Am I the only one who doesn't want FD?

[MacClemsons]

Everyone wants to know "when is free dining?" If it ever is announced, EVERYONE is going to book it. I sure hope it isn't announced the week I plan on being at WDW.

 

[kiddisney]

i agree - it creates extra crowds when it's supposed to be a 'slow' time - and it's not even worth it - we never did a dining plan before - but tried one on our last trip & it's way too much food - for the cost we could be fully satisfied for less - and free dining isn't really free - just a hassle all the way around for us

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Personally I hate the DDP with the power of 10,000 Suns! I hate "free" dining even more!!

 

[Suzanne74]

Yup, we will be there 8/16 to 8/24 and I know it will be filled with the free dining plan crew. I pray they wait until after I leave to start it. I hope at the very least they take Be Our Guest counter service out of it.

 

[wendow]

Oh my goodness, I love you people! I always feel like such an oddball on this forum cause everyone is obsessed with getting "free" dining. We don't use the DDP b/c we don't think it's a good value at all and we do not need that much food...EVER. And we so wish Disney would quit offering it for "free" and ruining the few slow times that exist

 

[Cap'nJack'sMum]

Would rather not see Free Dining. We don't do the dining plan anymore, free or not.

 

[jenjersnap]

I am just greedy and want a great discount, room only, free dining, whatever...

 

[Cap'nJack'sMum]

Yup, we will be there 8/16 to 8/24 and I know it will be filled with the free dining plan crew. I pray they wait until after I leave to start it. I hope at the very least they take Be Our Guest counter service out of it.

We're going to be there 8/14-8/25. I was hoping that FD would start the following week, so we could have some peace.

 

[arcurioa]

Being DVC, we really hate free dining.

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

Being DVC, we really hate free dining.

Agreed.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards so ignore my spelling.

 

[heyitsmejosh]

it really makes you just spend more money a lot of times.. because you end up paying the rack rate rather than the discounted rate which can be pretty big.

 

[raven69david]

Free dining isn't free. We avoid FD like the plague. The bad part about booking several months out in advance, before these promo pop up, is that you need to be ready to be flexible to either move your reservation or book at 180 days out to be sure you get what you want. This is what we do and have only been thrown into the FD crowd once. MK at night watching Wishes, from town square, was a nightmare. You couldn't even walk down main street.

Rack rate is for suckas! I've done many comparisons with and without FD and using a room discount on a Deluxe room and the percentage off always wins. FD came out to more $ in every comparison using my family of 3. YMMV

 

[minnie mum]

Guess the crowd of DDP and FD haters is bigger than I thought. Move over please so I can squeeze in.

We stopped using the DDP a couple of years ago- hate the crowds that FD brings, hate the extra demand for TS that FD brings, dislike the decline in the quality of the food and the increase in prices that the DDP has spawned. I could continue but....I just want to see it all fade away.

We find that we can save more money with a decent RO discount and paying OOP for our meals. We still enjoy dining at all our favourite places and eating ONLY what we want-for less than the cost of the DDP.

 

[Cyrano]

Moving to Dining board

 

[aubriee]

Personally I hate the DDP with the power of 10,000 Suns! I hate "free" dining even more!!

Same here! Sept used to be such a wonderful month to go with the parks almost empty, but since they started offering free dining every year during that time, you can just see the crowds getting bigger and bigger every year, plus the food quality went down alot. OOP works out cheaper and better for us anyway, since we prefer appetizers over desserts and have an AP. I'd much prefer to have a really good room discount.

 

[patty57]

We have never used the DDP, and never will. Absolutely zero interest in it, so personally, I don't wish for free dining. Give me a good room discount any day.

 

[married2mm]

I never knew of such hatred for free dining..
In the UK it's been offered nearly all year round!

Not often many room rate discounts,however there is a current offer on.

We actually prefer qsdp to ddp- if free we're happy to have it- but we would not win by paying for dining.

 

[fbb]

dislike the decline in the quality of the food and the increase in prices that the DDP has spawned. I could continue but....I just want to see it all fade away.

I agree that the DDP was a cause of this, but I think ever higher prices and lower quality is the new normal regardless if the DDP or FD goes away.

 

[TDC Nala]

No you are not. I quit using the dining plan entirely after the changes made in 2008. Besides, I have AP and DVC, neither of which is really workable with the free dining offer which requires you to buy 2 day park tickets and a rack rate resort package.

It does not create extra crowds in the parks. No more than any other resort discount would (and free dining is a resort discount - not a restaurant discount). It does create extra crowds in the restaurants.

 

[mickey2000]

No you are not. I quit using the dining plan entirely after the changes made in 2008. Besides, I have AP and DVC, neither of which is really workable with the free dining offer which requires you to buy 2 day park tickets and a rack rate resort package.

It does not create extra crowds in the parks. No more than any other resort discount would (and free dining is a resort discount - not a restaurant discount). It does create extra crowds in the restaurants.