It is very rare I agree with Jodi, so I need to do my best to make a point of it when it happens, like now...Disney provides portions so that most guests can choose for themselves how much to eat. Guests can eat what they want and just leave the rest. The point really is that the Dining Plan is for a number of meals, not for an amount of food.
Yes you can, and that presents the pricing from Disney's standpoint as a business very well -- as always, we can count on you for that, bicker
But the pricing from the
consumer's standpoint is that it's a very good deal for a three course dinner -- that's one of the things that makes the
DDP attractive and makes people want to buy it. It's marketed to the public as "save
up to 40% off per person on dining". I have seen your chart showing that it's still a
reasonable deal for entree and beverage only (good chart, BTW), but obviously, the less you order (the less expensive the menu items are, the less you can actually eat) the lower your savings are, and the less attractive the plan becomes. Then the focus becomes convenience, knowing your food budget is prepaid -- is the value of those features worth the cost?
Regardless, I'm on vacation, I paid for it, and I want my dessert!
I'd rather have it a few hours after dinner when I've had a chance to walk around a bit, but that would make the plan WAY too complicated if you could get dessert later (although I've heard
some CS at food courts will let you take a voucher to come back and get your dessert later the same day you used a CS credit there). So I'll order my meal, and if I can only eat half of my creme brulee, then so be it. Actually, I'd probably leave half a steak and eat the entire creme brulee instead.
BTW, I liked your idea of a version of the DDP offering appetizer and entree only, and you could get dessert OOP if you wanted. I
thought I had an original idea about a plan that would allow a TS appetizer OR dessert, entree and beverage, and a CS entree and beverage or combo meal, with no dessert included -- but then I saw a lot of other people posted very similar ideas around the same time. Stream of consciousness, perhaps? A slight break on the price, and that would probably solve a lot of problems...
That's not the case. DVC members are not necessarily eligible for the Disney Dining Experience.
I was thinking Jodi is eligible for the DDE because she is a Florida resident? And I'm not sure, but I believe she mentioned previously that she has found the DDE to be a much better deal for her family.