How much more can Disney cut the DDP?? I won't do it again....

[MissMagnolia]

I think that families can make better choices for children's meals and choose QS or TS based on looking over the menus. You can find the restaurant menus here on the DIS or on allears.net. My DD is not a typical children's meal eater and chooses more "adult-like entrees" (i.e., salad with grilled chicken is her staple). I chose the QS and TS restaurants based on what we like to eat as well as places where children's meals have more variety. I did not have any trouble choosing locations for both QS and TS that had the variety that my DD would appreciate.

We have had the dining plan both free and not-free and I like the flexibility of it. I do have to say, though, that when they removed the appetizer and tip we were not pleased.

 

[GeorgeG]

Folks, there's really no such thing as a "free" lunch. Someone, somewhere along the way has to pay the bill, whether it's in the rack room rate, higher prices for OOP diners, limited selection, or all. The time you spend figuring the "dollar-to-dollar" savings takes away from enjoying your vacation. None of this would be necessary if Disney simply charged fair prices for all their dining (and rooms) so everyone could choose based on what they like and can afford. Burgers for a family of five should not cost $100 and a hot dog, even a good one, should not cost $8. In the same respect, if your budget does not allow for surf and turf, you eat chicken or something you can afford. Most of the restaurants in WDW would not survive in anytown, USA.

 

[Mikey'swife]

I have seen several discussion blaming the ddp for

1. High food prices
2. Poor selection
3. Poor service
4. Hard to get ADRs.

I think the reality is that CS prices at WDW are pretty average for THEME PARKS if not cheaper then most. We are talking about a controlled audience prices are going to be high.

As for TS, I agree that prices in some places are really high, especially character meals. However, prices almost never go down. So if the DDP went away prices would not magically go down to reasonable prices.

Disney is a business. I think they have decided they make the most money if they get people to see it as an all inclusive vacation. If you take ME, stay on property, eat all your meals and buy everything from them they are making the most money. In order to lure people to do this they use the DDP to get you to stay on property and therefore spend most of your money with them. It is worth it to them to give it away if that gets you to buy tickets and pay rack rate.

Whether it is a good deal for your family depends on a lot of things such as the number and age of your kids, how much you like dessert, desire to eat at character meals, desire to eat at "Disney" restaurants. If you have done some planning and want to eat they way one of the ddp are designed then they can be a great deal, if not then skip it.

I really do not see them going away. Until we bought DVC the ddp was the main reason we stayed onsite. With young kids and few ethnic restaurants in our home town we want to do lots of character meals and try different places as part of our disney experience. It is cheaper to stay at Disney with a pin or free dining then to stay off property and still eat at many of these places- we have tried both.

If Disney dropped prices on food it would encourage people to stay off property and then disney loses money on rooms, plus over all you might choose to do more shopping off property etc. Same thing about dropping the ddp.

As for selection, and ordering what you can afford. I think the one thing that elitists seem to dislike about Disney is that they want everyone to feel special and have a great trip.

Yes, you can pay for better quality rooms or more TS meals but overall we are all just Disney lovers and many with kids who want a nice trip. I think that is the design it is not a special place with only rich people to feel superior about themselves. Honestly, if that is the dining experience you are looking for I find that you are usually not going to get it anywhere that is also KID friendly.

 

[disneyholic family]

We have been to WDW 6 times since March 2008, all except one time did we get DDP. It was free for us 2 times, the other 3 we got good discounts on room and tickets so bought DDP. Everytime we loved it, the food was paid for, it was convenient, not much of a limit on items, good portions, etc. Last time we went to WDW (july/aug 2011) we paid oop for meals, we ate fine still had snacks and everything, but all agreed we rather the DDP. Before we left WDW they released the free DDP and it worked out to be over our next planned trip so we are happy to have DDP next trip. It is different for each indiv family. IMO it is not woth paying for for my family anymore since 2 oldest are considered adults and eat like kids, and youngest is now a kid and rather eat off my plate. So, no we wouldnt pay for it again, but if the "free DDP" works out to be a better deal for us, we will take it.

we just returned from 2 weeks at WDW...
i originally booked us for free dining, but then our dates had to change, so when free dining wasn't available for our new dates i decided to pay for the dining plan anyway (the rooms were discounted in the new reservation)..
i decided to buy the plan as i was already in the mindset of having all food prepaid.....so we paid for the DDP...
and while i don't think i saved any money at all (and maybe even paid a bit more) i was very happy to have everything prepaid (other than tips)..

somehow not having to pull money out of my pocket made me happier....i can't say why but it was all much less painful than it was last year when we paid for everything out of pocket...

and we had tons and tons and tons of food!!!!

 

[crostorfer]

I get the DDP not really comparing the dollar for dollar but for the pre-paid aspect. I like to have that part of the budget taken care of. It's nice going to a restaurant and not having to worry about cost. We have a 40% pin code for WL for our 11/14 trip. We are paying for our dinning plan, and yes it is expensive. We just like that our dinning budget is already taken care of. I think that getting rid of the free dining would be a better choice rather getting rid of the entire plan. Free dining was offered for our time frame but our 40% pin was a better deal.

I also agree. I always do DXDP, and for us it's not about savings, it's about convenience. I like making my trip fairly "all inclusive". Honestly, you can say no to apps or dessert if you don't want them, you don't HAVE to eat everything you are entitled to on the plan, so it doesn't HAVE to be too much food.

 

[disneyholic family]

I also agree. I always do DXDP, and for us it's not about savings, it's about convenience. I like making my trip fairly "all inclusive". Honestly, you can say no to apps or dessert if you don't want them, you don't HAVE to eat everything you are entitled to on the plan, so it doesn't HAVE to be too much food.

well i'm sure people would think we're insane - we ended up with leftover TS, CS and snack credits, even though we paid for the plan.....but does it matter? we had as much food as we wanted!!

somehow we ended up not eating one of our TS meals....and several of our CS meals....and a few snacks..

 

[crostorfer]

well i'm sure people would think we're insane - we ended up with leftover TS, CS and snack credits, even though we paid for the plan.....but does it matter? we had as much food as we wanted!!

somehow we ended up not eating one of our TS meals....and several of our CS meals....and a few snacks..

I agree with everything you said in your previous post as well. Face it folks, Disney food is reeeeeeeeeeeally expensive no matter if its a snack or a signature. It's painful to pay those prices whether you pay OOP or on the DDP. It just takes some of the sting out of it when you aren't pulling dollars out of your pocket to pay every time your kid wants a $4.00 sundae that they only eat half of, LOL.

 

[mamasha]

I think the 2012 DP price might not be worth it for us but it was in the past.

 

[JimmyV]

well i'm sure people would think we're insane - we ended up with leftover TS, CS and snack credits, even though we paid for the plan.....but does it matter? we had as much food as we wanted!!

somehow we ended up not eating one of our TS meals....and several of our CS meals....and a few snacks..

And I guess this is where I part company with the crowd that buys a dining plan because of the pre-paid "convenience". Many people sit on the other side of this fence, but as for me, pre-paying $1,200 is not worth the convenience of having my budget accounted for before we leave home if we end up eating $900 worth of food. "Convenience" does not balance out flushing several hundred dollars down the drain . At least, not for me.

 

[Angel4135]

"Convenience" does not balance out flushing several hundred dollars down the drain . At least, not for me.

I just think that there are a few different thought processes at work here. I didn't think anyone's choice is right or wrong...I am one of those people that will buy pre-cut veggies at the grocery. The time I
save is worth my money. I don't feel like I'm flushing my money
because I never add up what I
paid in comparison to what my
meals were worth. I can say yes
every time my daughter wants a
snack and not really care what it
cost. On the Dxdp we always
seem to have something left over
and that is ok! We just think about
it in a different way...no money
flushing involved!

 

[GeorgeG]

And I guess this is where I part company with the crowd that buys a dining plan because of the pre-paid "convenience". Many people sit on the other side of this fence, but as for me, pre-paying $1,200 is not worth the convenience of having my budget accounted for before we leave home if we end up eating $900 worth of food. "Convenience" does not balance out flushing several hundred dollars down the drain . At least, not for me.

This is basically where I'm coming from. When we first starting our Disney vacations 25 years ago we went for the "World Adventure Vacation Plan" the first 5 or 6 years. This was about as close to an all-inclusive package as Disney has ever offered. There were only a few onsite resorts and we always chose the Contemporary. The plan included the room, unlimited park admissions (MK & Epcot even had special gates for guests on this plan), recreation (boats and bikes included), tips for all meals and even baggage handling coming and going, and three meals a day (two on days of arrival and departure). All meals had to be at table service restaurants and included appetizer, main course, and dessert as well as non-alcoholic beverages (alcohol was included at Hoop-Dee-Doo and Luau). There were no restrictions onn the menu and dinner shows were included. It wasn't cheap, but it was convenient, to a point. Essentially, it was a pre-paid dining plan, but you could come out ahead if you utilized it for the dinner shows and restaurants like the Empress Room and other 5-star restaurants that Disney actually used to have. You could have shrimp cocktail, prime rib, and dessert three times a day if you wanted (and could eat like that the whole vacation), but (there's almost always a 'but'), you would lose a lot of money if you skipped a meal or just wanted a counter service hot dog or snack instead of a big meal. All the servers knew right away you were on that plan because the cards all had big gold keys on them.

Guess what? The last time we went on that plan was for 14 days and 1) eating like that almost killed us and 2) we lost a lot of money. We ended up skipping some lunches and it finally hit me that keeping track of the "savings" took too much fun out of the vacation and all those rich meals triggered my gout, which had a negative affect of walking around.

From that time on, we paid OOP as we went for our meals and ate what we wanted when we wanted. We actually saved money and had a much better time. I really think it can be better for your budget to pay as you go and just make better decisions. Unfortunately, Disney has made even counter serice and expensive proposition for families while dropping quality significantly. When you consider any dining plan you really need to sort out what is real savings and what is simply shrewd marketing.

 

[JimmyV]

I didn't think anyone's choice is right or wrong...

First and foremost, I agree completely. Which is why I said "part company" instead of taking the common tack of telling others that they are flat wrong.

I don't feel like I'm flushing my money
because I never add up what I paid in comparison to what my meals were worth.

To this I would say that as opposed to not "feeling" like you are flushing money, it would be more accurate to say that you don't "know" if you are flushing money, because you put on blinders. It apparently works for you. I am not hard-wired that way.

I can say yes every time my daughter wants a snack and not really care what it cost.

For me, being able to say "yes" everytime my daughter wants a snack is far less important than weighing and balancing what she has already had today, or yesterday, and evaluate whether another snack is warranted. So for me, the convenience of ignoring cost is subordinated to parental control. Of course, the same control can be employed if one is on the plan. I get that. My point is that "convenience" simply doesn't factor in on this point.

On the Dxdp we always seem to have something left over and that is ok! We just think about it in a different way...no money flushing involved!

Well, to be more accurate, money flushing is involved. You just accept it as a part of enjoying the plan, which is fine.

 

[rozac]

We just got back from WDW with 9 days of "free dining". For our family (me, hubby, dd 13 & ds 10) it was a great deal. Our pin code would have saved us $45/night and I know I couldn't have fed my family 3x a day for that price. So, for us it was a "no-brainer". We did choose to eat at the higher priced TS and it felt like a real treat. I loved that we could all order exactly what we wanted irregardless of price. That isn't a luxury we have in our day-to-day budget. The tips set us back a bit (approx $30/meal) which I hadn't thought of, but we still would do it again.

 

[Angel4135]

For me, being able to say "yes" everytime my daughter wants a snack is far less important than weighing and balancing what she has already had today, or yesterday, and evaluate whether another snack is warranted. So for me, the convenience of ignoring cost is subordinated to parental control.


I can't believe people on here really want to go as far as attacking someone's parenting. You don't know me, my family or my choices! I have many other things I would like to respond too with your "quotes" but it is not worth my energy. I have been around these boards a very long time and this is why I don't respond, it always turns into an attack. I just wanted to give my view. And for your information you can't know how someone else feels! I don't FEEL like I'm flushing my money. We have the best vacation on our own terms!

 

[JimmyV]

I can't believe people on here really want to go as far as attacking someone's parenting. You don't know me, my family or my choices! I have many other things I would like to respond too with your "quotes" but it is not worth my energy.

You might want to read my post a bit more closely before going off. Did you miss these sentences?
Of course, the same control can be employed if one is on the plan. I get that.

Embedded in that thought is the notion that people on the plan also employ the same parental control, and I include you in that category of "people". My point is that "convenience" in snacking is almost always trumped by parental control, whether you are on the plan or not. So heralding convenience in this part of the plan is a "wash" as it relates to paying OOP. Rest assured, I was not attacking your parenting, nor would I.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

I get the DDP not really comparing the dollar for dollar but for the pre-paid aspect. I like to have that part of the budget taken care of. It's nice going to a restaurant and not having to worry about cost. We have a 40% pin code for WL for our 11/14 trip. We are paying for our dinning plan, and yes it is expensive. We just like that our dinning budget is already taken care of. I think that getting rid of the free dining would be a better choice rather getting rid of the entire plan. Free dining was offered for our time frame but our 40% pin was a better deal.

I agree with this. To me, its just nice not being able to say no to a dessert at dinner each night (though I think the dessert at lunch is overkill personally), but its just nice not to worry about money..

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I see a lot of people complaining about the dining plan. What is so bad about it? If you want it, buy it, if you do not, don't. If they offer it free, take it. I really don't think that it is a value if you have to pay for it. The thing that I do not understand is people are under some impression that if Disney dropped the dining plan that all of a sudden meal prices would go down. I say not a chance. When congress would not fund the that thing with the airports did the airlines lower their prices. When oil goes down do the gas companies lower gas prices. I am sure that when or if Disney drops the dining plan food prices will go up, not down.

As for TS, I agree that prices in some places are really high, especially character meals. However, prices almost never go down. So if the DDP went away prices would not magically go down to reasonable prices.

I don't think anyone expects to see prices go down. What people would like to see is the quality improve & to have better options on the menu. As long as DDP exists, they will have to keep quality low & options limited in order to make a profit with the allotted money DDP provides. (I'm referring to 1TS restaurants not signatures.) Those paying OOP have to also make the sacrifice, even though they're not using DDP. There is no doubt the quality is nowhere near what it was pre-DDP. Most menus have been streamlined to the extreme. People will argue it's the economy causing the changes. All they need to do is look at it objectively to see those paying OOP are paying enough for the restaurants to be able to purchase higher quality ingredients. Unfortunately, that money is going to subsidize DDP instead of providing a better experience for those who are paying more for their meal. At today's prices, the quality could improve & better options added, if everyone was paying the menu price. I think that is why many would like to see the end of DDP.

 

[brunette8706]

And I guess this is where I part company with the crowd that buys a dining plan because of the pre-paid "convenience". Many people sit on the other side of this fence, but as for me, pre-paying $1,200 is not worth the convenience of having my budget accounted for before we leave home if we end up eating $900 worth of food. "Convenience" does not balance out flushing several hundred dollars down the drain . At least, not for me.

*
This. Totally agree. DDP forces you to eat TS, CS and a snack for each and every day of your trip. I'd rather save that extra money that I would have paid for the DDP for another trip. That's approximately $700.00 a week just in food alone for 2 people. We do have the TIW and that works great for us.

 

[HunnyJar]

*
This. Totally agree. DDP forces you to eat TS, CS and a snack for each and every day of your trip. I'd rather save that extra money that I would have paid for the DDP for another trip. That's approximately $700.00 a week just in food alone for 2 people. We do have the TIW and that works great for us.

This is where having options is great. We enjoy the dining plan and get it for each trip. We often shuffle the credits around. We don't have to do a TS, CS and a snack every day. For example.. This trip we are getting to WDW around 6:00 pm or so and have ADR's for 'Ohana that night. The CS and snack will be rolled over for another time. Some days we will do a character meal for breakfast and another for dinner - so that following day we will do two CS meals. And as far as the snacks so.. Well, grabbing that midday Dole Whip or something similar we would do regardless of having the dining plan or not, so that snack credit definitely does not go to waste. And we often grab a bottle of water or a piece of fruit for a snack credit as well. This whole plan works for us. Whether or not we are traveling with our kids or without them.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I couldn't agree with OP more. I only did the DDP for first time in 2010, basic once and DxDDP once. It was OK, but I decided to try TiW this time and input on Cafeen's spreadsheet the meals for basic DDP and DxDDP just eating the way we wanted to. We would've saved nothing with DDP and LOST lots of money with DxDDP. Looking at the 2012 dining plan prices, I can't see how anyone could find a value in it at all. Before I read this, I was just thinking of posting "Who is still saving money on DDP who keeps track?" just to see if I was missing something???