Rumor: No Free Dining at Values this fall...

[Halbleib1]

We were thinking of doing a trip in late September/early October and staying at either AOA in a little mermaid room or POR. Without either free dining (we would upgrade to TS at AOA) or a good room only code, we will probably look at Bonnet Creek instead.

The free dining offers that came out since the fall deal did not offer free dining to the little mermaid rooms unless you were a lucky one and got a pin code. The suites were included.

 

[Disney Addicted]

Maybe we are in the minority, but we will never stay at a value unless we are kid-free. Double beds will not work for us. Straight to mods with queen-size beds is what we did.

 

[Marionnette]

Maybe so but Disney can always change their mind the closer we get to it. Danny might be hearing that now but once they see that rooms are not booking up they may find they need to offer free dining or something better. Just like before when they announced no more discounts and than turned around and offered free dining with dates well in advance of ever before. I myself would not go back without a discount at least equal to what we saved with free dining. I have found that over our 6 total trips a lot has changed and not for the better. At the same time prices are going up every year the quality of what you are receiving for that money is going down imo. The New Fantasyland is nice but is not enough to justify the price increase for this year imo.

I'll agree with you that the quality has declined and the Fantasyland Expansion is not enough of an incentive to bring a lot of people back. I pretty much disagree with everything else.

Disney never said that they were eliminating discounts. Bob Iger did say that they would be scaling them back. And they have. Room discounts used to be up to 45% off of the rack rate. Now the highest is around 35%. Free Dining went from DDP at all resorts to QSDP at the Values and you had to buy at least a 2-day MYW pass now instead of the 1-day ticket requirement it once was. Package deals have not been anywhere as good as they once were when kids played and ate for free or you could pay for 4 nights and get 7.

They plan these marketing promotions a year in advance. Even after 9/11 and the market crash in the Fall of 2008, they didn't do much to entice visitors. They stayed the course and weathered it out by closing whole sections of resorts and laying people off. They aren't going to look at the number of rooms they have booked for Sept. when August rolls around and say "we need to do something to fill these room, let's offer free dining at the Values!."

They are not losing money at the values by offering free dining. The price of a room at a value is well above what you would spend outside of Disney with more amenities. Our trip home we stopped at a very nice Day's Inn Hotel and Suites and stayed in a King Suite for less than one night would cost us at a value resort even in value seaon. We had a fridge,microwave, and coffee maker. They also included breakfast the next morning. They offered waffles, sausage, biscuits and gravy, cereal, coffee, juice, toast, bagels, donuts and fruit. Also for those that wanted it a free newspaper. Also the rooms at Pop are starting to show their age despite a renovation not that long ago. Our room had a musty smell to it and didn't seem to be kept as clean as in the past. Perhaps the musty smell was from something being spilt or even from the A/C vent or filter needing cleaned. All 6 trips we have stayed at Pop and I started noticing a decline in housekeeping on our trip last Oct. My inlaws were with us and also noticed a difference compared to their past trips. This year was better overall housekeeping wise than last year though.

Day Inn and King Suite probably don't have health plans for their part-time workers either. And they probably don't have the overhead that Disney has in maintaining its properties. Hence the higher price for a room. I'm not saying that they're not making a bigger profit per unit than those other hotels. But when the resort has to pay the restaurants for the dining plans, the average cost per room has to be enough to cover those dining plans, the resort overhead and still generate a profit or else it's not worth doing. When an AllStar room goes for $90/weekday night in Sept. and you can have up to 4 Disney "adults" in that room for that price (2 adults, 2 teens), and then offer them free food for the night as well, you're not going to see much profit.

Another thought- Maybe they are trying a new strategy. Maybe they are trying to fill up the Deluxe and Moderates first since they cost more before offering free dining to the values. Or perhaps they will not offer it to the values this year in the hopes that those that wanted free dining will upgrade and not want to go back to a value. Brilliant marketing if you think about it. Get people to fall in love with a moderate or deluxe so that they pay more for their future vacations.

And all of those people who booked Moderates because there wasn't Free Dining at the Values end up changing their reservations, causing more work for reservations CMs. We all know that that happens whenever new discounts come out.

Or people decide that paying the rack rate at a Moderate (almost double the price of a Value room) is not worth staying onsite and they book their accommodations elsewhere.

Not as brilliant a marketing strategy as you give yourself credit for.

 

[jdcthree]

A room discount is a better deal for us. Free dining just makes it harder to get the few ADRs we want, and I don't mind if they get rid of it.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Hmmm...
I have a LM room booked for mid-late October and without FD *we had it at POP 10/09 - fantastic* we'll strongly consider staying off site and using YES tickets.

DS was 9 but had a mature and big appetite even then so he "was" 10 that trip, the cost to switch from a kid to adult ticket was minimal and he ate well at lots of Epcot restaurants.

ETA - my mom was with us, I brought two air mattresses *Aerobed Jr and a high school musical sleeping bag/slim air bed combo, so we all had our own bed.

 

[Patience]

The free dining offers that came out since the fall deal did not offer free dining to the little mermaid rooms unless you were a lucky one and got a pin code. The suites were included.

Good to know. I did receive a pin last fall but we didn't use it. We will wait and see what happens. I won't be upset about staying at Bonnet Creek if that's where we end up. Some friends of ours stayed in a really nice condo there for a really great rate.

 

[lvillotta1]

My love for Disney hands down is the convenience. For the price I have paid for our last 3 trips Disney is the best value after crunching all the numbers. Since I am single with younger children 5&9 the Value resorts are the best deal for us. We leave in 10 days and we are staying at AOA little mermaid room for less than $100/night. We have never done free dining. This is our first trip we are doing QSDP. I like the idea of not having to make reservations at different places. Last time we did the deluxe DP and made the mistake of booking too early in the am and did not go. I felt we wasted a lot of money. I also on by 2 day tickets with no park hopper. We find AK boring as we have a top zoo where we live. Kids are still young so we 2 days at MK. We love DT Disney and we always take a day off. From the reports I have heard AOA has so much more to do vs the other value resorts we want to just enjoy. Free di ing or not we just go. I love how Disney takes care of you from the airport and your entire trip and back. We live smack in the middle of the map. We are flying SW from Omaha Ne to Orlando for $633 for the 3 of us. Total trip cost for 4/5 days was $1600.

 

[Nurse_Mommy4]

I also see this as Disney's way of filling up the mods and deluxes. They already offerred FD BB at the values and they let that promo run from August until November, so it is quite possible that the bookings at the values for that time frame are looking okay to Disney.

 

[tyniknate]

I don't believe that the "quality" will suddenly improve if free dining is gone. They are getting people back with what they have now....there's no incentive for them to improve anything.

 

[sunlover13]

The free dining offers that came out since the fall deal did not offer free dining to the little mermaid rooms unless you were a lucky one and got a pin code. The suites were included.

We did get free dining for a Little Mermaid room without a pin code. There was a small timeframe where they were offered. Not sure if it was a glitch or they just offered it until the rooms filled up, but we got one.

 

[MomiTo2SwtGuys]

We have our first fall trip planned for October. We will be going regardless. We have never stayed during this time frame.

 

[pigletto]

We don't mind the values but we almost always opt for Mod or Deluxe. I've found PIN codes and renting points to be a better deal for us, especially since we got AP's. We have used free dining several times, but for a variety of reasons it became less and less appealing. I'd rather eat what I want and use Tables in Wonderland anyway.

We already feel we are coming to the end of frequent Disney trips. Add in what I feel are significant and potentially problematic changes with fastpass plus, and I think it's definitely time to go on this last trip, let the AP's expire and explore other vacations.
Disney will still be there in a year or two, and perhaps then some of the dust will have settled from all of these changes and then I can analyze whether or not it's something we'd like to do again.

We have big plans for a cruise or Hawaii next Christmas and a trip to the mountains the following summer. So it's going to be awhile before we go back and I think at this time, that's a good thing for us.

 

[Bete]

This will be a wait and see proposition. First, Disney has already offered free dining this year as it was last year without changes. This has set a precedence for this year. Personally, I'm only interested in November and December free dining deals for 2013. If the fall deal affects those months, too then I won't go to Disney World. I have learned in the last couple of years there are places to go besides Disney World for vacation. I like the values with free dining and it is what brings us back over and over again for staying on site. If that changes then I'll skip Disney or I will stay off site.

We are all free to spend our monies as we please. Disney can't force you to do anything. We stayed off site in December 2012 for Disney World because we had our dog with us on that trip. I found it just fine to get a good breakfast included each day and we even had three dinners free at the place we stayed. They were on the level of quick service for dinner. I found the commute using our car to be better than using Disney transportation in most instances. We did have a handicap sticker; so, that probably helped us with parking close and such at Disney. We had a two room suite with kitchen and living room for cheaper than a value at Disney. The dog was allowed to stay in the room without us; so, we had no kennel fees, either.

If Disney thinks the new Fantasyland is the big draw, now they may very well try to downgrade the free dining again. Personally, I've been to the Beauty and the Beast restaurant already and I don't think it's that great. It's a nice addition to the restaurant choices, but it's not worth it without free dining. The same holds true of the new attractions there. This will not be a draw for me.

This year I would like to fly down without the dog with a cousin for the Xmas season; so, it would be more convenient to stay on Disney property. I won't do it without a value resort and free dining. I've gotten very stubborn about this, now. I think Disney needs me more than I need Disney.

If they do some other offers then I will just wait and see what they will be before I make my final decision.

 

[jcemom]

I don't believe that the "quality" will suddenly improve if free dining is gone. They are getting people back with what they have now....there's no incentive for them to improve anything.

I agree.

 

[skier_pete]

I will believe it when I see it. You do realize that should this come to pass (No FD at Values, QSFD at Mods and Deluxes), it would now be MORE expensive to stay at a value with dining, than at a mod with dining:

Example - Family of 4 (16 year old and 9 year old) at Pop Century 7 nights (sat-sat) mid-November with QSDP - hotel and dining only calculated as ticket prices would be the same: $1784.

Same family, same dates @ CBR with free QSDP: $ 1419

So, therefore it would be $365 LESS to stay at a moderate than at a value. Disney has NEVER offered a discount that's made it cheaper to stay at a moderate than a value on an identical package. Also, the moderates are usually the first rooms to fill up. Why would you offer such a high relative discount for your easiest to fill hotels?

Now, if the rumor was Values and Mods get QSDP while Deluxes get regular DDP, then maybe that's believable, but the rumor as is makes no sense.

As for me, our DD turns 10 in May. Without the FREE DDP - we are likely not eating TS very often. If the mods were to get free QSDP instead of the regular one, I would probably still pay for the upgrade.

 

[Ava]

We've never used the DDP and were hoping to try it out this fall if we could get it "free." I wasn't so much wanting to do it for the cost savings as for the convenience and for the illusion that I'm not actually paying the outrageous sticker prices for some of the buffets/character meals. Like $150+ for 2 adults and a 4-year-old to eat breakfast in the castle.

As it is, the lack of a free dining offer won't stop me from going to WDW in the fall. We didn't choose that season just for the possible discounts; we want to do F&W Festival and the Halloween party.

 

[3pletprincesses]

It won' taffect us for this year nor next year but will alter as our 4th child will be over 3yo. When that happends, I think we will stay off site. I ahve nothibng against staying off site but prefer to stay onsite if in the long run it's cheaper. No way can I rent a van, eat like we do at WDW and go as many day and stay at another hotel for $2800 for 8 nights. We ran the number several times. As long as the baby is still a Disney baby, we are ok onsite. When she turnes 3, the girls will turn 10 making them Disney adults and the dining plan will no longer be worth it.

 

[HouseMother]

I am one of those people who really likes the dining plan, free or not. We did take advantage of the free dining plan last year and the convenience of it made it worth the regular room rate. I'm pricing out our next trip and including the dining plan even though there isn't a discount yet, just because I like having my meals already paid for before I even sit down. We don't really indulge at home so we went all out with the best foods and desserts. I will definitely price it out both ways, but the convenience is worth it to me. If I find a better deal on a room discount, maybe I'll just put all the dining money on a Disney gift card so I can have that prepaid aspect without having to plan around a free dining period.

 

[wiggles]

I sure hope this is not true or Disney changes their mind. No free dining means no trip for us or we will have to cut our days drastically. We stay at POP for 10 days and never pay out of pocket for any food. We save at least $1,200. This makes me very sad as we were looking forward to seeing the new Fantasy Land.

 

[Lehuaann]

I will believe it when I see it. You do realize that should this come to pass (No FD at Values, QSFD at Mods and Deluxes), it would now be MORE expensive to stay at a value with dining, than at a mod with dining:

Example - Family of 4 (16 year old and 9 year old) at Pop Century 7 nights (sat-sat) mid-November with QSDP - hotel and dining only calculated as ticket prices would be the same: $1784.

Same family, same dates @ CBR with free QSDP: $ 1419

So, therefore it would be $365 LESS to stay at a moderate than at a value. Disney has NEVER offered a discount that's made it cheaper to stay at a moderate than a value on an identical package. Also, the moderates are usually the first rooms to fill up. Why would you offer such a high relative discount for your easiest to fill hotels?

Now, if the rumor was Values and Mods get QSDP while Deluxes get regular DDP, then maybe that's believable, but the rumor as is makes no sense.

As for me, our DD turns 10 in May. Without the FREE DDP - we are likely not eating TS very often. If the mods were to get free QSDP instead of the regular one, I would probably still pay for the upgrade.