I had what I think is a pretty nice idea about WDW dining on the web; I even thought about starting up my own website, but since I lack both the technical ability and the ambition :ROFLOL:, I thought I'd share it up here, see if others can build upon it, and see if Steve bites.
I think the idea really has three facets that can be integrated somewhat independently:
I think the idea really has three facets that can be integrated somewhat independently:
- Increased Attention for Individual Menu Items
When I am looking at a table service restaurant, I think I'm really looking for two things: quality of the food and ambience/service. Often, I find myself scouring the reviews for opinions of individual entrees and desserts to find something that I would be comfortable ordering. Even at a good restaurant, certain dishes that sound appetizing may just not work or be made with poor ingredients or be served in a too-small portion, etc. This might be even more true at counter service restaurants, where quality disparity between good dishes and bad is greater. Yeah, that food at Yak & Yeti counter service sounds good on paper, but that food isn't meant to be under a heat lamp; stay away! Also true sometimes for table service and most often for counter service: I care more about WHAT I'm going to eat than WHERE I'm going to eat. Basically, we could have the option of turning the food search process on every Disney site I've seen on its head. Normally, we first click on the restaurant and then see if there happens to be anything that interests us. If we could start with the food we want and then find out where to get it, I think it would be amazing. I may not know or care to look at the menu for Fife & Drum (I think that's the stand in front of the American Adventure), but if I first see that's the only place in Epcot to get the Jalapeño Cheese Stuffed Pretzel (which I think it is), then I will definitely be stopping there.
- Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down
Rating individual menu items would really lower the learning curve with respect to finding the best food at each park, resort, area, etc. Another barrier to finding the best food is that once we find the menu for the restaurant we want, it's done in sort of a news format: reporting the facts, all items fiven equal weight. If we are going to focus on individual menu items, I think a thumbs up, thumbs down system makes more sense than a number rating. Taken to its conclusion(prime potential for an app to encourage mobile browsing), this could be an amazingly powerful tool. Combine the ratings with the type of sorting system this site currently uses for whole restaurant menus, you could have: what is the best table service entree in the Epcot resort area? What is the best counter service dessert in World Showcase? What dessert should I get at Sunshine Seasons? Should I go to Yak & Yeti or Flame Tree? I'm sitting at The Wave, what's good here? What is the best snack in the Magic Kingdom? I know the answer to that last one is Dole Whip, but I'm just sayin'... someone going for the first time might not.
Someone planning their first trip could come to the site and easily see the highlights of what type of food they should be looking for at each park.
- Integration of 'Likes' Into Forums
Finding a way to integrate all of these 'likes' into the forums could encourage participation in the rating system and be a perk for users. At least the way the site is formatted for me, there's a lot of dead space around the username, location, avatar, etc. You could have little "badge" icons for each poster's likes. Naturally, you could see this extending to attractions, resorts or whole parks. I think it would be neat to see everyone's likes and a way to share a little bit of your personality.