Why all the removal of favorites?

[ransom]

If DDP, as we know it, goes away watch and see some of the higher end items coming back.

That our favorites return would be wonderful, and is my fervent hope.

But I don't expect it.

 

[bomzar]

There are many reasons that the food offerings change. Guest's requests are a huge one! Case in point: Figaro Fries. There were significantly more guests requesting them without the lettuce, tomato, and ranch. So it was changed. Cost is a driving factor also. Look at your local grocery store at how much some food items have increased lately. I live in Orlando and there was an article in the local paper awhile back that Costco/Sam's Clubs were limiting the number of bags of rice you could buy due to world shortages. Also, the Chefs do change up the menu several times a year. Sometimes the changes are good, sometimes not! Lol!

 

[Tricia1972]

There are many reasons that the food offerings change. Guest's requests are a huge one! Case in point: Figaro Fries. There were significantly more guests requesting them without the lettuce, tomato, and ranch. So it was changed. Cost is a driving factor also. Look at your local grocery store at how much some food items have increased lately. I live in Orlando and there was an article in the local paper awhile back that Costco/Sam's Clubs were limiting the number of bags of rice you could buy due to world shortages. Also, the Chefs do change up the menu several times a year. Sometimes the changes are good, sometimes not! Lol!

Re Figaro Fries
How do you know that more guests were requesting it without lettuce and tomato rather than just having the fries as they were offered?

Also, why not just leave it as it was then? Wouldn't that make everyone happy. You want them without then order without, you want them with - get them as they are. Everyone is happy that way.


I DO agree about cost being the driving factor. I don't buy the guest request part, but I totally believe that they are more expensive the way they were. Disney greatly increased their profit margin by pulling the lettuce, tomato and ranch and not decreasing the price.

Just like the DDP in 2008 vs 2007n - give less charge the same, it makes very good financial sense.

 

[marivaid]

If DDP, as we know it, goes away watch and see some of the higher end items coming back.

I have to respectfully disagree. While the DDP could have been blamed for many things last year, that excuse just doesn't fly anymore.

The DDP as we knew it HAS gone away. Tips are gone, appetizers are gone, yet the price only went down $1. It's not even close to being the money-saving deal it once was.Yet Disney has been taking more items away this year than in 2007.
Now they're even "allowing" us AP holders to buy the plan, without purchasing tickets, while we are booking a room at AP rate. Double discount, or so we are made to believe. Truth is we're going to save twice as much with our DDE than we would be with the DDP.

IMO, just like every business right now Disney is cutting costs wherever they can. Fake cheese sauce is a whole lot cheaper than fresh tomatoes and lettuce, plus it doesn't spoil as fast (or at all ? what IS in that nasty stuff anyway?).
I believe they'd be cutting costs with or without the DDP.
Restaurants everywhere in the US are doing it, I don't see why it's so surprising that Disney is doing the exact same thing.

 

[TDC Nala]

The dining plan may have changed, but a great many guests still use it. There's a poll on the dining plan board (sure, that's the DIS, and a microcosm of the DIS at that) where the majority continues to consider the dining plan something they want to use. Some of them don't even care about discounts or savings; they want the convenience of having the meal paid ahead of time. Families with young children can have a character meal every single day and save money over what they would have paid for the kids to have two character meals on a whole trip.

The popularity of the dining plan is contributing to the popularity of the restaurants and to the need to cut costs in order to serve more patrons.

I do think it's likely that Disney began to consider Figaro fries as they used to exist too "different," that is, outside the typical tastes of the vast majority.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

These disappearances are all due to the existence of the Disney Dining Plan. A restaurant or counter service gets a fixed dollar amount per meal, no matter what is ordered. Normally in the restaurant business the actual cost of the food is about 1/3 of the total expenses. So the higher the food quality or quantity the higher the selling price.

It is often human nature to, if there is no difference in their payment, order the highest price items. Which is why both the restaurants and the quick service locations are removing their highest priced items.

If DDP, as we know it, goes away watch and see some of the higher end items coming back.

That wouldn't explain the addition of the crab cake at Prime Time.

 

[TDC Nala]

haven't had the Prime Time crab cake - am assuming it uses actual crab and not that fake crab fish stuff.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

haven't had the Prime Time crab cake - am assuming it uses actual crab and not that fake crab fish stuff.

I would hope so, I really don't care for the imitation stuff.

 

[TDC Nala]

It's also possible to load up a crab cake with bread and fillers...hm, now maybe I need to go try it just to see what they make it out of.

 

[marivaid]

It's also possible to load up a crab cake with bread and fillers...hm, now maybe I need to go try it just to see what they make it out of.

My bet is it's mostly fake crab stuff, a lot of bread and cheap shrimp. A bit off topic, that's why I don't order shellfish in restaurants even though I'm technically only allergic to shrimp. According to our server at Coral Reef, the lobster bisque is mostly shrimp too.

 

[fakereadhed]

These disappearances are all due to the existence of the Disney Dining Plan. A restaurant or counter service gets a fixed dollar amount per meal, no matter what is ordered. Normally in the restaurant business the actual cost of the food is about 1/3 of the total expenses. So the higher the food quality or quantity the higher the selling price.

It is often human nature to, if there is no difference in their payment, order the highest price items. Which is why both the restaurants and the quick service locations are removing their highest priced items.

If DDP, as we know it, goes away watch and see some of the higher end items coming back.

While I agree with your comments about the DDP in general, I think the DDP is still a great money maker for WDW since it's a prepaid plan and they are getting everyone's money up front. I doubt most guests have spreadsheets for value per credit and wouldn't be surprised if the majority doesn't even use all their TS credits during their stay. When I worked in retail, gift certificates/cards were mostly pure profit because very few people actually used them to their full potential, if at all.

I don't think their profits are suffering due to the DDP and that is why they are removing favorites. I'm not happy about every change, but it's not the end of the world.

 

[bicker]

I would expect the reality to be somewhere in the middle, i.e., the Dining Plan, itself, probably loses money, or makes very little, as compared to what they would have made from folks just paying OOP, but combined with the extra revenue attributable to a few more folks staying on-site, paying on-site room rates, it probably is a net gain, overall.

 

[_queenie_]

I can't tell you why they've changed some things, but I will say that I'm annoyed by some of the changes made for health reasons. Obviously, obesity is a problem and Disney doesn't want to encourage it, everyone should try to eat healthy, but it's a come to a point where somethings are downright nasty. If changing all the kids' meals wasn't bad enough, they're now changing a lot of adult meals. The new buns are unexcusable, they might as well serve you carrot sticks when you order french fries. I'm waiting for the day when their ice cream will be soy milk and gelatin. Because of all the walking we do in WDW, it's the only place I barely bat and eyelash at eating some french fries. I don't know whatever happened to having it be someone's own choice of whether or not they want to stuff their face with fried cheese. I know they do have an option with the kids' meals about sides and a soft drink, but I'd love to see them allow you to pick your bun and mac n cheese (in a dream though)!

 

[bicker]

Last time I checked, there were lots of places where you could get lots of yummy bread, fried foods, full-fat ice cream, etc. It's all a matter of choices, including your choice about where you decide to eat.

 

[Tricia1972]

Last time I checked, there were lots of places where you could get lots of yummy bread, fried foods, full-fat ice cream, etc. It's all a matter of choices, including your choice about where you decide to eat.

Glad I refreshed before replying. You made my point better than I was going to.

Regarding the buns and not getting a choice, really when you think about it Disney has never given us a choice as to white or wheat buns. It was all white and now it's all "wheat" - more realistically it's a white/wheat blend now that's not really wheat at all, but that's a whole other post.

 

[catne]

Before we went on our May 2008 trip...there were several things people on these boards said were gone from menues, like the maple brulee at Le Cellier. so we were lamenting never had the chance to try it (finally had a rez for Le Cellier in May.)

So we went, expecting that we'd have to choose something diff...and lo & behold, guess what was on the menu...yup, maple brulee. We had it, we loved it...in May 2008.

So maybe they took it off the menu before and after we were there, but apparently the pixie dust was working just for us, cuz we got to have it.

Your faves might still be there...everything that gets posted on here is not always true!

 

[catne]

I would expect the reality to be somewhere in the middle, i.e., the Dining Plan, itself, probably loses money, or makes very little, as compared to what they would have made from folks just paying OOP, but combined with the extra revenue attributable to a few more folks staying on-site, paying on-site room rates, it probably is a net gain, overall.

and truth be told, if they have you staying in their hotels & eating in their restaurants, they also have a chance to "up-sell" you...we often chose to add a cocktail (even though "high" Disney prices) to our "DDP" meal. So even if they just broke even on the DDP we paid for the meal, those adult beverages gave them a profit right there on every dinner.

 

[Tricia1972]

Your faves might still be there...everything that gets posted on here is not always true!

WHAT?!?!?!




Excellent Point, while a great source of information - it's not always the gospel.

 

[BriarRosie]

I've seen changes made at Flying Fish, when somewhere about 5 years ago, the Potato Wrapped Red Snapper was NOT on the menu, after I had enjoyed it previously. Mysteriously, the dish returned, probably because it was a 'signature dish' that shouldn't have gone away.

But at Jiko, they had a monkfish entree that was really good, but the reason that went away most likely is due to monkfish scarcity. It was being overfished, so that was taken off the menu. Jiko had a Pork and Duck Firecracker appetizer (like a fried egg roll) that I loved, but when that was removed, I thought it was due to the DDP. It's entirely possible that Disney's new trend in eliminating trans fats had something to do with it. But we can't be certain WHY it was removed.

It seems that Disney's health initiative is responsible for some of the changes, but I think DDP also might be a factor. Maybe a combination of both.

 

[TDC Nala]

They change the menus relatively often. No one should be taking the posted menus as gospel, they'd be best off using them as guidelines. There's been some posts here about menus that changed within a week or two of a new menu being posted on a website. Most signature restaurants use seasonal ingredients, they'll change when they get new ingredients in.

I thought it was due to the DDP. It's entirely possible that Disney's new trend in eliminating trans fats had something to do with it. But we can't be certain WHY it was removed.

The former head chef at Jiko informed my party there once that they had removed all deep-fried items from the menu and replaced them, and that's where the duck firecracker went.

They have a new head chef now and he may think differently, but the last few times I have been to Jiko I did note that there were no deep-fried items on the menu at all.