-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
No "free dinning" rumor
- Thread starter BIGCAT1978
- Start date
pmaljr
Well-Known Member
^^^^^ This. Even for only the two of us, there has to be a 35% discount or better for the discount to break even vs. free dining. I'm thinking this is really an annual pass vs. a vacation debate. For AP Florida residents, I can see where free dining would stink as it would be hard to plan an impromptu trip with all the FD reservations in the way. But, that's not reality for anyone out of state and the discount is almost always better with free dining.
Pioneer Hall
Well-Known Member
I don't think that anyone is really arguing that free dining is a "deal", but only on Disney's numbers. Again, prices have increased at a nice pace to continue to make the plan look like a good buy...especially when it is free. The plan used to be a great deal in my opinion. Back when it first started and included appetizers and gratuities. You got more food then you could imagine, but it was a good deal at under 40 dollars a day. Then prices were also more reasonable for us locals who go more often and don't want to or can't take advantage of the plans.
Lucky
Well-Known Member
Let me guess - these unreasonable people are whichever ones happen to disagree with you?
By all accounts WDW has been much more aggressive the last several years in trying to increase revenue and cut costs, often at the expense of quality. But we're supposed to believe the restaurants would somehow have been exempt from all that, and that any price increases and quality cuts there are instead due to free dining? :brick:
menamechris
Well-Known Member
I honestly think that Disney has a team of accountants that go out to each of the restaurants now and examine the menus to jack up prices when they can. Whenever I have found a place that is a "good deal" by Disney standards (i.e. Beaches and Cream, or even The Plaza) it only takes a few months before prices are jacked up.
As others have said, the DDP has allowed the restaurants menus to priced so that you can't be the least bit conservative when you go to a table service restaurant if you are paying out of pocket. All the buffets (regardless of food quality/selection) are priced within $5 of each other (Liberty Tree - $31.99, Ohana - $32.99, Cape May - $36.99, Boma - $32.99), and the signature restaurants have gone through obscene price hikes so that Disney can justify charging 2 dining credits (so a signature meal should be as close to double a normal table service meal as possible). Same thing with the dinner shows - sorry, I love Hoop Dee Doo, but $70 is crazy, and was never even close to that expensive before the DDP (but they have to justify the 2 credits now).
It is particularly frustrating as someone who goes to Disney often - but it is also frustrating to see how the consumer is being manipulated into purchasing something they otherwise wouldn't have needed...and feeling good about it...
As others have said, the DDP has allowed the restaurants menus to priced so that you can't be the least bit conservative when you go to a table service restaurant if you are paying out of pocket. All the buffets (regardless of food quality/selection) are priced within $5 of each other (Liberty Tree - $31.99, Ohana - $32.99, Cape May - $36.99, Boma - $32.99), and the signature restaurants have gone through obscene price hikes so that Disney can justify charging 2 dining credits (so a signature meal should be as close to double a normal table service meal as possible). Same thing with the dinner shows - sorry, I love Hoop Dee Doo, but $70 is crazy, and was never even close to that expensive before the DDP (but they have to justify the 2 credits now).
It is particularly frustrating as someone who goes to Disney often - but it is also frustrating to see how the consumer is being manipulated into purchasing something they otherwise wouldn't have needed...and feeling good about it...
Rivers Rowe
Member
I have an extremely large family and I can't take them to Disney World unless I get a free dining offer. Yes I can afford the hotel without a discount, but try feeding 4 teenagers.
The plus and minus of DDp from a British Point Of View
Coming from the UK its cheaper to get a package than book seperate for WDW. We dont appear to get any room discounts but we have found people who would stay at value resorts have moved up to moderate because of DDP. The only restaurant we have had trouble getting in, is T-Rex, which I think a lot of people struggle to get in. We find it more dificult when the Turismos are there to get a seat or served in the snack restautants.
My only bug bear is the free mug. We have tried to buy a drink at the bar of our resort and cant find a seat due to the free muggers occuping all the seats watching the entertainment.
All in all I like the DDP and does save us money but like people say they get it back one way or another.
Coming from the UK its cheaper to get a package than book seperate for WDW. We dont appear to get any room discounts but we have found people who would stay at value resorts have moved up to moderate because of DDP. The only restaurant we have had trouble getting in, is T-Rex, which I think a lot of people struggle to get in. We find it more dificult when the Turismos are there to get a seat or served in the snack restautants.
My only bug bear is the free mug. We have tried to buy a drink at the bar of our resort and cant find a seat due to the free muggers occuping all the seats watching the entertainment.
All in all I like the DDP and does save us money but like people say they get it back one way or another.
audiotinker
Member
I understand the thinking behind why people hate the DDP, but for us it just saves us so much money every time we go. In addition to that, we are a couple that likes to have all of the dining essentially paid for before we go. It just gives you that "Aaah" feeling when you see the bill, your blood pressure rises, and then it swiftly fades when you realize the actual amount owed is "$0.00". :sohappy:
Plus, we don't mind making reservations so far in advance. There are so many places to eat that I think if you can't get into one restaurant and that ruins your whole Dis-trip.........
Last time we went I couldn't get into Ohana and I love that place. I was disappointed, but forgot all about it immediately when I sat down to one of the best meals I've ever had in Epcot. The vegetarian choice at San Angel was freaking delicious (vegetarian or not)!!!! I did not even miss Ohana. And the ambiance was great AND the mariachi band was playing. I do feel for the people that don't make reservations before they go, but come on! You can do that on the internet in a half hour and have your entire trip planned. You could make a reservation every day for every park and just decide later or do like me and look at the EMH days for each park and plan your meals accordingly (I admit I plan way ahead, but we are also fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants people too sometimes).
I'll just say this, one year there was a woman having a coronary at Rose and Crowne over getting reservations. Where could her family eat? What would they do? Well, as she was screaming her head off and blowing a gasket :fork:, I turned to my husband and said, "#1- calm the heck down, #2- Call the Disney reservations hotline and ask if anything is open, #3- Go to the fish and chip stand right in front of you and sit on a bench, #4- take a Valium." LOL :hammer:
Plus, we don't mind making reservations so far in advance. There are so many places to eat that I think if you can't get into one restaurant and that ruins your whole Dis-trip.........
Last time we went I couldn't get into Ohana and I love that place. I was disappointed, but forgot all about it immediately when I sat down to one of the best meals I've ever had in Epcot. The vegetarian choice at San Angel was freaking delicious (vegetarian or not)!!!! I did not even miss Ohana. And the ambiance was great AND the mariachi band was playing. I do feel for the people that don't make reservations before they go, but come on! You can do that on the internet in a half hour and have your entire trip planned. You could make a reservation every day for every park and just decide later or do like me and look at the EMH days for each park and plan your meals accordingly (I admit I plan way ahead, but we are also fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants people too sometimes). I'll just say this, one year there was a woman having a coronary at Rose and Crowne over getting reservations. Where could her family eat? What would they do? Well, as she was screaming her head off and blowing a gasket :fork:, I turned to my husband and said, "#1- calm the heck down, #2- Call the Disney reservations hotline and ask if anything is open, #3- Go to the fish and chip stand right in front of you and sit on a bench, #4- take a Valium." LOL :hammer:
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
Meanwhile the person next to you is paying out of pocket, and getting raked over the coals to cover the cost of your $0.00. It is just not a good system.
I've always felt free dining isn't as good a deal as some people think. Wouldn't 35% off a moderate or deluxe resort room be just as good or maybe better than free dining for a family of 4?
Free dining for a family of 4 (2 adults 2 children) = $130 approximate savings per day
35% off room savings at a deluxe resort $425 X .35 = approx $150 per day savings
Just throwing those numbers out there. It's just some visitors think free dining is the best possible discount you can get and I'm just not so sure. I'd rather have a deep resort discount. Not only that if I'm not on free dining I can control how we eat. Some days we can eat light and others we can eat more. Just my 2 cents.
Free dining for a family of 4 (2 adults 2 children) = $130 approximate savings per day
35% off room savings at a deluxe resort $425 X .35 = approx $150 per day savings
Just throwing those numbers out there. It's just some visitors think free dining is the best possible discount you can get and I'm just not so sure. I'd rather have a deep resort discount. Not only that if I'm not on free dining I can control how we eat. Some days we can eat light and others we can eat more. Just my 2 cents.
There is no one best deal that fits every party or every situation. The general rule of thumb is free dining will be the better deal at a value, about a wash at the moderates and not the best deal at the deluxe or DVC resorts. However, I have had several cases that violate all three of those rules. Like every other promotion Disney runs, you always need to run the numbers to be sure.
Lucky
Well-Known Member
This has been discussed over and over in this and other threads. Some discounts are better for some guests and others are better for others. Using your example, a 35% discount in a moderate would be only about $55 per day, so no, it wouldn't be "just as good or maybe better than free dining for a family of 4." You have to do the arithmetic for each case to find out.
Points well taken and very true. I guess I just get tired of hearing how free dining is the "end all, be all" of Disney World discounts when in reality it isn't the greatest.
Free dining is a discount where your party size and make up can drastically skew the numbers. For most families staying at a value or a moderate it is the end all be all. Back when you would get plus dining at a value resort I was getting a nearly $190 per day discount on a $120 room.
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
Maybe, if we stayed at a deluxe. We stay at mods or value. A room is a room and we spend only a small amount of time at the resort. Paying out the nose for a deluxe is just plain stupid for us. And you do not get 35% at a mod. More like, maybe, 20%. So your math actually figures out to $85 a day. For us that is only $765 but if we use the DDP and get it for free then we save $1855 on a 9 night stay for our family of 4. Then take out the price difference of staying a value resort and still getting the RegDDP which is $595 for our stay, we still end up saving $1260. I like my numbers far better.
^^True. I still run the numbers before every trip and I run them for anyone I help set up on a trip. I'd feel like a fool just blindly taking the FreeDDP promo and then finding out later that another promo would have been better.
luvmydisneyrt
New Member
We love the free dining. With a teen and a pre teen who eat alot it's a huge saving. Over the years it really helped us afford the trip.
I heard they already offered free dining for the UK for most of next year. I would hope they would offer it to the US as well next year.
I heard they already offered free dining for the UK for most of next year. I would hope they would offer it to the US as well next year.
DisneyDebNJ
Well-Known Member
LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO great come back LOL!!!!!!!
misterID
Well-Known Member
Yes, because dining at disney was so affordable before DDP... I mean, it's not like they were raising prices on food anyway and had been for years before DDP... and will continue to do so in the future long after it's gone... :animwink:
I've never used DDP, btw.