News Round Up 2018

[tlmadden73]

It's an odd move to "punish" your DDP crowd like this. Take one of the most popular restaurants, and force your DDP crowd to either overpay (with credits) for the meal, or force them to come out of pocket even though they've already ponied up. Do they not want to sell the DDP? Are they simply testing boundries? Or do they know that most wont care, and are fine with it? I would think WDW does well on the DDP. That's why I find this so odd. It doesn't take a lot of math to see how blatant of a waste of your credits this experience would be.

The DDP takes advantage of people who "don't care" what the price is. Once you just "bundle" in dining, the price of each individual meal no longer matters even if you don't get your "$X" a day worth of food in real dollars. I doubt a lot of the DDP users even notice what the price of any given meal is (just like if you just "charge it to your room" you probably notice less what the actual price is).

You'd be surprised how many people out there "don't do the math" for this and all sorts of things.

"Plans" like this is meant to obfuscate the true price and get you to spend more money than you normally would if just spending cash. They can be a "savings" IF and only IF you were planning on using it to its full extent (which most people don't)

Sure -- there are some who do the math AND can take advantage of it (getting more dollar's worth of meals than you spent), but I am sure that is the minority of users.

My sister was planning on getting the dining plan just because it could be conveniently bundled in their package. I told her even if you would save a LITTLE money by getting the plan, just buying meals ala carte gives you the freedom and flexibility to do what you want. She didn't seem to even care to do the math. She just knew she wouldn't have to "worry" about two meals a day.

 

[dlavender]

The DDP takes advantage of people who "don't care" what the price is. Once you just "bundle" in dining, the price of each individual meal no longer matters even if you don't get your "$X" a day worth of food in real dollars.

You'd be surprised how many people out there "don't do the math" for this and all sorts of things.

"Plans" like this is meant to obfuscate the true price and get you to spend more money than you normally would if just spending cash. They can be a "savings" IF and only IF you were planning on using it to its full extent (which most people don't)

Sure -- there are some who do the math AND can take advantage of it (getting more dollar's worth of meals than you spent), but I am sure that is the minority of users.

My sister was planning on getting the dining plan just because it could be conveniently bundled in their package. I told her even if you would save a LITTLE money by getting the plan, just buying meals ala carte gives you the freedom and flexibility to do what you want. She didn't seem to even care to do the math. She just knew she wouldn't have to "worry" about two meals a day.

This one just seems so blatant to me. Like, after 2 seconds you would realize that you've been had...

The best idea I've seen on these boards in relation to talking people out of the DDP is to convince people to purchase WDW gift cards in the same amount as you were going to spend on the DDP. That way you are still just using a "card" and not worrying about what you are spending. Then at the end you will really find out if you got your monies worth or not......and if you have extra (most likely), you've prepurchased some gifts.

 

[rteetz]

News

PHOTOS: Sparkly Sequined Park-Inspired Ladies Shirts Arrive at Walt Disney World

 

[rteetz]

News

Disney is Developing a Flexible Speaker That Can Be Hidden in Themed Objects in Parks

 

[Mika02]

The DDP takes advantage of people who "don't care" what the price is. Once you just "bundle" in dining, the price of each individual meal no longer matters even if you don't get your "$X" a day worth of food in real dollars. I doubt a lot of the DDP users even notice what the price of any given meal is (just like if you just "charge it to your room" you probably notice less what the actual price is).

You'd be surprised how many people out there "don't do the math" for this and all sorts of things.

"Plans" like this is meant to obfuscate the true price and get you to spend more money than you normally would if just spending cash. They can be a "savings" IF and only IF you were planning on using it to its full extent (which most people don't)

Sure -- there are some who do the math AND can take advantage of it (getting more dollar's worth of meals than you spent), but I am sure that is the minority of users.

My sister was planning on getting the dining plan just because it could be conveniently bundled in their package. I told her even if you would save a LITTLE money by getting the plan, just buying meals ala carte gives you the freedom and flexibility to do what you want. She didn't seem to even care to do the math. She just knew she wouldn't have to "worry" about two meals a day.

I actually did the math for my last trip which was a mother daughter trip in January. When I calculated it out of pocket it came out cheaper then adding any dining plan so I just bought a bunch of gift cards from target for meals and stuff. Ended up coming in further under budget because I realized my daughter doesn't really care for breakfast. So I saved a good amount of money on meals on our trip. Probably would have wasted time and DDP credits if I hadn't done the cost calculation.

 

[adelaster]

This one just seems so blatant to me. Like, after 2 seconds you would realize that you've been had...

The best idea I've seen on these boards in relation to talking people out of the DDP is to convince people to purchase WDW gift cards in the same amount as you were going to spend on the DDP. That way you are still just using a "card" and not worrying about what you are spending. Then at the end you will really find out if you got your monies worth or not......and if you have extra (most likely), you've prepurchased some gifts.

Haha, that's what worked for me! I now bring a giftcard loaded with food & other budget money. It gives me that "vacation" feel without having to plot out dining credits. Also not restricted so I can order off the full menu.

 

[Helvetica]

It's an odd move to "punish" your DDP crowd like this. Take one of the most popular restaurants, and force your DDP crowd to either overpay (with credits) for the meal, or force them to come out of pocket even though they've already ponied up. Do they not want to sell the DDP? Are they simply testing boundries? Or do they know that most wont care, and are fine with it? I would think WDW does well on the DDP. That's why I find this so odd. It doesn't take a lot of math to see how blatant of a waste of your credits this experience would be.

Certainly. I like the DxDP because it's convenient and it encourages me to take risks in trying new things, but I also want to be sure I get what I consider a good value out of my meal. The Meal and a Show package during the Disney's Festival of the Arts this year was 2 TS credits or $55 out of pocket. Obviously, I paid out of pocket and used those credits elsewhere.

I think for $55 that the Be Our Guest is fair and may be worth more than 1 TS credits, but not 2 TS credits. Maybe 1 TS and 1 Snack would be fairer?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Have they ever hit a "boundary?" On anything?

I think they may have with that $299 Pixar Pier event that seemed to have not been very well attended

But not very often

 

[JaxDad]

I think they may have with that $299 Pixar Pier event that seemed to have not been very well attended

But not very often

There used to be a guy on this forum that often predicted Disney would finally hit a boundary someday. What was his name? It seems to be locked out of my memory, which defies logic, as I’m usually pretty good with names…

 

[rteetz]

News

Tom DeWolf, the Orlando Attorney who helped Walt get the land for WDW, and create RCID has died at 91.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-disney-obit-thomas-dewolf-20180726-story.html

 

[dlavender]

There used to be a guy on this forum that often predicted Disney would finally hit a boundary someday. What was his name? It seems to be locked out of my memory, which defies logic, as I’m usually pretty good with names…

 

[tlmadden73]

This one just seems so blatant to me. Like, after 2 seconds you would realize that you've been had...

The best idea I've seen on these boards in relation to talking people out of the DDP is to convince people to purchase WDW gift cards in the same amount as you were going to spend on the DDP. That way you are still just using a "card" and not worrying about what you are spending. Then at the end you will really find out if you got your monies worth or not......and if you have extra (most likely), you've prepurchased some gifts.

Yep! Spread the word! Help people with the math!

I told my sister the same thing (plus if you get gift cards at Target you get 5% discount) .. or if CONVENIENCE is your thing, the Magic Bands (charge back to your room) are even more convenient (no 'credits' to keep track of).

The Dining Plan is just antiquated in its use and implementation.

I'm sure they will still offer it, probably it doesn't really cost them much to keep it running and (like I said) because it gets customers to pre-buy something months in advance they really don't need to buy until the day of.

 

[rteetz]

News

Disney Files Patent For "Deployable Shading Structure" That Could Be Used in Theme Parks

 

[FoxC63]

I'm with most in the group here in that I don't think I would do this. It's really a shame the way Disney took a restaurant that was popular but well-priced and of course found a way to jack up the prices. As others have said, at least at CRT you are in the castle and have the princesses.Here you are in a giant poorly lit ballroom simulation. In addition, while the food there is good - if I am paying $55 a meal they better elevate the quality from good to great. (I don't care if it's Disney - if you are charging me $55 and I'm not getting characters - it better be some damn fine dining.) I just couldn't see doing it.

I would hope customers would be discerning and they will find a drop in evening attendance, but I'm not counting on that and instead expect things to go the other way and that Disney will switch the lunch to a sit-down meal to milk even more money out of it. Right now, we would only go to lunch there and have a lunch reservation at the end of August. (The breakfast seems a rip-off too.)

What, no more Beast?

 

[Ambehnke]

News

Disney Files Patent For "Deployable Shading Structure" That Could Be Used in Theme Parks

I feel like I’ve seen something like this on here before... maybe it was lighting or something? Seems like something they should add to toy story land!

 

[etherealcaitiff]

News

Disney Files Patent For "Deployable Shading Structure" That Could Be Used in Theme Parks

Is....is Disney trying to patent....umbrellas?

From the article: "The patent was filed under the title “Deployable Shading Structure”, and it outlines the use of canopies that could be deployed and retracted dependent on when the parks feel they are needed, allowing unobstructed views when not in use, and able to be themed as the parks see fit."


tl;dr Yes, Disney is trying to patent umbrellas.

 

[tarak]

Yeah, the adult menu seems pretty reasonable for $55 but the kids one seems like it should be like $15 not $35

I assume still just the meet with Beast right? Even if they added Belle I could see a bit more value as more of a character meal experience

Yeah - the meal doesn’t entice me enough to go back, but for Disney prices, $55 an adult isn’t terrible. But the kids meal is overpriced. My kids would eat all of those options, except for maybe the Mac and cheese because they think they’re getting Kraft if they order it. But $35 is steep for sure.

 

[rteetz]

News

Pixar Shorts Film Festival Expands to the Tomorrowland Theater at Disneyland Park

 

[nkmorgan87]

I lurk here and rarely comment, I haven't been on in a while and know it's not disney news or rumor but what did happen to LockedoutLogic ?

 

[FoxC63]

I recently went out for dinner at Detroit Seafood House, 2 adults one teen and $145 not including tip.
16oz Top Sirloin, Sword Fish, Stuffed Shrimp, appetizer was calamari and we all ordered ice tea, salad & bread rolls came with the meal. The food was on par with Disney. Not sure what most of you pay when you dine out. I really don't see a difference.

We eat organic non GMO in my home 100%, we don't have that option at Disney.