New Free dining offer - disappointing to say the least

[ilanakan]

OK, so who's with me on this? I find the new free dining offer to be disappointing and even offensive (I know that sounds harsh, but bare with me).
Not only are the dates so limited, and I can maybe accept that - Disney making a point not to wait for free dining this summer, but looking into the offer, and going resort resort to check availability, you find almost zero availability in most popular resorts.
This isn't a real free dining offer.
I can only hope that there will be better offers to follow soon.

 

[siren0119]

I mean, it's a real "free" dining offer (because the FD offers aren't really free anyway when you figure you have to pay rack rate for the room and buy parkhopper tickets). But the limited dates were a bit jarring.

I'm thinking that with the 50th anniversary coming up, plus all the new stuff opening, they're holding off on any discounts until they see if they even need them. If people are booking to be there for new rides and anniversary celebrations, they may not need to discount anything.

 

[eac578]

Yes, definitely disappointed in the dates. We were really hoping to book the last week of Aug, 22/23 to 29/30. I did just book POP for A29-S5 but we may end up canceling if we can't get time off work, the few days later makes it a lot harder for us logistically.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You don't need to go resort to resort to check availability. When you pull up a resort, click on the offer, then click on "View All Resorts" at the top of the page. All resorts with FD availability for your dates will then pop up.

The end of FD has been rumored for years. If WDW doesn't have to discount rooms to attract guests, then there is no need to discount rooms. As PP said, with the anniversary and all of the new rides and attractions, WDW is betting on not having to slash prices. If it doesn't work, we will probably see more discounts!

 

[Disneylover99]

OK, so who's with me on this? I find the new free dining offer to be disappointing and even offensive (I know that sounds harsh, but bare with me).
Not only are the dates so limited, and I can maybe accept that - Disney making a point not to wait for free dining this summer, but looking into the offer, and going resort resort to check availability, you find almost zero availability in most popular resorts.
This isn't a real free dining offer.
I can only hope that there will be better offers to follow soon.

Dates were definitely limited, but I found plenty of availability at the values and moderates in June, July and August and I was pleasantly suprised to see POFQ offering free dining after years of that resort being excluded from the offer.

Was it the deluxe resorts that had limited availability?

 

[Nancyg56]

FD has been more limited in recent years. I think that the key to any discount is to view it like you would view any sale. It is a value it's it is what you need or want. Try to remember that it is to fill resort rooms for Disney, and not necessarily to accomodate us.

The last offer I took advantage of I needed to make changes in my resort choice. There was no need for Disney to include BC in my dates,so I I modified my stay. Personally, I think that DIsney is trying to do away with discounts, but with the current rack rates, I am not sure they can really do so. My family can stay AI in Aruba for less money than a WDW vacation, and still go out to dinner and book a few extras after paying for AI

 

[ilanakan]

Dates were definitely limited, but I found plenty of availability at the values and moderates in June, July and August and I was pleasantly suprised to see POFQ offering free dining after years of that resort being excluded from the offer.

Was it the deluxe resorts that had limited availability?

Pop century no availability. Coronado Springs availability only on the top end rooms (10 day packages at over $8000 mark), almost no availability even at Contemporary resort and more.

 

[Disneylover99]

Pop century no availability. Coronado Springs availability only on the top end rooms (10 day packages at over $8000 mark), almost no availability even at Contemporary resort and more.

Oh no! Sorry to hear that. Pop is usually our go to resort for free dining. I checked several dates throughout the morning and found every room category still available. But since we go for longer trips, I only look at 14 day stays.

I really do find length of stay can make a difference to availability. Did you try adding or deleting days? or are you set on the number of days you stay.

 

[TeacupsForever]

I booked Pop Century for our Sept 8th trip (the last date offered—we lucked out and 100% weren't expecting it!) without any problems. I wasn't even on top of it early yesterday, and I was coordinating with my mom so I had to wait until late afternoon when she was off work to book. Didn't have any trouble. Maybe it was just because of our date choice?

 

[5kidsmommy]

I'm sure it's limited because they are having no problems filling rooms. It's only used to fill up resorts. We booked a room at POR, really was hoping for CBR but I will not stay in the Pirate rooms. I'm a little disappointed that we also had to move our trip up a week but we'll still make it work. Luckily for us we are flexible with our dates which is helpful.

 

[rdaky]

Despite all of the hoopla about "Free Dining" everywhere, I haven't found it to be a deal in many, many years. To be honest, I don't understand why people get excited about it. We spend less money getting a room discount and paying out of pocket for our meals. We don't even get the dining plan. And we eat as much as we want, order whatever we want off of the menu, we don't have to think about credits and what counts as what, and we STILL spend less than we would spend getting a "Free Dining" offer.

 

[eac578]

Despite all of the hoopla about "Free Dining" everywhere, I haven't found it to be a deal in many, many years. To be honest, I don't understand why people get excited about it. We spend less money getting a room discount and paying out of pocket for our meals. We don't even get the dining plan. And we eat as much as we want, order whatever we want off of the menu, we don't have to think about credits and what counts as what, and we STILL spend less than we would spend getting a "Free Dining" offer.

I think that really depends on where you stay and who you're feeding. With 2 adults and 2 teens staying at POP, our meal costs daily could be more than the price of the room. Unless they start offering an 80% discount at values I'm coming out ahead every time with free dining!

Totally different if you have two people staying in a deluxe!

 

[unigirlmouse]

I was confused why when I was looking at dates for the free dining, I found a room within the dates.. it said "Delicious Vacation Package" i clicked it and i don't see free dining but I see included park hopper? Im so confused

 

[sharonabe]

I was confused why when I was looking at dates for the free dining, I found a room within the dates.. it said "Delicious Vacation Package" i clicked it and i don't see free dining but I see included park hopper? Im so confused

That is the free dining offer. You must purchase a park hopper ticket to qualify, so it automatically puts that in your cart. Keep clicking through, and you'll see the dining in your cart as well.

 

[unigirlmouse]

That is the free dining offer. You must purchase a park hopper ticket to qualify, so it automatically puts that in your cart. Keep clicking through, and you'll see the dining in your cart as well.

Ok thank you! I was so confused! I guess it makes sense now, unfortunately the dates I had don't work ugh.

 

[Nancyg56]

Despite all of the hoopla about "Free Dining" everywhere, I haven't found it to be a deal in many, many years. To be honest, I don't understand why people get excited about it. We spend less money getting a room discount and paying out of pocket for our meals. We don't even get the dining plan. And we eat as much as we want, order whatever we want off of the menu, we don't have to think about credits and what counts as what, and we STILL spend less than we would spend getting a "Free Dining" offer.

It depends on how many people in the room, if you are purchasing hoppers, etc, the resort itself and the ages of the family. For my family FD usually is the better discount, however last year RO worked because I wanted to use tickets I had already bought. The year before I booked FD for 9 at OKW< saved a bundle! I had two folks who did not need tix, however I had to buy them for the offer. I used them this year.

 

[jessiegirl1982]

I got on yesterday before the phone lines opened and there was plenty of availability at almost every resort offered for the July dates (I was searching 7/7-14). It was all gone a few hours later, though. Still hoping they offer another wave of free dining come April. Not totally sold on my dates (had to move up the dates and flights are more expensive).

 

[clee152]

Facts: But ya gonna go anyways, they don't need to offer nothing.

 

[mekay1012]

Facts: But ya gonna go anyways, they don't need to offer nothing.

Yep! We booked for July. I wasn’t expecting a discount. I was thrilled when free dining fell in my dates and we were able to change. I hadn’t planned on getting the dining plan, but even after adding park hoppers, it was still cheaper than what we could have paid for meals out of pocket.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Despite all of the hoopla about "Free Dining" everywhere, I haven't found it to be a deal in many, many years. To be honest, I don't understand why people get excited about it. We spend less money getting a room discount and paying out of pocket for our meals. We don't even get the dining plan. And we eat as much as we want, order whatever we want off of the menu, we don't have to think about credits and what counts as what, and we STILL spend less than we would spend getting a "Free Dining" offer.

It's a good deal if you're a family of 4 who books a lot of character dining, like ours. That said, in the future I'll be hoping to find RO discounts on concierge rooms since with the new enforcement of child QS credits the DDP doesn't offer enough flexibility anymore.