Disney's gotten cheap !!

[Disneymailmn79]

i got my vacation package yesterday and is it just me or has disney gotten cheap in the last 7 or 8 years. i can't believe that all they give you is ONE !! select entree at planet hollywood!!! wow now thats cheap 4,000 thousand dollar vacation package and all they give is one lousy select entree not even one per person !!! i recall back in 97 they gave one meal of your choice. those were the days. oh well still love disney so who cares.

 

[tiggerbell]

Um, PLANET HOLLYWOOD is NOT owned by Disney.... I think it's Planet Hollywood who's being cheap here!

 

[msmayor]

Something is better than nothing.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

Since the packages have become a better value in the last few years, you are still getting more for your money. The packages used to cost more than their individual components purchased separately. Then WDW would throw in a character meal, souvenir, etc. of your choice. Most of the time you were paying for all of that and more.

Now the packages are more cost effective, so you are actually getting a entree for free instead of overpaying for one.

 

[Kitka]

Eh, I would like to get a lot of free extras too, but when people are filling up the resorts they don't need to offer freebie incentives, I suppose!

 

[Disneymailmn79]

back in the mid 90's disney was making alot more money so their goes that theory, and i think if you spend over 5'000 dollar's on a vacation like i did on my last trip before this one coming up i think you should at least get one free dinner at a sit down restaurant of your choice excludeing victoria and alberts of course. thats not to much to ask for a company that makes untold millions because of our loyalty. that being said thier's still no place like disney world and nothing would keep me from going their every time im able, besides it becoming like great adventure lol. god forbid

may 8th to the 17th pofq with dining !!!!

 

[firemanx]

what about free dining? I booked 5 days/4 nights @ Poly with tckets, and it was 2800$. Now with the way my family enjoys meals on vacaton were saving about 1000-1500$

 

[Disneymailmn79]

thats because you have the disney visa card right? still you only get that deal if you go during certain times which i believe is hurricane season. im just saying it would be nice to get something a little better then one "selected" entree at planet hollywood which is a pretty crappy place maybe if this was 1995 i would be more excited since planet hollywood was "kool" and "hip" back then. but i do have to say the disney dining plan is a very good deal , never used it before. but i figured by looking at all the menus at the places we have adr's plus counter savings and snacks it will be well over the 1000 bucks we are paying for the three of us. i love to eat so this is right up my alley. really i would not care if the didn't give you anything extra i love disney , it's like a drug lol i need my yearly fix, sometimes twice a year. nothing better then driving into the world seeing that sign and having all your problems get washed away for how ever long you stay. 27 days and counting

 

[disneyfan61]

Um, PLANET HOLLYWOOD is NOT owned by Disney.... I think it's Planet Hollywood who's being cheap here!

Exactley!!!!

 

[DISUNC]

i got my vacation package yesterday and is it just me or has disney gotten cheap in the last 7 or 8 years. i can't believe that all they give you is ONE !! select entree at planet hollywood!!! wow now thats cheap 4,000 thousand dollar vacation package and all they give is one lousy select entree not even one per person !!! i recall back in 97 they gave one meal of your choice. those were the days. oh well still love disney so who cares.

Yes! I agree with you. Alas, this is the sign of the times! They, like every other corporation now give less service/ammenities for more $$$ and label it 'Value". Before the "magic your way"/"value" pacakages kicked in...It was physically LESS $$$ (not much of a difference ..but enough to make you go hmm!)to go to Disney. They use to give you pins or posters, pics, etc (little things) and I also had a free lunch @ Planet Hollywood from disney travel.

 

[Elfstar]

I love a deal as much as anyone but I get so TIRED of people looking for something for nothing and complaining bitterly when they don't get it. Flame away, children, I'm fireproof here . Work to pay for what you want, and you'll value it all the more. A freebie should be pixiedust - an unexpected surprise, not a given. Think about people who can't afford any vacation, or any necessity for that matter, for their children, let alone a $5,000 vacation. I was a single mom for many years, with a deadbeat ex-, and took care of everything myself.

 

[Thinktinknpixiedust]

Elfstar....

 

[Elfstar]

Hey, Thinktinknpixiedust!

I moved to NC from Ithaca! We were almost neighbors!

 

[Thinktinknpixiedust]

Howdy almost neighbor... close enough for me!! We honeymooned in Murphy NC Guess we are kinda following each other around!! Now we're both here

 

[grimley1968]

I'm all for a good "cheap vs. not-cheap" debate. But the OP first of all put this thread in the "Countdowns and live reports" forum. To top it off, the OP assumed that Planet Hollywood was part of Disney, which is of course incorrect.

I disagree that Disney is being "cheap". I think they're getting more expensive, overall, but I think there is still plenty of bang for the buck. But if we're going to argue that Disney is cheap, let's use true Disney offerings, and not Planet Hollywood.

And you don't need the Disney visa to take part in free dining. True, it is only available at certain times of year and requires a package with a resort, but geez, it's FREE. We did it during value season in October last year, and saved over $700, and the rack rate for the room really wasn't bad at all. Free dining is a heck of a lot to give away. I don't think Disney is being "cheap" by not offering it all year when their resorts might already be full. We do live in a market economy, after all.

I've never heard of any other time, and I've been going to WDW since about 1972, that Disney has just given meals away, like the OP seems to suggest. To not give meals away is not being cheap, it's just being a business. I'm sorry the OP spent $5k on his WDW vacation. You can spend $2k less than that for a week's stay at a deluxe resort during value season, WITH free dining, if you do a little research.

 

[Kitster]

back in the mid 90's disney was making alot more money so their goes that theory, and i think if you spend over 5'000 dollar's on a vacation like i did on my last trip before this one coming up i think you should at least get one free dinner at a sit down restaurant of your choice excludeing victoria and alberts of course. thats not to much to ask for a company that makes untold millions because of our loyalty. that being said thier's still no place like disney world and nothing would keep me from going their every time im able, besides it becoming like great adventure lol. god forbid

may 8th to the 17th pofq with dining !!!!

If you want something for free, change the date of your trip. FREE DINING runs May 13 - Sept. 30. You'd just have to move your trip back 5 days to get ALL you meals free, not just "one free dinner at a sit down resturant of your choice", excluding Victoria & Albert's, of course. And no, you don't have to have a Disney Visa to take part in this promotion. They (Disney) just opened up the booking to cardholders 4 days before they opened it up to the general public. I was able to save my BIL's family over $700 by letting them know about this perk and we also saved over $500 by booking a package.

We are booked 9/9 - 9/17 and 9/28 - 10/2 at Pop Century WITH free dining and this portion of our vacation, including airfare, rental car and hotel & food will end up costing us less than $2000. Since we're on the 11-night Southern Caribbean Disney cruise 9/17 - 9/28, I guess you could say we're eating for free nearly the entire month of Sept !!! What a honeymoon this is turning out to be

 

[Shagley]

If you want something for free, change the date of your trip. FREE DINING runs May 13 - Sept. 30. You'd just have to move your trip back 5 days to get ALL you meals free, not just "one free dinner at a sit down resturant of your choice", excluding Victoria & Albert's, of course.

Just a little correction, Free Dining runs Aug 13 - Sept 30th,

 

[mlwear]

I'm curious to know how many will use the Planet Hollywood voucher anyway. Prior to free dining when I figured out it was for one member in our party and for the cheapest meals I decided there was no way I would use it. Nice attempt by Planet Hollywood to get folks in there to spend $ to buy more expensive meals for the rest of the party. Lots of other places I would rather spend my money. I'm sure it will pay off for Planet Hollywood to some extent, but not from us. Wonder if you can give your voucher away? Can a group use more than one? If a family or couple collects more than one, then I guess they could have a nice cheeseburger lunch for free.

Free dining was a generous enough deal from Disney to cause us to alter our vacation plans a bit to take advantage.

 

[Disneymailmn79]

that's not going to work for me since i don't want to go during hurricane season. look im not asking for much here , seriously i really don't want anything. my point is disney has gotten a bit cheaper during the last 7 or 8years i still love going their and that will not change anytime soon. but when you stay at a deluxe resort for 10 days and stay in a room that cost more since it has a better view you expect to get more then a voucher for planet hollywood. like i said their's no place like disney world and you can't find that kind of experience anywhere else, maybe the mr.eisner is gone now (thank god) and his massive ego disney will put more back for us instead of buying going into bad business ventures. like they did during the last years of king eisners rein.

 

[grimley1968]

that's not going to work for me since i don't want to go during hurricane season. look im not asking for much here , seriously i really don't want anything. my point is disney has gotten a bit cheaper during the last 7 or 8years i still love going their and that will not change anytime soon. but when you stay at a deluxe resort for 10 days and stay in a room that cost more since it has a better view you expect to get more then a voucher for planet hollywood. like i said their's no place like disney world and you can't find that kind of experience anywhere else, maybe the mr.eisner is gone now (thank god) and his massive ego disney will put more back for us instead of buying going into bad business ventures. like they did during the last years of king eisners rein.

Again, Disney does NOT OWN Planet Hollywood! I don't know how in the world Disney could have ever given a voucher for Planet Hollywood in the first place, unless they paid for the meal. I wish I could get meal vouchers for places Disney has 0 control over.

7 or 8 years ago, there was no dining plan, much less the free dining plan special. Yes, it's during hurricane season, but in most years hurricanes come nowhere close to Orlando.

Every year we stay there, we get some sort of discount on the rooms, even during value season (we never stay outside value season). But that free dining plan topped any kind of room discount we ever got.

You may dislike Eisner (I do as well), but I'm sorry, your point is kind of lost in the torrent of discounts, specials, free dining, etc. that have been offered more recently that were not available until now.

I don't know of any resorts that just give free stuff away like you wish Disney would. You get what you pay for, and in Disney's case you sometimes get what you DON'T pay for, like the free dining plan deal.

When you stay at a room that costs more because of the better view, you're staying there and paying more because of, well, the better view and only that. It's beyond me why anyone should expect more goodies because of this. What about the people who stay in the least expensive room at POP? Shouldn't they get goodies, too?

Why is it that some people expect free extra goodies from Disney just because they spend money there? No other place offers this, and they are just as expensive as WDW or more. You get what you pay for. If you get anything extra, like free dining, etc., consider it pixie dust.