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

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I just read on another board that UK plan is out... and it's QS only, but for all hotel classes YMMV but UK has been a 'leader' on this in the past.

 

[Lehuaann]

I just read on another board that UK plan is out... and it's QS only, but for all hotel classes YMMV but UK has been a 'leader' on this in the past.

I wondered about UK plan, thanks for the update.

Our Oct in-room BB had FD for fall 2013, so I was SURE they would offer it again. Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't use the BB.

 

[Ava]

I just read on another board that UK plan is out... and it's QS only, but for all hotel classes YMMV but UK has been a 'leader' on this in the past.

Did you happen to see the dates of the UK promotion?

 

[manning]

My uncle's father had a grocery store and he could never figure out why....

he would sell an item at a 25% discount sales would go up some.

A couple weeks later he would sell the same item as buy 3 get the 4th free and they would fly off the shelf.

 

[Disney Addicted]

We keep debating the magic & convenience of staying onsite vs extra room at BC. If there is no FD this fall, Disney has made our decision.

For reference, the DDP would cost us $3,113.04.

Two weeks at CBR, 7 day WP&M tickets (2 "adult" kids) - $4,314.04

Two weeks at BC (2 bdrm) $1,200 + 7 day WP&M YES tickets $1,256.30 = $2,456.30
Plus OOP meals $2,500 (includes 11 TS meals) = $4,956

When the YES tickets were cheaper, I really wanted to stay off-site at BC. When the price went up for this year, staying onsite with FD became more appealing unless we drastically cut down our dining out - which we did not want to do while on vacation.

Now if there is no FD and we stayed onsite, even keeping the original planned $2,500 OOP for meals - staying onsite would cost $6,814. So why stay onsite?

Ugh... wish we went last year when the YES tickets were so much cheaper. Unless we use air miles for tickets, it looks like Disney has priced us out now.

 

[cheshireqt]

Staying at a mod and having the DDP was worth it to our family. Kept crunching the numbers between a room discount & OOP or FD and FD came out on top. But we enjoy eating a TS meal each day.

Same here. I like the convenience of the TS dining plan as well.

 

[suedaisy]

Well.. I have been number crunching and have a headache. I canceled our March trip as Disney deals were lackluster. We have settled on going fall break in October. If free dining is an option, I will book French Quarter as we are four adults (in my room) and FD works great for us. I know that I would have to pay the price difference to upgrade from quick service- I am not sure that we would do this..

My problem is that Disney is now releasing deals too late for my planning skills (it has been different than the historical release dates.) It is difficult to plan when there are 4 households involved. I am contacting renters and looking into DVC points. I have rented several times, but always book with Disney when it is free dining! The others in my group are using the time to check out other hotels.. Off site. Actually, it is the first time that my sister mentioned trying out Universal.

I love Disney and get that it is a money making business. I am not "mad" about it. They are welcome to charge whatever they would like and I am free to pay it or not. For March, we are saying no and going elsewhere.

If we do go with a trip booked with Disney, then I will need to make sure my vacation is a few hundred dollars "better" than last year's. Hmm. Maybe I should make everyone in my group use their refillable mugs 2 more times a day. Perhaps no family members will be permitted to order the cheaper chicken/ pasta. Any member caught using a snack swipe (credit) on bottled water will be on fast pass procurement for entire trip. (Kidding by the way...)

 

[squirrel]

Free Dining always worked out cheaper for me. One adult and one child in a value room.

I've switched up my vacation last year and didn't do WDW. Won't be going again this year.

Someone let me know when they decide to have a smoke free value resort. Then I will consider another trip to WDW! Free dining would be nice, but it's the smoking that drove me away!

 

[4HppyCamprs]

The late release of spring codes (late for my planning) in addition to the no free dining helped us decide to stay off site for our upcoming trip. While I do not necessarily need the dining plan it helped justify the overall cost (in my mind) for the "all inclusive vacation." Oh well there is a wide world to explore and we are going on our first Disney cruise next year

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[pigletto]

Hmmm....
Just wondering here. I wonder if they don't feel that they will need to offer free dining. The fastpass+ is rumoured to make it much more attractive to stay onsite. What if you have to pay for fastpass if you are offsite somewhat like Universal is set up?
It would make it so unattractive to stay offsite if it meant standby or paying some ridiculous price for fastpass privileges that most people will consider moving onsite whether there is free dining or not. Add in the fact that they are now offering ticket discounts if you buy tickets through them as part of a Disney package, and I think free dining just might be drying up because they really won't need to offer it the way they have before.

I know that I won't even consider offsite at Universal even though we could get a much cheaper room offsite because we LOVE the "front of the line" access. Disney might be moving to a similar structure.

Again.. this is purely speculation.. but it would make sense.

 

[navywifetill2002]

I had hoped to take a girls trip with DD and her grandma's. The plan was to stay at ASMo again and do free dining. I have run the numbers and neither of the grandma's would be able to cover the cost if it isn't Free Dining. The room discount on Values is so low it almost isn't worth it and with adults from 3 different families I can't really see any of us sharing meals (maybe with DD4). I for one hope to see Free Dining!

 

[faindrops27]

Honestly, if this is true won't really matter to me, there are so many other places to vacation. The kids have already been a couple of times, and are clamoring for a cruise vacation. I've been wanting to go back on some cruises anyway. Allure of the Seas here I come! Thank goodness I was able to land free dining at a moderate September 13'. May be the last trip to Disney for a very long while.

 

[Huff]

I haven't thought that the dining plans were any kind of value since they did away with the gratuity and appetizers.

I agree that the value was far better when they included gratuity and appetizer. But for us free is free regardless. If our family of four stays at a Value the savings for a 9 day trip is substantial with free dining, even upgrading from QSDP which was free to DDP. The difference from rack rate to best discount at say POP was around $300 for 9 days. The cost of the QSDP was several times that so for us FD was the only way we can afford to go to Disney. I can't afford an extra $1000+ along with far higher airfares. WDW is out unless FD or airfares drop substantially.

 

[Huff]

Someone let me know when they decide to have a smoke free value resort.

POP is smoke free for the most part. All rooms, dining, pools, bar etc. are all smoke free. They have a few designated outside smoking areas but I wouldn't know where they are and walking around never noticed anyone smoking so I must have never ventured to those areas.

 

[mymeme]

Everyone looks at it different but for me and my family we will not be able to go this year if we don't get Free Dining. We really want to go first part of May but not looking good right now. Not giving up !!!!

 

[thebeesknees]

We only went when there was free dining. I realize we could stay off-site, but part of vacation for us was not messing with the car seats, car rental, parking, driving, etc. Free dining at the value hotels worked great for our budget with our family makeup. We've been looking at other options for vacations. Between price increases and fewer discounts, higher airfare and cutbacks at DH's job meaning less take-home pay, I think we are pretty much done with Disney until the kids are on to college and we can go just the two of us. Which is too bad, because it was a great place for families with kids of all ages, as there was something for everyone. I'm sure we'll find plenty of other things to do closer to home in the coming years. I'm just grateful we were able to go a couple of times before we got priced out. Lots of families never get the chance to go at all.