Get Rid Of Dining Plan!

[MiamiBeach]

It's obvious that the DDP was started to drive more traffic into the "better" restaurants. Does anyone worry that the DDP will be dropped by Disney, or radically cut back, now that millions have been exposed to those restaurants?

I'm with one of the previous posters -- we make a very conscious effort to stay away from most DDP restaurants when we can. BlueZoo at the Dolphin is superior to Flying Fish and if you compare the menus, much less expensive as well. Not cheap at either place -- and we rarely care about the bill if it is worth it -- but since my husband and I don't eat enough to justify the DDP, we don't care to be skewered by the prices for out-of-pocket diners.

We still enjoy a fun place like the Sci-Fi Dine-In and will pick a less popular/overrun WDW restaurant like Bistro de Paris once in a while, but most of our dinners are no longer at DDP (or even WDW) restaurants now.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Here is the procedure to get a seat at CRT before the advent of the dining plan. Note that this was also before 180+10 or even 180 for that matter.

1. Start dialing in at 5 minutes before opening. That's 3:55 am if you're on the west coast. It's advisable to have more than one line.
2. Continuously hit redial upon receiving a busy signal.
3. Hope that they open the lines a split second before you actually get through rather than a split second after your last redial. In the latter case, you're toast.
4. Quickly hit 1, 1, 2, 1, to get past the survey. Pay no attention to what is said. Note that this changed and you actually had to put in your phone number at one point and if you hit 1 it would give you an I'm sorry. You didn't hit the proper number of digits for your phone number. That PO'd a few including yours truly. Looking back on it though and getting CRT anyway, I now find it hilarious.
5. Wait on hold and hope you were quick enough. Disney even had a recorded warning at the 12 minute mark. If you are holding for CRT, it has likely been filled.
6. When the CM answered, assuming you got answered in time, do not hesitate and blurt out CINDERELLA'S ROYAL TABLE BREAKFAST!!!!.
7. If you didn't get it, get up and try again tomorrow.
Remember at that time there was no +10. You had to call once a day at your mark.

Note that for Popular times at CM's, CA grill for a wishes time, 'Ohana, and a couple others, you had to call in fairly quickly too. It was best to do it mid morning so you didn't have to hold over an hour because of all those desperate for a CRT table they held past the warning.

So certainly, the more popular places were always a tough get long before the DDP. I think where the DDP has made it harder to get into is the places of medium high popularity. These are the places that used to be full during prime hours and taper off slightly on non-prime hours. These are now usually full too. But there are still some great places off the beaten path that can still be walked into quite often. You can still get into some nice places fairly late in the game.

Again, SAME problem at Disneyland where there is no DDP.
How do you explain that one ?

BTW, I just changed my ADRs again today and got everything I wanted at the times I wanted - we're going in about 6 weeks.

HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT WITH FACTS!!!!

The more popular restaurants are going to be a hard get, be there a dining plan in place or not. This is true of any tourist area.
This is DLR's dining plan. There is no discounting of the price. None. Think of it as a no interest loan to Disney. If you use up your voucher at each stop, Disney repays the loan in full in the form of food. If you do not use up your voucher at each stop well some of that loan just became a gift. If you go over the amount of the voucher, you pay the extra. such a deal eh? These WDW folks do not know how good they have it. On the whole, I think DLR restaurants are easier to get simply because there are so many off site choices close by and because day trippers make up a much bigger chunk of their visitors. But walking in to the most popular ones at DLR is still a slim chance just like it is at WDW. And for all intents and purposes, they have no meal plan.

 

[marivaid]

Gee...Maybe DL restaurants were popular enough that they didn't need the DDP to get full up?

Or maybe today's consumers are now planning their trips whether they go to WDW, Disneyland, or NYC.

And again, if you can get ADRs where you want, great. And if you don't mind making ADRs for every meal, great. But if you want the slightest bit of spontaneity with TS restaurants, it doesn't work.

What spontaneity's left when you already have to plan every day of you trip in order to attend/avoid EMH, according to shows and fireworks schedules, opening hours, special parties....
Planning the restaurants is the easy part IMO.

 

[marivaid]

HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT WITH FACTS!!!!

 

[marivaid]

seriously, what was it like beforehand?

Judging by some of the posts I've read on this subject, I imagine it went like this :

The Smiths family decides to go to Disney tonight. Dad picks up Timmy Junior and Little Susie from school and off they go to Disney World !
They get to the WDW gates and meet Mickey, Pluto and Goofy. Mickey takes Timmy Jr's hand and leads the family to Chef Mickey's. No wait, of course. The Smiths, like every family at Disney, gets their own dining room and 6 characters per room. Surrounded by lovely ice sculptures of Mickey and friends,they are served the basic pre-DDP Chef Mickey's dinner : lobster, filet and sole for starters. Their assigned chef then takes everyone's order for the main course. Meanwhile, the server refills everyone's glasses with a delightful elixir every 2 1/2 minutes. Plates dissolve themselves instantly when empty. Of course, Chef Mickey is expensive at $9 for adults ($4 for children) but what an unforgettable experience!

 

[Bichon Barb]

Judging by some of the posts I've read on this subject, I imagine it went like this :

The Smiths family decides to go to Disney tonight. Dad picks up Timmy Junior and Little Susie from school and off they go to Disney World !
They get to the WDW gates and meet Mickey, Pluto and Goofy. Mickey takes Timmy Jr's hand and leads the family to Chef Mickey's. No wait, of course. The Smiths, like every family at Disney, gets their own dining room and 6 characters per room. Surrounded by lovely ice sculptures of Mickey and friends,they are served the basic pre-DDP Chef Mickey's dinner : lobster, filet and sole for starters. Their assigned chef then takes everyone's order for the main course. Meanwhile, the server refills everyone's glasses with a delightful elixir every 2 1/2 minutes. Plates dissolve themselves instantly when empty. Of course, Chef Mickey is expensive at $9 for adults ($4 for children) but what an unforgettable experience!

Wow! Why so sarcastic? If you love the dining plan, lucky you! No need to take it personally if someone doesn't agree with you.

My husband and I have been going regularly since 1989, so I'll take a stab at the original question.

I mentioned PYC earlier, so I'll use that as an example. We'd just show up and there would be maybe a half an hour wait for a patio table. No problem. We'd head to the bar and have a drink first. When we were seated, it was a nice leisurely dinner--no rushing you to get the next group in. We have lots of great Italian restaurants in CNY, but Portobello was great because it was more Northern Italian. The menu was pretty extensive.

Another great restaurant was Rose and Crown. I remember going there one evening without a reservation and sitting outside on the patio. Our server told us that Illuminations would be starting at 9:00 and asked us if we wanted to take our time so we could watch it. The menu there was really interesting too. My husband still talks about the Scotch eggs that they used to have.

Does anyone remember Chef Mickey's when it was in Marketplace. Okay, so there you had to deal with a good wait most of the time, and I don't think the food ever won any award.

 

[yankeepenny]

Thank you for your reply, Bichon Barb.
I was asking, as I was not aware of how it previously was on the dining scene.
I appreciate your response.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Well, my 2 cents...
Either DDP works for you, or it doesnt...depends on family size, AGES of children and length of stay...for me anyway.
Went in March, quick trip for DD10 b day...luckily we were there 3 days b4 she turned 10, so I thought DDP was a bargain for her and I.
Dh and I and DDbaby are going Labor Day, doing DDP, advertised as "free" but paying rack rates...thats a whole other thread...lol..
Next year, we will most likely NOT purchase DDP. We will be there longer, DD10 will not eat as much as an Adult receives...will not want to have ADR's every night. Will hopefully be staying at a DVC resort and kicking back....
So...everyone is different...everyone's WDW vacations can be different at times.
If it benefits you, great If it doesnt...dont use it

 

[Maria311]

What's the big deal about how many posts people have?
That is completely irrelevant. Some people read posts for years before they decide to participate. Others have been to WDW many, many times and don't spend hours posting to these boards. Does that make their opinion any less valid? Comments about how many posts people have to these particular boards are silly at best. The DDP is fine for some and doesn't work for others. The food at WDW is just OK. Occasionally at some locations it is superb. Usually it's just acceptable. I worked there for 10 years and believe I have tried most restaurants over the years. But wait....I only have approximately 65 posts. Yikes..I guess my opinion is not important.
Forget what I just said.

 

[marivaid]

Wow! Why so sarcastic? If you love the dining plan, lucky you!

Actually I'm not a big fan of the plan - too many CS and snacks we don't use. DDE will work much better for us.
However it's getting REALLY old to see people blaming the plan for everything that they think is wrong with Disney, and trying to make some of us newbies believe that just 4 years ago Disney Dining was a 5-star fine dining experience everywhere on property.

I may not be a Disney expert but I have friends who are, including one who has been going to WDW 4-6 times a year for 10 years. She's ALWAYS had to get advance reservations or "priority seating". The 180 days rule was there long before the DDP. Some of the restaurants have always been extremely popular and hard to get into.

 

[Colleen27]

What's the big deal about how many posts people have?

Usually it isn't a big deal. It does, however, raise eyebrows when the first post by a screenname is a DDP-bashing thread starter, especially since it is becoming a regular occurance. There's another new DDP bashing thread, again created by a new screenname with no other posts, that has popped up since this one started.

I don't think it matters if you have 5 posts or 500, but don't you find it just a little odd that someone would overlook this wonderful resource when planning their trip, only to use it as a place to vent as soon as they return?

 

[TINKB72]

Just my opinion here, but personally, I think the DDP is a great option. DBF and I have been to WDW 3 times previously and have done the DDP. The last 2 years we went, we were eligable for the free dining but this year for our trip in December, we opted to pay for the DDP. I like the DDP because, for us, it gives us the opportunity to eat at restaurants we normally wouldn't be able to afford. I also find it fun to look over the menus before we go on vacation and "plan" my meals and day. I enjoy that aspect of planning the vacation. I know for some, it's frustrating to have to "plan out" their meals but, unfortunately, Disney is a busy place...dining plan or not! I can't say about the quality of food and service because our last trip to WDW was in 2005 but with that said, using my 3 previous trips (2003, 2004 & 2005) I found service and food quality to be very good. You've got to expect some dissappointments. Not everywhere is going to be up to everyone's expectations. All in all, I think that the DDP is a good option to offer. Bottom line is, if you do the dining plan, you just have to put a little more planning into the vacation...but, like I said, to me, this is all part of the fun of planning a vacation.

 

[lustergirl]

wah!! wah!! wah!!! get over it already!!

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Well I don't know anything about the OP and I admit to not reading the entire thread. With that said...

As a local annual passholder and DDE member, I HATE the DDP simply because I can no longer get into a table service restaurant without planning ahead. We are locals and we can decide to just hop in the car and drive over to WDW. Lately we have been having to settle for counter service, which does not make me happy. First, I can't use my DDE card, second, we really enjoy table service meals.

I think Disney is forgetting a portion of its guests.

 

[dalt01]

I wonder how many pages this thread goes...there is one started about once a week now...mostly from people with between 1-8 posts to their name....Coincidence? Maybe..

As far as the topic, I couldn't quite interpret what the actual complaint was.

i hear ya

 

[wolverine2010]

I would really like to know what / why it matters how many posts i have???..this is a discussion board isnt it???..Just a little history...We live about 2 hours away from wdw a family of 5 who have had ap's for about 6 years....Our usual time spent in the world is around 4 to 5 trips a year...I have been to/on the dis since that time i just havent posted in awhile and did not remember my login so had to re-register...does this make me bad???

 

[wolverine2010]

There seems to be a issue w/this plan...I would hope that maybe Disney could work out something for the locals/ap's that could help...I dont think others should not be able to afford to come down and not afford to eat at WDW...is there a happy medium we can come up with instead of us vs them??

 

[Lewisc]

GREAT POINT. ADRs at CG, CRT and even Le Cellier were hard to get even before the current dining plan.

There are many restaurants in the WDW that don't participate with the Dining Plan. The Swan and Dolphin have 3 nice restaurants and 2 very good buffets. There are several restaurants in DTD that don't participate. Restaurants in nearby hotesl such at the Gaylord Palms. V&A in the GF. Restaurants in Citywalk and the Universal hotels.

I'll agree guests that decide on a last minute (less then 90 days) trip may not get the ADRs of their choice. That group includes locals and AP holders that take advantage of a DING fare. Fortunately the reports of booked restaurants are overstated. There are numerous restaurants that have availability for short term ADRs. Chefs de France, Mama Melrose and Concourse Steak house are examples.

Here is the procedure to get a seat at CRT before the advent of the dining plan. Note that this was also before 180+10 or even 180 for that matter.

1. Start dialing in at 5 minutes before opening. That's 3:55 am if you're on the west coast. It's advisable to have more than one line.
2. Continuously hit redial upon receiving a busy signal.
3. Hope that they open the lines a split second before you actually get through rather than a split second after your last redial. In the latter case, you're toast.
4. Quickly hit 1, 1, 2, 1, to get past the survey. Pay no attention to what is said. Note that this changed and you actually had to put in your phone number at one point and if you hit 1 it would give you an I'm sorry. You didn't hit the proper number of digits for your phone number. That PO'd a few including yours truly. Looking back on it though and getting CRT anyway, I now find it hilarious.
5. Wait on hold and hope you were quick enough. Disney even had a recorded warning at the 12 minute mark. If you are holding for CRT, it has likely been filled.
6. When the CM answered, assuming you got answered in time, do not hesitate and blurt out CINDERELLA'S ROYAL TABLE BREAKFAST!!!!.
7. If you didn't get it, get up and try again tomorrow.
Remember at that time there was no +10. You had to call once a day at your mark.

Note that for Popular times at CM's, CA grill for a wishes time, 'Ohana, and a couple others, you had to call in fairly quickly too. It was best to do it mid morning so you didn't have to hold over an hour because of all those desperate for a CRT table they held past the warning.

So certainly, the more popular places were always a tough get long before the DDP. I think where the DDP has made it harder to get into is the places of medium high popularity. These are the places that used to be full during prime hours and taper off slightly on non-prime hours. These are now usually full too. But there are still some great places off the beaten path that can still be walked into quite often. You can still get into some nice places fairly late in the game.



HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT WITH FACTS!!!!

The more popular restaurants are going to be a hard get, be there a dining plan in place or not. This is true of any tourist area.
This is DLR's dining plan. There is no discounting of the price. None. Think of it as a no interest loan to Disney. If you use up your voucher at each stop, Disney repays the loan in full in the form of food. If you do not use up your voucher at each stop well some of that loan just became a gift. If you go over the amount of the voucher, you pay the extra. such a deal eh? These WDW folks do not know how good they have it. On the whole, I think DLR restaurants are easier to get simply because there are so many off site choices close by and because day trippers make up a much bigger chunk of their visitors. But walking in to the most popular ones at DLR is still a slim chance just like it is at WDW. And for all intents and purposes, they have no meal plan.

 

[Sxofus]

I can see how it would be frustrating for a Florida resident who decides to head to Disney World on a whim and cannot get a convenient table time because the DDP has been such an overwhelming success for Disney.

 

[wolverine2010]

sxofus..Thanks for understanding our point...maybe we can all figure something out to fix this for everyone to enjoy the food ect like we do!!