Never again during free dining promotion

[wdwobsessed]

I think anyone who went last week probably went the absolute worst time anyone could go other than Christmas or Spring Break.

Why?

A LOT of schools started back today or will start next week. Everyone was getting in the trip, with free dining, before school started today!!!

Even IF they started back on August 13th some parents may have the mindset that it is better to miss the first week of school (when not much is going on) than later in the month when the real work starts.

So my prediction is that last week ... August 13th - 20th .... will be the most crowded week of Free Dining ... followed by the last few days of September going into the first week of October.

I for one am going on ten days ... the week of Labor Day ... by that point everyone is back in school so I think it will have calmed down by then. I was still able to get ADR's on Saturday for many places.

WDWO

 

[Evil Queen]

Doesnt make sense to do free dining in september. I mean ya sure disney is trying to get ppl to come down, but a lot of ppl dont wanna pull their kids out of school when its just starting. In my opinion it should be during one of the summer months June, July or the first part of August. Or better yet, no free dining at all.

Makes perfect sense, it's the most active hurricane month (in the last few years), and there are many folks kids who will be on fall breaks in September. Then there are parents who are ok with their kids missing some school (I'm one of those-as long as my son stays on top of his grades and studies-I'll take him year after year).

June, July and part of August are busy already-why add to the crowds?

If they don't offer incentives to get people there, during storm prone months, some people may not come at all. I don't believe the locals can make up the money difference in that area. **This is not a knock on the locals-I would like to see it so they have some sort of easier time to dine at WDW during this time. I just don't know how they can do this, without taking away incentives, which leaves WDW back to not as much $$$ being made.**

 

[1princessX2princes]

We went Sept 28 - Oct. 3. The first day was MK, got there by noon, walked on to Buzz and did 3 times in a row, no wait, literally...like, no humans in the cars behind us or in front of us. 10 minute wait for Indy, but rode on it 2x in a row (DD Cinderella hadn't "found her slipper yet", so CM told our car and DH and DS's car behind us to go again.) Walked onto Small World, again, no wait. No wait for Pirates, literally walked onto the first boat we encountered. 10 minute for Splash, 5 for Big Thunder. No FP machines were open in the whole park. Jungle Cruise was a 5 minute wait. 10 minute for Haunted Mansion. So low crowds all around. Next day was Epcot. 10 minute wait for Soarin, no wait for Test Track, literally walked in the pre-show room with about 10 other people. Again, no FP machines working. Next day was MGM. Walked on to RnR, didn't have alot of time to see the preshow. No line for Star Tours, got picked for Indy to perform before a half full stadium. Sat down to watch the parade as the music started playing. Front row seats to right 15 mintues before Fantasmic. Then came Saturday Oct 1. AK day. Crowded. About 15 minute wait Kilamanjaro, waited about 30 minutes for Bugs Life, waited about 20 minutes for Dinosaur, and got FP's for Kali River, and was still about a 15 minute line. Very hot, so left at 3-ish and headed back to Epcot. FP's sold out, 270 minute wait for TT and Soarin. WS still manageable, but huge difference. Sun was rainy and Downtown Disney day. Back to MK for Spectro. Not too bad waits for rides, late in day so didn't bother with FP's just went on low line rides. Monday DH went surfing, then back to one last time at MK. Could hardly walk. 90 minute waits on everything we wanted to see by noon. Took about 30 minutes to get down Main Street, and another 30 to leave as we realized we were too hot and tired to fight the crowds. Apparently Fall Break had started for some states, and that with the first week of F&W made it incredibly crowded compared to what we were used to.

Hope that helps!

I think we were there the exact same dates and had the same experience. That monday at MK was terrible this year we made sure that we would not be in MK on Monday or Saturday. We were also told about school holiday starting for the early October dates. We are going the last week in September so hopefully we will miss some of the larger crowds (I am one of those neglectful parents who is letting her Kindergartener miss school )

 

[schlepsnort]

. We are going the last week in September so hopefully we will miss some of the larger crowds (I am one of those neglectful parents who is letting her Kindergartener miss school )

So are we! We are going the last weekend of Sept. We are also being 'naughty' and taking our 4 yr old out of preschool for it. Oh well, he can tell his psychiatrist all about his mean mommie and daddie when he grows up

counting down the days! Suitcases are out and airing out~kids keep asking each morning "what've I got today?" in hopes that TODAY is the day we leave to visit Mickey Mouse House (that's what the 2 yr old calls Cinderellas Castle) apparently mickey has evicted cinderella!

Keep an eye out for a family of 5 with green mickey heads on our two strollers~~that'll be us!

 

[Markstudy]

This is a poll that shows who is going durring which weeks of the free dining.

You can see how most people go the first or last week of the promotion

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1072583

 

[Amyrlin]

We go Sept 11th - SEpt 22nd, we went about the same time last year. Attendance was a littlew up on the years before, but most waits were very short. We were not on the free DDP then as the DDE and the AP discount made better sense. The main difference was the resturants were much busier but the parks only a small difference.

This year we are going the same time as last year, part of the stay with free dining part not. ADRs have not been a problem at all and ther eis still a lot of room availablity, so I don't think it will be very crowded.

 

[Dicecatt]

Doesnt make sense to do free dining in september. I mean ya sure disney is trying to get ppl to come down, but a lot of ppl dont wanna pull their kids out of school when its just starting. In my opinion it should be during one of the summer months June, July or the first part of August. Or better yet, no free dining at all.

Sorry to disagree, but it makes a ton of sense. Disney giving away free food in the middle of peak season...why? Disney can charge high room rates in the summer, because people come anyway. Free dining is an incentive to get more people to book during a normally slow time. They have no concerns about filling the parks in June and July, and the first part of August. Their concern is not how many people benefit from it, their concern is filling their parks with people during traditionally slow times, and showing their stockholders that they are serious about keeping business booming. It is brilliant, actually. And it has been such a success that I would not be surprised if it is offered again...I"m surprised they haven't offered it in January, another "slow" month.

 

[TinkerbellMama]

Sorry to disagree, but it makes a ton of sense. Disney giving away free food in the middle of peak season...why? Disney can charge high room rates in the summer, because people come anyway. Free dining is an incentive to get more people to book during a normally slow time. They have no concerns about filling the parks in June and July, and the first part of August. Their concern is not how many people benefit from it, their concern is filling their parks with people during traditionally slow times, and showing their stockholders that they are serious about keeping business booming. It is brilliant, actually. And it has been such a success that I would not be surprised if it is offered again...I"m surprised they haven't offered it in January, another "slow" month.

You are exactly right. And our family will probably be going for free dining almost every year they offer it! We had already planned for October this year, but next year we're definitely going in September if free dining is offered!

 

[Disney8704]

Well maybe not during the summer, but what about another slow month. Like you said Jan is kinda slow. It would actually be better because then parents wouldnt mind pulling their kids out of school then. But if I was a parent, theres no way I would pull my child out of school when it just started. And a lot of people probably feel the same way. Not to mention Jan isnt hurrican season. They would actually get more business if they did it in Jan then Sept because parents wouldnt mind taking their kids out of school and they wouldnt have to worry about hurricans either. Not to mention its one of the cheapest times to go being a value season. Either that or have it in Jan and Sept. That way everyone isnt going at 1 time. Its a lil more spread out. Those who go in Sept more then likely arent gonna go again in Jan unless they can afford it or on the DVC. Not to mention if people can actually manage to take the time off from work as well. But like me and DH, we can afford to go once every other yr and thats it. And would love to go during free dining, but it gets way to crowded down there from what Ive heard.

Sorry to disagree, but it makes a ton of sense. Disney giving away free food in the middle of peak season...why? Disney can charge high room rates in the summer, because people come anyway. Free dining is an incentive to get more people to book during a normally slow time. They have no concerns about filling the parks in June and July, and the first part of August. Their concern is not how many people benefit from it, their concern is filling their parks with people during traditionally slow times, and showing their stockholders that they are serious about keeping business booming. It is brilliant, actually. And it has been such a success that I would not be surprised if it is offered again...I"m surprised they haven't offered it in January, another "slow" month.

 

[Ardenne]

I'd love to go in January sometime -- I think it'd be so much fun to celebrate my birthday at Disney! And I tolerate a (very small, knowing FL!) bit of chilliness much better than I tolerate extreme heat!

 

[tkitty]

We just returned from WDW-free DDP. Boy would I think twice about doing that again. The lines after about 11am were horrible, for the most part. Couldn't even ride Soarin' because fast passes were not available when we got there about noon, and wait was 2 hrs. Who waits in line for 2 HOURS for a ride! We waited about 1-1/2hrs to ride TTrack, as it was because the ride was stopped for a while when we were in line. If you couldn't get a FP, forget it. Rides throughout the day ranged from 20min to 90min avg. I expect to wait, but 60min + on almost every ride, is too much.
I was amazed at how many people were there on the dining plan without ADRs, too.
Yes, the parks were very crowded, at nearly any time that we were there, day and night. Mornings were still the best.
By 8/15, Disney was adding independant bus companies, too deal with the crowds. We would leave POFQ, go to POR, squeeze a few more people on, standing, and there were people waiting, telling the drivers that they had waited thru 2-3 buses to get picked up! Most all busses were standing room only.

 

[Franne]

We are here now and I don't think it's crowded at all. Yesterday we went to MGM in the evening, at 8:00. We did the great movie ride, no wait and then my husband did rock and roller coaster with no wait too. They had an extra showing of Fantasmic at 10:00 it was great! Only the middle 2 sections were filled, it was like a private show! We sat right up front!
Today we were at Epcot in the AM, not bad there either, we used Fast Pass but the waiting lines weren't more than 30-40 minutes for the major attractions. In fact the hardest place to get into was Turtle Talk with Crush, so we are going to try that another day. In the evening we were in MGM again, our longest wait was for our dinner at the Sci-[Fi. We had 6:20 ADR and we got in about 6:45. We walked on Star Tours, Muppet Vision, and Voyage. The waits for the RR and TT were about 30 minutes.
We are so thrilled with this year's vacation, we usually go at Christmas so this is like having the park to ourselves..lol We still have 8 days here so I hope the weather holds out! I have to say it isn't really as hot as I thought it would be. In the afternoon about 90-95 but the morning and evenings are definately bearable (and I hate the heat!)
So, if they are doing this again next year, we are here!!!
Franne

 

[Kick Save]

We just returned from WDW-free DDP. Boy would I think twice about doing that again. The lines after about 11am were horrible, for the most part. Couldn't even ride Soarin' because fast passes were not available when we got there about noon, and wait was 2 hrs. Who waits in line for 2 HOURS for a ride! We waited about 1-1/2hrs to ride TTrack, as it was because the ride was stopped for a while when we were in line. If you couldn't get a FP, forget it. Rides throughout the day ranged from 20min to 90min avg. I expect to wait, but 60min + on almost every ride, is too much.
I was amazed at how many people were there on the dining plan without ADRs, too.
Yes, the parks were very crowded, at nearly any time that we were there, day and night. Mornings were still the best.
By 8/15, Disney was adding independant bus companies, too deal with the crowds. We would leave POFQ, go to POR, squeeze a few more people on, standing, and there were people waiting, telling the drivers that they had waited thru 2-3 buses to get picked up! Most all busses were standing room only.

We just returned also and didn't think the crowds were all that bad. Got FPs for Soarin' one afternoon about 3PM. I saw wait times over an hour for a lot of rides, but 90 minutes was the longest wait I saw. We did mostly morning touring with late afternoons to pick up a few rides here and there. We also avoided the EMH parks at all costs. Didn't see any extra, independent busses around, though. Well, at least not used by Disney resorts, our bus times were pretty good, even at the POP.

One thing we did find out...everything was booked for Friday night. We wanted to stay an extra day and called central reservations, every hotel was booked except for the POP, which had a few rooms left. OKW had a couple of studios, but all the All Stars and mods were full.

Crowd wise, though, we had no problems. Like somebody said back on page one, one person's overcrowded is another person's managable. I didn't think it was too bad last week.

 

[Tiggerlover48]

Not to say there won't be more people in Sept. than w/o FD, but I would think generally slower than August.

Of course that's just my hopeful opinion, since we are going next month!!

I hope you're right, I'll be there with you at POR!

 

[DiszyDeanette]

Well maybe not during the summer, but what about another slow month. Like you said Jan is kinda slow. It would actually be better because then parents wouldnt mind pulling their kids out of school then. But if I was a parent, theres no way I would pull my child out of school when it just started. And a lot of people probably feel the same way. Not to mention Jan isnt hurrican season.

Disney isn't interested in baiting people during times they wouldn't mind going. They want to bring people in when they would mind. This isn't about giving people a good deal, or what is convenient for us, it's about Disney wanting to fill the parks. They very reasons you give are exactly why they would NOT offer free dining at other times.

 

[DiszyDeanette]

We just returned from WDW-free DDP. Boy would I think twice about doing that again. The lines after about 11am were horrible, for the most part. Couldn't even ride Soarin' because fast passes were not available when we got there about noon, and wait was 2 hrs. Who waits in line for 2 HOURS for a ride! We waited about 1-1/2hrs to ride TTrack, as it was because the ride was stopped for a while when we were in line. If you couldn't get a FP, forget it. Rides throughout the day ranged from 20min to 90min avg. I expect to wait, but 60min + on almost every ride, is too much.
I was amazed at how many people were there on the dining plan without ADRs, too.
Yes, the parks were very crowded, at nearly any time that we were there, day and night. Mornings were still the best.
By 8/15, Disney was adding independant bus companies, too deal with the crowds. We would leave POFQ, go to POR, squeeze a few more people on, standing, and there were people waiting, telling the drivers that they had waited thru 2-3 buses to get picked up! Most all busses were standing room only.

I've said it before, but this is exactly (down to the standing room only busses and 2 hr Soarin' line) what we saw last August, when there was no free dining going on. Which makes it difficult to believe the free DDP caused it all. It's Disneyworld, it's the end of summer, expect it to be busy.

 

[robind]

We were there 8/6 - 8/13 - checked in around noon on Sunday w/ only about 3 people ahead of us in line - when we were leaving on Sunday 8/13 (first day of free dining) the check in line from noon until we left at 2:00 was wrapped around and back to the pool.

I usually go in the late fall or winter - I was expecting huge crowds the week I was there- but it wasn't as bad as I thougth but it looked like the next week was worse.