Any News if Disney will be offering free dining

[Team Bunch]

We are at the beginning of your journey Renee. We have never been and our kids are so young character dining seems an important factor to me right now. We have a budget for vacation and need the free dining to meet the budget and get the most character dining. In future years I imagine our priorities will change. We might prefer a nicer hotel or off site to the inclusive dining. Everyone has their own situation and we should all respect that.

 

[Team Bunch]

However, if "free dining" is the hook...then that means that more people, or more accurately people who may be disinclined to do so if no free dining...flood the table service restaurants.
That's an artificially inflated number...and that DOES effect me. And restaurant "booking" just sucks by all measures as a consumer. Great for disney...inconvenient, expensive, loud, disappointing for us.

This is what I was replying to. At the time I found offense to the "people who may be disinclined to do so if no free dining" as offensive, as that is me. After his second reply i realized he did not mean to offend.

 

[jjmat]

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Have there been ANY free dining promos for dates in 2013 yet? The Chase discount that just came out is for a room discount.

My gut is that free dining is gone, or at least will only be offered for a very short period every year, when attendance is lowest. I think the people waiting for free dining are going to be disappointed.

 

[gregger]

We booked free dining the first year it was offered -2005. It was very, very affordable for our family of 4 (2a, 1c, 1 baby)... total was $1900 for an 8d/7n all inclusive. That included the regular DDP at values with appetizers and tips. That price also included airfare that year.

The next year we started pricing out vacations, and couldn't come even close to the value Disney gave us the prior year. We didn't necessarily plan to go back every year, but for the quality and value, we booked again free dining in 2006. However, my DH wanted nicer accommodations, so we upgraded to a moderate resort. This went on for years... every year looking into other vacations and deciding that for the price, we'd rather go back to Disney.

We have gone on 6 trips since 2005 - all ranging from 8 to 11 days in length, never returning to the value resorts after that first year. We always travel the last week of August through Labor Day...my DH can get that week off every year, and we've found that it's a great week to go - low crowds, great discounts, and late park hours. Basically, you get the perks of high season without the cost and crowds. Free dining worked for Disney in the case of our family, because we probably would have branched out and done different trips if not for it. They really made a lot of $$ off us over the years.

Sounds like us....05 & 08 stayed off property in a house next to Disney (much cheaper BTW). Hurricane in Aug 08 so I promissed the family we would go in 09 and stay on property. That's when I got the FDP and an upgrade to SSR after we booked all star sports. With all the perks Disney gave us needless to say we were & are hooked. We got the FDP in 10 & 11 took 12 off and are scheduled to go Aug of 2013 with room discount at POFQ. The FDP is great for my family because it saves us $2000 on food, granted we don't have to eat in the parks but it just adds to the experience. So as noted above if we never got the FDP in the beginning I doubt we would have gone so many times. We would have done Mistic Harbor, Gettysburg, etc and learn a little history!!

 

[mm1971]

Any news if free dining will be offered in may or august this year> what abt if you have the chase card?

Got an email yesterday from Chase. The newest promotion is a room only discount, similar to the last one. Up to 30% on Deluxe, 20% on Mods and 15% on value. It will be released to the public on 4/2/13. It doesn't give a book by date, but it is for visits from 6/13-8/14/2013.

I am guessing any other offers won't be released until at least May, meaning anyone waiting for late August and the fall will need to continue being patient. Of course we are arriving on the 21st so this does me no good whatsoever.

 

[Greasy126]

I just don't understand where people get off on this "avoid us" or avoid Disney World" mentality. A poster made a comment. It was an opinion. He/She's allowed to have one just like everyone else. But how rude to say someone should avoid a certain group, or time of year, or Disney World altogether.

This poster was just stating an opinion as well. Disney offers the free dining promotion to drive the customer behaviour they want. If the result of behaviour they are driving bothers you and creates issues for you then not going during these times is a logical option.

People starting tarting to refer to those hoping for a common promotion as "spoiled or self entitled" is just rude.

 

[RedsDrew]

I just don't understand where people get off on this "avoid us" or avoid Disney World" mentality. A poster made a comment. It was an opinion. He/She's allowed to have one just like everyone else. But how rude to say someone should avoid a certain group, or time of year, or Disney World altogether.

This poster was just stating an opinion as well. Disney offers the free dining promotion to drive the customer behaviour they want. If the result of behaviour they are driving bothers you and creates issues for you then not going during these times is a logical option.

People starting tarting to refer to those hoping for a common promotion as "spoiled or self entitled" is just rude.

An opinion is a statement regarding a situation or thing. Telling someone to do something is more clearly a call of action. To respond to an opinion with a call of action is not equal. The original poster never requested or demanded a call of action - only made a statement that clearly you disagree with. The problem of communication breakdown occurs when someone crosses boundaries. When one starts making calls of actions, sometimes that crosses boundaries. It causes people to respond with more calls of action and hostility instead of opinion. Now that you've made your opinion, how would you like it if I responded not by giving you this opinion, but instead by making a call of action? I could say, "shut up" or I could call on you to give yourself a swirlie (another call of action) or to avoid these boards and other people's opinions. But my guess is you wouldn't like that. And I bet you wouldn't like that a lot more than you wouldn't like hearing my opinion. A call of action is not an opinion. Hence why I made the joke about Bambi. That was a call of action to a call of action.

 

[deadheadmamma4]

This is our first trip ever booked for last week sept in value room. We are really hoping for free dinning I do think it's funny the people who go 3 times or more a year and stay at the expensive resorts want free dinning. I think Disney should think abought give it to first timers who busted there butts working to afford 1 time at the park and militery. we were military and were hoping for those perks but becouse my husband is not retired or active know . he was honorable discharge meaning he served 5 years his contract went to war but can not get Disney discounts does not qualify kinda stinks. Keeping our fingers crossed for something in sept!

 

[3happydancers]

This is our first trip ever booked for last week sept in value room. We are really hoping for free dinning I do think it's funny the people who go 3 times or more a year and stay at the expensive resorts want free dinning. I think Disney should think abought give it to first timers who busted there butts working to afford 1 time at the park and militery. we were military and were hoping for those perks but becouse my husband is not retired or active know . he was honorable discharge meaning he served 5 years his contract went to war but can not get Disney discounts does not qualify kinda stinks. Keeping our fingers crossed for something in sept!

First, I thank your husband for his dedicated service to our country and I thank you and your extended family for all the sacrifices made. Your family is very blessed to have a couragous young man as part of their family. I am sorry to hear about your dilemma. Honestly, I don't know how the discounts work for service men and women but have you tried Shades of Green? I think they too offer promotions for our military.

I do know that last year I was at Disney the last week of August and they had pamphlets offering a bounce back with free dining starting sometime the end of this August. Keep your eyes peeled over the next 8 weeks. Maybe Disney will open this special to the general public. If they do, I am certain you can call Disney (if you booked through them), to add the free dining. If you booked through an agent, then you will have to call them. Good luck, and again, many thanks for keeping our country safe!

I am no expert on Disney, but we have been fortunate enough to have gone several times. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

However the outcome, I wish you and your family a magical time

 

[3happydancers]

This is our first trip ever booked for last week sept in value room. We are really hoping for free dinning I do think it's funny the people who go 3 times or more a year and stay at the expensive resorts want free dinning. I think Disney should think abought give it to first timers who busted there butts working to afford 1 time at the park and militery. we were military and were hoping for those perks but becouse my husband is not retired or active know . he was honorable discharge meaning he served 5 years his contract went to war but can not get Disney discounts does not qualify kinda stinks. Keeping our fingers crossed for something in sept!

I see you are new to the boards.

 

[ScotsMinnie]

Worth remembering that free dining options are not always the same for different countries. UK free dining options seem to be on different dates than the US ones so avoiding free dining periods might not be as easy as you think.

 

[Katmat75]

This is our first trip ever booked for last week sept in value room. We are really hoping for free dinning I do think it's funny the people who go 3 times or more a year and stay at the expensive resorts want free dinning. I think Disney should think abought give it to first timers who busted there butts working to afford 1 time at the park and militery. we were military and were hoping for those perks but becouse my husband is not retired or active know . he was honorable discharge meaning he served 5 years his contract went to war but can not get Disney discounts does not qualify kinda stinks. Keeping our fingers crossed for something in sept!

If you are going in September you can stay at Shades of Green and also buy your discounted park tickets there. In the months of January and September all veterans with an honorable discharge can take advantage of this offer. You just need to bring a copy of your DD214 with you! Very nice resort also!

 

[Angela72181]

Kat....My dad looked into Shades of Green but because he didn't Retire from the Services he didn't qualify. He was looking at taking my sister for a few days but that isn't going to happen now.

 

[Katmat75]

Kat....My dad looked into Shades of Green but because he didn't Retire from the Services he didn't qualify. He was looking at taking my sister for a few days but that isn't going to happen now.

Angela, It's only during the months of January and September. My husband did not retire from the service either but we were able to stay there in September last year by showing his honorable discharge on his DD214. We have reservations again for this September too. Go to the shadesofgreen.org and it's on their site about this. Also there is 30% off rates during September!

 

[lockedoutlogic]

This is what I was replying to. At the time I found offense to the "people who may be disinclined to do so if no free dining" as offensive, as that is me. After his second reply i realized he did not mean to offend.

yeah...i came off wrong a little bit there...

I was harkening back to the slow months...such as september or january...several years ago when free dining was heavily in use.

They gave out the free dining like candy...so while in the past people would choose what types of meals they would want to purchase - sit downs, quickserves, and a mixture of both - now all of a sudden they would bombard their sitdowns with "credits" that people had to use. Not to say that they werent used before...but now i think it altered the patterns to force full booking of the table service restaurants - a theory at the time was that it encouraged people to the "higher profit" of the quickserves by setting a pattern where people were discouraged from attempting to walk in the table service...a decent theory.

It wasn't a commentary on the "type" of people eating in the restaurants - buy and large everyone at WDW falls into the same category or class. And the class is "those who like disney"

But they had their food patterns basically given to them by CRO upfront. The places were packed...college program kids were outside with their arms in the air yelling that they were "booked up" at 5:00 and yelling out to the masses where the quickserves where.

That's not a knock on the quality of food or what people chose to spend their money or time doing...it was just a horrible looking "show" by Disney. Ruins what to many of us was an important part of the experience.

It also has in the past encouraged "right to left" ordering in the table service restaurants...which has opened the door to some price gouging on the menus by disney...if a smaller portion cares about the cost because many or most arent "paying" them at the time of the meals...we'll just go ahead and gouge the others.

And they have done that...i just went through the price increases last week and they are shocking to me. Not much shocks me within the realm of the rodent.

 

[mickey2000]

yeah...i came off wrong a little bit there...

I was harkening back to the slow months...such as september or january...several years ago when free dining was heavily in use.

They gave out the free dining like candy...so while in the past people would choose what types of meals they would want to purchase - sit downs, quickserves, and a mixture of both - now all of a sudden they would bombard their sitdowns with "credits" that people had to use. Not to say that they werent used before...but now i think it altered the patterns to force full booking of the table service restaurants - a theory at the time was that it encouraged people to the "higher profit" of the quickserves by setting a pattern where people were discouraged from attempting to walk in the table service...a decent theory.

It wasn't a commentary on the "type" of people eating in the restaurants - buy and large everyone at WDW falls into the same category or class. And the class is "those who like disney"

But they had their food patterns basically given to them by CRO upfront. The places were packed...college program kids were outside with their arms in the air yelling that they were "booked up" at 5:00 and yelling out to the masses where the quickserves where.

That's not a knock on the quality of food or what people chose to spend their money or time doing...it was just a horrible looking "show" by Disney. Ruins what to many of us was an important part of the experience.

It also has in the past encouraged "right to left" ordering in the table service restaurants...which has opened the door to some price gouging on the menus by disney...if a smaller portion cares about the cost because many or most arent "paying" them at the time of the meals...we'll just go ahead and gouge the others.

And they have done that...i just went through the price increases last week and they are shocking to me. Not much shocks me within the realm of the rodent.

 

[deadheadmamma4]

They don't have DDP for shades

 

[hebbynan]

They don't have DDP for shades

Deadheadmamma4 - There are always alternatives to purchasing the dining plan. One year when we went, we figured out that we actually wouldn't have spent as much on food as we did to buy the plan. Portions are big, so sharing is always an option. You can pack snacks and even PB&J sandwiches to bring with you to the parks. Poptarts and small multi packs of cereal boxs make great (and QUICK) breakfasts. Bring a water bottle and refill it (if you can stand the taste of the water - doesn't bother us, but I know some mind it). If a free dining plan is what your trip hinges on, sit down and figure out just how much you might really spend on food for the duration of your trip.

We live on a budget, but when it comes to going to WDW...we do all that we can to get there!

Good luck!

 

[WDW1979]

It also has in the past encouraged "right to left" ordering in the table service restaurants...which has opened the door to some price gouging on the menus by disney...if a smaller portion cares about the cost because many or most arent "paying" them at the time of the meals...we'll just go ahead and gouge the others.

Hi, I was enjoying reading your post but I can't understand the above paragraph. Must be my thick head. I think I understand that 'aren't "paying" them' means people paying for meals with the DDP, but I don't know what right to left ordering is.