Why Do So Many People Dislike the Dining Plan?

[BigRedDad]

Two reasons for me: price and scheduling around meals. There is too much food with a QS meal. I can't eat it all which means I am throwing a good portion of it away. We can usually just share a QS meal and be fine. I know some people love eating at the restaurants, I do as well. However, what you get is not worth what you pay. An OK steak is going to run $50-$75 and that is for a mediocre cut of beef. I stayed at a DVC resort, bought some nice Cowboy cuts, sparked up the grill there, threw them on, and had two 2LB ribeyes an hour later. The total cost was $45 for steak, potatoes, and a lot of people coming by wishing they were getting some. That is less than 1 mediocre cut of meat at a Disney restaurant. I have no issue cooking while on vacation. I love it. It didn't take away any of my time. We were at the resort enjoying the pool, I had had my own adult beverages to drink, and enjoyed saving about $200 on one meal alone.

The other issue is never using all of your credits. The 2 times we did the plan, I came home with a good $300 worth of Rice Krispy Mickey Ears. Grand total of $20 worth of Rice Krispy treats that I spent 15x on.

 

[drizgirl]

Why do so many people not like the DDP? My family gets it every time we go, and I think it's great for what you get.

Also, why do some people think the DDP ruined Disney dining in general? Is it because the food prices are too high unless you're on the dining plan or something else?

If your profile age is accurate, you probably aren't footing the bill for your family's vacation or the dining plan. I would like it a lot more too if I wasn't paying for it.

I don't like it because it's too expensive. It fits our eating fairly well, but not at the price offered.

 

[thomas998]

yes, but for those it are going to stay on party anyways...it works...

I guess I wasn't clear... When we saw the offers they only applied when you stayed and were paying full rack rates for the rooms. We've always managed to get rooms on Disney for less than rack rates from other offers or sometimes by getting an annual pass to get the annual passholder rate.... When we were face with the option of getting the free DDP we would run the number of those non-discounted rates versus the discounted rate and then assume that the difference was what we were in effect being charge for the DDP... It was never free and was always so high that we would skip it and fend for ourselves and still come out ahead.

 

[Andrew C]

I guess I wasn't clear... When we saw the offers they only applied when you stayed and were paying full rack rates for the rooms. We've always managed to get rooms on Disney for less than rack rates from other offers or sometimes by getting an annual pass to get the annual passholder rate.... When we were face with the option of getting the free DDP we would run the number of those non-discounted rates versus the discounted rate and then assume that the difference was what we were in effect being charge for the DDP... It was never free and was always so high that we would skip it and fend for ourselves and still come out ahead.

I get what your saying...you need to compare it to a potential room discount you would get without including DDP..and see where you land.

 

[Phonedave]

Two reasons for me: price and scheduling around meals. There is too much food with a QS meal. I can't eat it all which means I am throwing a good portion of it away. We can usually just share a QS meal and be fine. I know some people love eating at the restaurants, I do as well. However, what you get is not worth what you pay. An OK steak is going to run $50-$75 and that is for a mediocre cut of beef. I stayed at a DVC resort, bought some nice Cowboy cuts, sparked up the grill there, threw them on, and had two 2LB ribeyes an hour later. The total cost was $45 for steak, potatoes, and a lot of people coming by wishing they were getting some. That is less than 1 mediocre cut of meat at a Disney restaurant. I have no issue cooking while on vacation. I love it. It didn't take away any of my time. We were at the resort enjoying the pool, I had had my own adult beverages to drink, and enjoyed saving about $200 on one meal alone.

The other issue is never using all of your credits. The 2 times we did the plan, I came home with a good $300 worth of Rice Krispy Mickey Ears. Grand total of $20 worth of Rice Krispy treats that I spent 15x on.

I agree. It's one thing to compare cooking at home (or at a resort) to a GOOD meal out. If I have the option to cook at home, or eat out someplace where I have a choice of a variety of interesting dishs, made with quality ingredients, and prepared and served in a manner befiting the price, then many times I will take the eating out option.

But when eating out means fighting crowds, poor service, long waits, and food that most likely came in on a tractor trailer with a big Sysco Foodservices logo on the side. Where the idea of interesting preperation means they serve what amounts to a soft pretzel, but in stick form (which by the way have a unit cost of about 38 cents when bought at my local Restaruant Wharehouse) to compliment their grainy cheese soup and cheap cut of beef, well then I am all for cooking a GOOD steak on the grill as well.


-dave

 

[TXDisney]

I think it's a lack of research. I've never done the dining plan and not bc I don't like it, it's bc it doesn't financially make sense for my wife and I. To start we drink almost every day at WDW and alcohol isn't included so the whole it feels inclusive thing is gone. Secondly we like to do a few nice meals every trip making where we'd have to get an upgraded plan.

Now my wife and I are due with our 1st child in April, so when he gets older we will look into the dining plan. We won't do as many nice meals, won't drink as much so the dining plan can work for us then.

 

[Phonedave]

Nothing against you, but this is bonkers. You willingly spend more money on food, in order to avoid the stress of over-paying for food? On what planet does this make sense?

I get it. People do things like this all the time. Many people seem to like to make a large one time payment for things, and then not have to worry about it, rather than pay over time and actually see what they are spending (and then perhaps pay less).

I understand the appeal of doing that, but it is just something I would never do. If I wanted to do something similar, I would load up a Disney gift card, and then use that to pay for meals. But, to each their own.

 

[Phonedave]

We get the dining plan because it just eerks me to open my wallet everytime someone wants an ice cream bar or a soda , snack here snack there. Plus any credits you have on the last day you can go to gift shop or snack shops in park and load up on trail mix, packs of candy and take that stuff home. Maybe it doesn't add up to get the DP sometimes , but I'm on vacation and rather not have to worry about extra cash for food and stuff.

Load up a gift card with money before hand to use for food,. then you can eat whatever you want and not have to worry about opening your wallet. Then at the end of trip you actualy have CASH left over on the gift card that you can use for a veriety of things - including any subsiquent trips, as opposed to a supply of overpriced crap that you would not have bought if you were not trying to get rid of the extra credits that you paid for, but did not need.

-dave

 

[raven]

you don't need the plan to make reservations that far in advanced. Anyone can do that.

My point was, and sorry if I didn't make it more clear, but during the Free Dining months day guests choices are extremely limited due to all of the guests using DDP that reserved months before hand.

 

[Seanual757]

We love the dining plan we always stick to the Quick Service plan, maybe once out youngest is around 6 (in 5.5 years) we will look at the Dining plan with Table service but until then it will be the QS for us.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

The only times I've ever felt the DDP was worth the price was when I was a CM and got a 50% discount on it (I had been a CM at our local Disney Store for 3+ years, so my resort discount was 60%, as well as my merch discount being 35%). On our trips in the summer of '12 and '13, we payed $30 per person per day instead of $60. That was for the plan that included a snack, CS/QS, and TS per day. It was so much darn food, and we have never eaten Iike that before on any other Disney trips. We just don't normally eat nearly that much food in an OOP situation while there. We eat light breakfasts, share meals, and we're good. We don't want for anymore. We go with what our bodies tell us.
Frankly, I waddled out of too many TS places every single night. Again, too much food, and definitely not worth it if we had to pay double. None if it was all that impressive anyway.
Especially the New York Gristle Strip I had at BoG for dinner on our summer of '12 trip...

You have me seriously considering a P/T job at the Disney Store LOL.

 

[Seabasealpha1]

I will admit that I'd like the Disney dining plan more...if you could purchase it without staying on property...

Then again, I've only used it once. And we weren't staying on property... Now I'm wondering how that worked? We were at Disney World as a high school marching band during the "Magic Music Days" promotion...I wonder if our touring company had some kind of arrangement?

Still though, I'd buy it if that was a thing...

 

[BigRedDad]

Another issue I have with the DDP is that it FORCES me to order value instead of what I want. Some people, and I wish I had their money, simply do not care how much something cost. They have more money than they know what to do with. They simply buy it because they don't care about the cost and love the convenience.

In my mind, it is $64 for the Regular plan. I go get a snack, now I have $60 left to break even. I get a lunch, see what I want for $10, but know I need to spend $15-$20 and order something I don't want. Now I have $40 for dinner. I look through the menu at the items, bypassing what I want knowing I need to get something for $40 to break even. Then I see Flank steak (a $6 cut of meat) for $45. Great, I am going to up $5 with the dining plan. But!!!! I am choosing a meal that is $45 for a value of $10 at most. Now I am down $30.

This is simply how I see the plan. It is my mindset. I am happy to pay cash for dinner at O'Hanas and another restaurant for the trip. The rest of the time I simply eat what I want, when I want, and how I want. That is usually breakfast in the room, share a QS meal, and either cook a nice dinner or go to a local restaurant where 3 can eat for the price of 1.

 

[dreamfinder]

I will admit that I'd like the Disney dining plan more...if you could purchase it without staying on property...

Then again, I've only used it once. And we weren't staying on property... Now I'm wondering how that worked? We were at Disney World as a high school marching band during the "Magic Music Days" promotion...I wonder if our touring company had some kind of arrangement?

Still though, I'd buy it if that was a thing...

I'd wager you didn't actually have the DDP, but a similar dining offering. I've seen that groups were given a similar thing (kind of like the Dining Plan at DLR) but it was basically a voucher that entitled them to a drink, entree and dessert. It works well for kids in groups as it requires them to actually get food. If those same kids were given $15 no guarantee it would end up being used for food. But the things they offered groups may have cost more than the actual food, but it ensured the kids ate and didn't spend it on junk.

 

[EOD K9]

Hey Gang, I am headed down to the World really soon on someone else's dime and they are including the dining plan. The wife and I (and now that we have twins) have never used it though. Any suggestions? We have the deluxe plan if that helps.

 

[tribbleorlfl]

I dislike it because of the effects on non-DDP participants: higher prices, lower quality and diminished ADR availability.

 

[HauntedPirate]

We get the dining plan because it just eerks me to open my wallet everytime someone wants an ice cream bar or a soda , snack here snack there. Plus any credits you have on the last day you can go to gift shop or snack shops in park and load up on trail mix, packs of candy and take that stuff home. Maybe it doesn't add up to get the DP sometimes , but I'm on vacation and rather not have to worry about extra cash for food and stuff.

[Please note: I'm not picking on you here] - This is exactly what Disney wants - People who would rather pay up-front for their food costs than have to worry about the costs when Little Johnny and Jane want a Mickey ice cream bar, or a Mickey pretzel, or get thirsty, etc. Disney wants guests (and, more importantly, their $$$) who have swallowed "THE MAGIC!!!!!" hook, line, and sinker from the moment they book a WDW vacation until the moment they leave Orlando. Magical Express, DDP, and now the Disney Savings Account are all proof of this. The DDP is structured to punish... errr... 'entice' guests to spend their entire vacation on Disney property, lest they "lose out" on their dining credits. Magical Express keeps you a prisoner, for all intents and purposes, on Disney property. I know, you can always Uber somewhere off-property, but you get the point. The Disney Savings Account... don't even get me started on that rotten, steaming pile of trash that's masqueraded as a "savings account". Oooo... you get a $20 Disney Gift Card for every $1000 you spend??? That's a fantastic .2% "interest rate" you get there! Get a Target Red Card, use it to buy Disney Gift Cards, and save 5% instead!!!

And, yes, I know UO operates in some of the same ways, but for some reason you just don't feel like a prisoner over there like you do at WDW these days.

 

[Punky]

Convenience is enough for me at the moment. My daughter is 7 and is still into character dining so it's worth it, but once she gets older I'm sure I'll be paying OOP.

 

[TheOrangeBird01]

If your profile age is accurate, you probably aren't footing the bill for your family's vacation or the dining plan. I would like it a lot more too if I wasn't paying for it.

I don't like it because it's too expensive. It fits our eating fairly well, but not at the price offered.

Age has nothing to do with it. My parents love the DDP just as much as I do, and when I have a family of my own I'm sure as heck going to go with the Dinning plan.

 

[WDWVolFan]

I'm a planner. All my expenses are tracked in an Excel spreadsheet to the nearest cent...it's like balancing a checkbook on steroids but to include savings, down payment savings (building a house here), etc.
So that being said, every day I update this dang spreadsheet so I would be holding on to receipts, scheduling payments to my credit card for the next day, etc.
So I prepay. Yes I may lose a little bit of money but the peace of mind is worth it to me because I can get to Disney and just lay back and relax and not worry about bills, other than tips.