Afraid that new Free Dining Dates will affect menus/crowds?

[princesswendy720]

I had my vacation booked for December 15th to the 20th and now it seems that with the new Visa Free Dining offer alot of people are switching to that week from the week before, which is not covered under free dining.

Is anyone else nervous that they'll change the menus like they did this year during free dining? Or that the crowds will be higher this week now that so many people are going for free dining?

 

[natsiswdw]

I am so with you on that one!!!! My DH and I are going the 13th -18th and I thought that was going to be a quite weekend, I guess we will find out when we are there!!!

 

[carmie3377]

Yeah, I'm worried too. We planned for Sept 28-Oct 4 to avoid free dining now we are right in it. We are DVC so paying for dining. It's not right to alter the menu during free dining because there are folks paying for it.

 

[Bete]

First, there's no general public code out there for these times and free dining.

Also, this is so last minute (next 90 days more or less) that the masses have probably used up their vacation times for 2008 already over the summer or they have plans set in stone for the Christmas season for family and such; so, they won't be going to Disney World in grooves for this offer, now. The offer is very selective on dates and with very few windows of opportunity for the offer.

There have been reports of pin codes with free dining offers before this offer even hit. Disney has done this one way or the other to fill up their resorts. It's good business practice and good marketing for slower times. There's no way Disney will rely on this 100% at any one time; because, that would not make good business sense. I do believe we are going to see this more and more; because, let's face it; the economy sucks, right now.

You probably have all your dinner reservations, already; so, you will not be affected by going to your favorite places to eat. If you haven't done any planning yet then I would do so, now.

You can always modify your times without penalty and change your reservation if this is bugging you to the point of no return. Cancelling is the only time you can lose to a certain degree.

I'm sorry that the free dining offer will make it a little busier, but by no means do I believe it will be significant, here.

 

[carmie3377]

First, there's no general public code out there for these times and free dining.

Also, this is so last minute (next 90 days more or less) that the masses have probably used up their vacation times for 2008 already over the summer or they have plans set in stone for the Christmas season for family and such; so, they won't be going to Disney World in grooves for this offer, now. The offer is very selective on dates and with very few windows of opportunity for the offer.

There have been reports of pin codes with free dining offers before this offer even hit. Disney has done this one way or the other to fill up their resorts. It's good business practice and good marketing for slower times. There's no way Disney will rely on this 100% at any one time; because, that would not make good business sense. I do believe we are going to see this more and more; because, let's face it; the economy sucks, right now.

You probably have all your dinner reservations, already; so, you will not be affected by going to your favorite places to eat. If you haven't done any planning yet then I would do so, now.

You can always modify your times without penalty and change your reservation if this is bugging you to the point of no return. Cancelling is the only time you can lose to a certain degree.

I'm sorry that the free dining offer will make it a little busier, but by no means do I believe it will be significant, here.

Oh, I understand why Disney does it. I have made my reservations so I know I will still get my TS. However, my concern is the fact that some have stated that they changed the menu during free dining. That should not be done because some people PAY for dining. We shouldn't get less to choose from because Disney is offering free for some.

And no, I can't just get up and change my dates. There are airline reservations and scheduled work vacations to be taken into account. Plus, being DVC, reservations can't be changed very easily.

I will go and have a good time. I just hope that menu options will not be reduced due to the free dining.

 

[TDC Nala]

There is no confirmation that menus have been changed "for free dining." Some menus have been changed, and posters have speculated that the reason for the change is free dining. Disney doesn't announce reasons for changing their menus.

 

[srgibbs]

We were planning to go that week anyway as our children are still young and our oldest is only in 2nd grade at a private school so it will be easy for him to miss that week. They are all half days for him and mostly fun stuff for elementry going on. I think most people just cannot pull kids out of school and also that is a very busy time of year to just head to disney unless you have had it planned out months in advance. I had read this would be a slower week if not the slowest in Dec. I called to switch our WL ressie right away and got what I wanted but was told there were very limited #'s of rooms for this special. You may see the crowds go up some but I still feel like it should not be to busy.

 

[gigi1313]

what menus were changed for FD? i know some meals were added (lunch at CMs)...

 

[harleyquinn]

I just posted on the main board--

I just booked my ADRs for the FD period and I had a pretty hard time getting what I wanted, but it wasn't terrible. Hopefully it won't have that huge of an effect.

And Visa is pretty horrible at actually emailing or announcing their deals, so it'll probably be mainly DISers that hear about it.

 

[mantaz]

Yeah the only way I found out about free dining was here. I have a disney visa and haven't received anything from them. I could get a room for the week of Dec 7- Dec 13 so we moved our vacation to the next week AND we get to enjoy free dining. I am excited about that part!

 

[Honeystar120608]

We cahnged from Dec 6-12 to 13-19 for 2 reasons. The biggest being the QXG rate code saved us $550 since we could get a great rate, and downgrade from a moderate to a value. Also, Pop Warner kids are at DW the earlier week and we really wanted to avoid them. (wasn't our driving force, but it is definitely a perk) Now, we could potentially get the free dining (only if they offer to the Gen public).
I switched about 10 days ago and I was able to duplicate my dining schedule exactly (with a cpl better reservations) as the week before. Telling me how slow it is going to be (YAY!)
All in all, it is Disney World, they are out to make business, and not keep people away no matter what we want. It's better for them to have people there than not. Ya can't blame them.
We also have 2 small children, so we won't tie up the above 40 inch height requirement rides.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Disney wouldn't have done the free dining thing if they were completely booked those weeks in Dec. so obviously, they did this to get more people to go around that time so they it can't be that crazy around that time of year as of right now. Now, I don't know what will happen if it goes out to the general public.

 

[DisneyDork712]

I just wanted to chime in with a bit of information! I didn't see this mentioned yet.

We got a post card in the mail today with a PIN # to get the free DDP for those dates. 9/28 - 10/11, 11/9 - 11/23, and 12/14 - 12/20. So now it's being offered to those besides Disney Visa cardholders!

 

[Tbella]

Really? Changed the menues? That is so wrong on so many levels. I did take advantage of the free dining put I upgraded to the Deluxe plan and payed extra. I certainly don't want to pay the extra money for deluxe if the menu is limited.

 

[dreamin_disney]

When i changed my ressie I talked to a very chatty CM. Turns out his MIL lives in my city and he use to live in the town next to where i grew up. I told him i thought the fall special was going to get as good as it gets. He said theres so many fall specials right now for different parets of the world. They ofer different deals so theres always a special going on.

This is my first time at wdw and hope its not to crowded. Luckily I already made all my ressies. I have one extra but was saving it to see which we like better WC or ohana;s. We are doing WC our 1st night and Ohana's our 3rd night

 

[su_A_ve]

Well, the DVR free dining code came out over a week ago. And there is still availability in mods and values including xmas.

That tells you something...

We were initially under the fall package for NJ week. At the time we tried to get an ADR for Chef Mickey for breakfast (OOP). Nothing at all. But we now switched to Dec including Xmas. I'm booking my ADRs now and had no problems except for Fantasmic and the Processional dinner packages.

People are cancelling due to the economic fears maybe?

 

[carmie3377]

Just back and crowds were very low during the week. Most rides were walk-ons or 5 min waits. A few, like Soarin, had 20 min waits but that was nothing compared to what I have seen it.