Aug/Sept Free Dining or Christmas?

[Soccer Princess]

These questions are based on the assumption that free dining will return next Aug/Sept. If we plan a Christmas trip, it would be the 2nd or 3rd week of December.

1. Which of these times are more crowded?

2. Which would you choose? Why?

 

[Slightly Goofy]

We have done both and I have to say that I would go with the pre Christmas trip.

Of course that is because I cannot abide heat and it was too darned hot for me at 90 degrees and even lower on our recent trip.

Also the free dining was just too much food. I cannot imagine how it would affect someone with a much shorter time frame than we had (we were there for 3 weeks) as it took up a lot of time, much advanced planning and again, tooooo much food!! (It was great to order without looking at prices for the very first time in my life and we ate at a lot of places that we had never tried before and might well never try again either because of the price or lack of quality)

The pre Christmas time should give you a good room discount which would go a long way toward paying for your food costs. Also that period of time might have lower crowds although we had small and heavy crowds during our time frame.

If you are a big foodie the Free Dining might be for you but if you like cooler weather and Christmas decorations the other would be your best bet. Personally I might do both.

Slightly Goofy

 

[Skylarr29]

I vote the pre Christmas trip. September is so hot and there are threats of hurricanes... besides the fact that counting on free dining is a pretty big assumption.

 

[karrit2000]

If you went for the Free dining would you plan to go in August or September? That makes a big difference in the crowd levels. If you want the free dining and the heat doesn't bother you then plan for that. If you want to see the Christmas decorations and want more comfortable weather then I would say go in December, but I would recommend the second week over the third week. Disney has in the past considered the first 2 weeks of December to be a very slow, off-season time and about the same crowd level as all of September. The third week is usually the week just before Christmas and may cost more for the room. I've done both but the decision should be based on what activities you are hoping to do while you are there. I would not recommend going in August as it is even more unbearably hot that september & even rainier the times I have been.

 

[rlduvall]

I have gone at both times of the year, more than once. This year I went in September for the free dining. I found it much slower and less crowded in September (went third week this time) than the first or second week of December. While I enjoy the holiday decorations - and I think everyone should go at this time of the year at least once - the crowds are much thicker than September.

The one thing I did not like about December - and this is a deal breaker for me - is the inconsistent weather. I took my DS last year from 12/10 - 12/14 and it was very, very cold. I had already promised him we could swim at the resort pool and we did.

For me personally, I like to be at WDW when it is hot. Then I can swim, wear capris and cute summer tops, not gloves and a coat. But that's just me.

 

[Disney4Drew]

I would go for the pre-Christmas trip! I don't want to deal with the heat and humidity. That's what the beach is for.

 

[lustergirl]

For my trip this year I originally reserved it for december to see the xmas decorations at the world but when the free dining promo came out- I hurried up and switched it back to september of this year. But now with the great deal they have going on my younger son and I are taking a short 4 day trip in december so I can experience my first disney christmas. Go figure and thanks disney!!!!

 

[missymagic]

I am addicted to the holiday decorations, it is my favorite time of your to go. So much more festive gets the whole family in the christmas spirit. Not to mention it is beautifull decorated. You can go to the photo gallery and check it out. Crowds are usually pretty tollerable. I enjoy the second week in Dec. First week is Pop-Warner week (football & cheering competitions). Tends to make the value and moderate resorts crowded

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

We just made the same choice, and we chose Christmas, even if Free Dining comes back. This was for a few reasons :

1) Because of the people on the trip, the option of renting a condo off site sounded good (though we are usually on-site people); we would have had to have two rooms at a value (the suites at the values don't get free dining).

2) It's much cooler and drier in Dec than Sept

3) We did MNSSHP last year, and while we love it we'd like to try MVMCP

4) The crowd reports for free dining this year were pretty bad, and we felt like when we did Free Dining last year we spent a LOT of time eating and park hopping we didn't want to do , but we had ressies and had no choice if we wanted to eat.

We really, really did enjoy Free Dining in '05. We debated for quite some time if we should wait and see if Free Dining was available or not next year, but we just want a more relaxed trip this time. We'd definately consider doing it again in the future though - I mean, heck, a thousand bucks of free food for a family of 4 is one heck of a bargain.

NED

 

[sparmeland]

Has there been talk about bringing the free dining plan back for next August?

 

[karrit2000]

It is already being offered to guest visiting from the UK for that time period next year. That doesn't mean they will definitely offer it to us again but we can only hope.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

I'd pick Sept over December. And we stay off site, no DDP for us.

Reasons:

We went last 12/17 to MK, and it was a wall-to-wall madhouse. I'm talking Mardi Gras packed. Very stressful, IMO. Rides would have been nice to go on, but we just took a quick drive down to get some shopping done. What a joke!

In September, Orlando is empty. Hot, yes, hurricane threat, yes, but the roads are only full of locals since most WDW visitors are staying on site for the DDP. We find the service everywhere -- even off WDW property, like gas stations -- to be top notch since the locals aren't stressed to the max with full seasonal crowds.