Free Dining Plan. A promotion for Fall visitors staying "on-site".

[Hound 109]

I am a 4 time WDW veteran who enjoyed the WDW dining plan 3 times (two of them "free"). I like the idea of a dining plan that provides a value (like WDW did) & encourages enjoying different restaurants (like WDW's plan does) & I also love the many restaurant offerings one can find at WDW.

As most of you know, i am also a HUGE fan of DLR...... & would prefer to spend 4 out of 5 of my Disney vacations at the "Park that Walt built" (as opposed to the resort in the swamp ). So this "Fall free dining offering" interests me.


Disneymom0104 had posted a question thread regarding this Fall promotion for DLR on site visitors. Here is the thread that Disneymom0104 had posted:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2772854


& here was what she mentioned the "details" of the plan were:

They told my DH it wouldn't actually be paper vouchers- it would all be on a card but it sounded like it was a separate card than the room key. She also told my DH they are trying to get DL dining more like WDW but I have no idea what that means, she knew we had been to WDW a few times.

I am unsure of the minimum number of days- but the maximum is 5 nights. The e-mail offered it as a "4 night/2 day" package but they will let you do any combo up to 5 nights (we are doing 6 days/5 nights) It had to be booked at one of the 3 DL hotels- for arrivals 8/22/11-10/8/11- had to be booked by 9/12/11 with travel completed by 10/12/11.

If anyone has info on this plan or has enjoyed this plan, please post your experience. I'd love to have a quasi-meal plan offered at DLR for future visits.

I'll be posting (or bumping up) this thread as folks start posting about the free dining. Disneymom, feel free to post your experiences here or in your thread.....& thank you for mentioning this offering to the board.

 

[Keurigirl]

My mother in law received the random email from Disneyland offering free dining and forwarded it to us. We've booked a stay from 9/4-9/10 at the Paradise Pier Hotel.

I received my vouchers and everything in the mail last week. The meal vouchers are in a booklet - sort of like a coupon book. It says "Disneyland Dine in the Magic 2011" on the front. We have the five day plan, which includes:

4 Character meals (including tax and tip it says on the voucher)
1 Premium Character Meal (Premium Character Meals are Ariel's Grotto & Goofy's Kitchen.)
5 $5 Snack Vouchers
5 $15 meal vouchers for any counter service restaurant.

Now, you can actually use these slightly differently than they are printed as well. The Character Dining ones say you can use them at counter service restaurants for their retail value of $32. You can also combine coupons in the booklet to cover a larger meal at a counter service restaurant. For example, if you dine and your bill is $28, you can use two $15 certificates to pay for that meal. Or one $15, one $5 voucher, and pay the rest in cash.

The only thing you cannot do is use the counter service vouchers to pay for character dining.

 

[Keurigirl]

Oh, and to answer your other questions:

My favorites are Rancho Del Zocalo (YUM), and the Pacific Wharf Area has awesome, awesome soup and sandwiches (as well as a mexican place, an asian place and more). We always get ice cream at Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor. Fried Chicken & mashed potatoes at Plaza Inn at night. Cafe Orleans for lunch. The Golden Horseshoe for Billy Hill & the Hillbillies show (NOT TO BE MISSED) and eat lunch while you watch.

Dining is not difficult at Disneyland like it is at Disneyworld. There are less options and they all offer something different, so just choose based on what sounds good.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Keurigirl, thanks for updating us on the vouchers and the Rules. Definitely please report back in a couple of weeks (your trip is so close! exciting!) to let us know how using them worked for you guys.

AJ

 

[ttfn2u2pooh]

Is this a promotion that you have to receive something directly from Disney in order to get? Like the pin codes? Just wondering if that's the case or if this is just a Fall time "special" and could I call and see about getting this special to my already booked package?

 

[disneymom0104]

I will definitely let everyone know how it goes for us! We are going in early Oct. for 6 days/5 nights (only 5 days of free dining as that was the max.) I didn't realize you could use a $15 and $5 voucher together. I do like how lenient it is compared to WDW (although the values of meals might be higher there) But you aren't limited to ONLY an entree, drink and dessert. I know they push the character dining- and we are doing 4 (3 regular and 1 premium) but the values of the vouchers are $32 and most of the character breakfasts are around $23 (I think) for adults- so eating at a regular TS restaurant would save you "more". I also like that if you spend $34 instead of $32 you just pay the extra $2. I do not think this plan would be great if you were paying out of pocket for it- but getting it free is great (although you are paying rack rate for the room- it still comes out similar to staying off site without the dining plan). It also limits where you can dine, as you cannot use the vouchers at any of the DTD restaurants. We are still super excited about it, though!

ETA- I guess the CM that talked to my DH was misinformed as well about the vouchers- it does seem that it will be a paper voucher booklet vs. having it on a card. We don't have anything in hand yet as our final payment isn't due until next week!

 

[disneymom0104]

Is this a promotion that you have to receive something directly from Disney in order to get? Like the pin codes? Just wondering if that's the case or if this is just a Fall time "special" and could I call and see about getting this special to my already booked package?

Ours came as a pin code in an e-mail. It has not been offered as a special to the public as of yet.

 

[Keurigirl]

Yes, when we talked with the CM she said they were email codes that were sent out and she had no idea how you got one. My mother in law doesn't go to Disney, and she doesn't know how they had her email at all. So who knows. They DO say that you can use the same code for TWO reservations to get the free dining deal. We gave our other code to a friend and she is using that one to travel with us. So Disneymom - you could offer the code to one other person to use as there can be two reservations per code.

I do not think this plan would be great if you were paying out of pocket for it- but getting it free is great (although you are paying rack rate for the room- it still comes out similar to staying off site without the dining plan).

That is exactly right. When you normally pay for the dining plan at Disney, you are getting dollar for dollar for the plan. You pay $15 to get a $15 voucher, so it's not something I would ever do. However, because dining is free, we opted to stay on property this time since it basically evened things out.

 

[ttfn2u2pooh]

Yes, when we talked with the CM she said they were email codes that were sent out and she had no idea how you got one. My mother in law doesn't go to Disney, and she doesn't know how they had her email at all. So who knows. They DO say that you can use the same code for TWO reservations to get the free dining deal. We gave our other code to a friend and she is using that one to travel with us. So Disneymom - you could offer the code to one other person to use as there can be two reservations per code.

Oh yes, if you want to offer it up, I'll gladly see if they'll allow me to use it.

 

[disneymom0104]

Yes, when we talked with the CM she said they were email codes that were sent out and she had no idea how you got one. My mother in law doesn't go to Disney, and she doesn't know how they had her email at all. So who knows. They DO say that you can use the same code for TWO reservations to get the free dining deal. We gave our other code to a friend and she is using that one to travel with us. So Disneymom - you could offer the code to one other person to use as there can be two reservations per code.

Oh yes, if you want to offer it up, I'll gladly see if they'll allow me to use it.

It is 2 rooms per reservation, but the reservation has to happen on the same dates (have to be the same reservation number). My parents are in the process of deciding if they want to come along We knew it was good for 2 rooms

 

[isisisme]

This is the same book that you pay for if you get the dining plan with your package. we have done that in the past. It is a pain since you cannot get change back if you spend $18 and give them a $20, so you lose $2.
We decided not to do it this year. It is too much work to make sure you do not lose money.
The only thing I liked about it was less saving. Meals were paid off when the package was.

 

[Rhonna]

I received my vouchers and everything in the mail last week. The meal vouchers are in a booklet - sort of like a coupon book. It says "Disneyland Dine in the Magic 2011" on the front. We have the five day plan, which includes:

4 Character meals (including tax and tip it says on the voucher)
1 Premium Character Meal (Premium Character Meals are Ariel's Grotto & Goofy's Kitchen.)
5 $5 Snack Vouchers
5 $15 meal vouchers for any counter service restaurant.

Now, you can actually use these slightly differently than they are printed as well. The Character Dining ones say you can use them at counter service restaurants for their retail value of $32. You can also combine coupons in the booklet to cover a larger meal at a counter service restaurant. For example, if you dine and your bill is $28, you can use two $15 certificates to pay for that meal. Or one $15, one $5 voucher, and pay the rest in cash.

The only thing you cannot do is use the counter service vouchers to pay for character dining.

This says nothing about using them for TS restaurants. Is there further info. on that?

I didn't realize you could use a $15 and $5 voucher together. I do like how lenient it is compared to WDW (although the values of meals might be higher there) But you aren't limited to ONLY an entree, drink and dessert. I know they push the character dining- and we are doing 4 (3 regular and 1 premium) but the values of the vouchers are $32 and most of the character breakfasts are around $23 (I think) for adults- so eating at a regular TS restaurant would save you "more".

Did you get any info. regarding TS restaurants or are you assuming they are part of the dining plan?

We aren't interested in the character dining anymore and don't use a lot of CS or snacks. For us, it wouldn't be worth it if we couldn't use it at TS restaurants - both in the parks and the resort restaurants.

 

[princssdisnygina]

OOOHHHH.... does anyone have a pin code I could use since they are letting you use it for two rooms? PLEASE!

 

[skiingfast]

Did you get any info. regarding TS restaurants or are you assuming they are part of the dining plan?

We aren't interested in the character dining anymore and don't use a lot of CS or snacks. For us, it wouldn't be worth it if we couldn't use it at TS restaurants - both in the parks and the resort restaurants.

People have used the $15 and $5 vouchers at TS locations I don't know why you wouldn't be able to use the $32 from the character meals also with this new deal. I have seen one very good report of using the DLDP. They used the dollar value coupons and a character meal coupon to cover the cost of their TS.

One very important thing to remember about using a dining plan in DL, it's for the Disney operated locations. So not in DTD which is a little different than in WDW. Also not for WoC package meals.

 

[Rhonna]

I have seen one very good report of using the DLDP. They used the dollar value coupons and a character meal coupon to cover the cost of their TS.

If that's the case, then it would be a great incentive for people like us to book a trip. We like a lot of the sit down TS restaurants in the parks and the resorts at DL.

The only DTD one we usually go to is Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen and I understand DTD is not part of DL resort. No problem there.

Hopefully more will post their experiences with this program and maybe disney will continue this in future years in the fall/slower seasons.

 

[skiingfast]

Hopefully more will post their experiences with this program and maybe disney will continue this in future years in the fall/slower seasons.

IMO, DLR should not be doing this, they should stick with the strait voucher program and leave it at that.

DLR is a much different animal than WDW and both should not have dining programs like WDW does.


Though since I'm not a local to either anymore, it would help me.

 

[disneymom0104]

IMO, DLR should not be doing this, they should stick with the strait voucher program and leave it at that.

DLR is a much different animal than WDW and both should not have dining programs like WDW does.


Though since I'm not a local to either anymore, it would help me.

I agree with you that it seems like DLR could not handle this as a public promotion. There just aren't enough restaurants to handle the amount of people that would take advantage of that promotion. I am excited to try it, and am thrilled we got the pin code, but don't expect it to be something we get to do every year (and we are totally happy with other promotions as well). I could see the spiraling that has happened at WDW (needing to book reservations so far out, no availability, etc) I am not sure why they decided to try this as a pin code this year- not sure what they have up their sleeves. They did fill some rooms at rack rate with it- but again don't think they could handle it on a larger scale, unless the promotion was very limited. I don't know. Whenever we call DL to ask questions they still think we are meaning to be calling WDW- most of the CMs have not heard of this pin code.

As far as using the vouchers for TS- the "character" dining vouchers are worth $32 per adult and you can use them wherever you want. We are using one of ours at Cafe Orleans. If you go over the amount- you just pay extra- if you are under you do not get a refund (we will be under that at most of our character meals we are doing). You are not limited to "drink, entree, dessert" like you are at WDW (on the regular DDP). They advertise the vouchers as character meal vouchers but you can use them anywhere you want.

 

[cathicool]

Anyone have a code they would like to shaer with my family? We are going 9/28-10/2.

Thanks!

 

[Hound 109]

Thanks for all the responses.

A couple of questions below:

My mother in law received the random email from Disneyland offering free dining and forwarded it to us. We've booked a stay from 9/4-9/10 at the Paradise Pier Hotel.

Very cool Keurigirl. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I received my vouchers and everything in the mail last week. The meal vouchers are in a booklet - sort of like a coupon book. It says "Disneyland Dine in the Magic 2011" on the front. We have the five day plan, which includes:

4 Character meals (including tax and tip it says on the voucher)
1 Premium Character Meal (Premium Character Meals are Ariel's Grotto & Goofy's Kitchen.)
5 $5 Snack Vouchers
5 $15 meal vouchers for any counter service restaurant.

Is this per person? (or per room?).

If it's per person, how many adults & children in the party?


Now, you can actually use these slightly differently than they are printed as well. The Character Dining ones say you can use them at counter service restaurants for their retail value of $32. You can also combine coupons in the booklet to cover a larger meal at a counter service restaurant. For example, if you dine and your bill is $28, you can use two $15 certificates to pay for that meal. Or one $15, one $5 voucher, and pay the rest in cash.

Great info....thanks.


The only thing you cannot do is use the counter service vouchers to pay for character dining.

I'm trying to do the math on this.

If 2 Adults & 2 kids......stay 2 nights (at a DLR hotel) on this program. What would the family get in total number of "vouchers"??

Thanks.

 

[Hound 109]

I will definitely let everyone know how it goes for us! We are going in early Oct. for 6 days/5 nights (only 5 days of free dining as that was the max.) I didn't realize you could use a $15 and $5 voucher together. I do like how lenient it is compared to WDW (although the values of meals might be higher there) But you aren't limited to ONLY an entree, drink and dessert. I know they push the character dining- and we are doing 4 (3 regular and 1 premium) but the values of the vouchers are $32 and most of the character breakfasts are around $23 (I think) for adults- so eating at a regular TS restaurant would save you "more". I also like that if you spend $34 instead of $32 you just pay the extra $2. I do not think this plan would be great if you were paying out of pocket for it- but getting it free is great (although you are paying rack rate for the room- it still comes out similar to staying off site without the dining plan). It also limits where you can dine, as you cannot use the vouchers at any of the DTD restaurants. We are still super excited about it, though!

ETA- I guess the CM that talked to my DH was misinformed as well about the vouchers- it does seem that it will be a paper voucher booklet vs. having it on a card. We don't have anything in hand yet as our final payment isn't due until next week!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts disneymom. It sounds like you're doing some homework to make sure you don't "waste" any of the vouchers.

I'm curious what the difference is between the "rack" rate per night vrs. any "bargain" rates that might be available. Also curious on how much (per day) the vouchers are worth.

Thanks again.