Has anyone heard of this offer yet?

[cowanfamily]

I came across this offer on another board. I wasn't sure if it had any validity to it or not. Has anyone heard of this yet?

"Hi my friends, we have our trip already booked for september with the FD, but i know that a lot of fellow disers are waiting for this big new, (THIS IS INTERNAL INFORMATION) ok, this is the NEW FREE DINING OFFER, it will be available for all in AUGUST 3 .

these are the dates and the conditions of the new offer

Bookings Between August 3, 2011 - December 17, 2011
Travel Dates
October 2, 2011 - October 8, 2011
October 23, 2011 - November 5, 2011
November 13, 2011 - November 19, 2011
November 27, 2011 - December 3, 2011
December 11, 2011 - December 17,

Free Quick Service Dining for values and regular dining for moderates deluxe and villas

Minimum Stay: 3 Nights – Maximum Stay: 14 Nigths.


THE CODE FOR THIS PROMOTION WILL BE FCX FOR VALUES WITH QUICK SERVICE DINING AND FCY FOR MODERATES DELUXE AND VILLAS WITH REGULAR DINING.

I know that this will make a lot of people very very happy and for that reason I share this will all of you.

Have a magical vacation and be ready for August 3"

 

[Irie]

Often true, but often not. Here is the math....
Deluxe.... nearly never is the dining better than the room only discount.

It depends on the size of your family and the age of the children. Example: My upcoming trip we are staying at the AKL. Rack rate for a std view room for the week is $1980.00. A 35 % discount would knock it down to $1287.00, which is a savings of $693.00
My son is 11 and my daughter is 5. Free dining for me, my wife and two children saves us $1049.72 . As you can see, Free Dining is a better deal for us. We do not live in Florida and do not have AP's (we only go once a year) so the TIW option is not available to us. Also, we have always eaten at a counter service for lunch and a table service for dinner for each day of our trip (and NO I do not ride an ECV around the park).

With that being said, I agree that DDP has made things worse for the guest that wants to pay for their meals. The cost of entree's, etc. has skyrocketed. I miss the old days of stopping at Guest services and making an ADR for that day. However, as long as these are the rules we have to play with, I will go with the plan that saves me the most money.

 

[ChrisM]

Or simply going to Guest Services on the day and making a reservation.
Or just calling Disney Dining the night before and getting a good table the next day.

Both were the only real options in the past, and it worked great. It allowed for spontaneity, and gave all guests a level playing field for getting a table. The food and menus were of course better, as well.

Deciding six months in advance where/when to eat...just boggles my mind.:hammer:

Exactly right.

Amazingly enough, my last visit to WDW was in 2001. My wife (then girlfriend) and I typically went to Guest Services sometime before Noon at whatever park we were in and made a reservation for whatever restaurant we were interested in - I don't recall anything ever being completely booked and we were there during a Spring Break period, so the resort was pretty busy. We also simply walked into several TS restaurants and usually waited no more than 20 minutes for a table (I specifically recall doing so with Marakesh, CRT, Coral Reef, and Le Cellier). I believe we made one reservation over the phone the night before. Frankly, it worked great.

Fast forward to today and our forthcoming trip to WDW in December. I'm up at 5am on a Sunday 6 months in advance working the dining reservation website and phone trying to book 4 or 5 different meals, all the time thinking "what the holy **** am I doing?"

It's madness. And there is absolutely no question that the DPs and free dining have completely maxed out the demand for TS restaurants. A vast majority of the folks using the DP would never have even considered frequenting a TS restaurant in the past.

 

[JamieD]

I know a lot of people will disagree, but I think the ADR's should be discontinued, as well as free dining. Both gone. They can still offer a dining plan at a good price if they want, but not free. I think maybe a daily fastpass type system would be in order, or a cell phone call or alert about 30 minutes before they can seat you if you sign up. Everybody who enters the park that day should get the same chance to eat at one of the restaurants without doing hours of research at home 6 months in advance. And restore the menus to make each restaurant unique and something worthwhile. Ok end of rant.

Exactly right.

Amazingly enough, my last visit to WDW was in 2001. My wife (then girlfriend) and I typically went to Guest Services sometime before Noon at whatever park we were in and made a reservation for whatever restaurant we were interested in - I don't recall anything ever being completely booked and we were there during a Spring Break period, so the resort was pretty busy. We also simply walked into several TS restaurants and usually waited no more than 20 minutes for a table (I specifically recall doing so with Marakesh, CRT, Coral Reef, and Le Cellier). I believe we made one reservation over the phone the night before. Frankly, it worked great.

Fast forward to today and our forthcoming trip to WDW in December. I'm up at 5am on a Sunday 6 months in advance working the dining reservation website and phone trying to book 4 or 5 different meals, all the time thinking "what the holy **** am I doing?"

It's madness. And there is absolutely no question that the DPs and free dining have completely maxed out the demand for TS restaurants. A vast majority of the folks using the DP would never have even considered frequenting a TS restaurant in the past.

For Disney, it's opened up TS restaurants to a whole new market. People who never ate TS are now trying them and some will be hooked. I have read several posts stating that very thing. Expanding the market and filling the tables...that's what Disney wants. Honestly, in a way it's no different than building the value resorts in the sense that it expanded the market and allowed people looking for more affordable options to stay on property. Grabbing a bigger piece of the pie...that's what it's all about!

I live in Indiana and Colts tickets used to be easy to come by, with regards to both pricing and availability. Now, neither is the case. But, more people want to go to the games and are willing to pay a premium price to fill up the stadium. It's not as easy as it was before, but what do you do? Grabbing a bigger piece of the pie...that's what it's all about!

 

[Tom]

For Disney, it's opened up TS restaurants to a whole new market. People who never ate TS are now trying them and some will be hooked. I have read several posts stating that very thing. Expanding the market and filling the tables...that's what Disney wants. Honestly, in a way it's no different than building the value resorts in the sense that it expanded the market and allowed people looking for more affordable options to stay on property. Grabbing a bigger piece of the pie...that's what it's all about!

I live in Indiana and Colts tickets used to be easy to come by, with regards to both pricing and availability. Now, neither is the case. But, more people want to go to the games and are willing to pay a premium price to fill up the stadium. It's not as easy as it was before, but what do you do? Grabbing a bigger piece of the pie...that's what it's all about!

Great synopsis, fellow hoosier.

I can't fault Disney for wanting to fill all of their tables and maximize their revenues, but it would be a good service for them to reserve blocks of tables for day guests and walk-ins.

 

[ChrisM]

For Disney, it's opened up TS restaurants to a whole new market. People who never ate TS are now trying them and some will be hooked. I have read several posts stating that very thing. Expanding the market and filling the tables...that's what Disney wants. Honestly, in a way it's no different than building the value resorts in the sense that it expanded the market and allowed people looking for more affordable options to stay on property. Grabbing a bigger piece of the pie...that's what it's all about!

Undoutedbly so.

There's no question that Disney pursued an agenda of actively moving downmarket (value resorts, maximizing TS dining while decreasing quality) in a chase for those dollars. But it's also becoming clear that they have wrung that rock dry and need to seek new sources of revenue.

Moving upmarket is their only play right now, as we can see from the new "health suites" at the Contemporary and the Wild Africa Trek, for example. I would expect to see even more upmarket offerings in the future.

 

[Brian Noble]

Or simply going to Guest Services on the day and making a reservation.
Or just calling Disney Dining the night before and getting a good table the next day.

I still do this. I won't be getting Chef Mickey's, but that's probably not so bad, all things considered. There are a surprising number of decent places with availability night-before or day-of.

 

[mp2bill]

I say Amen to the fact that Free Dining takes off $2000. on a family of 5's 10 night stay......Love to see it.

"Like"

 

[jklakeview]

Well I think the food has been pretty good if you choose the correct places. I mean we tend to eat at O'Hana, Le Cellier, Garden Grill, and Whispering Canyon. I don't think that free dining has ruined these at all. As far as you not being able to get into Le Cellier, I don't think that you have tried hard enough or planned out things well enough. I've had free dining on my last 2 trips and was able to get a table both times for prime dinner time. If you try and plan things out in advance, free dining has not made it all that difficult to reserve Le Cellier or any place as a matter of fact.

 

[jklakeview]

Listen, Disney is not dumb or making their product too much lower to give away free dining. This is how they do it. I know this because we used to do it at my old job. First of all, they saved when they started to give free dining because they took away the appetizers. So they kept them on the menu for anyone that wants to purchase them but they are an extra cost to dining plan people. They also make dining discount possible by simply charging full prices for the rooms. When we used to do parties at our facility, we would discount the admission prices, most of the package would go towards food (concessions) and then the rest would go towards the cost of prizes and different things like that. That is what Disney is doing. They are taking your package money, dividing it up internally and making the discount on part of the room and part of the ticket admissions. They do this so they can keep their quality of their food up to par. I think that the issues people are seeing with the food would be the same issues had there been no free dining. Chicken fingers were switched to chicken nuggets, the size of school bread was reduced, etc. no because of free dining, but because in a recession people don't go on vacations. This means less money for Disney and a need to make more profit arises. So for those who think Disney lowered their food because of "Food Stamps" you really have no idea what's going on and you're somewhat of a moron.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

you really have no idea what's going on and you're somewhat of a moron.

So... Uhhh.....

Welcome to the boards?

 

[Tom]

Listen, Disney is not dumb or making their product too much lower to give away free dining. This is how they do it. I know this because we used to do it at my old job. First of all, they saved when they started to give free dining because they took away the appetizers. So they kept them on the menu for anyone that wants to purchase them but they are an extra cost to dining plan people. They also make dining discount possible by simply charging full prices for the rooms. When we used to do parties at our facility, we would discount the admission prices, most of the package would go towards food (concessions) and then the rest would go towards the cost of prizes and different things like that. That is what Disney is doing. They are taking your package money, dividing it up internally and making the discount on part of the room and part of the ticket admissions. They do this so they can keep their quality of their food up to par. I think that the issues people are seeing with the food would be the same issues had there been no free dining. Chicken fingers were switched to chicken nuggets, the size of school bread was reduced, etc. no because of free dining, but because in a recession people don't go on vacations. This means less money for Disney and a need to make more profit arises. So for those who think Disney lowered their food because of "Food Stamps" you really have no idea what's going on and you're somewhat of a moron.

Regarding the bold part, I didn't even consider up-sells before. Once they get you in there with the DDP, a lot of people will add on an appetizer (OOP) and alcohol (OOP). Plus, I know there are people who are just plain too full to get dessert, so they pass on it, thus saving Disney about $1.00/dessert in food/labor cost.

 

[Lee]

I think that the issues people are seeing with the food would be the same issues had there been no free dining. Chicken fingers were switched to chicken nuggets, the size of school bread was reduced, etc. no because of free dining, but because in a recession people don't go on vacations. This means less money for Disney and a need to make more profit arises. So for those who think Disney lowered their food because of "Food Stamps" you really have no idea what's going on and you're somewhat of a moron.

Letting the insult slide for now...
But you are incorrect. The decline in food variety and quality is a direct result of the free dining promotion.

That is not an assumption I am making. That fact comes straight from people close to the situation. Though it is possible that over time the food would have declined as Disney tried to milk every last dime it could, like with the merchandise situation, the free dining pushed it into high gear.

My fear is that now that the damage is done, and they see how they can make cuts and guests are still willing to pay the higher prices, we may never see a return to the former quality and variety of the food.

 

[Brian Noble]

I suspect it has as much (or more) to do with the Plan generally. Before, you could imagine having a selection of different restaurants at different points in the ecosystem, each finding its audience. Now, there are only two: you either need to be cheap enough that you can make do under the one-credit reimbursement model, or you need to be high-end enough (or, in a few cases, just insanely popular enough) that guests will spend two credits on it. In other words, even without "free" dining, there was a problem with this two-sizes-fit-all model.

I'm hoping that as the Plans transition from a "value" to a "convenience" (and that's where they are going) that there will be a little more breathing room for the restaurants.

A guy can hope.

 

[bryPOD]

Or simply going to Guest Services on the day and making a reservation.
Or just calling Disney Dining the night before and getting a good table the next day.

Both were the only real options in the past, and it worked great. It allowed for spontaneity, and gave all guests a level playing field for getting a table. The food and menus were of course better, as well.

Deciding six months in advance where/when to eat...just boggles my mind.:hammer:

This is what my family and I did for many, many years and it worked out so well. Now, we eat lunch at 11am when a restaurant opens and eat dinner at the hotels.

 

[lighteningqueen]

The very first trip I ever made was in 2007.There was no free dining and tip was included.The food is exactly the same as it was then.NO better,no worse. I only see reduction in amount on the plate. Some places will never be good no matter the cost.If we do not get the dining for our Dec trip we definatly will not spend one red cent in the parks no shopping no extra drinks nothing.. One QS per day so that is we will not be able to eat TS. So ALL you big wigs can have our meals.By the way do you think that anyone sitting next to you in any given restaurant will be able to tell you have mega bucks and are paying 50 plus dollars an HOUR to lay your head on a deluxe bed for say 9 hours a day.. Makes no sense to me to put people down people for free food, when they pay that much money to be in that room very little. For those prices someone better come wipe me off.LOL

 

[boufa]

The very first trip I ever made was in 2007.There was no free dining and tip was included.The food is exactly the same as it was then.NO better,no worse.LOL

Your wrong... sorry, it was better, I sampled your plate, free dining and the closure of River Country was all a conspiracy to make you think it was o.k. What really gets me is that it was all about profit :ROFLOL: (like it was ever about anything else, from day Oct 1st, 1971 until today :brick

 

[cslafferty]

Sooooooo, getting back to the OP, does anyone have any new info as to whether or not this rumor is true, and if it will first be offered up to Disney Visa cardholders, when it will be opened to the general public . . . ???

 

[Tom]

Sooooooo, getting back to the OP, does anyone have any new info as to whether or not this rumor is true, and if it will first be offered up to Disney Visa cardholders, when it will be opened to the general public . . . ???

Other than that one guy posting the bad information (using 3-year-old codes) on the DISboards, I haven't seen any other legitimate information. Usually, by now, someone has leaked actual evidence.

I call bluff. My prediction is that free dining is done, and that they MAY offer room discounts. But, we're awfully close to October to be releasing discounts, which tells me that their room occupancy is high enough that they don't need to beg people to come.

 

[Tigerfan]

I'll call your bluff on no discounts being released. We will see in a few short hours,don't be surprised!!!

 

[KYMouseFan]

I hope there is some type of discount, free dining or reduced room rates. We are booked with the delux dining plan for arrival Dec.15th....waiting (impatiently) for some deals.