Rant: The DDP is ruining everything!

[Peter Pirate 2]

Again, I have no animosity toward the DDP diners...If it works for you then use it (you'd be foolish to not).

LewisC, by greedy I meant only in the context of these posts. Those of us who don't like the plan are being told 'tough luck' by many DDP'ers, when all we want is for everyone to be happy (including the DDP'ers), not to mention the continual references to snobbery.

Luv2Roam, if you're eating at WDW as much as in the past then I'd say yes you are the minority of locals. I don't know a single person who goes as often (not saying we don't go at all).

 

[kaytieeldr]

Hate to dash your dreams but we've found none of the filet mignons to be as good as they used to be. They are definitely using a cheaper cut of meat........

Um, no. Filet mignon is a part of the tenderloin cut of meat. If "they're" using a cheaper cut of meat, "they're" lying on "their" menu/s when "they" call it filet mignon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filet_mignon

6) The Fantasmic Pkg requires ordering off a "special" menu (I use the term VERY loosely -yeech), restricting offerings @ Mama Melrose. Wouldn't be too difficult to offer 2 different menus for OOP & DP.

I may be missing something. Yes, the appetizer is restricted, and one dessert item has a surcharge if you're using the Fantasmic! Dining Plan - but the entrees are exactly the same on both menus, no? So, for $29.99 or $31.99 if you choose that dessert, you get a meal valued at between $34.66 and $46.86, and guaranteed seating at Fantasmic!

I believe it was shortened this year, who knows if it will even be offered next year?

I don't think it was. It started a week earlier this year, so the check-in-by date was earlier.

However, many of us are upset at the fact that food quality seems to be on the decline at many(not all) restaurants. The term that is being thrown around often is standardization. Instead of many restaurants being unique, similar(actually identical) menu items are poping up at different themed restaurants. We just want a balance of quality along with the DDP.

"Quality" and "selection" are entirely different items. By using them interchangeably, you're implying that if the selection is excellent, the quality is excellent, but if the selection is restricted that indicates poor quality.

1. Does Disney know that some "seasoned" travelers who pay top dollar for CS meals OOP may notice a decline in qality, etc and start leaving? Probably.

Do some "seasoned" travelers who are leaving (leaving what - the restaurants? the parks? Florida?) because they feel they're getting less quality when paying top dollar for CS meals know that if they TELL DISNEY directly why they've changed whatever it is they're doing....

Look there is nothing wrong with people using the DDP. It is a great tool for many people but you are looking with tunnel vision if you think everything's OK even though there are scads of people left out in the cold. Our opinions don't count? We're not saying get rid of the dining plan, we're saying modify it so EVERYONE can get what they want.

Modifying the dining plan so non-DDP users get what they want prevents DDP users from getting what they want - the same food, the same treatment, the same value as all other diners.

As far as the DDP'ers ruining the dinning at Disney, that's just bull. Have any of you eaten out at all in the last few years? Ordered a pizza? Had a burger at your favorite fast-food place or a steak at your favorite 4 star place? It's all gone down hill!! This isn't a Disney thing, it's an American thing. Can you honestly say a Pizza Hut pan pizza is as good today as it was 10 years ago?

Well, I know it's been a while since I cleaned out my refrigerator - but if I did have a ten year old Pizza Hut pan pizza in there, I'd sure HOPE the one today tastes better!

 

[disneygal33]

Well, I know it's been a while since I cleaned out my refrigerator - but if I did have a ten year old Pizza Hut pan pizza in there, I'd sure HOPE the one today tastes better!

Good point

 

[honeymo78]

This is going to disneygal's comments about the Platinum package. In theory you are paying for a different quality of food - you can eat at signature restaurants or V&A every night you are there and it still costs just 1 credit. At least in my mind V&A and signature locations are supposed to be higher quality (whether in terms of product, experience, or preparation) than a place like Whispering Canyon Cafe or Mama Melrose's. I don't enjoy seeing those places becoming more standardized or less creative, if in fact it is because of the DDP. Also going to the food quality difference on Platinum, not having to eat at CS locations since those 3 meals are good at TS or CS means I'm not eating burgers, chicken fingers etc - I'm having steak for lunch and dinner which to me is higher quality eating than the CS items (again just my opinion and probably disneygal's).

As an aside to Disneygal - are you doing the wishes cruise or the illuminations cruise? Also was it limited in the choice of days you could go or was it pretty much whenever you wanted to book it during your stay? I can't wait until next october - this is our first platinum experience although we usually book premium.

 

[madcat]

I dont know that the dining plan is the thing that is affecting portion size. maybe it is the fact that along with the kids menu Disney is trying to make the portion size in general smaller and more "healthy" I know that burgers and fries and onion rings and dips and all are not healthy really but smaller portions may mean less sat/ trans fat and calories.(im no nutrionist) I also read that disney is breaking ties with mcdonalds as far as happymeals are concerned(i think) I wish I could remember excatly what was said and where I read the article. like some people have said the dining plan has been around for a long time maybe not as well known? or as popluar as it is now. I use the dining plan, and it works out great for us, as a matter of fact I agree when people say that you get a lot of food on the dining plan no matter if the portion size has become smaller or not, as a matter of fact on our last trip my father kept saying"its time to eat again?" and he likes to eat.as far as the waitstaff being rude or not wanting to do as good of a job at our table, I didnt really see any of that, all of our waiters did a good job, some were more busy than others and the only one that I could complain about would be at the sci fi. and even he didnt make me WANT to complain. everyone treated us great and even some seemed to be relieved that we were on the dining plan, prob because it made it easier on them. we were not treated like trash or given bad tables because we were on the plan, what will prob happen is the amount of people on the plan will out weigh the number of people not on the plan(if that has not happened already) I dont see Disney getting rid of it, they are making money off of it, even if they give it away for free, more people are booking vacations and giving the dining plan away for free takes very little if any money out of Disneys pocket.

 

[disneygal33]

This is going to disneygal's comments about the Platinum package. In theory you are paying for a different quality of food - you can eat at signature restaurants or V&A every night you are there and it still costs just 1 credit. At least in my mind V&A and signature locations are supposed to be higher quality (whether in terms of product, experience, or preparation) than a place like Whispering Canyon Cafe or Mama Melrose's. I don't enjoy seeing those places becoming more standardized or less creative, if in fact it is because of the DDP. Also going to the food quality difference on Platinum, not having to eat at CS locations since those 3 meals are good at TS or CS means I'm not eating burgers, chicken fingers etc - I'm having steak for lunch and dinner which to me is higher quality eating than the CS items (again just my opinion and probably disneygal's).

As an aside to Disneygal - are you doing the wishes cruise or the illuminations cruise? Also was it limited in the choice of days you could go or was it pretty much whenever you wanted to book it during your stay? I can't wait until next october - this is our first platinum experience although we usually book premium.

That is exactly what I was getting at. Thanks you, honeymo78!!


To answer your question, according to our Platinum plan coordinator the cruises run every night. It's all a matter of making your ressies early. We are doing the Wishes Cruise our first night. The seats we have for Cirque Du Soleil are AWESOME. You will get a planner who will contact you about 200 days out. Make a tentative itinerary for yourself so when he contacts you, you can put your requests in before anyone else. They can start making your ressies 10 days before the 180 day mark. Just plan on having dinner either the GF or YC because that's where they leave from. We're eating at Narcoossee's the night of our cruise.
Oh another tip, if you want to para-sail you can schedule 2 sessions in a row for yourself and stay up the whole time. That's my plan

 

[DisMN]

Um, no. Filet mignon is a part of the tenderloin cut of meat. If "they're" using a cheaper cut of meat, "they're" lying on "their" menu/s when "they" call it filet mignon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filet_mignon

Hey thankyou for pointing that out. I used the word "cheaper" when I meant the word "grade"........the grade of tenderloin/filet mignon is a lower than it used to be. One example would be that you have your regular tenderloin and then you have the Kobe tenderloin. I don't know the exact details but while they are both tenderloin there is no comparing the two. What we've seen the Disney restaurants do is go from using the superb grade products like Kobe beef down to the lower graded meats.

That is a change that occurred soon after the DDP was started. We went to some of the restaurants because of their high quality products. Since they will no longer be serving the high quality foods then we won't be dining there.
I doubt Disney will alter their menus for people like DH and myself. I don't think our dollar is missed at all with the popularity of the DDP.

Personally I would rather see portion size go down and prices go up before the quality and creativity goes down. LOL Weird thinking, I know! LOL LOL

 

[BillSears]

The easy solution to this is price the DDP at around $60.00 instead of $38.00. This would allow the restaurants to make a profit while still offering great meals. The DDP person gets treated just like everyone else and the non DDP person gets the fantastic menus that used to be avaiable.

 

[keishashadow]

kaytieeldr- it WAS a big deal to my DH (who hates italian cuisine & agreed to eat here so I could have the osso bucco - ha, what a mistake!).

BTW, if you're on the Fan Pkg @ MaMa Mel. you must share a salad served family style & a flatbread pizza, as well as the surcharge for some dessert item.

Calamari, soup & other appetizers that did look edible good were forbidden....golly gee, think it's a co-incidence that the "better" items weren't on the Fantasmic pkg. Good thing there's a snack bar @ Fantasmic or we would have starved.
Live & learn I suppose.

 

[First timer]

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.

Sshhhhh. Be very, very careful. The powers that be at Disney may be listening. They may decide to introduce the new "Pool Hopping" option. For a small fee one may pool hop at any of disney's resorts.

 

[saschab]

I'd be ticked if I was paying Platinum, unless they had a different menu. I don't know how much it works out to per day for dining on it, but I'd imagine it's more than DDP? Anyone? Anyone? (Lovin' Ferris Bueller's Day Off )

Okay, V&A's is not on the DDP. Does Platinum get chef's tables every night?
(Not being snarky, just wondering how the Platinum plan works as it might be an option for us in the future.)


Are there really that many signature establishments on Disney property that don't participate in DDP and will elevate your Platinum dining experience? I'd be happy as a clam if Platinum included non-Disney restaurants like BlueZoo. Does it?

Because of DDP, A 2TS restaurant (participating) still has a cap. So the cap is $50 instead of $25. Most of our ADR's are 2TS because that's what we like on vacation. I doubt I'll be able to get a $75 meal no matter how I pay. Which is why I have a few ressies off-site also.

Otherwise, without tiered options, we're all getting the same, no matter how we pay for it.

I'm not asking for something for nothing. No way that I'm getting fois gras on DDP. But please Disney, give me the option back!

And on that note, I'm going to write Disney. I'm okay with the Kid's menu, I'm okay with the DDP, just please give me back my fabulous dining options on site.

 

[disneygal33]

I'd be ticked if I was paying Platinum, unless they had a different menu. I don't know how much it works out to per day for dining on it, but I'd imagine it's more than DDP? Anyone? Anyone? (Lovin' Ferris Bueller's Day Off )

I am not 100% sure how it breaks down but for us, a family of 5 staying in a garden view room at the Poly for 9 nights during value season, the cost was $12,261. It works out to about $1300 a day. It does include just about everywhere on property with the exception of the restaurants at the Dolphin/Swan. The chefs table is extra but Victoria and Albert's is included in the list of places you can eat. Room service is also included. If we had gone in April, our original plan until work messed it up, it would have been $13221

 

[Leota]

Just a note - There are tons of other options for CS than Burgers & Pizza. I usually eat a CS eveyday of my Disney vacations & have never, not one single time, had a burger, a pizza or even a chicken finger for that matter, in the last 13 years.

 

[honeymo78]

I'd be ticked if I was paying Platinum, unless they had a different menu. I don't know how much it works out to per day for dining on it, but I'd imagine it's more than DDP? Anyone? Anyone? (Lovin' Ferris Bueller's Day Off )
.

Premium is about $150/night/adult and Plat is about $200 while DDP is <$40. It includes the 3 meals a day (and snack with plat) plus recreation. Plat offers more in terms of dining and recreation/tours than prem. Chefs table and wine parings are extra at V&A. I'm not sure about eating at the chefs table/domain at Citricos but I couldn't find anything on the brochure prohibiting it like on the DDP one (not sure which version). When it was silver, gold, plat dreammaker packages there were some more distinctions in which restaurants were available at each level. More places were included on the gold and plat than on the silver. Unfortunately non disney restaurants like BlueZoo and Shulas aren't included.

 

[lapeen2]

Today's illustration of the thread title....

I EXCITEDLY called to make my ressies for the few sit down meals we are planning on having and the very nice lady doing my ressies asked me if that was all the PSs I was planning on making. I said yes and she said ok...but then went on to caution me that because of the dining it's 'not like it used to be when you could just decide where you want to eat and then just go wait for a table' she said that if we did attempt to do this that we would probably wait at LEAST 90 minutes to be seated. That sucks I HATE that I am being forced to plan what I want to eat 3 months in advance. I hate that I can't have a few days at Disney were I don't have to keep track of the time so that we don't miss our PS!!

 

[saschab]

Premium is about $150/night/adult and Plat is about $200 while DDP is <$40. It includes the 3 meals a day (and snack with plat) plus recreation.

Thanks for the info, honeymo!

Wouldn't make sense for us we'd be paying for recreation we wouldn't use.

Did this include tickets, though? Or just dining and rec?

 

[disneyjunkie]

The easy solution to this is price the DDP at around $60.00 instead of $38.00. This would allow the restaurants to make a profit while still offering great meals. The DDP person gets treated just like everyone else and the non DDP person gets the fantastic menus that used to be avaiable.

What about the families that can't afford $60.00 per person per night? The reason the MYW dining plan is so popular is because the price is reasonable.

Many families that are booking the MYW plan may not be willing/able to book a $60.00 plan.

 

[Local_Girl]

The easy solution to this is price the DDP at around $60.00 instead of $38.00. This would allow the restaurants to make a profit while still offering great meals. The DDP person gets treated just like everyone else and the non DDP person gets the fantastic menus that used to be avaiable.

I wouldn't be surprised if the price of the DDP begins to rise dramatically. But unfortunately, I wouldn't expect the quality of the food to rise simultaneously. I agree with other posters who have said the lessening of portion sizes, lowering of food quality etc. isn't exclusive to Disney.

We'll just have to pick and choose our dining experiences more carefully...

 

[markandtrish]

Welllllll, Im referring back to post #9 by S.poppins from 2 days ago(amazing how us welfare recepients can do all that fancy math in our heads, ain't it ), but we have spent $8,000 to take our family of 5 for our May 2007 vacation, and that was doing the MYW+dining package, and doesnt include the limosuine that my kids would like, not expect, but would like, or HDDR, which are paying for OOP, as well as, Rainforest Cafe, and any souvenirs we happen to purchase along the way. Oh and let's not forget Photopass, which is a must buy for us, sooooo, YUP, Im proud to say that Im happily taking the "Disney Food Stamp Program" with a big ole smile. BTW, last time I checked food stamps were given to families who needed them without them paying for them. And since, Im pretty sure I paid for our DDP with my hard earned money, Im not ashamed to take full advantage of it.

BTW, Im sure S.poppins meant that statement in the most loving and sarcastic way possible,

 

[DisMN]

Today's illustration of the thread title....

I EXCITEDLY called to make my ressies for the few sit down meals we are planning on having and the very nice lady doing my ressies asked me if that was all the PSs I was planning on making. I said yes and she said ok...but then went on to caution me that because of the dining it's 'not like it used to be when you could just decide where you want to eat and then just go wait for a table' she said that if we did attempt to do this that we would probably wait at LEAST 90 minutes to be seated. That sucks I HATE that I am being forced to plan what I want to eat 3 months in advance. I hate that I can't have a few days at Disney were I don't have to keep track of the time so that we don't miss our PS!!

So it can't be argued then that the major things the DDP has without a doubt affected are:

#1 You feel forced to make your dining plans 3 months in advance. Sort of a you snooze-you lose dealie.

#2 The portions have been decreased.

#3 Lower quality products are being used in place of the high grade items.


I detest #3. I hate it and am so disappointed about it. LOL