Man oh man, what a bummer

[rutgers1]

I love Disney. In theory, I like free dining. In practice, I don't like it, but only because I am a Disney Vacation Club member and am not eligible. But the real reason why I hate it is because Disney totally doesn't have the restaurant capacity to make this work and, therefore, are losing people who would otherwise be paying for meals.

I screwed up and called at 89 days instead of 90. Anyway, at that time, barely anything was available. One day into my window and nada. I have brought this up before, but Disney has to consider adding more space at the popular restaurants (if at all possible) or adding a few more new restaurants. Perhaps they should retheme some of the less popular ones so that all of us aren't trying for the same 15 places. Whatever it is, they should look into this.

So here is how Disney loses:
1) They offer free dining.
2) The hoards come.
3) I was going to pay for three meals a day, with at least one table service.
4) Now I am going to eat in the room when possible and eat at counter service many other meals. I am also considering renting a car and eating off property. I am going to crunch the numbers to see how much I would be down if I were to rent and eat at more reasonably priced places off property. Any way you slice it, they will be getting less of my dining money.

 

[TDC Nala]

Perhaps they should retheme some of the less popular ones so that all of us aren't trying for the same 15 places

No matter what they do, everyone is going to want the restaurants that are 1) in or close to a theme park, 2) have characters, especially princesses or 3) offer steak for one TS credit.

Disney World has plenty of restaurant capacity. This month alone two new restaurants are opening - but one is at Animal Kingdom Villas, a long way from parks except AK and the other (which isn't open yet) is at Downtown Disney and may not take the dining plan. Not all WDW dining fits the above categories - and not all of the restaurants at WDW are on the dining plan either.

I'm thinking there will be space for me at Sanaa or Bluezoo or Olivia's and will not be booking ADRs for August/September most likely.

 

[soupy11]

So here is how Disney loses:
1) They offer free dining.
2) The hoards come.

That's all disney cares about....right there. They don't have to discount room rates, they throw in some food that costs a portion of what they would normally make off of it. Hoards descend at a time when they would otherwise be slow....ka-ching.

 

[sharadoc]

I love Disney. In theory, I like free dining. In practice, I don't like it, but only because I am a Disney Vacation Club member and am not eligible. But the real reason why I hate it is because Disney totally doesn't have the restaurant capacity to make this work and, therefore, are losing people who would otherwise be paying for meals.

I screwed up and called at 89 days instead of 90. Anyway, at that time, barely anything was available. One day into my window and nada. I have brought this up before, but Disney has to consider adding more space at the popular restaurants (if at all possible) or adding a few more new restaurants. Perhaps they should retheme some of the less popular ones so that all of us aren't trying for the same 15 places. Whatever it is, they should look into this.

So here is how Disney loses:
1) They offer free dining.
2) The hoards come.
3) I was going to pay for three meals a day, with at least one table service.
4) Now I am going to eat in the room when possible and eat at counter service many other meals. I am also considering renting a car and eating off property. I am going to crunch the numbers to see how much I would be down if I were to rent and eat at more reasonably priced places off property. Any way you slice it, they will be getting less of my dining money.

Hi. Would you mind telling us more detail? What did you try to get? Were you flexible in your days, i.e. Chef Mickey's on a Monday OR Wednesday, 5-8 pm, or was it more like CMs Monday at 5? I'm curious only because I called yesterday at 5 and got everything I wanted within my one hour window and on the day I wanted it. I didn't make a reservation for every day, so I'm wondering if I decide to add if it will be nigh impossible!

Thanks.

 

[Mickey_Man]

I would like to know more as well - I got ADRs the other day and a cast member "couldn';t get me an ADR" because she didn't understand that when I said "anytime around 6", i meant 5-7, not 5:55 - 6:05. Sometimes you have to guide the CM a little more than you might think.

 

[rutgers1]

I had asked for the Fantasmic package for the any of the days during my week. I had never had trouble getting it before. A couple of the other restaurants were Whispering Canyon and Sci Fi Cafe. I gave at least a three hour window. I can't remember the others, as I got a bit bummed and deleted them off of my page.

When I look back at my original note, I realize that I look like one of those complainers who isn't seeing the big picture, but I guess I was just bummed because I never expected to experience any trouble with ADR's a day into my 90 day window. Add in the fact that I selfishly was hoping that crowds would be down a bit in late August and now it looks like a good sized crowd will be there.

 

[goofy4tink]

I had asked for the Fantasmic package for the any of the days during my week. I had never had trouble getting it before. A couple of the other restaurants were Whispering Canyon and Sci Fi Cafe. I gave at least a three hour window. I can't remember the others, as I got a bit bummed and deleted them off of my page.

When I look back at my original note, I realize that I look like one of those complainers who isn't seeing the big picture, but I guess I was just bummed because I never expected to experience any trouble with ADR's a day into my 90 day window. Add in the fact that I selfishly was hoping that crowds would be down a bit in late August and now it looks like a good sized crowd will be there.

I hear ya!!! I know that on this coming trip, we'll be eating in our villa a lot more than we usually do. I booked our BWV stay long before there was any talk of free dining...I booked then because free dining doesn't usually start that early..usually a week later. I'm lucky in that I have a friend who is going down the week before me, but staying over into my week. She put me on some of their ADRs...sure, we don't get to eat all by ourselves, but we are eating at places I may not have been able to book.
It's just a huge pain to try and book meals, that you are paying for, and you completely realize that there are meals being booked that aren't going to be used. I did call yesterday to book Tony's and Garden Grille...my day 89. Had no trouble getting exactly what I needed.
But, I will be calling in mid-July to see if anything else had opened up for me so I can get some ADRs for just my group...in addition to the few we are sharing with my friend.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I love Disney. In theory, I like free dining. In practice, I don't like it, but only because I am a Disney Vacation Club member and am not eligible. But the real reason why I hate it is because Disney totally doesn't have the restaurant capacity to make this work and, therefore, are losing people who would otherwise be paying for meals.

I screwed up and called at 89 days instead of 90. Anyway, at that time, barely anything was available. One day into my window and nada. I have brought this up before, but Disney has to consider adding more space at the popular restaurants (if at all possible) or adding a few more new restaurants. Perhaps they should retheme some of the less popular ones so that all of us aren't trying for the same 15 places. Whatever it is, they should look into this.

So here is how Disney loses:
1) They offer free dining.
2) The hoards come.
3) I was going to pay for three meals a day, with at least one table service.
4) Now I am going to eat in the room when possible and eat at counter service many other meals. I am also considering renting a car and eating off property. I am going to crunch the numbers to see how much I would be down if I were to rent and eat at more reasonably priced places off property. Any way you slice it, they will be getting less of my dining money.

It doesn't look like a lost to me.

You purchased DVC( $$$$). You are paying fees for the next XX years. ($$$$) They know you WILL return to Disney. When you do, you'll need park passes.($$$$)

The free dining folks may not have gone to Disney without a discount. They give them the food for free. Many will upgrade to the deluxe package. ($$$$) Many will upgrade to a better resort. ($$$$) They all need park passes.($$$$) Many will spring for the resort mugs.($$$$) They have to pay tips on those free meals.($$$$) Most of us will purchase souvenirs($$$$) as well as snacks not covered by the plan.($$$$)

In the end, Disney comes out ahead.

 

[FireDancer]

The only time I was at WDW during free dinning I was forced to change the way I dine and it ended up making the trip so much better. I don't care about where I eat so much (other than my mandatory Boma trip each trip) and didn't feel like losing 3 hours of my time just making reservations. What I did was decide to just wing it. It sounds very counter intuitive but worked out great!

Most days I just walked into a CS restaurant at a non-normal dinning time (breakfast at 10 instead of first thing, lunch between 2:30 and 3 instead of noon, ect) and had no problems. I ate small dishes around the World Showcase or would grab something at a resort when I was going from park to park.

 

[Colleen27]

I had asked for the Fantasmic package for the any of the days during my week. I had never had trouble getting it before. A couple of the other restaurants were Whispering Canyon and Sci Fi Cafe. I gave at least a three hour window. I can't remember the others, as I got a bit bummed and deleted them off of my page.

When I look back at my original note, I realize that I look like one of those complainers who isn't seeing the big picture, but I guess I was just bummed because I never expected to experience any trouble with ADR's a day into my 90 day window. Add in the fact that I selfishly was hoping that crowds would be down a bit in late August and now it looks like a good sized crowd will be there.

The F! packages have been harder to get than LeCellier, Chef Mickey and CRT combined since Disney cut the number of showings, and that has nothing to do with free dining. I made my May ADRs at 90 days out, but decided at 88 days out after talking to my mom that we wanted to do F! after all. There were no Fantasmic pacakges left at any restaurant, even Brown Derby which is usually slow to fill because it takes 2 credits, for any day over our 8-night trip.

I'm surprised at how many reports I've seen lately about Sci-fi being a tough ressie to get. That's one we've had great luck with at the last minute, which I always chalked up to the poor reviews the place gets here on the DIS nd elsewhere. I wonder how much of that is also attributable to the reduced number of Fantasmic showings, because with it playing only a couple nights a week, you've got a ridiculous number of people planning DHS for those days. One F! showing holds enough people to fill every TS restaurant in DHS for hours, and from all reports, every show is filling to capacity and then some.

I do think Disney may have underestimated the response they'd get to opening up free dining during summer vacation, rather than at the tail end of August when most of the country is back in school. They clearly underestimated the crowds the 4/3 would draw around spring break & Easter, and I'm starting to think they did the same for the first couple week or so of free dining.

 

[lugnut33]

There are 8 of us going from Aug. 16-21 and all our dinners will be off-site. Lunch will be in the villa or DTD. And Breakfast will be in the villa. I refuse to get caught up in the Disney Dining Madness.

 

[JT's World]

I'm a DVC member and I took an entirely different approach. We had a trip planned at the Animal Kingdom Villas for Aug 15th-21st long before the Free Dining was announced. We had planned on paying for the Disney Dining Plan OOP since we enjoy eating at the Disney World Restaurants. My 2 children are now 10 & 12, meaning they are Adult rate for the Dining plan.

Then along comes the announcement of Free Dining starting on Aug 16th. I crunch the numbers and find out that I can get a moderate resort and the Disney Dining plan for less than I was going to pay in cash for the Dining Plan alone in addition to using my DVC points.

So I made reservations for Aug 16th-22nd at the Caribbean Beach Resort with the Dining Plan and cancelled my Animal Kingdom Resort reservation. Sure the accomodations won't be as nice as AKL, but after I upgrade the park tickets to the DVC annual pass(we were going to get the AP anyway), I get another week of Resort time for free by using the points I saved.

We made our ADRs Monday, got the restaurants that we wanted, and now we are looking forward to our upcoming trip and planning the next trip!

 

[5 for WDW]

I'm a DVC member and I took an entirely different approach. We had a trip planned at the Animal Kingdom Villas for Aug 15th-21st long before the Free Dining was announced. We had planned on paying for the Disney Dining Plan OOP since we enjoy eating at the Disney World Restaurants. My 2 children are now 10 & 12, meaning they are Adult rate for the Dining plan.

Then along comes the announcement of Free Dining starting on Aug 16th. I crunch the numbers and find out that I can get a moderate resort and the Disney Dining plan for less than I was going to pay in cash for the Dining Plan alone in addition to using my DVC points.

So I made reservations for Aug 16th-22nd at the Caribbean Beach Resort with the Dining Plan and cancelled my Animal Kingdom Resort reservation. Sure the accomodations won't be as nice as AKL, but after I upgrade the park tickets to the DVC annual pass(we were going to get the AP anyway), I get another week of Resort time for free by using the points I saved.

We made our ADRs Monday, got the restaurants that we wanted, and now we are looking forward to our upcoming trip and planning the next trip!

We did the exact same thing!

We are also DVC members. We wanted to take the kids back this summer but, we were deciding whether or not to use the points. We booked the trip, on points.

Then, we decided last week to crunch the numbers as well. We cancelled our stay at SSR and are staying at Port Orleans Riverside with Free Dining August 17-22nd.

I made all our dining reservations yesterday. I had to switch around a few days but, I was able to get all the ressies we wanted with only one later (7:30pm) dinner time. The rest are perfect times and at all the places we wanted, including the Castle.

See you there!