Now that free dining has ended....

[DanaHesson]

Have any recent travelers on the Dining plan noticed any major differences from what was being reported during the "Free" dining period? Do the servers seem to be trying to maximize the plan? Are they offering smoothies, etc? How about availability? Did you notice walk-up's being turned away?

 

[Good Ol Gal]

this is a good question.. when did the free dining end?

 

[fivefordisney]

I would love to know the answer to this as well! It seems really difficult to get ADRs for Dec 16-23 so I am curious to find out if more people are now buying the dining plan...

 

[SB in KY]

I know we have not had any trouble making/changing ADR's for 11/1 - 11/8...I changed some again this week including a breakfast at Chef Mickeys and dinner at Le Cellier without any trouble (Le Cellier was closed one evening for a Food and Wine event, but other than that no problems)

I am taking that to mean that the big rush at TS places is over now that free dining has passed. (or as the CM at WDW-DINE referred to it...."the fall reign of terror"....she said it was absolutely the worst they had ever seen there....people were absolutely incensed that they could not dine wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted because they had the free dining plan!!)

 

[bop28]

Bump......I'm interested in any replies you might get too.

 

[1princessesmom]

New to this board, so could somebody please explain what "free dining" is/was? Thanks!

 

[TDC Nala]

This was a limited time incentive offered for those who booked a room/tickets package through Disney; the dining plan could be added on for free.

Free dining was available for check-ins up to October 4th, so unless someone was staying nearly 20 days, the free diners have probably all gone home by now.

My guess is that a lot of guests are on the paid dining plan, so there will still be more difficulty getting certain ADRs than there used to be...although there will be a better chance than there was during the free dining period.

 

[henrylovespooh]

We got back on October 18th. I was surprised at the difficulty I had in making/changing ADRs in the weeks before our trip. While on our trip, we had to cancel two TS dinners because our kids were off kilter after a delayed inbound flight and not getting to bed until 2:30 a.m. I could not get a new ADR for any place we were interested in, not even Kona Cafe.

It was fairly crowded in the parks. We did not get turned away from The Plaza in MK, and on another day at lunch it looked like they were taking people at Rose and Crown. I can't really speak for other places.

We didn't have any issues with servers on the plan. The only problem we did have is that our DD is a month shy of three but looks four, so often we got charged for her at a buffet even though the ADR said she was 2. I was thrilled when I noticed that we were not charged for DD at the Princess lunch at Akershus even though I specifically ordered her a bowl of pasta because she was really hungry.

We didn't ask for anything out of the ordinary, so I can't answer the question about smoothies. Sorry.

 

[DanaHesson]

I could not get LeCellier either of the two nights I tried to book it, during the same week. BUT I was trying for friday or saturday night.... None of our other ADR's were a problem....

 

[Disney_1derland]

for our trip 10/28-11/5 I've shuffled shuffled and reshuffled our ADR's for the past several weeks without any problems at all. I have noticed that the availability is getting more limited, down to 5or 6 specific times when 3 weeks ago they would tell me they were wide open for hours at a time.

I went on free dining at the beginning of september and we ran into LOTS of instances where restaurants were empty because their ADR's were not showing up(we always wound up eating during the rainstorm of the day). We ate in an almost completely empty Alfredo's, Le Cellier, Rose and Crown and Marrakesh. The hostess would tell us they were completely booked but nobody was showing up due to the rain and would thank us for getting soaked on their behalf

 

[fran99999]

I agree it was the worst disney incentive yet. It worked great for me--because of "free dining".

I did see several people who were "hot" that they paid for dining and were unable to get to eat at a table seating restaurant. Ie one man said his wife called for ADRs for a tue night and all the restaurants were full no seatings available, no walkups taken. I would have been "hot" also. I however have the disboards. YEA And knew what to expect.

I had wonderful TS dinners at Concourse, Brown Derby, Mama Regina's,

I had the best steak at Mama Regina's. Better than the Concourse even. Although that was wonderful also. I had wonderful deserts all recomended by the disboards.

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

our 11/30 - 12/10 trip is hard to get good ADR's. most resturants are booked to the hilt. i think the free meals got everyone to think about there meals and not just walk up like before

 

[SYDNCLAIRESMOM]

Im having a problem switching some dinner at 50s PT & Sci Fi ADRs for the week after Thnxgvng but lunch is looking pretty open. Took the lunch times but am calling back looking for cancellations for dinner.

 

[Mad4Dizne]

During our trip, coming up in January we only had a choice of 2 AR's at Le Cellier!!!! Glad we called at our 90 day mark!!!!!!! A few of the other Ar's we have only had a few specific times available around our requested times. I love the new system though of being able to book them all at once!!!!

 

[ntburns22]

We ate at CRT great service, Donald's breakfast great service, and 50's was not so good. We had Uncle Tom as soon as he found out we had the dining plan he was no where to be seen. We never recieved drink refills,we had to wait about 25 minutes to order and get desserts. We felt like we wasted and hour and a half in there. He did not recieve an extra tip the other 2 did.

 

[DanaHesson]

Did anyone experience extra good service, or waitstaff pushing "free" add-ons (shrimp skewers, etc..) again now that the free dining is over? Were you allowed to have the smoothie as your drink, etc?

 

[Crankyshank]

We used the dining plan 10/11-10/15. No one pushed any extras on us and to be honest we really didn't ask for any. Walk in's were sent away from several of the restaurants we ate at and I have to say that aside from Boma's and LTT we had absolutely dreadful service and that also includes counter service.

 

[eam]

DH and myself were there when the free dining plan was in effect -- but we had to pay for our dining plan because I missed out on the great deal. Nothing was pushed on us, and the waiters seemed disappointed when we stated we were on the dining plan. Waiters definitely catered to those who were NOT on the dining plan. (We had ADR's for all TS meals) However, when we go back to WDW we will get the dining plan again if it remains to be a good value.

 

[wilderness01]

Mama Regina's

Do you mean Mama Melrose? Or is there a new restaurant that just opened/changed it's name?

 

[crisi]

We got back yesterday. Noticed lots of walk ups being turned away. Were not on the dining plan so can't comment, but did notice that the sushi was not considered an appitizer at Teppenyaki (our tablemates were on the plan). Noticed decent service - a few standouts, but no really bad service.