Who else is canceling reservations?

[Lady V]

We love the DDP! Of course for 1 adult and 2 kids it is a great value. right under 60 a day for all of us! For our upcoming trip (its a long one) we have Chef Mickeys(pm), Bomas (am and pm),Tusker house (am), HDDR, Crystal Palace (pm), Le Cellier(pm), Cape May Cafe (am), Teppan Edo (pm),Wispering Canyon(pm), Ohonas (am), Sci fi (pm), CRT (am), Olivias (pm)....and I still need 3 more!!! I love going out to eat somewhere nice everyday...it is such a part of the experience for us.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I'm not cancelling any of the seven TS dining reservations we've made for September--.

 

[Lady Radington]

I am just speaking from experience. If we go to a popular CS, such as Pinocchio's or Cosmic Rays, at a busy time, I wait in line for at least 20 minutes to order food, and then carry the food to the table we usually have to wait for (5-10 minutes). Then, I have to go back to another station and order the kids other food, since each area you only order certain foods (ie one station is burgers, one is salads and sandwiches, and one is chicken) and not everyone wants the same thing or same type of food. Add another 20 minutes. Walk back to the table with the newest food. Then we have to go to the condiment bar (add 10-15 minutes because everyone else has to go to the condiment bar). By the time we are all ready to eat our food together, it has been an hour (literally, an hour has passed, and we have our CS food, sit down to eat it, and it tastes good because we are so hungry and have waited an hour) then we have to take our restroom break after sitting and eating our meal for 20-30 minutes. Add 15 minutes for restroom break (yes, the restroom break counts as time in CS meal, we have 3 little girls - ages 8, 7 and 4 - part of the whole mealtime experience. CS meal has taken up 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Contrast all this to TS meal where even waiting 1 hour for seating we go into nice air conditioned restaurant, order our food, (mom is not wore out by standing in line and then carrying food to the table, then going to condiment bar, etc, etc) and we can sip out drinks and nibble on appys while waiting for our entrees. We can take restroom breaks (kids 8 &7 yr old can go by themselves in TS places). A very leisurely meal and it has taken 1 hour and 45 minutes and we are not all stressed out!!

Yes, CS can take shorter times but that is at less busy times, and less busy places in general. Food courts at hotels (POR for example) have the same issues as theme park cs placs. Just our experience, and we prefer the less stressful TS over CS.

I completely agree with you, last time we went, just two adults, we regularly waited in line at counter service for 20-40 mins to order. I also can't stand the plastic cutlery and paper plates. It just makes eating so stressful and difficult which you don't want on holiday. I haven't made any reservations though, we had no problems getting tables at the last minute last Summer so we'll do the same this year.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I think it depends on what you want in your vacation. We'd cut back on resorts or tickets, but if we had to cut back on dining we'd cancel. A nice family dinner is #1 on our vacation agenda. Others things are less important. Souvenirs would be the 1st to go.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I am just speaking from experience. If we go to a popular CS, such as Pinocchio's or Cosmic Rays, at a busy time, I wait in line for at least 20 minutes to order food, and then carry the food to the table we usually have to wait for (5-10 minutes). Then, I have to go back to another station and order the kids other food, since each area you only order certain foods (ie one station is burgers, one is salads and sandwiches, and one is chicken) and not everyone wants the same thing or same type of food. Add another 20 minutes. Walk back to the table with the newest food. Then we have to go to the condiment bar (add 10-15 minutes because everyone else has to go to the condiment bar). By the time we are all ready to eat our food together, it has been an hour (literally, an hour has passed, and we have our CS food, sit down to eat it, and it tastes good because we are so hungry and have waited an hour) then we have to take our restroom break after sitting and eating our meal for 20-30 minutes. Add 15 minutes for restroom break (yes, the restroom break counts as time in CS meal, we have 3 little girls - ages 8, 7 and 4 - part of the whole mealtime experience. CS meal has taken up 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Contrast all this to TS meal where even waiting 1 hour for seating we go into nice air conditioned restaurant, order our food, (mom is not wore out by standing in line and then carrying food to the table, then going to condiment bar, etc, etc) and we can sip out drinks and nibble on appys while waiting for our entrees. We can take restroom breaks (kids 8 &7 yr old can go by themselves in TS places). A very leisurely meal and it has taken 1 hour and 45 minutes and we are not all stressed out!!

Yes, CS can take shorter times but that is at less busy times, and less busy places in general. Food courts at hotels (POR for example) have the same issues as theme park cs placs. Just our experience, and we prefer the less stressful TS over CS.

I see - I've had the exact opposite exp but I don't have small children with me. Makes a world of difference

 

[Wendy5055]

No, we are not cancelling our ADR's for Aug/Sept trip. We have upgraded (due to Free Dining) to DlxDDP and are able to fit in CRT and HDDR!!!! Our DD6 is very excited at the opportunity to see HDDR.

A normal dinner out at a restaurant such as the Ninety Nine or Chili's, would normally cost approx. $45.00 (not incl. tip or appetizer...we dont get one because it is too expensive!!! ) for the three of us. With that in mind, the $32 per adult and $10 per child just worked in our favor as we are getting 3 meals per day for that price!!!!

We are staying at POP Century because we would rather put our money towards good food than towards a hotel room. It was a toss up though!!!

 

[SnowWtch]

I purposely didn't make any ADRs b/c of that reason. We're trying to save money so we're staying and eating off property this time. We wanted to go to O'Hana's for dinner so bad b/c of the changes but we just can't afford to right now.

 

[budbeerlady]

We are doing Cs for half, late lunches at TS we really want so we can do sandwiches to save vs a steak and I am using the mypoints rainforest gift cards for 2 meals. So we have 3 ts total for our 7 day trip...

 

[krmlaw]

These seems like a silly questions, so I hope you'll endulge!

Why dont more people go during free dining if they are going to stay at disney anyways? And why do some people who go during free dining and stay at disney NOT get free dining? Its free? I cant see a downside.

We've been down three times now. Stayed on property once, off twice. Now this will be our first trip on free dining and Im so excited! We paid for dining the time we stayed on property.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

These seems like a silly questions, so I hope you'll endulge!

Why dont more people go during free dining if they are going to stay at disney anyways? And why do some people who go during free dining and stay at disney NOT get free dining? Its free? I cant see a downside.

We've been down three times now. Stayed on property once, off twice. Now this will be our first trip on free dining and Im so excited! We paid for dining the time we stayed on property.

I can't speak for others, but we would have to take our DS out of school to take advantage of free dining & we won't do that. Then there's those who think Sept @ WDW is too hot. As for your other question, some people got 40% off their resort rate, during this time. If they're staying in a deluxe hotel, the discount would be better than free dining. Btw, your questions aren't silly.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We're not canceling any ADRs. We're going during free dining and are upgrading to the DxDP. I don't think we'd be doing DxDDP though if we were paying full price for it.

 

[Aimeedyan]

These seems like a silly questions, so I hope you'll endulge!

Why dont more people go during free dining if they are going to stay at disney anyways? And why do some people who go during free dining and stay at disney NOT get free dining? Its free? I cant see a downside.

We've been down three times now. Stayed on property once, off twice. Now this will be our first trip on free dining and Im so excited! We paid for dining the time we stayed on property.

Not silly at all!

For many, they don't want to take kids out of school. Or it's too hot that time of year for them to go. Or they get great hotel discounts that negate any savings for the DDP.

Remember - the DDP is not really free during those dates. You are paying rack rate at a hotel, which many travelers would typically never do. You also have to pay for at least 1 day ticket, which many never do. So the savings aren't always as good when you add it up.

We did free dining last year and it ended up being a good deal for us. But, it was very hot and we didn't enjoy staying value (which was the only way it was a deal for us). With the subtraction of tip and appetizer, the DDP is not appealing anymore.

We would rather go when it's cooler, with food and wine fest still going on, on a 40% discount at a deluxe hotel.

 

[mom2my3kids]

I had thoughts of adding the dining plan, but I have decided not to. We are going to eat at Sci-Fi, Tusker House Breakfast and Ohana. I also purchased a gift card worth 50$ for 25$ at Raglan Rd so its another sit down we are eating at. The rest will be Counter Service on the fly, I do have Liberty Tree Booked for or MNSSHP but I am 50/50 on that one and may cancel another one but not sure yet..

 

[MAC3]

Sorry didn't read the whole thread, but....

Sitting here right now weeding out which ones we can live without. Also possibly entertaining the thoughts of cooking in our villa as well as eating offsite.

But sitdown meals are almost twice what counterservice meals are so yes. We are but maybe we shouldn't let Disney know or they'll raise the prices of CS meals.

 

[Stittsville]

While I agree the prices are high, I would still eat in TS restaurants on the dining plan next time we go. We find that 6-8 hours in the parks a day is plenty for us, and we enjoy a relaxing meal and then viewing the fireworks. It helps that we love food in my family, and my kids will eat anything at WDW.

 

[krmlaw]

Not silly at all!


We would rather go when it's cooler, with food and wine fest still going on, on a 40% discount at a deluxe hotel.

How do people get such great discounts on rooms? We'd love to know! Maybe we will switch and not to DDP!

 

[Aimeedyan]

How do people get such great discounts on rooms? We'd love to know! Maybe we will switch and not to DDP!

That's the magic question! There are often pin rates that people are emailed or mailed by postcard. Sometimes people call Disney and there is one just randomly attached to their name. Annual pass holders and florida residents often get one offered. And then there are general public codes out there. We are able to book a CM friend/family rate when we go.

There is a code/rate subboard on the Resort board that you could look through and see if any are offered during your trip.