Free DDP pains...

[Princess Susi]

Welcome back to the real world, Syndrome! It sucks to have come back, doesn't it? I know I would much rather stay where the magic is! Our first Disney cruise is set in stone now, we paid the first down payment and itrip insurance. We are gonna be on the Wonder in April 2009 when we do a month long trip to Florida again! 17 days at WDW, 4 day cruise and a few other Parks, like Sea World, Gatorland and then up north to family. I want to do Weeki Wachi as well. Fun times!

I hope you had a great cruise! 15 days...ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...relaxing....

Thanks Vixen, I get it now. The FREE DDP! A special promotion! Ah...a way to bring in more guests!

susi

[lady ulrike]

So question for everyone....when is the Free DDP promotion? I know Vixen said fall, and it's obviously happening now, but is it always just fall? We're hoping to go in January and wondering if Dining will be as insane as it's been in the past.

[sandravb79]

It's a promotional perk Susi. Normally the DDP has a charge with the package but for certain dates in the fall they offer the basic DDP free when you book at least 3 nites and at least a 1 day ticket per person in your party.

Yeah, I sound like an ad for it :D: but this will be the 3rd time we have done it. It really does make a difference in cost. This coming week we will probably save about 500$ in food cost alone. You do have to know how to work it to make it worth while. It also gives us a chance to try some places we normally could never afford like HOOP DE DOO. Sorry, but no way am I paying $55 a person to have chicken and beans, etc. LOL

You know, imo, it's not completely "free". Last year, you had to pay rack rate in order to get the "free" dining plan.
I booked my rooms with a discount that was bigger than the "free" dining plan. And I could hoose how much I was/ wasn't going to eat.
It's a promotion like another, but since people see "free dining plan", they think they got the big deal. IMO, not always, there could be better promotions out there.

[glendalais]

So question for everyone....when is the Free DDP promotion? I know Vixen said fall, and it's obviously happening now, but is it always just fall? We're hoping to go in January and wondering if Dining will be as insane as it's been in the past.

It has always been in the Fall, it's WDW's way of attracting guests during Florida's Hurricane Season. Of course, there's nothing keeping them from offering it earlier, particularly if Park Attendance next year is down.

However, WDW Dining is generally much more crazy than it is here at the DLR, Free Dining or not. You should make your reservations several months in advance.

[ectomstr]

It has always been in the Fall, it's WDW's way of attracting guests during Florida's Hurricane Season. Of course, there's nothing keeping them from offering it earlier, particularly if Park Attendance next year is down.

However, WDW Dining is generally much more crazy than it is here at the DLR, Free Dining or not. You should make your reservations several months in advance.

actually, they do it in september due tot he slowness of the month with kids going back to school and such. it's not because of the hurricane season. that lasts from may-november.

[glendalais]

actually, they do it in september due tot he slowness of the month with kids going back to school and such. it's not because of the hurricane season. that lasts from may-november.

I stand corrected :D: . It does make more sense than the company trying to entice people with free food to pay rack rate for rooms and place their safety at risk in a Hurricane.

Though I'm thankful we don't do Free Dining here at the DLR. Rather than tying it with the room key, we use Vouchers for our Dining Plan, all of which have to be entered into MATRA by hand. I don't think we could handle it if every other guest was handing us a stack of them, lol.

[Syndrome]

Our first Disney cruise is set in stone now, we paid the first down payment and itrip insurance. We are gonna be on the Wonder in April 2009 when we do a month long trip to Florida again! 17 days at WDW, 4 day cruise and a few other Parks, like Sea World, Gatorland and then up north to family. I want to do Weeki Wachi as well. Fun times!

You are gonna love it! Have you ever seen my website? http://www.castawayclub.com

It has literally everything you need to plan out the ultimate Disney cruise (navigators, menus, shore excursion lists, etc.). Poor long-suffering Mr. Syndrome makes sure the navs. and menus are up to date.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Dw and I always try and go during September, a tradition started in 1993 due to work requirements and so on. I always book our vacation about a year in advance, and last year while at the Poly, there was a room card that said if you book now, you could get free dining.

Of course we booked. The problem is that we usually don't eat that much and our meal times were varied. Now with the "plan" I had to book reservations way in advnace. I called six months out and a very nice CM helped me get what we needed. Not much, a good reservation for our anniversary while we are there, and of course, one for my birthday while we are there!

I am afarid that we will overeat, so we are hoping that there are some good salads available too!

AS too saving money, when I explained about the dining credits we would get, DW simply observed..GREAT now we can spend more on souvinears for ourselves and everyone else!!

(yeah, don't think I'm gonna save much this trip!! heheheheh)

At least I can have some good RUM drinks!!

[Zazu]

As a local, I hate, loathe, bane and despise free dining.

Aw, come on Syndrome, you're among friends here. Tell us how you *really* feel about free dining.

It makes it impossible to get into many of my favorites, like Ohana, it causes Disney to dumb down the menus at all but the signatures...

But it does impact the signature menus. Jiko had to drop their weekly special flatbread and serve the same one all month because they're just so hammered every night.

... and as the OP pointed out, it brings in a rather... er, interesting clientele.

Which wouldn't be so bad if they were just *funny* interesting. Instead we get *stinky* interesting, *noisy* interesting, and *clueless* interesting.

I notice it even at the signatures, where Cletus and the gang don't seem to mind popping two credits and their antics make it pretty obvious that they're not paying out of pocket. This may sound mean, but put me in Jiko or Citricos and I can spot the DPP people a mile away, no psychic abilities required. (I'm in a cranky mood today...was on a 15 day Disney cruise and am now forced back into reality.)

Yeah, I firmly believe that Port Canaveral is the *worst* port of call those ships make!

And yes, I am including Nassau in that.

[Zazu]

So question for everyone... when is the Free DDP promotion? I know Vixen said fall, and it's obviously happening now, but is it always just fall? We're hoping to go in January and wondering if Dining will be as insane as it's been in the past.

Free DDP happens whenever Marketing decides we aren't going to have enough guests otherwise. Fall is normal, Spring has seen it at least once, but they could pull this almost any week but the one between Xmas and New Years.