Rumored DDP Changes - Would they impact your use?

[tjkraz]

Well, it appears that Deb Wills is jumping on the rumor bandwagon.

According to her latest blog entry, her inside sources report that the plan we all know and love will have the following changes for '08:

1. No tip included in table service meal
2. No appetizer for table service meal
3. Price goes down $1 to $37.99 / $9.99

The other rumored change is that there will be a Deluxe plan which includes 3 meals per day at TS or CS restaurant ("Signature" restaurants still cost 2 credits) plus 2 snacks per day and a refillable mug. Cost is $69.99 and $19.99. Still doesn't include TS tips, of course.

Any interest in either of those plans?

 

[jaurban]

Well, we really didn't need all the food we got anyway, so the appetizer is not something we would ordinarily get - especially not two or three of them. SO, for a little less, that might be ok. The tip is more concerning, and might make it less valuable - but we may still come out ahead with the DDP.

 

[starbox]

Any interest in either of those plans?

No Way!!

On our last trip, the one meal we ate off plan was at the California Grill and with DDE it cost a whopping 110.00 including a 20% tip! DH and I both had entrees and a shared dessert, DD8 ate steak they offered to let DS10 order the 11.00 steak off the kids menu, I had a glass of wine. We shared an adult dessert and the kids shared a child's dessert.

On the plan, if you assume that we'd use 12.00 of the adult price on CS and 25$ of the price on TS, plus 6$ for kids TS - a two table service meal at the California Grill would cost us 166$ - plus a close to 30$ tip - and I would not have gotten wine!

Sure we'd each get a soda and our own dessert - but no thanks. It's not even remotely close to worth it.

 

[ebenmax]

This sounds very disappointing. We tried the DDP for the first time with our family this past June. We LOVED it. I didn't worry about the price of the entrees my "adult" kids ordered. It was fun picking from the menu and not even considering cost. It gave us the opportunity to try items we would not ordinarily choose. At California Grill, three of them ordered sushi which they had not had before. Our bill for 5 (1 child) at CG grill came to $366 - of course we used 2 TS each.

When DH and I returned last week for our anniversary, we kept saying, how much more we liked the dining plan than paying for each meal OOP - even with the DDE. Back to splitting meals and choosing price much more carefully.

But it was the tip included that sealed the deal. Even though we often left some extra tip, we did not feel obligated - knowing the server was taken care of.

I doubt we will do it again unless I really crunch some numbers and see if it will be worthwhile for us.

 

[lisareniff]

No it won't change our usage. We still won't purchase the DDP.

We have one 'Disney Adult' (DD11), one vegetarian and wouldn't nornally want to eat that much food (even if they take off the appetizer, that I like better then dessert!) It is not cost effective for us and would be even worse next year.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

Oh well, fun while it lasted. We probably wouldn't use it again. Definitely wouldn't use the "deluxe".

 

[mello]

The tip is HUGE. It amounts to raising the price of the plan by 15-20% depending upon the amount people tip. However, perhaps this will improve what had been perceived by many as declining service. Now the servers will again need to work for their tips. So it might be a benefit overall, whether you're on the plan or not.

The appetizer per person was a lot of food. However, what should have been done here was to change it to either an appetizer or a dessert per person. We thought during our last trip using the dining plan that such a plan would be perfectly sufficient. We would be happy sharing one appetizer and one dessert between two of us. But the current change, with only dessert but not appetizer is not nearly as customer friendly as the choice of either would be. What about diabetics and those who don't care much for sweets? We have one of each in our family, who'd much rather have a salad, soup, etc. before dinner than a big gooey dessert afterwards. Now if it turns out they'll substitute an appy for a sweet, then we may still be interested on that count.

Lowering the cost $1. Well, it's not much, but at least they threw us a bone lol. And that's all it is. A bone.

The net result for our family would be $5 less per day for the plan and at least $20 more per day in tips, so a net increase of $15 per day, minimum. The reduction in amount of food doesn't bother me as much as taking away my choice to get a healthier alternative (ie; salad - on menus where salad counts as a starter, instead of dessert).

I really don't know... I'll have to run some numbers and give it some thought to see if it seems worthwhile or not. My gut reaction though, is that it won't be for us anymore.

The deluxe plan? Holy moly, that would be a ton of food!

 

[Longhairbear]

A friend used the DDP and loved it, however while saving money on all the food he ate, he normally wouldn't eat that much. So there is the question if he really saved any money.
We would never try the DDP in any form, as it doesn't fit the way, or what we eat at WDW. We use the kitchen alot for breakfasts, snacks, and some evening meals. We pick a high end TS restaurant to try each visit, and lunches are always last minute.

 

[mikeandkarla]

Our children 15, 5, 3 really enjoy character meals. We will do 2 per trip and buy more groceries from now on. No more DDP if the rumored changes go through. I can't see Disney profiting from this. Who will do it? I wonder if families that still get the DDP will just stiff the waiter/waitresses. There seems to be a lot of different ways to change the DDP, the rumored way is the worst of all suggestions.

 

[eeyoresmom]

I like the CS option. Does anyone know if the snack credit is included?

 

[eeyoresmom]

Hmmm, the more I think of the CS plan, the more I like it. I would definately purchase this for most of my trips.

 

[eeyoresmom]

Sorry everyone, just read the blog and I misunderstood.There is no CS plan the 19.99 is the kids price. No way will we be doing the DDP again That's okay, though, saves me lots of time planning !

 

[minster22]

We have used the DP several times in the past year and loved it!We have taken family members and adult children and loved the "prepaid" aspect of the DP especially having tip included, being able to choose anything on the menus. We use it a little differently than many, choosing several signature restaurants and using counter service on those other nights. We do this partly because we don't want to spend every night having a sitdown dinner and also don't want to eat that much food everyday.Taking away the appetizer and tip does not make this in any way cost effective for us( I am with many others, either take away dessert or make it either appetizer or dessert, we ofter get a salad as appetizer). Another aspect of taking the tip away besides the 18% percent increased cost, is now all of us on the DP with have a "stigma" attached with all the servers. We have all read the posts here about people not wanting to tip the 18% and all the other concerns people had with service, tipping etc ( I have worked in the restaurant business for 40 years, as both a manager and a server now for 25 years....many of those posts made me feel ill!!) and now the server will wonder right away if we fall into the 10% tip category or less. We truly have had very good to exceptional service at almost every meal and would have rathered to pay more for the plan and kept the tip, dealt with a either/or on the dessert and appetizers. We almost always left more for a tip also. So after all this rambling here(sorry!!! I am really ticked off about this change!!) no we will not use the plan now. We will now go back to BlueZoo, Fresh maybe try Il Mulino and do more counter service.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We only use the DP for our December trips, because it includes the Fantasmic meal package and the Candlelight Processional Package and DDE doesn't. We would continue to use it then.

Bobbi

 

[jenelope]

I'm not sure. Unless I'm really feeling indulgent (and hungry), I can't see going on the deluxe plan. I always have to compare it to how I could do on my own, eating average meals. I can do so much better than 69.99, unless it's three course meals at signature restaurants. As for the trimmed down standard plan, I'd have to give that a lot of thought. Sometimes I want an appetizer, sometimes I don't. And I've always liked the fact that prepayment took cost out of my menu consideration. I felt more free to choose based on what I really wanted, rather than what fit my budget.

Still, as long as AP holders can buy a DDE card, there's going to be another good option.

 

[JimMIA]

We've used DDP our last four trips, but it no longer makes any sense to us.

We don't use the fairytale calculations comparing the DDP cost to menu prices for two reasons: 1) the menu prices are overpriced to begin with, and 2) we would not eat everything offered on DDP if we were paying cash.

Using real comparisons between the cost of DDP and what we would really spend paying cash without DDP, we were saving $75-100 per trip. The new plan offers less than the previous plan, and increases the costs for our family about $25 per day...so it's not a good deal for us.

We will switch to eating all but one character meal per trip offsite.

The deluxe plan and wine plan make no sense to us either. We don't go to Orlando to eat -- and if we did, we certainly would not limit ourselves to Disney restaurants!

 

[cobbler]

Hmm, I don't know. I like the idea of not having the appitizer because it is so much food. I don't order appitizers anyway but really do get tempted for dessert - usually no room left in the tummy

The tip, it goes both ways, it is nice not having to worry about it, but then again giving someone the guaranteed amount when their service is less than stellar hurts too.

I guess we all know there will be price increases, but by only lowering it $1 is not enough to justify the offset.

I think people may tip less or not at all because they wouldn't be used to this change or think they are basically paying the same amount. Hopefully it means better food quality.

NOW what I would like to see and I think it would be hard, but a kind of Magic Your Way Meal Plan, where you could have your basic (like the tickets) just be your entrees for CS, TS and your one snack. Then be able to do add-ons / plusses of including appitizer / dessert / tip or more CS or more TS or whatever. I know that would be hard because there are so many variables but it would be kind of nice if you could customize it somewhat to your families needs.

 

[starbox]

I'm not sure. Unless I'm really feeling indulgent (and hungry), I can't see going on the deluxe plan. I always have to compare it to how I could do on my own, eating average meals. I can do so much better than 69.99, unless it's three course meals at signature restaurants. As for the trimmed down standard plan, I'd have to give that a lot of thought. Sometimes I want an appetizer, sometimes I don't. And I've always liked the fact that prepayment took cost out of my menu consideration. I felt more free to choose based on what I really wanted, rather than what fit my budget.

Still, as long as AP holders can buy a DDE card, there's going to be another good option.

The 3-courses I had at Artist Point:
Mixed Green salad with blackberry vinagrette and crater lake bleu cheese - 8.00
Cedar Plank King Salmon - 32.00
Coffee Two Ways - 8.00

TOTAL - 48.00

The 3-courses I had at Jiko
Kenyan Coffee Barbequed Chicken Flatbread - 10.00
Maize Crusted Pan Seared Halibut - 30.00
Flourless Chocolate Mocha Stack - 8.00

Total 48.00

And that's not even including 20% off for DDP.

DDP was barely a value to begin with - it just felt like a value and was emotionally satifying to feel like you were getting food for free. Psychologically, I'd much rather see credits deducted than actual dollars. But, the new plan without appetizers OR tips will actually cost much, much more than a la carte. We just about broke even on the plan before and the psychological comfort of pre-paid meals was worth it. I am not willing to pay 20, 30 or 40$ more each day just for the convenience of the plan.

 

[Luv2trav]

I am not sure if I like the plan or not... I see it as approx 15% increase. The appetizer deletion doesn't bother me much since we eat at mostly buffets or the family style restaurants... I think the only location that offered us apps last time was le cellier and coral reef...


I couldn't imagine doing the Deluxe plan.. That is a lot of food!

I've also read they are going to be more strict on the snack portion. This really bums me out because we have used our snack options for bagels in the morning.

 

[Anthony1971]

I used it on a 7 day trip... would not do that again..
I would have used at on a shorter stay but not at the new price, It hardly seems worth having to eat a TS every day weather you want to or not and not really having a big savings.
We do eat a TS most days but others we when we can not eat where we want we eat a CS.. Not a big fan of ADR's to start with I just do not see how someone can know what they want to eat in 180 days nor why anyone would would wnat to stay at..
To each is own but we just like to wing it and the DDP was not great for us from day one but we did use it a few times and had no problems not making ADR's...