Be Warned! Disney has pulled the Free Dining Special for guests whose trips were messed up due to Covid-19

[MomOTwins]

To me, it's on Disney to explain and yes it would have made a difference to me. I'm a reasonable person and I would have understood. With no explanation, they came off as jerks and greedy. And believe me, we're huge Disney fans in our family, our daughter did the College Program and Disney is the only place we vacation. In the last 15 years we've been to Disney 27 times, so to me it's horrible PR to offer no explanation.

I understand you are disappointed but if you really are a reasonable person, surely you can see why this makes sense and is not “greedy”? Some might say its greedy to feel entitled to a special discount, but I’ll say no more to avoid incurring the wrath of the mods

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I think they may have realized that it wasn’t such a great idea to use a free dining offer to incentivize people to reschedule for June - September, given that we don’t even know if they will open in that time frame.

Take all the rescheduled trips plus the potential reduced restaurant capacity that everyone is mentioning, and there’s your likely answer.

Why did you call the CM out by name? Totally unnecessary. What did he do wrong? Why is he specifically relevant?

I understand being upset about vacation plans being disrupted. But I don’t understand being so angry that Disney ended a free dining offer early in the middle of a pandemic when they have no idea when they’re opening. This is a fluid and flexible situation, and I think everyone should approach it with that in mind. Nothing is certain.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I am having trouble editing my post, but wanted to add ...

And also as a PR person, I think they are the most worried about public perception and implications of ...

1. Opening too early
2. If the social distancing measures they implement will be enough
3. The potential of future positive cases being traced back to WDW

Because they have stipulated clearly that an offer can be pulled any time for any reason, it really doesn’t benefit them greatly to communicate why they pulled free dining right now, given the current state of the nation and world. As much as anyone may want an answer.

 

[peaceluv&mickeymouse]

I think they are adjusting week by week. They have to limit the crowds and this is all new territory for them. Unfortunate you didn't get to book before the cutoff But I don’t think Disney did that to tick people off , they did it out of necessity.

 

[Dead2009]

To me, it's on Disney to explain and yes it would have made a difference to me. I'm a reasonable person and I would have understood. With no explanation, they came off as jerks and greedy. And believe me, we're huge Disney fans in our family, our daughter did the College Program and Disney is the only place we vacation. In the last 15 years we've been to Disney 27 times, so to me it's horrible PR to offer no explanation.

1. There's literally a pandemic going on. Social distancing isnt going to go away once the parks open, that should be self explantory in itself.

2. They're being greedy? It's FREE dining. Keyword being FREE.

3. When you have to explain how many times you've been to Disney to justify your stance, it can come off as entitled.

 

[DanielNYC]

This, combined with the pull of the 4 park magic ticket that became unavailable last week, convinces me that Disney is serious about limiting capacity. I suspect that we will soon see certain dates start to drop off the calendar as "unavailable" in the coming weeks.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

Think logically. They will have a staggered and phased opening.
Restaurants are small spaces.
Free Dining only adds to the dilemma, especially where outdoor space isn't available.

Within their own policy they had every right to change their offer
.It's going to be years before we all get the WDW, as we knew it, back.

 

[pooch]

I can only echo what most have said here and, from your own signature, all glory to God for our many blessings including still being ABLE to do a Disney trip. So many less fortunate than us, especially now. We all need to remember our manners. I work for a local municipality and are only open by appointment. We have been instructed to escort all patrons in and out of Town Hall. Today a taxpayer yelled at me "don't follow me like I was some F*** dog." I was just following procedure and doing my job (not to mention walking up and down stairs twice for EVERY appointment). Was that really necessary? What has to happen in this world to make us just BE NICE to each other???

Oh, and I have had my September Free DDP trip booked since January. Not happening now ;-( It would have been my 19th trip. Oh well, life will go on and I will go another time.