Since Free Dining Expired...

[blackthidot]

Since the promo Free Dining has expired, what will Disney have up it's sleeve for the next promo? Does anyone think Free Dining will be re-released in April/May like it always has?

Just curious...I'm already booked!

 

[Monty]

We always eat what, and where we want. I crunched the numbers 100 times and the way we like to eat while we are out Free Dining always wins.

For me it has always been the opposite. There are two of us, with a Deluxe Resort for 7 nights, the 42% AP discount paid for my AP, Morgan's Hopper MYW tickets, my TiW card and everything we ate and drank for the duration of our stay [after the 20% TiW discount, we saved more].

If it works for you, great.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Sorry, I see no value to even the "free" dining. :shrug:

You pay rack rate on the resort and at a Value you only get the QSDDP, at a Moderate or Deluxe you get the regular DDP. I'd rather get a general-public or AP discount and pay for eating what meals I want. :shrug:

With QSDDP I'd have to upgrade to the regular anyway, I prefer sit-down meals. But even with the regular DDP, I find there are too many QS meals so I have credits left and pay out-of-pocket for TS meals because there aren't enough credits. Dining plan simply has no appeal for me even when it's free.

Tables in Wonderland with an Annual Pass discount saves me much more than DDP ever could and I get to eat the way I like.

Monty, I guarantee the value is there for my family of 4. I crunched the numbers a dozen ways. We have AP's and even have TiW. For instance, we went for 10 nights the week or so before Thanksgiving week. Originally I had the AP discount booked at Wilderness Lodge and we were going to use our TiW card for the sit-downs. Our total food budget was set at $2200 for the whole trip. The room with the AP discount was going to be right around $2000. Not a bad price at all. We also needed to buy 3 of the FL Seasonal passes which was going to be about $800-ish. Total for that trip was going to be right at about $5k before any souvenirs, incidentals, travel expense, or dog boarding. We opted for POFQ w/free dining because the total package came to $2800 including hotel, food, and 10-day tickets. I budgeted an additional $500 to cover tips & a TiW card (yes, I still bought it & it paid for itself with the free valet parking & discount on beverages & things not included in the DDP). Total now is $3300. We upgraded our 10-day tickets for the 3 of us to FL Seasonals and got $9 back in cash. The 4th 10-day ticket is still sitting upstairs in my room for safe-keeping until the next time we go so it can get applied towards any necessary pass needs. The hubby's AP was still valid from last January. So without going into what it cost us for the souvenirs, incidentals, travel expense, & dog boarding going with the free dining promotion for my family of 4 adults in a moderate vs. an inexpensive deluxe saved me about $1800. That $1800 was Christmas. It was a no-brainer.

Had I taken the AP discount on the moderate room the savings wouldn't have come close to equaling the $168/night the dining plan costs to purchase for the 4 of us.

I think when you have less people the free dining isn't as worth-while but when you have 3, 4, or more people especially when the kids are over 9 years of age it really does add up to a great savings. In my case, with 2 teenage boys eating me out of house & home we felt like the free dining fit us quite well. :lol:

I'm going to pick a nit. Disney hasn't always offered free dining. It's a relatively recent promotion. They may or may not offer it again in the future. (I'd bet they would, but no guarantees.)

While it's reasonable at this point to expect the offer to come back, it's not like it'd been in place for 40 years. If Disney decides to forgo the offer, they won't be breaking some time-honored tradition.

The fact that people are now expecting this offer as "business as usual" should probably be cause for concern at Disney.

This is a true statement. The fact that people expect the free dining does say something. I'd be curious to see what would happen to WDWs numbers if they didn't offer it at all one year. Personally, I don't expect it but I do appreciate it. We've only done the free dining once which was recent and felt like it was an amazing value. I can see why people get so nutty for it. LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

HECK YES. Check your messages I'll respond to the game there...Keep this thread on topic!

Some desserts I can do without...Some I LOVE though. They should let you choose.

Agreed! Some of the desserts are just blah. I'd rather have a salad before my entree. Plus, by the end of a long trip you just get burned out on some of the desserts because they tend to have similar offerings from restaurant to restaurant.

 

[Monty]

Monty, I guarantee the value is there for my family of 4. I crunched the numbers a dozen ways. We have AP's and even have TiW. For instance, we went for 10 nights the week or so before Thanksgiving week. Originally I had the AP discount booked at Wilderness Lodge and we were going to use our TiW card for the sit-downs. Our total food budget was set at $2200 for the whole trip. The room with the AP discount was going to be right around $2000. Not a bad price at all. We also needed to buy 3 of the FL Seasonal passes which was going to be about $800-ish. Total for that trip was going to be right at about $5k before any souvenirs, incidentals, travel expense, or dog boarding. We opted for POFQ w/free dining because the total package came to $2800 including hotel, food, and 10-day tickets. I budgeted an additional $500 to cover tips & a TiW card (yes, I still bought it & it paid for itself with the free valet parking & discount on beverages & things not included in the DDP). Total now is $3300. We upgraded our 10-day tickets for the 3 of us to FL Seasonals and got $9 back in cash. The 4th 10-day ticket is still sitting upstairs in my room for safe-keeping until the next time we go so it can get applied towards any necessary pass needs. The hubby's AP was still valid from last January. So without going into what it cost us for the souvenirs, incidentals, travel expense, & dog boarding going with the free dining promotion for my family of 4 adults in a moderate vs. an inexpensive deluxe saved me about $1800. That $1800 was Christmas. It was a no-brainer.

Had I taken the AP discount on the moderate room the savings wouldn't have come close to equaling the $168/night the dining plan costs to purchase for the 4 of us.

I think when you have less people the free dining isn't as worth-while but when you have 3, 4, or more people especially when the kids are over 9 years of age it really does add up to a great savings. In my case, with 2 teenage boys eating me out of house & home we felt like the free dining fit us quite well. :lol:

There's the difference, we're two and like Deluxe. Next trip we're at a Moderate, but it'll still be close on the savings. For me, the AP/TiW combo wins out because I do multiple trips per year.

And absolutely, everyone needs to do the math for their own circumstance.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

There's the difference, we're two and like Deluxe. Next trip we're at a Moderate, but it'll still be close on the savings. For me, the AP/TiW combo wins out because I do multiple trips per year.

And absolutely, everyone needs to do the math for their own circumstance.

Oh heck yes. I'm a huge proponent for studying numbers before taking a trip anywhere. I always enjoy myself more if I don't feel like I'm getting it stuck to me dry. LOL!

Personally, I prefer deluxes, too. I feel sorta like a deluxe-snob sometimes for having that sentiment. It pained us to go moderate this time. Looking at that number...$1800...I saw the Christmas gifts under the tree and my savings account being all the less-impacted. I couldn't not do go moderate.

Right now I'm looking at what the costs are to go to TokyoDisney and that's some kinda sticker-shock. I wish they had moderate and discount options! Now the decision is more like "Disney hotel" or "Good Neighbor". The price difference is insane. Sure makes you appreciate how good WDW is to us with all their discount options. :hammer:

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Free dining is being offered for UK visitors, my eldest has taken them up on it for her Oct trip.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Free dining is being offered for UK visitors, my eldest has taken them up on it for her Oct trip.

Nice! Good for her! <--it is a "her", right? This the one that just got married? Or am I imagining all this?? LOL!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Nice! Good for her! <--it is a "her", right? This the one that just got married? Or am I imagining all this?? LOL!

Yes, returning to the scene of the crime for their first anniversary. I hope to be on the other coast.

 

[blackthidot]

Plus as long as we have a pool, bed, and shower we are happy. We don't care about Deluxe or Moderate. We do not spend enough time at the resort to even almost enjoy anything that they have to offer us.

 

[flavious27]

Since the promo Free Dining has expired, what will Disney have up it's sleeve for the next promo? Does anyone think Free Dining will be re-released in April/May like it always has?

Just curious...I'm already booked!

hopefully they run it during the slow periods, the only times we go down.

 

[blackthidot]

For me it has always been the opposite. There are two of us, with a Deluxe Resort for 7 nights, the 42% AP discount paid for my AP, Morgan's Hopper MYW tickets, my TiW card and everything we ate and drank for the duration of our stay [after the 20% TiW discount, we saved more].

If it works for you, great.

Heck yeah...everyone has their vices!

 

[lbrad]

DH & I are going at the end of Sept.
Just made the FREE dining!!!!
It's the only time we can both go & it's the only "promotion" for that time frame...so I took it!!! Better than nothing
I wish they would let you CHOOSE ... app or dessert...we would prefer apps!!!:slurp:

Hoping they have MNSSHP while we are there...
Sept.29th to Oct. 3rd :shrug:

 

[harveyt0206]

We booked free dining for both our March 2011 trip (staying at POFQ) and our September 2011 trip (staying at Contemporary). While the overall price may not actually be a "bargain" when you factor in free dining, for me it's a matter of knowing from the get go how much money I need to have to make my trip happen. We like the feeling of arriving at Disney, having our room key take care of everything for us without any additional cost. Well, no additional costs except all those Disney trinkets I just have to bring home with me.

I love free dining and so does hubby. At least, for now we do. Of course, it's a rarity that I would go twice in the same year or else I would always invest in an annual pass and abuse the crap out of it.

 

[Bluewaves]

Hopefully free dining will be going away, ever since its appeared the quality of the food has gone down and down and down, maybe this will take some of the pressure off of the table service locations so day guests can actually get something to eat while they're in the parks, they probably bring in more per check than resort guests do for meals anyhow.

 

[blackthidot]

Hopefully free dining will be going away, ever since its appeared the quality of the food has gone down and down and down, maybe this will take some of the pressure off of the table service locations so day guests can actually get something to eat while they're in the parks, they probably bring in more per check than resort guests do for meals anyhow.

Complete BS.

The only thing free dining has done was make steak and broccolini a staple at every restaurant.

 

[mickey2008.1]

I do agree the quality of food has gone down. On our recent trip, our favorites are no longer our favorites, as i have noticed others say this past year. I do wish we could have and app instead of dessert, as they always seem to be the same at every place. We got spoiled from california grill. Our next trip is in sept, so we have to do some serious research and find new places to eat. It seems that DHS is going to be a big problem, as MM is no longer good, and no one here likes any other place there, except maybe Prime time. We will be a party of six, and the dining plan is a great value, but where to go?:veryconfu

 

[blackthidot]

Quality is something I've never had a problem with. Every year I go my food appears better, along with the service. I've had food during free dining and I've paid for my food...no difference at all.

DHS is lacking BIG time though. But isn't that what DHS does?

 

[PJean710]

I wouldnt expect another free dining offer. If I remember this past discount the traditional free dining periods for next year. Unless of course they decide to do something for december.

 

[Korfar]

Quality is something I've never had a problem with. Every year I go my food appears better, along with the service. I've had food during free dining and I've paid for my food...no difference at all.

DHS is lacking BIG time though. But isn't that what DHS does?

I agree with you Black. Quality has not been an issue. I don't see where these people are coming from. I don't think free dining has had any effect on the quality of the food.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Its the quality of the clientèle thats the problem................