Wow, this thread has taken on a life of its own, hasn't it....
I NEVER said that the DDP is evil. I think it's a great deal, price wise. For the past year I've had an annual pass and could not take advantage of it, but we did try it back in 2005 (not during a free period; we paid for it... not that THAT has anything to do with it).
I don't think it's the fault of the CMs and I don't think it's the fault of the guests; it's a combination of many factors.
My only problem was having to wait, over and over and over again, for all of the many reasons that it took the cashiers to process the DDP guests, versus processing cash/credit card/room key orders.
I also realized that a lot of my impatience on this trip was due to the several counter service restaurants and food court meals that I had. On all of my past trips I've done mainly sit-down restaurants where waiting in line to pay was not a factor. I didn't mind standing and waiting in line, it was just frustrating to know that all of the questions and issues surrounding the DDP was the cause of all the extra wasted time.
There is no quick fix, except to create separate lines. This is just my humble opinion though
PookaJean: What you just described is EXACTLY what I encountered time and time again last week. I stood in line at the POR food court with only 1 or 2 people ahead of me, but because of a reason such as a parent not knowing that the individual pizza was not considered a kids meal because there WAS an actual kids meal available, these families then had to stand and talk and decide whether to make the child put the pizza back (this included a long discussion between the parents as to whether the pizza on their tray would be wasted or thrown away because they touched it, or whether they should just pay cash for it, etc...and then once they decided to use an adult credit for the meal, making the child run back to the drink case and put back the small bottled water and grab a large one instead because the meal came with a large water, and THEN decide which dessert the kid wanted because the meal comes with a dessert, etc etc etc!) I stood there all that time with my food getting cold, and when I tried to change lines in hopes of being waited on, having the same thing happen again, right in front of me....
Like I said, I do not necessarily blame the guests and I don't blame the CMs... it's just a meal program that nobody is born knowing, so unless people go to WDW fairly often and use the plan, they're not quite sure of what to do, what to choose, etc. These people probably get the hang of it by the time their last day rolls around.