Pre-DDP

[Spikerdink]

I know a lot of people have said that the DDP has resulted in a diminished variety across all of the Disney restaurants, and the last time I was on the DDP I did sort of notice that the entree choices were similar just about every restaurant except with a few tweaks here and there.

It had me wondering if anyone has copies of old menus pre-DDP and could compare choices from four restaurants that would illustrate or disprove this theory....

I have decided that the DDP is a convenience since you can budget exactly how much you will pay for food, but overall it is not a cost savings for me and my guests....I was just wondering what the impact was on on food choices.

 

[swissamy]

I can remember much more variety in pricing on appetizers and entrees. We could choose an entree for around $12-14 or go as high as 21 at places like prime time. Appetizers were more varied too...Now everything is in the same price range and the menu fits on one page rather than pages as it was in the past. I miss those "simpler times"!

 

[righttrack]

It's a simplified pricing model that would lend itself towards simplified entrees and desserts. There are meals that should be priced differently, ie, Chicken less than beef or fish, for example. It's difficult to justify a scoop of ice cream for dinner, when that would be fine in some cases because of the perceived lack of value, versus a baked dessert that has a scoop of ice cream on it. It just lends itself to a simplification that can make it boring. The chefs are doing a good job with it, but they lost a great deal of flexibility with the DDP, no question.

 

[Rob562]

Here are a few comparisons of menus from AllEars thanks to archive.org

Le Chefs de France
November 2004
http://web.archive.org/web/20041209133752/http://allearsnet.com/menu/men_cdfd.htm
(13 appetizers/salads/soups; 10 entrees)
August 2011
http://allears.net/menu/men_cdfd.htm
(10 appetizers/salads/soups/flatbreads; 8 entrees)

Prime Time Cafe
July 2004
http://web.archive.org/web/20041016063408/http://allearsnet.com/menu/menu_ptcd.htm
(8 soup/salad/starters; 10 entrees)
January 2012
http://allears.net/menu/menu_ptcd.htm
(5 soup/salad/starters; 10 entrees)

-Rob