Witnessed much waste of food during free dining

[LYNSUE]

DH and I visted WDW in September during the free dining. Being DVC members we are not eligible for free dining but that is just fine with us. We did use the DDP on two other occasions, and found that it did not suit us for a number of different reasons. Good plan, just not for us.

Anyway, being aware of the free dining I did pay a little more attention to other tables near by and what they were ordering. One day we had lunch at LTT. Next to us was a family of two adults and 3 children in the 7 to 10 age group. First came a round of soda for each one. Then out came five (yes five) orders of the tavern cheese with marinara sauce. Each of the kids put a good dent in their appetizer because they were hungry. Next came five entrees. Each child had the burger with fries. (unsure what the adults had) They were rather large burgers for a kids menu item. One plate went untouched. The other two burgers had one or two bites taken from them. I thought that was a shame. Perhaps the kids could have shared an appetizer or entree'. You could tell that the waiter was slightly annoyed by the waste. But boy was I shocked when out came five apple dumplings with ice cream desserts. The two adults had a few bites and the other three were cleared away untouched.

I know it is free.....but still it would be a good idea to teach your children about not wasting food. I cringe to think what those children did learn from that dining experience.

There were other incidents in other restaurants, however LTT was by far the worst we witnessed. I apologize for getting on a soap box but I needed to get this off my chest.

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

I don't know how you would eliminate that sort of waste with the plan. I don't think that Disney would let you order meals for the children (or even adults) to share as they may view it that you're trying to "bank" additional credits to use another time to get more out of the plan. I don't know if that's actually the case. And I agree that the waste is sometimes over the top. I just thought I throw in another perspective .

 

[Mickeys_n_me]

I also agree that it is just WAY to much food. If they tweaked the price and did away with an app or maybe a shared app or something (what kid CAN eat an app, full meal and desert?) it would make much more sense.

You wonder why America has an issue with obesity. People can eat their weight in food free at WDW once a year.

 

[ILoveDisney&Cruising]

Being DVC members we are not eligible for free dining

Actually, I just learned last week that if you are staying on property using DVC points, you can purchase the dining plan. For a 7 night stay, I was quoted approx. $800 for the regular dining plan and roughly $1,500 for the deluxe 2008 plan that has 3 meals/day. This was for 3 adults & 1 child.

They said you can add the dining plan to your stay up until the day before your arrival.

 

[HopperFan]

Here was our experiene one meal. At end of entree I told server we were just too full and simply couldn't eat dessert. She was insisting we get their desserts they are wonderful. I told her we couldn't eat them. She says, I'll box it up to go, eat later on this evening. Rather than argue I took them.

Bottom line is her tip just went up $2.

 

[Crystal_27]

It's really a tough situation, but I see both sides. If I was paying for the DDP, I would want to make sure that I was utilizing all of the available food that I was paying for. On the other hand, as an adult, you have to exercise a bit of restraint and common sense and not go "hog-wild" for something that you know that you aren't going to use or enjoy. It is wasteful, but, again, I do see both sides. If Disney didn't offer the app/entree/dessert for every person participating in the DDP, then you would hear the roars of indignation from those who actually eat those items for every meal - people expect to get what they pay for. Disney can't please everyone, so its got to do the best it can.

It's just another reason why I don't think that the DDP is for my family. I know myself - I AM cheap and I would want to feel as if I was getting everything I paid for, even at the expense of some wasted food.

 

[DizzDoll]

We did the free ddp for the past 2 years and I'm waffling about doing it again next year. We too actually ended up wasting food on the plan which bothers me to no end. We didn't even use up all the snack credits and ended up taking a bunch of Mickey Head crispy treats home with us, where they have taken up residence in my refrigerator!! I'm leaning towards OOP next year because:

1. My kids think we waste a lot of time at the TS meals between getting seated (late), ordering and waiting, eating, waiting to order dessert, (you get the ddrift);

2. Even though they're fairly good eaters, there's still a lot of waste;

3. Often times my son orders off the TS menu something he knows he won't like because there's often nothing he'll eat - not very adventurous...

So in August we might try the ol' OOP thing and see how that works out for us. The kids like spontenaeity and they feel that we HAVE to be somewhere else when we were having fun where we were in the first place. The only problem I see is too many burgers and too much pizza, but fortunately they eat lots of salad, so that may offset things a little.

 

[suzannews]

Here was our experiene one meal. At end of entree I told server we were just too full and simply couldn't eat dessert. She was insisting we get their desserts they are wonderful. I told her we couldn't eat them. She says, I'll box it up to go, eat later on this evening. Rather than argue I took them.

Bottom line is her tip just went up $2.

A server in my restaurant got fired for doing this.

 

[pixiemel]

There is no way that our family can eat an appetizer, entree, and dessert-that is just entirely too much food for us. That is why I do not think the DDP is for us.

 

[LISAVWL]

There is no way that our family can eat an appetizer, entree, and dessert-that is just entirely too much food for us. That is why I do not think the DDP is for us.

I thought the same thing -- way too much food! DH convinced me to try it last year. We have TS meals each night anyway so it wasn't really changing any habits for us. We ordered what we would eat, not what was due to us and we saved a ton of $$$! DS14 eats as much as DH so between them we surely get our $$$ worth!

 

[jmkrat]

I am just wondering how cost effective this is for Disney if they see a lot of waste. I would think at some point you could just say I don't want an item. I also wonder if Disney loses money, when they will start increasing the prices in other areas, or just with restuarant prices.

 

[SGMCO]

If you teach them not to waste you will be teaching them how
to become obese.

That is one reason we did not like 50s Prime Time Cafe
the made you feel obligated to eat everything on your plate
and then tryed to force a dessert on you after that--
we just said "NO we do not have any room for Dessert"
and the Server could not believe it.

I do not believe in wasting food but what can you do whenever
you are made to order something for everyone in your party
weather you want it are not?

This next year with the new DDP plan that does not have the appetier
I think will make a difference.

 

[Rozzie]

Actually, I just learned last week that if you are staying on property using DVC points, you can purchase the dining plan. For a 7 night stay, I was quoted approx. $800 for the regular dining plan and roughly $1,500 for the deluxe 2008 plan that has 3 meals/day. This was for 3 adults & 1 child.

They said you can add the dining plan to your stay up until the day before your arrival.

Yes, but not free dining. We've been able to add DDP for a year or two. DDE is way better for us, we over ate and was miserable with the DDP, free or not.

 

[Markstudy]

Disney has dropped the free appetizer for 08

I guess they think they can turn more tables faster.

Plus it was too much food

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

I am just wondering how cost effective this is for Disney if they see a lot of waste. I would think at some point you could just say I don't want an item. I also wonder if Disney loses money, when they will start increasing the prices in other areas, or just with restuarant prices.

That is why the food quality has suffered so much..."Free Gorge" has made it more important for quantity & not quality.

 

[Nanu57v]

Here was our experiene one meal. At end of entree I told server we were just too full and simply couldn't eat dessert. She was insisting we get their desserts they are wonderful. I told her we couldn't eat them. She says, I'll box it up to go, eat later on this evening. Rather than argue I took them.

Bottom line is her tip just went up $2.

That happened with my DH last week at coral reef on the DDP. He didn't order a drink, just water, and the waitress made a big deal about getting bottled water to use as a drink, and he's like I just want water...but somehow he ended up getting a bottle of Evian. It was wierd, but I figured out the tip thing in the end.

If you teach them not to waste you will be teaching them how
to become obese.

I am learning this. I've learned its okay to order dessert and only eat a few bites. The food is not going to do anyone any better in my stomach then left on the plate. I mentioned this to a waitress once when I was embarrassed by the amount on DD's plate. She said, "Well, at least its not just going in the trash...it'll make the pigs happy." So, that made me feel better...that at least my food was being "recycled."

 

[Mickiethepooh]

Personally I think people should order what they want and eat as much or as little as they care for. Cleaning your plate is NOT a good idea.

 

[JeffreyY]

It was way too much food for my 11 year old "adult" so we ordered 3 full meals (there were 4 of us) and shared with her. They even brought an extra plate each time. With the credits we saved we ate a TS breakfeast on the day we were leaving. It worked out well for us and there was less waste. We also did this with CS and had a CS lunch on our last day.

 

[TANYABETH]

A big part of this problem lies within Disney itself. Disney should have some sort of portion control on the kids menus. I know as a 5 or 6 year old there is no way that I would have been able to eat a full size appetizer, meal and dessert. Maybe the kids DDP portion should offer 2 or 3 fried cheese sticks instead of 6 or 7 and a smaller sized burger. I don't think I know a kid and not many adults who could finish all that food.

 

[duffy]

A server in my restaurant got fired for doing this.

Fired, for giving someone their own food, for which they'd already paid and should have received???