Interesting read

[Cinderella]

taylor I apologise it appears that what you have heard is correct,even though Disney have already offered Free Dining for the UK already they have opened it back up:Stays must be booked before 31st July (for '09) stays from 8/2 & must finish 12/17 ,minimum 5 nights-max 21 & for '10-must book before 31st Dec for stays 8/1 - 11/18. I think this is a major sign that the recession is biting,since when has Disney had to offer Free dining over F&W & Thanksgiving!
By the way the exchange rate at the min is around $1.4/$1.45 to the £.
SD

Sorry - I forgot to say - I didn't actually see 2010 free dining advertised. It just came up when I put in my dates. It's not a glitch in the system though - if you put in dates just outside the window Shooby mentioned, it tells you to adjust your dates and get free dining.

 

[taylor3297]

Thank you for answering my questions. It is just so interesting to see what offers are offered to whom. In the end, as long as everyone gets something special and have a great trip, that is all that matters.

Job wise the recession hasn't hit my family, but I have noticed the higher prices in the grocery store and at restaurants. Have y'all had a rise in grocery prices? US news isn't always the best in covering international news. All so with two little ones, I see more of the Disney channel than regular TV.

 

[Beep]

Thank you for answering my questions. It is just so interesting to see what offers are offered to whom. In the end, as long as everyone gets something special and have a great trip, that is all that matters.

Job wise the recession hasn't hit my family, but I have noticed the higher prices in the grocery store and at restaurants. Have y'all had a rise in grocery prices? US news isn't always the best in covering international news. All so with two little ones, I see more of the Disney channel than regular TV.

Hiya,

Yeah, there has been an increase in grocery prices over here too. We're lucky that job-wise we (personally) haven't been hit but so many have

Interesting about the free dining in December. We have a stay booked at the POR for part of our honeymoon and it cost us £425. Now the same is £539 without tickets and free dining. We have annual passes with the wedding package so it wouldn't have benefited us, but it's interesting to see the change in price of the room. I reckon that's where the 'free' dining is coming from!

 

[taylor3297]

Hiya,

Yeah, there has been an increase in grocery prices over here too. We're lucky that job-wise we (personally) haven't been hit but so many have

Interesting about the free dining in December. We have a stay booked at the POR for part of our honeymoon and it cost us £425. Now the same is £539 without tickets and free dining. We have annual passes with the wedding package so it wouldn't have benefited us, but it's interesting to see the change in price of the room. I reckon that's where the 'free' dining is coming from!

I had always figured the free dining was being paid by the other guests who paid the higher price on something.

 

[Karenpowley]

This is the first time we've actually stayed onsite (first 6 days of our hols), and because we always like to have at least a decent breakfast and nice evening meal we decided to pay for the DDP - beacuse it worked out at approx £19 per adult per day, and something like £6.00 a day for my DD (7)which includes a x QS Meal 1 Snack and 1TS, and i know we'd spend that easily whilst we were in Disney - (offsite eating is a different thing as regards cost)

The downside to that is having to book ADR's etc and having to work around them while your there - but whilst we're staying in Disney we just decided it would be so much easier to eat there too.

I consider even when paying for this it is reasonable, although i don't think i could do it for more than a week because of the amount of food you are entitled to,but to get it Free is fantastic - wish we could go during free DDP

I am looking forward to the rest of our holiday tho offsite where we can eat at a pace to suit ourselves.

Kx

 

[starrysky]

we had also booked 14 for 10 offer, disney uk changed bookin
for free dining saving us £600 only charged us £25 admin fee.

I looked into changing as well but as there are only two of us the admin fee would take away most of the saving but I see that for you and your family thats really good

 

[gemmybear83]

So Disney have cut back and raised a few prices to help them through recession...same as most companies are doing right now.

If I walk down my street, a nice sandwich will cost me £6 ($10), so to get the same in a Disney theme park is pretty good to me!

Totally agree! disney is a business after all.

 

[Lizzybear]

£6 sandwiches!! I must be spoilt living here.. There are that many little sandwich places (not even including the chains like Subway etc) that the most you can expect to pay is about £3, takeaways are cheap for the same reason. Our 7 night stay this year is working out at £150 per night for room, tickets and food (normal DDP) for the 2 of us which I think is a great deal and I bet the saving is even better for a family. We'll almost certainly be spending more per night in Boston and New York when you factor in hotel, food and entertainment so IMO WDW is great value at the moment

 

[heatherbelle]

Interesting article.

I notice over on the DIBB that UK travel agents are now offering free dining for 2010. First chocie are offering it on phone bookings only at the moment. It's rumoured that VH will be offering it from next week.

 

[paulh]

have done the DDP several times both paid and free, the fun went out when they removed the starter and tip to make us pay for it. This happened before the credit crunch/recession started. the free ddp is offered to fill rooms in there slow period, remember Disney has over 25,000 rooms to fill every day of the year. end of aug/sept is the hurricane season and when usa schools go back,so room ocupancy will go down,free ddp has been in effect for quite a few years in the usa and only for a couple in the uk.
As were more likely to stay for longer and book more in advance than our usa friends if the free ddp is on offer to us we will tend to get it sooner. Our brouchers for travel in 2010 are coming out now so it looks like Disney are using this marketing tool more in advance to get a more headlining take in the brochures to try and get us folks to stay onsite. As for costs going up and smaller portions yes they are only people not buying would stop this Where I personally think Disney would clean up is if they offered something like a daily plan like at universal rather than having it for the full stay and if only staying onsite, When AK first opened they offered vouchers at a reduced cost for a QS, snack and a drink this was before the ddp as we knew came out why they haven’t done since I don’t know Again on cost one thing we find expensive on site is beer around $6 for a bud.even without a car its easy to get a case of 12 beers from Hess onsite for less than $20 (a lot know about my beer runs) and one time when we would buy a 6 pack from Disney you would get a discount for buying in bulk, they only sell singles now
Paulh

 

[wayneg]

even without a car its easy to get a case of 12 beers from Hess onsite for less than $20 (a lot know about my beer runs) and one time when we would buy a 6 pack from Disney you would get a discount for buying in bulk, they only sell singles now
Paulh

Will keep my eyes peeled for you Paul when filling up with gas.

 

[Cinderella]

Hi Taylor - food prices do seem to have gone up here -but we just shop around for better deals. Watching the Disney channel and avoiding the news is a good idea. Every time I read, or listen to the news, I regret it.

 

[paulh]

Will keep my eyes peeled for you Paul when filling up with gas.

if i see you, you can give us a lift
Paulh

 

[wayneg]

if i see you, you can give us a lift
Paulh

Karen says no problem if your buying the drinks for us.
Saw your pic in your building work thread, know who to look for now

 

[paulh]

Karen says no problem if your buying the drinks for us.
Saw your pic in your building work thread, know who to look for now

do you only drink sodas? cheap round
Paulh

 

[Beth__WDW23/6/02]

£6 sandwiches!! I must be spoilt living here.. There are that many little sandwich places (not even including the chains like Subway etc) that the most you can expect to pay is about £3, takeaways are cheap for the same reason. Our 7 night stay this year is working out at £150 per night for room, tickets and food (normal DDP) for the 2 of us which I think is a great deal and I bet the saving is even better for a family. We'll almost certainly be spending more per night in Boston and New York when you factor in hotel, food and entertainment so IMO WDW is great value at the moment

I agree I'd never spend £6 on a sandwich! Eek.

I guess Disney is like every other company at the moment,they need to make a earning. I can't believe the price of stroller rentals though thats shocking.

 

[wayneg]

do you only drink sodas? cheap round
Paulh

I only drink soda when driving, Karen can drink enough for us both though.

 

[Beep]

Disney is a business and in it to make a profit just like anyone else. I guess they think people will spend $2-$4 more for the buffet without even battering an eyelid and it would probably make a huge difference to them with the number of people paying the extra. An individual wouldn't notice the difference in their back pocket.

We are eating more off-site this time, partly due to money but mainly due to flexibility. I didn't like being tied into a certain place at a certain time so much, but to be honest I didn't think the quality was as good as it used to be. A couple of times I was really glad we were on the DDP rather than paying full whack.

 

[Frances999]

As someone with a LOT of Disney shares, I probably shouldn't complain at tactics aiming to boost up their revenues during the downtime. Having said that, there doesn't seem to be anything to complain about anyway!

Yes, stroller prices are high. However, Disney don't stop (or even discourage) guests bringing their own strollers, so those relying on the Disney rentals are likely, on the whole, happy to pay for the convenience factor. The restaurant issues discussed seem in-line with many chains across the country. Guests who rely on Magical Express without realizing that it means access to off-site restaurants will be limited are the only ones being "forced" to rely on Disney's dining - and how many people don't realize that before planning their trip?

Like another poster said, Disney's a business and they'll push prices to the maximum people will pay. It's a tough economic climate for guests, but some of the offers available at the moment are pretty generous for those still wishing to visit.

 

[taylor3297]

I noticed many say that in order to save money on food they go off site to eat. Well if you have to rent a car, pay for gas, then the it takes to leave the resort/parks, are you really saving that much money?

We live about 12 hours from Orlando, but fly for convenience and time (Direct flight 2 hours max), we don't rent a car, we just use Disney transportation. We normally stay at the Polynesian, and use the dining plan. By doing it this way, we find we actually save money.