I hate to say it , and I hope I'm wrong , but ...

[Karin1984]

You have the option in your user control panel to turn off user signatures.

Thank you! I didn't know this and it's so incredibly annoying! Now I can read the thread and take the poster seriously

I was able to fully use the Deluxe Dining Plan on my solo trip, but on a trip with a friend I thought the regular Dining Plan was too much food. (no idea how that was possible) I wouldn't be too sorry if Free Dining disappears. It would result in lower crowds in these periods and that is more valuable to me than having the option to try out new restaurants and dishes.

 

[CounselorX]

I'm hoping that since early September is still a low-crowd time of the year (progressively increasing in attendance maybe, but still low-ish), that Disney will still consider it beneficial to themselves to offer Free Dining for that time of the year. We have to remember that promotions aren't to help us visitors out because Disney feels like being nice. Promotions are to increase profits. Everyone agrees that attendance levels for September have been increasing the past few years, but I think that has largely been due to free dining. I don't see Disney cutting off that momentum...

Just my 2 cents... hope I am right.

 

[kaytieeldr]

How are you getting a $254 value for the deluxe dining plan for 2 adults 2 kids? In my (recent) experience, the food doesn't cost that much even at MK.

Not deluxe. Regular. $63.70 x 4 = $254.80. Four guests ages 10 and above at the just-increased DDP cost. Anyone staying Moderate/Deluxe wanting the DXDDP would need to people pay extra $52-ish per night per person to upgrade, assuming there is a Dining Plan Free promotion coming.

 

[Mofang]

My guess is that it won't go away entirely - but this summer's one free quick service meal promotion is a preview of things to come. They certainly have the ability to comp one meal ('entitlement') per day without giving out the full meal plan...

That said, it's far too early to panic - no need to jump up and down uncontrollably. (ahem.) Historically, deals haven't been released until at least late April for the fall - so at least two more months before you'd expect this year's deals to appear regardless of any changes.

 

[dres40]

When comparing the RD vs DDP you really should estimate your OOP costs for food not what Disney values the plan at. We would never eat nearly the food required to get full value out of the plan. Plus remember tips are not included. We usually have a lower food bill than the per meal cost of the plan, even including tip, the plan is pre tip.

This is how I feel about free dining. We don't do a TS every day. We like to get appetizers, split main dishes, and get one dessert to share. Often we actually skip dessert.
The DDP is just too much food for us and takes up too much time.
The one time we tried it my DH drove me crazy trying to use up all the snack credits.

 

[Aliceacc]

What "evidence" are you speaking of? Has Disney announced such a plan?

Or is this based on a single post about a single survey?

We've never gotten free dining; it's offered too late in summer, since both my husband and I have to be back in school before Labor Day.

But we've never NOT gotten a great room discount.

 

[pmaurer74]

If it doesn't come out though I wonder how many people would just cancel their trips? I always plan my trips at rack rate and stay at FW which rarely ever offers discounts so it's not a big deal to me but many people only go with the discounts, I wonder if they'd still be willing to go if they had to pay full rack rate. Disney makes it really easy to cancel trips.

I hope so, it is so hard to get ADRs in December. I do know families that really enjoy the free dining though. Room rate discounts were always better for us but DD turns ten this. We are DVC now so it does not affect us anymore. But thinking of DVC, with the resort rooms being changed over to DVC like Poly, AK and now rumored WL... if this continues with Beach Club next, there will be less rooms to fill and therefore fewer discounts.

 

[Nancyg56]

When comparing the RD vs DDP you really should estimate your OOP costs for food not what Disney values the plan at. We would never eat nearly the food required to get full value out of the plan. Plus remember tips are not included. We usually have a lower food bill than the per meal cost of the plan, even including tip, the plan is pre tip.

I think that when people give their opinion of what is the best value, RO Discount or FD, they consider their own family dynamic. The truth is that every family has a unique dynamic, and the only folks who can know which discount is the better value are the ones who make the decision for their family. I always run my numbers, know who's my family dines, and know how to book rooms with discounts that benefit us.

If I book two rooms it is not unusual for us to use two different discounts, so as to gain the best savings. We generally at least break even using the DDP, and I don't worry about increased tips if we use it. I tip according to our bill, no matter what, and since we order wine with meals, our bill increases anyway so it is no harm no foul for us. I budget plenty to cover the gratuities.

 

[anniemae]

Is there a free dining promo right now? I thought they kind of "rolled it out" at times, announcing it months in advance for a certain time period..

What about those who booked a bounce back with free dining a year ago? I thought I read people had booked bounce backs with free dining last Sept for this coming Sept.

 

[DebbieB]

How are you getting a $254 value for the deluxe dining plan for 2 adults 2 kids? In my (recent) experience, the food doesn't cost that much even at MK.

That's the cost of the regular dining plan for 4 adults (kids 10 or over). Granted, out of pocket might be cheaper than that depending on where you eat. But a room discount on a value or moderate resort is not going to be more than $50 per night. I doubt 4 people can eat on $50 per night.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Is there a free dining promo right now? I thought they kind of "rolled it out" at times, announcing it months in advance for a certain time period..

What about those who booked a bounce back with free dining a year ago? I thought I read people had booked bounce backs with free dining last Sept for this coming Sept.

Lots of us did. We will get it, but Disney may not have much incentive to offer it to the general public. Disney could decide that, with all the bounceback bookings they are getting, they don't need to offer it to the general public.

Take a look at the availability of moderates for the last couple of weeks of September. It is already slim, and no general public discounts have been released yet. Could be that some have booked in the hopes of FD, but at any rate, there are not a whole lot of rooms available to discount, at this point.

Could be that they do something similar to the summer offer and only do it for the values and/or the deluxes. IMO and in our family situation, FD has always been a better deal at the moderates than the values or deluxes.

 

[nooneshome]

Disney is addicted to discounts and FD is very popular. They have tweaked it over the years where it isn't quite as good, case being making you pay for park hopping last year. Get back to me when they have eliminated it completely for a year or so....

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think moving up the Food and Wine festival will help fill rooms in September as well.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I would love no more free dining (which of course isn't free...) if it consequently raised food quality at the restaurants.

Not only has it not raised quality, it has significantly contributed to both the degradation of the dining experiences at WDW, along with dramatically increasing the OOP costs of attempting to eat at WDW. However, I do think that the horse has been out of the barn far too long to recover what once was.

 

[bsj1701]

I think moving up the Food and Wine festival will help fill rooms in September as well.

I think it's only a matter of time for this. The way the crowds are during Food and Wine I am surprised it hasn't gone year round yet (in some form!) Even Flower and Garden is almost like a mini Food and Wine festival.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think it's only a matter of time for this. The way the crowds are during Food and Wine I am surprised it hasn't gone year round yet (in some form!) Even Flower and Garden is almost like a mini Food and Wine festival.

That's true, when you add up the weeks of both festivals, it's a good portion of the year now.

 

[tcherjen]

I have never gotten free dining. We are AP holders, so I don't buy the tickets to get free dining.
I don't use magical express-do use FP+, Wifi and their transportation while staying there.
The $15 per night resort fee gets to me too. I already spend more in a week to stay there, then do people going to more exotic places.
I hope this is just a rumor-only time will tell.

 

[bucky1023]

Me personally wouldn't mind seeing it go. I don't use it and (my opinion!!) I think that it has had a somewhat negative affect on the restaurants in Disney.

 

[luvgoing2disney]

I'm a planner from way back and when we go to Disney I keep every receipt, then after we return home, I make a spreadsheet so I can see where we spent the money (and it also helps me remember on what days and times we did what.) Every year I compare the DDP, so called "free" DDP and the price of the plan has NEVER been less than what we spend on food. Granted, we don't do table service every meal and most mornings just eat Pop Tarts in our room for breakfast. But our meal selections are based more on time than budget. To us, the eating at Chefs de France or Le Cellier, while excellent meals, just take up too much time.

 

[5kidsmommy]

I'm a planner from way back and when we go to Disney I keep every receipt, then after we return home, I make a spreadsheet so I can see where we spent the money (and it also helps me remember on what days and times we did what.) Every year I compare the DDP, so called "free" DDP and the price of the plan has NEVER been less than what we spend on food. Granted, we don't do table service every meal and most mornings just eat Pop Tarts in our room for breakfast. But our meal selections are based more on time than budget. To us, the eating at Chefs de France or Le Cellier, while excellent meals, just take up too much time.

We did the dining plan this past November. My daughter and I took a girls only trip and stayed in a moderate, it was a one and done type trip for us, totally different than our usual trips to WDW and staying at FW. We used the free dining promo, while I enjoyed the resort and enjoyed having the food included as it made it feel more inclusive I also felt tied down. Reservations were a crazy free for all, making ADRs was insane but we had some good meals. We usually pay out of pocket for meals and I know that is what we will do from now on. We don't typically get a drink with our meals and we never do dessert, both of those are included with the plan and it was just too much food. I'll never use the free dining discount again, so it doesn't bother me on a personal level but it would be sad to see discounts go for others.