What of you think of the new CS dining plan?

[Flyin2MCO]

My whole point is: How can one eat at a place like Victoria and Albert's and say that WDW's food is nothing to write home about?

Um, my exact words were "...except for a few of the high end joints, Disney food is nothing to write home about".

V&A, California Grill and a few others would be included in that short list...

Anyway, I'm looking forward to great times and (some) good food in a few weeks down at WDW...

 

[mom2aredhead]

When I say that WDW has great food options, I'm not talking about Sci-Fi Dine-In (Did I mention ?) or even Restaurant Marrakesh (although it's fine). I'm talking about places like Victoria and Albert's, California Grill, Jiko, Bistro de Paris, The Wave, etc.

WDW has a lot of crap food because oddly enough that's what most people demand. However, they also have some wonderful fine dining establishments. My whole point is: How can one eat at a place like Victoria and Albert's and say that WDW's food is nothing to write home about?

I agree that Jiko is fabulous . The Wave wasn't open on our last trip, but truthfully the menu doesn't excite me (linguini and chicken pot pie?) Cali Grill is absolutely on my "must try" list for next trip, which unfortunately won't be until sometime next year. I'm sure the menu will be properly "Disney-fied" by then, removing most of what makes it decent and unique. And if not, it's 2 TS credits, so for me, that's all the more reason to just pay OOP for a few good (or fun) meals rather than pre-pay for 6-7 that we could honestly care less about.

Unfortunatley V&A isn't really an option for us right now since my son is 4.5 and I can't wrap my head around getting him a babysitter while on vacation in WDW so he can stay in the room and we can go out for dinner. And the chain places I mentioned were to make the "atmosphere" point - definitely not the food. They're mediocre (at best) for food, but fun to visit once in a while for atmosphere...it's I won't bother with Sci-Fi since we have Mars 2112 near home, kwim?

We're more "eat to live" people, not "live to eat" people, so I guess we can agree to disagree a bit. For the 7 or 8 days we're in WDW, it's not for the food. When my son is older, or if my husband and I were there alone, or if I was there during the Food and Wine Festival I may feel differently. But for our family vacations, the QS plan with a few TS thrown in for fun works fine for us.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

V&A, California Grill and a few others would be included in that short list...

I think where we are disagreeing is that you think WDW is bad with a few exceptions and I think WDW is good with a few exceptions.

 

[Flyin2MCO]

I think where we are disagreeing is that you think WDW is bad with a few exceptions and I think WDW is good with a few exceptions.

No, I think for the price WDW food is mostly mediocre with some good and a few great exceptions.

I think what we do agree on is that WDW rocks!!

 

[HelenePA]

Of all the places I tried in WDW I was NOT impressed. Like I said they have a lot of weird sauces, a lot of seasonings, dressings on the salad already (why oh why must they ruin veggies with dressing?!?!?!) I like my food to taste like its supposed to, chicken to taste like chicken, tomatoes to taste like tomatoes.. I don't need anything fancy... Give me a good grilled chicken breast and I'm in heaven... Not seasoned with so much stuff I can't tell what I'm eating.

 

[Tink3Bell]

Great idea for people who like to not stop what they are doing to make a reservation for a sit down. I would probably do it if I wasn't on free dining.

 

[asmit4]

Mr&Mrs Smith...I realize the basic DDP is the same- but I think you will find that come 2009, when this new plan is put into action- the snack credits are going to be reduced.

For example- there is lots of talk about how snacks at goofy's candy shop are no longer going to be allowed on the DDP among others. With the new CS plan in place- they will be 'giving away' LOADS more snacks than they are accustomed too so changes will occur. I think we are going to be limited to things like 1 muffin, 1 ice cream novelty, 1 drink. It will be interesting to see what items are going to be snack credits next year. Many CMs have come on lately saying the snacks are going to be 'rehabed' to be much less.

We won't know until people arrive in mid January and are told-'surprise! That's no longer a snack'.

 

[Mickey28]

It's $29.99/person/day and $8.99/child/day per another information site.

 

[TPCShauna]

Have you tried the Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad at Sunshine Seasons?
Or the Ribs at Flametree BBQ? Or Columbia Harbour House? Or the CS in Morocco? Respectfully beg to differ.

Wouldn't eat beets if you paid me, so no on the salad but I did have their attempt at a noodle bowl and it was gross.

The ribs were dry and stringy. I can get better ones at the bbq joint down the street.

CHH and the Tangierine Cafe are two of the exceptions to the utter and complete grossness of the CS offerings. CHH is the ONLY CS I will eat at MK and I always get the same thing - the fish basket. While Tangierine Cafe is not as good as our local Moroccan restaurant, it is still very respectable for a CS meal.

The CS plan idea is kind of neat, but I don't think I'd buy it. I like my TS meals too much and a week of only CS would probably put me over the edge. I do wish they would come up with a more flexible dining plan, maybe some kind of points system. Something like 1 point = a snack, 2 points = a CS meal, and 4 points = a TS meal. Then you could buy a certain amount of points for your trip (probably some minimum, like 7 per day to equate to the current plan), but you could be given the option to buy more points and you could use them as you wish. I think that would be an AWESOME plan!

This is a WONDERFUL idea!

DH was so sick of chicken by the 3rd day.

This is totally our problem. Unless you search out the abnormal CS spots, you are stuck with chicken strips, a burger, a hot dog or pizza. All are inferior.

 

[kakiegirl]

I really wanted to be able to do the CS plan because we don't like being tied down to a TS meal every day. However at 29.99 per person a day and DD turning 10 before our next vacation I just can't justify doing it. I looked at the menus at the CS we usually go to and we would have to really stretch it just to break even, especially if they cut down on the snack options.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Mr&Mrs Smith...I realize the basic DDP is the same- but I think you will find that come 2009, when this new plan is put into action- the snack credits are going to be reduced.

For example- there is lots of talk about how snacks at goofy's candy shop are no longer going to be allowed on the DDP among others. With the new CS plan in place- they will be 'giving away' LOADS more snacks than they are accustomed too so changes will occur. I think we are going to be limited to things like 1 muffin, 1 ice cream novelty, 1 drink. It will be interesting to see what items are going to be snack credits next year. Many CMs have come on lately saying the snacks are going to be 'rehabed' to be much less.

We won't know until people arrive in mid January and are told-'surprise! That's no longer a snack'.

But they already released the info for the dining plans in 2009. In fact, I have booked my trip including the DDP. With that, they give you a list of the types of snacks that are included and they are the same as the last time we went in 2007. If they were planning on getting rid of those snacks, why would they bother listing them? While anything is open to be changed, I suppose, I think, by now, if they were going to make such changes, they would have indicated them before releasing the info for the 2009 plan.