-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Free dining
- Thread starter Insect
- Start date
There would be riots in the streets, and by streets I mean those fake streets we have on the internet.
I think the actually did this in the beginning. I seem to remember certain items carrying a surcharge if you used the DDP.
That was mine and Mrs Ferrets recollection of looking at menus back in the day.
I would love to agree with you, but a conversation I have with the owner of La Hacienda when it first opened said exactly the opposite. He stated that the DDP absolutely dictates what they can and can not put on a menu. He stated that you simply cant put something like a fillet on the menu unless you go signature. That leaves you with sirloin or very cheep NY strip.
Regardless if 75%, 50% or only 20% of the guests use it, it is enough to control what restaurants can and can not do if they want to stay in the black.
Last edited:
I had that same conversation with a few managers as well, and they told me the same thing. I actually don't mind that Le Cellier went signature, because since it is 2 credits, it's a lot easier to get a reservation now! I think more places should go that route.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
This is not correct, but I've argued the point before and nobody believed me and I have no interest in getting into it.
Just use a common-sense example. If things worked the way you described, restaurants would literally get ZERO revenue during free dining, since that's the "value" of a dining credit. There's no price increase in the world that could cover ZERO revenue. Restaurants get the menu price of the items ordered. The difference is marketing / promotion expense.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
You guys are mixing two different things. Disney owned-and-operated restaurants are different than third party owned restaurants that also happen to be on the dining plan.
How so other than possibly better purchasing options due to volume that Disney owned restaurants might get?
All restaurants still get $X for a TS credit which will give them a ceiling they can not break without going into the red.
Disney has already shown that they are not willing to let even one restaurant operate in the red for the benefit of the consumer.
Horizons '83
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Does anyone feel like there is real value in "free" dining since they basically jack up the cost of the room? To me it feels like they are just shifting costs from food to the room.
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
No no no. The value of the dining credit to the restaurant doesn't change, you are still "paying" for the dining plan when on a "free dining" promotion, its just you get a 100% discount, the internal accounting at Disney still sends the right amount of money from the resort income to the restaurant income, its the resorts profit that gets hit by the free promo.
Basically the $60ish of the dining plan gets split between all the different costs of your meals, the fact your resort stay was discounted doesn't change anything.
Now whether the third party resorts get a fixed $40 per table serve meal, or whether Disney rebates the whole meal cost is a different question. But the free dining promotion has no more effect on that than any other resort stay discount.
Last edited:
DisneyDreamer08
Well-Known Member
I'd be ok with the table service plan going away. So restaurants can improve their menus and offer better experiences for adults and families who have the time to sit and enjoy a nice meal. For a family like us, with 2 small kids, pre planning meals months in advance is basically pointless I'd be happy if they kept some form of a quick service plan. I wish they would create a plan that would benefit the company and the guests. For example, back in 2014, we decided to do a combo of quick service meals (paying out of pocket) and packing food from home (PB & Js, granola bars, cereal etc). If Disney offered some sort of plan where for X amount of quick service meals you prepaid for, you got one free (for example), I'd totally be on board for that. We would be buying more on site food than normal but there would still be some financial benefit for us.
I'd be happy if they kept some form of a quick service plan. I wish they would create a plan that would benefit the company and the guests. For example, back in 2014, we decided to do a combo of quick service meals (paying out of pocket) and packing food from home (PB & Js, granola bars, cereal etc). If Disney offered some sort of plan where for X amount of quick service meals you prepaid for, you got one free (for example), I'd totally be on board for that. We would be buying more on site food than normal but there would still be some financial benefit for us.
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
They did recently trial a same-day (buy at the gate or guest services) Magic Kingdom dining plan, where for $29 you got two quick service meals (lunch and dinner). But the potential saving is only around 20%, or pretty much free soda with your entree/combo.
see https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...gic-kingdom-park-at-walt-disney-world-resort/
Disney.Mike
Well-Known Member
Still, 20% isnt a bad deal, especially when you start talking about groups of 4 or 5.
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
Although you would have needed to order entrees at $14+ for both meals to save 20%. If someone wants nuggets or a salad then you lose most of the value.
and as this was Jan/Feb and hasn't come back I assume it didn't sell well enough.
JacksonSq
New Member
Hi, long time reader, first time poster. I did the number crunching and could have sworn I was done with math after high school. There was a $300 difference in the moderate resort room from a standard booking to a free QS dining booking over 9 nights. We always enjoy the park hopper feature, so there was no added cost since we already had the MYW Package. We upgraded to the regular dining plan so it was a $600 difference. Getting the 'free dining' cost us an extra $67 per night stay overall. Will the two of us eat $67 worth of food together each day of our stay? I'd say yes, so in this instance the free dining was worth it. It is comforting to not have to worry about food budgeting when we're there. Plus, being able to use the credits for the Fantasmic and Rivers of Light dinner packages is nice as is using the snack credits during F&W.
You have to do the math to see if it's worth it. Four adults in one room, if you were going to buy your tickets with hoppers as a package anyway -- and assuming you will use all the dining and snack credits -- likely worth it.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is...-walt-disney-world-really-worth-it-2017-04-25
Tom P.
Well-Known Member
Here's the big question, and I am seeing conflicting information:
When a customer visits a Disney owned-and-operated restaurant and uses a dining plan credit, does the restaurant get paid the menu price of the item or do they get paid a fixed amount per credit that does not change regardless of what the customer orders?
The answer to that, to my mind, would determine who is right in their arguments about what impact the dining plan has.
When a customer visits a Disney owned-and-operated restaurant and uses a dining plan credit, does the restaurant get paid the menu price of the item or do they get paid a fixed amount per credit that does not change regardless of what the customer orders?
The answer to that, to my mind, would determine who is right in their arguments about what impact the dining plan has.
I have been told by more than one manager that they are paid a set amount for people on the dining plan - not what the menu price is.
I have been told the same. A TS credit gets them X regardless of what it is. The same is true for a QS and snack credit.