Irritated already!

[minniemous]

No. The PP erroneously said that it was false that free dining isn't really free. All I did was point out that yes the food is free, but the room is at rack rate. In PP's case, it was a good deal in value season at All Star Sports. But that's not the case for everyone and some people are blinded by the ruse of free dining and may ultimately pay more because they don't know any better. I wasn't saying PP didn't get a good deal. Just correcting a false blanket statement.

I think few people are "blinded by the ruse of free dining". Either it works for people or it does not. As a family of 3 staying at a moderate resort for 11 nights wanting to do some sit down character meals as well as eat the entire trip... it is always a much better deal to get free dining for us. Unless we can eat for 11 days for about $250 which is about the savings we get with % off the room. Of course a family of 2 or 3 staying at deluxe resort might see better savings with the % off the room but someone going through the trouble of booking a free dining package has most definitely determined what offer is best.

Back to the OP's issue. I know good money was spent on the vacation and I am sorry the fast pass selection did not work out so great, but everyone has spent good money on their vacation and just because you paid a little more does not entitle you to step in before the people not paying for dining. They simply took advantage of a sale that you also could have taken advantage of.

If you had booked a free dining back in May I am sure you would not feel so rosy about not having fast passes because it was given to people who had paid for dining. With your logic...anyone staying in a deluxe should get fast passes before Moderate etc. because they paid more. That would not go over too well.

Keep in mind that even if you had first bite at the apple because you did not take advantage of a sale... waiting until the next morning to get fast passes might still have been too late. The fast pass system is what it is (even if it is not the best system) and there are only so many fast passes. So if you really needed one specific ride or meet and greet then staying up the night before was your best option regardless.

Believe me I know that you would think doing it at 7:30 on the calendar day the window opened up would be sufficient and it is frustrating that it did not work out. I can commiserate with that certainly. However basing it on whether a person paid for dining does not work.

 

[dfb]

How do you "hoard" FPs? Do you mean "book"?

From what I've read on these boards some people, usually extended stay folks with the 60+10 FP availability select more than one day of FPs to the top attractions (A&E / 7DMT) but refine their plans as they get closer to their trip. Instead of seeing A&E for 4 days they choose the best day for them to see A&E and then swap the other days Fps for different more easily attainable attractions. Yes they are selecting their FPs, reserving, booking or whatever term you want to use. I'm not a huge fan of FP+ so I used maybe a more derogatory word "hoard", as they hold onto extra FPs they don't need or will not ultimately use.

The point I was conveying to the OP is for this reason and many others, sometimes FPs become available as trip time approaches.

 

[Lisaloo]

From what I've read on these boards some people, usually extended stay folks with the 60+10 FP availability select more than one day of FPs to the top attractions (A&E / 7DMT) but refine their plans as they get closer to their trip. Instead of seeing A&E for 4 days they choose the best day for them to see A&E and then swap the other days Fps for different more easily attainable attractions. Yes they are selecting their FPs, reserving, booking or whatever term you want to use. I'm not a huge fan of FP+ so I used maybe a more derogatory word "hoard", as they hold onto extra FPs they don't need or will not ultimately use.

The point I was conveying to the OP is for this reason and many others, sometimes FPs become available as trip time approaches.

Gotcha.
I booked 7dmt for each day we were going to be in MK because my daughter adores it and we wanted to ride it. I was also up at midnight to make my selections and I had them written out (and I used DIS advice to make the most of my choices). We really didn't have much trouble swapping out a few FP on our park days (in July) but pre-planning seems critical. It doesn't sound like OP made the most of those important hours when the FP window opened.

 

[jvncnt]

Meh. People take time off from work to do all kinds of things I wouldn't do.

Taking off from work to book your fastpasses is never necessary, it's just a matter of what your priorities are. Personally, I wouldn't do it, but I don't feel like my vacation will be ruined if I don't get a specific fastpass or get to eat in a certain restaurant. To me, it seems incredibly silly to feel that way, but I suppose others disagree.

Couldn't agree more with this! In fact, those that feel like missing BOG or ride a ride via fastpass as opposed to standby are just setting themselves up for failure. I agree that FP+ can be frustrating, but you are still going to Disney. You really can still go without a single ADR or FP+ and have fun. You don't have to lower your expectations to do it, you just have to relax a bit.

 

[nkereina]

LOL, it was still free.

You're missing the entire point. You may want to go back and re-read. We're not talking about whether the food was free or not.

I think few people are "blinded by the ruse of free dining". Either it works for people or it does not. As a family of 3 staying at a moderate resort for 11 nights wanting to do some sit down character meals as well as eat the entire trip... it is always a much better deal to get free dining for us. Unless we can eat for 11 days for about $250 which is about the savings we get with % off the room. Of course a family of 2 or 3 staying at deluxe resort might see better savings with the % off the room but someone going through the trouble of booking a free dining package has most definitely determined what offer is best.

You're proving my point. The math needs to be done by each individual family in order to see if it's a good deal for them or not. In your case, it is. When I say "blinded by the ruse of free dining", I mean that people hear free dining and think they will save a fortune because they know how expensive food is at WDW. In reality, they don't understand that 20-30% off a room, depending on where they're staying and how long, MAY be a better savings. So the math is never done and they may ultimately end up paying more on free dining. Those of us on the DisBoards get it, but all my friends and family who are casual Disney travelers or who have never been thinking free dining is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It isn't always and it's proven by calculations. That's all I'm saying.

 

[nkereina]

But the point is that unless there are ZERO room discounts available, it is true that it is not free. It costs the difference between rack rate and a discounted rate at whatever resort you choose.

That may be a minimal amount, on a value resort, making FD a great deal. But there is still a "cost".

This, exactly. Nothing is free at Disney World.

 

[dfb]

Gotcha.
I booked 7dmt for each day we were going to be in MK because my daughter adores it and we wanted to ride it. I was also up at midnight to make my selections and I had them written out (and I used DIS advice to make the most of my choices). We really didn't have much trouble swapping out a few FP on our park days (in July) but pre-planning seems critical. It doesn't sound like OP made the most of those important hours when the FP window opened.

Yep, some folks get the FPs they want no problems and some don't no matter how diligent. I know for me I could not have attempted to select the A&E FP any earlier than I did and I had no luck. Too many variables to say for sure but only thing I can attribute to is the extended stay folks. I don't assume to know how diligent the OP was in their quest but I can relate to the frustration.

 

[mom2rtk]

You're missing the entire point. You may want to go back and re-read. We're not talking about whether the food was free or not.

No, I just see it differently. We'll have to agree to disagree on this.

Through the years, I just have never gotten the angst over one of the most popular discount programs ever offered by Disney.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I booked 7 DMT twice in our stay & Test Track 3 times. DS loves TT, haven't been to 7DMT yet. If we hate it, we may let the second FP go. We didn't book anything we didn't want in MK, however we have a few 'filler' FPs at HS as we don't have many favs there.

Lucky for us, DS is not an A&E fan. Now if it was a minion, we'd be waiting in line for hours.

 

[bbjunkie]

How do you "hoard" FPs? Do you mean "book"?

Book a 7DMT for every day of your 10-day trip, when you know you will only use them on three days. Then. A week or two out when you know you won't be in MK on specific dates of your trip, dropping 7 of them. They become available to others,

 

[busymommy2pink]

I booked back in February. We are there November 10-19. When free dining was released, I put a deposit down on a room with free dining and cancelled my first reservation a few days later when the hype died down. When my refund was processed, I then put that money on the new reservation. Booking early and now having to pay for your food has nothing to do with fastpasses, entitlement, or any of the sort. By your own words "I will pay for my food and don't get what I want and those who don't pay for their food get what they want". In order to get free dining, I had to switch resorts (still apprehensive about that, but we will make it work and heck, we are in Disney!). I had to compromise what our family was dreaming about.

I'm Canadian...my $4000USD moderate trip with our dollar that dropped is actually closer to $6000CDN, $6000CDN was almost what we used to pay to stay at Beach Club. You don't see me flinging around acting like my "good money" owes me MORE perks because in fact MY vacation costs ME more. Talk about disappointing. When we booked the trip, the dollar was only 10% more(same as the last three trips), we are now paying more than 30% more for the vacation. That's 20% more than budgeted, we had a less exciting summer to make it happen.

Also, to quote you, "Not everyone has money to drop like that every year". But judging by your signature, you've been almost every year. I'm unsure why you would bring that up. When you are there, there are many that are there for the first and last time, the second time, the first of many, the 30th time, and everything in between. Whether you can go once, or a 50 times, doesn't really negate FP+ regulations or distribution.

I booked the tickets at midnight. I took 10 minutes to look at DIBB first, I knew what dates would have A&E and 7DMT. I worked around that and had no issues getting A&E and 3 mine train. It's it inconvenient? Yeah, a little bit. But so is joining the Taylor Swift fan club to get the presale code and then waiting for the exact minute concert tickets are released just so I can get 3 for my daughters. So is having to be online at 7:30am for our city run programs (swimming, skating, summer camp etc) because they fill up in seconds. So is being online at 9am exactly to register my daughter for girl guides (I forgot and guess what, she didn't get in). I had to be PRESENT at the local gymnastics club at 6am to register my youngest for gymnastics. It's really no different than many in demand activities now a days. At least FP+ is free!

 

[mom2rtk]

Book a 7DMT for every day of your 10-day trip, when you know you will only use them on three days. Then. A week or two out when you know you won't be in MK on specific dates of your trip, dropping 7 of them. They become available to others,

It's just an unfortunate side effect of a system that allows prebooking. The old system that required you be IN the park to obtain a fastpass didn't have that issue.

It irritates me too. But being the conflicted individual that I am, if my plans weren't firm, I'd probably do it myself.

 

[minniemous]

You're missing the entire point. You may want to go back and re-read. We're not talking about whether the food was free or not.



You're proving my point. The math needs to be done by each individual family in order to see if it's a good deal for them or not. In your case, it is. When I say "blinded by the ruse of free dining", I mean that people hear free dining and think they will save a fortune because they know how expensive food is at WDW. In reality, they don't understand that 20-30% off a room, depending on where they're staying and how long, MAY be a better savings. So the math is never done and they may ultimately end up paying more on free dining. Those of us on the DisBoards get it, but all my friends and family who are casual Disney travelers or who have never been thinking free dining is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It isn't always and it's proven by calculations. That's all I'm saying.

I am sure there are some people out there as you suggest who just book the free dining without doing the math. I think most people do the math. If you do not do the math then saving money is not that important to them. Those are the people who like a deal, would want a deal but it not all that necessary for them to get a deal...like the OP who decided to book the vacation he or she wanted and booked back in May I believe it was.

You're missing the entire point. You may want to go back and re-read. We're not talking about whether the food was free or not.



You're proving my point. The math needs to be done by each individual family in order to see if it's a good deal for them or not. In your case, it is. When I say "blinded by the ruse of free dining", I mean that people hear free dining and think they will save a fortune because they know how expensive food is at WDW. In reality, they don't understand that 20-30% off a room, depending on where they're staying and how long, MAY be a better savings. So the math is never done and they may ultimately end up paying more on free dining. Those of us on the DisBoards get it, but all my friends and family who are casual Disney travelers or who have never been thinking free dining is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It isn't always and it's proven by calculations. That's all I'm saying.

I understand what you are saying. I just see so many people always stating Free dining is not the best deal and it is so individual as to length of stay, where you are staying, etc. I believe most people on these boards crunch those numbers so I tend to find it condescending when people tell others here that free dining is not a good value....the opposite as well. I see your point. I went back and read all your posts on this thread and definitely see your point where you were originally coming from. I agree.

 

[Karin1984]

I wonder what would have happened if 7DMT was designed without a fp+line. What if RD /right before closure were your only options for short(er) lines, like in the olden days.

What if A&E was the only FP to complain about? How boring would our lives be...

 

[Lisaloo]

Yep, some folks get the FPs they want no problems and some don't no matter how diligent. I know for me I could not have attempted to select the A&E FP any earlier than I did and I had no luck. Too many variables to say for sure but only thing I can attribute to is the extended stay folks. I don't assume to know how diligent the OP was in their quest but I can relate to the frustration.

I'm not assuming about her diligence either. She waited until 7:30 instead of midnight.

 

[minniemous]

Yes, I was confused by OP's statement that "not everyone can drop that kind of money every year" statement as well given the number of times listed on the signature. Unless they are taking up the argument for those who can not go every year and not referring to themselves. To be fair perhaps OP does not spend that much money on each trip and perhaps they are much shorter and less expensive.

 

[helenm29]

When it came up time for Fast Passes my husband and I split them up between the two of us and went at the system that way. We still had a hard time getting some of the more popular ones though. We've gone back several times to see if they were available and sometimes we got lucky, sometimes we didn't. That's the way it goes. Free meal plan came up after we booked but it wouldn't have mattered anyway because the resort we are staying in wasn't on the plan any way.
sometimes you just gotta plan it all out and if something special comes up, that's good.

 

[dfb]

I'm not assuming about her diligence either. She waited until 7:30 instead of midnight.

Maybe that was the soonest the OP, personally, could select?? Don't know?? Anyway the point is it works out good for some and not so good for others, even diligent ones and that is frustrating.

 

[RoryRose]

I'm not assuming about her diligence either. She waited until 7:30 instead of midnight.

I believe she said she was working at midnight.

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

I have a trip planned for Nov 11th-Nov17th. I DID NOT get free dining because I booked it back in May. Anyway, fast passes opened up Sat morning. I got online to pick then at 7:30am and 7DM was already gone and so were Anna and Elsa Meet and Greet. I'm angry! I am paying for my food and can't get what I want, but the people not paying get want they want! Seems like a flawed system to me! Do you think calling Disney will help, or is it a waste of time????

With all of the mentions on the board about Frozen's rapidly decreasing popularity and it's being rammed down our throat I figured A+E didn't even have a wait time anymore . Come to think of it there are lot's of folks saying SDMT is an uncomfortable kiddy coaster that is too short so I figured that fp+ would be easy to get also .