Is Disney's free dining fair?

[Donald Duck 57]

We are just wondering how other people like us who "PAY" for the dining plans feel about not being able to get the dining times or restaurants they want because they are ALL booked up because of the free dining.We find it VERY annoying is it just us ?

 

[bellarella]

Everyone "pays" for dining. "Free" dining means rack rate rooms.

I do find that Disney's dining experience has gone downhill since they have traded other types of discounts for "free" food. I hope they find a way to restore some of the atmosphere of old.

 

[mcd2745]

Ummm...those of us on the dining plan "pay" too. we just do it in advance.

 

[Iott Family]

Its annoying, thats for sure! But those who booked free dining will wonder why you didnt do so yourself! They will also say if you dont like it go another time frame.

In my families case we are going to Orlando for our fall break from school and staying off site and doing Universal, the beach for a day and we were thinking of doing one or two WDW resort character meals to get a bit of disney w/o actually doing disney. I cant find any availability for our dates minus a few dinner times after 8pm which is far too late for our family. With 4 kids who are used to dinner at 6 and bedtime between 9-10 pm that late of a time is a nightmare

Good luck to you. Maybe there will be cancellations from others that will play in your favor!

 

[maxiesmom]

Everyone has the same opportunity to make their ADRs. Besides, the people who take advantage of Free Dining are paying rack rate for their rooms. So they are paying more to get the supposedly "Free" Dining.

Look at it this way: Would you complain because you couldn't book the resort you wanted because Disney was offering a resort discount?

 

[cigar95]

Also, free dining, paid dining, or no dining doesn't impact when one can make reservations - the window opens at the same time for all. If a location is filled, it's because someone else made the reservations, not because their meals are (or are not) "free".

 

[sydneysmom]

we're also "paying" for the dining plan ....but we got 40% off our room. It's the trade off. I wouldn't expect people on free dining to be upset that we got a room discount. DIsney offers the discounts and if you can make it work for your situation, all the better.

We're going next month during free dining. Am I upset that "free diners" get to make adr's ? No, they're every much as entitled to be in the restaurant as me. Like someone else said, they're paying full price for their room. They chose which discount worked best for their family.

I think unless you made your ADR's at 180 days out, yes, you'll probably find most everything popular booked solid. We made our ADR's at 180 days and we got all the adr's we wanted. I even had to change some about 2 months ago and did so with no problem. If I tried now, I couldn't do that. But I don't get why I should be mad because someone else made a reservation. You know, people who aren't even ON the dining plan at all make ADR's also......

 

[mamamia]

I could argue that booking 180 in advance is not fair, because I didn't decide to book my trip until 65 days in advance and I couldn't get an ADR for LeCellier's(sp?). But I won't; because its my own fault for not deciding earlier.

I could have booked a trip to Disney with 40% off of my resort. But that offer passed before we had the idea to go to Disney.

And now, I am "stuck" paying rack rate, but I get free dining. And you know what, I was able to get all of the restaurants I wanted. I had a choice of times. Again, the only one I couldn't get was LeCellier.

We have always made ADR's for everyday for our previous trips.

 

[willowsnn3]

We are just wondering how other people like us who "PAY" for the dining plans feel about not being able to get the dining times or restaurants they want because they are ALL booked up because of the free dining.We find it VERY annoying is it just us ?

I find this post annoying.....7trips in the past 2yrs....3 without dining plan at all in peak season (Xmas/Easter/Memorial Day) & was able to walk up to some of our fav restaurants in the parks. 2 trips we "paid" for dining, was not annoyed...we got adrs we wanted (4th of July week & Mother's Day week)...2 trips with "free" dining (well I guess not free as we upgraded to deluxe) still had no big issues getting what we wanted. We're doing deluxe next week & got everything we wanted. As soon as we know our dates we start checking daily to book what we want.

 

[Melanie B]

We booked with the rooms discount and purchased dxdp. I had no problems getting the restaurants we wanted including Le Cellier.

Everyone has the same opportunity to book ADR's. Just because you didn't book early enough is hardly a good reason to blame a promotion.

 

[MSLRAC]

Everyone has the same opportunity to make their ADRs. Besides, the people who take advantage of Free Dining are paying rack rate for their rooms. So they are paying more to get the supposedly "Free" Dining.

Look at it this way: Would you complain because you couldn't book the resort you wanted because Disney was offering a resort discount?

Exactly! We are traveling next May with "free" dining and I can assure you that I would have gladly "paid" for our dining and taken a room discount instead but that wasn't an option. But in the end, not matter what promo we are booked with, I will make our ADRs at the 180 + 10 mark and hope for the best.

 

[oybolshoi]

nothing in life is fair, especially not at WDW when the mouse is trying to turn a profit. I agree with the others ... we all have the same shot at a reservation regardless of how our meals are being paid for.

 

[MaleficentandGoons]

I just wish you could book your ADR's when you book your trip.

 

[wdwluv]

I do think the free dining takes the sponteneity out of vacation. We have been to wdw more than 30 times in the past 10yrs. There was a time when we would say where do you want to eat dinner tonight, with free dining that really can't be done. It makes vacation almost stressful.

 

[resol37]

We always stay at Shades of Green (my dad is retired military) and are not eligible for either the DDP or free dining. We pay for all of our food OOP and have never been turned away from a TS restaurant. We usually go in March or Oct/Nov. We did have about a 45 minute wait once at House of Blues at DTD but that was a Saturday night probably around 8:30 pm or so.

Also have only ever made ADRs a few times. On my last trip with my ex we got ADRs for Boma and on a previous trip, I got ADRs for Akershus breakfast so my niece could meet the princesses. Wanted to make absolutely sure we didn't miss out on those experiences. Have never tried Le Cellier.

 

[THEJOEL]

I took advantage of "free dining" AFTER I booked my trip and AFTER my ADRs were done.
When I found out about the free dining code (Thanks DIS!!) I called Disney and asked if it would save me money even though I already had a 35% off code on my room rate. It turned out it was $312 less for my family of 3 with the dining code than with my room code.
Why would I not take "advantage" of that?

 

[bangzoom6877]

I'm a DVC member, and I don't expect people to find that annoying since I get to stay in a 1-bedroom villa for 10 nights, whereas someone staying there on cash would pay thousands for the same thing, and I get to do it continuously until the year 2042. It's all about choices, and it was my choice to buy a DVC membership. Some choose to pay rack rate for their room and get free dining, some choose the resort discount and pay for the DDP or for their dining OOP, some choose not to stay on property at all. I don't find any of these scenarios annoying. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Snape]

Life isn't fair.

 

[pigletto]

Life isn't fair.

ROTFL
No life itsn't fair..but it sounds so much better coming from Snape I actually heard that in his voice when I read it

 

[Sleeping Becca]

Everyone has the same ability to book dining.

Fair has nothing to do with it.