I need to know. What were the restaurants like last year during free dining?

[DeterminedOne]

I'm just sick over the whole free dining thing. We're going on the Premium plan, which means lots of dining and I'm so afraid the restaurants will be full to capacity. Even though our ADR's are secured I'm worried about poor service, slow service due to the influx of diners. Several trip reports I read last year referenced this, mainly that the CM's didn't know how the plan worked and thus were confused. What was your experience? Would especially love perspective of those who were there during that time but weren't using the dining plan. Thanks for your help.

 

[momandseandodisney]

dont be too scared, some things were busy, soeme days. Last year we went during free dining time, we did not have free dining nor the dining plan, services was still great on the most part!

 

[Sammie]

Well we experienced the opposite, not only were most places packed, I always felt rushed, as they just really want to get everyone in and out, and several of our ADR's were messed up. We had long waits getting seated.

I won't go again during free dining, unless we eat off property.

 

[momandseandodisney]

really? wow, that was too bad you had that experience, again i did not notice anything "big"

I am glad though we are going right at the end of the free dining this year!

 

[jjan]

I noticed that the restaurants were very busy, if you didn't have a ADR- forget about it. I also felt like my service suffered a bit here and there because of the built in tip, but not enough to make me not want to go again this summer.

 

[tortoni]

We were there last year during free dining and did not have any problem. Some of the very popular restaurants were hard to get in (eg, Cindy's), but we had no problem with some last minute reservations at Cape May Cafe and Spoodles. Also got into ESPN for lunch without a problem. In fact, I think we went everywhere we wanted and had good service and no trouble.

 

[luvmyboys]

As it was our first trip, I don't have much to compare it to, but I didn't ever feel rushed, nor did I feel service was lacking. We had about a 15 min. wait at Le Cellier, but our meal was leisurely and tasty, and the CM very friendly. Other TS included Crystal Palace breakfast, WCC lunch, & Chef Mickey's (which was almost empty at 5:30 pm!). We had a terrific time, & thought crowds were very light. We're sooo looking forward to this year!!

 

[bertalander]

Nope, it wasn't bad at all. It was busy but not crazy at all.

No worries.

 

[bertalander]

Oh! And the parks were a breeze. We never waited in a line more than 5 minutes, literally, never more than 5 mintues and often no wait at all. What a BLAST that was!

 

[Sammie]

Oh! And the parks were a breeze. We never waited in a line more than 5 minutes, literally, never more than 5 mintues and often no wait at all. What a BLAST that was!

Everyone must have been dining.

 

[Disney-Kim]

when is free dining???

 

[bertalander]

Everyone must have been dining.

Ok, that made me totally LOL.

Probably true!

Berta

 

[marcyinPA]

We didn't have any service issues that were due to it being busy. We did have some issues that were due to poor training (IMHO!!).

It was nearly impossible to get into TS restaurants (in the parks anyway) without an ADR. We experienced people being turned away left and right. We didn't have to wait for a table (with an ADR) anywhere except for Le Cellier, where we waited nearly 45 minutes (but in their defense, we were a party of 11 and trying to sit together). Our service there was PERFECT though....she really took care of us once we were seated and was totally attentive.

We found that everywhere we ate, the servers knew the ins and outs of the dining plan without a doubt. No problems on that end.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat!!

 

[DeterminedOne]

Just curious to know the timeframe you all went. Thanks

 

[Leota]

I noticed that the restaurants were very busy, if you didn't have a ADR- forget about it. I also felt like my service suffered a bit here and there because of the built in tip, but not enough to make me not want to go again this summer.

That sums up my take on it perfectly. We were there the last week of August. If I wasn't maxed out on vacation spending for the year, I'd do it again.

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Is WDW doing the free dining again? I'm seeing a lot of it on the boards. Or is this a joke?

 

[Thinktinknpixiedust]

Yes the free dining is in effect from Aug. 13 till Sept. ??. We got our ressies switched yesterday... and I am just excited about it. Because it's free I will be able to do soooo much more. So I am personally not at all concerned about service issues. I am sure it will be fine and we are very easy customers (we are in the restaurant biz ourselves...) I may be concerned if I had paid for a premium plan tho. That is alot of money and I guess I would demand great service as well. Why don't you "downgrade" yourself to the free dining, enjoy the heck out of this vacation (mostly on the "mouse") and then make new ressies to go back with full premium at another time! 2 vacations for almost the cost of one!

 

[Melrosgirl]

we were there during free dining last year. We didn't have the free dining, but our friends did. We could not get into any restaurants without ADR's. It was crazy. Luckily I had made ADR's before we left, but it's tough to plan where you will be each day, so here and there we'd be in the wrong park and would try to cancel one ADR to get another one and it was impossible.

I'm sooo glad free dining is after our trip this summer. So glad. I seriously would have considered changing our trip dates. (I'm DVC, so no free dining for me. If it was free, I wouldn't complain, LOL.)

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

I am thinking that getting in for lunch might be a lot easier than dinner and since we are used to eating our main meal then I am hoping I am right? Am I??

I am also thinking that if I am flexible I might be able to make ressies the night before or possibly the day of and get in somewhere. There are so many places that we have not eaten at it would not be hard to find some place we would like to try. I am not interested in getting the most bang for the buck but just eating things we like when we are hungry.

Slightly Goofy

 

[cobbler]

We went the first week in October and the restaurants were packed. I mean every single one we went to was full. We saw tons of people getting turned away left and right.

However, we didn't expirence bad service.