Poll: Overall Satisfaction with Disney Dining As Compared to Before

[bicker]

Let's get some hard numbers together .... Considering both the Dining Plan offerings and trends in food and service, are you happier now or were you happier before?

 

[cdntourguide]

I like the plan now, especially since the snack options have been increased.
It is good that some of the previously 2TS restaurants are now 1TS.
Sure some of the fancier items are no longer on the menu, but the food provided is still good for the price paid for the plan.

for me the plan is saving me approx $32per day on average.

 

[fitzperry]

I voted that I'm happier with it now, but my opinion may be a little skewed because we don't visit WDW as often as many people on this board. I've been to WDW six times . . . .

twice as a child--dining wasn't high on my priority list;

once in 1986 or '87 as a starving college student--I recall splurging on an expensive but very mediocre dinner at one of the French restaurants in Epcot --some kind of chicken in a puff pastry that tasted suspiciously like a Banquet chicken pot pie;

once in about 1991 as a still-starving recent college grad--couldn't tell you a single thing we ate if you paid me;

2002--first trip with dh and our then 3 yo dd--ate mostly counter service with the exception of the Plaza restaurant in MK and Donald's breakfastasaurus or whatever it's called in AK--overall very unremarkable dining experiences (characters were great though);

2005--did the dining plan and ate at CA Grill, CP, H&V, CRT and Marrakesh--the only meal I'd give high marks to was at CG; CP is pretty good by buffet standards.

Overall I think the food at WDW is pretty mediocre--very mass-produced and, with a few (mostly expensive) exceptions, not terribly interesting. However, from what I've read on this board, it seems I might have missed out on a period of time when some more unusual options were available. That being said, I do like the dining plan because I think it's a good value and enables us to dine at a few of the better restaurants and still enjoy a couple of character meals. We're going back later this year and doing it again.

Part of the reason I'm not exactly enthralled with the Disney dining experience is that when we're on vacation, we enjoy finding great little places that are off the beaten path. IMO, WDW just isn't the place for those kinds of experiences. But then again, we don't really go there for the food.

Edited to add that I applaud the availability of more nutritious snacks and side dishes at the counter service restaurants, so in that regard I think the situation has improved.

 

[MScott1851]

I am happier now, because it is giving us the opportunity to try restaurants that we wouldn't ordinarily. We just couldn't justify spending the $90+ that it would cost us to eat table service each night, we always ate off-site at night prior to the DDP. So I can't comment on whether the service has declined or not, I have nothing to compare it to.

The way I look at it, the dining plan is what, $38 per person plus tax? So, let's assume $80 per day for the two of us to eat. What we used to do was spend about $10 on breakfast at the resort, $20 or so on lunch in a park, $10 or so on snacks inside the park, and then we would eat off-site at night, which averages about $40 or so.

So...basically, for the same amount of money, I buy the convenience of eating inside the parks/at the resort without the added travel time or having to decide where we were going.

Now, I have an ADR, it's pre-paid, and I eat. It kind of makes things simpler, and that's the value for me. The food is not exactly 5 star gourmet cuisine, but I don't expect it to be at a theme park. It's filling, and I've never had a BAD meal anywhere in WDW...in fact, most of it is quite good.

The lunch crowds at CS restaurants do bite, though. We try to eat really really early!

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Can't vote yet, because we haven't been to WDW since the DDP was made available to us Disney Vacation Club folks.

The poll intrigues me, though. Sometimes I read all these posts and I think that the DDP is a precursor to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. To some, it's the end of what once was good about Disney. And others sing praises to the DDP, because they leave their mealtime experiences just as content as a cow on a finishing lot.

I'll let you know in a couple of weeks. Right now, unless there's some wretchedly unacceptable service, or the food reeks, I can't see anything but plusses for us. Sometimes we'll do an entree and dessert, or appetizer and entree, but seldom both. To have that opportunity in a financially prudent way sorta turns my crank.

We'll see.

 

[DenverVal]

I was trying to decide whether to get the dining package for DVC members for our upcoming visit. I sat down with the receipts from last year's trip to get a reasonable idea of how much we spent on food. We bought groceries for breakfast, juice, soda, and water and prepared breakfast in our room each morning. We always ate lunch and dinner in either the parks or Downtown Disney. For our family of four, we spent $536 on 9 dinners, $292 on 8 lunches, $91 on groceries, (10 breakfasts, drinks, snacks). It worked out to about $26.25/person/day.

This includes dinners at Wolfgang Puck Express, Liberty Tree Tavern, Trails End, Irish Pub at DD, Rose & Crown, Tony's Town Cafe, Tangierene Cafe, and the Earl of Sandwich. We had lunches at the Whispering Canyon Cafe, Pecos Bill's, El Pirata, Flame Tree BBQ, Pizza Planet, Columbia House, ESPN Zone, the Tangierene Cafe, and the Earl of Sandwich.

We had plenty to fill us up, only made three priority seatings, ate when we wanted, where we wanted, so I'm thinking that the extra $48/day that the dining plan costs isn't cost-effective for us and we probably won't spring for it next fall.

We did have the Disney Dining Experience card, but how much it saved us versus how much it cost is uncertain. It will still be valid on our upcoming trip, so I guess the benefits will cover two trips.