Why I Hate the DDP

[Disney8704]

Katiebell - Why is so weird that I have the same pic as someone else? A lot of people have the same pic as I do. I have Donald because Donald is my fav. character.

ExPirateShopGirl - Yes I will be paying park prices and if your gonna try to tell me about staples water and get it shipped, I already know your lil secret The reason why I am paying the $2 per bottle because when I get water, I want my water cold, not hot. And not to mention, I dont wanna have DH lug 6 bottles of water in his book bag all day. Sometimes we wont even get our own waters. Sometimes we share so that will cut back on the pricing. Just depends on how hot it is and how thirsty we are. But being we are going in August 2008, it will be HOT.

 

[Katiebell]

Katiebell - Why is so weird that I have the same pic as someone else? A lot of people have the same pic as I do. I have Donald because Donald is my fav. character.

It just cracked me up because you two were having a sort of heated...or maybe just intense?...discussion, and you have the same icon -- looked like a multiple personality for just a moment No biggie, it was just a little funny

 

[CR88]

Again, please I have to ask what / where do you consider good food?

I want to know if I am missing out on something.

Thanks

I am also interested to see what they consider good food or fine dining. I have already been taken to task by them and for not having a diverse enough collection of restaurants here in Northern Indiana to make comments regarding quality dining, even though we are a “stone throw” from Chicago, and dine there frequently. Now they go after Cajun cuisine, and others who seem very knowledgeable in the culinary arts. I don’t claim to know much about Cajun cuisine, but isn’t it a form of French cuisine, and aren't there a quite a few 4 star restaurants in Louisiana considered Cajun? Some posts are surprising too. It almost seems as though they are trying to be incendiary for the sake of being incendiary. I just can’t imagine that someone would intentionally make comments like that, and in many people's opinion, come across as an elitist. It doesn’t seem very Disney like, or appropriate at the very least. Also, Jiko and V&A were both listed as 4 and 5 Diamond restaurants in 2007, and others such as Flying Fish, Le Chefs de France & Citricos have also earned critic’s praises in ‘07. So, while others may disagree, there still seems to be a number of “fine dining” options at Disney World...and 4 of the 5 are on the DDP.

 

[Hixski]

I am also interested to see what they consider good food or fine dining. I have already been taken to task by them and for not having a diverse enough collection of restaurants here in Northern Indiana to make comments regarding quality dining, even though we are a “stone throw” from Chicago, and dine there frequently. Now they go after Cajun cuisine, and others who seem very knowledgeable in the culinary arts. I don’t claim to know much about Cajun cuisine, but isn’t it a form of French cuisine, and aren't there a quite a few 4 star restaurants in Louisiana considered Cajun? Some posts are surprising too. It almost seems as though they are trying to be incendiary for the sake of being incendiary. I just can’t imagine that someone would intentionally make comments like that, and in many people's opinion, come across as an elitist. It doesn’t seem very Disney like, or appropriate at the very least. Also, Jiko and V&A were both listed as 4 and 5 Diamond restaurants in 2007, and others such as Flying Fish, Le Chefs de France & Citricos have also earned critic’s praises in ‘07. So, while others may disagree, there still seems to be a number of “fine dining” options at Disney World...and 4 of the 5 are on the DDP.

I live in St. Louis and we have wonderful Italian food. An example would be Tony's which is a AAA 5 diamond award winner. There are only 34 five diamond restaurants in North America. I think alot of people on here have a clue what fine dining is. Personally when I go to WDW I don't need to eat at a Tony's for every meal. If you do then you should probably stick with a vacation where every restaurant has some type of rating attached to it.

 

[photo_chick]

Katiebell - Why is so weird that I have the same pic as someone else? A lot of people have the same pic as I do. I have Donald because Donald is my fav. character.

ExPirateShopGirl - Yes I will be paying park prices and if your gonna try to tell me about staples water and get it shipped, I already know your lil secret The reason why I am paying the $2 per bottle because when I get water, I want my water cold, not hot. And not to mention, I dont wanna have DH lug 6 bottles of water in his book bag all day. Sometimes we wont even get our own waters. Sometimes we share so that will cut back on the pricing. Just depends on how hot it is and how thirsty we are. But being we are going in August 2008, it will be HOT.

We are SFOT pass holders adn Dallas Zoo members and we use a brita bottle with an ice stick in it. It keeps it cold all day and filters the tap water for us. Much cheaper and helps beat the 100 degree days here in the summer. I don't like water that is not ice cold myself, guess I am a water snob. I am also used to drinking bottled water, well jugged water as we have a water cooler in the kitchen, so I am particular about the taste of my water too. But the water filter in the bottle does a really good job of filtering the tap water, and if you fill from a water fountain it is usually pretty cold to start with and that helps the ice last longer.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

ExPirateShopGirl - Yes I will be paying park prices and if your gonna try to tell me about staples water and get it shipped, I already know your lil secret

Seeing as I have never purchased water at staples before, I won't 'try' and tell you about it...

 

[dementia412]

Okay i haven't read all of this thread, but this one just hit me because it makes no sense whatsoever....

You say that if it was OOP you would only do breakfast and dinner, snack for lunch, but then when you figure how much it would cost for the DDP you ADD IN A THIRD MEAL. You need to take that "12 OOP Breakfast TS & CS $426" out of your calculations or add those 12 extra meals into the OOP calculations. Why would you eat more just because you have the plan, that makes no sense? You seem to want to "fix" it so it looks worse than it is, but if you were going to use snacks as lunch, who would that change? If you take out the 426 you find out the DDP would save you money.

And this mystifies me "Now if we were to eat CS meals for lunchs then yes it would probably save us maybe at most $200" ... what differnce would it make, just don't eat lunches .. the DDP doesn't force you to eat lunch.

If anyone can show me how I'm wrong please do. But that makes no sense.

To show you that the DDP wouldnt save me and DH any money, here is proof:

Water $2.13 ($2 per bottle + tax) x 64 bottles (32 bottles for each of us = 1 bottle of water for day 1 and last day and 3 bottles for the other 10 days) = $136.32

Snack $10 per day x 11 days = $110.00

Breakfast INCLUDES tax and tip - grand total of $426
No Lunch - the snacks will be the lunch
Dinner INCLUDES tax, tip and deserts - grand total of $737

GRAND OVER ALL TOTAL $1409.32





Price for DDP - say it goes up to $39.99 next yr - thats a $1 jump - just figuring thats what it might be since this last time it went up $1
$39.99 x 11 days = $439.89 x 2 = $879.78
Snack credits would be used for snacks
CS credits would be used for lunch
Water $136.32
1 OOP Dinner TS meal $80
2 OOP Dinner CS meal $60
12 OOP Breakfast TS & CS $426

GRAND OVER ALL TOTAL INCLUDING DDP $1582.10

$1582.10(DDP) - $1409.32 (OOP) = $172.78 I would be saving by NOT doing the DDP.

This is eating at the following:
Breakfast
Crystal Palace
Grand Floridian Cafe
'Ohana
Rainforest Cafe (AK)
Donald's Safari Breakfast (Tusker House)
Boma x 2
Princess Storybook
Mara x 3
Airport (arrival day)

Dinner
Cinderellas Royal Table
Jiko
Sci-Fi
Liberty Tree Tavern
Les Chefs de France
Coral Reef
Boma
50's Prime Time Cafe
T-Rex Cafe (DTD)
Counterservice x 2

Now granted I know everyone's eating habits are different, but this is just to go show everyone that the DDP will not always save everyone money. The figures above just to go show you, that the DDP wouldnt work for me and DH. Now if we were to eat CS meals for lunchs then yes it would probably save us maybe at most $200, but in any case I would still pay OOP cuz I would hate to do the DDP and not use all the credits. I know there will be days where we would have a late breakfast and wouldnt want lunch and just a small snack. That right there would save us money especially if it was everyday. I am going by how we ate last time we went down, and bascially kept it the same. Not the same places but the same times for our meals and what we would order.

 

[Disney8704]

In order for me to use CS credits it would have to be for lunch and not for dinner or breakfast. Im not gonna change where we eat if we were on the plan. And about 95% of our meals for both dinner and breakfast are TS meals. Thats why I cant take out the breakfast money. I would need that money for our breakfasts. Could use TS credits for breakfasts but that would be pointless and would have to save even more money for dinners being dinners are more expensive then breakfasts. If I didnt include the breakfast money, we would always eat CS breakfast, snack lunch and TS dinner, except there would be a couple CS dinners so I could use those TS credits for breakfast. But point is, I would have to change where we ate if I strickly used the DDP and had no OOP expense. Oh yeah and if you look the $426 IS included in both the DDP and OOP calculations. So why did you say add the $426 to OOP when its already there?

Okay i haven't read all of this thread, but this one just hit me because it makes no sense whatsoever....

You say that if it was OOP you would only do breakfast and dinner, snack for lunch, but then when you figure how much it would cost for the DDP you ADD IN A THIRD MEAL. You need to take that "12 OOP Breakfast TS & CS $426" out of your calculations or add those 12 extra meals into the OOP calculations. Why would you eat more just because you have the plan, that makes no sense? You seem to want to "fix" it so it looks worse than it is, but if you were going to use snacks as lunch, who would that change? If you take out the 426 you find out the DDP would save you money.

And this mystifies me "Now if we were to eat CS meals for lunchs then yes it would probably save us maybe at most $200" ... what differnce would it make, just don't eat lunches .. the DDP doesn't force you to eat lunch.

If anyone can show me how I'm wrong please do. But that makes no sense.

 

[5boyz]

I definately lucked out on the CAA discount...I got 12 nights for july and then a few weeks later I added another at the beginning and then a few weeks later I added another one at the end and still got the CAA rate!!! I also did 6 nights dining!

 

[CR88]

I live in St. Louis and we have wonderful Italian food. An example would be Tony's which is a AAA 5 diamond award winner. There are only 34 five diamond restaurants in North America. I think alot of people on here have a clue what fine dining is. Personally when I go to WDW I don't need to eat at a Tony's for every meal. If you do then you should probably stick with a vacation where every restaurant has some type of rating attached to it.

Exactly. We have yet to experience a bad meal at WDW on or off the DDP, and that includes multiple visits to places like Alfredos, which has received its share of criticism. I know many people have and for them their criticisms and opinions may be valid, but we can only go by what we have experienced. Part of our excitement in going to WDW is the dining and the DDP makes it easy. It seems excessive for so many posters to state that Disney food is "crap" or the like and simply blame the DDP when they seem to have something for everyone, from your standard theme park hot dogs and burgers on up to the V&A, Citricos and Jiko class of restaurants which receive yearly accolades.

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Dang.

 

[afcgirl]

I think it is hysterical that this post was started by someone who did not even do the DDP! What's up with that?!

DDP

 

[amykathleen2005]

I am strangely reminded of my high school last year....

 

[Disney8704]

Exactly! How can you hate something you havent even tried. I dont hate the DDP, and cant hate it cuz I've never tried it. Just hate having to plan my meals out so far in advance, but everyone has to do that regardless on DDP or OOP if they want TS meals. They are hating it from a spectators view. And I also think they are trying to Its like my DH always says whenever something I dont like happens with his job, like getting deployed, when he wasnt supposed to be deployed in the 1st place. He says suck it up, your in the military. Well people who wants TS meals, suck it up, your going to Disney. Disney and ADRs go hand in hand.

I think it is hysterical that this post was started by someone who did not even do the DDP! What's up with that?!

DDP

 

[drakethib]

I am also interested to see what they consider good food or fine dining. I have already been taken to task by them and for not having a diverse enough collection of restaurants here in Northern Indiana to make comments regarding quality dining, even though we are a “stone throw” from Chicago, and dine there frequently. Now they go after Cajun cuisine, and others who seem very knowledgeable in the culinary arts. I don’t claim to know much about Cajun cuisine, but isn’t it a form of French cuisine, and aren't there a quite a few 4 star restaurants in Louisiana considered Cajun? Some posts are surprising too. It almost seems as though they are trying to be incendiary for the sake of being incendiary. I just can’t imagine that someone would intentionally make comments like that, and in many people's opinion, come across as an elitist. It doesn’t seem very Disney like, or appropriate at the very least. Also, Jiko and V&A were both listed as 4 and 5 Diamond restaurants in 2007, and others such as Flying Fish, Le Chefs de France & Citricos have also earned critic’s praises in ‘07. So, while others may disagree, there still seems to be a number of “fine dining” options at Disney World...and 4 of the 5 are on the DDP.

What you meant to say they used to be good. Now they are yucky because the DDP Wizard / Monster / Beast has cast a spell and made all food at WDW unfit for human consumption.


**POOF**

"Begone ye well flavored dishes as I have banished the said dining facilities of the Mouse King, from this day on ye shall only dine on cardboard flavored gruel as set forth by the code of the DDP "

and they all lived happily ever after..NOT !

 

[CR88]

**POOF**

"Begone ye well flavored dishes as I have banished the said dining facilities of the Mouse King, from this day on ye shall only dine on cardboard flavored gruel as set forth by the code of the DDP "

and they all lived happily ever after..NOT !

 

[dementia412]

Disney8704 .. when I first saw the post I didn't notice all the TS... and you didn't say why you would be adding a whole extra meal in every day. If someone uses all or almost all TS or CS then yeah the DDP is pretty much worthless (unless you eat the highest end stuff as TS). The money not added in makes sense only the way I was looking at it before... just forget that! I get that, but I see so many people using fuzzy math on here all the time... including those who figure the ddp savings with high end food, but oop without dessert, appitizers, or with the cheap entries... I know people WILL get the more expensive stuff, but you can't count that as the savings... I figure all my food by what I would by OOP, then compare to what the ddp would cost me. For me even without snacks it is a fantastic thing.

To those saying the OP can't complain because he/she didn't use it... do you have to take drugs to believe they effect society and to complain about them? To compain about the actually usage of the ddp one would need to use it, but to complain about the effects it may have on Disney Dinning in general you just need to have been dinning at DW.

BTW, this is not a winable argument because no one here has the data on things like restaurant use, finances, ect, and we all have different taste so for some the food taste better now, others think it's gross. So how about we all just try to get along

 

[TINKB72]

I honestly don't understand all the "harsh feelings" towards the DDP. In my opinion, all it is is just another option for your vacation. Some folks like it, some folks don't. Me, personally, I think it's a great deal. I like it for the fact that it gives you a great opportunity to eat at restaurants you normally wouldn't be able to, money wise. This is the case for DBF and myself. We have been to WDW in 2003, 2004 & 2005. For our trips in 2003 & 2004 we were eligible for the free dining plan. We are going back for December and opted to purchase the DDP. I made my 180 day ADR's yesterday and got all the ADR's I wanted and at the times I wanted as well. I realize that some people don't like to plan this far in advance but, with this said and knowing how the DDP is, I think it's just best to make the ADR's in advance. A little extra planning will ensure you get what you want. I, personally love going thru all the menus with DBF and deciding where we want to eat. It give us something to look forward to and it makes the vacation go a little smoother than getting there and being disappointed by not getting into the restaurant you want.

 

[apostolic4life]

I grew up a Navy brat and have had the opportunity to eat in many different places too, so my taste is not from lack of exposure to "fine dining" becasue of my geographic location.

....a Navy Brat here!!! Dad was a 20 year man and we traveled and learned to appreciate food from every end of the gamut. It's funny how foods (polenta, grits, organ meats, etc.) which were one time considered to be fit only for servants and poor folks now gets center of the plate treatment at many 5 star establishments. But hey, what do I know; I',m nobody important!

 

[apostolic4life]

Right now you could be the Pope.....you are rude no matter what.
Some of the restaurants I think are wonderful are just that wonderful IMO.
There are many restaurants that make me VERY happy.
You assumptions are out of control.
Remember what they say about assumptions.....

1. The Pope I am not! Rude?? Just because I present my side of a discussion based on verifiable facts vs. opinions does not make me rude, just right! (ok, maybe that was a little rude)

2. As for restaurants you enjoy, I am glad you have some. As someone else asked, what are they?? Let us know where this bastion of great dining experience is since we are all just lowland cajun food eatin' scrubs.

3. What assumptions?? I have based everything I have said based on the words you have written. By the PM's I have recieved from others my views seem to be the same as many DISer's also.

Now my questions: What makes you the self annointed expert on fine cuisine? What qualifications do you possess to make such judgments about the culinary world's established standards? What culinary experience, culinary schooling or culinary training do you have?