The decline of Disney Dinning....

[DisMN]

I think the DDP is partially to blame; but I don't blame people for booking it as I think it can be a good deal for some visitors.

I don't think the free dining has anything to do with it, though. With all those people paying rack rate, Disney is making money hand over fist those few weeks and that more than makes up for any "loss" they might otherwise take on the promotion. When you think about it, it's not free at all. Just another way to discount a vacation.

Me thinks Disney is trying to do what most companies do. Increase revenue and decrease expenses. With food prices on the rise, it only makes sense that they streamline meal choices and find a single supplier to cut them a deal. Doesn't make me happy but makes sense.

We will be doing more and more off site dining.

Yep, all thoughts I agree with too...........although we don't have a car with us to dine off site so we found ourselves dining mostly the counter service places on our last two trips. No biggie, we find ourselves spending significantly less because we're not doing the table service restaurants.......but I do wish I felt like Disney *missed* our business. Oh well...

 

[ultramickeymouse]

I hate what has happened to the dining at WDW. One example is ESPN. It use to have a 4 page menu but now is only 2 pages, one for food, one for drinks. The fun items like bucket of wings and Super Bowl Sundae are gone as well as all dinner options. Just sanwiches. Was great now just ok.

 

[Katiebell]

Correlation does not imply causation. This will only be our second trip to WDW, but we go to DL about once a year. The same things could be said about food at DL -- homogenized menus, shrinking portions, decline in quality, advance reservations required. Here's the thing: DL does not have a dining plan. What DL DOES have is the same Disney executives making decisions about how they are going to increase profit from food service.

The DDP did not cause the changes -- the DDP is part of the changes. Disney management wants the restaurants full, all year round, even in hurricane season. They want all of their guests to plan on eating at least one TS meal a day, and to expect that as part of the overall "Disney experience". They want to cut costs on the food with smaller portions, fewer specialty or expensive ingredients, more basic menus throughout all Disney restaurants so they get better deals from the suppliers. It's a lot cheaper to buy the exact same salmon fillets for 10 different restaurants, and serve them up with 10 different sauces and garnishes, than to special order for each individual location. Then each location maintains its individual identity and appeal with a couple of signature dishes and/or desserts (cheddar cheese soup and maple creme brulee at Le Cellier, Cobb Salad and grapefruit cake at Brown Derby, etc.)

I never got to experience WDW dining at the peak of its glory days, and I'm sorry to have missed it. But so many people visit every single day, they just can't consistently provide the gourmet, boutique, unique dining experiences they once did. The closest you will come to that is the signature restaurants, and you will pay a premium to eat there -- looks like prices are going up across the board. A lot.

The Tahitian Terrace at DL used to serve a teriyaki steak for 3.25...of course, that was 1969...times change! I was bowled over by the prices at Blue Bayou in February, and even lunch at Cafe Orleans was a lot more than it was a couple of years ago.

Me thinks Disney is trying to do what most companies do. Increase revenue and decrease expenses. With food prices on the rise, it only makes sense that they streamline meal choices and find a single supplier to cut them a deal. Doesn't make me happy but makes sense.

We will be doing more and more off site dining.

I agree...and since you have that option, I can certainly understand why you would. But I think the vast majority of visitors will be more like us -- flew in from out of state, took ME from the airport, no rental car, don't know Orlando anyway, don't want to miss anything so will stay on site, spending all of our money for food, lodging, entertainment, and everything else...at Disney.

And Disney is counting on that.

 

[SandraVB79]

I agree...and since you have that option, I can certainly understand why you would. But I think the vast majority of visitors will be more like us -- flew in from out of state, took ME from the airport, no rental car, don't know Orlando anyway, don't want to miss anything so will stay on site, spending all of our money for food, lodging, entertainment, and everything else...at Disney.

And Disney is counting on that.

That's like us. Whenever we can avoid renting a car, we will avoid it, and since we have not too much clues about good or not restaurants so we justs tay at Disney
I, also, have never experienced WDW dining at its best, but I don't regret that, because I enjoy it just as much now the way it is!

 

[centurythree]

The DDP did not cause the changes -- the DDP is part of the changes. Disney management wants the restaurants full, all year round, even in hurricane season. They want all of their guests to plan on eating at least one TS meal a day, and to expect that as part of the overall "Disney experience". They want to cut costs on the food with smaller portions, fewer specialty or expensive ingredients, more basic menus throughout all Disney restaurants so they get better deals from the suppliers. It's a lot cheaper to buy the exact same salmon fillets for 10 different restaurants, and serve them up with 10 different sauces and garnishes, than to special order for each individual location. Then each location maintains its individual identity and appeal with a couple of signature dishes and/or desserts (cheddar cheese soup and maple creme brulee at Le Cellier, Cobb Salad and grapefruit cake at Brown Derby, etc.)

I agree, and think it would be absolutely insane of Disney to do otherwise. Disney has a business to run and attendance is still climbing at the parks in general and restaurants in particular, so what reason would they have to change? I don't, and have never in my lifetime, go to Disney for truly spectacular food. That's what the great restaurants in my hometown and around the country are for. What I want from Disney restaurants is atmosphere and "good" food. I don't think that their restaurants have fallen below that bar yet.

As for portion sizes shrinking . . . that's both a good business decision and the responsible thing to do. (Disney has a history of being a bit in front of the curve on things like this, such as by starting to offer an option of fruit sides instead of fries at CS locations and switching, in theory at least, to "whole wheat" buns.) I wish more restaurants would follow their lead on the portion sizes.

 

[lborne]

When I lived in Orlando and worked for Disney, one of the things I absolutely loved to do was eat there because of the great food. I'd take my dates to dine at the different countries at EPCOT or the California Grill, etc., and I know I was paying more than outside restaurants, but it was worth it. And I did not need reservations. It was fantastic. Locals can't do that anymore because you can't get reservations. Locals don't want to because the food is not special or better.

Disney is like all other companies that can't be satisfied with making the same percentage profit each year. Shareholders demand that they always continue to eek out more profit margin.