Will Disney cancel free dining in 2010 due to its popularity?

[durangojim]

This might seem counter-intuitive but with many restaurants increasing hours and adding new serving times (Chef Mickey's with lunch, Diamond Horseshoe with dinner) will Disney cancel free dining next year because it will cost them too much? I know they are able to bring guests in and have them spend money on rooms, tickets, and merchandise, but does anyone know where the sweet spot is in terms of how many free diners they can support without loosing money? Just curious.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

:shrug: Depends on the state of the economy. I highly doubt the economy is going to be much better (if any) in 2010

 

[Master Yoda]

Well they didn't in 2009, 2008, 2007......

In all honestly I think we will see more of a tiered approach like the current free dining promotion running from 10/3/2009-12/24/2009.

 

[Monty]

The whole point of Free DDP is to draw people into Disney resorts from off-site or into vacations they might not otherwise take. As long as it works, it's not "costing" Disney anything.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I don't see Free Dining ending anytime soon, it's one of their most popular promotions; it also introduces people to the different Disney Dining plans that may not have considered them before, some will eventually pay for them on future trips or tell their friends and family about it.

It may make Disney realize that they need to add more restaurant locations too!

 

[NewfieFan]

The whole point of Free DDP is to draw people into Disney resorts from off-site or into vacations they might not otherwise take. As long as it works, it's not "costing" Disney anything.

Yes, and it encourages people to stay on-site (to not even leave for a day)! I know of a couple of families that were going to leave Disney and go out for a day but b/c they had free food at "home" they decided not to go anywhere. As long as Disney can keep you there you are spending money in one form or another!

 

[disneydaft]

This might seem counter-intuitive but with many restaurants increasing hours and adding new serving times (Chef Mickey's with lunch, Diamond Horseshoe with dinner) will Disney cancel free dining next year because it will cost them too much? I know they are able to bring guests in and have them spend money on rooms, tickets, and merchandise, but does anyone know where the sweet spot is in terms of how many free diners they can support without loosing money? Just curious.

It has already been offered to UK visitors for next year. :slurp:

 

[blackthidot]

I hope it stays forever. I love going every September and the Free Dining allows us to stay 10-13 days!

 

[DougK]

Believe me they make money even on "free" dining (and there's nothing wrong with that). That's because you have to pay full price for your room, and of course there is park admission and souvenirs revenue also.

No way they will cancel "free" dining permanently, it works out well for Disney and many guests love it (though I hate it because of how it has runied regular dining at Disney but that's for another thread).

 

[durangojim]

I understand what all of you are saying, I just didn't realize that they had increased restaurant offerings in the past, and I wondered if the cost of doing this outweighed the benefits of having more people pay rack rates at their hotels and motels.

 

[slappy magoo]

Yes, and it encourages people to stay on-site (to not even leave for a day)! I know of a couple of families that were going to leave Disney and go out for a day but b/c they had free food at "home" they decided not to go anywhere. As long as Disney can keep you there you are spending money in one form or another!

The odd thing about that line of thinking is: going offsite, even for a day, affords you extra meal credits. That extra table credit can be used for a Signature Dining Experience. You can use the extra counter service for a meal the day you're set to lrave, and an extra snack you can use any time.

I think a lot of people don't understand how the dining plan (free or otherwise) works, that the credits accumulate and only become a "use 'em or lose 'em" scenario the day you depart. I think a lot of people think you must use each of your allotted meals and snacks each and every day as you go - one TS, one CS one snack on Tuesday, one of each on Wednesday, don't deviate from the norm, etc.

The first time my wife and I went since they started doing the dining plan, we went to a few extra table service restaurants for breakfast (paying out of pocket for them) but then we were too full to use our counter-service credits for lunch. We'd also often split a snack during the day. Since we were driving home, on the day we left, we "cashed in" all our snack and TS credits, got deli-style sandwiches wrapped up for our cooler, as well as extra rice krispy mouse ear treats and other non-perishable, can-only-get-'em-at-WDW snacks (not wasting valuable credits on soda or water! ). This balanced out some of the extra expense on the way home, since we didn't have to pay for as many meals or snacks along the way as we went home. :slurp:

 

[worldfanatic]

The odd thing about that line of thinking is: going offsite, even for a day, affords you extra meal credits. That extra table credit can be used for a Signature Dining Experience. You can use the extra counter service for a meal the day you're set to lrave, and an extra snack you can use any time.

I think a lot of people don't understand how the dining plan (free or otherwise) works, that the credits accumulate and only become a "use 'em or lose 'em" scenario the day you depart.

Slappy, like me, you use common sense and pay attention to the rules.
When on vacation, so many visitors don't.

Example:

My buddy, who normally is a very intelligent guy, took his family of 6 to WDW last year. He added the deluxe plan for everybody at the time of booking and never bothered to learn the details of how it works.
When they returned, being a Disney freak, I quizzed him on pretty much their entire itinerary of parks and meals.
I was shocked at how many meal credits they left behind. They ended up spending far more using the plan than just paying cash.
His reaction, "Who cares, we were on vacation":hammer:

I think this happens more than we think. To the huge financial benefit of Disney.

 

[Monty]

Slappy, like me, you use common sense and pay attention to the rules.
When on vacation, so many visitors don't.

Example:

My buddy, who normally is a very intelligent guy, took his family of 6 to WDW last year. He added the deluxe plan for everybody at the time of booking and never bothered to learn the details of how it works.
When they returned, being a Disney freak, I quizzed him on pretty much their entire itinerary of parks and meals.
I was shocked at how many meal credits they left behind. They ended up spending far more using the plan than just paying cash.
His reaction, "Who cares, we were on vacation":hammer:

I think this happens more than we think. To the huge financial benefit of Disney.

I personally believe that is the case with any use of the various dining plan options... It is more for convenience than saving money. Even with the free plan, rack rates cost a lot more than what deals are available and when you factor that in [with the possible exception of a group of more than two at a value], it almost always costs more using the dining plans.

But folks enjoy the psychological "Free" food and/or the convenience of pre-budgeting their trip. As they say: "If that's what floats yer boat..."

 

[lovepooh]

I guess for me as a travel agent I look at all the packages and book whats the most cost effective plus we get to keep the commission type deal. When we are the one's traveling. We are a family of 5 so the cost of buying the meal plan for our entire family starts to get expensive. I have priced out the fall package vs the free dinning and the free dinning was still the cheaper option. Since we would pay for the dinning plan anyway. It makes sense for us. Plus we use for the full potential. If we do something different then disney one day. We save the credits and are able to do a signature dinning one night, which is nice. We tend to do QS for lunch and TS for dinner. Thats what we would do if we bought the reg dinning plan. We normally go to the store and buy cereal and snacks for the morning. Then sometimes we would swap TS breaksfast and do a QS dinner. We love it and I feel we get our money's worth. Maybe its because we have a larger family or I am a travel agent so I see what others do. But for us it works out great! I sure do hope they continue with the free dinning next year, it makes it more feesable to do another trip!:wave:

 

[krankenstein]

As long as Disney makes money on it, it'll stay.

 

[Jeff456]

It has already been offered to UK visitors for next year. :slurp:

I was going to say that, my trip with free dining is already booked for August 2010 and that was around 3-4 months ago so I don't see how they could cancel it.

 

[fosse76]

Disney is not going to cancel free dining. While attendance is up, profits are down. Free dining coincides with the slowest times of the year, and this was an incentive to get people in the gates. While the restaurants are packed, the parks are rather slow. And not everyone is on the free dining at the time anyway. And now people practically expect it during certain times of the year. It's not going anywhere.

 

[nibblesandbits]

I understand what all of you are saying, I just didn't realize that they had increased restaurant offerings in the past, and I wondered if the cost of doing this outweighed the benefits of having more people pay rack rates at their hotels and motels.

Yep...I know for sure last year, they offered additional dining at the Diamond Horseshoe and had the lunch for Chef Mickey's. I think El Pirata was open and possibly the Noodle Station, although not serving whatever buffet they are this year. The other stuff, I don't remember.

I think each year, Disney realizes that it needs to up the number of dining establishments for those who don't realize they need to make ADRs...b/c trust me...it happens. So, at least these people will potentially have places to go, rather than just all counter service meals.