Who Thinks That The 2008 Diney Plan Will Change?

[qanita92]

Some Disers are predicting that gratuities will be added back on. I'm hoping it does. Does anyone else think it might or if it will undergo any other changes?

 

[JimMIA]

Well, there is always a little tinkering around the margins with any marketing program like DDP...

But I don't expect them to put the gratuity back into DDP in 2008, or ever. Removing the gratuity raised Disney's bottom line $8-10 per adult, per day, without a penny of added cost. In fact, there was probably a cost savings, because they no longer have to account for the tips. You don't just find $8-10 per person, per day lying around, and my guess is the greedy folks at Disney will hang onto it.

 

[TDC Nala]

If they change anything about it, they will wait until 2009 to do it.

I have to agree, I don't think the included gratuity will return. But I do think it feasible that there will be an automatic gratuity added at all TS restaurants for all parties someday.

 

[Lzylitnin]

I was sad to see the gratuity removed from the plan, but then we visited with the current plan last week. Overall, most servers were fantastic, but we received poor service at Le Cellier (my glass was empty most of my meal, I asked twice for a refill of iced tea and never received it until dessert came) and Narccoossee's was horrible. We observed the Narccoossee's waiter provided great service to another table through part of our meal, and they paid with a credit card. We, on the other hand went without drinks (again!) for most of the meal. Also, my steak was rare, not ordered that way at all and our waiter was nowhere to be found. We couldn't even ask for drinks here. I blame it on the plan. I would have loved for my tip to be more reflective of the service we received. Definitely not worth 18% of our nearly $300 meal.

 

[Brian Noble]

Some Disers are predicting that gratuities will be added back on.

The Earth might stop spinning on its axis, too. But, I won't hold my breath.

 

[Shell0616]

The Earth might stop spinning on its axis, too. But, I won't hold my breath.

 

[laurabelle]

I agree with the posters here, I seriously doubt they would add gratuities back in.
I do predict at some point they will allow you to chose between an appetizer and dessert...from a limited menu of course.

 

[bicker]

If there is a change, I bet it would be to make the gratuity automatic (though not mandatory) for the DDP across-the-board.

 

[JimMIA]

I agree with the posters here, I seriously doubt they would add gratuities back in.
I do predict at some point they will allow you to chose between an appetizer and dessert...from a limited menu of course.

I know a lot of us would like to have that choice, but I'll give you two reasons why I don't think they will do it.

First, if they made that offer, half of a party would order appetizers, the other half would order desserts, and they'd share...which Disney doesn't want. They have not chosen to actually prohibit sharing, but they are not going to create a vehicle which would enable sharing.

The second reason is if you make that offer what you are really doing in terms of restaurant capacity is adding another course (add 30 minutes) to the meal. I suspect that the real benefit to Disney of the deletion of the appetizer is NOT the food cost savings, but the higher turnover in the restaurants it provides. If much of their restaurant business is DDP participants (and I think it is), and you can cut 30 minutes off those dining times, you add a lot of table-turns over the course of a day. Multiply that by 365 and it's a whopping big number of additional meals served ($$$).

Both the appetizer deletion and the removal of the gratuity were money decisions by Disney management, and I don't see them giving up those revenue gains unless they dramatically raise the price.

 

[Nancyg56]

If there is a change, I bet it would be to make the gratuity automatic (though not mandatory) for the DDP across-the-board.

You beat me to it. I do believe that it is going to be added on but that he customer is going to be responsible for it. I also think it will be mandatory if you purchase the plan.

 

[TLSnell1981]

If there is a change, I bet it would be to make the gratuity automatic (though not mandatory) for the DDP across-the-board.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. At first, I couldn't understand why Disney didn't do the changes to DDP in stages....to ease the pain. I then realized, I probably wasn't looking at the bigger picture...which includes service charges across the board.

 

[Lzylitnin]

If there is a change, I bet it would be to make the gratuity automatic (though not mandatory) for the DDP across-the-board.

If it were to be mandatory, shouldn't it be referred to as a service charge rather than a gratuity?

 

[Allison]

I do not see that happening.

 

[TMJJS]

Any beneficial (to us) changes will only happen if Disney is losing money with the changes made. I for one will not purchase the plan under the 2008 details. If there is enough reduction in guests refusing to add-on this new dining plan then something might happen. I'm going next week yay: ) under the 2007 plan for the 1st time and can't wait. I have already figured out that my dinner TS meals alone are saving me money & I get to try these more expensive restaurants!
While Disney might look at it as losing money on me with the plan, the alternative would be that I would spend way less $40/day/adult on food if I was paying out of pocket. I own DVC and would eat there (fixing my own meals) and/or off property after closing.

 

[bicker]

If there is a change, I bet it would be to make the gratuity automatic (though not mandatory) for the DDP across-the-board.

If it were to be mandatory, shouldn't it be referred to as a service charge rather than a gratuity?

First of all, I indicated that I thought it would not be mandatory. (Kind of the opposite, y'know? )

However, it is well-established in the travel and hospitality industry that the term mandatory gratuity is very often used instead of "service charge". Many cruise lines have instituted mandatory gratuities, for example, without changing the wording to "service charge". I think the reason is that, in general, more customers respond better to "mandatory gratuity" than to "service charge". Chalk it up as just another instance of customers driving business to do what the customers like better.

 

[bicker]

Just don't buy the 2008 plan! Any beneficial (to us) changes will only happen if Disney is losing money with the changes made.

While that might sound good on paper, in reality it probably won't work out the way you think. If folks don't buy the 2008 plan, it is as likely as not that Disney will simply discontinue the plan entirely -- after all, the lack of participation would prove that customers aren't interested in it. It is academic, though, because I suspect enough folks will continue to use the plan.

Do keep in mind why the plan exists, in the first place: To fill hotel rooms. However, Disney has another mechanism which more reliably fills hotel rooms: Disney's Magical Express. I think you can credit DME for the Dining Plan's lack of criticality in Disney's marketing efforts for 2008.

 

[Brian Noble]

DME has a second, additional benefit, too: each guest who utilizes it becomes a member of a captive audience. Thus, those guests have little choice but to eat in Disney-owned or -affiliated restaurants, Plan or no.

 

[Lewisc]

I don't see Disney making any significant changes to the 2008 DDP, for the reasons already posted.

I could see Disney offering discounted codes for guests that book dining if Disney sees the need to increase sales.

Marketing as well as the legal department would decide if mandatory gratuity, automatic gratuity or service charge would be the correct term. A restaurant in NY (Lake George) was unable to enforce a mandatory gratuity because of the wording. The word gratuity implies a voluntary payment and the restaurant wasn't allowed to go after a party that left without paying the automatic gratuity. Calling it a service charge removes the implication that the charge is in any way optional.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/nyregion/15tipper.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

[Allegro]

OKay from the perspective of someone who never would have known of the advantages of the 2007 plan without having discovered the DIS and bought the 2008 plan with nary a complaint - Disney is NOT going to lose money on this. People who haven't BTDT don't really care. It's something that is offered as part of your vacation package and you take it or leave it. In fact I've noticed a ton of people happily shelling out for the Deluxe plan to make up for the shortcomings in the regular plan. Seems like a winning situation for Disney indeed.

 

[global_mom]

OKay from the perspective of someone who never would have known of the advantages of the 2007 plan without having discovered the DIS and bought the 2008 plan with nary a complaint - Disney is NOT going to lose money on this. People who haven't BTDT don't really care. It's something that is offered as part of your vacation package and you take it or leave it. In fact I've noticed a ton of people happily shelling out for the Deluxe plan to make up for the shortcomings in the regular plan. Seems like a winning situation for Disney indeed.

Many visitors are happily purchasing the 2008 plan and the deluxe plan is a huge hit so far. If you did not know what the 2007 plan was like then you dont have any complaints about the 2008 plan. It is still a good deal for many people and the Deluxe plan is an even better deal for some. We are "old plan" veterans, and were sad to see the changes, but we still have put the 2008 plan on our next 3 vacations. There are plenty of future visitors that are very happy to use the 2008 Disney Dining Plan.