Menu Quality Deterioration Because of DDP

[Duchess99]

I've been reading that a lot of you feel the the quality of food offered has deteriorated since the DDP started. I didn't find this to be the case.
Can you let me know which restaurants this has happened to and what dishes in particular? I'm just curious to know.
Thanks!

[jonsmom]

When we went in November of 2005, we experienced only one problem. That was at Alfredo's in Epcot.

Once we informed th server we were on the dining plan, the atttitude changed immediately.

My son was 7 at the time, he is not a big fan of sauce on pasta. We ordered pasta with butter for him. Him spilled his chocolate milk into the plate. We had to ask for napkins to clean it. We did the cleaning, the didnt ask if he wanted another dish of pasta. There was milk in his bowl. I should have asked for a replacement.

We were ignored throughout the meal.

When it came to dessert choice, he had selected what looked like should have been on a kids meal menu. It was pink sherbet ice cream dressed up with m&m's to look like a lady bug. She wouldnt give it to him, I had to get a kids dessert and he had my ladybug dessert.

I have waitressed before and I would have given it to a child. That was terrible. Never again and I guess its closing so I dont have to worry - I have recommended friends not eat there cause of it.

[Bruegge]

Boy, is this a pet peeve...


The grilled tiger shrimp at ohana's... gone
(now a bowl of peel and eat)

Surf and Turf at coral reef ....gone

Halibut at Narcoosee's and CG ....gone.

Chefs de France... big menu reduction.

But boy!! do we have lots of Salmon and lots of pasta and shrimp entrees on every menu you look at. (sarcasm intended)

Disney fine dining is as "Magical" to me as the rides.

And lets be honest...is only so many ways to fix Salmon.


One post I just read mentioned to "get your money's worth" you should order the most expensive item on the menu.... like it or not.

The DDP shouldn't be a game of "how much can I save" How are the restaurants going to be able to offer a wonderful, new, fresh item if there is "CAP" on what they can get back for it.

I guess the best thing to do is to price the Pasta dish as the most expensive on the menu and let the budget hunters have a field day.

I can hear it now...

"I saved $180.00 on dinners... boy am I tired of Shrimp pasta...."


Scott

[Goes4FastPass]

Whispering Canyon family style skillet

Beef Brisket

then

Beef Stew

now

nobeefatall

Dining Plan or not the bean counters have been trying to figue out how to place fewer beans on every plate for some time now.

[Willowwind]

Oh I'm so sad to hear this! We don't live in a culinary Mecca and Disney Dining is a HUGE part of our vacations. I plan my whole trip around where we want to eat and when we'll be there.

[Seasonscraps]

DH & I were just talking about this today -- there are very few standouts on the menus these days since they are all almost the same. It seems obvious the menus were downgraded b/c of the popularity of the dining plan and the fixed $$ disney is now getting for meals.

[Bruegge]

Oh I'm so sad to hear this! We don't live in a culinary Mecca and Disney Dining is a HUGE part of our vacations. I plan my whole trip around where we want to eat and when we'll be there.

Ditto...


I lived in Valdosta GA. for 3 years... Applebee's red lobster, texas roadhouse and an independent japanese place... oh and a hooters...

The good part was we were 3+ hours form WDW or 2+ hours from Amelia Island Florida. When we drove to disney (or Amelia Island ... try the Ritz-Carlton) we felt like we died and went to culinary heaven...

I miss the short drive... It'll cost us $1600 to fly from Tucson

Scott

[Cathy S]

I guess I'll start a minority on this page. We have used DDP twice. Both times I was really impressed by how well we were treated at TS restaurants, including the signature dining ones. Not once did I feel we were treated diffrently (read worse) because we were on the plan. At both the Flying Fish and Citricos we were treated to excellent meals, outstanding service and wonderful menu choices. At the R&C we requested and got a great table on the terrace for Illuminations and waitstaff who "stretched" out our meals so we had dessert with fireworks. At Le Cellier, again, great. Because we were on the plan we were able to eat at restaurants that normally we might have passed up or would have to share a meal at. I have to say, Hooray for the DDP!

[jedigrrrl]

The food has become watered down for maximum profit. Period.

All our favorite restaurants have removed expensive entrees or changed the ingredients in others. My brother and I are major cooks and we can tell immediately. Every menu is beginning to look and taste the same and we are so frustrated with the lack of quality that we are barely wasting our $$ on TS anymore.(and we had some major faves)

We've been enjoying CS places more than TS: Tusker House, Colombia Harbor House, Casey's, Lotus Blossom, Tempura Kiku(they were walk up last we ate there), Tangierine Cafe, Cantina de San Angel, Kaki Gori, Sleepy Hollow, The Earl of Sandwich, and Wolfgang Puck Express.

On our most recent trips this past year(7 trips since Jan 06), we've enjoyed those places better than any TS (Boma, Le Cellier, and O'hana included).

[DizneyRox]

I have been staying away from this thread because I don't want to sway any opinions. I will say it's nice to see that others are noticing what I've been saying for a while now.

We refuse to get the DDP. I have priced it out many times and have never hit a point where the benefits of getting the DDP have moved in our favor. Last time we would have been in the hole about $75 pp.

The menus are definitely changing. While the majority of people I would guess are not frequent visitors and don't see the actual changes, going each year of more really helps pick these changes out. We also tend to go to the same places to eat often as well.

There are still a bunch of great places to eat, and I'm not saying the food is awful, BUT there is a point where I refuse to pay X amount for what boils down to spaghetti and meatballs.

I won't get into service issues. The CMs they find these days are a whole different story. I'm not sure if you can really equate the service to the DDP more than you can to the training and lower hiring standards.

[ldn324]

DH and I had discussed this not too long ago. While we enjoyed using the DDP for the first time last December, we did find a couple of issues with it. There were a few places where I feel we received diminished service because of being on the plan – Yachtsman Steakhouse was just a disaster and one of the worst experiences we’ve ever had at WDW. But there were some where I didn’t notice a difference at all – Cali Grill comes to mind. Our server there was fabulous.

Menu selections, on the other hand, have definitely gone downhill. We are adventurous eaters and don’t like boring, bland food. We also don’t have a ton of culinary choices where we live. With that being said, the menus at WDW are starting to look more like those same boring menus you’d find at one of those chain places where we won’t even go when we are home. I don’t eat beef, and prefer veggies and seafood but don’t like salmon, so I’m out of luck at several places. Again, Yachtsman Steakhouse wasn’t for me. Not that I expected a ton of beef alternatives, but tuna was the only thing available that I like and it was just not good because I’ve found that no one but a seafood place can properly cook tuna. How nice it would have been to have shrimp, white fish – you know, something that can’t really be cooked wrong – to choose from.

A positive thing that the DDP did for us though was to force us to try CS restaurants that we may have never tried. Seasons at Epcot and Tusker House at AK were two that we had never tried until this last trip and we thoroughly enjoyed them both.

Ultimately, we had a positive experience with the plan and would consider it again. I can find something to eat at each place we go and I still don’t feel that we would be losing money. I would like to see the menu expand a little bit and even have a couple of healthier options added so you don’t get the huge dose of guilt with every meal (like the CS dessert that no one really needs). Actually, I’m surprised that they don’t fluff up the menus with loads of pasta, potatoes – the cheap stuff. Yikes – hope no one from WDW reads that and gets any ideas – LOL!

[SurferStitch]

Oh I'm so sad to hear this! We don't live in a culinary Mecca and Disney Dining is a HUGE part of our vacations. I plan my whole trip around where we want to eat and when we'll be there.

Fear not....there is still an abundance of amazing dining at WDW. On our last trip I had lobster, scallops, shrimp, filet, mahi, and more lobster....and it was all incredible. You will not be disappointed in the menu choices at WDW.

Personally, I have absolutely no problems with the dining choices at WDW. I'm a big seafood and filet person, and all of the restuarants I've always had these at still have them, so I just can't agree with the idea of menu quality deterioration...but that's me (and DH).

A great thing about the dining plan for us is that we have not changed our dining habits at all. Appetizer/main course/dessert is the norm for us. I set up an Excel spreadsheet to calculate OOP dining cost (no DDP), and compared it to our dining costs with the DDP (including the need to still pay OOP for some meals and alcohol), and we saved around $850 on food. We did get a deal on the DDP and only paid about $25 per person, so even if we paid full price, we still would have saved around $500, so the DDP was a huge benefit for us.

[OctDisney]

I just reviewed some of the menu items and I do agree that the choices are more limited now.

Even with the Dining Plans, Disney has to be careful not to standardize too much or else even the ones on the Dining Plan will get tired of eating similar food all the time.

I took a sampling of menus, such as Yachtsmans, Whispeing Canyon, Boatwrights, Grand Floridian Cafe and Kona Cafe. For Dinner, all of them have some sort of similar penne, strip steak, angus burger, and chicken. There are one or two different items, but disney better watch itself or people will just opt for CS or food courts at some of these places. Personally, very limited beef selections at Whispering Canyon was quite disappointing when we went last Fall.

[ChipDale2708]

We have never done the DDP either since there are two of us and it's way to much food for us - we'd rather split a meal. We also don't do a lot of TS restaurants either since we usually only go for a few days and would rather spend our time on the run or passed out by the pool, however we noticed two differences last February at our favorite places. Not sure to attribute it to the DDP or not, but Casey's only served the large sized hot dog - really too much for me and Chef's of France no longer served good quiche. I ordered it and received what looked like a single order frozen quiche in a pie dish. It's exactly what they serve at the French bakery in the back. I was extremely disappointed. We are giving they another try this month, but will order something different.

[Goofy Pluto]

We are adventurous eaters ... I don’t eat beef, and prefer veggies and seafood but don’t like salmon...

I just thought that was funny.

[Katiebell]

Haven't been to WDW yet...first trip is in May. I've read menus, and I don't know what they used to look like, but the current choices look as good or better than what I've seen at DL. At DL we usually eat at Ralph Brennan's, Hook's Point, Blue Bayou, Wine Country Trattoria, Uva -- the WDW menus appeared to be on par with those places. If I get fabulous food and wonderful service, that's fantastic. If I get decent food and friendly efficient service, I'm happy, too -- I'm on vacation and didn't have to cook.

I recently had an interesting conversation with a Disney CM who bartends and trains wait staff at a restaurant. He told me that yes, the menus have changed, but it really had little to do with the Dining Plan. There was a WDW-wide menu revamp in November 2006, and some restaurants were affected more than others. The purported idea was that it was to make the menus "healthier" -- for example, all of the fried appetizers were evidently removed from Jiko's (? I think that was the restaurant mentioned) menu. But yes, some of the costlier ingredients and higher-end items came off the menus, too, and quite a few were pared down in number of choices. That's actually been going on for a while. Although it was done in the guise of "healthier" choices, the CM's know it was to homogenize the menus somewhat across the board, it's easier and cheaper to buy in bulk, and bottom line...it's best for Disney's bottom line. And it's not just WDW...restaurants all over are constantly changing their menus, not just for the sake of creativity and freshness but ultimately to make them more profitable. It's an industry trend.

The DDP is really a cash cow for Disney, not a money pit that is causing them to slash their menus -- any menu slashing is being done to make more money. The DDP is designed to keep guests on the property (like the free ME, so guests won't rent cars and go elsewhere), and spending all of their vacation dollars at Disney instead of Universal or Sea World. It's to make WDW more of an all-inclusive resort, or like a cruise ship.

Now that Disney fixed the glaring loophole that allowed people to order adult meals with kids' TS credits (what a fiasco that was! I'll bet somebody got canned for not anticipating that possibility), they are taking steps to curb the same type of abuse of CS credits; for many guests it's still a savings but not a huge bargain. And once you calculate in the percentage of credits that are never cashed in, that further increases Disney's profit. Even by offering a period of dining free (which they have for the last two years and probably will again this year, they already offered it to the UK and for bounce-back), they made a ton of money and were able to fill their hotels during hurricane season at rack rate. If that's not marketing genius, I don't know what is

[Bruegge]

I recently had an interesting conversation with a Disney CM who bartends and trains wait staff at a restaurant. He told me that yes, the menus have changed, but it really had little to do with the Dining Plan. . :

And I got some swamp land just south of Gainesville for sale CHEAP...

Scott

[ldn324]

I just thought that was funny.

He he he...yeah, I see your point. My "duh" moment of the day. I guess I should have elaborated - I am adventurous in that I enjoy different flavors, ethnic cuisine, hot and spicy - adventurous in that sense. Funny how things seem to make sense in your head at the time you are typing them

[Katiebell]

And I got some swamp land just south of Gainesville for sale CHEAP...

Scott

Uhhh, sure...I'll have get back to you on that, though.

What he said made sense to me, whether or not you agree -- YMMV. The menu changes are there, and they are real, no doubt about that. But they are corporate cost-cutting, period. If the Dining Plan was the direct cause, and Disney is losing so much money on the plan, why do they keep selling it? And why do they keep offering it for free during the slowest season? Even offering free dining, Disney is making money hand over fist. Not that that's a bad thing -- it's the goal of every company. I'd probably appreciate it more as an employee or shareholder than a consumer, though.

The only reason the DDP may have been initially a money loss for Disney is because people were cheating the system, but now they are working the kinks out of that. And if any of the menu cutbacks were caused by the plan at all, I suspect it was to offset the loss caused by kids' credits being used to purchase adult meals. Gotta recoup losses somewhere.

Guests may be getting a "discount" on their meals, but unless they are visiting during that brief "free" period, they are paying for the plan. And now they are staying in the parks, spending all of their money at Disney, coming when the weather is the worst and paying full price for the rooms, eating in TS restaurants every single day, when before they may have eaten only CS or gone offsite. Guests are being trained to order off menus without concern for the prices, and that a proper sit down meal at Disney includes appetizer, entree, and dessert for every single person in your party aged 10 and over -- even if you can't eat all you order. People often end their vacations with unused, non refundable credits -- more profit for Disney. People don't understand how to use the plan to the best benefit (because the majority of guests don't frequent boards like this), and they waste credits at their least expensive meals that they should be paying for OOP instead -- more profit for Disney. We bought the plan for the convenience, but the cost may end up being a wash...we could definitely get by on less than $80/day for two adults, but liked the idea that our food budget is prepaid and we can try a lot of different restaurants.

[JPL]

A good place to see this is the size of steaks. Lecellier use to offer a 16 oz NY strip last time I was there it was down to 12 oz for the same price