Several blogs and news related sources have been talking about the latest change to the ever-evolving Disney Dining Plan.The Disney Geeks love the Disney Dining Plan (DDP)--if you can take advantage of it. Both of the Disney Geeks have had two completely different experiences. Even though we agree that it is an incredible money saver, there were some issues.
- The restaurants are always full,
- The service has seemed to fall by the wayside in some venues,
- It is hard to take full advantage of the DDP without making Advanced Dining Reservations(ADR), and
- Some restaurants are full at the 180 day mark for ADR's.
The Disney Geeks feel your pain.
But, allow us to express why this is a good idea for the DDP.
We have talked to many people about the DDP--their fears, reactions and excitement. Many people have complained about the service levels. That they were not up to typical Disney standards. The general feeling on message boards, forums and blogs is that many servers, although feeling inundated, we pleased with the automatic 18% gratuity.
We spoke to the manager of the 50's Prime Time Diner about a great experience we had in December 2006. She was dismayed that our other dinners were not up to Disney snuff. She mentioned that the gratuity was always optional. We could have refused the gratuity for poor service.
Hmmmm...no one had mentioned this before.
So, we applaud this new policy. This might be the impetus to bring some of Disney back to the wait staff at the various eateries.
What do you think?
