Holiday surchage in effect May 24 - July 11??

[CarolA]

LOL! Only at Disney is the entier Month of June a "holiday"

Yet another reason to stay offsite with a rental car. The rest of Orlando charges regular prices for this "holiday" LOL!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

does this mean the HDDR will cost even more too? LMK because that might change my mind on it and just hang up after being on hold all day for it. LOL

 

[falling2infinity319]

Just to confirm, this is ONLY buffets and character meals going up, right?

Shouldn't affect my dinners at Le Cellier, California Grill, San Angel Inn or Olivia's, right?

 

[JLS]

If you enjoy the buffets/character meals, which we do, this surcharge is an excellent reason to get the dining plan. Last year we did not get the dining plan for the first time (mainly because of the no tip, no appetizer changes) and we found that we could have saved so much money. We did the H & V lunch meal and with the surcharge the kids' buffet for our 3 year old was $15.99, I think. Completely ridiculous for a child to go in there and eat a small plate of chicken nuggets or whatever. The adult prices were $28.99 I think. The surcharge make the prices truly outrageous and certainly make the dining plan more justifiable. The kids' DDP price is less than the price of any of the character meals during that period.

 

[kaytieeldr]

does this mean the HDDR will cost even more too? LMK because that might change my mind on it and just hang up after being on hold all day for it. LOL

Nope. That's a dinner show - not affected.

Disclaimer: I am NOT defending Disney, simply explaining from my entirely unsupported by any fact or Disney-provided data why they may be calling all of June "holiday" for buffet pricing:

You've got Memorial Day weekend, i.e. legitimate/recognized holiday period. You've got Independence Day (on a Saturday this year).
And then, between the two, you've got one of the year's shorter months, during which many school systems close for the summer and so many families take vacations to beat the real summer crowds, and the heat.

The period from Thanksgiving to Christmas, which would not unreasonably be considered comparable, actually is not - because you don't have the same pool of potential Guests. Yes, U.S. schools are closed for a few days at Thanksgiving, and up to two weeks at Christmas, but unlike Juniday - they're open during the intervening weeks.

Now, I don't know exactly when Southern Hemisphere schools close for the summer, but again that's not comparable. First, and despite appearances, those Guests make up a very small minority of total Guests; plus, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving

Again, this is just MY extrapolation. It's not supporting Disney's decision, it's not based on ANY facts or data.

 

[cindyfan]

They are suffering from the recession...hence all the discounts like the free dining pincode,the 40%, the 4/3 promotion...they don't offer those things to be nice. The surcharge is not new, they did it last year and the year before that.They call it a Holiday surcharge, but in reality it is just a Peak travel time surcharge.Do I agree with it? No. But it doesn't really affect me all that much.I don't travel during those times and I use the dining plan. IF I were to go during those times without the plan, I would avoid eating at those places that charged the surcharge.

I don't mean to argue..... but..... couple points here....

WDW has been open for 38 yrs... the "surcharge" for meals has been in effect for what... maybe 18 months at the most... so it is actually "new" to a lot of us.

If they want it to be "Peak" then call it that... not "holiday".
Also... then match it up with what they call "peak" for the resorts.
For June.... it is referred to as "regular" rates..... not "peak".

There is a difference between "peak" and "holiday".
June is Neither.

I am glad you are able to travel when the prices are lower. However many of us simply cannot.
And if we all tried to

avoid eating at those places that charged the surcharge

there wouldn't be many places to eat.

IMHO.... I think Disney is making a big mistake doing this. I just don't think in the long run it's a good business decision.

 

[summermac]

And really WHY is it just character meals? It's just holiday for that? Really? LOL!

 

[RMulieri]

I don't mean to argue..... but..... couple points here....

WDW has been open for 38 yrs... the "surcharge" for meals has been in effect for what... maybe 18 months at the most... so it is actually "new" to a lot of us.

If they want it to be "Peak" then call it that... not "holiday".
Also... then match it up with what they call "peak" for the resorts.
For June.... it is referred to as "regular" rates..... not "peak".

There is a difference between "peak" and "holiday".
June is Neither.

I am glad you are able to travel when the prices are lower. However many of us simply cannot.
And if we all tried to there wouldn't be many places to eat.

IMHO.... I think Disney is making a big mistake doing this. I just don't think in the long run it's a good business decision.

I wasn't trying to start an argument. Disney feels that this is a peak time for these venues so they charge it.They charge it because they can.Whether we like it or agree with it is immaterial, and unless everyone starts complaining directly to disney nothing is going to change it.It may be newto most people, but alot of us here on the boards have been lamenting it for over 2 years now.It may not seem like great customer service or buisness sense, but people still pay it. As for my comments about traveling during these times.It wasn't meant to be rude, mean or condescending. I was saying it doesn't affect me, because it doesn't.i plan my vacations around peak times.I have to. I have and will pull my Dd out of school to travel since because of me and Dh's job, We can not take vacation time anymore from May- august.As for avoiding these places, it can be done and lots of people do it.The restaurants involved are just a fraction of Wdw dining.I am sorry you are upset,and I am sorry Disney feels the need to do it.Perhaps a call or letter to Disney would help.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If they want it to be "Peak" then call it that... not "holiday".
Also... then match it up with what they call "peak" for the resorts.
For June.... it is referred to as "regular" rates..... not "peak".

There is a difference between "peak" and "holiday".
June is Neither.

Well, maybe that's WHY they don't call it "peak" - people would confuse it with peak resort rate periods. But, really, there are many more non-affected restaurants than there are buffets. Really.

 

[patsal]

The only way Disney can really gauge dissatisfaction with something is if it hurts their pockets. The best way to do this is to show that the price point is too high and refuse to eat at these places. Until the venues are not filling up there is no reason to change what they charge. We simply skip all of these restaurants during our visit--my choice is to not pay an additional fee for the time I have available to travel. It is simply supply and demand, they can so they do and many stilll pay. When no one is willing to pay then it will change.

 

[tndisneyfan]

I don't mean to argue..... but..... couple points here....

WDW has been open for 38 yrs... the "surcharge" for meals has been in effect for what... maybe 18 months at the most... so it is actually "new" to a lot of us.

If they want it to be "Peak" then call it that... not "holiday".
Also... then match it up with what they call "peak" for the resorts.
For June.... it is referred to as "regular" rates..... not "peak".

There is a difference between "peak" and "holiday".
June is Neither.

I am glad you are able to travel when the prices are lower. However many of us simply cannot.
And if we all tried to there wouldn't be many places to eat.

IMHO.... I think Disney is making a big mistake doing this. I just don't think in the long run it's a good business decision.

I totally agree with you. Call it peak or whatever, just don't try to classify the whole month of June as a holiday. It doesn't matter too much to me because I am not eating at any of the places with a surcharge, that I know of. It just seems odd to me that they have discounts trying to get you there then they want to gouge you on food.

Like this poster, I am not lucky enough to be able to travel at off times, most people can't.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I'm just glad our kids are a little older (and not going to like DIE if they don't do a princess meal, character meal, etc.) and that we've done all of them before. Personally I thought the prices were WAY exorbitant to begin with- to add on making them even more expensive during the summer when most kids can come- I think is totally ridiculous.
What someone else said is true though- if people will pay it... they will charge it. Meaning if people are willing to pay it they are going to raise the price however much they want- probably until they hit a point where people aren't willing to pay it and then they'll stop raising the prices. It's the same with resorts, disney cruises, etc. Only when they aren't able to fill the ship (or dining room/etc.) will they stop raising the prices and come back to reality. LOL My reality I mean- THEIR reality is whatever people will pay...

Like I said- I'm glad I can avoid them this time. We're just doing HDDR and T-rex- two places we've never eaten at (not that we've eaten at every restaurant- but we've done all the character meals throughout the years) and look like fun. The rest of the time will be breakfast in our TT at FW, lunch at CS, dinner at our TT at FW- gonna save a ton of money and won't gain 50 hundred (slight exaggeration LOL) lbs while there. We need to save room in our tummies for all the deliciousness on the cruise afterwards anyway. Now THAT'S when you can eat to your heart's content.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I totally agree with you. Call it peak or whatever, just don't try to classify the whole month of June as a holiday. It doesn't matter too much to me because I am not eating at any of the places with a surcharge, that I know of. It just seems odd to me that they have discounts trying to get you there then they want to gouge you on food.

Does seem weird doesn't it? but I guess maybe that's a way to make up a little money lost on the discounts to get you there.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay, analysis based on NO information from Disney, inside or otherwise:

Apparently the buffet surcharge seems to run for two weeks at a time around a holiday. Now, usually this works out to the week before and the week after, but not necessarily.

April: Easter is 4/12, the surcharge is in effect 4/5-4/11
May: Memorial Day is 5/25, the surcharge goes into effect 5/24, plus two weeks = through 6/6
July: Independence Day is 7/4, the surcharge runs through 7/11, so the July 4 surcharge effectively starts 6/27

So, there are only twenty 'non-standardly-surchargeable' days between the two actual holidays/holiday surcharge periods.

Combine that with the influx of Guests at this time of year, from states/areas where schools get out at/around the end of May, and Disney apparently feels it is both efficient and profitable enough to just keep the surcharge - instead of program everything with the surcharge, run it for two weeks, change the programming, run it for three weeks, change the programming again, run it for two weeks...

 

[Disuser]

These are the restaurants you can expect to pay more in:
1900 Park Fare
Akershus
Biergarten
Boma
Cape May Cafe
Chef Mickey's
Cinderella's Royal Table
Crystal Palace
Garden Grill
Hollywood and Vine
Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner)
Ohana
Trails End
Tusker House
On average, it's $4.00 more per person ages 10 and up, $2.00 more per child ages 3-9.
( This list comes from The Disboards)

 

[kaytieeldr]

Thanks, Disuser. I just counted 70 total onsite restaurants (including the Dolphin & Swan, excluding Shades of Green). So there's still a wide variety of choices for Guests who choose not to pay the surcharge (including, for that matter, counter service).

 

[DianeV]

Sure there are but conveniently the ones most people 'want' have the surcharge...

 

[dvc at last !]

subscribing...

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Trails end?
TRAILS END is on that list?

Well that's just ridiculous. There have been theads in the camping forum about how they are really cutting back on what's available on their buffet- so they are cutting out things they used to have AND adding a surcharge there? Wow- and no characters either. I really figured it would be buffets that were most wanted (ie: with characters and/or the best restaurants). I'm surprised Trails end- with much more limited offerings there lately- is on this list.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Sure there are but conveniently the ones most people 'want' have the surcharge...

Well, that's subjective - but the restaurants affected are the buffets and the 'all you care to eats' only - because they have set, single prices and so Disney CAN add a surcharge, easily.

Surely Guests who object to the surcharge can get themselves to 'want' to eat at a la carte restaurants, where there IS no surcharge?