Well now that free dining is coming, will Disney get cheap on the menus again?

[Colleen27]

oh this is disappointing! I was hoping to be blown away by the dining plan so I would want to purchase it whenever I go!

You might still be... I fret over the reports of terrible food and tiny portions that I read when I'm planning each and every trip, it seems, but I've not noticed any significant changes. We've gotten free dining once, checked in too early but stayed into the free dining dates once, and gone once at a time of year that they've never offered free dining, and the overall dining experience for each trip has been mostly positive and fairly consistant from one trip to another. We've run into the occasional disinterested server or sub-par meal here and there on every trip, but never one bad meal after another the way you might think from reading some of the gripes here.

The one complaint I have about our free dining trip has nothing to do with TS or food quality - it has to do with how insanely crowded the quick service restaurants get relative to overall crowd levels and how poorly they handle the crowds. It was weird and a little surprising - we had shorter standby waits for the Mountains than for a crummy burger! DH said it was like slow season in the parks but peak season in the restaurants, and that was an apt description. TS crowds are limited by the number of ADRs made available, but there's nothing limiting the mealtime rush at QS locations. We avoid the entire issue now by going with the deluxe plan and not eating QS in the parks.

 

[DisneyBunny15]

This is all so upsetting! We too, are DVC members and are not eligible for free dining promo - but end of August is the only vacation time that works best for us.. I'm sure its still great food..

 

[TDC Nala]

Have noticed significant changes with menu items being changed, some items replaced with either cheaper or more simplistic foods...but not at every single restaurant yet, and not just during free dining. It's being implemented incrimentally. Starting to notice a difference in offerings at some counter services now. (A friend just said to me that the Cuban sandwich offered at ABC commissary has been removed and replaced with a mediocre grilled chicken sandwich with bleu cheese dressing, for one thing. She thought the sandwich was edible but that's about it. Someone else might think it the best chicken sandwich they ever had, we'll see.)

Disney as a corporation is streamlining food service EVERYWHERE, even at Disneyland, which has no comparable dining plan. It's the new business model. Some of this has to do with the "healthy meals" initiative, which took a blow regarding the kids meals because they tried to change everything all at once. You can still find something perfectly adequate to eat, but your favorites might disappear at any time. Might not be a good idea to get too attached to specific menu items.

 

[fottafamily05]

Try pasta that's been cooked hours ahead then sat under a heat lamp for hours. Can we say glue.

 

[eliza61]

Was this lack of quality food experienced at the buffets as well?

Buffets are sort of hard thing for me to rate. Only because at any buffet (disney or not) if you get the food when it first comes out, it's hot and tasty, not so much if its been sitting there for a while. Food temperature is a pet peeve for me, Ihate my dinner luke warm.

We ate at the Crystal & 100 Park fare in the GF palace one year during FD and the food was good, but it seemed as if they really rushed us. both were Character meals and I heard they tend to rush you during those any way.