Impairments and Closure Charges Impairments and Closure Charges (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended																	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2011 Applebee's [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 Applebee's [Member] properties Restaurants	Dec. 31, 2011 Applebee's [Member] Minnesota and Wisconsin [Member] Restaurants	Dec. 31, 2010 Applebee's [Member] Minnesota and Wisconsin [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Applebee's Restaurant Support Center [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 IHOP [Member] Restaurants	Dec. 31, 2009 IHOP [Member] Restaurants	Dec. 31, 2011 Tradename [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Tradename [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 Tradename [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 Tradename [Member] Applebee's [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Facility Closing [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Facility Closing [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 Facility Closing [Member]	Apr. 30, 2011 Facility Closing [Member] Applebee's [Member] Lenexa, Kansas [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Facility Closing [Member] Applebee's [Member] Lenexa, Kansas [Member]
Impairment and Closure Charges [Line Items]
Lenexa lease termination															$ 23,000,000	$ 0	$ 0	$ 23,000,000
Long-lived Tangible Asset Impairment	4,900,000	1,500,000	10,400,000	500,000			700,000	4,500,000
Other closure charges	2,000,000	2,800,000	1,700,000
Impairment		300,000	93,500,000								0	0	93,500,000	93,500,000
Total Impairment and closure charges	29,865,000	4,285,000	105,622,000
Payments Made For Sublease Termination Fees and Related Closing Costs																			$ 21,300,000
Company Operated Restaurants Sold						63
Restaurants With Fee Ownership						3
Impaired Company Operated Restaurants					1					3
Impaired Franchise Restaurants Taken Back by the Company										1
Restaurants Held for Sale Written Down Based on Estimated Sales Value					1
Impaired Parcels of Real Estate					4
Impaired Fee Ownership Company Operated Restaurants					4
IHOP Cafe Company Operated Restaurants Closed									2
Franchise Restaurants Taken Back by the Company and Closed										2