Will dining plans be returning?

[Disneylover99]

I have never and will never advocate putting hundreds of dollars on a gift card. Do you (and I don’t mean any specific you, just you in general) have any idea how often folks are left w a cancelled/modified trip with much needed funds locked into a gift card you can’t use? Can’t exactly repair the car w a Disney gift card.

if you can afford to have that much money locked up, and you so choose, enjoy. For everyone else, just consider what happens if you can’t go. Or you go but get sick and don’t spend even half? Or have to leave early?

as always, ymmv, but be extremely cautious before hopping on the gc bandwagon

I’m not a fan either. I just pay cash or credit. I can budget just as easy this way.

 

[conandrob240]

I’m thinking that the dining plan won’t come back at all

 

[conandrob240]

I’m so surprised that they did away wit this profit center

But they are already doing away with the huge profit increaser that is ME

 

[Aprilshack]

I’m thinking that the dining plan won’t come back at all

They make a lot of money from the dining plan as food has huge mark ups. They have had a recent DDP job opening & the snack credit logos are still on the newer menus. It will be back in some form. Apparently ME didn't make them much money. Wouldn't be surprised if they cut out the middleman (Mears) and wholey owned and ran their own transportation at some point. They are going to have to do something from DS when the train starts running.

 

[conandrob240]

The sole purpose of ME was to keep people on property spending $

 

[Aprilshack]

The sole purpose of ME was to keep people on property spending $

It is, which surprised me that they were getting rid of it, so that's why i think they will do something transport wise.

 

[suse66]

I have never and will never advocate putting hundreds of dollars on a gift card. Do you (and I don’t mean any specific you, just you in general) have any idea how often folks are left w a cancelled/modified trip with much needed funds locked into a gift card you can’t use? Can’t exactly repair the car w a Disney gift card.

if you can afford to have that much money locked up, and you so choose, enjoy. For everyone else, just consider what happens if you can’t go. Or you go but get sick and don’t spend even half? Or have to leave early?

as always, ymmv, but be extremely cautious before hopping on the gc bandwagon

My take on it is that the same thing could happen with a pre-paid dining plan. You could get sick and not use your credits. You could have to leave early with no way of using up credits. At least with a gift card, you could use it for other purchases besides food or simply save it for a future trip. Another option would be to buy the gift cards at Disney. Then use as you go. When you need more on your card, just add to the balance. It's very easy to do that on the website.

 

[SarahC97]

Over the weekend I noticed something strange when pricing out a trip for July. Before I go to the checkout, it takes me to the dining plan page. I cannot select anything and it will eventually redirect me to the checkout, but it has been popping up for me. It did it again today. This makes me wonder if dining plans are set to make a return this year. Who knows, though -- could just be Disney IT doing what it does best.

 

[Three cats]

Over the weekend I noticed something strange when pricing out a trip for July. Before I go to the checkout, it takes me to the dining plan page. I cannot select anything and it will eventually redirect me to the checkout, but it has been popping up for me. It did it again today. This makes me wonder if dining plans are set to make a return this year. Who knows, though -- could just be Disney IT doing what it does best.

Interesting! I’m going to go try it out and see if it happens to me too.

 

[Aprilshack]

Interesting! I’m going to go try it out and see if it happens to me too.

Don't read too much into it as the code will still be in the Disney system and they will tinker around with their systems.

 

[SarahC97]

Interesting! I’m going to go try it out and see if it happens to me too.

Apparently, this is something that has been noticed by others and was on a Disney Podcast today. I'm not sure if I can mention the podcast here, but the host contacted Disney and they said it was a glitch.

 

[DisLiss]

The sole purpose of ME was to keep people on property spending $

I don't think that was really working for them so much anymore. It's so easy and inexpensive to get a Lyft or Uber off property and back these days, that ME just doesn't keep people in the bubble the way that it did back when it was first introduced. How many times do we see people here talking about how they spent a few days at Universal or hit Legoland or whatnot during their "Disney" trip? Plenty of people let Disney get them to and from the airport, but they don't stay at Disney the entire time like they used to back in the early 2000s.

 

[DisLiss]

I definitely think the dining plans will return. They had just introduced yet another Dining Plan option right before the shut-down. Dining Plan was making them money and Disney was obviously happy enough with the program to keep expanding it, both in how many places it could be used and in the variety of choices people could choose from when purchasing it.

 

[Dakota731]

I definitely think the dining plans will return. They had just introduced yet another Dining Plan option right before the shut-down. Dining Plan was making them money and Disney was obviously happy enough with the program to keep expanding it, both in how many places it could be used and in the variety of choices people could choose from when purchasing it.

I agree though they will have the numbers to open more restaurants before they add it back in. I predict this summer it will return

 

[Divaofdisney]

Anyone know if it’s possible that dining plans are back by like May? We have a trip scheduled for June and I’d love to be able to get this before we leave

 

[Pumbaa_]

Definitely not by June

 

[Dakota731]

Is that an official Disney report or just an opinion?

 

[Pumbaa_]

Zero contracts were negotiated for ddp reimbursement for 2021. That process generally takes 3+ months.

with all dinner shows, manybsignatures closed, reduced seating and other limitations, imho, there is zero chance of dining plans by June and highly unlikely through the end of the year.

I see them returning when mask requirement ends. But we will see.

 

[Aprilshack]

Zero contracts were negotiated for ddp reimbursement for 2021. That process generally takes 3+ months.

with all dinner shows, manybsignatures closed, reduced seating and other limitations, imho, there is zero chance of dining plans by June and highly unlikely through the end of the year.

I see them returning when mask requirement ends. But we will see.

Why wouldn't the dining plan be returning by the 50th? They will up the capacity (looks like they already have judging by recent vlogs i have seen from people going to the parks at weekends) and more dining will open.

 

[Pumbaa_]

I don’t know what I can add
we will see