Free Dining and Crowds?

[wiseguyslovethemouse]

Not sure if I should be asking this somewhere else, and can't believe I'm asking at all, but here goes! :thumbsup2 We're going to the World in December for a surprise trip. HOWEVER. My parents just mentioned going again, yes again in September for free dining!! :cool1: My only question/concern is this. During free dining, (which we've never done) are the crowds really that much lower? I know they offer the dining then since supposedly all the kids are in school and "noone" is there. But doesn't free dining bring in the crowds then? :confused3 I guess I ask, because I wouldn't take the kids out of school so early in the year, (esp. when we're going in Dec) if it was going to be just as crowded as any other time. Thoughts?

Thank you free diners!!! :)

[rgf207]

Crowds used to be lower before free dining. They are starting to pick up a lot. They are not near as what they would be for the summer/christmas but it will be more crowded

[wiseguyslovethemouse]

Crowds used to be lower before free dining. They are starting to pick up a lot. They are not near as what they would be for the summer/christmas but it will be more crowded

Thank you. If I may, just one more question. Do you know how they'd compare to the crowds in other "slow seasons"? We typically do early Nov, or Spring, but never around Easter.

Thanks! :wizard:

[mbanks21]

Id say good luck finding a room available with the free dine offer. Last I checked they were about 92% booked up. If youre going with 7 people youre going to need two rooms also...

[wiseguyslovethemouse]

Id say good luck finding a room available with the free dine offer. Last I checked they were about 92% booked up. If youre going with 7 people youre going to need two rooms also...

There's six of us. :) And I checked this morning and can get one room at BWI or two at Coronado, so we're all set. :thumbsup2

[aubriee]

I usually go every year for free dining, then again around the second week in December for the Christmas decorations, then again the first or second week in May for the Flower Festival. September is less crowded than either Dec or May. However, as another poster has already said, you can see the numbers picking up every September, it seems like. Attendance is still the lightest of the year, but not as great as it used to be. The lines in the parks are great, but TS restaurants are totally packed. People that would normally eat alot of CS flock to the TS restaurants.

[girli565]

Crowds used to be lower before free dining. They are starting to pick up a lot. They are not near as what they would be for the summer/christmas but it will be more crowded
I only go in teh summer and October for F&W so I'm sure for me the crowds will be nothing compared to full on summer crowds.

I'm excited to see lower crowds.

But I have heard that the restaurants are really crowded.

[iluvpluto27]

I've was there for free dining in 2005 and 2007. It was definitely busier last year but it was still pretty uncrowded, especcially during the morning hours.

[gigi1313]

Id say good luck finding a room available with the free dine offer. Last I checked they were about 92% booked up. If youre going with 7 people youre going to need two rooms also...


where are you getting your 92% statistic? i've gone in and booked rooms for various dates during FD and have had no trouble... yes, some of the value resorts are sold out, and other resorts have only certain room classes available... but overall, i'd say there is still a decent amount of availability based on my research :)

[nyyankeegirl]

The crowds are still light in Sept. for FD. The restaurants on the other hand, are crazy!! The ride lines are still only a 10 min. wait. I'd say it's worth it to go at that time. We are going a week after FD ends :headache: Not much I can do about -- DS starts track out on Sept. 27 -- oh well! Guess we'll just have to pay for our food this year.

[justplaingoofy]

Keep in mind that even though the Disney property resorts will be pretty full, it is still the slow season for all those that usually stay off property & time shares.


If you were planning on going in Sept and staying off property & disney offered their free dining wouldn't you do it? No car rental, no parking fees, free food?::yes::

[TDC Nala]

Park crowds should not be too bad.

The restaurants will be packed to the gills.

[mpls_mm]

It seems like it might be more full because of free dining, but what do people think about crowds for people with younger kids? Do you think since kids are in school it is lighter during the week for character meals and little kid rides? Mine won't go near Space Mountain or Expedition, but I had hoped crowds to do character dining and to meet characters would be light. Is that right?

[rgf207]

It seems like it might be more full because of free dining, but what do people think about crowds for people with younger kids? Do you think since kids are in school it is lighter during the week for character meals and little kid rides? Mine won't go near Space Mountain or Expedition, but I had hoped crowds to do character dining and to meet characters would be light. Is that right?
Nope. All restaurants are difficult to get into. More so the Character Meals, signature restaurants and restaurants within the parks

As others have said. You will see lighter crowds in the parks but the restaurants will be jam packed. Walk-ins will be turned away and ADR's will be difficult to get

[TDC Nala]

but I had hoped crowds to do character dining and to meet characters would be light. Is that right?


Character dining will be anything but light. Any sort of table service dining will be crowded. Character meals will be one of the most crowded types. Parents will take children, especially young ones who won't be missing much, out of school to take advantage of the free dining.

I don't know about the meet and greet lines in the parks. The parks on Labor Day weekend (I have experience with that weekend only) are nowhere near as crowded as the restaurants.

If you want character meals during the free dining period, you MUST have a reservation or risk not getting in at all.

[mpls_mm]

I've got all my ADR's made, I just was hoping it wasn't a madhouse like Thanksgiving week. Even with ADRs we waited an hour or more for nearly every meal.

[gigi1313]

we had very tolerable waits the last few years during FD... last year we were a party of 6 or 12 and never waited more than 15 mins that i can recall :)

[aubriee]

As I said previously, I have gone every year during free dining and while the parks attendance is very low, the TS restaurants are crazy. Every year we have seen walk ups turned away at multiple restaurants. We have also seen signs at the front of the parks, saying either no restaurants had any openings or else just a very few would be listed as being available.

We have seen LOTS of very angry folks either begging or yelling at CMs, about "Disney sold us this free dining, but now won't let us in anywhere to eat". I don't know how many times I've heard that phrase the last few Septembers. We've seen people demanding managers and also people stalking off yelling, "I'm going to guest services to see what they say. I'll be back!". I saw one lady really lose it trying to get into Crystal Palace last year. They were in line just in front of us to check in. Her little boy was so sad. He looked in the window, saw all the characters, and then asked his mom, "Are you sure they're going to let us eat here? Everywhere else has told us no all week." His mom promised him she'd get them in. Her husband, snorted, and walked a little away from her. When the CM asked about ADRs and turned them away, the mom really lost it. She pulled the little boy forward, yelled at the CM, "I promised my son he'd get to eat with Pooh and by God if we can't eat with them, at least we are going to get their autographs". She then tried to drag the little boy around and inside the door, with the CMs blocking them. A manager and security had to be called. The little boy just looked so accepting, as if that was what he expected. Mom was making a fool of herself and dad just looked disgusted with mom.

[PrincessTiffany]

Not sure if I should be asking this somewhere else, and can't believe I'm asking at all, but here goes! :thumbsup2 We're going to the World in December for a surprise trip. HOWEVER. My parents just mentioned going again, yes again in September for free dining!! :cool1: My only question/concern is this. During free dining, (which we've never done) are the crowds really that much lower? I know they offer the dining then since supposedly all the kids are in school and "noone" is there. But doesn't free dining bring in the crowds then? :confused3 I guess I ask, because I wouldn't take the kids out of school so early in the year, (esp. when we're going in Dec) if it was going to be just as crowded as any other time. Thoughts?

Thank you free diners!!! :)
Here is a copy of my trip report from last September (Disclaimer: I have read literally hundreds of posts talking about last years crowds and heat and apparently the consensus is that we were there during the hottest (broke heat records 3 of the days we were there - 108 heat index on September 15 at MK) and busiest week of Free Dining last year. And I do want to reiterate that we did have fun. Just be prepared for the heat and crowds) :

We went this past Sept. from 9/14 - 9/22. Now, don't get me wrong, we did have a great time. Afterall, it is Disney World and we are Disney fanatics, but it was crowded and very hot (I don't mean a little hot. I mean sweltering. When you came out of an air-conditioned ride and walked out in the heat it would take your breath way hot). I live in Alabama, I know what hot is and it was hot, hot hot. Did I mention it was hot?

It rained at least a little bit every afternoon we were there. On one day, without any warning, no menacing clouds or noticeable wind change, the sky just opened up and poured. It poured so hard, it was like the sky opened up and dumped a bucket of water on your head. There wasn't even time to put our ponchos on. By the time we drug everyone's ponchos out and put them on the rain stopped. We then left for our Ohana ADR looking like someone had just thrown us in the hotel pool - literally socked to the bone. ):


We did have awesome food on our trip. We ate at Chef Mickey's, Liberty Tree, Planet Hollywood, 50's Primetime Cafe, Garden Grill, Cinderella's Royal Table, Ohana (best meal we had), and Crystal Palce. We had ADRs for all and always had to wait at least 20 minutes for our table. Saw them turning away walk-ups at all restaurants. Counter service was not too crowded, but we tried to eat early around 11:30 a.m.

I am a faithful fan of the UG and if it weren't for knowing about their touring plans and knowing how to utilize the Fastpasss system the lines would not have been as manageable. There was the occasion that you walked up to something in the late afternoon and there was only a 10 or 15 minute wait, but most of the headliners kept 30 minute or more waits. At MK on our last day Space Mountain had a 75 minute wait at 3:30 p.m! Now, to you Christmas week, Easter week, or July 4th people that probably doesn't sound too bad, but we specifically booked these dates for low crowds, and there were not low crowds maybe medium-ish.

When we left we had every intention of booking the Free Dining bounceback for next September that they were offering, but after the terrible heat and crowds my husband said he would happily pay the $1300 we saved on this trip and put it towards a slower, cooler time to visit.

We have previously been at the end of January into the first part of February and have also been end of November into first of December and those are the times we will be planning our future WDW vacations.

I don't want to rain on anybody's September Free Dining parade (excuse the pun ), because we really did have a good time (the Halloween party alone was worth the trip), but I wanted to be honest about the heat and crowds so others will know what to expect and not be disappointed.

[justplaingoofy]

We've been every September for the last 5 yrs and its our favorite time of the year to go:love:
Sure its hot, but for us its managable. (we are from the North East and not used to hot weather).

We arrive at the parks just prior to the rope drop and hit all the headliner attractions, and leave around noon'ish to go back to the hotel to cool off/swim/rest. (We bring with us face cloths from the room & zip lock bags, & mini misting fans to keep us cool.).. after our break we head back to a park around 4:30-5'ish for dinner(in a/c)and more park touring fireworks, etc.
We save shows and things in the air conditioning for later in the morning or early evening when its hotter.

other things we do in the afternoon if we don't want to swim is hop on the monorail and tour the hotels (nice & cool), then maybe grab a bus to downtown disney for some shopping..

[wiseguyslovethemouse]

Keep in mind that even though the Disney property resorts will be pretty full, it is still the slow season for all those that usually stay off property & time shares.


If you were planning on going in Sept and staying off property & disney offered their free dining wouldn't you do it? No car rental, no parking fees, free food?::yes::

I guess I never thought of it that way....hmmm...

On a side note, you live on the Cape??? Sooo jealous; we've gone every summer since I was a kid, and I miss it the rest of the year! ::yes::

[wiseguyslovethemouse]

Park crowds should not be too bad.

The restaurants will be packed to the gills.

At the risk of asking a *really* dumb question....if everyone is saying that the restaurants are going to be packed, but the parks will have light crowds, where are these people going after they eat? It just seems to me that if the reservations are nowhere to be had, then the parks would be crowded too, no? And when we do go at other times, Oct/Nov/March/May, it seems like some days the restaurants couldn't get any more crowded, but they do?

Thanks all for helping a girl out! :worship:

[jlewisinsyr]

The restaurants are packed because of the dining plan. There is not enough capacity at all of the table service Disney restaurants (in every park, resort, etc) to accomodate every attendee of just Magic Kingdom in one average attendance day.

The purpose of the dining plan was to get more people to stay at the resorts (it's a Disney resort only perk) and to fill the restaurants, which prior to the dining plan were not packed. It worked great.

The second piece is during free dining, it's the slow season in Florida, so very few of the off-site restaurants are packed or even partially full, so all of these additional possible attendees are not in the parks either.

I went to Disney (staying at the GF) last year during Free Dining. The Disney stay was something sort of an afterthought after we booked our cruise. So we did a week in Disney followed by a week cruise to the Western Caribbean. We went from September 10th - 16th. It was VERY quiet at the parks besides the restaurants.

The signature dining restaurants were more quiet then the regular table service places, I think this had a lot to do with the basic dining plan, not really leaving a lot for allocating credits to a two credit restaurant without paying OOP somewhere else. Also, beyond a long wait at Chef de France and Coral Reef, both of which I thought afterwords were overrated and not worth it anyway, we didn't wait more then 10 minutes to get a table after checking in for our ADRs.

Park wise, only one or two rides had a long wait, meaning longer then 20 minutes. Most had either no wait (walk right up) or up to a 10 minute wait.

[catne]

Id say good luck finding a room available with the free dine offer. Last I checked they were about 92% booked up. If youre going with 7 people youre going to need two rooms also...

The park crowds are smaller than most other touring seasons, because most U.S. kids are in school, or heading back to school at that time of year so fewer families will be taking vacations (even those who pull their kids out to vacation don't usually do it in the first month of school...they wait til kids have a chance to settle in to the new grade.) There are lots of empty hotel rooms in Florida at the end of August right up until holiday season begins. Not sure about your "92%" figure...if it's accurate, I'd guess it's referring to the FD rooms allocated at some of the value resorts...but there are plenty of non-free dining rooms still available. Disney only allocates a portion of their rooms for the free dining promotion; some rooms are also allocated for other discount offers, some for AAA, etc. So even if 92% of the the FD rooms are booked, that's not near full for all Disney resorts, much less the thousands of rooms in greater Orlando area.

[septbaby]

Don't take the kids out of school. Grab the 2yo and you head down with the grands. That way you can see for yourself. ;)

[PrincessTiffany]

The park crowds are smaller than most other touring seasons, because most U.S. kids are in school, or heading back to school at that time of year so fewer families will be taking vacations (even those who pull their kids out to vacation don't usually do it in the first month of school...they wait til kids have a chance to settle in to the new grade.) There are lots of empty hotel rooms in Florida at the end of August right up until holiday season begins. Not sure about your "92%" figure...if it's accurate, I'd guess it's referring to the FD rooms allocated at some of the value resorts...but there are plenty of non-free dining rooms still available. Disney only allocates a portion of their rooms for the free dining promotion; some rooms are also allocated for other discount offers, some for AAA, etc. So even if 92% of the the FD rooms are booked, that's not near full for all Disney resorts, much less the thousands of rooms in greater Orlando area.
Our 4 kids started school last year on August 8 and we took them out of school September 14 -22 and also, my BIL and SIL took their 3 kids out, not to mention the hundreds of posts I have read here on the DIS about people taking their kids out for Free Dining. We know a lot of families where we live that also took their kids out of school for Free Dining. There were thousands of school age kids in the parks while we were there. The week we were there, we found the crowds to be medium-ish, not low.

[wiseguyslovethemouse]

Don't take the kids out of school. Grab the 2yo and you head down with the grands. That way you can see for yourself. ;)

:lmao: Oh! Now you're talking!!!!

[wiseguyslovethemouse]

Here is a copy of my trip report from last September (Disclaimer: I have read literally hundreds of posts talking about last years crowds and heat and apparently the consensus is that we were there during the hottest (broke heat records 3 of the days we were there - 108 heat index on September 15 at MK) and busiest week of Free Dining last year. And I do want to reiterate that we did have fun. Just be prepared for the heat and crowds) :

We went this past Sept. from 9/14 - 9/22. Now, don't get me wrong, we did have a great time. Afterall, it is Disney World and we are Disney fanatics, but it was crowded and very hot (I don't mean a little hot. I mean sweltering. When you came out of an air-conditioned ride and walked out in the heat it would take your breath way hot). I live in Alabama, I know what hot is and it was hot, hot hot. Did I mention it was hot?

It rained at least a little bit every afternoon we were there. On one day, without any warning, no menacing clouds or noticeable wind change, the sky just opened up and poured. It poured so hard, it was like the sky opened up and dumped a bucket of water on your head. There wasn't even time to put our ponchos on. By the time we drug everyone's ponchos out and put them on the rain stopped. We then left for our Ohana ADR looking like someone had just thrown us in the hotel pool - literally socked to the bone. ):


We did have awesome food on our trip. We ate at Chef Mickey's, Liberty Tree, Planet Hollywood, 50's Primetime Cafe, Garden Grill, Cinderella's Royal Table, Ohana (best meal we had), and Crystal Palce. We had ADRs for all and always had to wait at least 20 minutes for our table. Saw them turning away walk-ups at all restaurants. Counter service was not too crowded, but we tried to eat early around 11:30 a.m.

I am a faithful fan of the UG and if it weren't for knowing about their touring plans and knowing how to utilize the Fastpasss system the lines would not have been as manageable. There was the occasion that you walked up to something in the late afternoon and there was only a 10 or 15 minute wait, but most of the headliners kept 30 minute or more waits. At MK on our last day Space Mountain had a 75 minute wait at 3:30 p.m! Now, to you Christmas week, Easter week, or July 4th people that probably doesn't sound too bad, but we specifically booked these dates for low crowds, and there were not low crowds maybe medium-ish.

When we left we had every intention of booking the Free Dining bounceback for next September that they were offering, but after the terrible heat and crowds my husband said he would happily pay the $1300 we saved on this trip and put it towards a slower, cooler time to visit.

We have previously been at the end of January into the first part of February and have also been end of November into first of December and those are the times we will be planning our future WDW vacations.

I don't want to rain on anybody's September Free Dining parade (excuse the pun ), because we really did have a good time (the Halloween party alone was worth the trip), but I wanted to be honest about the heat and crowds so others will know what to expect and not be disappointed.

Thanks SO much for the info. And believe me, noone is raining on my parade, because I definitely want both pros and cons! :goodvibes Thanks a million!! I have some thinking to do! And while I'm at it, you said the first part of December; just curious since we'll be there then....can the kids still swim?

TIA!

[PrincessTiffany]

Thanks SO much for the info. And believe me, noone is raining on my parade, because I definitely want both pros and cons! :goodvibes Thanks a million!! I have some thinking to do! And while I'm at it, you said the first part of December; just curious since we'll be there then....can the kids still swim?

TIA!
The last time we were there in early December the week started off really warm (80 degrees on our first day) and the kids swam a few times. Also, the pools are heated. But, by the end of the week a cold front came in and we were in jackets and did not swim anymore.

[justplaingoofy]

Our 4 kids started school last year on August 8 and we took them out of school September 14 -22 and also, my BIL and SIL took their 3 kids out, not to mention the hundreds of posts I have read here on the DIS about people taking their kids out for Free Dining. We know a lot of families where we live that also took their kids out of school for Free Dining. There were thousands of school age kids in the parks while we were there. The week we were there, we found the crowds to be medium-ish, not low.

Alot of the "taking kids out of school" thing depends on where you live. There are alot of schools that don't start until the day AFTER Labor Day.
I know down there in the South they start earlier making it about a month or so they are already in school. So I'm sure alot of parents don't want to take kids out the first or second week of school :)

[asmit4]

We have seen LOTS of very angry folks either begging or yelling at CMs, about "Disney sold us this free dining, but now won't let us in anywhere to eat". I don't know how many times I've heard that phrase the last few Septembers. We've seen people demanding managers and also people stalking off yelling, "I'm going to guest services to see what they say. I'll be back!". I saw one lady really lose it trying to get into Crystal Palace last year. They were in line just in front of us to check in. Her little boy was so sad. He looked in the window, saw all the characters, and then asked his mom, "Are you sure they're going to let us eat here? Everywhere else has told us no all week." His mom promised him she'd get them in. Her husband, snorted, and walked a little away from her. When the CM asked about ADRs and turned them away, the mom really lost it. She pulled the little boy forward, yelled at the CM, "I promised my son he'd get to eat with Pooh and by God if we can't eat with them, at least we are going to get their autographs". She then tried to drag the little boy around and inside the door, with the CMs blocking them. A manager and security had to be called. The little boy just looked so accepting, as if that was what he expected. Mom was making a fool of herself and dad just looked disgusted with mom.


I feel bad for the child, but when I read things like this I don't feel too bad for the parents. DW has sent me a special notice in the mail about planning our free DDP trip. it is VERY clear that you have to book ADRs for TS meals. They bring it up to you everytime you call to make any changes in your ressie too. I find it so odd that people treat DW like it's just another day trip to a theme park- like a six flags.

You don't see an entire section of the library devoted to Six flags theme park planning, yet there are 100s of books and websites about DW. I often wonder what kind of lives people lead when they pay perhaps thousands of dollars on a trip but do little to no planning. So much so that they dont even know the basics.

I have found many people who don't like DW. When asked why, they make statements like 'there is nothing to do at MK besides 4 or 5 rides, we couldn't find a place to sit down and eat, the lines were too long'....all of these things, even during high season can be worked out with a bit of planning. I bet you these parents that went during the free DDP and didn't make ADRs got home and told their family and friends how DW 'screwed' them...:confused3 :mad:

[TDC Nala]

if everyone is saying that the restaurants are going to be packed, but the parks will have light crowds, where are these people going after they eat?

The parks close rather early in September. Also, the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is going to be run throughout September this year, so early closings at MK on Fridays and Tuesdays unless you attend the party.

[SnowWitch]

Maybe the poster who stated the resorts were 92% booked was only referring to the rooms held for free dining. I just searched all levels of resorts and they all including the value resorts have different categories of rooms available. Now if you search free dining rooms then it is much much more limited. We have all ADR's booked, most days a 2 TS restaurant and a 1 TS. Our plan tour hard in the am, then a nice 4 hr break during the hot part of the day and back to the packs for 3-4 hrs in the evening.