Your thoughts on FD this year

[bookgirl]

I did a trial run and it let me book with two days of tickets and 4 night stay.

Yes, I thought you had to stay at least 5 nights for the free dining, but it is a minimum of 3 nights. Rooms are open for my dates that I plug in, but I still need to figure out if the free dining is worth it for us especially since there is no table service with moderate stays.

 

[wfjeff]

I thought the FD worked out well for us but I guess it is all relative. This is our first time with actual FD. in the past we have just done out of pocket or have gotten the smaller Play-Stay-Dine discount.

This trip we had planned from the get go to get the Disney Dining plan. Originally scheduled to stay at POR with dining but with FD we were able to get BWI for essentially the same price. We are excited cause this would be our first stay at a deluxe resort. Looking forward to being able to walk to a couple of parks and extra amenities at the resort.

It sounds like others were fairly disappointed in the FD this fall. Am I in the big minority of accepting it cause it is our first time getting it? Do others have positive reaction to FD this fall or am I just naive because we've not used FD before?

 

[neverenoughtime]

It has worked out good for me. I was going to stay at All-Star movies with the table service dining. I am now going to POP with the upgraded table service dining and saved almost $800.00 for the week for three people.

 

[Eastern]

I thought the FD worked out well for us but I guess it is all relative. This is our first time with actual FD. in the past we have just done out of pocket or have gotten the smaller Play-Stay-Dine discount.

This trip we had planned from the get go to get the Disney Dining plan. Originally scheduled to stay at POR with dining but with FD we were able to get BWI for essentially the same price. We are excited cause this would be our first stay at a deluxe resort. Looking forward to being able to walk to a couple of parks and extra amenities at the resort.

It sounds like others were fairly disappointed in the FD this fall. Am I in the big minority of accepting it cause it is our first time getting it? Do others have positive reaction to FD this fall or am I just naive because we've not used FD before?

It sounds good to you because you were planning on paying for dining anyway. I would prefer to get a room discount at BWI (there have always been good discounts when I wanted to stay there) and pay OOP for dining.

 

[wfjeff]

Well we'll see later in the year if the RO discounts make sense. At this point I don't think I am gonna be able to walk it back going to POR even though we really enjoy it there. Getting to go to Boardwalk is very exciting and looking forward to it.

 

[bizeemom4]

Yep. It works out great for me this year too. I'll have fd over Christmas and New Years!
Sometimes the Saturday before Christmas isn't included. This year it is!

We are going for the two weeks around Christmas and New Years also. 2 weeks at Pop might turn me off forever to my favorite resort but I'm willing to give it a chance. I'm very appreciative to Disney for the free food. We are not upgrading to table service. Or maybe we will upgrade one of our three rooms to deluxe and use those credits for a few meals for the 6 of us.

 

[Disneylover99]

We are going for the two weeks around Christmas and New Years also. 2 weeks at Pop might turn me off forever to my favorite resort but I'm willing to give it a chance. I'm very appreciative to Disney for the free food. We are not upgrading to table service. Or maybe we will upgrade one of our three rooms to deluxe and use those credits for a few meals for the 6 of us.

We will not be upgrading either. Quick service is fine for us, plus it would cost us over $1000 to upgrade to TS meals. It's much cheaper to keep the quick service and buy a couple of meals oop.

 

[Lynne M]

Moving to the Discount Codes & Rates board.

 

[Hitchhiking Ghost]

I thought the FD worked out well for us but I guess it is all relative. This is our first time with actual FD. in the past we have just done out of pocket or have gotten the smaller Play-Stay-Dine discount.

This trip we had planned from the get go to get the Disney Dining plan. Originally scheduled to stay at POR with dining but with FD we were able to get BWI for essentially the same price. We are excited cause this would be our first stay at a deluxe resort. Looking forward to being able to walk to a couple of parks and extra amenities at the resort.

It sounds like others were fairly disappointed in the FD this fall. Am I in the big minority of accepting it cause it is our first time getting it? Do others have positive reaction to FD this fall or am I just naive because we've not used FD before?

The disappointment stems from those that start their planning/budgeting process with the base line that Free Dining will be an offering in the fall/winter period. For those that simply go and book and find out they qualify for a discount later, its all great and gravy. For those that are planning ahead and making an assumption about the free dining offering, it is more disappointing than other years.
-No October dates
-POR being excluded for a majority of the offer period (hurts families like mine with 5)
-Downgrading moderate resorts from the regular DDP to only the QSDP
-Much more restrictions on availability
-Having to buy the Hopper add on

Its still a deal, Disney could have no special promotions during this period, but in the context of this being offered now several years running, it is a lesser value then in years past.

I just looked on line for our normal travel period, family of 5, and the only availability I could find was basically Deluxe Villas 1 & 2 bedrooms, or Deluxe Resorts Club Levels, putting up a price tag of between $8-10K, and that's before airfare. So not a good deal for us, it will be a pass for us this year.

 

[wfjeff]

The disappointment stems from those that start their planning/budgeting process with the base line that Free Dining will be an offering in the fall/winter period. For those that simply go and book and find out they qualify for a discount later, its all great and gravy. For those that are planning ahead and making an assumption about the free dining offering, it is more disappointing than other years.
-No October dates
-POR being excluded for a majority of the offer period (hurts families like mine with 5)
-Downgrading moderate resorts from the regular DDP to only the QSDP
-Much more restrictions on availability
-Having to buy the Hopper add on

Its still a deal, Disney could have no special promotions during this period, but in the context of this being offered now several years running, it is a lesser value then in years past.

I just looked on line for our normal travel period, family of 5, and the only availability I could find was basically Deluxe Villas 1 & 2 bedrooms, or Deluxe Resorts Club Levels, putting up a price tag of between $8-10K, and that's before airfare. So not a good deal for us, it will be a pass for us this year.

Oh I totally I understand how you could be disappointed. Heck I was ticked when I first heard that to get the reg dining plan you had to go up to deluxe and no POR. if I had not found the cheaper std room at BW it prob would have priced us out too. I guess we just fell into a sweet spot where it was about the same price as what we orig had at POR. Plus we get the added bonus of something like BW and park hoppers -- neither of which we have exp yet.

It's being framed as a 20th yr anniversary trip ... with kids so it seemed like a good deal for us this time. Other trips I may not have been able to justify it as much.

 

[StitchyPoo81]

I think the new FD promo sucks, but I feel we got the best deal with it only becuase we are staying at CBR and we are getting the $75 a night gift card which covered us to upgrade the dining plan. I really wanted to stay at the Contemporary or Beach club but the standards were sold out

 

[deide71]

I think Disney has been stripping the value of the dining plan and free dining for many years.
They took away the tips and appetizer
They raised the price significantly
They changed to QS plan at the Values
They required hoppers
They changed to QS only at the Mods

Wonder what they will do next year?

 

[marcyleecorgan]

This was the First Time that my family even knew there was a Free Dining promo. My DH was less than thrilled with the offering though, when I did forward it to him. He doesn't like that Disney can't/won't release schedules several years in advance so that we won't know what the fine print on the FD deal is, until it comes out. There are no guarantees of anything, and we have to plan several months in advance but it is frustrating that one can't depend on any reliable discount schedule...

Like @Hitchhiking Ghost says, if you try and use FD as a promotion to get a cheaper trip, you are GOING to be disappointed! Unfortunately you just have to look at it as unreliable Pixie Dust on an already-insanely overpriced vacation. It's exciting and magical if it somehow works for your family, but for many, it won't be the same deal for them, and therefore, not as exciting and magical. But thinking like THAT ruins your vacation if you think about how much money everyone ELSE saved besides you! I will continue to cross my fingers and hope that one day, a discount that actually is a discount will come our way...

 

[Tiggergirly]

As someone who as been lucky enough to take advantage of FD since 2009, I can say this year is the only year I had trouble getting it. Still trying though!

 

[kandb]

Oh I totally I understand how you could be disappointed. Heck I was ticked when I first heard that to get the reg dining plan you had to go up to deluxe and no POR. if I had not found the cheaper std room at BW it prob would have priced us out too. I guess we just fell into a sweet spot where it was about the same price as what we orig had at POR. Plus we get the added bonus of something like BW and park hoppers -- neither of which we have exp yet.

It's being framed as a 20th yr anniversary trip ... with kids so it seemed like a good deal for us this time. Other trips I may not have been able to justify it as much.

Just wondering how you got the Boardwalk for the same price as POR? The price of the deluxe resorts for free dining were super high.

 

[wfjeff]

Just wondering how you got the Boardwalk for the same price as POR? The price of the deluxe resorts for free dining were super high.

Well we had pool view @ POR and just std room @ BW. Some of those other BW rooms ARE crazy expensive.

The BW reservation I got for $5100, nov 26-dec 2 for 2 adults and 2 children 10+

The POR reservation i got for $5200, nov 25-dec 2. I know this reservation has for one extra day, so not a total apples to apples comparison. But we were already planning on a day at an all star resort so just tacking on an extra day at an all star to make it work at BW.

With the FD package we have to get park hoppers. So in the total price I am getting an additional benefit I would not have gotten saying at POR cause we initially did not choose that.

There was about $1700 cost extra for the Dining Plan at POR so that pretty much made up for the room cost diff at BW.

I was surprised it worked out that way and heck if I messed up my calcs or missed something I don't care. It seemed like a "relative" good deal so we're going with it.

 

[kandb]

Seems like you got a decent deal at the BW. Don't think they offered many standard rooms for the free dining you are lucky to have gotten one.

 

[scard192]

I think Disney has been stripping the value of the dining plan and free dining for many years.

Wonder what they will do next year?

I would not be surprised to see the Values getting just one QS meal/day.

 

[Gwoman8920]

For us there are 7 of us going. We planned our dates out based on several things; a. husbands slow time for work b. Weather. I do NOT do Disney in the summer I cannot do theme park sweltering heat. c. When we thought free dining might be offered. In that order. We lucked out on Nov 14th through the 23rd. For our family free dining actually benefits us. Our kids are eaters, and we were going during those dates anyways so it worked really well for us. Our room rates are what I had expected/anticipated and really not that bad. Adding the park hopper was not something we would have done, but we did the math and in all reality the Free dining will save us about 700 dollars on food. so it's a win/win. I got up every hour starting at 1am and was lucky to score it for both our rooms and our entire party. I was able to do everything on my phone in my bed lol. I didn't have to call. I got everything squared away at about 4:45am when the offer dropped. I'm excited and really looking forward to not having to worry about meal costs. The extra 700 we were going to spend and had budgeted for the trip will go into a contingency fund lol! a just in case emergency while we're on vaca.