How to fix the dining plan

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Matt Hochberg

As you may have read, I’m not a fan of the free Disney Dining Plan as a great value, but I’ve been doing some thinking and I think Disney could fix the Dining Plan and make it a much better value for the guest without increasing cost for Disney.  I also tried to be realistic with these suggestions, so as much as I’d love for there to be a counter service breakfast option in the Dining Plan, I know it’s not going to be realistic.

Allow adding onto the snack credit

The most annoying think about the snack credit is it’s good for anything for $4 or under but even it’s a penny over $4, you can’t use it. The simple solution is to allow guests to use the $4 as a base for their snack credit but allow the guest to make up the difference in the price up to say $8 or $9 or even $10.  So if that Dole Whip costs $4.80, you use your snack credit and pay the extra 80 cents.  Obviously it would still have to be used for  only food and the $10 limit ensures guests aren’t using the snack credits as coupons on expensive meals.

Break up the credits

A complaint I have with the counter service and table service meals is that there’s simply too much food with each meal and it often goes to waste.  Instead, I should be able to save my dessert credit from my table service meal and use it on a future meal or maybe just as a snack.  Better yet, implement my first idea about adding onto the snack credit and any unused portions of a meal can be transformed into snack credits.  Now if I know I’m not going to be hungry enough for an appetizer and dessert or I’m thirsty and I want just water and want to save my beverage credit, I can use them all later as snack credits.

No ticket option for Annual Pass holders

I’ve never understood why Annual Pass holders needed to buy a ticket if on the Disney Dining Plan.  I know what the point is on Disney’s end: they want guests who get the DDP to be stay on their property and go to their parks; however, this is a real disadvantage for Annual Pass holders.  Instead, if you’re an annual pass holder, you should be able to identify yourself and save the extra ticket charge.  AP holders would still need to stay at a Disney resort and pay rack rates.  Plus, the one day ticket I’ve purchased in the past I’ve just applied towards the value of my annual pass renewal so it’s still the same cost to Disney.  And to combat the possibility of Florida residents abusing the system, make this option open only to Annual Pass holders and not Seasonal pass holders.

Breakfast buffets half a credit

The biggest waste of a table service credit is the buffets for breakfast.  These tend to be the cheapest meals on property available and let’s face it, you never get a great value out of these compared to a regular table service meal.  The costs are lower for Disney because the CM’s aren’t waiting on tables so let’s break up breakfast buffet meals into a half table service credit each.  This idea is probably a reach, but the Disney Dining Plan is a real waste if you eat the buffets in general, especially the breakfast buffets. 

Allow anyone to use anyone’s credits

For a while adults could not-so-secretly use their kids dining service credits but Disney has take steps to stop that by linking the credits to each person, but I say it’s time to undo that and allow adults, if they so choose, to use their kids credits.  To start with, most adults end up eating their kid’s food anyway because kids tend to be fickle eaters and inevitably the adults share a meal anyway.  Moreover, because kids can be fickle eaters, they may not need a sit down meal and are often content with what would be a snack for most adults.  So let the parents pay cash for little Joey to get a turkey leg while mom and dad use Joey’s meal service credit to share an entrée at dinner. 

 Agree with what I said? Disagree? Have a story to share sparked by this column? Share your own idea by posting a comment below.