Holy $#@!...Did you see the price increases?!

[sweetpee_1993]

I was just looking over menus at Allearsnet and noticed a lot of updates so I took a quick look. Prices for character meals and buffets have taken quite a hike!

Breakfast at Chef Mickey's for an adult is up to $35.14! Crystal Palace breakfast is $28.75! An adult dinner at Biergarten is up to $39.40! WTH!!! Is this Disney's push to make everyone accept their stupid dining plans??? I'm pretty miffed. $120 to take my family to Crystal Palace for breakfast. Not worth it. :brick: We can't eat that much. Not even my bottomless pit of a 15 year old. Chef Mickeys? I refuse. Mickey can pucker up and ---> :kiss: it. :fork:



***EDIT***
Not sure if Allears has made any fruther changes but the prices I saw that got me to start this thread were in fact holiday surcharge prices that are no longer in effect. Subtract $4 from each of the prices listed above. I confirmed the correct lower-tier prices with WDW-Dine. Just an FYI so nobody else freaks out and misses the rest of the thread and it's updates. Don't cancel anything without confirming what the actual prices for your meals on your travel dates. Thanks!

 

[Main Street USA]

Wow, you're not kidding. Those are huge. Shockingly huge.

 

[NiarrNDisney]

Yikes! to think Biergarten used to be only $25 a few years ago. Huhhh eventually its gonna get to expensive for Celebrities and Royalty to go!

 

[_Scar]

Last week @ Crystal Palace dinner for adults were 40.99

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Man, I'm still steamin' this morning. Told hubby about the price jumps. He wasn't surprised and was fine with it. Whatever. He said, "Have you looked at the price of food lately???". :lookaroun. Like he buys groceries. I'm sorry, I don't buy it. A couple dollars of increase would be different. Correct me if I'm wrong in what I remember Crystal Palace breakfast being, but wasn't it like $19 - $22??? Even at $22, that's a $6 jump per person. Stupid!

 

[Master Yoda]

The price hike achieves two goals...obeying the laws of supply and demand and it adds value to the DDP.

The character meals consistently sell out property wide. It does not matter if the sell out at 180 days or 1 day out, they are full 24/7. Disney can keep raising prices until that is no longer true.

High priced character meals included on the DDP make is an easy sell. When most people are doing a cost analysis for the DDP they will not look past a single days meals.Chef Mickey is $40 for dinner, lunch at Pecos Bills $14, we are in the black....SOLD!

 

[captainkidd]

I'm not sure when those prices just took effect, but they were pretty high in July when we went. We usually go to about 6 character meals per trip. This time we did 2 - 1900 Park Fare and Ohana, and that was only because we had never done them before. We won't be doing any more character meals. They are a complete rip-off. The food is average at best, and the character interaction is usually brief and lousy.

My suggestion - Go to the Grand Floridian Cafe, Whispering Canyon, or Captain's Grille etc for a good breakfast at a decent price, then get to Epcot's character spot as soon as the park opens. You'll get more face time with the characters and 10x better pictures.

 

[unkadug]

The artificially high pricing and the lack of menu options is Disney's way of making the DDP seem like a good choice. It's all a marketing ploy.

 

[captainkidd]

The artificially high pricing and the lack of menu options is Disney's way of making the DDP seem like a good choice. It's all a marketing ploy.

Agreed.

It's pretty much the same thing they're doing with Deluxe Resort prices. Making rack rates so laughably high that people will feel DVC is the only option.

Disney's just ringing the wash cloth for every last drip of water they can, until people finally say "OK, I'm out." I don't care how much we all love Disney, I don't think anyone on this board is immune to unlimited price increases. Eventually, Disney is going to price out enough of the regulars that some changes will have to be made.

 

[Master Yoda]

I'm not sure when those prices just took effect, but they were pretty high in July when we went. We usually go to about 6 character meals per trip. This time we did 2 - 1900 Park Fare and Ohana, and that was only because we had never done them before. We won't be doing any more character meals. They are a complete rip-off. The food is average at best, and the character interaction is usually brief and lousy.

My suggestion - Go to the Grand Floridian Cafe, Whispering Canyon, or Captain's Grille etc for a good breakfast at a decent price, then get to Epcot's character spot as soon as the park opens. You'll get more face time with the characters and 10x better pictures.

Sound advice. My biggest lament with the buffet prices hikes is that Boma has priced itself well past its value. IMHO, Jiko is a better value than Boma currently is.

 

[captainkidd]

So for me, my wife, and my 3 boys (4, 4, 10), for breakfast at Chef Mickey's, without gratuity, the cost would be over $130. Dinner at Crystal Palace would be $240.:lol::lol::lol:

Yeah - That'll happen.

 

[The Mom]

So these are all character meal, all you can eat buffets? Maybe providing "all you can eat" is getting more expensive for WDW?

I wonder if the ala carte menus have risen as drastically. IMO, free dining/dining plans have had a negative impact on the experience of those who choose not to use them. And I agree with Yoda - the prices are inflated (sort of like rack rate hotel prices) so you think you're getting a bargain when they offer a deal on them. But only if you participate in the plan. Which seems to be what WDW wants everyone to do. And why not? They get your money up front, and even if you don't feel like eating, you've paid for your meal. A bird in the hand and all that.

This is actually the way many old deluxe resorts worked - meals were included. I may one of the few on here who remembers choosing between EP, or AP, or MAP when making a resort reservation. Continental breakfast vs full breakfast and dinner vs three meals. Like the resort in Dirty Dancing.

I've been taking my vacation dollars elsewhere for the past couple of years due to this sort of thing. I doubt WDW has noticed my absence

 

[captainkidd]

I've been taking my vacation dollars elsewhere for the past couple of years due to this sort of thing. I doubt WDW has noticed my absence

If you've been a regular visitor in the past, I bet someone is noticing. Problem is, more of us have to be like you and JUST SAY NO.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Yoda, Kidd, & Unk - I just got in from my run. Will be sitting down to reassess our ADRs after my shower. My problem with all this is that:

A.) At a breakfast buffet DS13 & I do not eat that much. Hubby either for that matter. DS does good to eat 1/2 an obligatory plate of real food before dessert. I eat 1 plate. Hubby might eat 2 if he's really hungry. Not 1 of the 3 of us eats $20 worth much less $28 worth. As for the characters, that's not a necessity for us. Heck, I'd like Crystal Palace better if the characters skipped us altogether because we aren't Pooh people. At all.

B.) There are no sit down breakfast options in the parks without the character upcharge. Soooooo, if you want to be on Main Street before park opening you'll need to book CP then skip it. Not something I like the thought of doing at all. I feel bad for the wait staff. Wonder how many empty tables will be left in that early hour or so. I promise you when it's time for those ADRs I'll be standing outside evaluating and re-evaluating just how hungry I am.

Personally, I would have no issue sending just the hungriest in the family inside. I'd love to see the faces of the wait staff if just my 15 year old went in to eat. I can see it now:

Waiter: Where's the rest of your family?

Chandler: Right there. ((pointing out the window at me smiling & waiving outside)). They weren't $28.75 hungry. I am, tho. May I have 3 of your largest chocolate milks? Thanks!

Waiter: ((speechless))
:ROFLOL:

I know. They'd probably make him leave. I wonder if there's a stated minimum age for eating at table service restaurants without an adult.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Also, my problem is I'm booked with a Florida resident PIN and we're APers. Unless I change to an AP rate or GP special I can't even add the DDP. So now Disney is screwin' me on the food because I booked a good discount.

And, yes, if LesChefs is any indication the ala carte menus are up, too. The price fixe for dinner seems higher to me. I think it was $33-ish or $35-ish. It's up to a hair under $40.

 

[Master Yoda]

Also, my problem is I'm booked with a Florida resident PIN and we're APers. Unless I change to an AP rate or GP special I can't even add the DDP. So now Disney is screwin' me on the food because I booked a good discount.

And, yes, if LesChefs is any indication the ala carte menus are up, too. The price fixe for dinner seems higher to me. I think it was $33-ish or $35-ish. It's up to a hair under $40.

This is something I just don't get either. I can understand needing tickets or an AP but Disney takes it a step further. If you have an AP you must also book at an AP rate or under the AP annual offer (rack rate) You can not book with a GP rate and get the DDP even if you have an active AP.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

This is something I just don't get either. I can understand needing tickets or an AP but Disney takes it a step further. If you have an AP you must also book at an AP rate or under the AP annual offer (rack rate) You can not book with a GP rate and get the DDP even if you have an active AP.

I should clarify...you'd have to book a free dining to take advantage of that offer and cut the tickets down to the minimum. Then you'd have to hang onto the unused tickets to use towards your next APs. So stupid.

 

[Master Yoda]

I should clarify...you'd have to book a free dining to take advantage of that offer and cut the tickets down to the minimum. Then you'd have to hang onto the unused tickets to use towards your next APs. So stupid.

I am fine with needing a minimum ticket purchase for free dining, I am talking about actually paying for the DDP. Disney allowed AP holders to pay for the DDP a couple of years ago but you have to have your room booked one of the two aforementioned AP rates. If no AP discounted rate was available you would have to book using the AP annual offer, which is rack rate, just to be able to purchase the DDP. You can not book a room at a GP, FL resident or a pin code rate and buy the DDP even if you have an AP.

 

[bigkbull]

Although it doesn't justify a $6+ hike in price for a breakfast buffet, people's habits at buffets make it difficult for companies, not just WDW, to stay profitable with them. I've always been very into food and buffets (live to eat not eat to live) and people drive me nuts. All too often you see people go up and pile all this food high on their plates and then eat 1/3 of it and decide they don't want the rest. Then they go up and get more. They say they didn't like what they had the first time. Well, if people showed a little bit more control, got small samplings of things they were unsure of or were new to them, then went up and got more of what they liked then there would be a lot less waste. It's also common amongst kids who are allowed to go up by themselves and just choose whatever they want. "I can get 6 pancakes?!? OK!!"

Don't get me wrong, I think the price increase is ridiculous but I also think that people could do a better job at not being gluttonous pigs in the lines and then leaving it all on the plate once they realize their eyes were bigger than their stomachs.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Look at the dates on the menus you are checking at AllEars. The places you referenced were updated this month and most likely reflect the $5 ridiculous peak season surcharge. Some of them with odd ending decimals, like Biergarten at 39.40 include tax. So figure that if you don't go during one of Disney's designated peak times, Biergarten for dinner really costs 31.99 which sounds like a more normal price for this meal. Same for Crystal Palace which would then be 21.99 for breakfast as well.

Quick Edit: Steve just posted an updated list that shows when these extra surcharges are in place http://www.wdwmagic.com/holiday-dining-dates.htm