Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<the sad answer is no -- also the rolls at Whispering Canyon Cafe used to come with an apple butter also and no longer do either !>> These are the kind of nickel and dime cutbacks that drive me crazy! How much does it cost?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<These are the kind of nickel and dime cutbacks that drive me crazy! How much does it cost?>> Somewhere between 5 and 10 cents. ;-)
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^Yep, Trippy. And it's enough to lose me as customer. So save a few cents, pass up a chance to make a few hundred dollars (over a year). Yeppers. Those mid-managers in O-Town sure are business smart!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip ^^^ I have to agree with you there. My glasses are usually pretty rose-colored when I look at WDW, but that kind of stuff is getting to me too. After really enjoying Olivia's at OKW during our last trip (late Feb/early March) I was quite disappointed to find they recently cut back their menu rather drastically. OKW is far enough from other places to eat that they really need a first-rate table service place. They used to have that... I'm not so sure now.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^I've heard that about Olivia's (one of the better hidden treasures of WDW dining along with Boatwright's). It doesn't surprise me. You have the new dining plan to partially blame, along with consultants who tell Disney it only needs to have six entrees per table service restaurants. I recently had a meal at Narcoosee's. The food and service were wonderful BUT to call yourself a seafood resturant at a 4-star resort hotel (that prices itself and likes to act like a 5-star) and only serve FOUR seafood entrees is just a joke. It's the WalMarting of WDW dining and it's only gonna get worse.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <<<the sad answer is no -- also the rolls at Whispering Canyon Cafe used to come with an apple butter also and no longer do either !>> These are the kind of nickel and dime cutbacks that drive me crazy! How much does it cost? < less than they spend when they bring the gallon of milk out when someone asks for more milk -- or the HUGE soda in a bucket for the same reason... I still like the place a lot...but you're right, at the prices today for most sit downs ( for family of 4 rarely under $100 for us) - this is nickle and dime
Originally Posted By Labuda Actually, vbdad, I doubt WDW pays much for the bucket o' Coke, if anything. Maybe a nickel's worth of it, at most.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I agree the bucket is worth more in $$ - but the soda still represents lost $$ - as they can sell 5 cents worth for $5.
Originally Posted By hopemax Someone on the DIS was lamenting change in rolls at Liberty Tree, and said that their server said that just about all the restaurants resort wide would be switching to the same type of rolls. Cheaper to just get stuff from one vender. Death to variety!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 unless you can charge HUGE bucks -- Cali Grill still has 2 wine lists longer than Yao Mings arms......one medium to expensive, and the other mainly obscene.... $1100 for one Cristal ? ( on the list the last trip- and no, I did not order one - but it did give me a good laugh - and I did not bother to ask what year it was - it didn't seem to matter) Enough to make P Diddy back up the stretch Hummer......and call up Roederer vinyards to ask - what up ?
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Someone on the DIS was lamenting change in rolls at Liberty Tree, and said that their server said that just about all the restaurants resort wide would be switching to the same type of rolls. Cheaper to just get stuff from one vender. Death to variety!>> And this is a prime example of why I want to see an enema given to the WDW management team. This isn't how you run a supposed world-class resort destination and supposed top-flight restaurants. Just a way to squeeze the numbers even tighter and just patently ridiculous.
Originally Posted By ChiMike I just commented about WDW management on the other thread, but let me say that since my first experience with visiting during the Free Dining (I did not participate) in Sep'05, I truly believe that the Dining Package IS AND WILL BE the death of decent service, food, & atmosphere at the resort restaurants. If I recall correctly my Sep'05 trip occurred before they also offer it to DVC guests - which in my mind, will only make the problem bigger simply because more people are participating. This is not a typical "the sky is falling" reaction. Disney -in no way- has shown any sign of supporting the amount of demand this program is putting on dining operations. Through the program they are trying to squeeze as much out of their fixed costs as possible. This is a program whose inception arose out of tapping an additional revenue stream, guaranteeing it, and offsetting those stodgy costs - it is not a program that came out of the need to provide BETTER service. No matter what the Disney spin hacks put on the glossy brochures.
Originally Posted By Lewis Goofy <<Dining Package IS AND WILL BE the death of decent service, food, & atmosphere at the resort restaurants<< The Disney Dining Plan is a FANTASTIC Value. Most guest save about 10% on thier dining. Guest using the plan have increased thier dining options, which increases the quality of food they can eat. Service at any WDW resort restaurant is always five star. Also because of the Plan the sit down restaurants at WDW are packed which increases the atmosphere. IMO.
Originally Posted By Labuda "Service at any WDW resort restaurant is always five star." Ah, yes, Lewis is back.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<The Disney Dining Plan is a FANTASTIC Value. Most guest save about 10% on thier dining.>> Only if they were going to dine at those WDW locations to begin with. <<Guest using the plan have increased thier dining options, which increases the quality of food they can eat.>> That's true, sadly. Nothing like seeing a family of six at the Cal Grill all ordering the tamarind filet with FRENCH Fries because it's the most expensive entree. And all getting appetizers, even the kiddies, which they mostly throw out. <<Service at any WDW resort restaurant is always five star.>> Have you ever eaten at a five-star restuarant, Goofball? Because I have eaten at many ... and many others that should be considered that. I have often gotten excellent service at many WDW locations, but five-star? Unless you're talking V&A's, I don't think so. And many of the better WDW resturants offer service that can be on par with Olive Garden, Friday's or Denny's ... so please don't make blanket statements that have no basis in reality. There are newbies around here who might believe you. <<Also because of the Plan the sit down restaurants at WDW are packed which increases the atmosphere. IMO.>> Increases it?!?! Sure. If packed, loud, understaffed equals atmosphere to you than you are 100% correct. Welcome back, my fave WDW apologist!
Originally Posted By ChiMike >>The Disney Dining Plan is a FANTASTIC Value.<< Sure, if stop lights are FANTASTIC. If Chicken Little is FANTASTIC. If lint rollers are FANTASTIC. Not to be Clintonian, but it depends what value you put on all things FANTASTIC. I would tell you that between DDE-like programs, previous inclusive meal packages from Disney Travel, and the notion that sometimes all I and others need is one meal for the day, I would suggest that the value doesn't reach to what a reasonable person would determine to be FANTASTIC. >> Most guest save about 10% on thier dining.<< So how should one describe the 20% savings value of DDE? Super-duper-double FANTASTIC? >>Guest using the plan have increased thier dining options,<< No they haven't. That sounds like something I would ""on the glossy brochures"" Funny how your post followed that thought. The fact is the dining options have remained constant. You could have dined in Canada before and after the program was initiated. The financial restraint & appeal is what has been adjusted. Which leads me too... >>... which increases the quality of food they can eat.<< Actually, by making the service & food of the sit down restaurants more financially justifiable, something has to give. Without Disney committing additional (variable) resources to deal with the surge in demand, the service and food quality becomes depressed/diluted for everybody. A nice quasi-economic theory to state, but unfortunately it is a reality I have experienced three times now. Things have been removed from the menu, how does that "increase the quality of the food they can eat"? >>Service at any WDW resort restaurant is always five star.<< I will cut & paste one of many experiences I posted on about a month ago: ""Third- I have noticed an extreme drop in the quality of service at Disney's restaurants. I blame the dining plan for the recent decline in service. The service I received on my last visit to the California Grill was uncharacteristically miserable. I'm not sure if the server was more shocked because I was the only one in their section NOT to be on free dining or that I had simply rounded up to the Dollar for the tip (paid w/ cash). Even my wife encouraged that one, which made me more shocked then our server. Whether it was the server's fault that the food arrived cold and untimely, the kitchen's fault, or the manager's fault for not having enough servers to begin with, they weren't going to get an automatic 18% out of me like they were with everyone else. The thing is that we had such attentive service the next night at Trail's End that I tipped the server who simply helped us w/ drinks the 20% on the buffet cost (which is extreme in itself for a buffet) + what I would have given the California Grill server on my $150.00 tab the night before. I was just so thrilled to finally have attentive service after 3-4 days at Disney. Also, I have never seen the restaurants filthier and more overbooked then when I was there and guests had free dining (End Sep. '05). The wait times with a P.S. that were occuring were simply unacceptable. Not to resurrect the term, but I certainly felt what once was the gem of the WDW experience had become Walmart-ed by the free dining promotion."" ""Sorry. To be fair, when I was at the California Grill, it wasn't during free dining, just while the dining plan was available."" >>Also because of the Plan the sit down restaurants at WDW are packed which increases the atmosphere.<< Sure if you like spending thousands of dollars to enjoy an expensive meal to get rammed in the back by a stroller or have misbehaving kids screaming at the next table which is now placed closer to you. Oh, yeah, crowded areas of WDW always make for Magical Moments (TM).
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I wish they would change the Disney Dining Plan to be like the DDE. With DDE you are given a good discount at the restaurants, but what you pay is still based on what you order. I believe that would minimize some of the "let's go to the most expensive restaurant and order the most expensive thing" garbage that is going on at present. If they can't do that, I think they should pull the "Signature Restaurants" out of the plan. You shouldn't have to put up with freebie-scrounging low-life when dining at a place like California Grill.
Originally Posted By ChiMike That's a GREAT and SIMPLE solution! That would be a great way to go. Unfortunatly I think they like the idea of selling the all-inclusive plans. I think the cruise line has encouraged the use of that packaging scheme and I don't see them backing away from it anytime soon. But I do agree 100% RT. At the very least pull some of the signature restaurants.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 So how should one describe the 20% savings value of DDE? Super-duper-double FANTASTIC I do -- but then it gives me 20% on the same restaurants I always ate at anyway
