Why Do So Many People Dislike the Dining Plan?

[Andrew C]

Free DDP...is nice...

I think I may start a new thread about that....

 

[Jeff456]

It's been "free" as part of UK packages for so long now it is difficult to know whether we got a better deal before with room discounts, all I know is that it is often cheaper to stay in a moderate and get free "QSDP" then stay in a value and pay out of pocket for food, so that seems a no brainer. The cost of the upgrading the QSDP to the full dining plan is often not much less than staying in a deluxe and getting it for "free." I like knowing that it is all paid for, I don't like eating a table service meal almost every day though and being somewhat bound to do that 180 days in advance.

 

[TheOrangeBird01]

It all comes down to how your behave as a family along with the ages of the people in your family. We don't do the DDP because it has never made sense. We will probably still do 2 or 3 character meals on a trip, probably eat in a nice place while we are there at least once or twice... but we also know that we will often be going from one park to another or going back to the hotel mid day, so during those times we often get something from a local place... not simply because it is cheaper than Disney (its a whole lot cheaper) but because the quality of most Disney food isn't that great, we can get much better tasting food outside the park than we can in the park. If we did a DDP we would be handcuffed to Disney food which wouldn't be as good as we could get else where. As for desserts, well we might still get one at a Disney place if we want one, but we don't feel obligated to dine off their list we dine off what we want.

Honestly I suggest on your next trip you don't get the DDP... instead just eat when you want and what you want, track all of your expenses and I'll be willing to bet you spend less money doing it that way than you do using DDP whether you eat a dessert or not.

But even if we didn't use the dinning plan, my family would still end up eating a CS lunch (plus drink), 1 or 2 snacks a day, and a TS dinner (plus drinks and maybe a dessert). The food at Disney is part of our vacation. We want to eat on location, and we chose restaurants based on where we like to eat NOT based on value of the food. My family is the type that likes everything planned out, dinner time is pre set, and the restaurant is planned so we can have fun the rest of the day.

It's very interesting to see that so many people are against the DDP, and rightfully so. The DDP fits my family so well, but for others it's seen as a burden.

Free DDP...is nice...

I think I may start a new thread about that....

Free dinning is the best. Nothing's better than eating for free (plus price of admission, hotel, etc., etc.,)

 

[rob0519]

But even if we didn't use the dinning plan, my family would still end up eating a CS lunch (plus drink), 1 or 2 snacks a day, and a TS dinner (plus drinks and maybe a dessert). The food at Disney is part of our vacation. We want to eat on location, and we chose restaurants based on where we like to eat NOT based on value of the food. My family is the type that likes everything planned out, dinner time is pre set, and the restaurant is planned so we can have fun the rest of the day.

It's very interesting to see that so many people are against the DDP, and rightfully so. The DDP fits my family so well, but for others it's seen as a burden.



Free dinning is the best. Nothing's better than eating for free (plus price of admission, hotel, etc., etc.,)

Honestly, I'd rather have the room discount than free dining, but that's just me. Free dining was needed as an enticement to attract customers during the down years after 2001. WDW could drop it now and probably not affect attendance.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

@ninjaprincesst
We are staying at WL in December and I'm very excited!! I think WL and AKL look gorgeous in photos, also I'm super impressed with the daily resort activities listed for AKL.

As soon as my son is a little older, and we can open and close the parks, we won't be doing trips solely (or mostly) at the monorail resorts. In my perfect world we would do a few days on the monorail and a few days on the boardwalk- planning park days accordingly. Right now the distance and convenience to MK is a life saver for me.

You will love the WL it's my favorite resort so far, We stayed at the Contemporary once but did not really care for it. I'm excited about AKL this will be our first time and like you I thin the pictures are beautiful, I'm a little nervous about transportation, but I'm sure it will be fine. I

 

[TheGuyThatMakesSwords]

I can only comment on why WE, personally, hate the DDP....

DDP is the equivalent of "Hospital Managed Care", applied to Restaurants. It is a Restaurant offering destroyer.
Those restaurants that "participate" (and God help the Manager of a Disney Owned Restaurant that does NOT participate) have "clipped offerings" - any offering that really costs more than "2 points a seat" simply can not appear on the Menu, unless the Restaurant wants to take a loss.

So - no Restaurant wants to take a loss. Therefore, offerings have a ceiling: the compensation of a "Two Point" meal.

Let's look at a case study - anyone notice that Narcoossee's no longer has a DDP "Surf & Turf"? We'll look at their brilliant solution in a moment.... first, why did this vanish? Basic economics for the Restaurant: They could just whittle down the "Surf" and the "Turf" until the offering was an appetizer - but compensated by a"TWO POINT" level (if this has not changed? That's about $70 a seat). Given the cost of the materials, labor, local profit margin? It had to go.

What is KEY - IT HAD TO GO FOR EVERYONE. It could NOT even appear on the menu. So, Narcoosee's wa "clipped" - a SIG could not OFFER that dining on their menu.

What they did (and what you are now seeing at Artist Point, The California Grill, and other Sigs...)

The menu changed. One can still get a GREAT (probably BETTER) Surf & Turf at Narcoossee's. But the LOBSTER is now an "enhancement". It's not listed as a DDP qualified item.

There WAS another way for these SIG Restaurants to go.... separate menus. One for DDP, one for others. Long ago, that's what actually got done . But Disney did not want to retreat from the DDP "you can have anything on the menu" change. The next solution? "3 Point" meals.... but no WDW owned SIG Manager wants to go first . I can't blame them.... this could be a career death sentence .

So - as a matter of economic survival.... SEVERAL restaurants have been forced to engage in "menu tricks". They are not being evil, greedy, or nasty.... they just are NOT getting compensated. Expect to see lot's of "Enhancements" at WDW owned SIGS in the future .

Now - ALL personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Why? Because it fills up the restaurants. I stopped trying to eat TS at Disney when I lived locally. Prices went up, quality went down and satisfaction bottomed out.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Although I don't hate the DDP, I am really..REALLY bothered by the fact that it seems like every time you turn around, they include less and less of the meal. When I used to get the DDP, I think it was when it first came out, TS meals included beverage, appetizer, main course, dessert, and tip. You went in, ate, and when you were done, you left. Now what does it include? Now that the DDP does't include as much, it just doesn't make sense to us. I like the fact that I can go to a QS place and get just what I want-"Oh, you want that-I'm sorry-that's not included as one of the beverage options on the DDP." And I've crunched the numbers-it just doesn't save us money. So I don't hate it, just don't see any reason for us to get it.

 

[networkpro]

I can only comment on why WE, personally, hate the DDP....

DDP is the equivalent of "Hospital Managed Care", applied to Restaurants. It is a Restaurant offering destroyer.

So - as a matter of economic survival.... SEVERAL restaurants have been forced to engage in "menu tricks". They are not being evil, greedy, or nasty.... they just are NOT getting compensated. Expect to see lot's of "Enhancements" at WDW owned SIGS in the future .

Now - ALL personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.

Compare dining at Citricos/Narcosees and even the newly refurbd Flying Fish vs the Blue Zoo or Il Mulino , the menus speak volumes not to mention the dining experience is far different and vastly superior IMHO.

 

[xdan0920]

There are really two parts to this question. Is the plan a good value, and has the very existance of the plan caused overall problems.

As for the first, for me, no the plan is not a good value. For some it is, for some it is not. Others have gone into this in detail. If your NORMAL eating habits match the plan, then yes it can save you money. Some people like to have all of their meals pre-paid. While I understand the allure of that, I am not going to pay extra just to have it done.

Now, for the second part, I feel that the DDP has really hurt the quality of eating at WDW. When a person uses the DDP at a restaruant, that restaruant gets a set credit. For arguments sake, lets say $40. That means that the restarunt cannot put any combination of entree and dessert on their menu that costs more than $40, or else they will loose money on the plan. This has "dumbed down" the menus at many of the restaruants. It has also increased the usage of cheaper ingredients. The second way that the DDP has hurt dining is by increasing prices. WDW wants people on the plan. The plan is locked in money for them. To this end they push the plan like crazy, so much so that they even offer free dining at times just to sell rooms. The restaruants see that a large portion of their customers are on the plan. The fact that the DDP people are on a plan and not paying what is on the menu, coupled with the fact that a large portion of the people who are not on the plan are essentially a captive audience, incents the restaruants to raise their prices. When you are getting your dinner for "free" because of the plan, you feel better if the price on the menu says $49 instead of $29. The last reason is that the plan has contributed to the overcrowding of table service restaruants. Back before the plan, you could book most table service places the morning of, or even just walk up. Your average park guest did not eat a table service meal every day. Now because of the plan, you get a table service meal every day - of course there are the two credit places, but overall people are eating a lot more table service than they used to. This increases the crowding in table service restaruants.

So, in summary, the plan can be a benefit for some people. But I also feel that overall the plan has caused the quality of dining at WDW to go down hill. So much so that there are precious few restaruants that I look foward to eating at anymore. Before the plan, I would eat 4 or 5 table service meals at WDW (which I believe was not the norm, many people I talked to ate less, instead eating Quick Service or at the resort food courts - I know that when I first started going, and I was in a much lower tax bracket, I ate only one, or maybe two Table Service meals per trip). Now however, the pendilum has swung again. Because of dismal food offerings, the jacked up prices, and the difficulty of getting into a table service restaruant, we eat at maybe 3 table services during a week long trip. It's just not worth the hassle, and the menus are boring and predictiable.

-dave

We should sticky this. Perfectly stated.

WDW could drop it now and probably not affect attendance.

From your lips to Iger's ears.

 

[21stamps]

Compare dining at Citricos/Narcosees and even the newly refurbd Flying Fish vs the Blue Zoo or Il Mulino , the menus speak volumes not to mention the dining experience is far different and vastly superior IMHO.

Citricos is one of the menus that I could care less about..and I'm not a fan of the decor at all, which cancels out the few menu items that are appealing to me.

 

[Jim Buck]

We find it taxing working to schedule so many reservations for all of the sit down meals.

 

[niffer5150]

it's ok for us but i can totally see why people would hate it. we lose money using it, not a small amount either. the food quality has been sliding downward for years and you have to plan and fight for every reservation. the only reason we even bother with it is that in pre paying, it keeps the thought and worry of cost out of certain peoples minds. it would utterly ruin our vacation if we didn't have have it. i appreciate the option even if it costs more.

 

[thomas998]

Free DDP...is nice...

I think I may start a new thread about that....

Yeah I remember some times in the past that you could get "free" DDP... of course it only happened when you stayed at a Disney hotel which was/is way over priced for what you are getting... So frankly I don't think they have ever been "free".

 

[Minthorne]

To answer the question in the title of this thread:

Because it sucks.

 

[Cowboy Steve]

The first year we did the DDP it was a better value than it is today, no doubt about it. Here is why we decided to go with it again this year:

• Convenience. We definitely like the convenience of basically having the meals pre-paid, and not having to worry about loading up the CC or carrying a bunch of cash around.
• Psychologically, it makes the trip more enjoyable as we aren't constantly worrying over what we are spending on food. On a previous trip, we budgeted a generous amount of money for meals. And even though we were staying well within that budget, the prices created some anxiety and guilt (we spent HOW much for a burger and fries?). Kind of hard to explain, but makes it easier for me to just relax and order what I want. Paying for it several months in advance makes it hurt a little less when you are actually on the trip...
• Because of the portions, 2 of us can share a CS breakfast and a CS lunch. We don't spend much out of pocket for meals to fill in the gaps between the CS and TS meals.
• They have started allowing some alternatives to the dessert with CS meals - but I have heard much less so with TS meals. We love desserts, so having the desserts is a nice treat when on vacation! But once in a while I'd love to split an appetizer and a dessert at our TS meals. Or maybe get a side salad instead of the dessert.

 

[donaldtoo]

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...

 

[Darth Figment]

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.

 

[xdan0920]

it's ok for us but i can totally see why people would hate it. we lose money using it, not a small amount either. the food quality has been sliding downward for years and you have to plan and fight for every reservation. the only reason we even bother with it is that in pre paying, it keeps the thought and worry of cost out of certain peoples minds. it would utterly ruin our vacation if we didn't have have it. i appreciate the option even if it costs more.

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?

 

[Andrew C]

Yeah I remember some times in the past that you could get "free" DDP... of course it only happened when you stayed at a Disney hotel which was/is way over priced for what you are getting... So frankly I don't think they have ever been "free".

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