You think Disney will keep the Dining plan?

[Woodcourt]

We are going in Jan 2007. Is Disney planning to keep the dining plan as it is now? We went in May and used it and loved it. Wondering if we will be able to get it when we go back. A few of the servers talked about Disney changing it because they were losing money...anyone know about this?

 

[jann1033]

i hope so cause i want to use it! i think it is thorugh 06 so far...i hope once the free stuff is over is settles down and some people won't use it cause either they won't know about it or don't want that kind/ amount of food, something. a lot of people didn't use the vouchers and other stuff that were available before and i would guess they will make it more limited as to what you can get and stuff, like some said they had to pay for add ons, lobster wasn't included or being phased out ect.

 

[patsal]

The dining plan will be around in some form, but if they really are losing money expect it to be tweeked. If changes are made than I suppose we will know for sure if there really was an issue or if it is all speculation. Personally I dont' care either way, but I do get ticked when items are dropped from a menu so that the restaurant staff doesn't have to explain that certain items are not included with the dining plan.

 

[honeymo78]

I am 99.9% sure there will be a version of the current dining plan available. It seems that every couple years disney tweaks all of their packages - dining or not - and comes up with a new name and some modifications to all. I wouldn't worry about there not being a dining plan in 07 - just keep an eye out in 06 for info on what it will be.

 

[erikthewise]

I think the dining plan will still be around. But
-- It won't be free!
-- As restaurant prices go up each year, expect the dining plan to be somewhat more expensive by Jan 2007
-- Expect that adult and child credits may be accounted for separately.

 

[SkipperBubba]

DW (doombuggybabe ) and I often lament the demise of the Silver Plan of the past few years. It was a nice balance between basic and premium packages with a lot of flexibility, including using your "Magical Wishes" for tours, meals, recreation, etc. I'd love to see Disney introduce a mid-level plan again. We miss it a lot.

 

[mcbj]

DW (doombuggybabe ) and I often lament the demise of the Silver Plan of the past few years. It was a nice balance between basic and premium packages with a lot of flexibility, including using your "Magical Wishes" for tours, meals, recreation, etc. I'd love to see Disney introduce a mid-level plan again. We miss it a lot.

The Silver Plan/Magical Wishes was a great plan, we were able to use it for the Kids Club, a pontoon cruise, photos, pins and a Lincoln Log Wilderness Lodge set in addition to all our meals on our last trip.

 

[Pedler]

The Silver Plan/Magical Wishes was a great plan, we were able to use it for the Kids Club, a pontoon cruise, photos, pins and a Lincoln Log Wilderness Lodge set in addition to all our meals on our last trip.

I think the dinning plan as it is currently structured has a broader appeal than the silver plan did. I would speculate that there are more people that want a plan that just covers what the current plan does than pay more for what the silver plan covered.

I would think the goal of the plan isn't neccesarily to increase TS dinners, though it seems to have done that, but to bring more people to staying on site and for a longer period of time than before. Setting aside the methods that the well informed DISers have manipulated the plan to their benefit the few families I know that do not spend time researching thier WDW did alter thier plans to stay off site to staying on site due to the dinning plan and the Magical Express and not just when the dinning plan was free. Disney now has lots of hotel rooms to fill. I think all of the programs this year were designed to get more people to stay on site and stay longer.

 

[skiwee1]

I just hope it won't be offered for free if they decide to keep it. It is making the restaurants too full of diners now!

 

[whacked]

Disney has already introduced the price increases for the dining plan, so yes, it will likely be around, and no, it will not be free other than possibly periods projected to have very low attendance.

It appears that the first week of December when I am going, most of the popular resturants are TOTALLY booked. This is traditionally a period of very low attendance, so the (paid) dining plan is working very well for Disney.

You may see deals like the free dining plan during hurricane season next year too, but I STILL won't go then.

For our family the dining plan is the perfect addition. We don't eat breakfast at the resturants anyway, because it wastes too much time for us. We generally eat counter service because by the time lunch rolls around we want to either eat at our resort counter service, or get quick counter service before leaving the parks for a nap.

We enjoy TS when we re-enter the parks for the evenings.

 

[Frantasmic]

They had a form of the dining plan back in 1999, my last trip. We didn't take it then because my daughter was young. She has grown up and we added another lil Fran, so it is worth it now. I added it on back in January and have always expected to pay for it. To have had the opportunity to go for free would have been great.

I think some flexibility could be added by letting people use two CS for one TS or split TS into CS somehow (1.5 : 1 ratio for example, i.e., 2 TS would equal 3 CS perhaps). I think more people would go for a plan like that. Or a "bonus" charge where for $25 extra per adult (per stay not day), you got your choice of 2 TS or 4 CS added on.

 

[blueeyez]

We used the free dining plan and thought it was great! Even if we had paid for it we still would've come out $400 ahead. My only concern is paying an adult price for DD10. She doesn't eat enough to be considered an "adult". I think they should have a junior price for them at the buffets. JMOH.

 

[pugdog]

Back when we went in 99 the food plan they had was you paid $45 a day for adults and they gave you an extra $5 a day as a bonus. It was all put in a bank and you could use as much or as little as you wanted each day, no limit. So we ate real well every day. But with 2 days left we still had about $400 left and what you didn't use you lost. So after a CM told us to buy bottles of wine and bring them home.

 

[TooBoyz4us]

The Silver Plan/Magical Wishes was a great plan, we were able to use it for the Kids Club, a pontoon cruise, photos, pins and a Lincoln Log Wilderness Lodge set in addition to all our meals on our last trip.

I agree!! We will really miss the Silver Plan. Its all we have ever bought! So this new plan will take some adjusting for us.

 

[jann1033]

i hope they keep this as just a dining plan and don't add a lot of extras to it. we never use them and so never bought the previous plans. plus this one seems more reasonable as to you actual get a savings from it, the others i think ended up costing more unless you did use a bunch of non dining features.

 

[keishashadow]

The infamous loophole and the accompanying misworded/vague brochure describing the plan will probably be closed; along with the rampant abuse wherein Adults are dining on Child Credits.

That said, I don't think WDW is losing any money on the current set-up; they just want to make it more profitable.

The free dining promo not only got people into the parks, but those who never ate in the TS's experienced a different level of dining than CS and will probably revisit them on future trips.

We paid for the plan and thought it was a great convenience & value. Disappointed that we can't purchase it for our trip in Dec (DVC on points). DVC exec. stated on the member cruise that it would also be offered in some form to DVC'ers on points in 2006.

Of course, WDW loves to tweak their offerings...as they indicate in their brochures, all terms are subject to change.