Why I hate "free dining" in a hundred words or less. (vent)

[AJKMOM]

Going with a 3 year old whose favorite character is Cinderella, and I have been trying to get reservations at either GF or CRT for any day we are there at the beginning of October. When we made the room reservations, free dining was not available, so I hoped I would be able to get at least one meal with Cindy. All the ressies I want are taken, and I am using the online system to check at least twice a day. Unhappy.

 

[Sassagoula Billy]

I share a similar distaste, but CRT has always been difficult. Long before free dining.

 

[grimley1968]

100 word or less criticism of "free dining" follows:

- "Free dining" isn't free, as it requires rack rate on rooms and at least 1 day park tickets
- Not a good deal for deluxe resort guests
- Packed ADR's, but often nearly empty restaurants, because people don't show up for ADR's that are usually free to obtain and thus aren't as highly valued as ADR's would be if they required a credit card hold (with a reasonable financial penalty for failure to cancel)
- Dining plan as a whole ("free" or paid for OOP) gives us a cattle call feel
- Doesn't cover tips anymore

That was actually about 95 words. Room for a

 

[TDC Nala]

Dining reservations are at 180 days now. Reservations for October were taken starting in April. If you wait much beyond that, even for a last minute trip, you might have trouble getting what you want (especially if you want a popular restaurant or character meal), free dining or no free dining. Free dining likely isn't the culprit on this one.

Keep checking, you still have two months.

"Free dining" isn't free, as it requires rack rate on rooms and at least 1 day park tickets

This year it's 2 day park tickets.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

I'd never do CRT because I think it's a waste of money. On the other hand, we have done 1900 PF so the kids can see Cinderella and we had no problems getting reservations for dinner. Kind of weird that you are. Keep trying is all I can say.

 

[TiaMaria]

Have you tried for the Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway at Epcot?

They have most of the princesses (Cinderella for sure), and is a nice buffet meal with photos of kids with Belle included, I believe.

Keep trying - wishing you some Pixie Dust for your little one!

 

[katydidbug1]

Have you tried for the Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway at Epcot?

They have most of the princesses (Cinderella for sure), and is a nice buffet meal with photos of kids with Belle included, I believe.

Keep trying - wishing you some Pixie Dust for your little one!

Ditto, and the last 2 times we went to Akershus Cinderella was there, and its yummy

 

[peimikes]

Have you thought of the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall to meet the princesses?
We are doing it and CRT for our daughter, but I will add we booked our CRT the first day we were able and had only 2 choices of dining times all day and they were breakfast table times. We called about an hour after Disney's phone lines opened and about a month before we had decided on which resort we were going to stay at. Free didning wasn't even out yet.

 

[crystalcml]

I saw something for 1900 Park Fare dinner just now on 10/6. Go get it!

 

[palavra]

Your reasoning is why I loved having free dining. There would not have been able to afford the 3 character meals that we had on trip without free dining. My daughter loved all the character interaction without having to wait in line.

And to those who say that free dining isn't free, it is. The food costs nothing. We only left a tip. Is it the cheapest discount that WDW offers? Not for everyone. But that doesn't make free dining any less "free".

 

[Nadjalu]

Sorry that you feel that way. But really free dining has nothing to do whether you can get in CRT or not.

Plan truth is, if you need it that bad then you have to schedule your trip 180 days out.

Most people who are taking advantage of free dining do not spend 2 credits on 1 meal.

Good luck, but as others suggested there is other ways to see Cinderella. I hope you get your daughter to one of them.

 

[williamson_ja]

CRT is hard to get any time of year. We are going during free dining in less than a month and both 1900 park fair and Akershus are available during that week. I haven't found the ADR's all that difficult to get.

 

[Anthony1971]

All the ressies I want are taken

I take this as the time she wants not the dates...
I am sure you will find something just maybe not at a time you want... I have NEVER had a problem getting a reservation the day of or the day before at even some of the more popular places like Ohana...... people cancel or do not show up... and if it is only 2 chances are you can get something by showing up but have a back up or you may need to wait for an hour....sometimes no wait...

 

[Snape]

100 word or less criticism of "free dining" follows:

- "Free dining" isn't free, as it requires rack rate on rooms and at least 1 day park tickets
- Not a good deal for deluxe resort guests
- Packed ADR's, but often nearly empty restaurants, because people don't show up for ADR's that are usually free to obtain and thus aren't as highly valued as ADR's would be if they required a credit card hold (with a reasonable financial penalty for failure to cancel)
- Dining plan as a whole ("free" or paid for OOP) gives us a cattle call feel
- Doesn't cover tips anymore

That was actually about 95 words. Room for a

I think some people have a hard time understanding this concept.

OP - go offsite. You'll have less wait and better food

 

[grimley1968]

And to those who say that free dining isn't free, it is. The food costs nothing. We only left a tip. Is it the cheapest discount that WDW offers? Not for everyone. But that doesn't make free dining any less "free".

When you add up the total bottom line price of a vacation to WDW, "free dining" is usually not as good a deal for those in moderates or deluxes as a regular room discount and paying for dining OOP, because you have to pay rack rate for the room (thereby paying for the dining when you pay for your resort). At deluxes and mods, that is almost always going to cost more than a standard percentage off discount would have saved.

The only time it might save money is if you're staying at a value resort during value season.

Always, always, always add up the total bottom line cost of WDW vacations. Do that, and you'll see there are much better savings to be had than "free dining".

 

[Friendly Frog]

Going with a 3 year old whose favorite character is Cinderella, and I have been trying to get reservations at either GF or CRT for any day we are there at the beginning of October. When we made the room reservations, free dining was not available, so I hoped I would be able to get at least one meal with Cindy. All the ressies I want are taken, and I am using the online system to check at least twice a day. Unhappy.

Sorry you are not getting the reservation that you want.


I don't think free dinning is the value it once was for any hotel type, but I think discounts in general are good for everyone. It helps Disney to bring in more money during off peak times than they would without a discount, this in turn;

Is good for Disney's cash flow.

Is good for the regular full fare paying guests too, as this keeps revenue flowing and can ultimately help to keep prices down across the board.

Is good for families who could not afford to go during full price season.

Is is good for the hotel and restaurant staff who might otherwise be facing staff reductions or loss of hours during off peak times.

So it is not all bad.

 

[glitzybabes]

Keep trying. Something may open up.

 

[mcd2745]

When you add up the total bottom line price of a vacation to WDW, "free dining" is usually not as good a deal for those in moderates or deluxes as a regular room discount and paying for dining OOP, because you have to pay rack rate for the room (thereby paying for the dining when you pay for your resort). At deluxes and mods, that is almost always going to cost more than a standard percentage off discount would have saved.

The only time it might save money is if you're staying at a value resort during value season.

Always, always, always add up the total bottom line cost of WDW vacations. Do that, and you'll see there are much better savings to be had than "free dining".

While I don't doubt this is generally true...it's diffucult to precisely run the numbers without exactly knowing where and what you'll be eating 6 months out.

While the dollar value may be greater going with the room discount, there is non-monetary value from getting the DP - such as the piece of mind knowing that a vast majority of your total expenditures is already paid for, not having to bring/carry as much cash (or equivalent) with you, and for some people, not having menu prices affect their choices of what they order.

The down side certainly is the demand for ADRs that it's created. It's spiralling out of control as people double and triple book each night because they know if they later change their schedule around, they won't get what they want. So there's certainly a snowball effect. I agree that there should be CC holds for all ressies and penalties for no-shows. And I think the 180 days should be reduced to 45 days - although, if anything, they will probably go the other way to 1 year.

 

[ElizabethB]

Just to be clear, if the only option for a room is rack rate, then, yes, free dining is free. If, as is the case for rooms booked through October 2 (and likely after that if anticipated fall discounts are released), a discount is available, then the cost of free dining is the difference between rack rate and the discounted room rate.

For example, if a moderate room is $150 rack rate and $100 on a discount, free dining is costing $50 per night (not bad if 5 people are in the room, but a cost nonetheless). Additionally, the DDP with table service credits is $10 per person per night extra when staying in a value resort on the free dining plan.

For deluxe rooms, a 40% off discount may be worth far more than the cost of the dining plan. For example, a GF RPC room August is about $790 per night with tax. With the 40% off, the rate drops to $475, including tax. The room can be occupied by 4 guests. The DDP costs about $160 per night for those 4 guests. The savings off the room rate is $315 per night. So, the 40% off discount is absolutely the way to go. Going with free dining in this circumstance would cost $315 per night, when it can be added to the reservation for 4 room occupants for only $160 per night!

I've come to the conclusion that in slow periods, Disney uses free dining to fill the value resorts and now, to a greater extent than before, the moderate resorts. Disney uses 40% off to fill the deluxes.

 

[TDC Nala]

I moved this to the reservations board because it was about whether or not free dining made it difficult to get reservations, not about whether free dining is a good deal - discussions on that should be on the dining plan board, but are not on topic for the OP's post.