However, the point of the thread isn't what your family does or my family does it is but what impact does the use of the DDP have on Disney Dining
The title of the thread is "Why I Hate the DDP" -- sort of a broad topic. And the OP said she hated it because people were rudely making multiple overlapping ADR's (there doesn't seem to be any dispute there, it's definitely happening), she felt the OOP price of food has gone up (no proof at all that there is a connection in anyway to the DDP), service has suffered for people paying OOP (interestingly, many people paying OOP have stated they felt the server treated them
better when they found out they weren't on the DDP), and the CS lines are horrendous because people new to the plan don't know how to use it. I don't believe there was anything in her original post about a decline in food quality -- although that was mentioned later on by others who "Hate the DDP".
What some folks just don't seem to be understanding is that the DDP
did not cause the unfavorable changes to Disney Dining. Disney decided to make some changes to increase their profits, and one of those changes was to offer the Dining Plan.
Maybe if you look at it this way: if I shop for maternity clothes, and friends give me their babies' outgrown clothes, and I buy a crib, and I paint my spare room yellow with little ducky wallpaper -- does that make me pregnant?
No. You can see by the things I did that I had a "plan of action" to have a baby, but none of those steps caused me to get pregnant.
Disney had a plan of action to make more money. They saw that the resorts had empty rooms, particularly during certain seasons, and that the TS restaurants were often operating at considerably below capacity. So they:
* offered the free ME -- costs money to operate, but keeps the guests on the property without a rental car, spending all of their money at Disney (even for grossly inflated sundries and bottled water, as previously mentioned).
* offered the DDP -- Disney takes a bit of a loss on those who utilize the plan fully and use all of their credits wisely, but people pre-pay for their meals and stay on Disney property to get the value. And Disney recoups much of that loss with guests who don't pre plan meals and don't use all of their non-refundable credits, or who spend credits on cheaper meals, and end up paying OOP for more expensive meals if they run out of credits.
* offered the DDP for free during certain seasons/to certain groups -- Disney takes a much larger loss by offering dining for free, but this is offset in having the resorts full during hurricane season, the majority of the guests getting
free dining paying standard rack rate for their rooms. No more "slow season".
* scaled back menus -- Disney restaurants have cut some of their signature dishes or substituted less expensive ingredients for some of their menu offerings, and have standardized/homogenized menus across the board to some degree, and have evidently also decreased some portion sizes. This was
not caused by the DDP. Disney did this as part of their overall plan to increase profitability, and it's part of an industry-wide trend.
There have been some negative impacts as a result -- restaurants are operating at full capacity (a plus in Disney's eyes), but now are overcrowded and hard to get in to (bad). Because restaurants are in such high demand, people must book meals months in advance, taking away from the spontaneity of their vacations (a plus for people who love to plan in advance). Because the restaurants are packed to the rafters, servers are stressed and working their tails off (bad) but are also making steady money year round with guaranteed tips on high ticket meals (good). It has also been mentioned that CS lines are now long due to clueless guests/CM's who don't understand how the plan works. I had delays behind guests at 3 CS restaurants -- Tusker House, Columbia Harbor House, and the Cantina, where an incredibly rude woman was asking for detailed descriptions of each menu item at the window, and kept asking why they didn't serve certain things -- repeatedly -- 20 minutes before Illuminations when there were a million people in line behind her. I thought the crowd was going to throw her in the lagoon. I would have gladly grabbed her feet
NONE of those slow guests were on the DDP.
The Dining Plan is part of the overall changes Disney has implemented to make more money. There have been some unfavorable changes to Disney Dining, but they were not caused by the Dining Plan, that's only one piece of the total picture. Just like putting ducky wallpaper up in my spare room will not make me pregnant
You seem to be a true professional........Thanks for making someone's day at WDW special!!!
I'm so surprised people say that. We used the plan in Oct 2006, but paid OOP for breakfasts-Norway, Donalds, Crystal Palace, 'Ohana, Spoodles, Cape May Cafe. We paid OOP for lunches at Brown Derby, Sci-Fi, and ESPN. We paid OOP for dinner at Mama Melrose. 
