People Angry Over Disney Dinning Plan

[brich]

:lol: I think people already are! :lol:

:ROFLOL:
Very true... Guess my point was more like if you know what the package offers and it doesn't fit you, save the complaining if you go ahead and do it anyway...
By the way, there's a good chance you'll get wet riding Splash Mountain... :hammer:

 

[mickey&me]

So let me get this straight

Too much food...
Sit down meals take to long...
I only eat 1 meal a day and snack the rest...
We generally share a meal...

Ahhh, then why would you even get on the Dining Plan?
Is it me or are some of the complaints about the Dining Plan concerning things you should be aware of before even buying into it?
In a matter of months I'll read posts from people complaining they won't do the Dining Plan again because the tip isn't included and you no longer get an Appetizer... :veryconfu

Since you quoted my post, I'll feel free to respond to yours in kind.

My post was a general comment, NOT a complaint as you said. The Dining Plan was cheaper than our usual budget, so we purchased it; however, we found out that the tight schedule it necessitates for TS meals was not in our best interest, so we wouldn't buy it again no matter what.

Is it me or should some people read other posts carefully before responding?

 

[DizFanatic]

We took advantage of the DDP in December 2006. It was great. Yes, there may have been too much food, but we really enjoyed it. I think the removal of the included gratuity is a real downer. It was nice to feel like a king and tell my family that they can order whatever they want and not need to worry about the cost. Yes, it did cost a bundle, but it was a bargain for what we had.

It's like the magic of disney for my belly. The different levels with the new plan may be a good idea, but the tip thing... If it's not a bargain, or convenience, then what's it worth???

I think they saw the poularity of it and decided to get more $$$ out of us.

 

[tomm4004]

It will be interesting to hear from posters using the DDP if they notice an improvement in service since servers now have to earn their tips.

As for the desserts vs. appetizers, I always wondered if restaurants throw out leftover desserts at the end of the night, and forcing them onto DDP guests is one way of helping to "move" them.

 

[rob_and_kate]

dining plan fraud

We have just seen this change to the dining plan, and I will tell you why people are angry about it... because when we booked our stay for 14nights in april 2008, we booked dining plan, it said starter-main-desert, we were given a quote, we paid our money. now we find out that what we were persuaded to pay for, actually isn't what were getting?! in the UK we call that fraud, false advertising & illegal amongst other things.

as for the guy who said 'get a meal, pay for it' well how about this... 'we paid for it, we didn't get it'!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CS- may07, CS- arpil08

 

[sandicinderelli]

There is a McDonalds over by Blizzard Beach. Visit often.

Not the greatest option, but McD's will do for some folks.

Here's a new concept....Buy a meal, pay for it.
Not to sound rude, but I wouldn't dream of going on vacation unless I had enough money to pay for my meals.

Although I don't think it would be wise to do away with the DDP completely, I do think that people need to ask more questions about it, make sure they understand it completely, then plan accordingly. It's just too bad that people have become more impatient these days, hence, more complaining.

For me, the DDP probably won't be beneficial because when I visit the parks, I go willy nilly. I don't pre-plan as much as others. I like many of the CS offerings they have anyway.

I've made 2 ADRs for my next trip in a couple of weeks. I'd rather just budget a certain amount for each meal, including tip. I do agree with you on this point. It just makes more sense to me. Just like eating out at Applebee's.

 

[New2WDW]

:ROFLOL:
Very true... Guess my point was more like if you know what the package offers and it doesn't fit you, save the complaining if you go ahead and do it anyway...
By the way, there's a good chance you'll get wet riding Splash Mountain... :hammer:

First part - I agree completely

Second part - only if you pay the 'water surcharge' if you want to get wet! :ROFLOL:

 

[palminnie]

Over the past 15+ years we have always used some sort of dining plan. 2008 will be the first time we will travel to WDW without the dining plan. We have the DDE and will use that instead. It actually worked out to be cheaper for us to use the DDE instead of the Deluxe Dining Plan.

 

[Dwarful]

We have used the dining plan 3 times. All three times with groups (13 people on two trips, 36 people on the last 9 day trip). Then we did a short trip in Dec (12-16) and did not have the dining plan. The one thing we noticed in Dec. was the gradual increase in the cost of the meals...all meals..counter service, sit downs etc.

Yes, the old dining plan offered lots of food. Many times we would split a meal and more than once we used our credits to pay for other families meals rather than let them go unused. I think with the new plan you would really need to sit down and figure out what you are going to be spending per day. Gone are the days of the $100 per day for a family of four even if you eat two counter service meals and buy a drink or two because of the increased food costs. Also, we noticed that several of the entree's had gone down in size, perhaps because there was a lot of 'sharing' going on?

Yes, you could bring in snacks and drink out of the fountain. But when I am on vacation I don't want to stress over things like that. We are going in late July and I am still leaning towards the dining plan although I haven't made my mind up yet (*sorry Pam!)

 

[JustPlainBill]

I'm one of those who would prefer to do away with the dining plan completely.
It's made walk ups impossible and my family likes to eat when we're hungry, not make dining plans months in advance. Disney has made this plan so complicated that it's slowing down counter service lines and upsetting a lot of people who think they are getting something for nothing.

Here's a new concept....Buy a meal, pay for it.
Not to sound rude, but I wouldn't dream of going on vacation unless I had enough money to pay for my meals.

I have practically stopped doing sit down meals because I got tired of listening to the table next to me arguing with the wait staff about the price of their (Not so Free) meals. That is of course if I can even get INTO a sit down restuarant. Now I pay 10 dollars for a meal at a Counter service place and leave no tip instead of $90 a meal at a Sit down meal where I used to leave a 20% tip. Sorry Disney Dining Plan genious creators...I win...and your plan loses.

I happen to agree with what your saying here.
With or without the changes I would not use the dining plan. In my family's case we want more flexibility when it comes to our meals. I detest anyone telling me what I can or cannot order or what my kids are allowed. When visiting WDW we don't always do table service, why would I want to arbitrarily pay for it. Your point about ADRs is well taken, I remember going to WDW 20 years ago, and making all our sit down reservations each day the morning of our visit. We are planning to go to WDW this summer in early August '08 and we are already preparing to make some of our ADR's next month. I think it's crazy to have to plan dinner 6 months out! Just the thought of a server treating me differently because I was on the plan would scare me away as well. Our last visit to WDW was in June 2007, We received great service from our servers at WDW, if it was because we were not on the dining plan, I don't know? The DDP is not for us, nor will it ever be.

 

[Ms. Tinkerbell]

We've used the dining plan the past few trips and we're using it again this year. I haven't ever figured out to see how good a deal it is for us and we never eat all the food (the snack credits work out great though to bring home treats for friends), but I like the idea of pre-paying for most everything and not really worrying about it. The tipping part doesn't bother me, because I always added the normal tip anyway. It just never felt right to me to not leave a regular tip. As for keeping a schedule, I'm a planner and schedule everything even at home, so this is the norm for us
I know I've read that a lot of people on the dining plan didn't get good service, but we never experienced that at all. We had great ones every meal there.
This year we did the bounceback and I went ahead and purchased the discounted deluxe plan. This is the first time we've ever went when they had the free/discounted dining and although I know there's no way we'll eat three meals a day, since we don't even do that at home, I thought it would be fun to plan several 2 credits during our stay that we have never experienced.
Of course these are all my thoughts only and not trying to convince anyone to see things my way

 

[Kashyyyk]

I too am curious about how/if the quality of service will change with the new changes to gratuity.

It is our understanding that before, servers were in effect, making less than 10% in tips (even though the bill indicated 18% gratuity was included). This was due to the complicated way the tip was spread out over the entire wait staff and added in the form of 'bonuses' on paychecks. I don't pretend to understand it fully, but gathered that...bottom line....staff didn't like it because diners thought they were getting 18% as stated on the bill, when in reality they were not. Thus the unions got involved and voila...the new plan has the customer paying $18% directly on top of every meal. Disney no longer pretends to cover it.

However, what it the incentive for good service now? They are guaranteed the 18% regardless of the quality of service because it is automatically added. From what I have been told, it is added to all TS reservations, regardless of being on the dining plan or not (I know because I booked my ADR without the dining plan and got the warning about 18% gratuity being automatically added to all TS meals).

Seems to me that there is no incentive for wait staff one way or the other. Before they felt ripped off and now they need care less.

 

[tomm4004]

However, what it the incentive for good service now? They are guaranteed the 18% regardless of the quality of service because it is automatically added. From what I have been told, it is added to all TS reservations, regardless of being on the dining plan or not (I know because I booked my ADR without the dining plan and got the warning about 18% gratuity being automatically added to all TS meals)....

It's not. This is a misconception stemming from the news that gratuities would automatically be added for those using the Disney Dining Experience card, which gives a 20 per cent discount.

 

[Disney05]

My family has used the dining plan the last 2 times we went. This year we will do without it. It did work out well for us. It was very convenient. But the new changes have changed our plans. I think we will be able to save some money. We're going to be trying to eat more strategicly. I have a feeling we may see changes to the plan as the year goes on. Who knows.

 

[tomm4004]

...I remember going to WDW 20 years ago, and making all our sit down reservations each day the morning of our visit...

We still do that and rarely have trouble. I was reading in "The Unofficial Guide to WDW Without Kids" that in January there is a 33 per cent no-show rate for restaurant reservations (10 per cent in July).

Anyone remember the TV monitors at EPCOT where you would talk to a reservation agent face-to-face (sort of) and make ressies? That was cool.

 

[mousefan1972]

We have used the now-departed version of the DDP 3 times, most recently Dec. 19-27, 2007. The old DDP really worked well for us. We never left with unused credits and we enjoyed taking a break each day for a table service meal. True, we would never ordinarily order a dessert with a CS meal, but between an always-hungry DH and 2 kids, everything was usually eaten.

On our Christmas trip, we saved so much $$ using the DDP. I didn't add up receipts, but I did notice that each TS meal was over $100. Since we paid $89.97 each day for the DDP (2 adults and one child, one "infant" age 2), we had saved money without even adding in the CS meal and snack each day. We also love the convenience of the plan. Even if it was a break-even scenario financially, I would still use the DDP just for the convenience factor.

Now.... no included gratuity and no appetizer. There goes much of the above-stated convenience factor. As others have said, now we have to budget extra for tips and pay out of pocket for any appetizers we may order. (Add me to the list of guests who wish is was a choice of app or desert...) Will it still save us money? Probably, but only b/c we are planning to go back next Christmas when the buffets charge a "holiday surcharge", meaning the price is more than non-holiday periods. Since we did 5 of these meals last trip, we are likely to save some $$. DH really wants to do the DDP again, despite the changes, but I am on the fence. Although, we paid out of pocket for the Ohana character breakfast at the Poly Chrismas morning, and it came to $75, including tax and tip. For BREAKFAST. For 2 adults and one child. And next year DS will be 3, so we will have to pay for him, too. Given what the prices were this year, I think we will save a good amount of money if we do the DDP again, even with the changes.

I definitely don't like the "new" DDP, but the old one is gone, and it's not coming back...

 

[JustPlainBill]

Anyone remember the TV monitors at EPCOT where you would talk to a reservation agent face-to-face (sort of) and make ressies? That was cool.

Yes, I remember!
It seemed so futuristic back then and that was the last time we were able to walk in and make them. Years after there was always no room at the inn for us and we were forced to eat counter service, which back then I don't remember being that good. Now we have kids so we go in summer because we don't want to take our kids out of school. So were stuck for now.

 

[brich]

Since you quoted my post, I'll feel free to respond to yours in kind.

Had I meant to quote you directly and call you out directly as a complainer, I may have quoted your post as I did so here. As a matter of fact, had you not quoted me, I frankly wouldn't have any idea who made this "general comment". I simply took the posted habits of posters who had less than positive things to say about the meal plan. Your meal habits don't exactly fit what I would call an ideal candidate for the Dining Plan. That's my opinion. I'm still entitled to that right?

My post was a general comment, NOT a complaint as you said. The Dining Plan was cheaper than our usual budget, so we purchased it; however, we found out that the tight schedule it necessitates for TS meals was not in our best interest, so we wouldn't buy it again no matter what.

Seeing as I was directly quoted, I'll reciprocate... You generally eat 1 meal and snack all day and this costs you more than a day on the Dining Plan? May I be so bold as to ask what meal you eat and what it is your snacking on? :veryconfu

Is it me or should some people read other posts carefully before responding?

Is this a general comment? Sorry to get your mouse ears all in a bunch. :shrug:

 

[shoppingnut]

First, I can see why there are so many problems, just think of any calls you have ever had making your reservations with Disney directly and how much mis-information you may have received from them. I know from experience that for every knowledgeable CM on the phone lines, there has to be at least 3 that don't have a clue.

Second, if you booked your vacation before these change even came into being and were told something completely different, like the one person who posted, I can easily see how problems arised because these folks were told and sold a specific package which they should have been grandfathered in on and now they get to the restaurant and are being told something else. Yes, I would be totally irate.

Third, it should be a choice of appetizer or dessert, having a diabetic with our family means they get slighted in the food plan.

Finally, if they didn't see these problems coming or anticipate them, I have no sympathy for anyone, because with any change in a plan it is never seemless.

I've used the plan during the free dining and never had a problem using up all my credits and because I like having that time to sit and eat a meal, like a real person at night and not fight people at the cs, the plan worked for me.

 

[RHeath2]

Neither myself nor my family has ever used the DDP before, we can only hope that the changes made will have a slightly "negative" effect on crowd levels at various dining locations. It's been virtually impossible to get in to eat anywhere without having reservations months in advance, due in large part to the DDP.

As my family and I all hold annual passes, we're not the type who book ADRs months in advance, usually we wind up getting our hotel and travel plans together about a month or so before we actually arrive there. Don't get me wrong, as I want other people to be able to enjoy their vacation, but at the same time I want to enjoy mine. Hopefully this ADR months in advance malarky will taper off (doubtful, but hopefully) and some of the spontaneity of dining can come back.