New Free dining offer - disappointing to say the least

[rdaky]

I would as well. I think that those of us who are Disney "frequent fliers" have been taken for granted and left unrewarded in many ways. While I do not think that there needs to be a huge financial reward for loyalty, there really should be more than "welcome back" after answering the question regarding the number of trips we have taken. A BB is nice, but how about something that costs Disney nothing to very little, such as a few anytime FP or maybe a nice additional meal at the resort you choose, or vouchers for appetizers. Something to let you know you are valued.

SO here's the thing. They know you're coming back regardless. They know I'm coming back. They don't need to give us bigger incentives because we've already been hooked. They want to entice those people who were on the fence or never even considered a Disney trip until an amazing deal came along. I have a friend who has been talking about Disney for YEARS. She's finally going this Summer because it works out for their family schedule and "Free Dining"

I wish they offered things to frequent attenders, too. We didn't renew our APs this year because it's now over 6K for my family just to have passes. We spend thousands of dollars in hotels, food, and merchandise. Every single year.

 

[Disneylover99]

I don't necessarily agree that Disney wants to get rid of it. I think that Disney knows that "free dining" gets people excited and gets rooms booked. I have a few friends who haven't been to Disney in years and are jumping on this "deal" However, Disney isn't a charitable organization, so they're going to continue to hold out this carrot to get people to fill rooms, but continue to add restrictions. so that in the end, they're still making more money off of every single promotion.

I don’t think Disney wants to get rid of it either. This promotion goes in dips and waves. Dates were few this year, very generous last year, fewer again the year before that.....

I actually think free dining is a moneymaker for Disney. It’s the only promotion that keeps guests onsite and spending 100% of the time. You’re paying rack rate for the room, full price for tickets with hopper and you’ve paid it upfront. Once you get there, you’re feeling great and loosen the purse strings for souvenirs, dessert parties, Halloween parties, extra adr’s etc.....and you go home leaving unused dining credits because it was free anyways.

If you’re paying out of pocket daily for food, you’re going to be much tighter with your money. Free dining really does get many users to spend. Those are the repeat customers Disney wants.

 

[rdaky]

I don’t think Disney wants to get rid of it either. This promotion goes in dips and waves. Dates were few this year, very generous last year, fewer again the year before that.....

I actually think free dining is a moneymaker for Disney. It’s the only promotion that keeps guests onsite and spending 100% of the time. You’re paying rack rate for the room, full price for tickets with hopper and you’ve paid it upfront. Once you get there, you’re feeling great and loosen the purse strings for souvenirs, dessert parties, Halloween parties, extra adr’s etc.....and you go home leaving unused dining credits because it was free anyways.

If you’re paying out of pocket daily for food, you’re going to be much tighter with your money. Free dining really does get many users to spend. Those are the repeat customers Disney wants.

Yes! And let's not forget that dining alone is a huge moneymaker for them. The cost of $17ish dollars to get a hot dog, fries, and a soda at Casey's Corner. Or "Free" if you're on the dining plan. But I guarantee that that entire meal didn't cost more than a couple of dollars to Disney. So huge profits on any kind of dining. And the buffets are even better for them. No one is eating $40 worth of food unless. My 4 year old's chicken nuggets and dinner roll certainly didn't cost the price of the buffet. LOL

 

[Disneylover99]

Yes! And let's not forget that dining alone is a huge moneymaker for them. The cost of $17ish dollars to get a hot dog, fries, and a soda at Casey's Corner. Or "Free" if you're on the dining plan. But I guarantee that that entire meal didn't cost more than a couple of dollars to Disney. So huge profits on any kind of dining. And the buffets are even better for them. No one is eating $40 worth of food unless. My 4 year old's chicken nuggets and dinner roll certainly didn't cost the price of the buffet. LOL

I think Disney took a bit of a hit once they added alcohol to the dining plan, but they needed to do that to increase the worth for people who were buying the plan. It seemed to get people excited about the dining plan again and there was renewed interest. Now that hit is being rectified again with the crackdown on kid’s meals. I don’t think they could suddenly take away the alcohol. There might be a mutiny. Lol.

 

[rdaky]

I think Disney took a bit of a hit once they added alcohol to the dining plan, but they needed to do that to increase the worth for people who were buying the plan. It seemed to get people excited about the dining plan again and there was renewed interest. Now that hit is being rectified again with the crackdown on kid’s meals. I don’t think they could suddenly take away the alcohol. There might be a mutiny. Lol.

I agree. And by leaving alcohol and specialty drinks, they didn't take anything away. However, by enforcing the kids meal rule that was already there but not being enforced, that actually saves Disney a lot of money because people are no longer being able to pay for kids meals and get an adult priced meal. I have no idea how many people were taking advantage of the loophole but obviously it was enough of an issue for Disney to fix it. Kind of like they fixed it so that you can no longer make an ADR at BOG for dinner and show up to eat a cupcake.

 

[MichaelWill&Megan'sMom]

I can't seem to see how the room discounts, even at 20%-30% get close to the saving on free dining.

Generally, a smaller group 2/3 people, will be better served by a room discount. My family of five (all Disney adults) comes out around $2000 ahead using free dining. As a math teacher I run the numbers every year; it’s always the same for us. It comes down to this- is the money saved by a room discount greater than or less than the total dining plan price for your party.

 

[Disneylover99]

Kind of like they fixed it so that you can no longer make an ADR at BOG for dinner and show up to eat a cupcake.

I’m still reeling over their decision to take the snack credit away from the French onion soup at lunch. Lol.

 

[rdaky]

I’m still reeling over their decision to take the snack credit away from the French onion soup at lunch. Lol.

One of the many, many reasons we don't bother with the dining plan any longer. I eat whatever I want and don't worry about what counts as what kind of credit.

 

[Disneylover99]

One of the many, many reasons we don't bother with the dining plan any longer. I eat whatever I want and don't worry about what counts as what kind of credit.

It’s not something I’d ever buy. That’s for sure.

 

[Nancyg56]

SO here's the thing. They know you're coming back regardless. They know I'm coming back. They don't need to give us bigger incentives because we've already been hooked. They want to entice those people who were on the fence or never even considered a Disney trip until an amazing deal came along. I have a friend who has been talking about Disney for YEARS. She's finally going this Summer because it works out for their family schedule and "Free Dining"

I wish they offered things to frequent attenders, too. We didn't renew our APs this year because it's now over 6K for my family just to have passes. We spend thousands of dollars in hotels, food, and merchandise. Every single year.

Except that I am not planning a return trip, and your passes have been discontinued. SO that's us. How many others have either stopped going, cut back the number of trips, or chose to stay offsite and share those Disney Dollars with area attractions and restaurants? My niece is a DLR girl and she stopped her family passes too. My DD and DSIL have chosen to vacation elsewhere, and my sister, who was with me in December told me that she enjoyed her stay very much, but not enough to stay onsite when she takes her grandchildren. She will stay offsite, by one or two day park passes and that is it.

I know that there are a lot of people going, and I know that it may not seem that "we" are necessary, but it is shortsighted strategy IMO.

 

[DisLiss]

Originally I didn't see 2020 as a must-go year for many folks. Sure, HS has new stuff going on, but I felt like a lot of 50th anniversary prep mode was still happening. I thought a decent number of people would wait for the 50th celebration or until Epcot was further along with it's overhaul to plan their next trip. So I really expected that this year we'd still see a decent amount of free dining to try to entice some of those people back. But, with this low key of an offering, I'm wondering if I'm way off base with my thoughts that people would wait for 2021 to go.

 

[DisSurfer878]

See, I've been struggling to understand the anger. We booked at CBR and it was CHEAPER to get a dining plan than it was not to. We priced it 9 ways to Sunday and the cheapest option always was the dining plan free offer.

 

[Tom P.]

Here is a real-world example. Not hypotheticals, but actual numbers.

We are a family of seven. We will be staying at a value resort and have to get two rooms. We always get Park Hopper Plus tickets and Memory Maker, and always do the standard dining plan. Regardless of discounts, that is what we choose. It is what makes our preferred vacation package.

To do that for 7 nights, using the just released room discount ("Sun and Fun" offer), the package price is $9,124.10.

To do the exact same package, except switch from the room offer to free dining, the package price is $7,139.98. Even after upgrading the dining from quick service to standard.

That is a difference of almost $2,000 between the two offers for the exact same package. And in both cases, choosing the options we want already and not making any adjustments just to get the offer.

That is why some of us get excited for free dining. That is why it is such a big deal. And those who claim that free dining can never be a good deal and that room discounts are always better are just wrong. Yes, it depends the situation. But there are times when free dining can be a MUCH better deal than a room discount.

 

[Brianstl]

I think Disney will start rolling out free dining four or five times a year. Every two or three months Disney will see when and where they are having trouble booking rooms and then announce windows where it is available. I don't think any of the periods will be filled with a huge amount of dates, but when you put them all together it will probably be close to or more days than what the average has been for prior years. It really made little sense for Disney to announce a huge amount of Free Dining dates ahead of time without a clear picture of what occupancy rates are looking like.

 

[bluezy]

...
That is why some of us get excited for free dining. That is why it is such a big deal. And those who claim that free dining can never be a good deal and that room discounts are always better are just wrong. Yes, it depends the situation. But there are times when free dining can be a MUCH better deal than a room discount.

Exactly. I priced out our summer trip with the new room only/package discount this morning. When we originally booked the trip, the price was $7800 for 5 adults, 8 nights at AoA, with 8-day PH tickets. We know from past trips that we will spend $1800-2000 on food, snacks, and drinks (we buy snacks and drinks in the parks when we want/need them rather than lugging them around all day). So our total cost for the trip (not including travel and souvenirs) would have been ~$9700 with no discounts. Then we booked free dining so now our costs will be $7800 including food. Pricing it out with the package discount this morning, the price was $6500. Add in the $1800-2000 we will spend for food and we're at ~$8500. So we'll stick with the free dining deal as it clearly saves us $1,000 over the room discount.

 

[ilanakan]

Here is a real-world example. Not hypotheticals, but actual numbers.

We are a family of seven. We will be staying at a value resort and have to get two rooms. We always get Park Hopper Plus tickets and Memory Maker, and always do the standard dining plan. Regardless of discounts, that is what we choose. It is what makes our preferred vacation package.

To do that for 7 nights, using the just released room discount ("Sun and Fun" offer), the package price is $9,124.10.

To do the exact same package, except switch from the room offer to free dining, the package price is $7,139.98. Even after upgrading the dining from quick service to standard.

That is a difference of almost $2,000 between the two offers for the exact same package. And in both cases, choosing the options we want already and not making any adjustments just to get the offer.

That is why some of us get excited for free dining. That is why it is such a big deal. And those who claim that free dining can never be a good deal and that room discounts are always better are just wrong. Yes, it depends the situation. But there are times when free dining can be a MUCH better deal than a room discount.

That's why I'm so disappointed no availability in Coronado Springs or other resort we would like to stay.

 

[sharonabe]

That's why I'm so disappointed no availability in Coronado Springs or other resort we would like to stay.

I still say to keep checking up until the last day you can book the offer, but at some point, you may have to change your "want tos" to "need tos" if you want to save the money.

 

[CalSea12]

Exactly. I priced out our summer trip with the new room only/package discount this morning. When we originally booked the trip, the price was $7800 for 5 adults, 8 nights at AoA, with 8-day PH tickets. We know from past trips that we will spend $1800-2000 on food, snacks, and drinks (we buy snacks and drinks in the parks when we want/need them rather than lugging them around all day). So our total cost for the trip (not including travel and souvenirs) would have been ~$9700 with no discounts. Then we booked free dining so now our costs will be $7800 including food. Pricing it out with the package discount this morning, the price was $6500. Add in the $1800-2000 we will spend for food and we're at ~$8500. So we'll stick with the free dining deal as it clearly saves us $1,000 over the room discount.

Same thing here... heck honestly with the way we eat at WDW (3 meals per day or 1 1-credit and 1 2-credit) we save money even if the dining plan isn't free. We are staying Value for 2 adults DxDP 8 days of PH for 3675 with free dining. Fun and Sun will cost us 4490. That's an 800 difference, not thousands but its enough to say FD is so much better than the room discount for us.

 

[brockash]

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.

It's very limited and very limited in the room categories as well. Def. not anywhere near the perk it used to be.

 

[dknight1021]

We were already planning a summer trip for a family of 8 at CBR staying in the standard rooms and buying discounted non hopper tickets and when FD came up we grabbed the offer but all that was left were the pirate rooms. So with the pirate rooms and the park hoppers looks like the cost is going to be about the same, figuring all together we would spend $2000 on food and drinks for the eight of us. Still debating on what to do but we are leaning towards the free dining because we have 3 teenagers in our group. (I realize the full size pirate beds could be an issue) If we do the FD the addition of the adult beverage is very appealing, so can we go to the ABC Comm. in HS and get the BBQ rib platter for $18.99 and then order the happy daze drink for $12.00? That would be a good use of the QS plan or are the adult drink options limited?