Who WON'T go this year W/O free dining.

JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
I know we have money set aside to sign right on if it is offered, but a trip is just out of the question without it. We may go to DL instead for a long weekend or go to Hershey instead. We just can't afford to have the $2K bill at the end of the trip when we go. Anybody else in the same boat.

Free Dining or Bust!
 

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
That's when we went on the 3-4 day trips. We would rather take a 10 day trip. Free dining let us do that. It wouldn't be worth it for a 3-4 day trip. We did too many and felt rushed.

I have a coworker who wants to go a lot, but can't afford long trips if she does. As a result, she goes for shorter trips, and she focuses on MK and just one other park (or one water park). Won't even look at any of other parks, as far as she's concerned, they don't exist. Maybe PI/DTD one night, but that's it. This way, she never feels rushed, and the next trip she'll focus on one of the other parks. As a result, she feels like she really gets to explore every nook and cranny of the parks, it just takes her a few years to do it. But she'd rather go that way then save up all her money for one 2-week long blowout vacation.
 
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JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I have a coworker who wants to go a lot, but can't afford long trips if she does. As a result, she goes for shorter trips, and she focuses on MK and just one other park (or one water park). Won't even look at any of other parks, as far as she's concerned, they don't exist. Maybe PI/DTD one night, but that's it. This way, she never feels rushed, and the next trip she'll focus on one of the other parks. As a result, she feels like she really gets to explore every nook and cranny of the parks, it just takes her a few years to do it. But she'd rather go that way then save up all her money for one 2-week long blowout vacation.

Which is why we may have to wait another year if free dining doesn't come around. I'm not mad. It just won't happen. Just seeing if anybody's vacation plans are Glued to Free Dining like ours. We'll just save for next year instead. I'd rather go every year though.
 
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tonya

New Member
When are all the free dining times of year? Can anyone with schoolage children even go during those times? Please direct me to a link! Thanks!
 
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DisneyMusician2

Well-Known Member
Which is why we may have to wait another year if free dining doesn't come around. I'm not mad. It just won't happen. Just seeing if anybody's vacation plans are Glued to Free Dining like ours. We'll just save for next year instead. I'd rather go every year though.

Mine are. If I can't travel with free dining, I have to take an extremely short trip or wait 3-4 years between them. And without the ability to travel during the value season during the year, this makes things even more difficult. I like the free dining, and alghough we are not ENTITLED to it, it certainly makes DIsney more accessible for those of us without abundant amounts of money under the mattress. Even with my Rewards card, it is tought to save that cash.
 
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DisneyMusician2

Well-Known Member
You see, this is where I was afraid the thread would go. It starts with someone wondering/wishing/hoping that an incredibly generous offer will be offered for a third straight year (certainly nothing wrong with wondering/wishing/hoping). It then de-volves into what people think they deserve because of all the money they "throw" at Disney.


If Disney offers a great promotion, awesome. But unless Walt was yo' daddy and put your name in the will, none of us "deserve" anything from WDW.

Finally, between what Dagger mentioned about DVC, the Magic Your Way ticket structure, AP discounts, and being able to get zero percent interest on vacation packages for various periods of time via the Disney/Chase Visa card, there are plenty of ways to help make a WDW vacation more affordable. There should be NO sense of entitlement just because of the money you've sepent at WDW in the past.

"Entitlement"? No, I don't feel entitled to the discounts. But I centainly think that there are enough precedents with vacation destinations, cruises, hotels, and resorts to warrant examining some sort of program to make the burden a bit easier. I'm going to try and go back anyway, but it was just a thought.
 
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oochr1soo

Member
why not just pay for the dining plan? its not that much more.. and i feel everytime ive used it ive saved plenty on food.. i make the most of the dining by going to the restaurants that are usually expensive..
 
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DisneyMusician2

Well-Known Member
why not just pay for the dining plan? its not that much more.. and i feel everytime ive used it ive saved plenty on food.. i make the most of the dining by going to the restaurants that are usually expensive..


You can, but sometimes the free dining can really help out paying for airfare and other things. Depending on the hotel you are staying at, it could even add a day or two to your trip. For people who don't have a lot to spend, it really, really helps make a better vacation.
 
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slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
"Entitlement"? No, I don't feel entitled to the discounts. But I centainly think that there are enough precedents with vacation destinations, cruises, hotels, and resorts to warrant examining some sort of program to make the burden a bit easier. I'm going to try and go back anyway, but it was just a thought.

Soooo... you really think there really needs to be a rewards program for people who really spend a real lot of money at WDW "to keep OUR costs down"...

Therefore, you think WDW should have a rewards program for YOU, and people like you...

but you don't feel entitled to it.

Maybe this is an issue of semantics, but I fail to see the difference.


Other vacation destinations, crises, hotels and resorts need to have rewards programs more than WDW. What WDW offers, you can't get anywhere else. There are tons of cruise lines all looking for your business, and your repeat business. Hotels with chains all over the country or world want you to think of them first wherever you are going. Want to go to New York City? Certainly no one holds the copyright on NYC trips, so they have to be competitive...

But if you want to stay on-site at a WDW resort, you have to go to WDW, and you have to stay on-site, Which means you pay what WDW decided is what they want to charge.

There only "really needs" to be better deals if WDW thinks it will behoove them to offer them. The same argument I made in other threads recently. WDW doesn't offer promotions or deals or discounts or contests because they're generous. They do it because they think it helps business. Maybe one day they'll think a Rewards program will benefit them in the long term, but that doesn't they're doing because there ought to be one, or because some frequent customers think there really needs to be one. They'll do it if they think it'll benefit them, not you.
 
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slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
why not just pay for the dining plan? its not that much more.. and i feel everytime ive used it ive saved plenty on food.. i make the most of the dining by going to the restaurants that are usually expensive..

Well, yeah, if you think carefully about where you eat, you can sdefinitely save some decent scratch compared to paying for each meal out of pocket...

But if the dining plan is free, you're paying nothing to eat. Because it's free. Hence the term "free dining plan."

Last I checked, paying nothing is less than paying less.

And if you're bringing a family of four, husband wife, two teenagers, you're talking about 160 dollars a day. which, while giving you a good deal, is still 160 dollars more a day than paying nothing. Which is why people are wondering if the Free Dining Plan promotion will be available again this year, as it has the past 2.
 
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JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
why not just pay for the dining plan? its not that much more.. and i feel everytime ive used it ive saved plenty on food.. i make the most of the dining by going to the restaurants that are usually expensive..
$100 a day X 10 days = $1K. That's alot when you try to keep flights, rental, passes hotel for under 3K for 10 days. Adding the extra 30%+ to the trip for food is A LOT.
 
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DisneyMusician2

Well-Known Member
Well, perhaps others in a position of not having a great deal of money can appreciate this. No they don't need it. But it is never bad business practice to reward loyal customers. And why not. Would it be soooo bad? They already offer packages and discounts to groups and to cardholders. Then a family of four or five (as mine is) could return with their kids before its been so long that they have trouble remembering their last trip.
 
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JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Soooo... you really think there really needs to be a rewards program for people who really spend a real lot of money at WDW "to keep OUR costs down"...

Therefore, you think WDW should have a rewards program for YOU, and people like you...

but you don't feel entitled to it.

Maybe this is an issue of semantics, but I fail to see the difference.


Other vacation destinations, crises, hotels and resorts need to have rewards programs more than WDW. What WDW offers, you can't get anywhere else. There are tons of cruise lines all looking for your business, and your repeat business. Hotels with chains all over the country or world want you to think of them first wherever you are going. Want to go to New York City? Certainly no one holds the copyright on NYC trips, so they have to be competitive...

But if you want to stay on-site at a WDW resort, you have to go to WDW, and you have to stay on-site, Which means you pay what WDW decided is what they want to charge.

There only "really needs" to be better deals if WDW thinks it will behoove them to offer them. The same argument I made in other threads recently. WDW doesn't offer promotions or deals or discounts or contests because they're generous. They do it because they think it helps business. Maybe one day they'll think a Rewards program will benefit them in the long term, but that doesn't they're doing because there ought to be one, or because some frequent customers think there really needs to be one. They'll do it if they think it'll benefit them, not you.

Great post, I hate "paying" for other customers rewards. That sucks.
 
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Nemo14

Well-Known Member
It seems to me that the whole reasoning here is askew. Shouldn't it be more like "Who WILL go this year if there is free dining? To phrase it like you're being punished because you might have to pay for food there is really absurd!
 
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slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
Well, perhaps others in a position of not having a great deal of money can appreciate this. No they don't need it. But it is never bad business practice to reward loyal customers. And why not. Would it be soooo bad? They already offer packages and discounts to groups and to cardholders. Then a family of four or five (as mine is) could return with their kids before its been so long that they have trouble remembering their last trip.

First of all, it's not like *I'M* J.P Gotrocks over here. I have to save for my trips to WDW, too. So please don't try to make it sound like I'm wiping my butt with hundred-dollar bills, pointing and laughing at the poor folks who only want a nice vacation.

Second of all, what you're saying is what I mean by a sense of entitlement. "You're selling what I want. You can give it to me for less, or free, and you wouldn't really notice it. Would it be soooooo bad if you gave me some of what you have, or sell it to me for much much less?" You want, just 'cuz you want it. You have no REAL reason for WDW to give it to you, except that it would be nice. Then you add the guilt trip about your poor kids not being able to go to WDW. Make the argument that it's in WDW's best interest to offer the plan, not say that they should DO it because YOU want it or need it.

The whole gist of your comment reminds me of the movie "Lost In America" by Albert Brooks. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend it, even though I'm about to spoil most of it for you. :lol: Brooks plays an advertising executive who feels slighted by his boss, and who is being told he has to relocate to New York. He quits his job, and he and his wife liquidate all their assets and buy a giant RV. The idea is that they're gonna travel around the country, using what's left of their savings as their nest egg and live off of it until they die. After all, they now only need food and gas, right? They can roam the world, "just like in Easy Rider."

Their last-planned act of secular consumerism is to go to Vegas for one night to renew their wedding vows...where his wife gambles away all of their savings overnight while Brooks is sleeping.

There is a great scene at this point where Brooks tries to explain his situation to the casino manager (played by Garry Marshall). He explains that for the casino to give him and his wife back THEIR money is a good thing, they can make a whole ad campaign based on it, and it will bring them more guests. Marshall responds along the lines of "Yeah, they're gonna come here because they'll think we'll give them their money back! That's not what we do! We KEEP the money you lose, that's how we stay in business!" It gets wilder and more frantic, and it's hilarious.

Yes, it would show a tremendous of heart for Disney to make trips more affordable for everyone. I believe that with all my heart, and wish they would. But the most magical place on Earth exists to make money for its stockholders, so they need to believe that a rewards program benefits them.
 
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JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It seems to me that the whole reasoning here is askew. Shouldn't it be more like "Who WILL go this year if there is free dining? To phrase it like you're being punished because you might have to pay for food there is really absurd!

I guess it's because I plan my fall around "going" more than "not going".

I won't just go because of free dining on a whim, but I have already planned dining reservations and start booking them in a few weeks. If no free dining, I just cancel everything.
 
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Nemo14

Well-Known Member
I guess it's because I plan my fall around "going" more than "not going".

I won't just go because of free dining on a whim, but I have already planned dining reservations and start booking them in a few weeks. If no free dining, I just cancel everything.
But you're planning something you admittedly can't afford unless they give you free food?
 
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JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
But you're planning something you admittedly can't afford unless they give you free food?
Yep, I think I've said that from the beginning. If they don't -- again no big deal. We will do something else. Is this that hard of a concept to get? I seem to have noticed MANY members of this board being in the same boat since last years free dining. Yes, I'm planning on going. If it doesn't come together, Dang. Think of it as planning a vacation before you officially get approval from work. You can do it.:animwink:
 
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DisneyJoe

Well-Known Member
1 - Disney, in the past, usually sees less visitors in August and September, its a low season, many times due to hurricane season (and schools starting)

2 - in 2005 and 2006, they offered free dining AS AN INCENTIVE to get people to book trips.

3 - It worked - more people booked.

4 - for 2007, they've already offered free dining to UK residents, and as a Pilot comeback offer to those vacationing in November-December 2006.

It comes down to this - if they see the need to fill rooms, they will offer incentives. If rooms are full, there is no need to offer incentives - just like any other discount they offer.

Disney doesn't need a loyalty program, we are already extremely loyal.

-Joe
 
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davidpw97

Well-Known Member
But you're planning something you admittedly can't afford unless they give you free food?

I agree, that is some pretty crazy logic there.

I think if it were me, I'd go ahead and make my plans, with a good 6 months to spare there is plenty of time to save extra money for dining and I could purchase the regular dining plan. If they do decide to do free dining, which they haven't offered for very long and could stop doing anytime they so choose, then great, I have my plans all made and I have saved alot of money that I can now use on other stuff, but if not then I can still afford to pay for meals.
 
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JimboJones123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I agree, that is some pretty crazy logic there.

I think if it were me, I'd go ahead and make my plans, with a good 6 months to spare there is plenty of time to save extra money for dining and I could purchase the regular dining plan. If they do decide to do free dining, which they haven't offered for very long and could stop doing anytime they so choose, then great, I have my plans all made and I have saved alot of money that I can now use on other stuff, but if not then I can still afford to pay for meals.
Congrats on having a different budget than me. That's totally AWESOME for you. :cool:
 
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