When Will The Dining Plan Return?

[Evita_W]

I think if they come back they need to be modified, as if you don't drink alcohol it was recently almost impossible to break even, let alone come out ahead

 

[angelmav]

I have never been a fan of the dining plan, at least in its current iteration, but there is no denying that they had a successful model to keep people In the Disney bubble and get every one of their vacation dollars. I’m not so sure they recognize that though under current management. One can only guess what next year will look like because I think that’s the better gauge for ‘normal’.

 

[Sbunit81]

I have never been a fan of the dining plan, at least in its current iteration, but there is no denying that they had a successful model to keep people In the Disney bubble and get every one of their vacation dollars. I’m not so sure they recognize that though under current management. One can only guess what next year will look like because I think that’s the better gauge for ‘normal’.

I think the current management doesn't have a clue on how to run Disney operations or any type of grasp of customer satisfaction IMO based on the recent trend of decisions made.

 

[rteetz]

I think the current management doesn't have a clue on how to run Disney operations or any type of grasp of customer satisfaction IMO based on the recent trend of decisions made.

People keep coming tho...

 

[angelmav]

People keep coming tho...

People are looking for any sort of normalcy right now. They are all mostly locals. They are also the ones who wouldn’t be effected by any of these changes.

 

[AurumPunzel]

People are looking for any sort of normalcy right now. They are all mostly locals. They are also the ones who wouldn’t be effected by any of these changes.

When international guests can finally go, killing off the DDP on top of the loss of the ME is going to alienate them to the point that any benefit of staying on-site is negated. DDP has been a godsend for me, and many international guests who come from far away, since it means more spending money for merch. Taking it away is certainly going to make going to WDW even more expensive than it is pre-pandemic, and it's already bad enough there's anxiety over additional costs of MCO transfers should the worse case scenario of Disney leaving it up to guests to arrange become moot.

 

[Eric Smith]

When international guests can finally go, killing off the DDP on top of the loss of the ME is going to alienate them to the point that any benefit of staying on-site is negated. DDP has been a godsend for me, and many international guests who come from far away, since it means more spending money for merch. Taking it away is certainly going to make going to WDW even more expensive than it is pre-pandemic, and it's already bad enough there's anxiety over additional costs of MCO transfers should the worse case scenario of Disney leaving it up to guests to arrange become moot.

I don’t think the DDP is gone for good. It’s too much of a money maker. I think it’ll come back once they can reduce or eliminate distancing in the table service restaurants and open most of them back up. They just don’t have the capacity in the restaurants to allow for the dining plan.

 

[yulilin3]

People are looking for any sort of normalcy right now. They are all mostly locals. They are also the ones who wouldn’t be effected by any of these changes.

I can't tell you the make of the current visitors, I don't think anyone can unless you work directly for Disney in that dept but I can say that there is a large amount of national and even some international visitors right now, a lot of south american visitors by conversations I've had with them and people from all over the country so to say it's mostly locals is not really accurate

 

[Illinois76]

People keep coming tho...

Bingo.

The irony is they totally are convinced they do... and the analytics confirms to them they do.

Revenue is streaming up... why would they think (or maybe why would you think) they don’t understand guest satisfaction?

 

[Disneylover99]

I can't tell you the make of the current visitors, I don't think anyone can unless you work directly for Disney in that dept but I can say that there is a large amount of national and even some international visitors right now, a lot of south american visitors by conversations I've had with them and people from all over the country so to say it's mostly locals is not really accurate

I think it’s fair to say international travel is way down.
I imagine they make up a huge chunk of the consumers who purchase the ddp.

 

[angelmav]

I can't tell you the make of the current visitors, I don't think anyone can unless you work directly for Disney in that dept but I can say that there is a large amount of national and even some international visitors right now, a lot of south american visitors by conversations I've had with them and people from all over the country so to say it's mostly locals is not really accurate

Going by what has been reported. So, sure, whatever.

I’m in Italy btw. So if I wanted to go I’d be looking at a quarantine on both ends. UK folks who are one of their better segments pretty much can’t travel.

But sure. Probably a normal subsection like any other time...

 

[skeeter31]

Going by what has been reported. So, sure, whatever.

I’m in Italy btw. So if I wanted to go I’d be looking at a quarantine on both ends. UK folks who are one of their better segments pretty much can’t travel.

But sure. Probably a normal subsection like any other time...

I think what @yulilin3 was pointing out was that it’s not just “all mostly locals” as your previously post was saying. It’s definitely not a normal subsection of the population like normal times either, but to say it’s almost all locals only is wrong. There are a bunch of people traveling in from other states and other country’s. And @yulilin3 would know as she’s been working at SW for the past few months interacting with all of these travelers first hand. If she’s saying there are international travelers, I’d believe her.

 

[bookwormde]

I don’t think the DDP is gone for good. It’s too much of a money maker. I think it’ll come back once they can reduce or eliminate distancing in the table service restaurants and open most of them back up. They just don’t have the capacity in the restaurants to allow for the dining plan.

DDP is only a "money maker" if the restaurants would not be full without it. If not as a discounting program it would be a money looser

 

[Eric Smith]

DDP is only a "money maker" if the restaurants would not be full without it. If not as a discounting program it would be a money looser

It’s not usually a discount for people. We’ve priced it out for three of our trips and it wouldn’t have saved us money any of the times. I’d wager to say that at least 75% of people who use the dining plan don’t get their money’s worth from it. Having the dining plan also allows Disney to get people to pay full rack rate at the resorts by offering free dining.

 

[angelmav]

I think what @yulilin3 was pointing out was that it’s not just “all mostly locals” as your previously post was saying. It’s definitely not a normal subsection of the population like normal times either, but to say it’s almost all locals only is wrong. There are a bunch of people traveling in from other states and other country’s. And @yulilin3 would know as she’s been working at SW for the past few months interacting with all of these travelers first hand. If she’s saying there are international travelers, I’d believe her.

Let’s see if I can reply in a way that is more understandable to you since I feel like you are missing my point and are somehow taking offense.

Are there some? Sure. But the majority of those visiting now are less effected by these changes because they are, by and large, not international travelers or those needing to cover a large distance to get there.

Therefor the current makeup when someone says look, people are still coming is not indicative of the types of visitors most effected by, nor likely to be impacted due to these changes.

That is not a black and white statement that EVERYONE falls into that camp.

 

[skeeter31]

Let’s see if I can reply in a way that is more understandable to you since I feel like you are missing my point and are somehow taking offense.

Are there some? Sure. But the majority of those visiting now are less effected by these changes because they are, by and large, not international travelers or those needing to cover a large distance to get there.

Therefor the current makeup when someone says look, people are still coming is not indicative of the types of visitors most effected by, nor likely to be impacted due to these changes.

That is not a black and white statement that EVERYONE falls into that camp.

Not sure why you’re coming after me like this as I was simply pointing out that other posters who have much more first hand information were saying differently. Enjoy your day as I won’t engage with you any further.

 

[angelmav]

Not sure why you’re coming after me like this as I was simply pointing out that other posters who have much more first hand information were saying differently. Enjoy your day as I won’t engage with you any further.

Kind of rude. I’m trying to engage you in civil discourse. Not even sure what exactly we are disagreeing about here. I acknowledged there are some visitors that fit that profile and you acknowledge that it’s not the normal makeup currently.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

DDP is only a "money maker" if the restaurants would not be full without it. If not as a discounting program it would be a money looser

It's only a discounted program if people who get it would have eaten the same things ordered (and same punt, same number of meals, same location, etc)

One can definitely find savings if they really work the plan but most people I talk to spend less money on food without it than whatnot costs

 

[Eric Smith]

It's only a discounted program if people who get it would have eaten the same things ordered (and same punt, same number of meals, same location, etc)

One can definitely find savings if they really work the plan but most people I talk to spend less money on food without it than whatnot costs

I think a lot of people don't factor in tip when they look at whether it saves them money. Many more probably don't do the math at all.

 

[Julie Amber]

Considering that Disney is currently hiring for a new head of the Disney Dining plan, I believe that it will come back perhaps later this year. We have only used the DDP when it was offered for free for staying at a Disney resort during certain times of the year. In the future, that's probably still the only time we would use it as I find it wouldn't save our family money with our dining style.