Second Trip using Dining Plan--revised opinion!

[Kasmir]

This from the person that is as guilty of it as anyone. Nice.


Oh yes the problem isn't she did anything wrong such as calling someone fat anomg other things and then put up a fake apology that refused to even acknowledge she'd done anything wrong. the problem is I'm being judgmental for pointing it out.

Now who's deflecting?

It's not the message - it's the delivery. And I'm not being judgmental - I'm simply irritated by your "Holier than Thou" comments.

When someone apologizes to me, I accept the apology. It's pretty simple, really. Not all of us apologize perfectly, but it's the thought that counts.

 

[bicker]

No, it is making so that only those families that can afford to stay on Disney Property can eat at Disney Table Service restaurants.

While I don't feel this is true, I wouldn't be averse to it being true. WDW doesn't exist to foster hotels and timeshares on 192 and International Drive. Any benefit they give to on-site guests that more-than-pays for itself, vis-a-vis extra revenue generated from on-site guests versus revenue lost from off-site guests, is the Right Thing To Do.

 

[bicker]

Now who's deflecting?

Besides violating community standards by making a personal attack, he mucked up what I wrote.

Don't worry. The moderators will clean this thread up pretty soon.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

The man that yelled across the restaurant at you was probably from Texas (like me). That's something that someone in my family would do. We are just really friendly like that and just trying to make conversation! I'm always embarassing my kids!

My Dad did that all the time. Mom is not from the south at all. They moved out of the south. She'd slink in her chair faster than a bat from you know where when my dad did that.
I wasn't embarassed as a kid until I got to the "have to be cool" stage. Then it was like.... "Oh are those girls I'll never see again looking?... OMG!!! I'm gonna die."
As I get older, I find myself waving and going over to talk to them.

 

[majortom]

WDW doesn't exist to foster hotels and timeshares on 192 and International Drive.

Disney exists to make a profit. I do not argue that point at all. It just disappoints me that they are doing more and more things to exclude those less fortunate (Disney's Dining Plan, Disney's Vacation Club, etc) while at the same time dropping the quality of these experiences they provide.

Any benefit they give to on-site guests that more-than-pays for itself, vis-a-vis extra revenue generated from on-site guests versus revenue lost from off-site guests, is the Right Thing To Do.

I never said this cost them revenue. I am quite certain that they instituted their dining plan to increase revenue, as I have said before, both by decreasing quality (and therefore cost) and by expecting guests not to take full advantage of their plan (in other words, paying for things they are not getting).

/carmi

 

[bicker]

Understood: In the end, people who benefit from the changes will generally like them; people who are hindered by the changes will generally not like them. And the crowds seem to indicate that the former is a larger group than the former, for what it's worth.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Now who's deflecting?

It's not the message - it's the delivery. And I'm not being judgmental - I'm simply irritated by your "Holier than Thou" comments.

When someone apologizes to me, I accept the apology. It's pretty simple, really. Not all of us apologize perfectly, but it's the thought that counts.

Uh I never said you were being judgemental. Hence I wasn't deflecting anything. So now I'm Holier than thou? Yeah. That's two name calls now. Nice.

The point is we disagree on whether the apology was sincere. But I haven't called you Holier than thou or Judgemental for it. My delivery probably was too strong looking back on the post. But I haven't called you names.

Besides violating community standards by making a personal attack, he mucked up what I wrote.

You're the one that put in "glass houses buddy" Sounds like a personal attack to me. A thinly veiled one. But one nonetheless. And now you complain because it came back at you. Whatever.

Anyway we're way off topic here now so if you'd like to continue, I'll be glad to do so off thread.

 

[majortom]

Understood: In the end, people who benefit from the changes will generally like them; people who are hindered by the changes will generally not like them.

In this case it is people that think they benefit from these changes (as I still argue that even those on these plans are hurt by them, even if they do not realize it.

And the crowds seem to indicate that the former is a larger group than the former, for what it's worth.

Clearly not true. Fewer than half of Disney's guests stay on Disney property and as such could be eligible for these plans. These crowds show people currently want to go to Walt Disney World no matter what their experience is (or will be). Many do not even know about these changes and will not until they arrive and cannot eat on property because they did not plan every hour of their trip six months ago.

/carmi

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Disney exists to make a profit. I do not argue that point at all. It just disappoints me that they are doing more and more things to exclude those less fortunate (Disney's Dining Plan, Disney's Vacation Club, etc) while at the same time dropping the quality of these experiences they provide.

Are you saying the dining plan and DVC are excluding those less fortunate? If they truly are, and I don't really have the numbers to know that, then I wouldn't see that as a good thing either.

I never said this cost them revenue. I am quite certain that they instituted their dining plan to increase revenue, as I have said before, both by decreasing quality (and therefore cost) and by expecting guests not to take full advantage of their plan (in other words, paying for things they are not getting).

Assuming the quality drop you speak of, why is it you think this is necessarily caused by the dining plan rather than independent of it? From where I am, it seems a quality cut would save them money regardless of whether the plan was used or not.
I do see your point of paying for things they don't use and it is well taken. The dining plan can be an example of this. For example. One can eat and share counters very easily. One can eat and share a-la-carte's easily. So for a family like that, the DDP is a waste. Way too much food. Another example. The sign over your first born and we'll let you do anything you want plan. We added up all we thought we could fit in (and there's no way our schedule would have been practical) and still couldn't get to the price pricing everything seperately. I'm sure we could find more examples. I think you've hit the bullseye on that one. The Tickets are an example of this too. According to the UG, only 1 in 10 non-expiring tickets are used after the initial trip. If that's true than that is pure revenue.

 

[mlwear]

Woa everyone, this has gotten completely off track.

First of all the OP is not AMCaptured.

AMCaptured, posted to the OP's comments about the effect the Dining Plan had on her/his recent.

AMCaptured made what I call a Net Forum Brain Toot and let her keys run away with her common sense.

Then she apologized and some of you others acted as mean to her as you thought she acted.

So now back to your respective corners, and let discuss if you think the Dining Plan has negatively affected Disney Dining.

Yes, back to the topic!
Last year we ended up purchasing the dining plan (very disappointing that free dining started, I think the day we left, but could have been one or two days after--anyway, very disappointing). It was great. It was WAY too much food. Yes, I'm getting to the negative...the only bad experience was at Concourse Steakhouse. It seemed that they were gearing up for free dining the following week. My first time there, so feel free to tell me if this is standard operating procedure for them. Server knew we were on dining plan and most definitely wanted us to have our meal and rush us out. We were seated and she said she would be back to get our order and to know ehat we wanted for our whole meal and boy was she...very demanding of right then drink (unpleasant explaining what we could not have, we didn't ask), appetizer, entree, dessert. All ordered together. I have never ordered dessert with my meal before this! Our food was brought out fast. No time in between. Terrible service. My steak was horrible and I asked to speak with the manager. I expressed my concern that this was a practice run for free dining next week and that I hope it wasn't their intention to run people through their restaurant like cattle. He assured me it was not -- I hope others had good service in the weeks to follow.
Everything else was fine. This year we have back to back reservations. We are paying for dining for the first half and free dining the second. It will be interesting to see if there is any difference.

 

[P-Dust]

We used the DDP in Dec. and very much enjoyed it. On our previous dozen trips, we would eat at 1 or 2 TS at most. The drawbacks, for us, do not outweigh the advantages.

Cons: losing flexability
spontaneous ADR's are scarce
resturaunts are busier

Pros: Lots of fun obsessing over ADR's
Trying new restaurants/different food!
Getting a peek-see of the many different resorts!
Never worrying about meal prices!

We didn't mind it so much that we are doing it again in September.
We can't wait!

 

[bicker]

In this case it is people that think they benefit from these changes (as I still argue that even those on these plans are hurt by them, even if they do not realize it.

You perceive that they're harmed from your perspective. However, for a great number of them it is a substantial improvement as they weren't even enjoying table service dining previously. It's a quantum improvement for them, overwhelming a lot of smaller detriments that some guests may perceive.

Clearly not true. Fewer than half of Disney's guests stay on Disney property and as such could be eligible for these plans.

That doesn't matter. A greater number of people are being served. It's a normalized metric.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I think this thread has taken a very nasty turn and with that, I am locking it....

Play nice people......No personal attacks are allowed on the Dis and it would take forever to clean this one up....it is done.