DDP offers trade-in special and value-classy meals during free-dine

[mousermerf]

Some bits of info from touringplans.com:

DDP Trade-In Offer August 13 - October 7

In a bit of an odd revision to the Disney Dining Plan, guests may trade in their Table Service meal for a counter service meal during the period of August 13 - October 7, 2006, and in exchange for doing so, will ALSO get 2 vouchers for DDP snack options OR a disney trading pin and lanyard OR a Where Magic Lives poster. The snacks can be redeemed anywhere, but must be redeemed at the same time. The lanyard will be from a specified location merchandise location.



DDP special Pop and AsMu offerings Aug 15 - Sept 4

To help with the crush of folks with free dining during the period of August 15 - September 4, 2006, Table Service meals on the Disney Dining Plan can be redeemed at the Pop Century and All Star Movies Resorts for counter service dinners with special entrees including prime rib, salmon, and turkey. These guests will also recieve the "trade in" offer for Table Service meals offered during this period.

 

[HinunterZuNich]

Wow that is definetly not worth it one bit for my families situation...either get $50 worth of food or trade it in for two $4 snacks. :veryconfu

 

[mousermerf]

You get a counter meal (drink, meal, dessert) plus the two snacks for later, or the lanyard, or the poster (for godsake don't get the poster).

 

[mousermerf]

And to add.. I think it's moreso because folks might not be able to get into table service places during this period.

 

[miles1]

Thanks for the info Merf. I don't think many folks will go for the deal either. Do they expect the table service restaurants to be that crowded that they're getting worried about it?

 

[Monty]

Wow that is definetly not worth it one bit for my families situation...either get $50 worth of food or trade it in for two $4 snacks. :veryconfu

Not exactly, it says trade it in for a Counter Service AND either two snacks, a trading pin or a Where Magic Lives poster.

Still probably not an equivalent to a $50 meal, but not a bad exchange for those who don't want to be tied down to TS ADRs... [I would still go for the TS, but some prefer not to].

 

[mousermerf]

Thanks for the info Merf. I don't think many folks will go for the deal either. Do they expect the table service restaurants to be that crowded that they're getting worried about it?

Well, Chef Mickeys added lunch, Spirit of aloha added show dates, lots of extended seating hours, and several places are on "tenative" operating hours, meaning they'll close when they can. They even added room service as a table service meal and are putting up a buffet dinner some day at the tomorrowland Terrace.

So, yes, they don't think they have enough sit down places for this time period. Last year it was bad, and i mean BAD. This year looks to be worse, but the mouse looks to be trying harder.

 

[miles1]

A lot of our itinerary hinges upon getting seated close to the times of our ADR's, such as with Fantasmic and Illuminations. Was this a problem last year?

 

[mousermerf]

For Illuminations any World Showcase restaurant should allow (and most times suggest) running out and watching the show between courses (usually you're either waiting for your entree or dessert).

For Fantasmic, i dunno. This all really depends on the restaurant. Like, don't expect to be seated within a mile of your time at Le Cellier or Chef Mickeys. But, you might be okay at Marrekesh or Mama Melrose, ya know?

 

[miles1]

For Fantasmic, i dunno. This all really depends on the restaurant. Like, don't expect to be seated within a mile of your time at Le Cellier or Chef Mickeys. But, you might be okay at Marrekesh or Mama Melrose, ya know?

Ew. Guess which two we have ADR's for. Thanks for the warning.

 

[kennygman]

Some bits of info from touringplans.com:

DDP Trade-In Offer August 13 - October 7

In a bit of an odd revision to the Disney Dining Plan, guests may trade in their Table Service meal for a counter service meal during the period of August 13 - October 7, 2006, and in exchange for doing so, will ALSO get 2 vouchers for DDP snack options OR a disney trading pin and lanyard OR a Where Magic Lives poster. The snacks can be redeemed anywhere, but must be redeemed at the same time. The lanyard will be from a specified location merchandise location.



DDP special Pop and AsMu offerings Aug 15 - Sept 4

To help with the crush of folks with free dining during the period of August 15 - September 4, 2006, Table Service meals on the Disney Dining Plan can be redeemed at the Pop Century and All Star Movies Resorts for counter service dinners with special entrees including prime rib, salmon, and turkey. These guests will also recieve the "trade in" offer for Table Service meals offered during this period.

Now I'm glad I booked all my meals in May. Got Cindy's Table Breakfast, 1900 PF Dinner, Le Cellier, Whispering Canyon, Chef Mickey, Ohana Breakfast, H & V Breakfast, Liberty Tree and Crystal Palace. I noticed as I was trying to move things around a bit in the last month that most things were full. They even added more staff for the Family Magic Tour. I rebooked to a different day even though it had been full. Lady said they added extra staff. Resorts look pretty full while we are there too. She said a lot of people changed from offsite to onsite in June. Seems to lighten up after Labor Day though.
2 and 1/2 days to go.

 

[kennygman]

For Illuminations any World Showcase restaurant should allow (and most times suggest) running out and watching the show between courses (usually you're either waiting for your entree or dessert).

For Fantasmic, i dunno. This all really depends on the restaurant. Like, don't expect to be seated within a mile of your time at Le Cellier or Chef Mickeys. But, you might be okay at Marrekesh or Mama Melrose, ya know?

Just like flying...arrive early.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

This is FANTASTIC news -- I never use the dining plan and previously posted about what to do with the dinner credits. This is great - trade in for counter service and snacks - and go to the restauarants in Orlando we were planning on going to anyway. I bet anything this is in response to the overbookings at all the sit-down restauarants -- they are all pretty much booked up for that entire period.

 

[socalkdg]

Wow that is definetly not worth it one bit for my families situation...either get $50 worth of food or trade it in for two $4 snacks. :veryconfu

Since the average dinner meal isn't $50(more like $35) we are actually looking at $35 compared to $20. Additionally if this can be done on kids meals then this is a very good deal. Plus its an additional option, which is never bad.

 

[DisneyBride94]

This is FANTASTIC news -- I never use the dining plan and previously posted about what to do with the dinner credits. This is great - trade in for counter service and snacks - and go to the restauarants in Orlando we were planning on going to anyway. I bet anything this is in response to the overbookings at all the sit-down restauarants -- they are all pretty much booked up for that entire period.

Ah ha! I remember your thread! :wave: This sounds perfect for you! And here's another option for you....if you can trade some of your TS meals for a C/S plus 2 snacks...you can use them at the EPCOT's F&W Festival Kiosks to try some foods from different countries... That is an amazing perk for somone like you that would rather dine outside the parks for a nice dinner... We used several of our snack credits last year at the F&W...

 

[Victoria]

I have talked to numerous reservation CMs in an attempt to book, cancel, rebook, and then make DDP ADRs for my upcoming trip. All have pretty much told me that the resorts are quite full for the time period I am there (8/17-23) Additionally, we will be eating our meals at some very odd times since I ended up having to re-book all of the ADRs I had previously scheduled for our original trip dates. Le Cellier is pretty much booked straight through for lunch and dinner on all of our trip days. The night that we wanted to go to Fantasmic! (the same night MGM has EMH) ALL of the Fantasmic! Dining Packages for ALL of the restaurants were sold out.

It looks to me as though Disney got a bit ahead of themselves and allowed WAY too many people to take advantage of the DDP for free. If they have resorted to serving Prime Rib at the All Stars, something is CLEARLY wrong. :lookaroun On the plus side, at least they have acknowledged (in a very roundabout way) that they screwed up and are doing something to *try* to alleviate the problem.

I feel sooooo sorry for anyone who is under the huge misconception that they can just show up for their trip and make ADRs as they go....or even worse, just show up at restaurants and expect to eat sometime prior to midnight. That may have been the case 2-3 years ago prior to the DDP but is DEFINETLY not even an option any longer.

 

[kennygman]

This is kinda like an airline overbooking and offering to bump for credit. I'll wait and see if they "plus" the offer some more

 

[Floridasunshine]

Well, while I have already pre-booked Boma, Le Cellier, Sci Fi, Concourse ____, and Olivias, our actually being able to keep the reservations kind of depends on my 78 year old diabetic mother who is traveling with us. I was afraid we might have to rebook some of our meals, especially Boma the first night we are there if she is not feeling up to going.

This is a good option for us, in that if my mother chooses to eat earlier at POP and then just go back to the room, the rest of us could still make our 8:40 reservation at Boma instead of canceling the whole thing or wasting her table credit (because I don't think we'd have been able to burn just one separately later).

 

[Sledge]

When I read the title I though "That's awfully nice of him. BANG!"

 

[maggiegrace1]

When I read the title I though "That's awfully nice of him. BANG!"

Sad thing....:lookaroun
I thought of the same thing when I saw that..:lol: