecting their suspicions on their kids. BTW, we have some picky eaters, but I would put it under 15%. They eat lasagna, all kinds of Mexican, all kinds of Italian, Chinese, chicken, beef, pork, turkey. We offer ham, turkey and pb & j sammies for those who don't want what we're serving. But since 'Mom' ain't there to fix them what they 'demand', they eat what we have.
I agree! Most people are getting the DP, or else Disney wouldn't work the DP the way they do. They also wouldn't be using it for Free Dining. It's their cash cow. You have a captive audience for people on property, and even for those who are not staying on property, many of them still eat at character meals, so they now have to incur the huge cash prices, or, the next time they come, stay on property to buy the DP. This is a perk that Disney greatly advertises.
My kids have been eating adult food since they were a little over a year. There are no hotdogs and mac and cheese in this house. My 3 year old baby boy eats more than me, and our DD7, eats more than my hubby most nights. We've done DxDP with our kids several times, as they love: fish, grilled chicken, appetizers, soup, etc. We've had DDE/Tables in Wonderland for years, due to the healthy eating habits in our household. We eat well at home, with fresh fruits/veggies, grilled meats, soups, etc., so we do on vacation as well.
Many of the kids' meals at Disney are yucky, so we share our adult meals, and in many cases, we've even paid out of pocket, except when at a buffet. We've eaten at all buffets a million times over the years, as they were the most value for us, as there was something for everyone. Not anymore. After having eaten at 2-3 TS meals per day (including Signatures) for years, we have cut out all TS meals, except for Kona Cafe for our trip in a few weeks, and we still haven't decided for July yet. We are looking forward to saving thousands of dollars per year on Disney food!
YEAP!! Can you believe that, and that's not for peak times either! I was sticker shocked when we went there for dinner 2 weeks ago. I thought it was around $32 a person. Minus the 20% with the TIW card puts it pretty well under $30 pp which is reasonable (by WDW standards), but not when it's $37 pp. This was the first (and last time) we went there for dinner.
We've done lunch so many times and loved it I thought we'd go for dinner to see what the difference was and the only difference I noticed was the PRICE and the absence of the pecan squares I love for dessert!
I saw the price when we checked in and did a double take realizing I looked at the lunch price by mistake when made the original ADR online (dah! my mistake, but won't make that again) but at that point it was too late to go somewhere else unless we wanted to eat at 10:00 at night.
The thing that bothered me the most is that we could have easily eaten at a signature restaurant for the same price. My dd is 12 and doesn't eat much from the adult buffet. But at 12 she is charged the adult price which somehow
: doesn't seem reasonable for chicken nuggets, pizza and mac n cheese even with Pooh characters.
The difference in price between lunch and dinner is quite substantial. You can almost pay for another adult at lunch for the difference and the food items are not justifiable for the difference in price for the 2 meals IMHO.
So, for us...too much is when I look at the price and do a double take..any of the princess meals (not just buffets) and CMs makes me do that double take!
There is hardly that much difference been CP lunch and dinner - been eating lunch for years, as we have no interest in paying $10.00/pp for pretty much the same thing for dinner.
If you check on my link, you'll see the current peak and non-peak buffet times. Wasn't able to get them all, but most are there.
I realized I forgot to put the link to my 2011 buffet prices thread, sorry!:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2627843
As you can see, some dinner buffets during peak season, are approaching close to $50.00/adult, and that is without tip included. The prices are beyond ridiculous, so it would seem that most people will do on the DP. If you have children under 9, it's a no brainer, since if you eat at 1 buffet meal, you have already gone over the cost of that child's DP, and you still have CS and a snack to use up.
Disney are marketing geniuses for a reason, and the overinflation of meals is one prime example. When Signatures are now almost or even cheaper in some cases than character meals, it tells us that most people are dining at character meals, and thus, the crazy prices. Disney jacks up prices due to usage demands - if you want it, you'll pay for it!
Tiger
