No Free Dining = No WDW This Year?

[CanadianGuy]

Who has said that? Who ever said that...I agree that is ridiculous.

Would you like a list of posts alphabetically by poster or chronologically by posting date/time?

 

[larry80]

For us the room discount made the deal work for us, we added the QS dining plan since we usually ate only at quick service places when there.

Helps us budget our trip a little better too

 

[beachgrl001]

One word for you people--

BOUNCEBACK.

DH and I were both very impressed by Free Dining last summer, so we booked a Bounceback trip for this year before we left.

I hope that Free Dining comes out this year so our friends can join us, but if it doesn't, they'll take whatever discount becomes available.

I really wish now that I would have had a chance to book the bounceback, we were upgraded from POP to OKW and there was never a bounceback offer in the room, so I continue to wait for free dining...

Do I have to have it to go on my trip? no but if I am traveling in September there is noway Im paying rack rates and staying in Disney with no kind of discount, I know there will be something offered, but if its no good for me then I may go back to renting a vacation home for roughly $100. per night I will have a screened in pool and LOTS of bedrooms about 5 min from disney. We are driving down anyway so the car rental is not an issue.
Everyone has to do whats best for them and with 3 adults, 1 teenager and a 6y/o free dining would really benefit us. I have considered not going if the free dining is not offered. We have been to Disney soooo many times Maybe its time to try something new?

 

[Huff]

And sometimes *I* get the impression that people think because it's Disney and they're a HUGE conglomerate that Disney can afford to give the shop away. That's it's almost immoral for Disney to make a profit on us poor addicts..

Whats so wrong with people saying more or less they feel the price for a Disney vacation is too high and they will go elsewhere without a more affordable deal? Nobody is asking Disney to 'give the shop away'. They're asking for an affordable vacation. At rack rate Disneyworld is way too high for our family to afford and not a good value. If the high prices charged are fine with you then go but not all of us can pay the rather steep rack rate prices.

 

[beachgrl001]

Well I don't know when you are heading down to Universal. We are going in Oct. We got the stay more save more rate. We are staying at the Hard Rock Hotel for $131 per night. (In reality we are paying for 4 nights and getting 3 free) You add that to the $396 we spent of 7 day 2park unlimited pass we will be spending $1452 for hotel and tickets. Add another $900 for food and the total is $2352. That is much less than the $3000 Disney wants for hotel, tickets, and dining at a value resort. Not to mention the Unlimited FOTL passes.

WOW thats a great rate! worth looking into, I know my ds 15 would love it

 

[damone]

Whats so wrong with people saying more or less they feel the price for a Disney vacation is too high and they will go elsewhere without a more affordable deal? Nobody is asking Disney to 'give the shop away'. They're asking for an affordable vacation. At rack rate Disneyworld is way too high for our family to afford and not a good value. If the high prices charged are fine with you then go but not all of us can pay the rather steep rack rate prices.

I can't speak for anyone else, but what personally somewhat bothers me is, you don't HAVE to pay rack rate. Anyone can get any number of discounts. It just comes off that some people are only going to be satisfied if they get free dining. For 13 nights this summer, I saved over $2,400 on our room at the Yacht Club. There are fantastic discounts available.

 

[CanadianGuy]

I can't speak for anyone else, but what personally somewhat bothers me is, you don't HAVE to pay rack rate. Anyone can get any number of discounts. It just comes off that some people are only going to be satisfied if they get free dining. For 13 nights this summer, I saved over $2,400 on our room at the Yacht Club. There are fantastic discounts available.

What he/she said...

There ARE some really great discounts. When I started on the DIS Boards.. the holy grail of discounts was a '40%' off hotel PIN offer. If you got that.. MAN you were lucky.

Free dining became a monster in its own right.. And the whole point of it was to get you spending your money in the parks on OTHER STUFF.. but a lot of people did not. The 'per guest' spending over 7 nights DROPPED considerably during the F/D window and while it was better than no spending.. it did not meet expectations.

One rumor passed along to me was that Disney wasn't very happy with the outcome of 2009 F/D promo... in part because of the reduced guest spending on 'other stuff' -- impulse buys, souvenirs, treats that were not included on the DDP etc. Easy to figure why that was - because of the economy etc.. And probably in part because of guests being as frugal as possible with their vacation dollars.

Certainly my last visit to Disney was Sept 2008 and I did that trip .. 5 nights for CHEAP! I ate Q/S except for one or two meals and I did not have F/D or anything like it... I think I had a 40% off PIN which saved some bucks on the room. The whole trip, airfare, airport parking, spending money, meals, drinks.. 5 nights at a value .. was well under $1000 for just me. (I traveled alone and I already had tickets)

I'm sure I'm not alone in being frugal when I can. But I do think that too many people are hung up on F/D. If you look around there are good discounts currently in the pipeline.. (40% off a deluxe for example almost always outweighs F/D)..

However, if you're looking to stay at a value, I would expect only QSD to be offered ... IF any kind of F/D is offered... Regular DDP at the mods and deluxes.

Remember - 4 adults in a value means that the value of the F/D outweighs the value you paid for the room - by a lot. Disney did do that a couple of years but I don't expect to ever see that again.

 

[jonw]

No FD means no Disney for us.

 

[Abharmagic]

I haven't read other responses but here is my suggestion:

Make your ADRs at 180 days in anticipation of the week you want to go. Then if no FD code comes out and you don't book a trip- cancel them.

 

[englishrose47]

I haven't read other responses but here is my suggestion:

Make your ADRs at 180 days in anticipation of the week you want to go. Then if no FD code comes out and you don't book a trip- cancel them.

That's my plan but I've heard that booking early reduces the chances of FD!!!

 

[averysmom]

I can't speak for anyone else, but what personally somewhat bothers me is, you don't HAVE to pay rack rate. Anyone can get any number of discounts. It just comes off that some people are only going to be satisfied if they get free dining. For 13 nights this summer, I saved over $2,400 on our room at the Yacht Club. There are fantastic discounts available.

Yes, if you are a couple, or a small family, and are staying at deluxes, then a 30% or 40% off code is better than FD.

BUT if you stay in values or mods, then the FD is the best discount there is. Hands down. My friend has two "disney adults" - so her savings is something like 180/day after taxes - her hotel costs are less than that. A 30-40% code staying in a mod would only be 45-60 dollars - so the code would be 2/3s less savings.

Does Disney HAVE to give FD - nope. But can ppl say they can't afford to go if they don't offer it - or decide to go to Universal or somewhere else for cheaper - yep!
Actually, I think it is super smart of people to say that it's too pricey, I'm not going. Better that, than go on a trip on credit that you can't really afford. And really, if you are going to pay the same prices in August/Sept as you will in November - why wouldn't you go then instead??? less chance of hurricaines, less heat, Christmas decorations are up, etc.

 

[birdie757]

Several market research studies have predicted increases in revenues in the theme park industry in 2010. As this happens the discounts will go away. If they can fill their rooms with out the deep discounts they won't offer them. It is just like all other goods and services following the basic economic principles of supply and demand. (sorry I am an econ prof...i promise I won't make any graphs...lol.)

I would also expect that big deals would only come out last minute. As an AP holder and FL resident we usually only get discounts a few months out. We still can get reservations for dining usually...maybe not Le Cellier but still good choices. We just decided last week to do a trip the second weekend in May...we got le cellier, garden grill and princess story book dinner...all at dinner time. We have never booked a vacation to WDW 180 days out and probably never will.

Edit:....for all you who say you will just go to Universal instead, you will in essence still be putting money in Disney's pockets since they now own Marvel. If Universal keeps their Marvel theme they will be paying licensing rights to Disney. Good move by Disney from a business perspective by making money from the competition.

 

[damone]

At the risk of offending some people here, I think anyone saying they'll just go to Universal if there is no free dining are just whining. What makes you think Universal will be any cheaper than Disney? You can stay at any Moderate (and some Deluxe) Disney Resorts cheaper than any on-site hotel at Universal. And, to my knowledge, Universal doesn't offer free dining.

 

[asmit4]

At the risk of offending some people here, I think anyone saying they'll just go to Universal if there is no free dining are just whining. What makes you think Universal will be any cheaper than Disney? You can stay at any Moderate (and some Deluxe) Disney Resorts cheaper than any on-site hotel at Universal. And, to my knowledge, Universal doesn't offer free dining.

We have been waffling over going to US for a long time now. It's not about what it costs. Universal will be more $$ actually for us since the hotels onsite are 4 star hotels and their is no good food plan over there. I think people are saying that they love FD b/c it saves them a bundle of $$.

But without the huge savings, people are considering other options. If I'm going to pay close to full price at DW, then I might as well consider US or various other trips too. If I'm not saving that $$ anymore then I am ok with opening my options to a wider variety of experiences. It's not about whining. It's about looking into other options. My family loves coasters. We live really close to Cedar Point. We love DW too but DW isn't about coasters. It might be fun to do a more 'thrill' theme park this time around. I am hearing that US is offering some good deals- especially if you stay offsite at their partner hotels.

 

[CanadianGuy]

That's my plan but I've heard that booking early reduces the chances of FD!!!

Booking the HOTEL early .. reduces the number of rooms available on whatever fall promo is eventually offered .. be it F/D or not.

Booking the ADR's .. not so much.

Yes, if you are a couple, or a small family, and are staying at deluxes, then a 30% or 40% off code is better than FD.

BUT if you stay in values or mods, then the FD is the best discount there is. Hands down. My friend has two "disney adults" - so her savings is something like 180/day after taxes - her hotel costs are less than that. A 30-40% code staying in a mod would only be 45-60 dollars - so the code would be 2/3s less savings.

You have just outlined what I pointed out.. in a lot of cases, F/D just never worked out financially for Disney at the values and mods .. and as I hinted before..

I do NOT expect full DDP to be offered at all level of resorts *IF* F/D is offered at all this fall.

 

[mking624]

I do NOT expect full DDP to be offered at all level of resorts *IF* F/D is offered at all this fall.

Ever since they introduced the QSDP, I suspected that FD would become a tiered promo if they kept doing it. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if that's what they did should FD come out this year.

 

[kelma]

Yes, if you are a couple, or a small family, and are staying at deluxes, then a 30% or 40% off code is better than FD.

BUT if you stay in values or mods, then the FD is the best discount there is. Hands down. My friend has two "disney adults" - so her savings is something like 180/day after taxes - her hotel costs are less than that. A 30-40% code staying in a mod would only be 45-60 dollars - so the code would be 2/3s less savings.

Does Disney HAVE to give FD - nope. But can ppl say they can't afford to go if they don't offer it - or decide to go to Universal or somewhere else for cheaper - yep!
Actually, I think it is super smart of people to say that it's too pricey, I'm not going. Better that, than go on a trip on credit that you can't really afford. And really, if you are going to pay the same prices in August/Sept as you will in November - why wouldn't you go then instead??? less chance of hurricaines, less heat, Christmas decorations are up, etc.

Absolutely! There are 2 adults and 4 kids (1 a disney adult) in our family. FD is the best discount available to us. As in all aspects of life, it's important to remember that not all families are made up just like yours

I cannot fathom all of you who are upset that someone would choose not to go to Disney if they don't get FD. Why would you even care I think the poster put it best who said that while Disney doesn't owe us a discount, we don't owe them our business either.

I love Disney and we've gone without FD (although with a good discount), but we're not all families. Not everyone loves Disney as much and not everyone who loves Disney that much can afford it's high prices.

And as for Disney - whether or not they offer FD will be completely dependent on how well it works out for them financially.

Really, folks, surely you have better things to worry about than where another family chooses to spend their vacation money Folks can post that they're not going to go without FD and folks can say that they are going regardless, but why would you feel the need to argue with those who have decided not to go without it Just don't get it

 

[clowe247]

absolutely! There are 2 adults and 4 kids (1 a disney adult) in our family. Fd is the best discount available to us. As in all aspects of life, it's important to remember that not all families are made up just like yours

i cannot fathom all of you who are upset that someone would choose not to go to disney if they don't get fd. Why would you even care i think the poster put it best who said that while disney doesn't owe us a discount, we don't owe them our business either.

I love disney and we've gone without fd (although with a good discount), but we're not all families. Not everyone loves disney as much and not everyone who loves disney that much can afford it's high prices.

And as for disney - whether or not they offer fd will be completely dependent on how well it works out for them financially.

Really, folks, surely you have better things to worry about than where another family chooses to spend their vacation money Folks can post that they're not going to go without fd and folks can say that they are going regardless, but why would you feel the need to argue with those who have decided not to go without it Just don't get it

well said !

 

[missenmickey]

I know people do not like to pay rack rates for Disney. They think it is too expensive. I feel even rack rates are a good value for what you get at Disney.

We skipped Disney last year and took a week long beach vacation to South Carolina instead. We rented a beach house, drove down and paid OOP for food. We cooked breakfast and lunch in our house and only ate out for dinner. The entire cost for the trip was as much if we had stayed in a value and paid for the DDP.

We have X amount to spend each year on a vacation and will plan a trip keeping our budget in mind. This year we found it more economical to rent DVC points and pay OOP for the DDP.

 

[leahjade]

[The entire cost for the trip was as much if we had stayed in a value and paid for the DDP.

/QUOTE]

totally opposite for us - we rent a 2 bedroom beach front condo in Florida for $700 where 2 values for six people plus tickets cost us almost $3800. If you add in food (which is very high at WDW) you're talking double the price for a vacation. We love Disney but sometimes a nice relaxing beach trip is great, too, especially on a budget when no special deals are offered to entice us!