Would you support the axing of the dining plan?

[EpcotTraveler]

Food at the world these past few years has well, been kind of disappointing in my opinion. Overall restaurants used to have their own unique flair, especially counter service, and lately the menu selections seem to be growing smaller and smaller. Take the Flame Tree BBQ for example, go look at the menu at opening and look at the menu now, half of it is missing. Table service as well; the quality is simply not up to par with what it used to be. Why is this? My theory is that the dining plan has really cut into the food service department. Counter service has to be streamlined. Why? When you have everyone using the dining plan does quality really matter? People are going to eat the food because they already paid for it. Disney no longer runs the risk of nobody buying their food because everyone pays for it all up front. Table service has really degraded lately as well. The simple rush of people wanting to use their credits has caused ridiculous reservation backups, and poor food quality. I believe the only way to fix the problem of degrading food quality would be to drop the dining plan and simply go back to a pay as you go dinging system. This may seem more expensive at first but in reality prices would drop and quality would go up, as who would buy food if they were paying for an overpriced and mediocre product? I had to rant, recent visit I noticed how poor the food was everywhere we went.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I agree 110%. The craptastic food drives me insane. The last time DH got anything from Flame Tree he said it was terrible. Disappointing considering Flame Tree used to be awesome. That's a reoccurring theme at an ever growing list of WDW's eateries these days.

I understand the wish to have food prepaid as a convenience while at WDW. The dining plan(s) could be restructured more similair to how Disneyland does it. Their "dining plan" isn't so much as a discount tool as it is literally prepaying for vouchers worth a set amount. If you order/spend more than your voucher allows then you get to pay the difference out of pocket. Character meal vouchers are enough to pay for the set price plus tax. Nothing more or less. You get no discount by purchasing the voucher rather than paying when the check arrives at the table. The restaurant isn't forced to take less money from a voucher than from a person paying cash. It still allows for the convenience of prepaying while it doesn't force lower income on the restaurants causing them to cut quality & offerings. Another idea would be to have select items on the menus that are not dining plan items. If you have to set dishes to a lesser quality to accomodate the dining plan's lower payout then do that but not at the expense of people who want something more & are willing to pay for it.

 

[real mad hatter]

Whit!

I can only guess you guys have got great restaurants at home,saying that we've only been going since 2004 but love the variety of cuisines available and yet to have a real bad meal.:wave:

 

[Innkeeper's Club]

I don't know how much of the Dining Plan is to blame but one of the Quick Service locations I use to always eat at was Gasparilla's Grill & Games at the Grand Floridian. However over the past couple of years I noticed a lot of menu changes such as my favorite item being taken off their menu which was the Southwestern Chicken Sandwich that I thought was very good. So ever since I noticed these changes I just don't like going there anymore, however I still like Earl of Sandwich, Contempo Cafe and Boardwalk Bakery when it comes to other Quick Service locations.

 

[beachlover4444]

food

I think the dining plan will disappear when the new "tool" to get people in their hotels is the Nextgen fastpass for resort guests. They need something to drive occupancy up and everyone's so used to extra magic hours, free transportation, etc that this is going to be the stuff to get heads into beds. The food plan worked for awhile but it's novelty is wearing off like everything else.:brick:

 

[harryk]

Have used the DDP for the past several years and have yet to experience a reduction in food quality. One year had poor service but since the tips are no longer included in the plan - service greatly improved. I don't see the plans going away any time soon.:xmas::xmas:

 

[DisneyJoe]

There have been food plans at WDW since at least 1997, if not before.

I doubt they will ever completely disappear, just be modified as Disney sees fit.

 

[wm49rs]

If I thought the quality and diversity of the food would improve (along with the prices), yes.

 

[tinkerbell24]

If I thought the quality and diversity of the food would improve (along with the prices), yes.

thats basically the big question!! im not sure if it would, not dramatically anyway. :shrug:

 

[G00fyDad]

I'd like to see some proof that the food quality is a direct result of the DDP other than a "I've been going for a long time and I see it". That sounds like a load of crap to me. People seem to be taking a coincidence that the food quality had declined and attaching it to something that they hate for other reasons. The DDP has gotten a ton of flak for many reasons. One being that the wait time for a table is too great with the DDP. Bull. I have walked up to places and have been seated right away or maybe had to wait, at the most, 15 minutes. I suppose 15 minutes is too much for some people. I have had to wait for nearly 45 minutes before, and I even had a PS! So the whole "I have to wait too long for a table" excuse is weak. Now it has moved on to "The food quality is horrible because of the DDP". What's it going to be if the food quality improves? "The DDP causes irreparable damage to my children's psyche"?

So no. I would not support the axing of the DDP. Maybe the free discount on it, but not the plan itself.

 

[Lucky]

I'd like to see some proof that the food quality is a direct result of the DDP other than a "I've been going for a long time and I see it". That sounds like a load of crap to me. People seem to be taking a coincidence that the food quality had declined and attaching it to something that they hate for other reasons.

I agree - the DDP has little impact on WDW's incentives to maintain quality. If they let the food quality deteriorate, how will that help them sell more high-priced DDPs?

If it is deteriorating, it is likely due to more aggressive attempts by WDW to increase revenues and cut costs across the board.

 

[G00fyDad]

If it is deteriorating, it is likely due to more aggressive attempts by WDW to increase revenues and cut costs across the board.

That is what I think the reason is for the decline too. They seem to have cut back on the higher quality ingredients, "dumbed" the menu down, and still charged the higher prices for the food. :hammer:

 

[bgraham34]

That is what I think the reason is for the decline too. They seem to have cut back on the higher quality ingredients, "dumbed" the menu down, and still charged the higher prices for the food. :hammer:

I have to agree with you on that one. The character Buffets are getting out of hand. I mean I remember just a few years ago paying 17 bucks for breakfast at Crystal Palace.

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

No way in hell. We always use it. I don't care how the pricing works out it is just the best option for us that our whole trip is done and paid for when we go to WDW.

I would be monumentally disappointed if they ever got rid of the DP so....

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

 

[plaz10]

Not only would I personally never get rid of the DDP as we usually use a "free" dining pin or when "free" dining is offered - it's nice to not have to worry about ordering an entree based on price. and it gives people an opportunity to eat at a lot of nicer restaurants they would never consider without the DDP.

But Disney will never get rid of it. It brings so many more people to the parks and has restaurants filling up 180 days ahead of time. The restaurants are making bank on the DDP.

 

[yankeevttch]

We use the dining plan as well and like it a lot. Since we now have a child we use it more and like that we can pre-pay for our meals.

With how things are I am not suprise that Disney had to cut things off thier menus and raise thier prices. That being said I do not think it is because of the dining plan.

 

[Master Yoda]

I'd like to see some proof that the food quality is a direct result of the DDP other than a "I've been going for a long time and I see it". That sounds like a load of crap to me. People seem to be taking a coincidence that the food quality had declined and attaching it to something that they hate for other reasons. The DDP has gotten a ton of flak for many reasons. One being that the wait time for a table is too great with the DDP. Bull. I have walked up to places and have been seated right away or maybe had to wait, at the most, 15 minutes. I suppose 15 minutes is too much for some people. I have had to wait for nearly 45 minutes before, and I even had a PS! So the whole "I have to wait too long for a table" excuse is weak. Now it has moved on to "The food quality is horrible because of the DDP". What's it going to be if the food quality improves? "The DDP causes irreparable damage to my children's psyche"?

So no. I would not support the axing of the DDP. Maybe the free discount on it, but not the plan itself.

I got to speak with Richard Debler at La Hacienda shortly after the first opened about this very subject. According to him the dining plan does have a direct effect on the menu. Whether that has an effect on quality is up to the diner but according to him there are simply things that they can not put on a menu because they cost too much. The restaurants are getting paid a fixed amount for each meal and they of course must keep their cost below this amount. This is why you will see cheaper cuts of meat for steaks, smaller sizes of good cuts, etc.

 

[Sharkreef11]

We haven't necessarily experienced a situation where we were disappointed with the service/ and or food yet, but we are phasing the Dining Plan out of our vacations as well. Ultimately when we are putting pen to paper, we don't necessarily feel we are getting the biggest bang for our buck. The sit-downs are great but do I really need my own desert after every meal?? No. It's nice to have it now an then but even at that I could certainly share. Sometimes I am fine with just water too. Not always but sometimes. There are just plenty of ways to cut back. I remember when the dining plan was new and it included appetizers, entree, desert, drink, plus the tip of the server. Those were the days. I can understand why the changed it but still that was a nice setup.

We are now switching gears to the Table in Wonderland discount and utilizing that along with annual pass discounts. That way we aren't tied to a sit-down every day and can pick and choose meals. Some of the portions are so big anyways we could even end up sharing meals which really saves in the long run.

 

[luvmydisneyrt]

I have been going to Disney since I was a little kid (starting in 1971) and I dont ever remember the food being spectacular. I think even if you got rid of the DDP they are still cooking in bulk and when you cook in bulk it's never the best food.

 

[Annielkd]

I HAD always used the dining plan in the past. The only place I noticed a big difference this April was in Mexico. Their food did NOT taste as good, and the portion was much smaller. I didn't use the food plan this year and instead purchased a disney gift card. Since the food plan would have cost something like 575 for our family (yes, I'm estimating) I got the card for 300.00. We only purchased the food we felt like eating, when we wanted to and my husband was able to get beer with it. We bought a few kakigoris in Japan, but did not use water, deserts or breakfast with the plan. We ended up buying a few sweatshirts and nick nacks with the card as well. I went to Walmart (yes, I had my car) and bought microwave breakfasts, water, popcorn, breakfast bars, milk, and fresh fruit for 80.00. I found that my family ate much better, and healthier than they could with the plan. We were never hungry and didn't have to purchase a ton of snacks we didn't really want. We probably spent about 300.00 on food in total. I didn't have to cary cash around at all, and it was very convienient. In the end I saved money... still ate the food I loved, and we didn't waste money on all the deserts and snacks that were not good for us. It was excellent this way. I had noever thought of using a gift card until someone on this site recommended it. It was a great suggestion.