YOUR ultimate Disney announcement

[walkerag]

2 free weeks per year, admission for Dis board members only

 

[Kennywife]

Cheaper deluxe hotel rates!

Can I ask something, though? For those of you who said "no more free dining," why so? We LOVE the dining plan, and obviously even more when it's free! Why do people not like it?

I personally don't like it because it fills up the restaurants too fast.

My ideas for an announcement:

no more free dining
addition of villians park
more character meals
adult only area
and a return of the classic Disney....no more HSM, Jonas Brothers, or Miley Cyrus!

And none will probably ever happen. I can dream though.


Anna

 

[GeorgeG]

The end of 'free' dining.

Absolutely! Why? To be able to offer free dining, Disney has had to raise meal prices and cut back on both the quality and quantity of the food. Those of us who actually pay for our meals end up picking up the slack and not getting the meals we used to. To fully understand this, you would have to be a WDW veteran who remembers when there was a really good selection of good dining and even the counter service restaurants were decent.

In general, I'd like to see WDW return to the special quality that made it heads above any other place, bring back some really great restaurants, rides and live entertainment. Again, if you're a relatively newcomer to WDW you can't know how it once was.

WDW has always been somewhat pricey in all respects, but there were truly good options for all budgets. Now, it's a great example of Obamanomics (sorry, didn't mean to get political, but that's the best description I could come up with).

 

[Dan Murphy]

.....Can I ask something, though? For those of you who said "no more free dining," why so? We LOVE the dining plan, and obviously even more when it's free! Why do people not like it?

There is no free lunch. In order to get 'free' dining, you have to pay horrendously high rack rates for the resort. In some limited circumstances and families, it may work out better to pay the rack rate and get the dining. In order to get more people interested in and wanting the 'free' dining, Disney raises the price horrendously in the restaurants, so as to drive more people to not want to pay for meals. More people take the bait and so as to maximize the profits, Disney lowers the quality and choices of what is available in the restaurants since so many people go for 'free'. And with the large number of people doing the 'free' dining, it requires everybody to be scrambling at 180 to secure DR's for every restaurant on site. For those not on the 'free' plan, it makes it tough to get a TS meal, without doing the 180. And if you do go to a TS, you are met with a very limited menu of low quality food.

That is why I do not like the 'free' dining. It works well for Disney, full resorts with guests paying high rack rates and filling up the restaurants eating low quality meals of a limited nature.

And then, one more item. With the driving of guests having to do the 180 for DR's, some restaurants fill up immediately (Le Cellier good example) and guests think there is something super special about a place. It becomes a self fulfilling thing, the venue becomes 'elite', even though it is worse than it use to be. Disney sees an opportunity, raises the prices even higher, for those paying out of pocket, and makes it a 2 TS credit item for those on the plan.

People newer to Disney would not fully understand as they have not experienced before 'free'.

 

[Pooh67_68]

The end of 'free' dining.

This ^

a few new countries in WS

a villian park.

 

[DVCisME]

A return of the food and fun cards for DVC with the free park tickets...

 

[VeganCupcake]

A return of the food and fun cards for DVC with the free park tickets...

What were those? They sound neato!

 

[Scurvy]

That they're going to put all the stuff back into the Adventurers Club and carry on like they never closed it.

Although ending the dining plan sounds good. Not that either will ever happen.

Both of these would have made me happy, especially the Adventurers Club one! Other things I would liked to have heard:

Official confirmation that they were going forward with the rumored Monsters Inc. coaster.

An opening date for the Muppet Whatnot Workshop they were supposedly adding in Hollywood Studios.

A new Muppet themed restaurant coming to Hollywood Studios.

Phineas and Ferb (and Perry) walk around characters and/or character meal, probably in Hollywood Studios.

Dreamfinder being brought back to the Imagination pavilion.

A new country being added to World Showcase - not replacing an existing country.

 

[DVCisME]

What were those? They sound neato!

They were free dining and water recreation (jet skis, etc.). Couldn't be beat!!!!

 

[VeganCupcake]

They were free dining and water recreation (jet skis, etc.). Couldn't be beat!!!!

WOWIE WOW WOW! Very cool! Sorry they stopped doing that for you

 

[GeorgeG]

WDW dining was at it's best back when they had an all-inclusive plan called the World Adventure Vacations, a.k.a. "Gold Key" plans. The dining wasn't free, just "pre-paid." If you knew how to use it you could come out ahead and if you didn't you could lose money. It was more for convenience than anything else. You could eat at any WDW TS restaurant, and select anything from the menu (appetizer, main course, dessert, non-alcolholic beverages and tip). It even included dinner shows. It also included a lot of other things like boat rentals. But, again, you paid for it, it wasn't free and anytime you came out ahead it was like a bonus for spending a lot of money.

 

[Colleen27]

Something Marvel coming to the parks.

A moderate level resort with family suites.

A new country addition to the World Showcase.

The start of construction on the long-rumored DVC Washington DC project.

But through all the hype leading up to that letdown, I didn't for a second think it was going to be anything other than the announcement of the coming year's theme, and boy is it a lame one! I wish they'd leave the castle well enough alone and do something that actually enhances the travel experience.

 

[Colleen27]

Absolutely! Why? To be able to offer free dining, Disney has had to raise meal prices and cut back on both the quality and quantity of the food. Those of us who actually pay for our meals end up picking up the slack and not getting the meals we used to. To fully understand this, you would have to be a WDW veteran who remembers when there was a really good selection of good dining and even the counter service restaurants were decent.

The dining plan and free dining don't deserve the blame in that regard. They're symptoms, same as the menu changes, but the cause is a shift in corporate direction towards more mass appeal, value/affordability, and fewer niche/specialty experiences. I expect it is just a matter of time before we see the pendulum swing back a bit towards the luxury/unique side of the spectrum but not until the economy really starts to recover and families start loosening the purse strings a bit.

 

[DVCisME]

Sorry. I did not mean it was free. It was like free dining with credits. I was cooking dinner and missed a very important word ..like.
It was the best. They had it when I was a kid and my parents owned the Vacation Club. We were able to rent jet skis, go skiing/wake boarding, see the Christmas Dinner Show. Stuff we would never have been able to afford without it.

 

[BillSears]

That they're going to put all the stuff back into the Adventurers Club and carry on like they never closed it.

Although ending the dining plan sounds good. Not that either will ever happen.

These 2 would make me very happy!!!

 

[brenalexacamp]

Pirate and Princess Party- the Night-tastic fireworks were AWESOME! We actually saw them this summer.

More countries at WS

No more free dining-

more table service restaurants

 

[DisneySaver28]

No more free dining!

 

[cm8]

Absolutely! Why? To be able to offer free dining, Disney has had to raise meal prices and cut back on both the quality and quantity of the food. Those of us who actually pay for our meals end up picking up the slack and not getting the meals we used to. To fully understand this, you would have to be a WDW veteran who remembers when there was a really good selection of good dining and even the counter service restaurants were decent.

In general, I'd like to see WDW return to the special quality that made it heads above any other place, bring back some really great restaurants, rides and live entertainment. Again, if you're a relatively newcomer to WDW you can't know how it once was.

WDW has always been somewhat pricey in all respects, but there were truly good options for all budgets. Now, it's a great example of Obamanomics (sorry, didn't mean to get political, but that's the best description I could come up with).

 

[TaraLee4]

Both of these would have made me happy, especially the Adventurers Club one! Other things I would liked to have heard:

Official confirmation that they were going forward with the rumored Monsters Inc. coaster.

An opening date for the Muppet Whatnot Workshop they were supposedly adding in Hollywood Studios.

A new Muppet themed restaurant coming to Hollywood Studios.

Phineas and Ferb (and Perry) walk around characters and/or character meal, probably in Hollywood Studios.

Dreamfinder being brought back to the Imagination pavilion.

A new country being added to World Showcase - not replacing an existing country.

The first time I saw Monsters Inc. I said that the scene where they're on the door going after boo's door would make an AMAZING ride. That'd be great.

I'd like more villians.

and I vote to bring down the free dining too.

 

[Angelhalo]

We love the dining plan! It's the only way we can afford to go every year.

What was the big announcement yesterday?