Rant: The DDP is ruining everything!

[jodifla]

After years mired in mediocrity, WDW finally became a dining destination. We looked forward to our trips there because of it the innovative menus, unique atmosphere and soliticous service of the signature restaurants. The food was even becoming edible at the MK!

But now, the DDP is dragging everything down the tubes in the name of the almighty buck!

First, you can't do takeout at Olivia's anymore. Now, they are balking even at you taking your leftovers home!

There used to be real variety at the restaurants. Now, they are all taking on similar menus...and many items are THE SAME!

They used to actually like kids at Disney... hence, all the kid-friendly food. Now, in a move couched in "healthy" PR, they've rolled out a kids menu that won't appeal to many kids!


This is making SICK! DDP, please go away, and give us back our QUALITY and CHOICES!

 

[Luv4Disney]

I don't know about the DDP being all about making money. We've never done the DDP and have always paid OOP for all the meals, and we do A LOT of TS, but we decided to try the DDP for this upcoming Nov. trip since we got a good deal. The DDP is actually saving us money. It's MUCH less than what we would have spent OOP. For us personally, we haven't noticed a decline in the food quality and we always find something different to have. But that's just us. The only thing I have noticed the DDP affecting is the ability to get ADR's. It has become much harder. Hope you will enjoy your upcoming trips anyway!

 

[oogieboogie]

the DDP is saving you money, but due to the popularity of DDP, the restaurants have had to cut back on quantity and quality and be more mass produced to fit the DDP requirements.

Case in point: Le Cellier. Let's look at their shrimp cocktail. It's about $10. Last year, the shrimp cocktail was served in long rectangular platter, with a chinese takeout box as the presentation piece. There were plenty of shrimp. Now... the shrimp is served in a bowl, with very little presentation and the amount of shrimp given has gone down. Why? Well, boxes are expensive if you only use it once. Eliminating the box cuts the cost to make the shrimp cocktail. Putting it in a bowl makes it seem full so they can get away with using less shrimp. Again, cost cutting.

Another item on the appetizer: the beef kebab. Last year, for dinner you got 2 kebabs with 3 beef cubes each, roughly 2inx2in in size for each cube. Now you only get 1 kebab with 2 cubes roughly 2x1 inch in size for each cube. The price remained the same.

From the entree list: the prime rib sandwich - it used to be a foot long, then it shrank, now it shrank even further to just 6". The price is still the same.

How did DDP affect this? Well, the cost of supplies remain the same or higher, yet they have to crank out more of these higher cost items because people ordered the most expensive items to maximize their DDP. Higher cost items = shrinking profit margins. Solution: use cheaper products, shrink the size of the items, eliminate unnecessary presentations, crank out more of the standard items.

For the people who go only once or twice, they won't notice it because they have no comparisons to go by, but for the people who go often enough, it's very noticeable. You see the differences year to year.

 

[Rhongepooh]

I for one LOVE the DDP. It's a way for me to be able to splurge when I normally wouldn't. Also, it's really nice not having to bring as much money as I use to have to. It's nice to have it already paid for. BTW, the reason for the healthier children's menu isn't the DDP but the war on fat by the country.

 

[madcoco]

oogieboogie . Well said. Have definitely noticed a difference.

 

[LindaBabe]

I have to wage the war on fat every darn day of my life - at LEAST we should be able to go on VACATION and eat like a real person instead of some anorexic wannabe!

 

[cobbler]

One thing I did notice is how the prices seemed to have gone up when you look at the menu. That way if you are on the dining plan you think what a great deal it is and what you are saving.

Of course it could be just my perception as I never kept tabs on the actual prices.

 

[oogieboogie]

One thing I did notice is how the prices seemed to have gone up when you look at the menu. That way if you are on the dining plan you think what a great deal it is and what you are saving.

Of course it could be just my perception as I never kept tabs on the actual prices.

the prices did go up slightly, but not just because of DDP. Price increases were around $1-3 per item and this is more in line with inflation, production cost, overhead costs, etc etc. Hurricane Katrina didn't make things easier either because the price of produce and goods from the Gulf region went up due to lack of goods.

The price increase was seen even before DDP became so popular.

 

[S.Poppins]

Anyone want to take bets on how long before this thread is locked?

These threads always escalate quickly . There are 2 distinct camps on this issue. The "Oh no, the DDP (short for WDW food stamp program) is ruining Disney world" camp and the "We love the DDP because we like to eat and it saves us money" camp. Both sides of this issue are very passionate, so this makes for an interesting (though redundent) debate.

I am going to be hopeful and say 6 pages.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I was just there this month. We ate at 10 different places, had a great variety of things each night and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I certainly didn't have to order the same thing every night, had lots of different styles of things and came away fine. Of the places that we duplicated from last year, all but one was better. We deliberately didn't do signiture places because I wanted to see if all the everything's going downhill hype was true. It simply wasn't.

 

[rie'smom]

Anyone want to take bets on how long before this thread is locked?

These threads always escalate quickly . There are 2 distinct camps on this issue. The "Oh no, the DDP (short for WDW food stamp program) is ruining Disney world" camp and the "We love the DDP because we like to eat and it saves us money" camp. Both sides of this issue are very passionate, so this makes for an interesting (though redundent) debate.
I am going to be hopeful and say 6 pages.

You really want to bet? OK

What about folks like us who don't use the DDP? Shouldn't we get bigger portions, better service,and all the little doo dads the restaurants are getting rid of(excuse the preposition)? After all,we're paying deluxe prices. It's like the pools.You pay more for a deluxe hotel and you get a better pool. You pay OOP for food,therefore, you get better service,food,etc.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I think the DDP is also ruining the ability for guests to make ADR's while at WDW. While my family & I have had no problems making last minute ADR's for some restaurants for lunch, other Disboards members have said in the past with the popularity of the DDP, it's no longer possible to make last minute ADR's which is not true. Basically I think the DDP is forcing some guests to make their ADR's at 180 days out, when they might not be serious vacation planners like my family & I. So using rie'smom comment but in a different way, the DDP is forcing other familes to make ADR's when they might not want to & because of comments made here about how making ADR's is very important they might feel more presure to do this. I think another factor that a lot of people don't mention, but sometimes the odd person does is this. Making ADR's should depend on what season you visit WDW at. If your going in the middle or end of Janurary, chances are making ADR's may not be that important like if you were going between Christmas & New Years. If they want to make 1 or 2 in advance that's fine because it's their vacation. However at that time of year it's not 100% necessary to make ADR's for every restaurant that want, as there might be room closer to the dates they will be there.

Basically for familes that do not like to plan ADR's 180 days out & liked to have made them while at WDW or just wing it on some nights, how is the DDP fair to them? Remember the good old days when you could have made ADR's for Boma, Ohana & Chef Mickey's the day you wanted to eat there or made them a few days before? I sure do & those were some places my family & I have got into with last minute ADR's.

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

I guess I can sort of agree with both camps here...

One one hand, I'm from the UK and for 2007 we already have the free DDP as an offer. I had already decided which restaurants I wanted before getting the DDP, so I calculated how much I will save - around $800. I'm sticking with the same places. This is a blessing, as it's a relief not to think about food prices, having paid just over £2600 for me and DBF for 3 weeks (I have never been to USA so it had to be a big one!).

On the other hand though, I don't think I would pay for the DDP if there wasn't a free DDP offer... PLUS I have to point out, I have never been to WDW before so I have nothing to compare by... this is why I guess the DDP is ok for me...

But I can see why others wouldn't like it...

 

[PaulaSB12]

You really want to bet? OK

What about folks like us who don't use the DDP? Shouldn't we get bigger portions, better service,and all the little doo dads the restaurants are getting rid of(excuse the preposition)? After all,we're paying deluxe prices. It's like the pools.You pay more for a deluxe hotel and you get a better pool. You pay OOP for food,therefore, you get better service,food,etc.

Talk about sour grapes, someone seems a bit upset that the peasants are invading THEIR territory. The menu at Ghiradellies was less than last year do people put that down to the ddp as well. As for the portions I believe the ada told resteraunts in the US to reduce them due to the epidemic of obesity so I don't think you can blame that on the ddp. Would I pay for it if it wasn't free? Yes I had wonderful food and excellant service so why say that you wouldn't because of service?

 

[nurseypoo5]

the free DDP made it affordable for us to go to the beach for a week and eat there too. Even if i had to pay it would probably be a go again next visit. My DS is 10 so he wouldnt have to deal with the kids meals. DH and i already discussed our next trip tho.

Were doing DDP for 4 days so we can eat at Ohana, Le Cellier, Kona and Coral Reef again (with the CS's at MK, and EPCOT) and we're going to change hotels to off site (very nearby tho) and eat at nearby restaurants. It will save a lot of money and give us plenty of oppurtunity to eat good foods.

We will Pay OOP for 2 character breakfasts tho.

We even thought of just doing 4 days at Disney and 4 at Universal since we missed it this time.

We wouldnt go with out renting a car, so for some this wouldnt work. Good luck, and enjoy disney! We did!

Were going to try to do a 3 week vacation in 2 years. 1 week at disney and 2 at the beach Time to start planning already???? LOL

 

[Leota]

I agree that the DDP is ruining the dining experience at WDW. It has certainly been greatly homogenized since the incept of DDP. It is not as exciting as before at all. We notice this easily because we are frequent guests & food has always been a big part of our vacation. Newbies or less frequent visitors may not notice it the way we do. OogieBoogie summed this up perfectly.

Is it the DDP users fault? No, no one is saying that. It is Disney trying to maximize their profit margin.

Unfortunately, at this point in our WDW lives, Dining, fine dining, is a major part of our vacation. If things continue to decline the way they have been the past year, we may completely rethink WDW as our #1 vacation destination. We are already doing a majority of our meals at the Swan/Dolphin restaurants where the DDP hasn't impacted the menus because DDP is not accepted there. Soon we will have to go farther afeild in search of culinary creativity & satisfaction.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

"Is it the DDP users fault? No, no one is saying that. It is Disney trying to maximize their profit margin."

I agree with Leota here and think that people will start thinking about where they eat more and seek out alternatives to what Disney is now offering......I will be there in December and I will be eating some meals at the Swan and Dolphin myself. I have never really ventured out there, off property, for meals, but may have to start thinking about that as well.

 

[jodifla]

Yes, we ate at Blue Zoo the last time we were there. The food was excellent! Looks like we'll be making many more trips there if WDW continues on its downward spiral with its dining. It's SOOO disappointing.

Frankly, we couldn't eat all the food you get on the DDP. It's ludicrous to ruin the kids' menu, then offer too much food at every meal as people stuff themselves with the dining plan!

 

[disneyjunkie]

There are members of the "Old Guard" who visited WDW year after year, yet could not afford TS meals.

I have friends that have many trips under their belts, but ate most meals offsite. They didn't get to experience WDW TS meals until the MYW dining plan was introduced.

I for one love " WDW's Food Stamp Program" There's no way my son and I could afford to have TS meals each day without it. I glad Disney has come up with an affordable dining plan.

 

[jodifla]

There are members of the "Old Guard" who visited WDW year after year, yet could not afford TS meals.

I have friends that have many trips under their belts, but ate most meals offsite. They didn't get to experience WDW TS meals until the MYW dining plan was introduced.

I for one love " WDW's Food Stamp Program" There's no way my son and I could afford to have TS meals each day without it. I glad Disney has come up with an affordable dining plan.

But to what end? If the food gets bad enough, which it quickly is, who is going to eat there anymore?

Will you eat any meal as long as it's in a WDW restaurant?

Disney is seeing just how much profit they can get. People who are using the DDP are ruining it for the rest of us who like good food!