Thinking about cancelling

[wingnut3443]

After booking over 2 months ago, and hoping for free dining, (knowing that it was offered back in December)...then seeing the promotions (or lack there of) that were offered today, we are considering cancelling our August trip.
We were there last year, and had the best time, while we are not trying to duplicate last year, we were hoping for some of that same magic.
Free Dining allowed us to dine in places we probably would not have, and to us, that was part of the magic.
Sad that Disney has chose not to give the deals many of us have come accustomed to, however if this is the way of the future...maybe its time to spend out travel dollars somewhere else
Maybe I'm just bitter, however...Disney, is this the best you can do???

Anyone else feel this way?

 

[zales127]

Are your dates after the 13th of August? I would venture to say they will offer something better if so. I wouldnt cancel just yet. I would give it until at least mid May. Hang in there.

 

[KungFoomF]

Maybe I'm just bitter, however...Disney, is this the best you can do???

Anyone else feel this way?

It isn't the best Disney can do. But it is the best they HAVE to do right now. They are a business, remember. They aren't going to give away more free stuff than they have to.

But you may as well ride it out a couple more months. You never know what they might do.

 

[laceemouse]

Are your dates after the 13th of August? I would venture to say they will offer something better if so. I wouldnt cancel just yet. I would give it until at least mid May. Hang in there.

Agreed. All of the current special end on 8/13, so the next thing to be announced will most likely start then

 

[wingnut3443]

our dates planned Aug 20-28

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We've been to Disney 7 times - the first 6 with the regular dining plan (usually free but not always). I thought going without the dining plan and having to eat just CS would be terrible but I was wrong!

We snuck in a Feb trip this year (we have AP passes) and did it on the cheap with AP room discount and no dining plan. I budgeted $50 / day for food for the 3 of us (dd is 11). To make things easier I looked into the CS places for each park and made lists of places we'd like to eat. Even off beat ones like POFQ for lunch - they serve really good po'boys!

To my surprise we all enjoyed the experience. I especially liked not having to make it to ADRs. We always scheduled character meals for breakfast to get them done early in the day - breakfast in the room (or even on the go - poptarts work fine in the car) was so much easier. We did miss our favorite character meals but CS on the cheap wasn't bad at all. I tried to talk DD and DH out of FD in Sept (we booked our Sept trip in December) but that didn't fly.

So IMO think about doing your trip but maybe try it w/o the dining plan - you might be pleasantly surprised like we were.

 

[barb007]

DH & I have already decided that is Disney doesn't offer free dining, it's cheaper for us to stay off site & have a room w/a kitchen. It won't be as convenient getting to the parks, but it's what we have to do to save us some $$. We'll just have one meal in the park (probably burgers, nothing fancy) & head offsite for dinner. Less $$ to spend in the parks.

 

[Bete]

DH & I have already decided that is Disney doesn't offer free dining, it's cheaper for us to stay off site & have a room w/a kitchen. It won't be as convenient getting to the parks, but it's what we have to do to save us some $$. We'll just have one meal in the park (probably burgers, nothing fancy) & head offsite for dinner. Less $$ to spend in the parks.

There are deals to be had; they just might not be on site.

 

[beautifultomorrow]

I would bet good money that free dining (in some form) will still be offered of late Aug-Sept. Last year it wasn't released to the general public till May 3, so there is still a lot of time. I wouldn't fret about it for one second until the second week of May rolls around.

 

[DisneyGuess]

LOL, again, I agree with beautifultomorrow. I would at least wait & see what is offered when the 1st round of this offer expires. FD for last Aug/Sept was done early May, so I would wait until at least, the 2nd week of May before I made the decision to cancel.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

DH & I have already decided that is Disney doesn't offer free dining, it's cheaper for us to stay off site & have a room w/a kitchen. It won't be as convenient getting to the parks, but it's what we have to do to save us some $$. We'll just have one meal in the park (probably burgers, nothing fancy) & head offsite for dinner. Less $$ to spend in the parks.

There are deals to be had; they just might not be on site.

I agree. Last year we had the regular DDP at POP on a bounceback. Disney only offered QSDP for the values during FD for 2011 (and it would cost us $60 per night to upgrade) so we've decided to stay offsite. We got a 3 bedroom condo at Windsor Hills for $760 for two weeks! We'll have room to spread out, a full kitchen, and a washer/dryer. I don't think we'll be able to justify onsite anymore, even with the free DDP. In fact, it was FD that got us onsite in the first place, after years and years of staying offsite, but they've steadily chipped away at what is included and it's no longer the *perceived value* it used to be.

 

[Amy&Dan]

OP: I do understand and was right where you are now awhile back. We ended up getting free dining but it was a miserable wait for it and honestly if my brother and his wife had not already booked their trip to join us, we would have cancelled. I was sick of checking for emails, checking this board, worrying, pricing out "if we do this or if we do that" as far as meals being paid out of pocket, well the fun of planning and anticipating just went away. Then I did get fd and it all worked out, I hope it does for you too.

Dh and I have now decided to skip WDW in 2012 and save like crazy for our trip in 2013 since it appears discounts are either going away or being offered in such a wacked out, non guest friendly way, we can't count on them. Honestly, I need a break from Disney planning and a break from the waiting game for discounts. We are going to Disneyland, staying offsite and also going to go to Texas. Both those trips that will be taken separately will cost far less than our one trip to WDW this summer even if we did get free dining (which lets face it is hardly free). I can't wait, I ordered a Texas tourism guide today and already know which offisite hotel we will stay at in Disneyland in 2012 and can't wait to just plan and be excited and not be sweating bullets hoping for discounts that Disney may not "owe me" but that I have gotten accustomed to and now depend upon.

We have gotten used to going every year with discounts but I simply want nothing to do with the waiting and hoping game for next year.

There are other places besides Disney to travel and honestly if the deal you need is not offered and your trip and planning might be stressful or not as wonderful as you want and deserve, then by all means find something that will make magic for you!

I hope better deals come out, frankly in this economy I think Disney will be finding it hard to justfy their strategy but I guess that will be their problem in the end.

 

[cml758c]

I agree...I will not be going this year without free dining. I am tired of playing this game every year too. I keep watching the airfare go up and up and pretty soon won't be able to go at all. It has gone up 300.00 in the past two weeks, by May who knows how much it will be. It is my fault for not booking it in December, but who can plan what will happen in August in December? I am sure another resort would love my 3000.00. I am going to start looking at Universal. Maybe they would like my business.

 

[francie57]

Hopefully something will come out that can help you. Not sure what it will be but the one out now is only for deluxe so you would think something else would be coming. Not sure about free dining since that was offered at the end of last year and it had dates for throughout the year and I know it started on Aug. 19 since we are checking out on the 18th. As others have said on other posts here, they are wondering if this is Disney finally starting to cut down on the discounts as they have stated they would. So far none of the discounts have helped us since we are booked in a 2 bedroom villa at the BC and they are booked enough that there are none for the discount and that means they wouldn't give me a discount on our reservation. Oh well we are still going no matter what, maybe something will come along - like a cancellation of a 2 bedroom villa at the Boardwalk since that is our favorite place!!

 

[crazycatlady]

Last year I promised DH that we could do another South Dakota/Wyoming/Montana trip THIS year if we could go to Disney LAST year, which we did. We had such a fun time staying on-site for the first time and having free dining and being able to eat whatever we wanted wherever we wanted, that we have been thinking of postponing our western trip until next year in favor of a repeat. IF they offer FD. Soon. Don't get me wrong....I love Yellowstone as much as I do Disney, but I'm kind of in The Disney Zone right now. If they don't offer FD for October, that's ok....but we won't be going to DW this year.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I would bet good money that free dining (in some form) will still be offered of late Aug-Sept.

In the Free Dining offer that needed to be reserved by 12/20/10, it included dates for August 2011 and September 2011. So WDW doesn't need to add anymore Free Dining dates for those months.

For August 2011 Free Dining was available from the 19th - 31st and for September 2011 Free Dining was available from the 1st - 29th.

 

[beautifultomorrow]

In the Free Dining offer that needed to be reserved by 12/20/10, it included dates for August 2011 and September 2011. So WDW doesn't need to add anymore Free Dining dates for those months.

For August 2011 Free Dining was available from the 19th - 31st and for September 2011 Free Dining was available from the 1st - 29th.

I still think they will offer it again, unless the resorts are already all booked up, which I doubt.

 

[larryz]

I budgeted $50 / day for food for the 3 of us (dd is 11).

How did that work out for you?

I ask because we usually budget $40 per day ... per person!

 

[sharona]

After booking over 2 months ago, and hoping for free dining, (knowing that it was offered back in December)...then seeing the promotions (or lack there of) that were offered today, we are considering cancelling our August trip.
We were there last year, and had the best time, while we are not trying to duplicate last year, we were hoping for some of that same magic.
Free Dining allowed us to dine in places we probably would not have, and to us, that was part of the magic.
Sad that Disney has chose not to give the deals many of us have come accustomed to, however if this is the way of the future...maybe its time to spend out travel dollars somewhere else
Maybe I'm just bitter, however...Disney, is this the best you can do???

Anyone else feel this way?

I guess I don't understand the logic of booking w/out FD if you're only going to go if FD (or any discount for that matter) is offered. If the rooms are booked, there is less incentive for WDW to offer the discounts you want.

I understand that they will apply the discounts to existing bookings but that is only if there is availability for the discount at that resort when you call back to add the discount. If there is availability, then you could just book it right then even if you didn't already have a reservation so the original reservation doesn't make sense.

If you're going either way, I get it. But if you're booking and going to cancel if you don't get the discounts you want, that's counterproductive.

 

[Pluto6]

We've been to Disney 7 times - the first 6 with the regular dining plan (usually free but not always). I thought going without the dining plan and having to eat just CS would be terrible but I was wrong!

We snuck in a Feb trip this year (we have AP passes) and did it on the cheap with AP room discount and no dining plan. I budgeted $50 / day for food for the 3 of us (dd is 11). To make things easier I looked into the CS places for each park and made lists of places we'd like to eat. Even off beat ones like POFQ for lunch - they serve really good po'boys!

To my surprise we all enjoyed the experience. I especially liked not having to make it to ADRs. We always scheduled character meals for breakfast to get them done early in the day - breakfast in the room (or even on the go - poptarts work fine in the car) was so much easier. We did miss our favorite character meals but CS on the cheap wasn't bad at all. I tried to talk DD and DH out of FD in Sept (we booked our Sept trip in December) but that didn't fly.

So IMO think about doing your trip but maybe try it w/o the dining plan - you might be pleasantly surprised like we were.

I couldn't agree more. If anything I think always running to ADRs takes away from the Magic. We usually go for 8-10 days and budget 1000.00 for food. We usually only spend between 600 and 800, comparable to the dining plan. If you want a sit down meal every meal hold out for free dining. We arent big breakfast people and usually ate on the run at lunch but most days would walk-in at a sit down resturant (Downtown Disney has some great options).
Hope this helps