Is there were no more Free Dining, are there restaurants you would stop dining at?

jkl2000

jkl2000

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
If there were no more free dining plans at WDW, are there places you go to that you wouldn't visit if you had to pay OOP?

The reason I ask is that we're not doing Free Dining, and I sometimes wonder if there are some places that people feel is worthwhile on free dining, but don't feel is actually good enough if they were paying OOP right after their meal. For some reason Fulton's comes to mind, though I've never been there. Somehow my guess is that it's similar to Legal Seafood, which we went to in Baltimore but IMO wasn't really that great. Splitsville also comes to mind - haven't been there, but I've eaten at bowling alleys before - usually for kids' birthday parties. Again, I'm just guessing, and just wondering.
 
sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
"Free Dining" is not actually free in the sense you forgo a room discount(which for us was always better due to staying at Deluxes) to get that instead you still are pretty much paying for your food or at least part of it. We never did free dining b/c we always took a room discount and we eat wherever we enjoy the food no matter the cost. Even if we did free dining we would not have changed where we eat. We eat several signatures we like every trip which are pricey, and the rest all our faves that are not signatures. We would never forgo any of our faves Sig or not due to free dining or paying for the dining plan that we always purchase. My personal opinion everyone should eat where you like regardless b/c even so called "free" dining you still are partially paying for it. If I'm spending our hard earned money or not does not affect our dining decisions. A big/main part of our trips to the world is to enjoy all the delicious food we love. :)
 
JenniferS

JenniferS

When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
Are there restaurants I would stop dining at?
Yes, every single over-priced one of them; except Kona for breakfast.
 
King Panda 77

King Panda 77

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
sxeensweet said:
"Free Dining" is not actually free in the sense you forgo a room discount(which for us was always better due to staying at Deluxes) to get that instead you still are pretty much paying for your food or at least part of it. We never did free dining b/c we always took a room discount and we eat wherever we enjoy the food no matter the cost. Even if we did free dining we would not have changed where we eat. We eat several signatures we like every trip which are pricey, and the rest all our faves that are not signatures. We would never forgo any of our faves Sig or not due to free dining or paying for the dining plan that we always purchase. My personal opinion everyone should eat where you like regardless b/c even so called "free" dining you still are partially paying for it. If I'm spending our hard earned money or not does not affect our dining decisions. A big/main part of our trips to the world is to enjoy all the delicious food we love. :)
Click to expand...
Putting the mad hat on here Free Dining is free for us UK people as the price of our holiday is the same regardless of whether we do free dining or not ..
 
lostpro9het

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
luv said:
Nope.

Free Dining always cost too much, so I paid for my meals using a TiW card and cash.
Click to expand...
This is our first year doing it and love it! It's also great because you get some restaurants that are not on the DDP AND the card is good for 13 months. Card has already paid for itself in our first trip and we still have 12 months to go!
 
sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
MR FERRET said:
Putting the mad hat on here Free Dining is free for us UK people as the price of our holiday is the same regardless of whether we do free dining or not ..
Click to expand...
That sucks that y'all do not get a choice to have a room discount OR free dining! I know it would save you and others from the UK sometimes more if you stay at Deluxes etc than getting free dining unless your a 3+ member fam then free dining with larger families usually is the best deal. Just me and DH so we save almost triple what the dining plan costs us when we did the room discounts. :)
 
King Panda 77

King Panda 77

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
sxeensweet said:
That sucks that y'all do not get a choice to have a room discount OR free dining! I know it would save you and others from the UK sometimes more if you stay at Deluxes etc than getting free dining unless your a 3+ member fam then free dining with larger families usually is the best deal. Just me and DH so we save almost triple what the dining plan costs us when we did the room discounts. :)
Click to expand...
I think they are trying to attact the families from the UK etc so free dining does work out for them.As it is just me and DW we will use the free dining next trip(if available) but not rely on it tbh can always use them snack credits for gifts :D
 
jkl2000

jkl2000

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wow, didn't know that people from the UK (is it just the UK, or anyone not in North America?) don't have the option of free dining or a room discount. Weird - that doesn't seem right.

BTW, I know "free dining" isn't free. But since some people like to sort of think of it that way (that is, it's easy to just eat your meals and not do the math when it's all already paid for), I didn't bother to bring this aspect up.
 
King Panda 77

King Panda 77

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
jkl2000 said:
Wow, didn't know that people from the UK (is it just the UK, or anyone not in North America?) don't have the option of free dining or a room discount. Weird - that doesn't seem right.

BTW, I know "free dining" isn't free. But since some people like to sort of think of it that way (that is, it's easy to just eat your meals and not do the math when it's all already paid for), I didn't bother to bring this aspect up.
Click to expand...
so if my vacation cost x amount of dollars regardless of whether i do FD or not how am i paying for it ??
 
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
My corresponding question is why are you eating someplace simply because it is free? Are you trying some new cuisine? Or settling for less just because it is free? If you wouldn't eat at a restaurant, or choose a particular meal if you had to pay out of pocket, why would you go there just because it cost nothing?
 
ExtinctJenn

ExtinctJenn

Well-Known Member
Not so much if there was no more FREE dining (because I know you ultimately pay for it) but if there was no more dining plan I think there are a few I wouldn't dine at any longer because their OOP cost would be fairly significant. For us, the dining plan makes it so there is less we have to budget to "carry" with us to Disney funds wise (and I mean that in the non-literal sense as we don't carry cash). We can eat wherever we want, any entree we want, and know it's taking a pre-paid credit vs. needing to keep track of our spending on the food and potentially consider a "cheaper" entree etc. A good example that I can think of off the top of my head is Whispering Canyon (before the menu change). On DDP we always went for the all-you-care-to-eat BBQ platter. If we weren't on DDP we'd probably have gone with something cheaper.
 
sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
MR FERRET said:
I think they are trying to attact the families from the UK etc so free dining does work out for them.As it is just me and DW we will use the free dining next trip(if available) but not rely on it tbh can always use them snack credits for gifts :D
Click to expand...
Keeping fingers crossed for you that they have free dining again when you go! Oh and Yes we always have extra snack credits too and are grabbing stuff the last day to bring home. That's always a plus! :)
 
jkl2000

jkl2000

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MR FERRET said:
so if my vacation cost x amount of dollars regardless of whether i do FD or not how am i paying for it ??
Click to expand...

I think basically it's that your vacation doesn't "cost x amount of dollars regardless of whether [you] do FD or not." The room rates vary depending upon whether you're booking for a time when there's free dining or not (or is going to be free dining).

I don't know all the details because I've only booked one WDW vacation since "free dining" began, but basically as I understand it, the cost of the dining plan is built into your package price.

In general, when booking through Disney, I was amazed by how non-transparent the package price is, and that once you'd booked you couldn't see the cost for the individual components (air travel, room, park tickets, etc.). Probably through a different travel agent it's easier to get that info.
 
D

DisneyDebNJ

Well-Known Member
jkl2000 said:
If there were no more free dining plans at WDW, are there places you go to that you wouldn't visit if you had to pay OOP?

The reason I ask is that we're not doing Free Dining, and I sometimes wonder if there are some places that people feel is worthwhile on free dining, but don't feel is actually good enough if they were paying OOP right after their meal. For some reason Fulton's comes to mind, though I've never been there. Somehow my guess is that it's similar to Legal Seafood, which we went to in Baltimore but IMO wasn't really that great. Splitsville also comes to mind - haven't been there, but I've eaten at bowling alleys before - usually for kids' birthday parties. Again, I'm just guessing, and just wondering.
Click to expand...
I would have to say no. In all the years we have visited Disney, we have done free dining twice and usually upgrade to Deluxe. We do the Dining Plan every year, and pay OOP for all signatures.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom