Just back - some DDP observations

[ntsammy5]

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So, my question is, do you receive some kind of booklet when you check-in that tells you where all the CS places are you can eat at and where you can get snacks and such?

Look at the sticky on the DDP post. There is a brochure there that lists all of the participating locations or go here and look near the bottom. It lists all participants and links to menus. Have fun....


http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/packages06a.htm

 

[slenderella]

Ooooh! I am not so sure this is going to be worth the frustration. I do have ADR's in place for the TS that we wanted. But now it sounds like it is going to be nothing but a headache for the snack locations. Why is this? A person would think if you can get use a snack credit at one "soda cart" then you should be able to use it at another. I am starting to wonder if this is going to be worth it. And they should have some kind of back-up system in case of system failures.

 

[naz022292]

It was definately worth it. We were there from 8/13- 8/19. We ate at Coral Reef on 8/13 & 8/18. Sun. our reservation was @ 4:20. We arrived at 4:10 and we were seated by 4:20. On Friday we had 4:30 res. We got there at about 4:25 and we were seated by 4:40. We were a party of 7.

Regarding system being down: One time we went to purchase a soda at snack cart who told us the system was down, but would be up soon. We walked until we came to the next cart and the system was up - The problem must have been sporatic throughout the day - because, although we heard people talk about the problem, we never had any other trouble.

As far as the tip - According to another board - In any restaurant (disney or other) the tips are "shared" with other workers in rest. (Not sure exactly who, but bus boys, prep people etc...) This leaves the server with about 10% - I am sure that they didn't get a flat amount where we ate because the encourged you to pick the most expensive meals. At Coral Reef our waiter even tried to "suggest" we get the fried scallops on the ceasar salad. He clearly was trying to increase his tip.

We had great service at Coral Reef, Le Cellier, Planet Hollywood, Hollywood & Vine, and Biergarten. If any of them didn't ask up front if we had the dining plan, we told them - and that helped things go smothly. Any small inconveniences caused on dining plan are FAR outweighed by the benefits of savings and convenience that you get

 

[castleri]

As far as the tip - According to another board - In any restaurant (disney or other) the tips are "shared" with other workers in rest. (Not sure exactly who, but bus boys, prep people etc...) This leaves the server with about 10% - I am sure that they didn't get a flat amount where we ate because the encourged you to pick the most expensive meals. At Coral Reef our waiter even tried to "suggest" we get the fried scallops on the ceasar salad. He clearly was trying to increase his tip.

It has been reported that the servers at non Disney owned restaurants get tipped on what Disney pays the restaurant for the meal - something like $25-$30 not on the value as listed on the bill- so $5 per person may be correct. At the Disney owned restaurants it is 18% of the total bill- the ones who say 10% are probably taking into account the fact that since it is not a cash tip it is added to their weekly pay and subsequently taxes, etc are taken out leaving less for them to take home as well as having to tip out bus people, bar tenders etc.

Am looking forward to CR in Sept. and hope to have one of the great experiences reported and not one of the bad ones I have seen lately.

allflgirl - we did get a brochure at check in when we had the plan in April - hopefully they have upgraded it to include the new snack options.

 

[Simba's Mom]

It was definately worth it. We were there from 8/13- 8/19. We ate at Coral Reef on 8/13 & 8/18. Sun. our reservation was @ 4:20. We arrived at 4:10 and we were seated by 4:20. On Friday we had 4:30 res. We got there at about 4:25 and we were seated by 4:40. We were a party of 7.

Regarding system being down: One time we went to purchase a soda at snack cart who told us the system was down, but would be up soon. We walked until we came to the next cart and the system was up - The problem must have been sporatic throughout the day - because, although we heard people talk about the problem, we never had any other trouble.

As far as the tip - According to another board - In any restaurant (disney or other) the tips are "shared" with other workers in rest. (Not sure exactly who, but bus boys, prep people etc...) This leaves the server with about 10% - I am sure that they didn't get a flat amount where we ate because the encourged you to pick the most expensive meals. At Coral Reef our waiter even tried to "suggest" we get the fried scallops on the ceasar salad. He clearly was trying to increase his tip.

We had great service at Coral Reef, Le Cellier, Planet Hollywood, Hollywood & Vine, and Biergarten. If any of them didn't ask up front if we had the dining plan, we told them - and that helped things go smothly. Any small inconveniences caused on dining plan are FAR outweighed by the benefits of savings and convenience that you get

Thanks, now I feel better about my ADR at Coral Reef. Would you mind sharing a little more about your experience there, particularly what you ate and how it was?

 

[Pirate Dad]

Thanks for all the info!

 

[naz022292]

Thanks, now I feel better about my ADR at Coral Reef. Would you mind sharing a little more about your experience there, particularly what you ate and how it was?

There was 7 of us and we ate there 2 nights - so we had one of almost everything. I had shrimp coctail app, crab cake, and wave for dessert the 1st time - on our last night I had shrimp app, mahi mahi, and cheesecake. Everything I had was very good to excellent. A couple in our party had the strip steak - they both loved it so much that they had it the next time, and talked a couple more into it. The chicken was very juicy (my son had that) it is served over a pasta dish similiar to lasagna. A friend had the salmon and liked it alot. The only person that had any complaints was my brother. The 2nd time he ordered lobster soup for appetizer - but when it came it was not hot. He told us out loud, and the gentleman cleaning a table nearby must have heard him, because our waiter came rushing out with a new bowl immediately.

The restaurant is designed so that you get to see the fish tank from anywhere. The tables are on several levels to assure good views to all. When I made our ADRs I started with this one because it looked so great with the fish - As I was making our reservations I became concerned that we might miss the first adr if our plane was delayed so I scheduled it again for our last night. That's why we had it for 2 nights - but it was good so we didn't want to change the 2nd night.

Hope you keep your ADR and hope you have a good experience there!