Mom2DS
WL Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2002
- Messages
- 342
Just got back around 10:00 last night from our 6-day journey into Free Dining. 
Sorry to those of you whose trip is shortly upcoming, but it was way more crowded 
and hot 
than I had imagined it would be. Having said that, though, we still had a GREAT time and got done almost everything we set out to do. You just have to plan carefully and then be willing to change those plans to suit the crowds and times!
Id say that the most important tip I could give anyone going during Free Dining is MAKE YOUR ADRs!!!
Everywhere we had TS, there were people getting turned away especially Le Cellier. I saw a sign in MK on our last day that said that all TS in the park was full for the evening, but they were offering that special deal if you used your TS credits to eat at a CS restaurant (cant remember exactly what you got in exchange).
We were seated very promptly at all of our ADRs I think the longest we waited after checking in was for Le Cellier and that was probably only 15-20 minutes. Not sure what our favorite meal of the trip was (we ate at Whispering Canyon, Le Cellier, Concourse Steakhouse, Sci-Fi Dine In, and Crystal Palace), but I can tell you that I was very surprised to find that I enjoyed my steak way more at the Concourse than I did at Le Cellier. Whispering Canyon was just as we remembered it same old antics and waitress abuse (Ms. Hedda Lettuce)
. The skillets were just as good as before. Le Cellier was new for us and we enjoyed it as well. The cheese soup was just as yummy as everyone had reported and the cream cheese potatoes were a favorite of my crew! Concourse, although not very exciting dining, was still interesting since you could watch the monorails go by and the food was outstanding! My oldest DS had the lobster bisque and I was so jealous after getting a taste of it YUM! And, as I said before, theirs was the best steak we had all week. Sci-Fis food was average, but you cant beat those old movie clips! I dont think we laughed 
as hard all week as we did there. Crystal Palace was also one that we had done before and loved again. We walked away from there very full and satisfied! My 2 DSs are old enough that they dont care anything about the characters, but I think the character CMs recognize this, as they just stopped long enough to wave and then moved on.
As far as the cost effectiveness of the Free Dining goes, I kept track of everything we spent (except snacks) and we were right at $1200 for the 6 days, so I felt that paying rack rate for the room was well worth it. We were able to eat at many more places than our last trip and try places that we had wanted to try. We had no problems with our credits being allocated correctly all week and all servers that we encountered were friendly and helpful.
The parks were all crowded and my plan of hitting the park that had EMH the day before didnt really seem to work. My second most important tip would be USE FPs!!! We worked the FP system and got on every ride within about 10 minutes. I think the longest we waited on stand-by was 20 minutes. I cant stress enough that getting to the parks EARLY is the way to go! We got to MK before opening one morning (9:00) and by 10:48 we had ridden POTC
, SplMtn (2x), BTMRR, HM and were on the train to Tomorrowland for our SpaceMtn fastpasses. Please note that FPs for Expedition Everest go VERY quickly. 
We got to AK around 9:30 and went right to EE. Our FP time was for 11:30-12:30. After we rode at 11:30, the FPs were already gone for the day and the standy-by time was 60-75 minutes. This ride has GOT to be the best in WDW! Unfortunately it really did me in 
even though I had taken a Bonine that morning so I didnt ride it anymore.
My last tip would be to make sure you leave yourself enough time when trying to get somewhere on Disney transportation. Most of the week we didnt wait too awfully long for a ride, but the night we had ADRs at Sci-Fi, we got to the bus stop (at WL) at 6:30 and waited around 50 minutes for a bus to MGM to come, so we just barely made our 7:50 ADR time. Also, know your transportation options well. After hopping the last boat 
from MGM one night (we thought wed head over to Epcot and then monorail to MK and boat back to WL), we discovered that the boat was only heading to the resorts before shutting down for the night. No problem we bussed to the MK from Boardwalk and then bussed back to WL.
Oh for those of you staying at the WL, there was an update listed on the WL channel on the TV that starting Monday 8/21, the bus from WL to MK would be dropping off at the TTC instead of right at MK. You will then have to monorail or ferry over to MK.
All in all, we had a wonderful time. Even if the parks are crowded, and even if its hotter than the surface of the sun, and even if you have to wait almost an hour for a bus and then stand all the way to the parks cause its so crowded, youll still have a good time if you want to. After all youre at Disney!!
You're already doing the best thing you can do for your trip -- you're on the DisBoards!! 
If you do your homework here and ask questions when you're not sure, you'll be way ahead of a LOT of the people in the parks! 
Sorry to those of you whose trip is shortly upcoming, but it was way more crowded and hot than I had imagined it would be. Having said that, though, we still had a GREAT time and got done almost everything we set out to do. You just have to plan carefully and then be willing to change those plans to suit the crowds and times!Id say that the most important tip I could give anyone going during Free Dining is MAKE YOUR ADRs!!!
Everywhere we had TS, there were people getting turned away especially Le Cellier. I saw a sign in MK on our last day that said that all TS in the park was full for the evening, but they were offering that special deal if you used your TS credits to eat at a CS restaurant (cant remember exactly what you got in exchange). We were seated very promptly at all of our ADRs I think the longest we waited after checking in was for Le Cellier and that was probably only 15-20 minutes. Not sure what our favorite meal of the trip was (we ate at Whispering Canyon, Le Cellier, Concourse Steakhouse, Sci-Fi Dine In, and Crystal Palace), but I can tell you that I was very surprised to find that I enjoyed my steak way more at the Concourse than I did at Le Cellier. Whispering Canyon was just as we remembered it same old antics and waitress abuse (Ms. Hedda Lettuce)
. The skillets were just as good as before. Le Cellier was new for us and we enjoyed it as well. The cheese soup was just as yummy as everyone had reported and the cream cheese potatoes were a favorite of my crew! Concourse, although not very exciting dining, was still interesting since you could watch the monorails go by and the food was outstanding! My oldest DS had the lobster bisque and I was so jealous after getting a taste of it YUM! And, as I said before, theirs was the best steak we had all week. Sci-Fis food was average, but you cant beat those old movie clips! I dont think we laughed as hard all week as we did there. Crystal Palace was also one that we had done before and loved again. We walked away from there very full and satisfied! My 2 DSs are old enough that they dont care anything about the characters, but I think the character CMs recognize this, as they just stopped long enough to wave and then moved on.As far as the cost effectiveness of the Free Dining goes, I kept track of everything we spent (except snacks) and we were right at $1200 for the 6 days, so I felt that paying rack rate for the room was well worth it. We were able to eat at many more places than our last trip and try places that we had wanted to try. We had no problems with our credits being allocated correctly all week and all servers that we encountered were friendly and helpful.
The parks were all crowded and my plan of hitting the park that had EMH the day before didnt really seem to work. My second most important tip would be USE FPs!!! We worked the FP system and got on every ride within about 10 minutes. I think the longest we waited on stand-by was 20 minutes. I cant stress enough that getting to the parks EARLY is the way to go! We got to MK before opening one morning (9:00) and by 10:48 we had ridden POTC
, SplMtn (2x), BTMRR, HM and were on the train to Tomorrowland for our SpaceMtn fastpasses. Please note that FPs for Expedition Everest go VERY quickly. We got to AK around 9:30 and went right to EE. Our FP time was for 11:30-12:30. After we rode at 11:30, the FPs were already gone for the day and the standy-by time was 60-75 minutes. This ride has GOT to be the best in WDW! Unfortunately it really did me in even though I had taken a Bonine that morning so I didnt ride it anymore.My last tip would be to make sure you leave yourself enough time
when trying to get somewhere on Disney transportation. Most of the week we didnt wait too awfully long for a ride, but the night we had ADRs at Sci-Fi, we got to the bus stop (at WL) at 6:30 and waited around 50 minutes for a bus to MGM to come, so we just barely made our 7:50 ADR time. Also, know your transportation options well. After hopping the last boat from MGM one night (we thought wed head over to Epcot and then monorail to MK and boat back to WL), we discovered that the boat was only heading to the resorts before shutting down for the night. No problem we bussed to the MK from Boardwalk and then bussed back to WL.Oh for those of you staying at the WL, there was an update listed on the WL channel on the TV that starting Monday 8/21, the bus from WL to MK would be dropping off at the TTC instead of right at MK. You will then have to monorail or ferry over to MK.
All in all, we had a wonderful time. Even if the parks are crowded, and even if its hotter than the surface of the sun, and even if you have to wait almost an hour for a bus and then stand all the way to the parks cause its so crowded, youll still have a good time if you want to. After all youre at Disney!!
You're already doing the best thing you can do for your trip -- you're on the DisBoards!! If you do your homework here and ask questions when you're not sure, you'll be way ahead of a LOT of the people in the parks! 
