Anyone have any clues on when Disney will resume offering a dining plan?

[kdupre]

Anyone have any clues on when Disney will resume offering a dining plan?

 

[DisLiss]

I haven't seen anything. I know they cancelled it on trips right through Sept. 2021, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they won't bring them back before then. I understood it to be that it was what they needed to do to clear the old system of any existing plans.

 

[siren0119]

Nope - but I don't expect it will be reinstated until restaurants are allowed to operate at full dining capacity, and they figure out how they will be handling character meals. Best I can say is keep an eye on Disney announcements related to restaurant capacity and dining options opening back up to full menus.

 

[havoc315]

I'm going out on a limb:
The DDP as we know it, will not be back ever.

I'm guessing Disney will take advantage of this "break from the normal" to re-think how they do a lot of things. I doubt Fastpass+ will come back in its prior incarnation. And I suspect the opportunity will be taken to re-think how the dining plan works.

 

[SL6827]

I'm going out on a limb:
The DDP as we know it, will not be back ever.

I'm guessing Disney will take advantage of this "break from the normal" to re-think how they do a lot of things. I doubt Fastpass+ will come back in its prior incarnation. And I suspect the opportunity will be taken to re-think how the dining plan works.

You may very well be correct on that. Makes me wonder if Disney was losing money on the dining plan. They may very well had been on the DxDDP.

 

[havoc315]

You may very well be correct on that. Makes me wonder if Disney was losing money on the dining plan. They may very well had been on the DxDDP.

lol no. They were making boat loads of money on the dining plan. Especially on the deluxe. They were all up sells.
“Without a dining plan, you’d spend $80 per day on dining. But if you prepay $120 per day, we will give you $80-$150 of value!”

The problem with the dining plan was the “1 size fits all” I’m planning restaurants and dining.
Every counter restaurant had to offer meals of $15-20.... because people on the dining plan aren’t going to use a credit in a $9 meal... and a $30 counter meal wouldn’t be too profitable for the restaurant. Every TS restaurant has to price their entrees at $25-35... and signature at $50-60...
You can’t have the flexibility of a tapas restaurant... very hard to fit it into the dining plan. Or TS with CS type prices? Again, doesn’t really work. (Plaza used to be like that a bit, but they gave gradually changed their menu and increased their prices in order to line up with the dining plan).

 

[SL6827]

Well if they were making money, ya it should be back. But at a higher cost perhaps?

 

[havoc315]

Well if they were making money, ya it should be back. But at a higher cost perhaps?

The price has already gone about 100% in about 12 years.. (much faster than inflation -- the inflation rate is about 20% over the decade... so the pricing of the DDP has risen 5 times faster than inflation).

It's not a question of whether it's profitable. It's a question of whether there are better ways for MORE profit. No, not raising the price -- the DDP has gotten less popular overall, as more people realize it's cheaper to dine without it.

In 2007, the dining plan cost $39, it included appetizer AND dessert at TS and CS meals. Most critically, it INCLUDED gratuity.

Each year, they have tinkered with the dining plan.. increasing prices. Taking away benefits. Then adding limited benefits that create a perceived savings but really just increase profit for Disney. (Including alcoholic beverages costs Disney very little but greatly enhances the perceived value for some guests, for example... but cutting out gratuities was a huge cost savings for Disney -- Disney would much rather give adults the option of a glass of wine than pay everyone's gratuities).

But as I said -- as it is designed, the DDP limits restaurant flexibility of menu design and dining concept. And with each incarnation, the audience for the DDP gets smaller and smaller.

I suspect it will be a good time for them to go back to the drawing board -- to create dining plans that allow greater flexibility and can appeal to more guests.

 

[SL6827]

The price has already gone about 100% in about 12 years.. (much faster than inflation -- the inflation rate is about 20% over the decade... so the pricing of the DDP has risen 5 times faster than inflation).

It's not a question of whether it's profitable. It's a question of whether there are better ways for MORE profit. No, not raising the price -- the DDP has gotten less popular overall, as more people realize it's cheaper to dine without it.

In 2007, the dining plan cost $39, it included appetizer AND dessert at TS and CS meals. Most critically, it INCLUDED gratuity.

Each year, they have tinkered with the dining plan.. increasing prices. Taking away benefits. Then adding limited benefits that create a perceived savings but really just increase profit for Disney. (Including alcoholic beverages costs Disney very little but greatly enhances the perceived value for some guests, for example... but cutting out gratuities was a huge cost savings for Disney -- Disney would much rather give adults the option of a glass of wine than pay everyone's gratuities).

But as I said -- as it is designed, the DDP limits restaurant flexibility of menu design and dining concept. And with each incarnation, the audience for the DDP gets smaller and smaller.

I suspect it will be a good time for them to go back to the drawing board -- to create dining plans that allow greater flexibility and can appeal to more guests.

Yes, and this is the reason we have only bought it once, and that was for one night only.

 

[RanDIZ]

Disney is a cash cow. They would never have kept it this long if it wasn’t profitable. I’d say at least a year before it returns. The reason it has ceased is because there won’t be as many choices when WDW comes back online. So who would actually buy it with that in mind. They actually put the consumer first here and did everyone a solid by canceling it for those who bought into it.

 

[rwdavis2]

They used the free plan to fill hotel rooms. That has to give you the idea that there is huge profits built into Disney dining To subsidize dining that way.

 

[tuckymom]

Several years ago there was a graph that went around about the DDP and it looked legit. It should that like 82% of DDP from whatever year prior had not used over their "allotted price per day x the days they had the plan". It also showed that the biggest % of money was lost to the guest and gained by Disney on snack credits. This was supposedly when Disney decided to add a snack credit and take away the appetizer from the regular DDP.

 

[sethschroeder]

There is 0 chance the DDP wasn't extremely profitable. You have most people not even getting their money back on highly highly inflated food.

Disney basically took the restaurant biz of having 5% profit, added an extra 20% Disney tax, then got people to buy a plan where they gave an extra 5-10% on top of that.

Plus the DDP likely gives them way more control knowing they have their hands in other companies books because those companies have to report DDP credits to get paid.

 

[rwdavis2]

I would hope they just scrap the free dining. We might get better food and more choices.

 

[RanDIZ]

Several years ago there was a graph that went around about the DDP and it looked legit. It should that like 82% of DDP from whatever year prior had not used over their "allotted price per day x the days they had the plan". It also showed that the biggest % of money was lost to the guest and gained by Disney on snack credits. This was supposedly when Disney decided to add a snack credit and take away the appetizer from the regular DDP.

I agree. And I’d much rather have an appetizer in place of a wasted snack.