# Disney dining choices, new options for quick service and deluxe dining



## rickandcindy23 (Nov 30, 2009)

I was very interested to see the new choices for dining, including a quick service meal choice, which is fairly reasonable for what you get, and you can use those credits for two weeks.  I am not a huge fan of most Disney food, but if you have two weeks to use the credits, we could do that.  

I just don't know how many times I could eat at Mexico's fast food place (my favorite). 

Does anyone know if the DDP prices are going up for 2010?


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## jamstew (Nov 30, 2009)

Cindy - I'm pretty sure I read that the prices were going up in 2010, but I haven't been able to find it again. It's possible that I imagined it  

I'm not sure what you mean about having two weeks to use the quick service credits. When we bought it in June, it was just like the other dining plans--expired at midnight on checkout day.


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## rickandcindy23 (Nov 30, 2009)

Maybe I imagined the 14 days.  I read it somewhere recently, but I cannot find it again.  Perhaps I confused it with the tickets expiring at 14 days, and then got it into my head incorrectly.


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## itradehilton (Nov 30, 2009)

We just booked the DDP plan for july 2010 trip and it was $41.99  for adults. There is  link to the menu's and resteraunts  available for 2010 on disboards.


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## DianeV (Dec 1, 2009)

That is the regular dining plan which we just tried and found we didnt like it. Pressure to eat and find somewhere to eat with the table service and it cuts into your day quite a bit. We also tried the quick service in August which this year was $10 less per day and liked it alot better. Still good options for counter service plus you get a refillable mug too.


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## jamstew (Dec 2, 2009)

The quick service plan worked fairly well for my group since my children and grandchildren weren't interested in having a table service meal every day. I didn't give them a choice about three character meals during the week, which I paid OOP with my TiW discount.  We had breakfast in the villa every morning, so we had a hard time using all the credits. I ended up using the extra snack credits for bottled water and popcorn to put in my Owners Locker at the end of the week. We still wasted a good bit of food--mostly desserts.


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## joestein (Dec 2, 2009)

I think the Quick Service Plan is a waste of money.  I am pretty sure you can buy the same stuff OOP and spend the same amount, if not less, especially since I would never pay for desert at Quick Service.  

You can even lose money with the regular dining plan if you choose lunch for your TS often or choose the more inexpensive restaurants.

I do love the regular plan due to the fact that I don't consider price when I order since it makes no difference.  I know if I went to Le Cellier OOP I would probably just order an entree or get the chef special menu rather than order the coffee rubbed Kansas City strip (Which is fantastic, but $35 for a non-prime steak is unconsciousable).

Joe


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## rickandcindy23 (Dec 2, 2009)

itradehilton said:


> We just booked the DDP plan for july 2010 trip and it was $41.99  for adults. There is  link to the menu's and resteraunts  available for 2010 on disboards.



They should go back to including the tip in that plan.  When they charge a tip of 18%, it makes the plan much more expensive.  What's with them raising the price in three years by such a large percentage, and then taking out the appetizer and the once-included tip?


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## jamstew (Dec 2, 2009)

joestein said:


> I think the Quick Service Plan is a waste of money.  I am pretty sure you can buy the same stuff OOP and spend the same amount, if not less, especially since I would never pay for desert at Quick Service.
> 
> 
> Joe



You're absolutely right about that. I ran spreadsheets out the wazoo to see what worked best for us, and there wasn't more than a few dollars difference any way we did it. I went ahead with the plan for the convenience factor. I was footing the bill for two adult children, spouses and grandchildren and knew I couldn't be in two or three places at once when they decided to eat. The plan made it really easy. Would I do it again? Probably not.


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## joestein (Dec 2, 2009)

jamstew said:


> You're absolutely right about that. I ran spreadsheets out the wazoo to see what worked best for us, and there wasn't more than a few dollars difference any way we did it. I went ahead with the plan for the convenience factor. I was footing the bill for two adult children, spouses and grandchildren and knew I couldn't be in two or three places at once when they decided to eat. The plan made it really easy. Would I do it again? Probably not.



You can game the system a bit.   We went to dinner shows that cost 2 TS credits each, so we did not have a TS credit available for each night.  We ended up at a nice CS restaurant in Downtown Disney and since all the CS credits are pooled, we used the CS credits that belonged to our kids to pay for our dinner and just paid OOP for a few of the kids meals, since they are significantly cheaper.

Joe


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## GadgetRick (Dec 7, 2009)

Well, IMO the whole DDP mess has ruined food at DW. You can't get into anywhere for a sit down meal anymore unless you plan months in advance (just not practical for many people) and, quite frankly, the food at DW has been lacking more and more everytime we go. They've standardized on the same food for every restaurant (not talking about the countries in EPCOT) so you get the same thing slightly different and with a different name everywhere.

They have also seemed to have raised the prices significantly on the food since they started the DDP. I think they did this partly because they can, partly because it makes those who spend the money on DDP feel better when they see what their food would have cost and partly because, well, they can (yes, I said that twice).

We used to always eat on property. Now, other than snacks, we rarely do. Disney has lost almost all of my food money.


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## Whirl (Dec 7, 2009)

GadgetRick said:


> ... and, quite frankly, the food at DW has been lacking more and more everytime we go. They've standardized on the same food for every restaurant (not talking about the countries in EPCOT) so you get the same thing slightly different and with a different name everywhere.




We used the dining plan last year when we went and I would not consider it again for primarily this reason of repetitive menus. 

The breakfasts and meals offered whether at your hotel QS or the Polynesian character meal or Cindy's royal table...all basically the same at the core. They get alot of economies of scale. 

We were able to get differentiation at dinners, but found food in and outside the parks to all be very much the same. If you ordered sausage and eggs for breakfast, it was the same everywhere you went. Pizza for the kids....the same. Lots of repetition with some efforts to change it up a bit so appropriate to the venue, but basically, all the same food. 

Perhaps when my kids are hungry teenagers and running around ordering more independently, I could see some more value....value that would primarily be a function of convenience. 

I think you have too work to hard to get a varied dining experience.


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## Twinkstarr (Dec 10, 2009)

rickandcindy23 said:


> They should go back to including the tip in that plan.  When they charge a tip of 18%, it makes the plan much more expensive.  What's with them raising the price in three years by such a large percentage, and then taking out the appetizer and the once-included tip?



I've never quite understood the logic in taking the tip out of the DDP, but then they add it automatically to your bill if you have a Table In Wonderland card.


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## jamstew (Dec 11, 2009)

joestein said:


> You can game the system a bit.   We went to dinner shows that cost 2 TS credits each, so we did not have a TS credit available for each night.  We ended up at a nice CS restaurant in Downtown Disney and since all the CS credits are pooled, we used the CS credits that belonged to our kids to pay for our dinner and just paid OOP for a few of the kids meals, since they are significantly cheaper.
> 
> Joe



That would have worked (and I worked it out that way in one of my spreadsheets), but they weren't interested in the dinner shows, and *I* wasn't interested in taking a 3, 4 & 5-year-old to a Signature restaurant  I know that many parents do, but I'd rather they didn't.


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## zcrider (Dec 20, 2009)

*prices for DDP changing for 2010*

Hi,
 I just booked a trip for Feb. 2010 and looked into the DDP.  I was told by Disney that the DDP price for 2010 now varies by the season you are staying.  Just like the busy season uses more points to book, the DDP will cost more $$ to purchase.  In value season it will cost a few $$ less PP per day.  I hope this helps some of you answer your questions.
  I decided to skip the DDP as I don't normally eat dessert 2x a day and don't want the extra pounds, b/c if I paid for it/it was included..........I would probably end up eating it.  Plus I figured since I noramlly drink water and don't order dessert, I was not going to save any money to be paying for a dining plan that included sodas and desert.  I think we will eat breakfast in the villa each morning and also prepare one easy meal each day there too.  I booked table service reservations for 6 days and will just pay OOP for that.  Good thing is if my kiddos are pooped and don't want to do the reservation.....I can go to counter service save $$ and don't have to worry about losing my meal credit for not making my reservation.  I liked the flexibitly and savings not buying the DDP offered.  Plus the week we are going is NOT value in Feb, so it would have cost us more too!!


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## Aussiedog (Dec 21, 2009)

We are at WDW now and I am so glad we cancelled the DDP before we got here.  We are eating breakfast in our villa and if you are willing to eat a little before or after the normal lunch and dinner hour the wait times are almost non-existent, even this week.  The only places I am not sure of are the character meals - we are WAY too old for that.  

I also think that all the reservations just add to the workload.  More than once I overheard people saying to each other that they could not do whatever because they will miss a meal reservation.  Too much work for me!!

Ann


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## Twinkstarr (Dec 21, 2009)

Aussiedog said:


> We are at WDW now and I am so glad we cancelled the DDP before we got here.  We are eating breakfast in our villa and if you are willing to eat a little before or after the normal lunch and dinner hour the wait times are almost non-existent, even this week.  The only places I am not sure of are the character meals - we are WAY too old for that.
> 
> I also think that all the reservations just add to the workload.  More than once I overheard people saying to each other that they could not do whatever because they will miss a meal reservation.  Too much work for me!!
> 
> Ann



We had lunch at the Brown Derby at DHS over T-giving. This huge family group, on the DDP, pigged their way through a few courses so they could make the Little Mermaid show or something.  

Why bother at a nice place like Brown Derby?


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