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Free Dining for the Fall tied to crowd predictions?
- Thread starter draybook
- Start date
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Are they charging higher than rack rate for the room or the posted rate for tickets? If not, it's indeed "free".
disneyflush
Well-Known Member
Business management is a lot more art than your textbooks have led you to believe. Disney, historically, doesn't follow any of the normal 'rules' for pricing their product that most businesses use. Their demand is seemingly inexhaustible regardless of their percentage price increases year-over-year.
Yield management in this Disney scenario would be more about conditioning the consumer to pay the most money possible for a limited inventory year-round. I don't see the incentive to pay more at other times of the year if I miss out on free dining as an offer. Taking a vacation to Disney isn't a binary choice where I either get the discount or I miss out and pay more by booking a similar experience for more money. I can just not go if I miss it and wait until the following year to try again. Yield management/revenue management have valuable uses but trying to shoehorn it into this discussion based on this example is pedantic. There are plenty of case examples in WDW where it plays a large role but free dining isn't one of them.
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
Technically, by that definition it's free.
However, it's almost always a choice between a room discount or free dining.
The savings one gets with free dining, is the net difference between the price of the dining plan and the foregone room discount.
So yes, "free dining" doesn't exactly reflect the reality. It's a discount on dining at the end of the day.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
No. They are offering two discounts--a percentage off the room or legitimately-free dining, but you can't combine the offers. This is used widely in sales. Very few places let you combine offers. Of course, it is on the buyer to determine which offer saves him/her more money.
Ever tried to use discount codes on Lands End?
Let's break that down. Figures are examples only.
You can stay at Wilderness Lodge for $405 a night, discounted.
Or you can stay there at $475 a night with "free dining."
So, is the "free dining" really free? Or did it just cost you $70 a night?
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
DDP costs $75/person per day. Given the appropriate travel party, DDP saves you more.
tirian
Well-Known Member
Years ago, you could game the system by purchasing your tickets in advance and holding them for the free dining period. Then if you booked a deluxe room during value season, you already had your tickets and legitimately came out ahead.
That scenario is no longer possible.
I'm not saying it isn't advantageous to some customers. What I'm saying is that it isn't "free"... especially considering the length-of-stay and ticketing requirements to take advantage of the offer.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
And I truly don't follow. It's free and you pay rack rate or you take the room discount but no dining. You pay full price for your room and tickets and get dining for free with Free Dining. They are not increasing the room rate or ticket price above published prices.
Clearly.
networkpro
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
If it were more descriptive and factual (thusly NOT marketing terminology) and listed as "least-cost option dining irrespective of any additional entitlements you must purchase to qualify for this offer" There wouldnt be this quibbling erupting every single time this was offered. Its just one of many possible vacation permutations each with their own net costs. Its up to the purchaser to make the decision on if the price they pay meets their needs and budget.
"Magic Your Way" doesn't mean Rock Bottom least-cost option.
Sometimes, I think "Magic Your Way" should be parsed "MagicY Our Way."
If memory serves, they require park hoppers now to get the free dining offers, not just standard park tickets, thus forcing you to spend more than you may have otherwise just to get their "free dining offer".
I'll take a discounted room and the freedom to enjoy what food I want every day over ordering food based on price so I can try to get the most out of a free dining deal. But admittedly that's from someone who is a DVC owner and has lost track of the number of times his family as visited WDW over the years.
I'll take a discounted room and the freedom to enjoy what food I want every day over ordering food based on price so I can try to get the most out of a free dining deal. But admittedly that's from someone who is a DVC owner and has lost track of the number of times his family as visited WDW over the years.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Imagine I get two coupons and can only use one.
1) 20% off total purchase
2) buy one, get one free
Does the fact that, if I’m using coupon 2, I pay full price for item 1 make item 2 any less free? Sure, I could have just bought one at 20% off, but if I buy two, I get the 2nd free in exchange for paying full price on the first.
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
Yes, you are correct in that dining is technically "free", when you pay rack rate for the room and buy park hopper tickets.
What people are clarifying, for anyone who might not know, is that the net savings from "free" dining are not equal to the published price of the dining plan.
Say that it's free, say that it's "free", or say that it's free*. It's just semantics. The point is that it may result in saving money, but it needs to be compared to other discounts and individuals vacation plans to ascertain it's actual value.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Of course. Personally I’d never take WDW’s free dining as I know how inflated food prices are to make the DDP seem SO VALUABLE but I can easily avoid the ridiculously marked up character meals and pretzels. I’d much rather eat where I want and what I want without obsessing over “value.”
Meanwhile DLP gave me a 25% room discount AND free half board meal plan (breakfast and a sit-down daily) for next summer. I was very pleased with that deal.
lentesta
Premium Member
I'm told DLR hotel occupancy is down > 10% YoY. Trying to figure out what WDW is at.
I'd be surprised if these promos can move that much volume. If they don't, there may be another round. That's a total guess.
Capsin4
Well-Known Member
This discussion always gets me. Of course there’s always opportunity cost. If you get a package with a room discount and then buy Disney food, nobody talks about it as a “20%” room discount because you paid more for your food.
Wendy Pleakley
Well-Known Member
Yes, it goes both ways, which I tried to clarify but maybe focused on the food aspect too exclusively.
There is 'free dining' and 'room discounts', but people really need to assess the different packages based on overall price and their personal travel plans.
For my last trip, I didn't want park hopper tickets. I was content with a table service meal every second day or so. Taking a room discount made sense for my situation. For someone else, the free dining would make more sense.