The Dark Side of Disney - Leonard Kinsey [18]
It used to be that you could probably do just as well at “Free Dining” as you could with these other discounts IF you were staying in a Value Resort, because everyone got the same version of the DDP, regardless of what kind of resort you stayed at. But now that they’ve changed the “Free Dining” for Values to “Quick Service” restaurants only, that slight edge is put into the negative. In other words, YOU ARE LOSING MONEY BY GETTING “FREE DINING” INSTEAD OF USING THE OTHER DISCOUNTS OUT THERE!!!
2. The DDP itself is overpriced. Just a few years ago, when it first started, it was a good deal. Each day you’d get a quick service meal, 2 snacks, and a table service meal with an appetizer, entrée, drink, and desert (the tip was also included) for $35/day. You still had to eat a buttload of food each day to come out ahead, but at least you COULD come out ahead and have it be a decent bargain. But now you don’t get the appetizer, you only get one snack, and the tip isn’t included. That’s a reduction of 30% at least, and at the price has increased to $48/day. As only Disney can, they’ve increased the price and decreased the service, and people are still buying it. What a rip-off.
Do me a favor: visit http://allears.net/din/dining.htm, check the prices on the restaurants you want to eat at, and then add up what you’ll spend per person per day (without gorging yourself). Most likely over the course of 7 days that amount is going to be equal to or less than what you would pay for the Dining Plan.
3. If you’re on the DDP, by the end of your vacation you’re going to be so fucking sick of Disney food that you won’t ever want to eat again. But since you already paid for it you’ll feel obligated to keep those dining reservations and keep gorging yourself until it becomes an unpleasant burden. Why would you want to do that to yourself on vacation? Wouldn’t you rather just eat what you want, when you want, knowing that it’s okay if you want to skip a dinner ADR because you ate too much at lunch and you’re not hungry?
4. “But I like that it’s prepaid and I can budget for it,” you say. Yes, budgeting is important, and not being able to go over budget is a nice feature of the DDP. But you could also stash away the same amount of cash on a Disney Gift Card, and only use that to pay for your meals. Every time you use it the receipt printout tells you how much is left on your card, which is a great way to manage your spending.
5. WDW’s food quality and portion sizes have gone downhill big time since the DDP came around. Since the number crunchers have to make a profit on DDP, they can’t have any of the food at any of the restaurants be too different in price or quality. The reason being that if word gets around that there’s one spectacular restaurant, or one amazingly great (but expensive) thing on a certain menu, then everyone on the DDP will go to that one restaurant or order that one most expensive item on the menu, and Disney will lose money (in fact this has happened – as of this writing La Cellier, which often receives great reviews for their food and service, has gone from 1 Table Service credit to 2, effectively doubling the price of the meal. They also got rid of the really high-quality steaks there years ago). As a result, none of the restaurants stand out anymore, and all of the food is kinda blah.
Cheap/Free Dining for Drunks and Foodies:
So what’s the alternative to “free dining” and the DDP if you took DME and can’t drive to cheaper off-site restaurants? On the surface, it seems like your options are to either starve, which isn’t a pleasant way to spend your vacation, or pay out of pocket, which can get prohibitively expensive if you’re doing it for every meal considering the prices Disney charges even at the Quick Service restaurants. And what if you want to get totally shit-faced drunk? As someone with a fairly