"Free" Dining

[Mick West]

Am I the only one that really wishes they would do away with the free dining plan option? I really miss the good old days where I could walk up to certain restaurants and, with a short wat, be seated. Not much channce now. And even going to counter service is such a challenge. There's so many people needing to be briefed on the plan, how it works, what they have remaining, etc! I'm nice, not ugly or rude to anyone, but yikes! Personally, I can't imagine going to Disney, which I do often, and planning my trip around eating!

 

[beansmom]

nope, you're not the only one. We did FD once...i can't foresee us ever doing it again.

 

[LilyWDW]

Am I the only one that really wishes they would do away with the free dining plan option? I really miss the good old days where I could walk up to certain restaurants and, with a short wat, be seated. Not much channce now. And even going to counter service is such a challenge. There's so many people needing to be briefed on the plan, how it works, what they have remaining, etc! I'm nice, not ugly or rude to anyone, but yikes! Personally, I can't imagine going to Disney, which I do often, and planning my trip around eating!

I don't really see it as an issue of free dining. In years past there have been times where people can't just walk up to restaurants. Heck, in May 2007 when I was last there they were turning away walk ins at most of the restaurants we went to (Le Cellier, Crystal Palace, and 'Ohana to name some). So, it's not just free dining that is causing it.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Add me to wish no free dinning...that's me I rather pay and be able to get the ADR or just walk in and more choices. Sometimes I think the choices has been reduce b/c of the free dinning

 

[amyr1]

nope. I would keep free dining.

We are going in January. Our value rooms are costing us like $79-$89 per night. We are eligible for Free QSDP.

I don't think there's any pin code out there that would save me as much money as FREE dining would. The FREE dining would cost me more than our room bill.

I think I got a pretty good deal. 10 nights on Disney property, 10 day park hopper passes, dining plan, and airfare on Southwest (no baggage fee's) for $3200--for the 4 of us (2 adults, 1 junior, and 1 child.) I think that's a pretty cheap vacation.

And we will snack and eat pretty good too!
Amy

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

nope. I would keep free dining.

We are going in January. Our value rooms are costing us like $79-$89 per night. We are eligible for Free QSDP.

I don't think there's any pin code out there that would save me as much money as FREE dining would. The FREE dining would cost me more than our room bill.

I think I got a pretty good deal. 10 nights on Disney property, 10 day park hopper passes, dining plan, and airfare on Southwest (no baggage fee's) for $3200--for the 4 of us (2 adults, 1 junior, and 1 child.) I think that's a pretty cheap vacation.

And we will snack and eat pretty good too!
Amy

Agreed. Free Dining is saving me almost $2000 (what we would be paying for our meals minus the cost to upgrade free QSDP to DDP) for 2 adults, 3 kids for 14 nights.

 

[ocalla]

I wish they would do away with the Dining Plan all together. I too miss those days of deciding what I want to eat the DAY I'm going to eat it.

We are trying Fee Dining for the first time next March, and I already am not a fan of it.

If I get a chance at a room only discount you can bet they can keep their free dining and I will be cancelling most of my ADR's......I would rather just Wing It.

 

[aubriee]

I don't think free dining has anything to do with it. I go several times a year and every visit I see walkups turned away at restaurants, no matter if free dining is being offered or not. Then again I was there about two weeks ago and even though I had all my ADRs, we changed our mind about where we wanted to eat and were able to change them while we were there with just a phone call that morning. In fact, I go every year during free dining and have always been able to change my reservations once we get down there. Now granted I don't try to switch to something like Le Cellier, but we were able to get into Crystal Palace and Biergarten, both for dinner, with no problem when we were there two weeks ago. While we were down there I canceled a Biergarten, Whispering Canyon, and Chef Mickey's.

 

[Cin]

Am I the only one that really wishes they would do away with the free dining plan option? I really miss the good old days where I could walk up to certain restaurants and, with a short wat, be seated. Not much channce now. And even going to counter service is such a challenge. There's so many people needing to be briefed on the plan, how it works, what they have remaining, etc! I'm nice, not ugly or rude to anyone, but yikes! Personally, I can't imagine going to Disney, which I do often, and planning my trip around eating!

For us dining at WDW is part of the total experience and I can't imagine not planning out the dining. The restaurants have beautiful theming and decor and are an attraction in themselves. It isn't so much the "free" dining, some people pay for the dining plan, it's just the dining plan itself requiring all of us the made ADR's unless you want counter service.

 

[momtotaryn]

Well, since it will be our first trip ever to Walt Disney World, I am very grateful for the free Disney Dining Plan. It will really help keep our costs down, since our air fare alone will cost us a fortune. We will probably be one of those who will be asking how it works, but maybe with the knowledge I will get from this board, it won't be too difficult to understand.

 

[twooley2]

All I can say is that I have never gotten free dining because of vacation limits on when you can take kids out of school and we follow the rules in place for our district. Along with vacation times with husbands work. Although I hate to see the quality of food go down so people can feel they are getting something free. We have paid for it and if the value keeps going down it wont be worth paying for it. I do not mind paying but there better be some value put back. We are just one family though among millions who visit and love the word free. I guess my point is some people do not care as long as they are getting something for free or they think they are. It could be worthless but if its free they do not care.

 

[twooley2]

Well, since it will be our first trip ever to Walt Disney World, I am very grateful for the free Disney Dining Plan. It will really help keep our costs down, since our air fare alone will cost us a fortune. We will probably be one of those who will be asking how it works, but maybe with the knowledge I will get from this board, it won't be too difficult to understand.

First thing to understand is that it is not free and the price is hidden in the package as you can probably get everyting cheaper if you did not buy a package direct through Disney and bought them seperatly. You are paying rack rate for the hotel/resort and tickets to get that free dining along with visiting during what used to be a low attendance time. Although free dining has upped their numbers in attendance. along with the prices of the resort and tickets increasing yearly to make up for the free.

 

[twooley2]

Agreed. Free Dining is saving me almost $2000 (what we would be paying for our meals minus the cost to upgrade free QSDP to DDP) for 2 adults, 3 kids for 14 nights.

The trick here is January and those that do not homeschool or are not bound to school attendence mandates or schools that arent strict are the only ones who can go.

 

[momtotaryn]

First thing to understand is that it is not free and the price is hidden in the package as you can probably get everyting cheaper if you did not buy a package direct through Disney and bought them seperatly. You are paying rack rate for the hotel/resort and tickets to get that free dining along with visiting during what used to be a low attendance time. Although free dining has upped their numbers in attendance. along with the prices of the resort and tickets increasing yearly to make up for the free.

OK...well...thanks for the info, but you sure know how to bring my spirits down, when I'm sooooo looking forward to our trip. I will admit that I feel we got a pretty good deal overall, because we didn't book everything through Disney. Also, it beats having to pay for the DDP, which we probably would have done.

 

[maxiesmom]

First thing to understand is that it is not free and the price is hidden in the package as you can probably get everyting cheaper if you did not buy a package direct through Disney and bought them seperatly. You are paying rack rate for the hotel/resort and tickets to get that free dining along with visiting during what used to be a low attendance time. .

This is not always true. I am not someone who has to do Free Dining, but there have been a couple of times where I saved money with Free Dining over what I would have paid for everything seperately. And that was even with buying my park tickets from someplace like Maple Leaf Tickets.

Even as an AP holder I have taken a trip where I got the Free Dining package instead of using a room only discount, because the package was cheaper. It depends on where you stay, if you like sit down meals, and if you plan on doing a lot of character meals.

Free Dining is automatically more expensive than buying the parts seperately. You have to sit and run the numbers.

 

[angelmav]

The trick here is January and those that do not homeschool or are not bound to school attendence mandates or schools that arent strict are the only ones who can go.

Your all over the place with bad information. There are free dining dates that coincide with 3 (THREE) different SCHEDULED school breaks, to and including summer vacation.

No were not a bunch or rubes, but free dining considering our family size is always a better deal even paying rack rate.

Blanket statements like yours and by the OP confuse the issue.

 

[twooley2]

OK...well...thanks for the info, but you sure know how to bring my spirits down, when I'm sooooo looking forward to our trip. I will admit that I feel we got a pretty good deal overall, because we didn't book everything through Disney.

Sorry that was not my intention and should not be taken as bad as any trip to Disney is fun IMO and this was was just to inform what I have learned in our past 3 trips over the last yrs. We now are DVC owners and wish we did that on our first trip and did not think like it would be our one and only ever, like we did the first couple of trips.

 

[maxiesmom]

Well, since it will be our first trip ever to Walt Disney World, I am very grateful for the free Disney Dining Plan. It will really help keep our costs down, since our air fare alone will cost us a fortune. We will probably be one of those who will be asking how it works, but maybe with the knowledge I will get from this board, it won't be too difficult to understand.

There is a thread "stuck" to the top of the restaurants board. Go read that,if you haven't already, it has a ton of good info.

The dining plan isn't that hard to understand. Disney puts a little icon on their menus that will tell you which items are covered by the dining plan. If I can figure it out, I'm sure you can!

Don't let anyone bring you down. I'm sure you will have a great trip!

 

[twooley2]

Your all over the place with bad information. There are free dining dates that coincide with 3 (THREE) different SCHEDULED school breaks, to and including summer vacation.

No were not a bunch or rubes, but free dining considering our family size is always a better deal even paying rack rate.

Blanket statements like yours and by the OP confuse the issue.

Sorry but the last yrs free dining has not been at the top of my list with dates as we recently bought DVC this past year. I know in yrs before it was not offered as frequently as it seems to be now partially to blame may be the economy. I've always been taught nothing in life is free and if it is watch out. As you can see dining is great but I remember a time when the tips were included, appetizer included and even when dinnershows werent two meal credits not the cinderella table and the price was cheaper and the level of plan wasnt tied to the level of resort and the food was better and it was not free.

 

[angelmav]

Sorry but the last yrs free dining has not been at the top of my list with dates as we recently bought DVC this past year. I know in yrs before it was not offered as frequently as it seems to be now partially to blame may be the economy. I've always been taught nothing in life is free and if it is watch out. As you can see dining is great but I remember a time when the tips were included, appetizer included and even when dinnershows werent two meal credits not the cinderella table and the price was cheaper and the level of plan wasnt tied to the level of resort and the food was better and it was not free.

And? Disney is making cuts in alot of places (not just dining) despite continuing to post profits.

They also are offering multiple room only discounts and gift card promotions on dates that along with free dining encompass almost all of whats left of 2010 and nearly all of 2011.

Since your a DVC owner, are you aware of the perks that you no longer get that were available in past years? (Valet Parking anyone?)

The only thing Disney doesnt discount are the tickets, but we could nit pick all day about how much better things were in the past, all anyone booking today can do is to get the deal that makes the most sense based on what they are offering today.

For some, that will be free dining, and going when it isnt offered isnt going to bring back the days of walking up to your restaurant of choice.