Meal plans ?

[mickeys girl 52]

I was wondering if anyone has heard any talk of neoplan's coming back anytime soon? It sure would be nice.

 

[kes601]

Not gonna be any time soon. They just released a cash deal for a free dining gift card w/cash stays over the summer.

 

[Narcoossee11]

I think the DDP is gone forever.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

That DDP did not come back January 1 suggests it will not come back this year.

Contracts are key to the DDP.

The meal credit does not require contract administration or negotiation.

 

[Matty B13]

I'm thinking that they are going to see how people use this Meal Credit Card/Gift Card and use the data to try to put something together to bring the Meal Plan back...... of course to maximize profit on it.

 

[Chuck S]

Also, a lot of the non-Disney operated restaurants are just starting back up to full normal operation, and a good portion of them are totally new. They are probably waiting to see what the actual cost of labor and meals are with the current prices, and then they need to negotiate how much Disney will pay them per meal, and what would be included. and one or two dining credits. I would not expect any sort of trial run before this fall, and more likely next January.

If/when the dining plans return, I would not be surprised to see it become more a meal voucher, with perhaps a seperate prix fixe menu of selectiions, rather than "any entree on the menu." Some restaurants were already headed in that direction with the basic menu and then
add-ons prior to the pandemic shutdown.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

At the restaurant level, having the dining credit is superior to the dining plan.

On the dining plan, they were paid a set cost for each DDP diner. To simplify the example, they got $25 per adult on Standard, $40 on Deluxe. So they were motivated to play hard with ingredient cost and quality to maintain profits since they had no flexibility through the year to change the pricing. They were going to get that set rate, 12 months.

Under a credit system, diners basically have a gift card. So if the price of eggs goes way up (ugh), they can raise the pricing on an omelet. If they now charge $14 instead of $12, they actually get that $14, instead of the added egg cost eating into whatever profit they get in the $25 set reimbursement.

It's like business travel. If your company reimburses at actual, with a ceiling, you tend to eat differently than if they give you $50/day and say "have fun."

 

[CarolynFH]

I agree with @_auroraborealis_ , and I think the DDP as it previously existed is unlikely to return. It was confusing and convoluted, with all the different levels of plans getting various numbers of QS & TS meals and snacks, not to mention what constituted a meal or a snack. I could see them offering discounted gift cards, though, as I’ve said elsewhere - for example, a $500 GC for $400. Then the guest can use it as they want to, can eat where and what they prefer, instead of being locked into whatever the parameters are for a given plan, and it’s much easier for the restaurant staff, too. I think this recent offer is testing how well that might work.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I agree with @_auroraborealis_ , and I think the DDP as it previously existed is unlikely to return. It was confusing and convoluted, with all the different levels of plans getting various numbers of QS & TS meals and snacks, not to mention what constituted a meal or a snack. I could see them offering discounted gift cards, though, as I’ve said elsewhere - for example, a $500 GC for $400. Then the guest can use it as they want to, can eat where and what they prefer, instead of being locked into whatever the parameters are for a given plan, and it’s much easier for the restaurant staff, too. I think this recent offer is testing how well that might work.

It also saves you a ton of staff time on contract negotiation and administration. I suspect most of the people they had running that side of DDP are gone or not available to do it.

 

[tjkraz]

At the restaurant level, having the dining credit is superior to the dining plan.

On the dining plan, they were paid a set cost for each DDP diner. To simplify the example, they got $25 per adult on Standard, $40 on Deluxe. So they were motivated to play hard with ingredient cost and quality to maintain profits since they had no flexibility through the year to change the pricing. They were going to get that set rate, 12 months.

Under a credit system, diners basically have a gift card. So if the price of eggs goes way up (ugh), they can raise the pricing on an omelet. If they now charge $14 instead of $12, they actually get that $14, instead of the added egg cost eating into whatever profit they get in the $25 set reimbursement.

It's like business travel. If your company reimburses at actual, with a ceiling, you tend to eat differently than if they give you $50/day and say "have fun."

Yes to all of this!

A few years ago, there were good analyses written about how the DDP had dumbed-down restaurant dining. Two things happened:

1) It forced TS restaurants to either pigeonhole themselves as standard or signature. There was no middle ground. Restaurants either got compensated based upon 1 dining credit being used or two dining credits.

2) TS restaurants dumbed-down high-end menu items because they were getting paid the same amount regardless. If the menu featured a $20 pasta dish, a $30 steak and a $40 lobster, guess what most people gravitated toward? The entire basis of the DDP was "saving" money and it's much easier to come out looking good when selecting the most expensive item on the menu and pumping a fist in victory. So the restaurant took those high-end items and trimmed the portion so the ingredient cost wasn't twice the price of other items. Or they eliminated those high-end selections altogether.

Good riddance.

 

[keishashadow]

File it under things that no longer are @ WDW. When the DP first came out in 2005 it was $35 per adult & $10 for kiddo. Unbelievable bargain in these times, even factoring in RL inflation!

included: appetizer/entree/dessert/NA drink & tip. A heck of a deal, even for DVC members who were willing to bank points/take an extra trip.

Can only imagine where the cost of that would hit now, if it were offered.

We only did the DDP once, felt as tho all we did was eat, just too much food…especially, in the FL heat & humidity.

booked several trips at the all stars to take advantage of the first few years of the deal until it morphed to the point where it no longer was ‘a deal’ for us. Sometimes we’d add a couple days onto existing trips. Others, it was nice to have banked points for a change. of course, back then, you could hang onto the tix from the package & use the value to renew your AP when that time rolled around.

if DP were offered again in that sort of format, wouldn’t be surprised to see people clamoring to buy that version, no matter the cost. Even if offered in the most recent version they had, believe people would be all over it as, for many, it was viewed as an all-inclusive convenience.