News Disney Dining Plan Returns in 2024

[HauntedPirate]

Many Disney restaurants have moved to buffets, pre-fixe menus, family style where selection is pretty limited already and this is with the DDP gone for years. You'll have to blame something else at corporate because this has been the trend for years now without the DDP around.

When I went the last time with DDP (2019) I came out basically even if not a few dollars ahead when they added beer/wine to the list of options. Even if I didn't get full value and break even with a full accounting of food costs not having to think on vacation and worry about food costs has an intrinsic value to me.

So please don't pretend like you know me. Just so we're clear.

So you think this trend in dining started when the DDP went away due to Covid? And breaking even has "intrinsic value"? I'm afraid I know you all too well. Sadly.

 

[Aries1975]

It has been a while since I did the math, because it was before alcohol was included. I looked at the menus on all ears and took the average adult entree and average kid entree for each restaurant we were intending to visit. I did include a non-alcoholic drink but did not include dessert.

Tables in Wonderland always came out ahead, even in cases where we needed to buy the “spouse” card, because we were a party of 15.

I do not believe the rules changed regarding sharing them meals with someone not in you party. When I walked into Pinocchio and ordered 8 pizzas and 4 salads, one ever asked. I presume now, when ordering 5 burgers on a mobile app, no one is going to question who is eating them either.

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

You’re still gonna have to take the quiz, Rocket

If you can't tell the difference between a racoon and a ferret then why should we believe anything you say ?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

If you can't tell the difference between a racoon and a ferret then why should we believe anything you say ?

I was at a DEP site where they were erecting new osprey platforms the other day. The reason? Bountiful food supply due to no control over muskrats that populated after the end of fur trade…

What was my point again?

…right…watch yourself, you little weasel

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Many Disney restaurants have moved to buffets, pre-fixe menus, family style where selection is pretty limited already and this is with the DDP gone for years. You'll have to blame something else at corporate because this has been the trend for years now without the DDP around.

When I went the last time with DDP (2019) I came out basically even if not a few dollars ahead when they added beer/wine to the list of options. Even if I didn't get full value and break even with a full accounting of food costs not having to think on vacation and worry about food costs has an intrinsic value to me.

So please don't pretend like you know me. Just so we're clear.

The cost increases and selection reduction corresponded 100% with the dining plan machinations

Now this was all established prior to the 3 year - delightful - pause in this nonsense.

So I assume you have long haul and memory loss? It can’t be that we’re gonna try to say AGAIN that paying for the dining plan is “smart”. The math only works in a tiny minority of scenarios.

But we’ve only talked about it over and over again for 10+ years prior.

I’ll talk to you when you wake up, Rip

 

[CaptainAmerica]

So you're willing to pay for the dessert even though you don't want it. You're willing to pay more for fewer options, because restaurants have reduced menu options under DDP. You're willing to pay more so you "don't have to think" while on vacation.

Just wanted to make sure that was clear.

I've never sat down for a meal at Walt Disney World and thought "this restaurant has too few options."

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

I was at a DEP site where they were erecting new osprey platforms the other day. The reason? Bountiful food supply due to no control over muskrats that populated after the end of fur trade…

What was my point again?

…right…watch yourself, you little weasel

Do you ever have a point ?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Happy for those who are fans of this.

 

[dreday3]

Happy for those who are fans of this.

View attachment 715369

My father would not watch this when this came out (or since) because he was (is) such a Joan Crawford fan.
He also tried to stop me from watching Three's Company because he said it was an insult to my intelligence.

He took all of us kids and grandkids to Disney in 2011 for their 50th Wedding Anniversary and purchased the dining plan for all of us because it was just easier for him to pay for everything that way.

 

[Ayla]

It has been a while since I did the math, because it was before alcohol was included. I looked at the menus on all ears and took the average adult entree and average kid entree for each restaurant we were intending to visit. I did include a non-alcoholic drink but did not include dessert.

Tables in Wonderland always came out ahead, even in cases where we needed to buy the “spouse” card, because we were a party of 15.

I do not believe the rules changed regarding sharing them meals with someone not in you party. When I walked into Pinocchio and ordered 8 pizzas and 4 salads, one ever asked. I presume now, when ordering 5 burgers on a mobile app, no one is going to question who is eating them either.

TiW was only available to AP holders.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Do you ever have a point ?

…Other than don’t blindly buy products from any company without common sense thought on what you’re buying and THEN get together as a group and congratulate yourself for not thinking??

…no…not really…just here to try new material for my act

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

TiW was only available to AP holders.

…vacation club and Florida residents

At one time

Now that I’m thinking…was it ever AP?

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

…Other than don’t blindly buy products from any company without common sense thought on what you’re buying and THEN get together as a group and congratulate yourself for not thinking??

…no…not really…just here to try new material for my act

Maybe people are capable of thinking for themselves without your condescending stick.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Also coming in 2024:
Dumbed down menus.
Price increases for all meals to make the dining plan look like a value.

 

[Trauma]

Maybe people are capable of thinking for themselves without your condescending stick.

Actually no.

I wake up every morning and check my phone for a new @Sirwalterraleigh rant.

Just because you can function without it, doesn’t mean I can.

 

[Trauma]

I never stay in a room without a kitchen. This plan is useless for me.

I’m sure it’s great for people who get it for free when Disney can’t sell rooms.

 

[Ayla]

Now that I’m thinking…was it ever AP?

Yes.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Me, too!

Free ground transportation (which helps me) is objectively better than the "option" to pay 30% more for my Disney dining (which only helps Disney),* which of course explains why Disney was more eager to bring it back. I'm among the minority who greeted the DDP news with a shrug, and wished for something better. Not that the plan would even be available for our only planned WDW trip, since it's in August 2023, but the impending return of the DDP does explain why WDW is already paring down its menus to remove or replace the items that use pricier ingredients. (Farewell, Grand Floridian Cafe's Lobster Thermidor burger! I never got the chance to know you.)

I am very interested to see how the "rules" of the DDP might change, if at all, when it lurches back, and whether Disney might opt to add a whole new raft of restaurants to the "2-credit" list, or remove some of the kinds of snacks and beverages that used to be included. So far, like the reanimated corpses from Stephen King's Pet Sematary, Disney's resurrection of pre-COVID offerings (e.g., EMH becoming Early Entry, FP+ becoming ILL/G+, all-day parkhopping becoming half-day parkhopping) has produced things that don't come back the same: they might resemble their former form, but they are fundamentally diminished and unsatisfying.

*NOTE: My "30% more" statistic refers to the fact that when we did the math for our Disney trips pre-COVID, my family found that when we pay out of pocket to eat wherever we want to eat (including at MORE table service restaurants than the DDP covers), and order whatever we want to eat (including specialty beverages, appetizers, and other items the DDP doesn't include), without regard to the menu prices (which in my case generally means that if it has shrimp or scallops, it will be mine!), we still SAVE OVER 30% over the cost of the Disney Dining Plan for the 4 of us, and it's no more inconvenient to scan a MagicBand to pay for our meal with invisible dollars than it is to scan a MagicBand to pay for a meal with invisible credits. Obviously this calculus will be different for every family (and I'm not talking about scenarios where people get it for free), but buying the DDP would force us to spend way more, while inhibiting our ability to eat where we want, and what we want, on vacation.

My sentiments exactly, Weather Lady. I could have written this. Instead of the DDP, we just scanned our magic bands which transferred charges to our credit card. We just paid off the CC when we got home. I also checked what we actually want and ate to what we would eat if we had the DDP. We did have this when it first came out ,; Without the DP, We actually saved money and didn't eat because we had it for "free". We could eat when and where we wanted. There were several times on the DDP that we didnt' want to make that evening trip to Epcot to dine and felt it was wasted because of that. So, for us, just paying for what we wanted and putting it on the magic band/cc worked the same as DDP for us. No paying for each item each time we ate. It was just as convenient and we could eat what we wanted. I found that since the DDP was started, the quality of disney's food has been declining.

 

[Santa Raccoon 77]

Actually no.

I wake up every morning and check my phone for a new @Sirwalterraleigh rant.

Just because you can function without it, doesn’t mean I can.

 

[dreday3]

I trust in Ron Burgundy.