Is it just me or has the 2008 DDP chased guests out of the TS places?

[OKW Mom]

My guess is that people who are on the DDP would be going to table service restaurants. They wouldn't want to waste the TS credits. So if this is attributable to the DDP I think it's:

1) decline in the number of guests who are purchasing DDP because of the 2008 changes, or because they want to tour without being constrained by having to make it to table service dining reservations every day

2) decline in the number of guests at WDW in total, possibly due to national economic concerns

3) faster turnover in the restaurants due to elimination of the appetizer from the basic dining plan

At any rate I must confess that I'd be glad if the restaurants were no longer TOO busy. If they're that busy all the time, the food and service suffers.

1-As DVC members we always had Florida family drop in over the weekend of our stay.
2-We were always honest about that with the front desk.
3-When they told me I would have to buy DDP for the entire time for each guest and it was not transferable from guest to guest I hit the roof. (very quietly and politely thinking I could "move" them to my view).
4-When I got a very terse email about needing a DDP for each guest for the length of the reservation I sent several more emails registering my disgust.
5-In 2007, Florida family did not visit and we decided to not buy the DDP in 2008.
6-We did not like the $1. discount for what we lost.
7-I eat alot, my family eats alot.

In 07' We did not waste any of the food and the snacks were enjoyed as loaves of bread, chips for the room, and while we sat at the airport waiting in line to get on the SW flight.

When the product does not fit the consumers need the vendor will realize a change in spending habits.

 

[NMW]

We got same day ressies for Yachtsman Steakhouse on a Friday night. I'd say the gutting of the DDP is doing GOOD THINGS for Disney dining.

The other thing is our food was fantastic! It had declined greatly during the whole DDP debacle.

Good riddance to that program!

I'm glad to hear that the food was fantastic again! We have an ADR for the first night of our trip in May. I also agree that the basic dining plan is not a good value, but then even in it's old version it was never a good fit for our family. We don't like CS meals, we eat TS breakfast AND dinner every day, just basicly not a great fit.

The Deluxe dining plan on the other hand is what I have been begging Disney for! Have you looked into this plan? Three meals a day (no CS unless you want it), you can use two for a signature, the appetizer stays-all for $70. It's like the premium plan without all the extras-boating rentals, childcare, etc.

I really doubt Disney will ever do away with meals plans entirely. They have had them for years and years. When we first stated going to Disney (2002)we used to do the silver and gold meal plans which were better fits than the DDP that replaced them. I'm so glad people finally have the option of a 3 meal a day plan (or 2 if you do a signature) without paying for stuff we wouldn't use.

 

[NMW]

1-As DVC members we always had Florida family drop in over the weekend of our stay.
2-We were always honest about that with the front desk.
3-When they told me I would have to buy DDP for the entire time for each guest and it was not transferable from guest to guest I hit the roof. (very quietly and politely thinking I could "move" them to my view).
4-When I got a very terse email about needing a DDP for each guest for the length of the reservation I sent several more emails registering my disgust.
5-In 2007, Florida family did not visit and we decided to not buy the DDP in 2008.
6-We did not like the $1. discount for what we lost.
7-I eat alot, my family eats alot.

In 07' We did not waste any of the food and the snacks were enjoyed as loaves of bread, chips for the room, and while we sat at the airport waiting in line to get on the SW flight.

When the product does not fit the consumers need the vendor will realize a change in spending habits.

Have you looked into the deluxe plan? Based on #7 and the use of snack credits, you might like it. Each person would get 2 snack credits per day plus a refillable mug and 3 meals a day. Or you could use 2 meals for a signature. You don't lose the appetizers with the deluxe plan either. Just a thought.

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

I wish I had your luck with my ADR's. I made Le Cellier 3 months ago before I even knew for sure we were going (have tried to eat there three times). Just recently found our MIL is going, so our party of four turned in to a party of 5 (even though one is a baby) and I couldn't modify three of our ressies (50's Prime Time, Le Cellier and Tusker House Breakfast)! uGH! Looks like the first week of May is going to be busy...no wonder they're not offering any free upgrades!

I'm wondering what would happen if I walked in and played dumb that "I just didn't realize I had to count the baby as a person..." I know that's not very magical of me, but I worked so hard planning these ADR'S!!!!!!!

 

[TDC Nala]

It has always been a requirement that everyone on the reservation must purchase the dining plan for the same amount of time. DDP credits have never been transferable. They're not going to change that. If there's a change in the popularity of DDP now, it's not due to that policy.

Personally I don't even think it's a huge deal that the snacks are now limited to single serving items. That doesn't surprise me in the least. If there is a perceived decline in value of the DDP, it's due to the appetizer and the tip (especially the tip).

 

[ssaa]

So here's my take on the 2008 DDP:

If you decided to add the appy + your tip (15-20%), your average OOP expense per person (adult) per day would be around $18.
So you are now going to have to spend 38+18=56 per day to get everything you got with the 2007 DDP.

However, the 07 DDP was toooo much food to begin with, so I'm not heartbroken about losing the appy. (I think they win a lot of people back if they gave the customer a choice between appy or desert)
And now people won't blindy order the most expensive items on the menu since they are responsible for the tip portion of their bill...so you are more likely to order what you want, instead of the most $$$ items. I think that was smart of Disney.
AND, hopefully servers will not ignore DDP guests, since tips are not automatically included.

Everything here is going up in price....if Disney had increased the DDP rates every year by 10%, we'd by paying around $50/day for an adult anyway.

For my family, our style of touring WDW and our eating habits, the DDP still works well. It didn't work for others earlier, and the 08 won't work for everyone either.

I called to make ADR's for May and got everything I wanted! Except that Le Cellier our ressies are for 5pm..a bit early, but oh well. I'm still thrilled that I'll be eating there.

 

[global_mom]

I finally got some free time today in order to call Dining to try and rebook some ressies that will take place on March 7-9. So these are less than 3 weeks away.

We were going to change our dates for a portion of our vacation b/c our son is able to join us at the last minute. However, I was able to get a 1 bedroom villa and cancel our studio, thus we did not have to change our actual dates. I did need to change all the ADRs b/c we would now have 5 people instead of four.

Here is how it played out:

Tusker House breakfast - canceled our party of 4 for 10:25 and easily got ADR for 5 people at 10:30

Mickey's BackYard BBQ - no problem to change to a party of 5 but decided to cancel this all together b/c the kids were not too excited about it

Rose and Crown - wanted to change to party of 5 but they could not accomodate our 6:30 time choice, had 3 other time choices earlier than 6:30 which would not work for us but they did have multiple availabilities

Tutto Italia (sp?) - easily booked this for 7pm which was our first choice and there were openings for earlier times. This will work well with Illuminations.

So overall, it was no problem to change the ADRs and still get what we wanted. We opted to cancel Rose and Crown b/c of the times available but again there were 3 times to choose from.

It does seem that getting the ADRs has become easier but I have not tried Le Cellier of California Grille this week. Friends got Jiko w/o probs and I have talked to several people who were able to easily change ADRs once they were at the World. I guess time will tell if this is a true change or just a blip caused by the changes to the DDP.

 

[keylimepie]

This is my first post, and I haven't use da DDP yet, btu we got it for August. I made reservations today, and the only places that seemed really full were Boma, which only had 3 time slots available and CRT at lunch, which I think we must be one of the last slots at 2:45. The Coral Reef was pretty open, sci fi also, it seemed, and Liberty Tavern maybe someplace in between. But by far, Boma and CRT were the only ones that had limited seatings.

 

[global_mom]

This is my first post, and I haven't use da DDP yet, btu we got it for August. I made reservations today, and the only places that seemed really full were Boma, which only had 3 time slots available and CRT at lunch, which I think we must be one of the last slots at 2:45. The Coral Reef was pretty open, sci fi also, it seemed, and Liberty Tavern maybe someplace in between. But by far, Boma and CRT were the only ones that had limited seatings.

Welcome to the DIS!

Just wanted to add that I called back to Dining last night and needed to add a Crystal palace breakfast ADR for 2 weeks from now. Got it with no problem at the time that we wanted. It was too easy.

Hopefully this trend will continue!

 

[global_mom]

OK - this will be my last post about this b/c I know that I will bore ya'll to death so here goes....

Just called to make an ADR for this Friday night, Feb. 22nd. I wanted Chef De France at 8:30 and I got Chef De France at 8:30 plus there were 4 other times available! We were not concerned about being finished with our meal prior to Illuminations since we have seen it so many times. Could just be that the times during Illuminations are easier to get? Would have taken the early Le Cellier spot that was open but we are eating there in 2 weeks so thought we would try something new.

I am totally convinced that the changes to the DDP have had a direct effect on the availability of ADRs.

I am not sure if I should get used to getting the exact ADRs that I want on such short notice but I must say that it is nice!

PS - I canceled Narcoosees at 9pm on the 22nd if anyone is looking for that.

 

[mickey2000]

I made reservations today for June NO problems.
When I asked the person helping me thay indicated that reservations are down.
Can you spell R E C E S S I O N

 

[RachaelRol]

We've done the DDP each of our last three trips. It was an obvious no brainer... This year I had to "do the math" to determine what if anything was the value. We are appetizer people so losing that was a big deal. Like Jim MIA, we thought about having most of our meals off site.

I did a quick comparision of Disney menus where we would eat, added appetizers and tip and compared this to all offsite places and a mix of on and off site places. We came our slightly ahead with the dining plan, saving about $150 to $200 using the on off mix which was most realistic.

We like the convenience of staying and dining on property. We will and have always had a car for our trips and go offsite for water, snacks, souvies, water etc...

I guess Disney's master plan worked on us. We're okay paying for the appetizer and tip just for the convenience. If service and food quality improve, great too!

I called last week, less than 180 days our from our August trip and got every ADR we wanted for our party of three including Le Cellier. All our ressies except LC are between 6:30 and 7:00, the time we eat at home. We got Le Cellier at 5:50.