Why does FD make everybody crazy?

[DisneyRunner2009]

The forums are a buzz with regards to FD. The Disney site is not cooperating with some. People on hold for over a hour. No availability at POP. I wonder, if this is due to the resorts popularity and the proximity to AoA. All resorts have their quirks, no standard rooms. People upgrading from value to moderate. Disney said they would be cutting back on promotions. I think this is demonstrated here. The time frame for this offer is shorter than in the past and with very limited availability. Everyone seems to be eating this offer up. Even more so than in the past.

 

[rao363]

I can't say for sure about the FD because a room Discount is always better for my family(me, DH,DS2) since we stay at the Polynesian, but I can say their must be VERY limited availability on Discounts per room cat. I originally booked a monday-saturday reservation at the Poly(GV room) with a 35% off PIN. Just last week I called to ADD on the saturday and sunday before my original arrival date and their was no availability for that room cat The only cat. available were TPV, GV-CL, and TPV-CL Ugh, needless to say we switched to a GV-CL for the moment, but we are praying a GV becomes available

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I don't know why free dining makes everyone crazy.

I don't do any of the DP's. I prefer a room discount. If the only discount available when I want to go was a free DDP I guess I'd take it over nothing.

I guess because they have people in their group that eat alot or maybe because of the cost of Disney TS restaurants? That would make sense to me because of how expensive they have gotten.

 

[tinker&belle]

Free dining is a great deal for our family. We want to take the kids to several of the character buffets, plus we are so darn cheap I don't want to have to shell out for the food each time, it would feel more stressful for us to think about how much each meal my youngest just looks at at won't eat. Right now we are booked for ASMU with a Pin for FD. I would love to get POP or POFQ but neither is available right now. For our family it saves us around $650 dollars for the week. A 30% of a value or mod doesn't come close.

 

[DisDaze]

Why is everyone crazy for Free Dining? Well, a room discount would save us about $700.00 and a free dining discount saves us about $1,500.00. One thousand five hundred dollars - that's a lot of flippin' money off rack rates! And I don't get the argument that it's a lot of food. It's 2 meals and 1 snack per day. Don't people in their everyday life eat 3 meals per day? I find the regular plan to be just the right amount of food. The dining is part of the vacation for us and being able to eat at our favorite Disney restaurants and character meals each day, for free, is fantastic!

As for discounts, if you look at the past free dining dates, Disney has released more free dining dates in the last year, than any of the previous 7 years they had free dining.

 

[Iwant2BAprincess]

FD is the Black Friday of Disney Vacationing for me. The official start of let the planning begin!!!!!

That being said, if you are trying to do Disney on a budget it is still one of the best options-up until this years ressie we always stay value, so cost of DDP would be about say 125.00/day (truly off the top of my head don't bash me if that number is a little wonky) and a % off at a value was about 125-150/week-FD is a way better option. We are currently booked at a mod for the first time and I am still debating switching back to value now that they have opened up POP

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

DBF & I usually stay at a value resort. This time we are staying at POR. FD saves us a lot more money then a room discount. We LOVE the DDP and no food goes wasted. We added up the prices on our last trip to see what we would have paid OOP & it was almost $100 more if we wouldn't have used the DDP. Regular dining plan was almost $900 for us on our last trip. Our room was only ~$80 a night. So a room only discount would have saved us around $130 whereas free dining would take off $900!!!

 

[wuzzy6]

FD made me crazy because it saved us about $1200 on a vacation we had already planned without the FD.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Like the others said, FD saves us a lot of money. We have young kids so there is no such thing as too many character meals. And those are stinking expensive if you pay for them OOP--especially considering that at Chef Mickey's in 2010, my son ate three pieces of bread and a bowl of M&Ms.

We are Mod people--20% off is going to save us maybe $300, if even that much? But 7 nights with FD saves us closer to $800. And with the dining plan, now it is basically an all-inclusive vacation. We don't have to think about how much a hot dog costs or a Mickey ice cream. We can just grab the food and get on with our day without that stress. And to me, paying $10 for a hotdog and a drink would cause me stress!

I priced out so many options--room only, room only with YES tickets, offsite, Value, Mod, renting DVC points... No matter what I tried, Free Dining always came out to be our best bet.

 

[Tinker12]

Why FD? I saved $1187.00 today for the FD. How can anyone turn that down? It's great and I will continue to look forward to FD in the future.

 

[bellanotte10]

Why is everyone crazy for Free Dining? Well, a room discount would save us about $700.00 and a free dining discount saves us about $1,500.00. One thousand five hundred dollars - that's a lot of flippin' money off rack rates! And I don't get the argument that it's a lot of food. It's 2 meals and 1 snack per day. Don't people in their everyday life eat 3 meals per day? I find the regular plan to be just the right amount of food. The dining is part of the vacation for us and being able to eat at our favorite Disney restaurants and character meals each day, for free, is fantastic!

As for discounts, if you look at the past free dining dates, Disney has released more free dining dates in the last year, than any of the previous 7 years they had free dining.

When we used it for our last trip, it was the desserts that killed us. The food was so good, then you had to get a dessert and by the time you eat a meal with a dessert twice a day for 5 days and you're only used to eating just a meal, you kinda want to get rolled around like a beach ball. And i love dessert don't get me wrong, and i know i didn't have to eat the desserts, I just seriously didn't want to waste all that food, and since we got it anyways i forced myself to eat it. i have crazy person logic I know.

 

[Stan's MaggieMouse]

Saved me $850 on my son's graduation trip which means we can afford to go for 12 days instead of a week!

 

[FairydustyPrincesses]

I think it is a lot of families with young kids with character meals.

I personally would like to cut most of our ts meals out but dh likes them so whether we do fd or room discount in September we will be getting the dining plan.

As for the RO discounts are they announced every year like fd has been or are they typically pin codes? If they're a general public one when do they usually become available?

All the fd hoopla on the dis is making me feel like I won't get a room even though we usually don't book til may and even switched hotels in June last year because we aren't planning to book for another week or so.

We still go regardless and I'd rather have a room discount but fd is better than nothing!

 

[Disney-Chick]

I love FD for a few reasons. You don't have to worry about price..lol just worry about how many snacks you have used and how many are left. But honestly, I don't think I ever pay attention to the price when I have the FD. It does save our family money in the long run where as RO discount would not save us as much. I don't usually eat much when I am away and fought to use all our meals and snacks before the end of our last trip. But I did it and am still drinking water/apple juice etc from all the extra drinks. And we use the last of our meals on pastries as we drive so that helps us with some snacking on our way home.

I love FD and whether we are able to get it again in Dec or not we are still going.

 

[pigletto]

I wouldn't say it was crazier this year than years previous. In fact I would say exactly the opposite. Having watched closely for the promotion on these boards the last 3 or 4 years, this year was quieter than usual with less speculation.
The threads were more numerous and just as excited years previous.

And as far as what the appeal is? It's the best discount for some families for they way they want to vacation.
It's not the best discount for everyone ,but for those that get it, it can mean a substantial savings over what they were paying. So the excitement is warranted.

 

[mom_of_3_mousketeers]

Why is everyone crazy for Free Dining? Well, a room discount would save us about $700.00 and a free dining discount saves us about $1,500.00. One thousand five hundred dollars - that's a lot of flippin' money off rack rates!

I am right there with you!! FD saved us $1300. I had a 30% pin that saved us $886. Even with a 40%, I don't think I could have saved as much as free dining did for us.

 

[SaberJ]

I'm just glad to see a positive attitude toward FD. In the past, there have been a lot of discussions that have leaned toward, "It's better to get a % off your room, and then use the money you save to buy your food", or, "Who can eat that much food!?".

When we went in 2010, Free dining took our trip to a whole new level. It was so nice not having to worry about every penny we spent on food. I'm not sure what I'll do when they get rid of that promotion. But this is coming from a person that likes to eat on vacation. My other favorite vacation is a cruise. We had a great time trying all the different restaurants last time. Places I never would have tried if I had been "paying" for them. Some didn't work out, but a lot of them we still talk about two years later.

The deal is so good, that we went ahead and grabbed Sept 28th-Oct 6th, just in case our preferred Oct 14th-Oct 21st dates never end up opening up.

 

[dhardawa]

In the past month, I have run some crazy numbers to see if the dining plan pays off for us. I compared what we'd get on the dining plan (most expensive restaurants, extra desserts, etc.) to what we would actually eat without the dining plan and even when figuring what we'd eat without it to the cost of the plan, I came out about $50 ahead buying it. So, the dining plan was a benefit no matter what.

Now, free dining comes out. The dining plan would cost me $1343.68 before tax. A 30% room discount at a moderate (assuming I could even get that) would save me about $480. So, free dining saves me almost $1,000. That is something to get excited about.

 

[Rylee]

Have you been on the boards when the 4 + 3 discount was offered?

I don't think the buzz over Free Dining is any greater than 40% off a deluxe, the 4+3, or the excitement of getting a pin code , of lack of .

When we tell our 5 kids "We're going to Disney," the first thing our kids do is start shouting out in excitement... "I want to eat at the Cali Grill! Can we go to Kona, Le Cellier," etc. We must be raising foodies.

Free dining is a great discount for large families. However, since some our children are older now and don't always vacation with the family due to college or work schedules, we weigh the difference between any other GP discount offers or any pins we currently have.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Like many other posters, FD is just a better deal for us, especially when staying at a moderate resort.

I guess it is a lot of food, but some how we always manage to find a way to use our credits. We love all of the signature restaurants, so we upgrade to the deluxe dining plan and still only have 2 meals a day. And nothing makes DH happier than to know that he can order whatever he wants off of that menu without worrying over his wallet. DS has never eaten like a regular kid, and now at age 17 and 6'2 he's an eating machine-no way do I want to pay out of pocket for him