Free Dining or any type of discount offers

[gaudioli]

I have no facts to base this off but I feel like if Disney ever did away with the FD or the SPD or any of the % off offers, they would loose a LOT of visitors....am I wrong?

 

[pittsburghmom]

I would think so. I know we can only afford to stay on property is with a good discount. Unfortunately, the ticket costs are climbing to a point where we are priced out of Disney.

 

[JRRine]

The offers are what keep us coming back. We have 3 young kids, and there are tons of places we would like to try. But, when they offer S/P/D or Free Dining, we make the decision to head back to the Happiest Place on Earth!

 

[gaudioli]

I would think so. I know we can only afford to stay on property is with a good discount. Unfortunately, the ticket costs are climbing to a point where we are priced out of Disney.

The offers are what keep us coming back. We have 3 young kids, and there are tons of places we would like to try. But, when they offer S/P/D or Free Dining, we make the decision to head back to the Happiest Place on Earth!

Agree ticket prices rising along with everything else makes me think they would loose a lot of business if they did away with the "deals" I really hope the rumors that they won't offer them anymore are false....if they do away with them, this family won't be able to visit every year or every other....probably would be more like every 5....if my DH would even agree at that point.

 

[Shadowcat70]

Same here. We live in the NW, so it's a long fight and the airline tickets are expensive. To make it worth while, we've stayed between 8 - 10 days and gone during FD so we could afford the trip. Even then, we can only afford to go every 2 -3 years (we've only been there twice, but hope to go in 2016). Without FD, we cannot afford it.

 

[wdw4rfam]

The offers are what keep us coming back. We have 3 young kids, and there are tons of places we would like to try. But, when they offer S/P/D or Free Dining, we make the decision to head back to the Happiest Place on Earth!

Same here. We've gone every year since 02, but now that all our kids are " adults" at Disney, without FD were out. Every trip since 06 has been FD or SPD. Although we've priced out similar trips at universal for the same amount of days and it's really no cheaper. And honestly if they keep adding things to get FD ( like hoppers), we will be out too. This trip is costing us more than I can pay every year already.

 

[Clockwork]

Agree ticket prices rising along with everything else makes me think they would loose a lot of business if they did away with the "deals" I really hope the rumors that they won't offer them anymore are false....if they do away with them, this family won't be able to visit every year or every other....probably would be more like every 5....if my DH would even agree at that point.

They will always offer a discount but will they continue to offer discounts of the same type, who knows. Stay,Play and Dine will more than likely increase and free dining will decrease. If the economy looks stable the discounts will get smaller and if it looks shaky they will increase. I just wish ticket prices would stop rising at least until Hollywood Studios is finished.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Most people who go to WDW aren't die-hards like us on the DISboards. They don't know about discounts. So no, I don't think there would be a dramatic drop in people staying onsite. Disney said a few years ago they would start weaning people off discounts, and sure enough they are cutting back year after year and the hotels and restaurants are still crowded.

 

[loves to dive]

When I first started going there were no discounts unless you count multi-day park hoppers being a better deal then single tickets. I used to go every other year because that's how long it took me to save (single mother, deluxe resorts). I don't do FD, used to but it's not as good a deal for us as a RO discount. I'm guessing if they stopped giving AP discounts for rooms, I might cut the number of trips down but wouldn't stop going all together.

 

[ml sumner]

Same here. We've gone every year since 02, but now that all our kids are " adults" at Disney, without FD were out. Every trip since 06 has been FD or SPD. Although we've priced out similar trips at universal for the same amount of days and it's really no cheaper. And honestly if they keep adding things to get FD ( like hoppers), we will be out too. This trip is costing us more than I can pay every year already.

Agreed, we choose the hopper pass this year but we know we want use it.

 

[toothfairy7]

I already booked air tickets with miles but if Disney does not come out with some sort of deal we will not be staying there. Will drive to the beach instead and not even visit the parks. The prices are crazy even with a deal. Disney needs to take note that they are not the only vacation option out there. Especially since it takes them years to introduce anything new.

 

[cadesfirsttrip]

Maybe it's because I've been staying in Values recently (kids love it), but even paying for dining, I haven't gone over my budget, and I have an incredibly small budget that people on here told me there was no way I could keep (when we were waiting for 2016 prices to come out). January, 6 nights, 6 day tickets (no hopper) with DDP (upgraded) 2 adults and no discount is less than I thought it would be and budgeted for. The SPD discount would be great because it would pay for our plane tickets, but I'm not counting on it.