I just returned before midnight yesterday. Between laundry and errands, I will post what I can. I'm glad this thread was started as I wanted to share what I experienced. The first half of our trip was reg. DDP that we paid for and the second was free dining. Wow. Be sure you have all of your ADR's ready and give yourself plenty of time to wait to be seated. Then, remember that you are at WDW and don't sweat the small stuff.
Where do I even start...before I left home, WDW called me to be sure I had ADR's for the popular free dining package and offered to help if I didn't. I had the hint that there was going to be issues from this phone call. Luckily, I did have all ADR's months in advance.
With the ADR's we experienced waits from as little as 15 to 20 minutes to as long as 45 minutes (Sci-Fi diniing). During the waiting period, I observed many guests yelling at CM's about not being seated, guests stomping around that they didn't know what the point of a "reservation" was
, guests stopping in hoping to get a table only to be told that they were booked solid for the remainder of that person's trip...Once we were seated we had some good and bad service. I really think the bad service was because the places were justing busting at the seams with people. Great service still at Kona cafe, Coral Reef and Nine Dragons. Bad service at Sci-Fi and Boma. Our waiter at Sci-Fi hardly came to our table at all, we waited forever to get our check, he seemed to be very unhappy working there -- not faulting the guy so much because I'm sure it was completely overwhelming to have so many customers, but it wasn't enjoyable to be one of them either. Boma--yeah, it is a buffet...so we shouldn't need much service right? Well, that's what we got. We were seated and our drink orders were taken. We eventually did get a refill. DH and I each ordered a drink from the bar (important to the story later). While we were getting dessets, our table was 3/4 cleared! Normally, I wouldn't blame the server, but she came over and said "sorry, I made a mistake and started to clear your table"--ok mistakes happen. A little more of a slip for her to do it than a bus boy as she knew that we hadn't paid yet. Not a huge deal (a little disappointed that she threw out the mixed drinks we hadn't quite finished) but she didn't even replace our silverware. We didn't dare try to flag her down to get new, it would have taken 20 minutes. The place was packed and so noisy. We shared the silverware that our family had left on the table
But, here was was what irked me...when the server brought our bills--the one that was seperate for the drinks had an 18% tip already added on! It wasn't a big bill and the difference was small, but I'm big on principle--we didn't want to give her the full 18% tip on the drinks she threw out. Petty, I know some are thinking. Fine. We are good tippers, but tip for good service. No other restaurant pre-added the tip. This was good for those servers as we tipped far above 18%. Maybe servers weren't getting tipped on the seperate bills? I'm curious to know.
On the upside, the food was still very good everywhere. It did not seem to be compromised one bit.
For those thinking of using child credits for adults, I don't know anything for sure, but I would have a back up plan. The CM's were definitely looking at our plan and telling us it was for 4 adults and 1 child (this is how we used the plan and always intended). The receipts still just recorded the numbers of TS's credits left though and didn't make distinction. But, it seemed that if you are planning to work the system, you may need to be prepared for it not going as well as you think. JMHO.
CS/QS-- grab your table while another in your party orders and you'll be fine.
Snacks-selection is great
We only used 4 of 20 snack credits in the parks and were able to go to the gift shop and stock up on all kinds of goodies to bring home. I have peppermint tins, shortbread cookies, lollipops, etc. Anything that was $4 or less.
Also regarding snacks...this was odd and may not last. We were leaving and cramming in one last QS meal before our flight at Mara (AKL). I got MM Rice Krispy treats for dessert, btw to take with us...the cashier saw that we had 2 QS meals left. She said that if we want we could get 4 MM rice krispy treats for each of the remaining QS meals to take home (wow--another 8 treats to give to the neighborhood kids). She rang it up and said "see it will come up that it can't count as an entree, but we have a button to over ride it." She then added "it won't be long before they take that button away from us".
Other notes--I believe I saw this listed in another post but didn't read them all...on the television it said you could use a TS credit for a CS meal and get 2 snacks or a pin or a poster (something like that). It also suggested that people try to get ADR's for lunch instead of dinner.
I was hoping to switch a ADR so we could go to Kona cafe again (it was so good). Concierge was looking at the spreadsheet and told me everything was booked for the rest of the time we were there in the resorts solid. There were a few lunch ADR's available in the parks...
I really felt badly for people who didn't make ADR's prior to their trip and planned to enjoy Disney dining.
As far as the parks go...to me it seemed that there was a big increase in attendance when free dining started. However, we were there mostly in the evenings as we were doing some off-site things. But, fast passes were distributed early in day. Lines were long. When we left on the 17th, the wait time for Soarin' (no fast passes left) was 90 minutes (this was around 3 pm). One evening, I spoke with a family who paid $40 for 3 Fast Pass tickets to ride Rockin Roller Coaster (may have the name wrong--you know the Aerosmith one). The dad said he stood at the fast pass entrance and said he'd pay $40 for 3 passes and he bought them within a few minutes. The dad said this was their last day and they wanted to ride it, but had to get to Sci-Fi for their reservation. This seemed kind of weird or sad to me, I don't know which.
It seemed that the free dining package was oversold and in the end a lot of people weren't getting what they thought they were buying. JMHO. I think DDP is a good deal even paying for it and the first half of our trip had much more relaxed meals (overall). I am glad if it makes a vacation affordable for families. But, DH and I have decided that we will try to plan our next trip when there isn't a free dining promotion.
I hope things get better as the free dining promo goes along and wish everyone using the promotion a wonderful trip. If you are prepared as I know most reading are and are patient, it will be fine. You will enjoy a lot of wonderful food!
I think sometimes people are too quick to criticize CMs ~~ I, like you, think that there are going to be many frustrated and frazzled CMs in the coming weeks ....
were there friday for 14 nights of it.on diet this week just water
