Declining food quality.

[zjer]

I never had my question answered, just people telling me I "posted in the wrong place." I was just wondering if anyone had any insight in the declining food quality of WDW, while it seems to be getting increasingly more expensive. $50 is a lot of money for two people to eat w/o appetizers and expensive drinks. Last year I spent a lot of money on food but felt justified because the food was delicious. This year, the food seemed less than.... well, it wasn't at all good. Epcot, MGM, M.K., all had nice resteraunts with poorly made food. Anyone else have any experience with is or any insight on the declining quality. Or maybe it's just me....

 

[tigsmom]

We were there in July & ate in a variety of places...sit down & fast food.
We didn't have a bad meal anywhere. The food is a little more expensive yeah, but its WDW...everything is a little more expensive. *shrugs* :wave:

 

[pinkrose]

We were there in May and the food seemed to be the same quality as usual for us as well. I'm sorry you didn't have a good dining experience on your past trip.

 

[Nicole]

I have eaten at several WDW restaurants this past year, and the food has always been good. And not particularly expensive compared to what I pay at local restaurants (NOT chain restaurants) or even Outback Steakhouse. Sorry you were disappointed, but to me there isn't any decline in quality.

 

[Mickeyrulz]

I cannot say that it's gone to heck or anything but the food is a bit worse, a bit more expensive. But hey, it's WDW.

 

[Atta83]

I have never noticed bad quality in the food at the parks, always top notch with me. Yeah its expensive , but as my mom says hey im on vacation and i dont have to cook. :lol:

 

[FamilyMan]

Oddly enough, a few years back the chocolate in Mickey Premium Bars was changed. That was when the name was changed as well. If you look, it's not a Mickey Premium Bar any longer... It's now Mickey's Premium Ice Cream Bar. Nestle did that though, not Disney...

 

[Jekyll Baker]

I've eaten at several places in WDW over the past year also, and I never had a bad meal. Everything is usually quite delicious. (And I work in a hotel restaurant, so I know what goes on behind the scenes and how things have to be done for large numbers of people.) I also don't think that $50 for two people is too expensive. I've spent that much or more just for myself on a meal - like at Jiko, Artist Point, or even Sci-Fi Dine In - and NO alcohol (I don't drink that much, and even less when I'm outside my or a friend's home). I usually expect to spend at least $20-25 for a just the entree at a nice restaurant here in southeast Georgia, and $12-20 for the entree at a theme restaurant like Outback.

 

[TimeTrip]

mmmm outback special.. mmm *drool*

 

[Cosmo]

i have noticed this, but only in really specific areas. For example, at Alfredo's at Epcot, my wife always gets the tomato/mozerella (sorry for the spelling) salad. When she first had it about two years ago, it consisted of 3 huge pieces of the softest, most delicious cheese you have ever had...amazing. Then about a year ago, the waiter told us it had been reduced. She still ordered it, but there were only 2 slices of cheese. The cheese was still top notch, but noticeably less. The last time we ate there, a few months ago, she again ordered it and again received 2 slices of cheese, but it tasted just like ordinary, store bought mozarella. yeah, it was good, but nothing at all like the original. she said she wouldn't order it again.

Overall we love the restaurants throughout the parks, but yes, this is one example of at least one dish that declined in quality. For else, everything else though is excellent.

 

[Alexandra]

The only place that I have not enjoyed as much is the Cape May Cafe. We used to go there every year and then a few years ago they changed chefs. As a result, the seafood choices changed. It just hasn't been as good so we stopped going.

Other than that, I'd say it's been pretty consistent. There are certain places we really like, like Wolfgang Puck Cafe, the ESPN Club, Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey, Chefs de France, Boma, Whispering Canyon Cafe and a host of others. Chef Mickey certainly can't be considered haute cuisine and we know that going in. It's just the whole experience that we love.

I still say Wolfgang Puck is the best, by far.

 

[Ringo8n24]

Hey, guys. Just walked in the door from visiting WDW. I found this thread the most interesting to read first because my husband and I have been sick since Tuesday from eating at Planet Hollywood. That is two trips in a row we have gotten sick at DTD restaurants...last year it was RainForest. On the other hand, the Rose and Crown at Epcot's UK was fabulous when we visited for the first time on Monday.

 

[Nicole]

On yet another hand, neither Planet Hollywood nor Rainforest Cafe are Disney owned restaurants. Sorry you were sick though, that's no fun.

 

[IlovyensiD]

We were in DW in July for the entire month. I think we ate at every restaurant in the parks at least once and at DTD at Fultons, Rainforest Cafe and Cap'n Jacks. While the prices are higher than normal I look at it as you are paying for the atmosphere as well as the food. And nobody has better atmosphere than Disney!!! We did not have a bad meal the entire trip. I did not notice any decline in the quality or quantity of the food over the past several years.

 

[Moustronaut]

Sorry for the double post, but since this topic moved to this thread...

I have noticed that the food in the parks has kinda been on the slide for a while. My wife and I honeymooned at WDW in Oct of 99. We were on whatever vacation package had all the meals included and you just gave them your resort key and that was that. We ate these enormously extravagant lunches and dinners all over the parks and resorts. Simply amazing. The only place that was disappointing was Downtown Disney. The chain restaurants at DD just tasted like plain old chain restraurants compaired with what else the World had to offer.

But as we've gone back year after year, they food inside the parks hasn't been as good. I guess we really noticed this at Epcot. One our honeymoon, the world showcase restaurants were really great examples of fine international dining. But as we came back for anniversaries and other ocations, we felt that the food in the World Showcase restaurants had become just average and we could easily find better ethnic food in Atlanta. Even The Coral Reef restaurant was just on a par with Red Lobster.

The exception to this has been the resort restaurants. Citricos, California Grill, Flying Fish, Palios, Yachtsman, Artist Pointe, Ohana, Spoodles, and Jiko have all just been amazing every time we go there.

 

[Testtrack321]

I've found it being a crap shoot on what quality you get. I find that 9/10 bad meals come from sit down resturaunts. Mabey it's just me. We found that the quality at the France resturaunt has gone down, as some others, but we found more resturaunts we havn't tired before that are really good too, so it depends.

 

[Ringo8n24]

On yet another hand, neither Planet Hollywood nor Rainforest Cafe are Disney owned restaurants. Sorry you were sick though, that's no fun.

Yes, that is a good sign that neither are truly Disney owned, I guess. But I still feel that the quality is a representation of Disney since they are on property. They did say that Planet Hollywood at DTD is the only one left open in the world. I wonder if that is true.

 

[KaliSplash]

We didn't notice a problem during our July visit, with one exception, which is not exactly a restaurant. My wife pointed out the cookie variety has dropped markedly at the Writer's shop (name?) next to Sci Fi at Disney MGM. Had a large selection of unusually good cookies a year ago. Had mostly your typical big chocolate chip, macadamia nut, etc. on last trip. She was disappointed.

 

[Boo's Mom]

my dad said from now on if we stay at pop century he is bringing his own spagetti noodles as they don't have regular spagetti noodles, some penne (sp?) pasta stuff. He was looking forward to spagetti down at disney because that is usually all he eats at the hotel when we go to disney. to him, it was not the same.

 

[togasports]

Where did you eat?

I have personally never had a less than an outstanding meal at the following:

Cape May (Character Breakfast)
Chef Mickey's
Epcot WS Restaraunts
The Brown Derby

I have had sub-par meals at:
Tony's
Crystal Palace(Breakfast)