[Question] ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

[proradvlx]

Hi all --- Keep watching the Disney page, and the other Disney related sites, have not seen any mention of Disney doing the free basic Dining Plan this year. Have gotten this in the past, and is wonderful!! Not going until October, just getting a little nervous.... What do you think, too early yet, or has anyone heard rumors about the Dining Plan this year???
Thanks!!!

[DisneyNerdTom]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

usually for fall they do not announce that yet. That would deter people from booking in the summer so there is no reason for them to announce this at this time. I would keep an eye out for mid to late summer.

I don't think October is a common time for free dining however.

[swampymarsh]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

It may not be free, but may be discounted.

This is around the time of year for fall promotions to be announced.

[Timon'sGirl]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

I believe it gets announced sometime in May because for the past two years our travel agent calls us around that time to change our Disney vacation to include the free dining. We've been going in November.

[swampymarsh]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

I believe it gets announced sometime in May because for the past two years our travel agent calls us around that time to change our Disney vacation to include the free dining. We've been going in November.

They roll out promotion about 6 months out. Just like dining reservations can be made 180 days out. So you May the 5th month phone call is 6 months from November the 11 month. Holiday season starts then so they make promotion for the slow weeks.

[Barbaraann]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

People have come to expect "free dining". However, I'd rather have discounted hotel rooms. In the past, I remember free dining being at the end of Summer. Then I believe it was moved until after labor Day and beyond.

Disney has many different ways to spin their promotions to get people in their hotels, and restaurants.

[DisneyNerdTom]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

Free dining is what is killing the base prices and variety of food around the parks.. I personally wish they would do away all together with free dining.

[CassiefRN]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

Free dining is what is killing the base prices and variety of food around the parks.. I personally wish they would do away all together with free dining.

Or the dining plan in general!

[DisneyNerdTom]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

Or the dining plan in general!

I dont mind them having a dining plan as it helps people who are not the most organized people simplify their trip.. But I dont necessarily think it should be built as a cost saving measure.

[Barbaraann]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

I am not a fan of the Dining Plan. I used it once. Only because my fellow traveler wanted it. Did I save money? No. Not really. The prices of meals has gone up, and the Dining Plan prices are in my opinion, quite high. Although people really do think that a "free dining plan" saves them money. I guess you have to do the math. Rooms are never discounted during the periods when "free dining" is offered.

[Timon'sGirl]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

We like the dining plan but up to a point. We think the Quick Service helped us save money. We didn't have it in 2012 because it cost us too much but we learned our lesson because when we arrived we saw how much the cost of food had gone up since our last visit. So in 2013 we got the qs dining plan and it helped not having to worry about paying for food cause it was already paid for. It helped us out a lot by saving our snacks for the Epcot Food and Wine festival.

We were able to try out all the different countries we wanted to sample. Plus just in a year's time the food prices had risen again. If there was a table service restaurant we didn't mind paying for it because there was only 1 or 2 nights we ate somewhere nice. That meant that we could have breakfast with our two qs that we had saved. So overall up to a point we enjoyed it. But if we upgraded to the next level of dining plan we would have lost money as we wouldn't have ate at a table service every night. Oh and also I loved that we got a dessert with our quick service meal that we took back to the room for later if we had the late night munchies after closing the parks.

[swampymarsh]

Re: ? Disney Dining Plan returning ?

I was thinking about this, and when I last saw free dining.

I got a PIN around the Holidays to come in the spring with Free Dining as the offer. PINs are offers with a pin cod that the receiver can book with to get the deal. Not general offers of transferable. I get these every now and then after an on site stay.

Last year I got a bounce back offer when I was at WDW that included fall free dining. A Bounce Back offer is an offer to a guest to return, later in the year. It entices you to come more often.



Also I want to mention what Free Dining is worth. I've looked at the savings. For one trip the package was about $400 per person, and with free dining we were saving about $20 per person. Another was about $1200 per person and we saved about $75 per person. This is because they discount the dining and everything else is full price. We paid more for our rooms and tickets and less for food. If we had booked a different package the room and tickets would of been less and the food full price.

Any discount is really just a small discount after all.