Free dining

[seascape]

Thanks to DME, the vast majority of guests don't have an alternative except to dine on-property, so either they are paying at a TS restaurant or they are paying at a QS location.

So, introduction of the Dining Plan and the reduction in food options, the blandification of menus, and a rapid rate of increase in food prices is purely coincidence? Well, that's one way to look at things I guess, but it isn't based on reality.

Stay in a DVC. Eat breakfast in the room, bring snacks to the parks and enjoy the food at Food & Wine and Flower & Garden. Who needs the DDP. When I eat at a restaurant I get an annual passholder or DVC discount. Be a smart consumer and enjoy your trip. Spend but be reasonable.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Thanks to DME, the vast majority of guests don't have an alternative except to dine on-property, so either they are paying at a TS restaurant or they are paying at a QS location.

No, that's not even remotely close to true. Most guests stay off property and still choose to dine at WDW restaurants anyways. Also, even if we limited the conversation to to on-site guests, you're overestimating the number who use DME when you say "the vast majority." Lots of on property guests rent cars in addition to those who stay off site.

 

[HauntedPirate]

No, that's not even remotely close to true. Most guests stay off property and still choose to dine at WDW restaurants anyways. Also, even if we limited the conversation to to on-site guests, you're overestimating the number who use DME when you say "the vast majority." Lots of on property guests rent cars in addition to those who stay off site.

Quoting for posterity.

 

[Flyersgirl17]

well i broke down and we booked. got free dining and saved $650. Not horrible. I just wish they didn't make us get the park hopper. we aren't a "hopper" family. That would have been an additional $361 saved. But it will be a new experience so i'm still excited.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Stay in a DVC. Eat breakfast in the room, bring snacks to the parks and enjoy the food at Food & Wine and Flower & Garden. Who needs the DDP. When I eat at a restaurant I get an annual passholder or DVC discount. Be a smart consumer and enjoy your trip. Spend but be reasonable.

We already do breakfast in our room when we stay at a DVC resort. Sometimes other meals, too, depending on the trip. But DVC is not a majority of WDW guests. AP and DVC discounts aren't pervasive to all restaurants, and again, aren't available to a majority of guests. Try looking at the situation thru the eyes of a regular, cash-paying, non-FL resident, non-DVC, non-AP holder guest. The results may surprise you.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Freeloaders......

 

[Tom P.]

Quoting for posterity.

That's cute, but doesn't bother to actually answer anything he actually said.

 

[seascape]

We already do breakfast in our room when we stay at a DVC resort. Sometimes other meals, too, depending on the trip. But DVC is not a majority of WDW guests. AP and DVC discounts aren't pervasive to all restaurants, and again, aren't available to a majority of guests. Try looking at the situation thru the eyes of a regular, cash-paying, non-FL resident, non-DVC, non-AP holder guest. The results may surprise you.

Stay in DVCs and rent from Davids or amother 3rd party.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Stay in DVCs and rent from Davids or amother 3rd party.

DVC member since 2005.

 

[Tom P.]

According to estimates out there, only about 1/3 of visitors to the theme parks actually stay on property at Disney resorts. Of those staying on property, a good percentage also choose not to purchase the dining plan. When 2/3 of your guests aren't even eligible for the dining plan, and of the remaining 1/3 a good chunk don't buy the dining plan.... well, I think the effect of the dining plan on restaurants is being overstated in this thread, to say the least.

 

[HauntedPirate]

That's cute, but doesn't bother to actually answer anything he actually said.

Apparently I need to specifically call out the utter ridiculousness? 30,000 rooms at WDW (30,623 according to TouringPlans). 90% occupancy over the course of the past year. Say there's an average of 3 persons per room per night (it's probably closer to 4, in reality), that's just shy of 83,000 guests on site per night. Over an entire year, that's 30.1 million total guests. If you go with 4 guests per room per night, it's up to 40 million. Compare that with annual park attendance. Saying that "most guests stay off property" is preposterous. A lot do, yes, but not "most".

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Quoting for posterity.

Good one. The fact remains that you're 100% wrong. The "vast majority" of Walt Disney World Resort guests have their own transportation, whether they're local, off-site, or on-site with rental cars.

Apparently I need to specifically call out the utter ridiculousness? 30,000 rooms at WDW (30,623 according to TouringPlans). 90% occupancy over the course of the past year. Say there's an average of 3 persons per room per night (it's probably closer to 4, in reality), that's just shy of 83,000 guests on site per night. Over an entire year, that's 30.1 million total guests. If you go with 4 guests per room per night, it's up to 40 million. Compare that with annual park attendance. Saying that "most guests stay off property" is preposterous. A lot do, yes, but not "most".

Swing and a miss.

 

[John]

To look at the bigger picture.....not all of us are foodies or enjoy dining as an "experience". But some of us do. The dining plan has just about ruined the dining experience at WDW. Even if you were not a big spender you could manage a TS meal or two and most all restaurants could and did give a very nice experience. Yes you could go big and splurge but that wasn't necessary. What takes place now is indicative of Disney's " get'em in.....get' em out " extract as much money as you can....move on to the next guest. DIning is more or less a cattle call. It truly has impacted the entire WDW vacation experience. In Disney's guest metric dining has never been any lower. Buffet dinners have reached Golden Corral level of quality. There are still wonderful meals to be had on property, but even those are way overpriced. Thinking back to how much dining has changed in the last 5 - 10 years makes me very scared of what it may look like in five years from now.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

To look at the bigger picture.....not all of us are foodies or enjoy dining as an "experience". But some of us do. The dining plan has just about ruined the dining experience at WDW. Even if you were not a big spender you could manage a TS meal or two and most all restaurants could and did give a very nice experience. Yes you could go big and splurge but that wasn't necessary. What takes place now is indicative of Disney's " get'em in.....get' em out " extract as much money as you can....move on to the next guest. DIning is more or less a cattle call. It truly has impacted the entire WDW vacation experience. In Disney's guest metric dining has never been any lower. Buffet dinners have reached Golden Corral level of quality. There are still wonderful meals to be had on property, but even those are way overpriced. Thinking back to how much dining has changed in the last 5 - 10 years makes me very scared of what it may look like in five years from now.

This literally has nothing to do with the dining plan. "Turning tables" is restaurant operations 101 and blaming it on the dining plan is misguided.

 

[Laketravis]

We've drastically reduced our on site dining since we discovered what we could get off-site for roughly the same price or less using Uber to get there and back. Texas de Brazil or Capital Grille are a couple of our favorites.

 

[xdan0920]

This literally has nothing to do with the dining plan. "Turning tables" is restaurant operations 101 and blaming it on the dining plan is misguided.

I'd encourage you to poke around these threads from previous years. The impact of the DDP on table service restaurants is well documented.

To put it simply, the DDP gives the restaurant "x" per person. Regardless of what they order. This has had a two pronged effect.

1. Cash prices have risen to offset the DDP allowances.

2. Restaurants have had to pull certain menu items because they were losing money on them thanks to the proliferation of the DDP.

Those aren't opinions, they are facts. Reported by CMs and GMs in food and bev.

 

[ev01]

I have an existing reservation there for the first week of September as well, but I have a standard view room, and I don't want to pay to upgrade it because I know I will be upgraded for free upon check-in (long story). Do you have a standard view room reserved? Was there anything specific you said that you believe prompted them to give you the discount?

No, I didn't say anything special, just asked if I could get the discount. I think it is based on check-in date though. We are checking in on the 4th, so perhaps the allotment for that date wasn't full yet when I called in.

 

[zakattack99]

They had another dining plan in the late 90's that they did promote, the Food and Fun Package, because I used it in 1997 and again in 1999, that had a monetary value to it. I believe I remember paying $50 per adult per night and receiving $55 per adult per night, for kids we paid $20 and we got $25. We could exchange dollar for dollar at the restaurants or at recreation locations. In looking back, I believe this was a better deal for the management of restaurants as they didn't need to accept Table Service credits or Counter Service credits, it was a dollar for dollar exchange.

THANK YOU my mother has been telling me this is how the dining plan worked when we first went in 1999 however I could not find anything saying this or showing that the plan worked that way. Was starting to think my mom was losing it!

Had a stressful but fruitful planning day. Upgraded our stay at CBR to include free dinning, and it looks like we will keep our GC. Took me till 3pm EsT to figure it out, could not get through on the phone. On the upside we got an earlier cheaper flight from SW so we are now arriving at 3 instead of 6 so that was an upside. Hope everyone else had a fruitful planning day and got their dinning or room discounts our whatever you were aftertoday!

 

[John]

This literally has nothing to do with the dining plan. "Turning tables" is restaurant operations 101 and blaming it on the dining plan is misguided.

If that was the only point I was making I would agree with you...........But it isn't. The menu, the portions, the quality. The quality of the experience all have something to do with the dining plan. I am not here to argue with you for the sake of argument. The dining plan has done nothing but ruin the dining experience at WDW.....period.

edit: going back to obscurity. This just hurts to much.

 

[aprincessatlasst]

Except that's how it should have been all along. Not everything is a snack credit, why should all of the entrees be included? Have a small upcharge for the highest priced menu items, and the restaurant can keep the quality level.

We "were" free dining people at one time (2005-10) but even we could see what it was doing to the decline in dining at WDW. By 2010 we were done. So we headed to Disneyland and got excited about eating Disney food again! We quickly changed our tune to what Dining plans were doing to WDW and have ever since wished it would die already!

Interestingly we are going to DL Paris this summer and have a "free" half board (dining). Yet it seems entirely different and more inline with what you mentioned. There are levels depending on your hotel and there are certain restaurants or menu specific items available for that "plan". If you order outside of that you pay an additional amount over the value of the voucher. Seems like this would keep the quality where it needs to be.