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

[cobbler]

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

Lunch was just as bad as dinner. We ate a variety of bfast, lunch and dinner. All full.

You MIGHT be able to get in somewhere but I wouldn't count on it. Esp since reading here how many people are going to take advantage of it and change their dates for vacation.

If you want to sit down you will want an ADR. We saw them turned away a LOT. Sucked for those that didn't plan because they lost out on their credits.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

cobbler, thank you for the reply. I may have to change my evil ways and actually make some ressies before leaving, maybe even months in advance. I have never done that before. Who says old dogs are too old to learn new tricks?

Slightly Goofy

 

[Melrosgirl]

I agree lunch was just as bad as dinner. I like to eat lunch at right around noon and dinner right around 5 p.m. Maybe these are just very popular times with most families (would make sense). Either way, make those ADR's!!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

We are kind of off beat people and tend to do things a bit differently than most. Maybe the fact that we tend to either eat early or late might help us a bit? I will make some ADR's anyway , just in case.

Slightly Goofy

 

[Alice28]

Did the free dining last year; only time we waited more than 15 minutes for our ADR time was for Cinderella's Table for dinner. Service was just fine everywhere! We ate at Scifi, 50s PTC, Marrakesh, CRT, Cape May & WCC.

You definitely need to make ADRs- I called the first day I could for le Cellier & couldn't get it for our party of 6.

 

[wrldpossibility]

free dining. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

I see what you're worried about, and I would be too if I paid for the premium plan. I think the service will go more smoothly than last year's free dining, since everyone's had practice, but your service you're paying dearly for will still probably suffer. If you can't change your travel dates away from the free dining window, I'd downgrade and enjoy the lighter cost. Maybe stay longer or as the other poster said, plan another short premium trip for later on.

I was NOT there during free dining last year, but like you, I read the reports. We're going in Dec, and frankly, I've decided I'm glad to miss the promotion and all the chaos that may accompany it.

 

[Anewman]

The more popular restaraunts are almost always full to capacity, the "Free" Dining plan does not affect that. They dont add more tables or book more ADRs just because of the "free" dining.

Some restaraunts are almost impossible to get into without ADRs, regardless of the "Free" dining or not.

To blame the "free" dining on any of these issues is not logical in my opinion.

 

[tinkamom]

Have you considered changing your reservation to take advantage of the free dining? You could then pay OOP for the meals that aren't included and save quite a bit of money.

We were there last year at the very end of the promotion and I do think that it impacted the restaurants. Tonys changed their menu and did not serve bread with the meal. The menu combined some of the lunch and some of the dinner entrees. We had a few dinners at various places that just weren't as good as the last time when we paid for the plan. It wasn't horrible, but I did see a difference. I think being extra busy explained a lot of it.

 

[poohluvrs]

Do you think if youre on the DP you get poorer service?

 

[tinkamom]

Do you think if youre on the DP you get poorer service?

No, I think its just the luck of the draw!

 

[mommykds]

We got the free dining last October. The restaurants were packed. We waited anywhere from 5-15 minutes to be seated except for Le Cellier which was about 40 minutes.

We had some wonderful servers whom we tipped extra & then some not so good servers who just got the tip from the DP.

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

Okay, we went last fall for 10 nights. We had the free dining. Honestly, I did not notice any change in service or wait times whatsoever. We, as always, had ADRs and was seated promptly. We are going again this fall.

 

[lustergirl]

We enjoyed the free dining plan last September so much that I called Disney today and changed our ressie from December to September of this year, saving us 980 dollars. We never waited for more than 5 minutes and the service was exceptional last year. I am so thrilled to be saving some money by getting into this free dining once again that we won't mind the heat that September has to offer once again. I say go for it and do whatever it takes to save yourself money. No complaints from this family of 4.

 

[DeterminedOne]

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!

Downgrading is certainly an option but ... we like the other features of the Premium plan too much to downgrade. A few things we don't like about MYW dining is that it's limited to one TS per day, and two of our favorite restaurants (Portobello and Fulton's) are excluded Thanks for the suggestion, though.

 

[tinkerbeth]

We were there last year and had aps so didn't do the free dining. I didn't notice any increase in service...we were there middle of august which is slightly busier overall than the end of august (It was the 2nd trip out of the aps so had to be earlier...). The only thing that happened last year was the whole computer system got a worm one day so we couldn't make ps's for dinner and ended up eating counter service at MGM.

Other than that, everything was great. To be honest, the one thing I don't worry about at WDW is service. I think it's amazing there.

Can't wait to make my adrs for this trip.

Beth

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

LOL I am just curious if anyone has gone when they had free dining and NOT gotten ressies until they were on property? Maybe not exactly a walk up but the day before or day of?

Just wondering.

Slightly Goofy

 

[DaisyD]

I know I am so happy that I will miss all the free diners on the next two trips! We saw service go downhill, places packed, and us being rushed along. I hate the free dining offers and had hoped they did away with it. Luckily we will miss it this time!

 

[bertalander]

LOL I am just curious if anyone has gone when they had free dining and NOT gotten ressies until they were on property? Maybe not exactly a walk up but the day before or day of?

Just wondering.

Slightly Goofy

Most probably NOT a chance. I kept trying to change one of ours last year and could never get anything else.

~Berta

 

[micknpluto]

Im starting to worry a little????

We decided on adding dining to our package this year. Our trip was booked, then the code came out so we took advantage and used the code for free dining.

I dont mind it being busy or being rushed (personally I would like to get in and out so I can get back to the parks) One of my concerns about what I've been reading is.... They change the menus?????

Is this a fact with ALL the restaurants? Someone mentioned Tony's and that was one of the restaruants we were planning on trying this year??


Should I be concerned?

 

[EEyorelover22]

LOL I am just curious if anyone has gone when they had free dining and NOT gotten ressies until they were on property? Maybe not exactly a walk up but the day before or day of?

Just wondering.

Slightly Goofy

A friend of mine went last year during free dining and she always did walk up ressies or the day of...not last year! Nearly every place she went, she was turned away. There were only 2 of them too.