The official Free Dining ruins everything thread.

[amg35]

I will say on our upcoming trip (so far not free dining) , we chose the counter service dining plan. We will pay out of pocket for a few special table service dinners, but we felt our money would be better spent with the counter service plan, and it's definitely more than enough food! (and I'm not a fan of being tied down to too many ADR's)

 

[kathy884]

Oh how I miss the good ole days before the Disney dining plan. We at Christmas could without a reservation go to a table service place and wait only 20 minutes or so to be seated. No need for any of that ADR stuff.

DH had a conference at the Contemporary. They were sold out there, and put overflow at POR. This was mid June. I thought, oh no problem, they have that little boat that goes down to Downtown Disney and how delightful to try some different dinner places down there. WRONG!!! No availability for the evening anywhere except Rainforest Café and the wait for that was 3 1/2 hours // No chance to do table service at POR. We were doomed to the food court for all but the two meals that I made an ADR for. Oh and one of our ADRs was for BOMA which is past years was one of our favorites. This last time, though, we missed some of the interesting African dishes that seemed to have been replaced to more basic food that DH thought might appeal more to a theme park crowd. DH doesn't want to go back there again. I would like to take him to JIKO though. Prices are really high too. I still, though, do enjoy a meal in favorite WDW themed hotels for the atmosphere and usually make an ADR at the Polynesian or AKL on trips. Without ADRs this particular June though I felt stuck in the World and was sooo happy to move offsite for the next week where I could actually go out for dinner and not have counter service, plus I had my own kitchen. I think that POR stay was my least favorite WDW stay ever and food had everything to do with it.

 

[mickey4ever]

last week was the first time ever we had free dining for 4 adults. Loved it!!! This saved me alot of money. I saw no problems at all.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

A couple places we like with great CS are Columbia Harbour House and Tangierine Cafe.

Could not agree more! I love both of these places! The Tangeriene Cafe is the only actual restaurant in Epcot we're willing to expend calories and tummy room in during F&W because their food is just so good!

 

[LarryNabisco]

Wait so the only reason to eat it is because it is "free"?
That's not a very good reason

Exactly, there is the problem in a nutshell.

 

[Sandy Fisher]

Never did the free dining. The food quality has gone down in the counter service places over the past 5 years for sure.
I wish they had an Earl of Sandwich at Magic Kingdom.

 

[davedmaine]

It's become very obvious that since FD was rolled out, the parks quality of food has gone down, level of service has suffered (non tippers abound), and crowds are out of control year round.

FP+ and Magicbands are not the problem-free dining is!

Agreed. It's turned the food into mass-produced slop. And has anyone but me noticed that every CS location will soon only be serving the bacon angus burger?

 

[rwdavis2]

The folks that do the podcasts here have said for some time that food quality has noticeably dropped since free dining has started. How could it not? Especially since people still eat it. Disney may as well save a few bucks. I am not condoning it just stating the obvious.


But looking forward to WDW dining, IMHO, is sort of missing the point of going. I can find any number of restaurants better in the MD/DC area better than every place at WDW so dining is never a priority for us.

The point of free dining is to sell tickets and hotel roms and it looks,like it is working very well.

 

[ArwenMarie]

The folks that do the podcasts here have said for some time that food quality has noticeably dropped since free dining has started. How could it not? Especially since people still eat it. Disney may as well save a few bucks. I am not condoning it just stating the obvious.


But looking forward to WDW dining, IMHO, is sort of missing the point of going. I can find any number of restaurants better in the MD/DC area better than every place at WDW so dining is never a priority for us.

The point of free dining is to sell tickets and hotel roms and it looks,like it is working very well.

Exactly. Thats why we decided to only eat QS or Signature from now on when we are paying OOP. The QS food is not any better, still hit or miss, but at least it is cheaper!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Exactly, there is the problem in a nutshell.

The problem isnt the food, its paying for the food...wait what?

 

[AmyB2006]

See, I don't think it's the "free" dining so much as the dining plans themselves.

You've prepaid, so they have your money, what incentive do they have to be creative?? And in order to not have two separate menus so dining plan members don't feel "left out", they've had to dumb down the menus for everyone. I just don't like the limited choices.

It sucks, but I do agree and have noticed a major difference over the years.

Actually we just got back yesterday, and this was the first trip that I really noticed the lack of service as well. Servers know they're getting their tip if you use TIW, DxDP, and so on, so what's their incentive? Are tips included in the regular DDP? I'm not aware.

I do have to give credit where credit is due, though. We now have a gluten allergy in our family and Disney works very well with allergies. The chef came out to our table at every meal and told us what we could and couldn't have, and walked us through every buffet. And there was always a gluten free alternative to most menu items. It was great!

 

[LarryNabisco]

See, I don't think it's the "free" dining so much as the dining plans themselves.

You've prepaid, so they have your money, what incentive do they have to be creative?? And in order to not have two separate menus so dining plan members don't feel "left out", they've had to dumb down the menus for everyone. I just don't like the limited choices.

It sucks, but I do agree and have noticed a major difference over the years.

Actually we just got back yesterday, and this was the first trip that I really noticed the lack of service as well. Servers know they're getting their tip if you use TIW, DxDP, and so on, so what's their incentive? Are tips included in the regular DDP? I'm not aware.

I do have to give credit where credit is due, though. We now have a gluten allergy in our family and Disney works very well with allergies. The chef came out to our table at every meal and told us what we could and couldn't have, and walked us through every buffet. And there was always a gluten free alternative to most menu items. It was great!

The servers hate DDP with a passion.

 

[BuzzBelleMom]

The servers hate DDP with a passion.

Because guests tip poorly?

 

[larryz]

Are tips included in the regular DDP? I'm not aware.

The tip used to be included in DDP, but everyone complained about getting poor service, so they stopped including the tip.

So the servers still rely on the goodwill of the diners if they want their 18%.

Everyone must have complained about the appetizers, too, because they're no longer included either.

 

[canoe86]

You mean the quality of a product goes down if its free??????? I would never have thought that possible. ( said in a condescending manner. )

Hmmm, I guess this could apply to something else going on in the country right now...............

 

[Jenny Sanders]

I have to disagree. I live outside of Chicago, where we have some of the best restaurants in the world, and I have had no issues with Disney dining. I have enjoyed meals at places like: Narcoossees, Olivia's, The Wave, The Grand Floridian Cafe, Liberty Tree Tavern and many more.
29 trips to Disney World and counting...next stop POFQ March 2014

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

One thing that would help the quality of the food is if people would send the bad food back. Oh sure, maybe YOU do, but as a frequent reader of the restaurant thread I can tell you that many many people don't. They seem to think that just because its Disney food they need to choke it down. If people start to refuse to eat bad food then Disney will no longer make a profit by serving it. And face it, unless its a super slow time of year, the days of counting on a walk up at the more popular restaurants are over, free dining or not.

As for me, Long Live Free Dining.
And if my "free" meal is inedible, they will be bringing me another.

 

[LarryNabisco]

Because guests tip poorly?

Bingo, I've talked to many about it. They absolutely hate it.

 

[ArwenMarie]

One thing that would help the quality of the food is if people would send the bad food back. Oh sure, maybe YOU do, but as a frequent reader of the restaurant thread I can tell you that many many people don't. They seem to think that just because its Disney food they need to choke it down. If people start to refuse to eat bad food then Disney will no longer make a profit by serving it. And face it, unless its a super slow time of year, the days of counting on a walk up at the more popular restaurants are over, free dining or not.

As for me, Long Live Free Dining.
And if my "free" meal is inedible, they will be bringing me another.

I agree with this. I can think of 5 meals right off the top of my head that I had on our last trip (TS and QS) that should have just gone back. Give me my money back, something else, whatever. From now on, that will definitely be happening. For me, I am reluctant because I am not an assertive person by nature. I can be assertive when I have to be, but when I am on vacation, doing something like that is the last thing I want to do.

I'm not sure it helps with the dining plan problem though...if they already have that money, whether through people buying the dining plans or getting them "free" with a rack-rate room, then you aren't getting any money back. You can get another dish I guess.

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

I'm not sure it helps with the dining plan problem though...if they already have that money, whether through people buying the dining plans or getting them "free" with a rack-rate room, then you aren't getting any money back. You can get another dish I guess.

Yep, if everyone keeps making them bring another dish until they get one that is edible, then Disney (who are experts at making profits) will see their profit margin take a hit. Will make them improve the quality of the food? Who Knows? But I'd say its worth a try.