Why so much dislike for free dining?

[Dsnygirl]

Now, I'm NOT asking this question to start and arguement or a debate... I am legitamitely wondering why when I tell people we got a "free dining deal" for our trip, some answer me with "Oh, we hate free dining" or " We hate the dining plan".

I asked a question in a different thread whether or not the menus are different during free dining, and everyone said no -- but that the restaurants ARE busier, and the waitstaff CM's more rushed, less attentive and not quite as friendly during free dining. (Which is understandable, to a point, if people are rude to the CM's b/c their food is "free" or if people choose to not tip for the same reason... )

But what I'm getting more of is just a general dislike of the dining plan as a whole, and thus, free dining falls into the disliked category, as well.

From my perspective, I wouldn't pay for the dining plan again -- my girls are both "adult" priced now (but are truly only 9 and 12) and paying $46/day next year for each of them next year would be crazy. And thus, to pay $184/day for our whole family would be even crazier... we average about $120/day, including snacks.

But when Disney is giving you two square meals a day, plus a snack, for free -- what's not to like?

(I also realize that for our family, or any family of probably 4 or more who are all eating regular-type meals, free dining is a much more significant savings than a couple going by themselves, or with very small children. For them, a room discount is probably the bigger savings, and this could play into it.)

Just curious -- I realize this is a VERY personal opinion for everyone...

[ANG]

I love the dining plan!

But as DVC members, we do not receive free dining.

Which in turn also makes me angry because I am paying full price for my plan and had a harder time making ADRs.

[faline]

I don't hate the dining plan and, in fact, have been on it on several occasions, most recently last December.

Personally, I have never found waitstaff less attentive when we have been on the plan and have not felt we were treated differently in any way.

I do sometimes question, at least in my own person circumstances, whether or not, the dining plan makes financial sense. With a family of four staying in the same room, the numbers may play out differently. For a party of two, I've found that we come out ahead with a room discount and paying for food out of pocket.

[BrerGnat]

I hate "free dining" for a few reasons:

1. It makes the restaurants SO crowded. It makes it almost mandatory to make your reservations 180+ days out, which I HATE doing. I like to do walk ups sometimes, which it never a problem, UNLESS it's "Free Dining" time, and then there's no hope

2. They are doing it too often. It was fine when it was a once a year thing, in Aug/September. However, now, they are offering it the WHOLE year at various times, and that makes it annoying for people regarding ADRs.

3. I just hate the dining plan altogether. It was sort of okay at first (the one time I used it) because it really was a great deal (included apps, entree, dessert, drink, AND tip at TS places!). It's not really a "deal" anymore. It's a way that Disney makes people THINK it's a deal, and causes inflated pricing for people paying OOP, to further boost the claim of real savings. Quality and menu choices have declined significantly since the plan arrived, and prices have continued to go up. In addition, I hate being "tethered' to my ADR's and found the one time we used the DDP, we spent so much time getting to and from ADRs, and coordinating where we needed to be, that the trip became all about that, and not so much about being in the parks and having spontaneous fun.

Further, it's not "free". You are giving up a room discount in lieu of the dining plan being given.

[Dsnygirl]

I do sometimes question, at least in my own person circumstances, whether or not, the dining plan makes financial sense. With a family of four staying in the same room, the numbers may play out differently. For a party of two, I've found that we come out ahead with a room discount and paying for food out of pocket.

I totally agree -- even for our family of four, based on how and where we typically eat, we've found that a discounted room has always benefited us more than paying for food. (And we do at least one TS per day, but often not the really expensive ones - just once in awhile)

But what I'm really wondering about is the free dining -- that seems to be what most people are reacting to when I tell them we got that discount... they seem to think it's nothing, not worth it, not a good savings, etc. But for our family, it's saving us at LEAST $1500 for our 10 day trip, if you add in snacks, etc.

But I do agree that paying for the DDP is not always a better deal than paying OOP instead, and just watching how you eat while taking a room discount. It's always a numbers game, planning these trips!

[Dsnygirl]

But as DVC members, we do not receive free dining.

Which in turn also makes me angry because I am paying full price for my plan and had a harder time making ADRs.

I can totally understand that... we're considering DVC in the future, and what's holding us off is the lack of discounts you guys get (although the AP discount is nice, but only if you travel more than 10-12 days/yr...) and the fact that you guys struggle with reservations and ADR's during these times.

BrerGnat, I totally agree with you on being "tethered" to your ADR's... we did the DDP once, and felt the same way. Too much hopping around to get to our meals, which we had mistakenly not always planned to have at the park we were at, or at a resort close by. So, too much "commuting" to eat, definitely.

And I admit, I'm a little nervous about how busy the restaurants will be... that will be a "wait & see" thing for us, and hopefully, now that they've spread out the dates a bit, will be more tolerable, as I see our trips being in August for quite awhile, as our DD's are too old to be out of school for a longer trip.

I do disagree about the "not really free" part, though.... yes, it's not entirely free, as you are then paying rack rate... but then, a lot of people pay rack rate, regardless, when they travel b/c of the dates they've chosed and no discounts being available. And for most families, even a 40% discount on their room, which is about as high as Disney goes, ('cept 42% once in a great while) is still less of a savings than free food. Not always for a couple, like I said, but for most families, I would think free food would be the biggest savings, unless they stay at the Poly, BW or BC - a 40% discount there would about even out the cost of food, I would think!

But thanks for the answers -- these are exactly what I was hoping for, and gives us all food for thought! (no pun intended, honest!! )

[DisneyDINK]

The dining plan really helps with budgeting on a trip. Like many, I've crunched the numbers, and while I could do better financially I still like the convenience of the dining plans and knowing about how much my trip will cost before I leave.

What I DON'T like about it is when the free dining offers are out you are now competing with thousands of other people and their TS points 6+ months in advance for ADRs at, what are percieved to be, the best restaurants (be they 1 pt or 2 pt "Signature") at WDW. You really can't be spontaneous anymore.

It is economics: you have an inflated number of points chasing a fixed number of seatings. If there were no free dining a family might opt for a counter service meal beacuse of convenience or saving money. Now the are essentially obligated to use each and every TS point to get the most out of their vacation dollar. Supply & demand, free dining increases demand for TS restaurents.

I think the system is fair, one TS point is as good as another, but we all know you have to study the plan a bit, it is fairly straightforward, but we all have to get educated and it gives us all some work to do. Heck, how many posts have we all read about the dining plan, ADRs, restaurants, busy times of year, making changes, etc. in order to prepare for our vacations. If there were no dining plan the Intercot Dining forum would probably have 50% less posts.

Also, who would book a last minute WDW trip knowing they probably can't eat at their 6-10 favorite restaurants? Is free dining to blame? Well, it doesn't help.

I've made 6 ADRs for a trip the last week of January. I'm hoping to make 4 or 5 last-minute dining decisions while I'm there; January is usually pretty quiet. I know, however, I might have to be very flexible.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Well, I understand that the dining plan isn't for everyone but we personally love it. I've done the math and we usually save money at the least break even and the convenience makes it a deal for us.

As for free dining, we've never gotten that lucky I promise I wouldn't hate it

[IloveJack]

We did the free dining last year, but are paying for the QSDP this year, as our dates fall within Disney's blackout dates.

I like the dining plan, because I know that no matter what I spend on souvenirs, I'll still have "money" to eat on. We've learned the hard way not to charge everything in our lives, so we live cash only while at WDW. I hate to have to budget our meals, not knowing how hungry/thirsty/snack-y someone will be each day. This way, our cash is for souvenirs and when it's gone, it's gone. But when it's gone, we're not left hungry.

That said, I decided to do the QS plan this year because A) it isn't free, B) I don't like being tied down by ADRs either, and C) we spent a lot of our short-3-day-trip last year eating. TS takes a good bit of time, and while the food was good, the service great, and it was free... I'd like to get what I pay for in the parks!

[AllDisney]

I like the fact that the DDP is paid for ahead of time. We don't seem to be able to go when there are room discounts so the "free dining" appeals to us.

We eat at a TS everyday. We used to enjoy the days when we would wake up in the morning, call for dinner reservations from the room or make the reservations once we got to the park that we decided to go to for the day. Now, we plan out what park for what day & make reservations based on our choice of park. That's what we miss most making reservations ON THE SAME DAY.

[Tinker Fan]

A good question!!! We love the dining plan, we have always felt we got our money's worth (even tho they have changed some things we still come out ahead) and don't mind the planning that goes along with it all. And how could you not like Free!!!! This is one family that has been happy with the dining plan!!

[Melanie]

I don't like it because it really does ruin spontaneity for locals.

Case in point - I just made an ADR at Le Cellier for February. Just a random Sunday afternoon in February, which was the first one I could get. This because my DS has been wanting to eat there forever, but with our weekend/day trips that are sometimes planned that very week or day, it's not possible.

[Disnamic Duo]

We don't care for the dining plan...but we LOVE the "free" dining plan. I wouldn't pay for it because it seems to me we'd just break even. Why restrict choices (app. vs. dessert) and have to keep up with credits for no savings? BUT, if it's free, that's different. I don't mind keeping up with credits when we save $500.

[RedSoxFan]

We have never been on the dining plan. However, we have free dining in December. It saved us an extra $600 over the AAA room only discount. And with the new discounts released, the free dining is still a better savings for us. I am so looking forward to having a sit down meal every night as I can only take so much counter service meals. I have park hopper passes and it's only DH and DD who will be 14 and myself as the boys are in college (1 has since graduated) so I really don't think it will be stressful to make our ADR's.

[Scar]

I don't like using the word "hate" (except for the Yankees and the Eagles,) but I very much dislike the DDP for this reason:

Quality and menu choices have declined significantly since the plan arrived, and prices have continued to go up.

It's a simple numbers game for me. I'm saving $1,100.00 with my room discount for 6 nights. I would have to eat $183.00 a day worth of food to equal that.

Now... if beer was included...

[DizneyRox]

My biggest problem is the decline in quality and variety of food. The menu are all pretty much generic, which is unfortunate. The DDP has forced the restaurants to limit their offerings as they need to keep the costs within what they will be reimbursed from the plan. Paying OOP they can charge what the market will bear.

ADRs and such are also much more difficult to get, but I don't mind working within the system, so this hasn't really impacted me.

On our last trip, the best savings was TiW, then OOP, then the DDP. But all were actually within about a $300 range. At least how we normally eat when on vacation.

[vicster]

I love the dining plan - it's nice to have the whole package paid for before we leave. I do feel for the locals, though. I always thought if I lived close to WDW it would be so nice to just go there for dinner. I doubt that's very possible anymore for the locals.

I have not noticed a difference in the food or the service.

[eeyorepoohfan]

My DH and I are going on free QSDP in December. We went last year without the dining plan and spent around $300 for our 6 days and 5 nights for food. We only ate at counter service restaurants and enjoyed that freedom. We had also packed a lot of snacks from home to help save money and shared meals about once a day. We stay at POP Century to save money. With room only discount at a value, we are better off with the free dining. I would save around $80 for our length of stay on room only. Obviously we will spend a lot more than $80 on food for 6 days! So the free QSDP does make sense for us. We will still probably share a meal occasionally so we can use a different meal credit to try a different counter service place. We are thinking of tasting more in EPCOT this year! What can I say, I like free stuff! For the dates we are going and our length of stay, the free dining made the most sense. We really don't buy many suveniers, so we really should have minimal out of pocket costs when we are there! So I will look at it as our trip being paid for!

[TheVBs]

I definitely don't hate the DDP. I wouldn't pay for it again, because it does not save us money, and I don't like being locked into a sit down reservation every day. I can understand why some people like the convenience of paying in advance, but for us, the convenience isn't worth the extra money - and it's not always convenient.

As for the food quality argument... I had great and awful meals before the DDP and I've had great and awful meals since. I've never felt like our dining experience overall has been ruined by the introduction of the DDP.

I do LOVE when we can get the free DDP!! Because it most certainly is free food for us. What we pay for "rack rate" at a value hotel is minimal compared to what we would pay out of pocket for those meals. We're a family of four by the way. If we're getting something that we did not pay for, then it is actually FREE.

And, weirdly, I'm actually happy that the free plan that will come with the value resort reservations is the quick service plan. Because, even when we got the regular DDP free, it was a stressor on our vacation to have all those ADRs to plan, hopefully make, and then get to or cancel if we can't. This is a change that actually should make most of the people who dislike the free dining specials happier. It takes out a whole chunk of people who would be vying for TS reservations every day. What we'll do is just book the few TS that we really want and run with the free CS the rest of the trip - exactly how we like to plan it anyway.

[Gator]

I definitely don't hate the dining plan and I don't think it's made the quality of food go down. It's always been just OK quality, with or without the plan.

That being said, I refuse to go when they're offering free dining. The reason? All the good restaurants are filled up with people who would not usually be there. It makes in hard to get good or any ADRs. That means I don't get the really good meals I want. That means my trip is a little less magical. So you see, it's selfishness that drives my hate for Free Dining. Simple enough.