Free Dining frustration <tiny vent>

[Rocktire]

I found the problem not to be the free dining people, but more the 180 day in advance reservations....our trip wasn't even planned 180 days in advance....so what do you do?..you suck it up....we stayed at WL, and were able to get into Artist Point with a late ressie, and Whispering Canyon by walking up when it opened for dinner....also got into Crystal Palace for a late dinner...and was able to walk into the Biergarten (which was a great time) and the restaurant in Morocco as well....so while it can be frustrating, if you're flexible you can make it work.

 

[battricia]

I wonder though if I had bought the dining plan if they would have available seating? HUMMMMMMM!!!

No, people who are on the dining plan do not get more availability for ADRs. It's the same for everyone.

tricia.

 

[LarryM]

I've read about a quarter of this so forgive me if this has already been said. For the OP to think of it as free dining is a misconception. Every part of disney pays the other parts of the company for the service. So for example when I pay for the dining plan that is what the restaurants are getting paid to sign me up for the meal plan, which is basically a prepaid meal. Yes it is a good value if you plan. For the folks who want to go back to walk in service just convince the restaurant not to take the plan. I'm sure the retaurants would rather have prepaid guests than empty tables waiting for walk ins. The dining plan has made the restuarants fuller and gives the servers a guaranteed 18% tip.Nothing at Disney is ever given for free everything makes money. It will be intersesting to see the changes next year if the rumors are correct that the tip will not be included and it will only be appitizer or desert, not both. (even if you don/t get both it is still an increase) That amount to about an 25-30% increase so we will see if getting adrs become easier.

 

[BeckWhy]

You know, I don't know if this was brought up, but during "Restaurant Week" in NYC people who will pay more get refused if they do not make reservations.


*Restaurant Week is when restaurants around NYC offer a set pricing for a set menu which is generally a "good deal." Many of the restaurants are very popular, such as Bobby Flay's restaurants.

 

[keithfanascar]

Whats the problem here? As a family of 4 going on the free dining plan for the 2nd year, not that free since i paid rack rate for the room. Its me the dh, dw,ds and dd. I booked the free dining plan the day it came out for the general public in april and booked all of our ressies the same day. If my math is right we were way under the 180 days, and got everything we wanted at the restaurants. Chef Mickeys, Biergarten, Crystal Palace, Hollywood and Vine, Ohana, California Grill!!!, Boma ,Le Cellier(1st time after 5 straight visits) and could have gotten more but we dont have enough nights in our stay. Maybe we got lucky, I dont know but we will thoroughly enjoy it all....

 

[kaytieeldr]

Whats the problem here? As a family of 4 going on the free dining plan for the 2nd year, not that free since i paid rack rate for the room.

Nope, I'm tellin' ya - if your kids are under nine and you're staying in a value resort, you're paying $92.25 per night for your room, and you're getting $99.96 worth of Dining Plan (and that's just the ddp price, not the cost of the food you might order); and if your kids are between ten and seventeen, your DDP is worth $155.96 - so whether you want to consider it 'free food' or 'free room', you're getting both features for the price of one!

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

I've read about a quarter of this so forgive me if this has already been said. For the OP to think of it as free dining is a misconception. Every part of disney pays the other parts of the company for the service. So for example when I pay for the dining plan that is what the restaurants are getting paid to sign me up for the meal plan, which is basically a prepaid meal. Yes it is a good value if you plan. For the folks who want to go back to walk in service just convince the restaurant not to take the plan. I'm sure the retaurants would rather have prepaid guests than empty tables waiting for walk ins. The dining plan has made the restuarants fuller and gives the servers a guaranteed 18% tip.Nothing at Disney is ever given for free everything makes money. It will be intersesting to see the changes next year if the rumors are correct that the tip will not be included and it will only be appitizer or desert, not both. (even if you don/t get both it is still an increase) That amount to about an 25-30% increase so we will see if getting adrs become easier.

I don't understand this. 18% of what? If I'm on this dining plan and go to a steakhouse and get an appetizer, steak and dessert (all on the plan, right?) I don't pay ( just use one or two 'credits') so the server gets 18% of what? Obviously I don't get the mechanics of these plans as I've never used them.

I've heard more than a few people suggest that servers' tips have declined and so their incentive to maintain high service standards has declined as well. We certainly had poor service at every restaurant we went to this year with the exception of Le Cellier. We almost joined the other 2 families that walked out of Yachtman's because of lack of service.

 

[Snow_White]

Isn't this still a rumor?

It's not a rumor, one of the garden wings of the Contemporary Resort has already been demolished.

 

[Tricia1972]

The tip should is 18% of the total cash value of the dinner. At most TS restaurants you pay one credit, but the tip is based on what you would have paid OOP for the dinner. Currently in 2007 servers are given that amount from Disney. In 2008 it will be up to the consumer to provide any tip. (parties of 6 or more will be charged an automatic 18% on the OOP value of the meal)

There are different theories on reported lack of service or decline in service. We personally didn't experience this ourselves, but some say it has less to do with a decrease in tips, it's the fact that each server is guaranteed an 18% tip (currently on the 2007 plan) no matter what kind of service they provide. Some are hopeful that service will improve in 2008 because the servers will be working for their tips again.

 

[Tricia1972]

It's not a rumor, one of the garden wings of the Contemporary Resort has already been demolished.

It's true that the wing has been destroyed, and there are lots of pictures online of construction of something new at Contemporary. What hasn't been announced is that this is definitely a DVC tower that they are constructing. DVC denies everything officially at this point.

 

[keithfanascar]

Nope, I'm tellin' ya - if your kids are under nine and you're staying in a value resort, you're paying $92.25 per night for your room, and you're getting $99.96 worth of Dining Plan (and that's just the ddp price, not the cost of the food you might order); and if your kids are between ten and seventeen, your DDP is worth $155.96 - so whether you want to consider it 'free food' or 'free room', you're getting both features for the price of one!

Well we have an 8yr and a 15 yr old. The 15yr old can eat his weight sometimes in food and never gain a pound. Sometimes they never want to eat. Also we are staying at the Coronado Springs the 7th thru the 15th of September, so our rack rate is more than a value resort rate. Obviously its not really free as we are paying over 300 dollars(averaged for the week) for the room, tickets and (free food). Thats a standard view room , plus an 8 day park hopper ticket for 4. I know when we eat at Cali Grill our bill will close to 300 dollars like it was last year.

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

The tip should is 18% of the total cash value of the dinner. At most TS restaurants you pay one credit, but the tip is based on what you would have paid OOP for the dinner. Currently in 2007 servers are given that amount from Disney. In 2008 it will be up to the consumer to provide any tip. (parties of 6 or more will be charged an automatic 18% on the OOP value of the meal)

There are different theories on reported lack of service or decline in service. We personally didn't experience this ourselves, but some say it has less to do with a decrease in tips, it's the fact that each server is guaranteed an 18% tip (currently on the 2007 plan) no matter what kind of service they provide. Some are hopeful that service will improve in 2008 because the servers will be working for their tips again.

I sure hope so. We were so disappointed at our experience this year. While we understand that the servers are most likely over-worked, it was the grumpy and sometimes hostile attitudes that set us off. We seriously only had two smiling servers in 10 days.

Here's hoping 2008 will be better!

 

[DiszyDeanette]

Our last visit was almost ruined due to no availability at high end restaurants, yet all the tables around us at the Yachtsman were "free diners"....

Wow, really? Like they had to wear special hats to identify themselves or something? Or they all told you this? They could have been paying with their room cards as a charge, they could have had the dining plan without it being free, or they could have even been DVC members who made reservations far enough in advance. Not sure how anybody could know they were all "free diners". "Free" diners who give plenty of money to Disney in other ways, and are hardly freeloading welfare recipients who have no right to be there.

 

[RJD]

I just returned from Disney and was on free dining (which was great!). But just wanted to point out I was refused at plenty of places for ADR times/restaurants. I certainly did not get my first choice for time or place on several occasions. I don't think it has anything to do with being on the dining plan, the free dining plan or no dining plan. If the restaurants are full, they are full.

 

[grimley1968]

WOW... I sure see alot of "I" "I" "I" in your posts...

This was very unnecessary. The reason there were a lot of "I's" in my post was because I was asked a specific question about why I felt the way I do about DVC.

There would be no reason for me to speak on behalf of anyone else when I'm merely stating my opinion, when specifically asked for it by another poster, therefore there's no reason to substitute any other pronoun.

In this case, there's a very good reason for the use of one particular pronoun. Noting the full context of all posts would be wise before criticizing someone's choice of words.

Also, a lot of posters in this thread (yes, I just read through the whole thing ) seem to think that some of us here, who responded to the OP's choice to insert DVC into the argument with the very first post in this thread, are criticizing DVC members. Speaking for myself, I have no problems with DVC members, and even sometimes wish I was one, but that is separate from my dislike for some aspects of the DVC itself. I won't go into those again, since they've been discussed ad infinitum in here and elsewhere, but I just want to make sure people aren't reading dislike of DVC members, when people are merely discussing problems they have with the DVC itself.

The OP, IMO, should have just left any mention of DVC out of the original free dining post, since it had nothing to do with the point of the post, and did make the OP come across as having a bit of an entitled mentality. BUT the OP has proved to be, as a previous poster mentioned, very intelligent in subsequent posts and not at all the way that first post made the OP sound. In fact, we ended up having a really good discussion later on about what really seems to be a bigger problem with WDW restaurants than free dining: the poorly implemented and executed ADR system, which provides no disincentive for abusing ADR's at most restaurants.

 

[LilGMom]

what really seems to be a bigger problem with WDW restaurants than free dining: the poorly implemented and executed ADR system, which provides no disincentive for abusing ADR's at most restaurants.

There has got to be a better way. In 2001 DH and I didn't make any ADRs, ever. Up until last year we never made ADRs, DDP or no DDP, and it was never an issue. We might have been told (when we'd walk up to the restaurant) to come back later but we were never told there was no availability for our entire stay (or four months from our stay) as is the case now.

 

[grimley1968]

There has got to be a better way. In 2001 DH and I didn't make any ADRs, ever. Up until last year we never made ADRs, DDP or no DDP, and it was never an issue. We might have been told (when we'd walk up to the restaurant) to come back later but we were never told there was no availability for our entire stay (or four months from our stay) as is the case now.

I think if they instituted a credit card hold for ADR's, the way they do for Hoop De Doo and other dinner show-types of events and some of the most popular restaurants, and instituted a penalty for not cancelling an ADR within a reasonable time window, this problem of not finding availability at the restaurants would vanish.

There's no good reason, IMO, that WDW restaurants can't be responsible for providing an actual table at a certain time, in consideration for having obtained guests' credit card numbers, which then holds guests responsible for showing up or cancelling in a reasonable window of time, or they get charged something.

I have walked up to Le Cellier and Rose and Crown during free dining and non-free dining periods, when both restaurants had no ADR's free at all (for several months) for the times we wanted to go, only to find I could wait about 10-15 minutes and get a decent table. Both restaurants didn't seem any busier than normal both times, and there were plenty of tables available during times when there were supposedly no ADR's available. This tells me that there is much abuse of the existing ADR system, and it needs to be an accountable system, both from WDW's and guests' perspectives.

 

[lustergirl]

Wow, really? Like they had to wear special hats to identify themselves or something? Or they all told you this? They could have been paying with their room cards as a charge, they could have had the dining plan without it being free, or they could have even been DVC members who made reservations far enough in advance. Not sure how anybody could know they were all "free diners". "Free" diners who give plenty of money to Disney in other ways, and are hardly freeloading welfare recipients who have no right to be there.

Hey I had that hat on last year. It read "free loading free diner" on it!!

 

[tinkerone]

Hey guys!


Our last visit was almost ruined due to no availability at high end restaurants, yet all the tables around us at the Yachtsman were "free diners"....




that sounds kind of pompus!

i hope it was not meant that way buuuttt....i'll read a little more and see where this goes

 

[TDC Nala]

I heard a few times before that Disney vacation club members can get free dining too. All you have to do is buy a one day ticket and you will be able to get free dining your whole trip.

ONLY if you book a room/tickets package and pay cash for it. The DDP is not available "free" to DVC members staying on points.