Free dining extended

[pioneer89]

I theorize that the discounts have less to do with getting people to WDW as they do with getting people to commit 100% of their vacation to WDW.

I'm suggesting that the discounts are more designed to keep you away from Universal and Sea World, and less designed to get you to choose WDW in the first place.

If my theory is true, I think the desire of WDW execs to slow the discounting was just sunk by the popularity of WWoHP. WDW has lost it's monopoly on being the 'magical' destination. U-O has always had the reputation as the superior 'ride' destination, and WDW has been the superior 'theme' destination... not so clear cut any more.

Antecdotally, I'm even tossing about plans to skip a day at WDW (which I've already paid for) to try Universal for the first time. If we try Universal, we might like Universal, and our next vacation might be a split one.

 

[dbowles]

Has anyone come across this problem? We were told that the Wilderness Lodge was not offering free dining during our selected time because it is only offered at the Resorts that are in need of more reservations. Curious if anyone else has had that problem.

 

[nytimez]

Has anyone come across this problem? We were told that the Wilderness Lodge was not offering free dining during our selected time because it is only offered at the Resorts that are in need of more reservations. Curious if anyone else has had that problem.

No, but it makes sense. There are X number of rooms at each resort that are available for the promotion, which is used to drive up bookings at those resorts. When they reach a certain threshold, there's no free dining there -- because they want to drive up bookings at the remaining resorts.

 

[eliza61]

Disney didn't make a mistake. By giving free dining they recieved far greater attendance.

Don't mistake more people= more profit. Department stores made that mistaking and are suffering for it.

In order to get people to shop, department stores now must slash prices to the point where they are no longer profitable.

Airlines are also in this fix. customers are so used to getting rock bottom airline fares that the airlines now have to do ridiculous things (fees) to make a profit.

Now the problem Disney is facing is that they can't make a large profit on the restaurants. A lot of business have the greatest profit margin on "consumables". The extra stuff we purchase like t-shirts and food.
Even the dining plan has gone through a number of variations to try to max profits. remember when it started tips were included and people talked about getting the most expensive items on the menu. Now, tips no longer are on the menus and unless you go to a signature ress. high end items have been remove.

It will be interesting to see how htis progresses.

 

[tjkraz]

Don't mistake more people= more profit. Department stores made that mistaking and are suffering for it.

Not really a great analogy. The economics of a retail operation are much different than a vacation resort.

Most of Disney's revenue comes directly from the parks and in that case, more people absolutely does mean more profit. The parks are driven by fixed costs. Whether they have 25k people in the Magic Kingdom in a single day or 40k, the operating costs are about the same. Sure they may have to add an extra ride or food service worker here or there when crowds get big, but most daily costs exist regardless of crowd sizes.

With Disney charging $50-100 per person, per day for park admission, it's definitely in their best interest to get as many bodies through the gates as possible.

Hotel discounting is another matter and we all know Disney would like to start pulling away from those trends. Anecdotal evidence suggests that they have already done so. Even though "free dining" has returned, there are more blackout dates than the same period in 2009 and reports indicate that there are fewer rooms available with these promos (as in dbowles' post above.)

Disney will never get out of the discounting business altogether. Even before the recession hit, you could save 15% or so through AAA or 20-25% as a Passholder. Given the fact that we are still technically in a recession with near double-digit unemployment, any signs of improvement in a high-priced leisure industry are encouraging.

 

[professorkev]

Well I booked in April, got a Boardwalk Villa and dining (1 meal and 1 sit down and one quick) with a 8 day pass. it cost $4000 even. I asked triple AAA about the free meal and unfortunately its not offered with my discount. If I did the free meal and villa now it would be $4,350.00 So There is no real free meal because it's not valid on discounts! SUCKS!