I think the real crowds for the free dining plan will happen this weekend...

[Bete]

Has anyone encountered bad crowds at their free table service dining restaurants so far? I'm especially interested in those who are there right now. Dis you get in for your ressie or did you have to wait? Has it affected your service at the restaurant?

We leave on Friday and I heard our resort is sold out. This is scaring me about the crowds.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

mods and values are all sold out for this coming weekend!!! we know it will be crowded, but we're ready to deal with it!! we're soo excited!!!

we check in friday but are driving down wednesday!!!! wooohoo!!!

 

[Disney's Fab 4]

BETE and Disneymommymichelle...............

Can either of you answer my question....

Do either of you know when they start offering free DDP? (I understand that you never know if they will/will not offer it for free. BUT) I am just curious for next year, when to start checking?????? I had remembered seeing it way back when, but back then I was thinking of going a different time of year.....


ANY HELP for either of you would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

I booked in April, can't think of the date, but i booked the very first dayit was open to the public. I had just heard of it in March too, so i booked right away. we were travelling in November so we only had to change our ressie and our money transfered over.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I'm not worried at all. You'll find the crowds pick up thursday of next week, then they really get jambed Friday and Saturday. This weekend's crowds will pale in comparison.

 

[llqool]

we leave on Thursday and i'm so worried about the crowds. I carefully planned our park days around the EMH (we won't go to a park that has it), but I'm still nervous since it's the end of free dining/beginning of F&W Festival (which, of course, is why we'll be there!).

 

[bettybeth]

I'm not worried at all. You'll find the crowds pick up thursday of next week, then they really get jambed Friday and Saturday. This weekend's crowds will pale in comparison.

Oh, I wish I had your confidence!

 

[PoohHappens]

We went last year at the tail end, we checked in 1 day before the end of free DP and stayed on for 6 days. Everyone said that it had not been busy until the F&W festival started. We noticed the same. It was still very tolerable and we were traveling with 8 people and had dinner ressies for 8 all week. It was busy but fine. I hope everyone has a wonderful trip, we are sad to be missing it this year.

 

[sandybobandy]

We arrive Saturday and really aren't that nervous.

We did free dining last year (checked in on the last day of the offer and stayed for 5 nights) and POFQ was totally sold out and the parks seemed to be at 25% capacity. There were minimal waits and while the restaurants were packed, the parks simply were not.

I can only hope it's the same this year!

 

[PureTcrazy]

We are leaving Thursday and will be there Thursday afternoon. It is my DGD (3) first trip. There are 12 of us. Hopefully, most of the people in the parks will be people from the hotels and not from off-site too! I am so excited I can hardly keep myself in my skin!

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

I pick good weeks for Disney. The first trip we took, I picked Jersey Week. I had no idea beforeheand but once I found the Dis, I knew we were in for crowds. It was also a HOT Jersey week. The following year I chose Columbus Day week, again crowds. This year I picked the end of free dining frenzy,coupled with the start of F&W Festival. Throw in the lovebugs and my magical vacation is starting to seem scary! I'm used to crowds by now but I;m sure they are nowhere near the summertime crowds.

 

[henry lutz]

we leave on Thursday and i'm so worried about the crowds. I carefully planned our park days around the EMH (we won't go to a park that has it), but I'm still nervous since it's the end of free dining/beginning of F&W Festival (which, of course, is why we'll be there!).

hi
I am going in may and I am doing all the planning. (first time)
Is it that bad with EMH
Is the morning bad as well ?
I thought about going to EMH park in the morning and returning in the evening.
What are your thoughts..please.
thanks

 

[Aimeedyan]

There are LOTS of things going on right now, including some sports events and conferences. Last weekend was the marathon, I believe, and the hotels were packed but the parks were not.

The only restaurant that we had to wait more than 5 minutes for a table was Coral Reef on Saturday night. They told us they had gotten backed up but were trying to catch up. Everything else was easy to get into (many taking walk ups) and the parks weren't crowded even on the weekend.

 

[Disney's Fab 4]

I booked in April, can't think of the date, but i booked the very first dayit was open to the public. I had just heard of it in March too, so i booked right away. we were travelling in November so we only had to change our ressie and our money transfered over.

thank you, Disneymommymichelle!

 

[triplefigs]

We're here right now. The crowds are non-existant! Walk ons for Soarin and Test Track today. No crowds Sat at MK or yesteday at MGM. I'm doing a live report with pics if you want more details. The restaurants are booked. We had to wait a few minutes at each, but have gotten great service! We're loving it. Only problem is it's so HOT!

 

[llqool]

hi
I am going in may and I am doing all the planning. (first time)
Is it that bad with EMH
Is the morning bad as well ?
I thought about going to EMH park in the morning and returning in the evening.
What are your thoughts..please.
thanks

i don't want to hijack this thread and totally turn the subject here, *but*...
this is really a matter of personal opinion. there are several schools of thought on it. My idea is that people who don't have park hoppers as well as people who want to maximize the amt of time in the parks will gravitate to the park that has EMH. Since my husband really hates big crowds, we try to go to whatever park *doesn't* have the extra hours (and we also typically go in the off-season). I do think that the morning extra hours are probably worth going to, just as it's worth it to go to *any* of the parks right when it opens.

 

[katebeth]

Well, we are going to Disney next week. We are going to the parks on Tue, Wed and Thurs. Hopefully being that it is the middle of the week, they will not be as crowded as the weekends

Cant Wait!!!!!!!!