Help me get over "Free Dining" envy

[zev]

Just got back from WDW and there was a great deal of 20% off food only for DVC members at Kimono's at the Swan. If you like sushi the price was great with the discount. The price of hot sake was not bad without the discount and the karaoke was priceless! Even more so after a couple sakes'!

 

[TDC Nala]

For those of you upset that Disney offered Free Dining during your planned trip, here is a list of restaurants I put together showing which places are not on the Disney Dining Plan. Looks like some of the best places will be in the Swan and Dolphin. Otherwise I highly suggest you look at eating off-site because there are very few places withing WDW that don't accept the DDP, especially in the parks. I believe that is just part of the master plan to make sure you don't leave the Disney bubble.

Full Service Restaurants NOT On Disney Dining Plan

Animal Kingdom
Rainforest Cafe

Disney's Hollywood Studios
None

Epcot
None

Magic Kingdom
None

Animal Kingdom Lodge
None
(Sanaa at Kidani Village May NOT Be On Plan Until Later This Year)

Yacht And Beach Club
None

Boardwalk
None

Carribean Beach Resort
None

Contemporary Resort
None

Coronado Springs
None

Fort Wilderness
None

Grand Floridian
Victoria And Albert's

Old Key West
None

Polynesian Resort
None

Port Orleans Riverside & French Quarter
None

Saratoga Springs
None

Shades Of Green
Manginos

WDW Dolphin & Swan
All are free from the DDP, Enjoy

Wilderness Lodge
None

Downtown Disney
Bongos
Fultons Crab House
House of Blues
Portabello Yacht Club
Rainforest Cafe
T-Red
Wolfgang Puck Dining Room (do no confuse with Wolfgang Puck Cafe, which is on Dining Plan)

If I have missed one please tell me so I can add it.

Bistro de Paris at Epcot does not accept the dining plan. (It is the only restaurant located inside a theme park that doesn't.)

 

[lugnut33]

Thank you TDC Nala!! I made the change.

 

[wdwfanatic316]

Thanks so much for this thread! I must confess, I too was sufferening from FD envy and even considered cancelling my Oct. trip to BCV (our first trip home ) and re-booking and staying at a Value or Mod resort, until I remembered one of the main reasons why we bought DVC- to enjoy a much nicer resort in a great location where we won't have to rely on buses to get to all of our destinations.

Thank you, I fell much better getting that off my chest and can back to being

 

[PEANUT1]

doesn't bother me!! I wouldn't stay in a value and probably not a moderate either so rack rate for a deluxe would be so expensive....also, I hate going to florida during the hot hurricaine season.

 

[gk90]

Thanks for starting this thread--those numbers are reassuring to me, they make me feel that we made the right choice by buying into DVC, free dining or not.

I booked a mid-August trip specifically to avoid FD. When the dates came out and they were starting 16 Aug I just about flipped. In the past we have seen a decrease in server attentitiveness, dumbed down menus, waits long past ADR time, and overall just a LOUSY dining experience. We felt fairly safe booking when we did but Disney surprised us.
Still trying to decide if we are going to cancel or reschedule.

I hear you--I was so annoyed when I heard the announcement, we have a trip starting Aug 16 that we can't reschedule and have the DDP booked for the 1st 2 days of our trip (split stay). At this point I'm wondering about just cancelling the DDP and avoiding the restaurants

For those of you upset that Disney offered Free Dining during your planned trip, here is a list of restaurants I put together showing which places are not on the Disney Dining Plan. Looks like some of the best places will be in the Swan and Dolphin. Otherwise I highly suggest you look at eating off-site because there are very few places withing WDW that don't accept the DDP, especially in the parks. I believe that is just part of the master plan to make sure you don't leave the Disney bubble.

Thanks for the list--I see a number of DTD meals in our future.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

You always overeat with free dining. So not getting it is good for your health

 

[MommaX03]

As a person who did FD before I happily bought DVC, here are a few reasons to make you reconsider FD envy:

1. Imagine walking to the bus stop at the Pop from your room eons away at 9am with sweat dripping off your whole body. Again, at 9 am!!! Followed by watching the Main Street Parade at 3 pm as it suddently downpours...

2. Wanting to wash the sweaty clothes of your whole family in your own washer and dryer, but then remembering that your room at the All-Stars or Pop does not have its own laundry. You have to go across campus to the community, coin-operated laundry room during a tropical storm. The whole family has to watch one TV during said storm, and brave the storm to make an ADR at the Grand Floridian. True Story. Bought DVC after that trip, FD or no FD.

There is only so much I will do for FD, and I have an Italian stomach!

 

[fishermouse]

This is an easy one, just remember the old saying "there are no free meals"
So you pay rack rate for a room during a season that was previously discounted. Disney gives nothing away for free, the prizes people win are a marketing expense that is paid for by the return in revenue generated by increased sales etc. The "free" meals put people in rooms that would otherwise be empty. It's the same as people that say all your meals on a cruise a free, no they are included in the price not free. same thing when you purchase a package with meals and admission included

 

[jjohnson]

I'm still not understanding this. I can not get $200 off (cost of DP per day) rack rates with any codes so I look it as a savings of $1400 off my total package.

 

[kaffinito]

I look at it this way. Last year I booked during Free Dining because we weren't DVC members yet. I'm one of the whack jobs who LOVES the hot humid weather in WDW at the end of August. Not kidding, loved it!

However, we didn't use all of our meals, my youngest hated the kids meals (don't blame him a bit - they're nasty) and it wasn't a lot of fun getting in for some of our ADR's. The laundry room at POP was a pain too.

I don't miss FD. I figure that our DVC will pay for itself in just 2 1/2 years at the rate I was going with rack rate trips. I can cook some meals in the villa, and we can have snacks and such in the room as well. We get more space, a washer and a dryer, and very nice accommodations. I also get a jacuzzi in MY bathroom. Free Dining isn't worth the cost of paying full price for a room, especially a room without a washer/dryer and a jacuzzi.

We are still going at the end of August though. It works out best for our schedules, and we all enjoyed the low crowds in the parks a lot!

 

[kaffinito]

I'm still not understanding this. I can not get $200 off (cost of DP per day) rack rates with any codes so I look it as a savings of $1400 off my total package.

But if your DVC is paid for already, then you don't have the cost of the room to figure in. You still have to pay rack rates and for a 1 day base ticket at minimum to get FD. So for a rack rate room, you're only getting the cost of the DDP for your party for free. You still have to get a ticket or tickets as part of the package.

Instead you could use your points, reserve a villa, (free) then pay OOP for a few sit down meals with a discount card like TIW (saves you quite a bit over the cost of the DDP depending on how you eat) and use your discount to buy AP's at a cheaper rate.

Then if you take another trip later on in the year, you use points (free), skip the DDP and get TIW, and you already have AP's so no added cost there.

I figure the savings are really substantial depending on the number of trips you take per year. You do save more using DVC methods/tips than you would with a Free Dining offer and rack rates. Hope I helped a bit!

 

[P&B's Mom]

I just priced a 6-night cash stay at Kidani for a friend of mine for Free Dining. A studio/SV will cost her about $3700. I will be staying LONGER at Kidani in a 1-bedroom/SV and it will cost me about $2200--I will be getting APs/she will only be getting regular park tickets. I think I am getting a better deal! Also, I will be returning to Kidani in June 2010/only pay for dining for that trip because of the APs and she will not!!!!!!