No free DDP during our stay:)

[TravelingJen24]

Is it mean that I am happy there is no free DDP during our stay. We are leaving on 12/3 and I just read that is one of the black out periods for the free DDP. I hope that makes reservations easier on the fly. We have some reservations, but I don't like planning every single meal before we get there. Yeah!!!

 

[fitzpa]

Not mean at all

 

[Steamboat Girlie]

Nope, not mean! We were there during free dining in January, and the restaurants were crazy! I have come to hate free dining for that reason! Not to mention the fact that the service, and the quality of the food seems to have gone down hill since the advent of free dining.

 

[swift]

If the FD offer is available on your checkin day you get it for your entire stay, even if there are blackout dates in your stay. So it is likely there will be some people on Free Dining while you are there if they checked in before the blackout started.

 

[TravelingJen24]

Thank you for that information. We are there for eight days so hopefully during the end of our stay there will not be too many issues with dining. Then we are off to a dream cruise, so I probably don't want to eat too much at WDW anyway.

 

[SusieBea]

Is it mean that I am happy there is no free DDP during our stay. We are leaving on 12/3 and I just read that is one of the black out periods for the free DDP. I hope that makes reservations easier on the fly. We have some reservations, but I don't like planning every single meal before we get there. Yeah!!!

I saw that yesterday and was so excited. We'll be there at the same time as you. I figured because that's during Pop Warner, they didn't need to offer free dining to fill the hotels.

 

[supersuperwendy]

We arrive on 12/3 so there may be some free diners but we are mostly right between free dining!!! Here's the free dining dates 11/27-12/3, 12/11-12/17

We are there 12/3 - 12/9!!!! yayyyy!!!

 

[castleri]

We will be there 12/4-12/10 and when we went to make ADRs right at the 180 mark we could not get Coral Reef and a couple of others for a time that was good when traveling with a 4 yo. I finally realized that they must have blocked out some of the times we were looking for due to the CP dinner packages. We did get ones that work and it is really just for the two days that we have the deluxe plan so not a big deal. Hopefully we will get the other places we want on a walk up basis when the time comes. If not it will be CS for us but everyone is good with that so it is not a problem.

 

[loveswdw]

I was happy too that its blacked out our week in October!

 

[goofy4tink]

I must be bad as well...thrilled no free dining during either one of my trips. I do leave the day after it is offered in Dec...leave on the 12th, it starts up again on the 11th, but that's not a huge deal.
I hate being there for free dining. Hordes tend to descend on WDW at those times.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Well, it looks like half of our December trip will be free of free diners, but half we will have to deal with them. I think I'll plan all of our Disney on site restaurants during the first half and the off site ones during the last half to avoid them!

 

[moejoe]

If there is free dinning on while we are there, we just refuse to leave a tip. Thank the server for the great service and explain we had to pay for our food while others got it for free. most of them understand.

 

[SamSam]

If there is free dinning on while we are there, we just refuse to leave a tip. Thank the server for the great service and explain we had to pay for our food while others got it for free. most of them understand.

Rediculous!

 

[SusieBea]

If there is free dinning on while we are there, we just refuse to leave a tip. Thank the server for the great service and explain we had to pay for our food while others got it for free. most of them understand.

 

[dianeschlicht]

If there is free dinning on while we are there, we just refuse to leave a tip. Thank the server for the great service and explain we had to pay for our food while others got it for free. most of them understand.

HUH??? It isn't the server's fault that you didn't get free dining. They did their job, but it sounds to me like you are shirking your duty.

 

[n2mm]

I must be bad as well...thrilled no free dining during either one of my trips. I do leave the day after it is offered in Dec...leave on the 12th, it starts up again on the 11th, but that's not a huge deal.
I hate being there for free dining. Hordes tend to descend on WDW at those times.

Add me to the bad list. We arrive in WDW on Oct. 15th, one of the blackout weeks, though the FD does start on our second week. Then in January, we arrive on the 18th, also a blackout timeframe (and again it starts up the next week), and lastly we arrive April 21 for 2 weeks and no FD during that time posted yet (and have my fingers crossed). I leave next Friday, a week before the FD starts for the public. Talk about choosing your trips well! I was in WDW in August 2009 when the FD started and it was horrible. We arrived several days prior and all was nice and relaxing (and hot), but on that Sunday when it started everything changed. The first week of FD that August was the worse ever. So many trying to get that summer trip in before school starts and on the FD package. We choose an earlier week this August (after skipping last August). It will be hot, but here in the East it's been hotter than Florida on most days, so bring it on.

 

[castleri]

If there is free dinning on while we are there, we just refuse to leave a tip. Thank the server for the great service and explain we had to pay for our food while others got it for free. most of them understand.

Since we have serveral people in out family who work as servers ( not at Disney but here in the NE) I find this uncalled for. FREE dining is NOT Free- those who get it have paid rack rate for the room, had to buy tickets at Disney rates and also are expected to pay the tip when they eat.

We have found that paying OOP and using the TIW card saves us more than doing the dining plan except in rare circumstances.

Disney does not get your message - only the server whose total income is those tips - Disney does not care if you tip or not.

 

[goofy4tink]

If there is free dinning on while we are there, we just refuse to leave a tip. Thank the server for the great service and explain we had to pay for our food while others got it for free. most of them understand.

Seriously? How is that your server's fault. If you follow that logic, you should just head to offsite restaurants. That's just being cheap and looking for a reason to justify it. I highly doubt any server 'undertand' your excuse for cheapness. Nice post for a first time post by the way.

Add me to the bad list. We arrive in WDW on Oct. 15th, one of the blackout weeks, though the FD does start on our second week. Then in January, we arrive on the 18th, also a blackout timeframe (and again it starts up the next week), and lastly we arrive April 21 for 2 weeks and no FD during that time posted yet (and have my fingers crossed). I leave next Friday, a week before the FD starts for the public. Talk about choosing your trips well! I was in WDW in August 2009 when the FD started and it was horrible. We arrived several days prior and all was nice and relaxing (and hot), but on that Sunday when it started everything changed. The first week of FD that August was the worse ever. So many trying to get that summer trip in before school starts and on the FD package. We choose an earlier week this August (after skipping last August). It will be hot, but here in the East it's been hotter than Florida on most days, so bring it on.

We arrive for our Oct trip on the 16th..yay!!! We leave on the 23rd.
I hate, absolutely hate, that first week or two of free dining in August. I avoid it at all costs. The first time I got stuck there at the same time (I had booked before Disney offered the free dining, and I had planned on them offering it at the same time they had in previous years), the parks were awful. MK was shoulder to shoulder in the popular areas. And the restaurants were a nightmare.
Nope, no more summer trips for us. Dd is a senior in high school this year. So, from now on, we have a lot more flexibility. Thank heaven.