New credit card guarantees. Restaurant list, policy & common questions in 1st post

[Lewisc]

That's probably because no other restaurant in the world has anything to do with the #1 tourist destination...........They could use that extra $10 per cancellation/no-show to help pay for the nighttime fireworks spectaculars (instead of reducing them) which I'm fairly certain your neighbor's restaurants don't do. But correct me if I'm wrong.

There are only 70+ TS sites at WDW and Disney is simply protecting their investment. I'm not sure I understand why so many people on this thread are !

Your wrong. There is zero evidence to think the revenue from this charge will be used to pay for fireworks spectacular.

If Disney is taking drastic steps such as these (and yes, it is drastic for a faimly of ANY size to pay out money for nothing if a child falls ill or if someone is exhausated and cannot make a ressie (risking further health issues if they continue) then they are truly missing the mark. Punishing everyone for the mistakes of a few is never a wise choice.

Disney's trying to ADJUST guest behavior. Instead of just not showing up for that ADR you will now have to cancel it. ....
........Nobody likes having to pay more - but there it is.

It's not clear if this is an attempt to adjust guest behavior or simply a way to have guests pay more. People can still cancel the day before. This change will have little effect on guests who book ADRs on "spec".

It seems, in most cases (not all), those who are the most upset are the same ones who cancelled for not so valid reasons.


Unfortunately, based on the DIS alone there seems to be more than a small amount of abuse, & we're just a minuscule number of WDW guests.

It doesn't seem like that to me at all. I've never been a "no show" for an ADR and I don't think I've ever canceled an ADR I don't make ADRs "on spec".

I don't want a system which penalizes me if a family member becomes ill. I certainly don't want a system which results in families with screaming kids deciding to keep an ADR rather then lose money.

Do the math. Assume a family with at one more kids. One or more free kids. The total cancellation fee is 30-50% the cost of the meal.

 

[eliza61]

I suppose it could backfire and result in a drastic downturn of business at the affected restaurants but somehow I don't think so. If you bought a DDP you are still going to want character meals. If you're not into character meals you are probably into signatures.

The Metro system around here put in a peak of the peak fare to try and nudge Metro riders into changing the hours they ride the trains. But nobody changed anything (mostly because a lot of commuters are riding on employer subsidies and are not paying the higher fares themselves). So either this will work and guests will change the way they've been looking at dining at these particular restaurants, or they won't.

I know we've got 63 pages here about whether guests like the change or not, but it doesn't matter. Nobody likes having to pay more - but there it is.

True but as netfix and bank of america are finding out, consumers are no longer accepting the "what can you do" attitude. Consumer are way more proactive.

Now my concern will be that it won't work as well as disney expects and then disney will do what disney does, make cutbacks to meet the profit objective they thought they were going to get.

My opinion is the best it will do is make more people frequent the places that dont charge and nothing wrong with that.

 

[mama03]

Have not and will not read through 900 posts. So I don't know if someone has expressed my opinions yet or not. My personal opinion is that this is a very good idea. My main reason is that your waitstaff service will be back to the stellar ways of the past. Why, because Disney restaurants will know just how many people will actually show up for reservations. Therefore, more or better servers and helpers.

 

[dismommom]

Totally agree with the bolded... just not in the same way

And totally agree with the inverse of the 2nd bolded.

I'm getting pretty disillusioned right now, between this and other recent debacles. Disney is losing its luster in my eyes, and it seems to only be a shell of what it once was. The CMs on the ground are not part of this, as most of them do their best with what's given them, I feel that the company is giving them far, far less to spread around though, and that's being seen by the guests. I do feel that they're on the wrong path, and this is just another step forward along it. I could be wrong, and, in fact, I hope I am. I just don't think so.

When a service driven company, who always prides itself on the highest level of guest service and satisfaction, starts implementing policies that are only halfway thought out and seem to have no real logic behind them, I start to question whether or not they have lost touch with their base. I don't begrudge them the ability to make money, after all, without it there'd be no parks. I do begrudge them making more money by offering less, at lower quality, with less satisfaction.

This is a little long and a bit off scope for the thread, but this policy is just another in a longer chain. The policies and decisions that are not fully thought out, especially in the realm of guest reaction. Just slapping "to improve guest experience" on it doesn't mean it will actually improve guest experience.

I agree

 

[Cafeen]

There's children born every day, which means new parents & grandparents who want to take their kids/grandkids to WDW. There's also those people who grew up dreaming of going to Disney, & now can as an adult. I don't see them running out of guests any time soon. As much as we'd like to feel irreplaceable, WDW hasn't seemed to put a high value on repeat visitors in a long time. Sadly, I had to learn to accept that years ago. We're all just another paying customer.

Meanwhile, Disney's turning into just another bloated corporation, and WDW itself is turning into just another theme park.

If they truly think their customers are replaceable, that's a sad state to be in. A business wants growth, not stagnation. Even if you're replacing every customer you lose, unless you can start keeping customers while getting those new ones, it's not healthy for the company.

In other words, just because we're replaceable, doesn't mean that them turning us off isn't potentially damaging.

How far do you think they can go and still maintain the success they expect?

Actually, it's typical throughout the hotel industry.
Snurk71 has confirmed at least a couple of times that it's the day before - until 10 by phone or 11:59 online.

He's confirmed once or twice, while two other people heard the opposite. We won't really know until these ADRs start happening and we get reports of when they were charged and when they weren't.

Besides, how can you (this is a general you) play the typical card with the method of charging resort rates, but the atypical card when dealing with dining policy? (Where's that pot stirring thingy!)

 

[dismommom]

It makes me worry too, and I am a planner. I travel with a pretty diverse group, ranging from my 60-something mother down to my 3yo DD, and that seems to up the odds that something unexpected like illness will get in the way of my best laid plans (and I am a planner - I have our daily touring plans for Jan already saved on my computer, but I won't print them until we're a week out because I know park hours may well change between now and then).

I wish they'd shorten the ADR window to correspond with the 45 cancellation penalty/package payoff date so that fewer people would be booking "on spec" for trips that they may or may not take, and that they would hold out some tables for walk-ups and leave the Fastpass system well enough alone. But you're right - it seems like Disney is going in the exact opposite direction and it is making WDW less desirable as a destination for my family. I don't want more structure and deadlines in my vacation than in my real life! We're thinking our post-Fantasyland expansion trip in the winter of 2013/4 may be the last for a while if these trends continue.

Bravo - My thoughts exactly. I want to relax on vacation but have some nice meals. I have not problem going to Applebees where I know what to expect an I don't need a reservation

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

...
There are only 70+ TS sites at WDW and Disney is simply protecting their investment. I'm not sure I understand why so many people on this thread are still howling at the wind. Disney has done the math and they're clearly willing to lose 2% (yes, 2%, not 20% or more like some of you think) of their customers and their dining habits over this change. So why is anyone still expending their energy complaining about it? Not only will this policy not be overturned, but I'll bet within 18-24 months it will extend to all TS restaurants on property. As for anyone who says they'll take their vacation dollars elsewhere as a result... No, you won't. You'll come back and you'll obey because WDW is one of a kind and no other collection of parks in the world compares, and you know it. And every time you come on these boards it's a win for Disney. It's time you took out of your day to devote to WDW and everything it stands for. See ya real soon!

I've been following this thread from the beginning but didn't think I had anything that would add to what has already been said. I find it interesting that both sides are willing to speculate on the percentage of people that are on both sides of the issue and act like it is somehow based on fact.

We're a family of four with two young kids and growing. As the policy stands now, I'm waiting to see what it looks like what it actually goes into effect. I don't think it will affect how we do Disney and it's not enough to keep us from coming back. We only do one or two character meals a trip and after our next trip, the kids will be getting to the age where several signature meals in a trip isn't a good idea anyway. For a handful of meals during a trip, I'm still willing to take the risk of a cancellation fee if something comes up.

That said, as several people have already posted this combined with other recent Disney policy changes makes us nervous for the future. If this policy is eventually expanded to all Disney restaurants, we would seriously consider other vacation destinations and would at least stop going every year. We will wait and see. There's far more potential in our eyes for Disney to improve in the next few years than not.

 

[Mom of 2 Wife of 1]

Bravo - My thoughts exactly. I want to relax on vacation but have some nice meals. I have not problem going to Applebees where I know what to expect an I don't need a reservation

What does Applebees have anything to do with WDW?

If you're implying that instead of eating on property, you'll go off-site, Disney still wins. Because you bought a ticket to get into the parks, and now you're willing to waste two hours just to leave the MK, get on a ferry, bus or monorail to the TTC, get on a tram to your car, drive off-site, eat, and then what? Not go back to the MK? Then Disney won back a portion of your day-ticket. If you go back to the MK, Disney wins again because you de-valued the price of your day-ticket by not using it for the entire day. And what was it all for? To spend $60 on a meal for a family of four instead of $80? No. You bought tickets for the day and you wasted 25% just to eat off-site and "show" Disney what's what.

In the end, Disney wins. They have people crunching these numbers all day long. If Disney loses you to an outside F&B venue, there will be someone else to take your place on-site. And when they raise prices and lose a customer, the raised prices make up for that lost customer. Disney won't be missing you. Your children, on the other hand, will be missing Disney and you know it.

 

[pinkerbell]

True but as netfix and bank of america are finding out, consumers are no longer accepting the "what can you do" attitude. Consumer are way more proactive.

Now my concern will be that it won't work as well as disney expects and then disney will do what disney does, make cutbacks to meet the profit objective they thought they were going to get.

My opinion is the best it will do is make more people frequent the places that dont charge and nothing wrong with that.

It is sad, but I have done it myself.. put evil Bank of America and Disney in the same sentence... very sad And I have though about th4e netflix comparison as well

I agree

What does Applebees have anything to do with WDW?

If you're implying that instead of eating on property, you'll go off-site, Disney still wins. Because you bought a ticket to get into the parks, and now you're willing to waste two hours just to leave the MK, get on a ferry, bus or monorail to the TTC, get on a tram to your car, drive off-site, eat, and then what? Not go back to the MK? Then Disney won back a portion of your day-ticket. If you go back to the MK, Disney wins again because you de-valued the price of your day-ticket by not using it for the entire day. And what was it all for? To spend $60 on a meal for a family of four instead of $80? No. You bought tickets for the day and you wasted 25% just to eat off-site and "show" Disney what's what.

In the end, Disney wins. They have people crunching these numbers all day long. If Disney loses you to an outside F&B venue, there will be someone else to take your place on-site. And when they raise prices and lose a customer, the raised prices make up for that lost customer. Disney won't be missing you. Your children, on the other hand, will be missing Disney and you know it.

My children (and I bet many others, won't be.. see previous post the Cape won over diseny, Six Flags also) Again, children ar NOT all about Disney, many want Harry potter (disney falls very short on Boy entetainement HP is for both, some want seuss, some want Looney tunes or Batman & Robin.. or even thh beach. There are choices.. MANY
Disney has made a chain of bad Disney Channel choices and my kids can no longer watch it, many parents feel this way, too much teen programing labeled as kids.. call it what they want, but I see it for what it is.
Many kids aer getting way less disney exposure than when The disney channel was still for kids (dont even discuss Diseny Jr)
My 7 yo stopped going to the website because they took away all the things she liked. She told me this... really a kid that no longer likes the dis website! I will not dicatate to her what she should like and seem's Disney is falling OUT of favor in many eye's
The stores are equally packed with non disney merch and kid's have their fav's, and it is not alwyas Disney. Much more reasonably priced choices as well, so if Disney feels the need to go even higher in prices for lost revenue.. they will do more damage than good, Many for sure will stop buying merchandise as well as going to the parks

 

[burberryplaid]

Just wanted to report I had no issues booking a signature this morning online with the new policy.

I booked Jiko for my husband's birthday which is our arrival day for our spring trip. I was asked for a credit card, name and billing address online..no issues.

Now if they would let me book my +10! Aggghhh!! Waiting to call the dining line shortly since the online wouldn't let me even though I put in my reservation number!

 

[Mkrop]

There's children born every day, which means new parents & grandparents who want to take their kids/grandkids to WDW. There's also those people who grew up dreaming of going to Disney, & now can as an adult. I don't see them running out of guests any time soon. As much as we'd like to feel irreplaceable, WDW hasn't seemed to put a high value on repeat visitors in a long time. Sadly, I had to learn to accept that years ago. We're all just another paying customer.

If that is Disney's marketing strategy, that has to be the worst one yet. In all the Marketing classes and meetings I have been in, you NEVER devalue your current customer EVER.

The other #1 Marketing strategy is word of mouth...if enough people here negative things from people who have been on their trips eventually this will play a role.

Where I live tons of people choose the Shore every year for their vacation, they may go to WDW once and then choose to never go back. There are very few "veterans" around here that return over and over again.

Plus if WDW had an endless supply of customers, they would not have to offer discounts or free dining, yet they do.

What does Applebees have anything to do with WDW?

If you're implying that instead of eating on property, you'll go off-site, Disney still wins. Because you bought a ticket to get into the parks, and now you're willing to waste two hours just to leave the MK, get on a ferry, bus or monorail to the TTC, get on a tram to your car, drive off-site, eat, and then what? Not go back to the MK? Then Disney won back a portion of your day-ticket. If you go back to the MK, Disney wins again because you de-valued the price of your day-ticket by not using it for the entire day. And what was it all for? To spend $60 on a meal for a family of four instead of $80? No. You bought tickets for the day and you wasted 25% just to eat off-site and "show" Disney what's what.

In the end, Disney wins. They have people crunching these numbers all day long. If Disney loses you to an outside F&B venue, there will be someone else to take your place on-site. And when they raise prices and lose a customer, the raised prices make up for that lost customer. Disney won't be missing you. Your children, on the other hand, will be missing Disney and you know it.

This is the most skewed business plan idea ever, it goes against everything I ever learned. The only way Disney wins is if I stay in property 24/7 and give them as much money as I can.

Unless people stay in the park opening to close, they will devalue their ticket in your scenario. If they go back to their DVC villa and cook a meal, or there cabin and do a cook out etc.

Tons of people every day stay off site, whether at another hotel, or at grandmas and may eat one of their meals there, I dont think they see their day ticket devalued nor does WDW.

 

[happypooh]

This past september I was at a conference and so booked a few ADRs for friends to join us for dinner...problem was no one could confirm if they could come to the dinners at all..we had to wait til the day of to figure out if we had time or were too tired after the conference to make it to the meals. With the new system there is no way I'd be able to book and take responsibility for 15 other people -and the chances of being able to walk up with 7-10 of them (as I have no idea how many out of the 15 will show up til probably around 4 hours prior to the ADR) would be very small at a signature or character meal (we ended up eating at Ohana, Park Fare and Chef Mickeys). So if we ever go to WDW again for a conference we'll be eating at non character meals or just off site especially if they decide to include all restaurants which is kinda sad.
I say we twitter bomb Disney to tell them how bad this is. Seriously, if we don't speak up then they'll just expand this. It makes me ill thinking about the stress of booking future trips with Disney and we have DVC!!

 

[Colleen27]

What does Applebees have anything to do with WDW?

If you're implying that instead of eating on property, you'll go off-site, Disney still wins. Because you bought a ticket to get into the parks, and now you're willing to waste two hours just to leave the MK, get on a ferry, bus or monorail to the TTC, get on a tram to your car, drive off-site, eat, and then what? Not go back to the MK? Then Disney won back a portion of your day-ticket. If you go back to the MK, Disney wins again because you de-valued the price of your day-ticket by not using it for the entire day. And what was it all for? To spend $60 on a meal for a family of four instead of $80? No. You bought tickets for the day and you wasted 25% just to eat off-site and "show" Disney what's what.

In the end, Disney wins. They have people crunching these numbers all day long. If Disney loses you to an outside F&B venue, there will be someone else to take your place on-site. And when they raise prices and lose a customer, the raised prices make up for that lost customer. Disney won't be missing you. Your children, on the other hand, will be missing Disney and you know it.

I think your post is reflective of the hubris that a lot of companies are suffering for right now, and I have no doubt that Disney has bought into it as well. (And your numbers are WAY off - for my family of 5 Disney TS runs $100+ with signatures getting to $250+; Applebees would save a LOT more than $20).

You're missing one big factor, though - if feel strongly enough about it to go to Applebees for dinner I'm not staying on site. If I don't want a dining plan and am going to rent a car anyway, Disney resorts lose about 90% of their appeal. You'll find me at Wyndham Bonnet Creek or the Swan or one of the Downtown Disney resorts, having breakfast in my room, snacking or maybe grabbing CS for lunch, and having dinner offsite when our day is over. And if I'm staying offsite it is likely I'll spend some time at non-Disney attractions; my kids have been asking to go orange picking, they'd like to do a swamp tour, go to the beach, etc so I'll likely buy a shorter ticket. Forget adding the waterparks upgrade - there are better waterparks in Orlando if I have a car. Hitting the outlets for souvenir shopping becomes an option. And on and on...

The most brilliant thing Disney accomplished over the last decade or so was to make Disney an all-inclusive destination, using ME and the DDP to get people staying on site rather than in off-site lodgings where you get more space/amenities for the money. Their "so what" attitude toward changes that effect the guest experience and disregard for loyal repeat guests have the potential to reverse that success.

As far as the kids missing Disney, my youngest would. My older two not so much. And Disney World isn't the only way to fit a little Disney into a vacation... DLR is an option too, where Disney gets a 3 day ticket and a couple of meals out of me and we stay offsite, rent a car, and visit other area attractions as well rather than dropping every dime of $5K+ at Disney resorts, restaurants, and shops.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think your post is reflective of the hubris that a lot of companies are suffering for right now, and I have no doubt that Disney has bought into it as well. (And your numbers are WAY off - for my family of 5 Disney TS runs $100+ with signatures getting to $250+; Applebees would save a LOT more than $20).

You're missing one big factor, though - if feel strongly enough about it to go to Applebees for dinner I'm not staying on site. If I don't want a dining plan and am going to rent a car anyway, Disney resorts lose about 90% of their appeal. You'll find me at Wyndham Bonnet Creek or the Swan or one of the Downtown Disney resorts, having breakfast in my room, snacking or maybe grabbing CS for lunch, and having dinner offsite when our day is over. And if I'm staying offsite it is likely I'll spend some time at non-Disney attractions; my kids have been asking to go orange picking, they'd like to do a swamp tour, go to the beach, etc so I'll likely buy a shorter ticket. Forget adding the waterparks upgrade - there are better waterparks in Orlando if I have a car. Hitting the outlets for souvenir shopping becomes an option. And on and on...

The most brilliant thing Disney accomplished over the last decade or so was to make Disney an all-inclusive destination, using ME and the DDP to get people staying on site rather than in off-site lodgings where you get more space/amenities for the money. Their "so what" attitude toward changes that effect the guest experience and disregard for loyal repeat guests have the potential to reverse that success.

As far as the kids missing Disney, my youngest would. My older two not so much. And Disney World isn't the only way to fit a little Disney into a vacation... DLR is an option too, where Disney gets a 3 day ticket and a couple of meals out of me and we stay offsite, rent a car, and visit other area attractions as well rather than dropping every dime of $5K+ at Disney resorts, restaurants, and shops.

I agree.

Disney did some VERY smart marketing to get guests on site. The magical express, the dining plan..... it all came together in a very smart way to capture all of the guest's spending. Once that starts to come apart, there is far more for them to lose than a few dollars on dinner.

I think we'll have to suffer with a lot more of this type of thing until the Fantasyland Expansion opens and shakes out. Right now I imagine they think they can fill all those hotel rooms and dining tables they might lose with unfriendly policies like this.

That remains to be seen.

 

[Colleen27]

I agree.

Disney did some VERY smart marketing to get guests on site. The magical express, the dining plan..... it all came together in a very smart way to capture all of the guest's spending. Once that starts to come apart, there is far more for them to lose than a few dollars on dinner.

I think we'll have to suffer with a lot more of this type of thing until the Fantasyland Expansion opens and shakes out. Right now I imagine they think they can fill all those hotel rooms and dining tables they might lose with unfriendly policies like this.

That remains to be seen.

I'm not sure this has anything to do with the expansion. Certainly a company with the marketing/market research dollars that Disney has is aware that they aren't tapping any new market segment with the expansion. This isn't WWoHP; they aren't building something that will draw in people who previously had little/no interest in a Disney vacation the way Universal was able to do with Harry Potter. It is just capacity-expansion without any change in demographic appeal, and this new policy is another in a long line of changes that seem to favor first-time/once-in-a-lifetime guests over nurturing repeat business.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm not sure this has anything to do with the expansion. Certainly a company with the marketing/market research dollars that Disney has is aware that they aren't tapping any new market segment with the expansion. This isn't WWoHP; they aren't building something that will draw in people who previously had little/no interest in a Disney vacation the way Universal was able to do with Harry Potter. It is just capacity-expansion without any change in demographic appeal, and this new policy is another in a long line of changes that seem to favor first-time/once-in-a-lifetime guests over nurturing repeat business.

Well, I know that. And you know that. But I don't think Disney knows that. I was really surprised when I saw someone post a comment from a Disney "insider" saying they weren't going to do any discounting once the expansion opens. I just think they have visions of grandeur with this.

 

[TDC Nala]

This new policy actually made the local news in Washington, DC this morning. Although they made it sound like it applies to all restaurants. They quoted an unnamed Disney spokesperson as stating it was meant to "improve availability at our most popular restaurants."

cynically, another way that they could have done that would have been to improve the quality of the less popular places, imho.

Taking the signature restaurants out of the equation, we're talking about character meals here for the most part. Character meals aren't popular because the food is good. They'd have to add characters to the "less popular" restaurants.

 

[pinkerbell]

I agree.

Disney did some VERY smart marketing to get guests on site. The magical express, the dining plan..... it all came together in a very smart way to capture all of the guest's spending. Once that starts to come apart, there is far more for them to lose than a few dollars on dinner.

I think we'll have to suffer with a lot more of this type of thing until the Fantasyland Expansion opens and shakes out. Right now I imagine they think they can fill all those hotel rooms and dining tables they might lose with unfriendly policies like this.

That remains to be seen.

SO TRUE!! we went from never staying onsite to only staying onsite HUGE $$ difference. The DDP has been scaled back to no real monetary savings (for us anyway) just convenience and the Transportation has been on a slow decline as well. Friends we were satying with almost missed thier plane this month when DME broke down and they were beyond slow tyo respond. The plane was full except for them and the overheads bins were all being closed!! when they finally got on whew! very bad wasy for a family to end thie first trip to Disney (with a 5 and 2YO)

I'm not sure this has anything to do with the expansion. Certainly a company with the marketing/market research dollars that Disney has is aware that they aren't tapping any new market segment with the expansion. This isn't WWoHP; they aren't building something that will draw in people who previously had little/no interest in a Disney vacation the way Universal was able to do with Harry Potter. It is just capacity-expansion without any change in demographic appeal, and this new policy is another in a long line of changes that seem to favor first-time/once-in-a-lifetime guests over nurturing repeat business.

I agree it shouldn't have anything to do with the expansion... which I am still so confused why they demolished my kids favorite area, toontown with no replacement??? (really, they don't have anough land??) but agree w/ next poster that Disney his Delusions of grandeur about. Personally the past few trips to the MK have not been enjoyable due to all the construction. Everywhere is under rehab, not just near tehe expansion... and guests are being hearded through small areas like cattle... not very magical and the Trick or treat trail for MNSSHP was a joke... and no face painitng... boy $70.00 doesnt get much at disney anymore I know I got off track, but these are the things I consider when planning the next family vacation.

Well, I know that. And you know that. But I don't think Disney knows that. I was really surprised when I saw someone post a comment from a Disney "insider" saying they weren't going to do any discounting once the expansion opens. I just think they have visions of grandeur with this.

 

[TDC Nala]

which I am still so confused why they demolished my kids favorite area, toontown with no replacement???

They demolished my favorite area (Pleasure Island) with no replacement too.

It's up to everyone. If you want to stop going to WDW because this policy is the straw that breaks your back, that's up to you. Apparently Disney thinks they will easily be able to replace you. Tell Disney why you're leaving and vacationing elsewhere though.

 

[Colleen27]

Taking the signature restaurants out of the equation, we're talking about character meals here for the most part. Character meals aren't popular because the food is good. They'd have to add characters to the "less popular" restaurants.

Yep. Setting aside the signature restaurants, which clearly occupy a different level food-wise, some of the best restaurants in Disney World are not on this list. Most of the World Showcase restaurants, places like Kona, The Wave, Captain's Grill, Kouzzina, Sanaa, Boma all get very positive reviews and offer far better food than Ohana, Chef Mickey's, or Akershus. I guess most Disney guest aren't planning meals based on food?

That is, for me, is one reason this policy is unlikely to be the straw that keeps us away from Disney entirely; it might make the DxDDP unattractive and therefore lead us to staying offsite, but there are enough restaurants we'd be comfortable booking for lunches or dinner on long park days while going off-site on shorter days. It would be a different sort of Disney trip, more the way we did Disney before the DDP and ME lured us on site, but still enjoyable.