Free dining ruined my vacation. Well just alittle.

[Skylinecar1982]

Someone please tell me free dining is rare. I have been going to in mid-sept for the last 5 years. Up until now it has been the best time to go. Low crowds almost every ride is walk on or close to it. My recent trip had worse crowds then in May and the restaurants were even more ridiculous. Well from what a I saw free dining was a success. I wonder how much more money Disney made. Obviously I am not that big of an eater and could care less about free dining. Anyone else share my pain or does everyone else love eating. LOL.

 

[Master Yoda]

Disney already did a free dining promotion for on property guests for September 2008 so I would expect the trend to continue.

 

[DisneyJoe]

Free dining has been offered in 2005, 2006, 2007 and is also already being offered in 2008 for UK residents and as a bounce-back offer for those traveling to WDW in September 2007.

While I am sure that free dining had some affect on crowds, tourism has also been increasing every year, 2006 and 2007 have been very good years for Disney parks.

 

[italyct23]

I just returned from my trip which was 9/8-9/17. I experienced very low crowds the entire time because I chose my park days wisely (avoided EMH parks, picked low attendance days for each park, etc). I used fast passes the way they are supposed to be used and my average wait time for any ride was 5-10 minutes. The longest I waited the entire 10 days was 20 minutes. We were finished with each park by around 2pm and got to re-ride everything many times over.

I made my ADR's 5 months in advance and got every single dinner I wanted. The longest I waited to be seated was 10 minutes past my ADR time. The service did not seem to be affected at all based on me having the dining plan. Yes, the restaurants were crowded but since nobody else sat at my table with my wife and I, I didn't care.

I am a light eater by nature but it was such an amazing experience to try so many things that I normally wouldn't try if I had to pay for it myself. Some examples were buffalo, venison, fancy sushi, $20 cheese plates, etc.

I had an amazing experience and would do it again in a heartbeat. Yes, it was extremely hot during that week but that is not Disney's fault and there were plenty of ways to avoid it.

In all, I am just trying to say that I absolutely enjoyed my free dining experience and time in the parks during this period.

-Mike

 

[PintoColvig]

Sept. is longer what it used to be. On our visit ten years ago this week, FL was a ghost town. Of course, that was back before AK opened. I loved the walk on days but the increased attendance is a healthy sign for WDW.

 

[sknydave]

I'm not sure when exactly you went to WDW, but every day I have been there this September has been pretty dead. Nowhere near May crowds... not even close.

 

[coasterphil]

The crowds haven't been bad but I will say that the restaurants all seemed to have large groups of people waiting outside the doors.

 

[Cinderelly07]

Free Dining

I have been so disappointed on my recent trips with the effects of free dining. I have been 12 times in three years so I have really watched this issue evolve. We first started to notice that our favorite menus were changing. Things that we loved and continuously came back to several restaurants for are now gone (good bye pork and duck firecrackers at Jieko we will forever miss you). There are many other menu items that have vanished as well, not only that but many of the resturants that were once mainly filled with adults are now overrun of children,, loud children,(it kind of kills the romantic dinner for two when there is a base ball team sitting next to you),, I know it is Disney and there are going to be kids,, we love kids,, but there were several restaurants that we went to for romantic evenings because of the lack of children and now there really isn't any choice . We are really anxious for free dining to vanish!

 

[New2WDW]

Yes, the restaurants were crowded but since nobody else sat at my table with my wife and I, I didn't care. -Mike

:lol: ......:ROFLOL: ......:lol: .....:lookaroun I vote for funniest statement of the day!

 

[RiversideBunny]

To promote attendance during relatively slow times, Disney should use room, or room and ticket discounts, instead of a stuff your face for 'free' promotion.

The results would be happier guests, more frequent guests, and better overall profits.

Using 'free' dining clogs up the system and takes the fun and spontaneity out of visiting WDW.

IMHO

 

[ImaYoyo]

To promote attendance during relatively slow times, Disney should use room, or room and ticket discounts, instead of a stuff your face for 'free' promotion.

The results would be happier WDW MAGIC POSTERS, more frequent WDW MAGIC POSTERS.

Using 'free' dining clogs up the system and takes the fun and spontaneity out of visiting WDW.

IMHO

I've made an adjustment to your quote above to more properly reflect the situation.

The fact of the matter is that the average day guest loves the fact that Disney is offering something for "free". Not to mention, marketing something as free as opposed to marketing something as discounted will net much higher results based on opinions of the general public.

 

[dizzney]

We have used the dining plan (and loved it) but never free as we are DVC and don't get that, however, I agree that "free dining" is clogging the system. It is more difficult than ever to make ADR's and if you want certain restaurants ie. LeCellier, you better make that reservation 180 days out otherwise you're out of luck. Disney should find another way to encourage people to visit so the ADR's become easier to make again. I HATE worrying 180 days out (unless I want one of those princess meals that you must make then) as to where we are going to eat.

 

[Dagger]

I'm not sure when exactly you went to WDW, but every day I have been there this September has been pretty dead. Nowhere near May crowds... not even close.

I have to agree... I went in May in 2001 and 2003 and it was a lot more busy than September.

9/5-9/12 here

 

[ImaYoyo]

Does someone have that smiley-eating-popcorn icon? I feel the whole "ddp vs increased attendance" argument coming on again.

Can we just leave it as a combination of all factors and move on? Please??? Here's hoping...

 

[DisneyJoe]

"Disney set to break attendance records in 2007"

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=227735

It can't all be because of Free Dining......

 

[DME]

I did free dining in 2005, 2006 and 2007. I got the letter while there that offered it for 2008 so I signed up! I've got my vacation plans all set for 10 days next September. Woohoo!!!