Does Disney lose money when they offer free dining?

[babydoll65]

I know they offer free dining to fill hotel rooms during slow months. I also know it's the hotel themselves that make the decision on whether they need to offer it but a co-worker of mine was saying that Disney loses alot if money when they offer free dining. Do the restaurants get paid by the hotels for the meals. We got into this discussion after reading something on Facebook on whether off site guests should be able to purchase the dining plan. She feels it's a perk to guests staying on property but should not offer it for free since Disney loses so much money during this time. I don't feel Disney would offer anything unless they benefit somehow. I was saying the dining plan should be included when purchasing a package at the discounted price only because I personally feel the dining plan is overpriced to begin with.

 

[mom2of2]

I know they offer free dining to fill hotel rooms during slow months. I also know it's the hotel themselves that make the decision on whether they need to offer it but a co-worker of mine was saying that Disney loses alot if money when they offer free dining. Do the restaurants get paid by the hotels for the meals. We got into this discussion after reading something on Facebook on whether off site guests should be able to purchase the dining plan. She feels it's a perk to guests staying on property but should not offer it for free since Disney loses so much money during this time. I don't feel Disney would offer anything unless they benefit somehow. I was saying the dining plan should be included when purchasing a package at the discounted price only because I personally feel the dining plan is overpriced to begin with.

Nope, they make money and a lot of it. The majority of guests that go to WDW are not DP savy. They have no idea how much a TS is worth or how to take their full advantage of it. You would be surprised how many will go to a TS for breakfast and order $9.99 pancakes and a coffee and use their TS credit for the day. . So WDW got rack rate, tickets and made about $22 off that one meal. The mouse always wins.

 

[babydoll65]

Nope, they make money and a lot of it. The majority of guests that go to WDW are not DP savy. They have no idea how much a TS is worth or how to take their full advantage of it. You would be surprised how many will go to a TS for breakfast and order $9.99 pancakes and a coffee and use their TS credit for the day. . So WDW got rack rate, tickets and made about $22 off that one meal. The mouse always wins.

That's definitely true but what about when it's free. My coworker seems to think there just giving the food for free but I know the restaurants are getting paid by someone.

 

[gonzalj1]

Keep in mind that to qualify for free dining you must accept an undiscounted hotel room and purchase theme park tickets. Disney makes up some of the cost of the DP on the increased room rate and they use the theme park tickets and dining to keep you onsite spending money. Believe me - they have done their research and now have several years of real data showing that free dining is profitable. Or it wouldn't be offered any longer.

Same thing with MDE - Disney gets you to their property and covers the cost. But now they have you stuck on site with no where to spend money but places where Disney profits. Genius.

 

[babydoll65]

Keep in mind that to qualify for free dining you must accept an undiscounted hotel room and purchase theme park tickets. Disney makes up some of the cost of the DP on the increased room rate and they use the theme park tickets and dining to keep you onsite spending money. Believe me - they have done their research and now have several years of real data showing that free dining is profitable. Or it wouldn't be offered any longer.

Same thing with MDE - Disney gets you to their property and covers the cost. But now they have you stuck on site with no where to spend money but places where Disney profits. Genius.

This is what I figured. This is why I need to stay away from those crazy,Disney fanatical, Facebook people. The debate was whether off-site guest should be able to get the dining plan. Most felt it is a perk for staying on-site. I don't feel it's a perk, I feel it's overpriced and the restaurants are overcrowded as it is anyway.

 

[smbowtie]

Disney do something that will lose them money?

 

[babydoll65]

Why? Disney would lose money on that...a DDP for 4 people staying in a room is approximately 240 a day. Why would they give that away during times when there is peak attendance? Free dining was a lure to get people to spend the money to go to WDW and stay in the par during the height of the recession when they were facing massive declines in sales. It's not a right of those going in fall. It's certainly not a perk that they are going to offer in their profitable seasons. Take a historical look at it. It's slowly being phased out all together.


This was the comment I got back from someone after I said that I thought the dining plan should be part of a pkg at a discount. The subject of free dining came up too. Not sure when they even started free dining,was it around 2002? I will admit getting a adr has been crazy when free dining is out but the only reason I never really notice is probably because I'm not trying to get the most popular restaurants.

 

[CraigInPA]

You can be assured that Disney is NOT losing money when they offer "free" dining. Primarily because "free dining" is tied into staying at a Disney hotel, at full rack rate, and buying tickets at full list price. Not only that, Disney has figured out exactly what the average family will spend on extras, and what their exact profit margin is on a typical visit.

For people who are math challenged, the only time you'll get more "value" in free dining than a room discount is when you're at least 3 adults or two adults and 2+ children staying in a room. And, if you take the time to compare the posted menus, choose typical meals, and total up the "value" you're receiving for "free dining", you may be shocked to find out that it's often a savings to take the room discount and then pay for everything out of pocket.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Free dining is a resort discount, not a restaurant discount. A restaurant that redeems a free dining credit is reimbursed by Disney the exact same amount as they would be reimbursed if the guest had "paid for" that dining credit. In fact, unless you tell them, the restaurant hasn't the slightest idea whether you paid for that dining credit or got it as part of the free dining promotion. The discount comes when the resorts offer a package add-on at no extra cost as long as they are booking a full price room and at least 2 day tickets. People don't use the dining credits, the resorts absorb that cost (which doesn't mean they lose anything because they got the person who didn't use all those credits to pay for a rack rate room.)

The dining plan is not a perk. It doesn't exist as a reward to guests who choose a Disney resort reservation. It's a way for guests to prepay their meals to ensure that they eat most of their meals at restaurants on Disney property. And if they like having it, then they will stay onsite to get it. Win win for Disney.

 

[Flamingeaux]

Does Disney lose money when they offer free dining?

No

 

[Toffeewoffy]

I think they've been doing the free dining packages since about 2008-ish. I'd certainly never heard of it before that.

They've also streamlined the plan since it was first offered: the QSDP has dropped from 2 SCs a day to only one, and I'm sure the DDP has dropped from 2 CS to one as well.

I would never pay for the DDP, whatever, as it's definitely cheaper to eat off site. When I booked next year's holiday I did so before the free dining was released for the UK market. The deal I got was to pay for QSDP but I got 2 of our 3 flights for free - which actually worked out a smidge cheaper than if I'd paid for all 3 flights and then got the free dining. However, when I booked in April we didn't even know whether there would be any free dining for next year as there's always a rumour going round that they definitely won't. So, it was a risk of booking when I did at a slightly higher flight price or waiting for the plan to be announced (or not) and taking the risk that it wouldn't be. Needless to say, 2 weeks after booking, free dining was announced, the flight price had dropped by about £200 each as we'd fallen into the 11-month window and, on top of that, they were offering the free $200 Disney gift card as well. Hey ho!

 

[babydoll65]

I think they've been doing the free dining packages since about 2008-ish. I'd certainly never heard of it before that.

They've also streamlined the plan since it was first offered: the QSDP has dropped from 2 SCs a day to only one, and I'm sure the DDP has dropped from 2 CS to one as well.

I would never pay for the DDP, whatever, as it's definitely cheaper to eat off site. When I booked next year's holiday I did so before the free dining was released for the UK market. The deal I got was to pay for QSDP but I got 2 of our 3 flights for free - which actually worked out a smidge cheaper than if I'd paid for all 3 flights and then got the free dining. However, when I booked in April we didn't even know whether there would be any free dining for next year as there's always a rumour going round that they definitely won't. So, it was a risk of booking when I did at a slightly higher flight price or waiting for the plan to be announced (or not) and taking the risk that it wouldn't be. Needless to say, 2 weeks after booking, free dining was announced, the flight price had dropped by about £200 each as we'd fallen into the 11-month window and, on top of that, they were offering the free $200 Disney gift card as well. Hey ho!

That's a win win right there

 

[Lindaland]

I found that the best way for me to work "free dining" is staying at a value resort and just using the QSDP. I fly from Seattle and don't rent a car so I enjoy the other perks associated with staying on site such as Magical Express & EMH, and I don't have to worry about traffic, gas & parking. However i notice when people use the "free dining" TS they seem to want to order the more expensive items (since it's free) but then forget the tip is not!! I have seen people use a TS credit and then pay additional $30 in tips!!

I like having a QS and then only selecting a few TS meals that I want to pay OOP for which also reduces the ADR stress of over scheduling. My upcoming trip is 6 days with only 3 TS meals to worry about.

As far as a perk for people who stay on site, I think it should remain just that.

 

[babydoll65]

I found that the best way to work "free dining" is staying at a value resort and just using the QSDP. I fly from Seattle and don't rent a car so I enjoy the other perks associated with staying on site (Magical Express, EMH, etc) without having to deal with traffic, gas, parking

This is what we're doing on our next trip. We are staying at POP 9/12-9/19 they will most likely offer fd and I will just keep the qs plan. We were at POR last year with the reg dining and for us it was too much food. Plus I love the freedom of eating when I feel like it. We had 7 ress last time and even though we had adrs booked certain restaurants were running behind.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Keep in mind that to qualify for free dining you must accept an undiscounted hotel room and purchase theme park tickets. Disney makes up some of the cost of the DP on the increased room rate

Room rate is NOT increased. Discounted does not in any way equate to increased. The conditions for eligibility for the Dining Plan Free Promotion are: the guest needs to book a package at the rack (standard) rate and include theme park tickets.

Same thing with MDE - Disney gets you to their property and covers the cost

Not MDE - My Disney Experience. DME - Disney's Magical Express.

Not sure when they even started free dining,was it around 2002?

I think they've been doing the free dining packages since about 2008-ish. I'd certainly never heard of it before that.

The Disney Dining Plan went into effect January 1, 2005. The first Dining Plan Free Promotion was offered mid-August through late September 2005.

 

[amador]

Definitely not! Anything that they lose with the free dining is made up with the undiscounted room. Sometimes you're the one losing money with free dining if you do the math right

 

[babydoll65]

Definitely not! Anything that they lose with the free dining is made up with the undiscounted room. Sometimes you're the one losing money with free dining if you do the math right

If your staying at a delux resort your better off with the room discount but if your staying at a value resort then the free dining wins out. Value resort's get such a small discount that fd tends to be the better deal. We're going next Sept, most likely they will offer free dining. Iv already booked my pkg and the room per night is about 110$ . The cost to feed the three of us (2 adults and 1 17 yr old) would be alot more.

 

[kaytieeldr]

By booking a room now, that's one less room Disney needs to offer at any kind of discount during your stay. Booking on spec decreases the chance that acertain category/period/even resort will be included in any given promotion.

 

[babydoll65]

By booking a room now, that's one less room Disney needs to offer at any kind of discount during your stay. Booking on spec decreases the chance that acertain category/period/even resort will be included in any given promotion.

Normally I wouldn't but early Sept is a safe month and POP has never been excluded from fd that's why I booked ahead of time. I'm pretty flexible with what resort I stay at. It's easier for me to pay it down each month. I haven't been in Sept since 1988 and I really want to go more for the crowd levels than the fd.

 

[Toffeewoffy]

That's a win win right there

I don't quite get your comment. I booked before the free dining came out!

Mind you, yesterday I did a dummy booking direct with Disney (3 flights, 14 nights CBR with preferred room, 3 14-day Ultimate park tickets, free QSDP and a $100 gift card). Came out to £4,405 - only about £100 less than I booked through the TA, even thought I'd moved my dates forward a week so we didn't go into peak season. Mind you, I don't know whether that included the 3rd adult surcharge because I booked it as 3 adults and it didn't ask for DD's dob. If it didn't, then the price would have come out just slightly more expensive than I actually paid.

The free dining for the UK market ends 14th October and, unlike the US offer, it includes ALL the moderate hotels!

Regarding the date of introduction of the dining plan, it may be that it wasn't offered to the UK market for a few years.