Just Got Back Free DDP (long review)

[barb0310]

My husband and I just got back from a Disney vacation, which included free dining. Before anyone gets defensive regarding the Free DDP, remember this is MY experience and opinion only.

In thee future, I do not think I would ever purchase the dining plan as there is too much food and I do not like the feeling of being bloated on 90-degree days.

Luckily we made our ADR’s well in advance and were able to eat at our favorite restaurants Many people were turned away from the door. Some restaurants obviously overbooked. As a sidebar, I am a vegetarian, DH is not. The restaurants we dined at were LeCellier, Coral Reef, Liberty Tree, Nine Dragons and Boma.

Due to the word “free” you can just imagine that the restaurants were crowded beyond belief and service (with the exception of LeCellier) was way below average. In defense of the wait staff, they are waaaaay too overworked during the “free dining” period. In several places we were asked to order all our courses at once and the main meal would come out before we were through with our appetizer, thus cold food was the norm.

Restaurants that were normally peaceful dining experiences, were overrun by unruly, screaming, cranky, tired children (mainly preschoolers who needed a good night’s sleep). Many parents were not from the school of thought “I will remove my child from the restaurant until he / she calms down.’ In LeCellier, we had to be asked not to sit near little “Brian.” Everyone knew his name by thee time the family was summoned to eat.

LeCellier (dinner) … exceptional service and food. Need I say more. Our server was attentive and was thoroughly informative of the best dishes to choose. DH had a steak (done to perfection he claimed) and I had the salmon … both dishes were incredible … and we were not seated near “Brian.”

Liberty Tree (lunch) … I have always enjoyed the non-character experience here but our server must have been having a bad day when we arrived. DH asked for an iced coffee. This concoction of “iced milk with a tad of coffee” came out. Asking for just the coffee with milk on the side a second cup of hot coffee came out with a glass of milk. “You will have to let it cool down” was the response. We had to ask for bread and butter. With rolled eyes we got it. The main entrees came out while we were eating our appetizers. Cold food … yuk.

Nine Dragons (dinner) … I would not recommend this restaurant to a vegetarian. All the appetizers were a mixture of fish and meat. I had to order the fried rice as an appetizer. I was surprised at the lack of seafood / vegetarian choices. I took a look at the menu and was flabbergasted by the actual prices of the entrees … so after I gasped, I chose (which I am sure many free diners do) the most expensive item on the menu … a shrimp and scallop dish … quite tasty … but it came while I was eating my appetizer again. I also asked for a cup of jasmine tea towards the end of my meal and was told I could not have it as the kitchen was closing soon. So I guess it is not a good idea to have a late ADR. I wonder if Disney knows that.

Coral Reef (lunch) … hubby had to turn down the inedible pork chop and opted for the lobster salad, which I was thoroughly enjoying. The little side order or soup came out room temperature and when my husband’s second entrée came out he was without fork for the entire meal … our server too busy to be found. All in all … the lobster was delicious as was the shrimp cocktail appetizer.

Boma (dinner) … our favorite restaurant … service was a bit slow but since you serve yourself with the exception of drinks … who cares. I love this place and it comes with the highest recommendation. The place was packed but we were seated almost immediately. Thank goodness for ADR’s. We tried almost everything.

As for counter service … a bit confusing. I was under the assumption that the main entrée and / or sandwich came with a side dish. Yet … two of the places I went to claimed no sides were included.

Although I may sound a bit negative, we did have a nice time. I personally would rather pay for good service and eat a moderate amount of food in a quieter atmosphere. I have always enjoyed Disney's full service restaurants and have tried them all. I would think about partaking in the the free dining in the future.

[Donna Griffin]

Great.... our first WDW trip is 9/22 - 9/29 with Free Dining. We will be very disappointed if our experince is similar. I agree with you. I would rather pay for my own food to enjoy a better experience. We do have ADR's but I want GOOD SERVICE. Please!!

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

Thanks for the review! My DH and I leave in 4 days for our trip and are trying a few new places. We have an ADR for lunch at Coral Reef so I was pleased to hear that you enjoyed it. You even ordered what I was looking at trying...lobster salad. Now I'll definitely have it.

Barb did you complain or at least let someone know that you weren't thrilled with the DDP?

[rnin02]

I have to agree with you...it seemed this year the servers were a little overworked and at times service was very spotty. In the past (even during free dining) service has always been near 100% excellent, this year was very different. Even at Artist Pointe, which wasn't crowded, we had massive waits and rather indifferent service. Our best meal this trip was also at Boma!

[SBETigg]

I'm with you on the dining plan being too much food for 90 degree weather. I was glad we'd planned most of our meals for late evening. We weren't on free dining, but it was August and hot for us too. Thanks for your report. It has me a bit nervous to plan to go in September in the future.

But LOL about little Brian. Glad you dodged that one. ;)

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

Great.... our first WDW trip is 9/22 - 9/29 with Free Dining. We will be very disappointed if our experince is similar. I agree with you. I would rather pay for my own food to enjoy a better experience. We do have ADR's but I want GOOD SERVICE. Please!!

WOW! Your first trip to WDW. Have a great time!:mickey:

[Dave H]

I was there from 9/8 - 9/15, also taking part in the free DDP, and had similar experiences. I didn't have trouble with cold food, just overworked restaurant staff. It seemed as though the later your ADR, the more backed up you were, because of the overbooked restaurants. This seemed to only be a problem with the World Showcase restaurants though, as I didn't have any trouble with the Kona Cafe or Brown Derby. Probably due to the popularity of eating dinner in Epcot.

I have to give kudos to Christophe, the maitre d' at Chefs de France. Depite obvious overbooking, a sudden rainstorm and a crush of increasingly testy waiting guests, he ushered us all through with a happy face and a bit of humor. So all is not lost. ;)

[Goofster]

We enjoyed the dining plan, particulary the fact that it was free. But I do agree with the OP, at least in part. The weather was too hot for the amount of eating that we did. Though, in general, we would never eat the amount of food offered. For TS, we ate at Cap May Cafe, Le Chefs de France, and Crystal Palace. We found the service to be exceptional at all three. As I mention in another post, we didn't care for the heat in September or the crowds at the MK. We anticipated the weather to be a bit cooler than August and the crowds to be moderate. They weren't. Regardless, we still had a wonderful time (especially since it was a DH and DW only trip - family trip with the kids is in February 2008), we are just planning our next alone trip for October of 2008- when free dining is over and the weather is a bit cooler. Besides, we normally are content with CS restaurants the entire trip and one nice TS.;)

[4myprincesses]

Our sentiments exactly!!! We had an 8:20 ADR for Le Cellier and were not seated until 9PM. THe food and service there were near perfect though so how do you even think of complaining?

We were really looking forward to dinner at the Cali Grill. We waited for our table (about 30-35 minutes) then waited for our server, then waited for our drinks, then waited for our food. It was an hour after our ADR time when our first appetizer arrived. For two table service credits and the type of food served we were extremely disappointed! We were seated at a table in between of the kitchen and a server station, little to no window view of anything, and felt like we were an after-though not a guest. Last year we did Artist Pointe and from here on out plan on going back there. CaliGrill was too expensive to lack so much.

It was not uncommon to be asked to order all courses at once, it was not uncommon to wait, it got to where we were surprised at good service. I will say, though, that the chefs are wonderful at dealing with food allergies. One of my daughters can not have processed foods and everywhere we went they were very accomodating. I will say she got pretty tired of the grape and melon fruit cup though.

This, above, was all table service. Counter service was not good at all. Twice I tried to get someone to help me with my daughter's allergies, and twice the manager (or whomever the cashier paged) did not come. Add to this our disappointing stay at POFQ (rooms and food both had issues) and I am not sure we will pay the money to stay on property again.

[DizneyRox]

... I personally would rather pay for good service and eat a moderate amount of food in a quieter atmosphere.
The good news is, that for 2008, YOU have control over service in that the tip is for you to decide. If service isn't where it should be, neither should the tip.

From what you describe, I would probably be down near the 5% or less on many of those TS meals.

[Disneyatic]

We stayed 9/8 to 9-15 and I was apprehensive about the service we would receive with TS, but had great luck with almost everything!
We did Crystal Palace breakfast, GF Cafe 1900 Park Fare breakfast, Akershaus breakfast, Chef Mickey's dinner, 50's Prime Time Cafe dinner, GF Cafe Cinderella dinner, San Angel Inn dinner, and Liberty Tree Tavern dinner.
We actually got seated before our ADR times for everything except we had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated for Crystal Palace breakfast and about 45 minutes for 50's PT Cafe.
Our favorite meal was by far San Angel Inn, we were seated about 10 minutes before our ADR and although our server wasn't the most talkative guy, he was prompt and attentive. This is definitely going to be a must do for us!
Our worst experience was 50's PT because of the long wait and the food was not very good IMHO.
Also, the pre-plated selections at GF Cafe for the 1900 Park Fare dinner were odd, not much variety and the "prime rib" appeared to be more of a roast. Plus, it was WAY too much food. They brought out huge desserts and we felt very wasteful.
We had good luck with CS, I expected big lines but we never had any wait (except for POP food court which was CRAZY!)
Overall, we had a great free DDP experience and learned some valueable lessons for our next trip!

[TBY2225]

We went last year during free dining and had great service all but one place. Coral Reef. No place we ate seemed overly crowded. We are going to WDW again in 5 days and I hope with my planning that we have similar experiences. I have planned most of my ADR's right when the resturants open for dinner. I have a DD5 and DD2 and they get cranky and tired early. I tried to take into account how the kids would be doing and also not having to wait past our ADR times because hopefully we will be first in line. We can always get our desserts to go or have a snack later. I would much rather have a pleasant and hopefully much less crowded dinner a little early!

[Crow]

Ill be arriving Friday (21st) & will see how things go. i took the earliest ADRs
5:00 Coral Reef
4:30 Marrakesh
5:30 CA Grill
5:30 Yachtsman
5:30 AP Dining w Imagineer.
so i hope no problems. Ill report when back

[AvonleaCF]

Sorry to hear your bad experiences.

I had free dining and only had semi-bad service once, and that was at Boma (he wasn't good about clearning plates and refilling drinks). But since I served myself it was pretty much okay.

Other than that I had great meals and service.

And no screaming children at ANY of my meals!

If they offer free dining again I'd still go, just because September is so light in the parks.

[Jared]

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences. You're not the only person to complain about the free dining promotion. Unfortunately, poor service and crowded restaurants seems to be considerably more common than ever before.

[LoriMistress]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I know the weather can have an effect on people. Thank you for your reviews. I'm so looking forward eating at Le Cellier!

[tiaramom]

My family and I went last year for free dining.
I was thrilled with all the servers at each resort/ and theme park restaurant ( except one.) MAya Grill at Coronado - took 2 hrs. to get our food .. once seated... No JOKE!
I dont know why I sat there. It was late!!
This was horrible food too...( sorry to say)
Anyway- all the other spots were fab!
I really enjoyed all the choices-
Remember even though all that food is offered/included, you dont have to order it.
Save soem space for other meals. I really loved having FREE meals- WOW! I ate in restaurants I wouldnt normally have eaten in ever. After trying these places on freee dining I am aware of there offerings - in future trips I may or may not book to pay for the dining at these restaurants. I wouldnt have paid out of pocket
for Maya Grill ( it was super expensive!) and know knowing the wait/ the food NEVER !
Im sure it has its good and bad days....
I am all for FREE DINING. It was crowed- no more than any other time I ahave gone to the restaurants though. Keep in mind I am commenting on last years trip.
I am returning in a week for this years free dining plan offered to us as a special promo at Pop. I am all into this- so I hope it isnt terrible!

[mouseketeer mom]

Wow. You had some crummy experiences. I agree with you about all the food and the heat and feeling gross and bloated. It is so much food. I'm not a huge fan of the dining plan either. There are days we are just hot and all want Mickey bars for lunch then maybe something else to pick on or share later. One thing we always do at Disney or eitherwise tho, is a table service dinner. Other than that, we like to be more spontaneous.

[Here we go again...]

I am sorry to hear about your bad experiences.
I think that the problems you experienced do not necessarily reflect the free dining... it is due to the increased crowd levels. We have been to Disney World 3 times in the last year with out free dining and had some of the same experiences. Coral Reef had to be the worst... yet it was the best when we were there for free dining. Weird.

I am glad to hear that you enjoyed Boma and LeCellier, those are 2 of my favorites. :tasty:

We are headed back in October and still have not decided if we will add the dining plan. Since the appetizer and tip is still included we might do it, but after January I do not see the bargain.

Thanks for your review. I think it was fair and honest. :thumbsup:

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.
2) Goin' to Disney with Free Food.

3) Sorry, but there ain't no free lunch (or dinner).
4) You can get food & service three ways
. . . fast
. . . good
. . . cheap
5) You can get one.
6) You can get two.
7) You can't get all three at once.

[Septbride2002]

I'm sorry that the dining experience wasn't up to par. My mother went at the same time and she said everything went really smooth and were more then pleased. The only thing they didn't like was trying to figure out what was a snack and what was a side. :)

~Amamda

[magickingdom67]

Just came back from free dining from 9/1-9/10 and only had one not so good server and that was at Boma's. Everything else was great :mickey:and we already booked it for next year just a bit later. The crowds over labor day were a bit much but lvld off afterwards.

[Mom2princesses]

The crowds were definitely bigger than i expected. We went the last week of August which is usually not as busy as it was this year. The service we had was always good but since I have not been to WDW since 2002 I was surprised at the lack of menu choices at each of the resturants. The DDP has really changed the amount of choices each resturant offers. We were a bit disappointed in some of the resturants because of this change.

The CS areas were very crowded. The worse part was waiting on long lines because most of the people had no idea what was included in the DP. Ugh it was frustrating and I was wishing that more people did their research on Intercot!

A few of the resturants had difficulty handling the larger crowds. 'Ohana and Norway both had long waits even though we had ADR's. They were both packed and probably overbooked.

But still we enjoyed our trip! You just kind of take it in stride. We were surprised at the quality of food in some places and disappointed in others. Guess that can happen on any vacation!

[ckaranassos]

So sorry to hear you had a bad experience with the free dining. We were at the world 8-28 to 9-4 and had a fabulous experience. It certainly was a lot of food, but we made it work. Our travel party consists of 10 (5 adults and 5 children) I was told at ressie time we may be split to two tables which was fine with us. When we arrived at our TS we were not only placed together, but usually earlier than our ressie was for. We chose the following for our TS:
Concourse Steak House dinner
Chef's Mickey breakfast
Hoop Dee Doo Revue
Crystal Palace breakfast
Whispering Canyon dinner
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner
We found service to be fabulous everywhere, except a little slow at Whispering Canyon but we were having a great time so it did not matter. As a matter of fact one night we strolled into Kona Cafe at 4:45 hoping for a dinner ressie for that night and they told us in a hour and a half, so we went back to our room in the Poly with our buzzer and it went off 30 minutes later. They sat all ten of us in a great spot with great food and service. So I guess it's true, you never know.

[GoinGoofyPlanninThisTrip]

And no screaming children at ANY of my meals!You sure you were at Disney??? ;)

[Mnchknbrat1982]

wow...........I'm sorry to hear about your dining experience. If it was me I think I would be contacting someone about it, they need to know what is going on. I really hope this was a fluke thing.......as we will be in Disney in 4 days and on the dining plan. We are doing a couple of the resturants that you did. This has me worried now!

[snifflesmcg]

I just got back on Monday and my entire trip I had fantastic service along with great food that was not cold or running late.

I must agree with the overbooked part. I didn't seem to notice too much until our last meal at Chef de France. This place was hoppin! Until this, our meals seem to be quiet and we were seated almost immediately in all restaurants. Chef's seem to be so overcrowed you couldn't move and the noise level was so loud it was hard to hear the server or my boyfriend sitting across from me. I had loud chirping babies (you know, those one year old screams that errupt out of nowhere) on the side of my and in back of me.

[LibertyTreeGal]

Yikes, thanks for the report -- it's a good thing to know. I'd also rather pay (you still pay for it, of course, because you pay full price for the room that time of year) full price for the DDP than not enjoy meals. That's a big part of why I go to Disney.

[mudpuppysmom]

Sorry to hear about your less than stellar experience.

The first year we took DS to WDW in Sept. I had no idea there was free dining and wondered why the restaurants were SO busy.....I figured it out about halfway thru the trip.....DH asked why we were not on the FREE dining plan.....first, we stayed at SOG and are not eligible, second I had no idea, third I'll look into it and if they offer it again we'll try it.

Last year we tried the free dining promotion and I gotta say......I'd much rather use the DDE any day. Yeah, we ate at some really fantastic places (Jiko [now a fave and must do each trip], Narcoossees, Kona, Tony's Town Square, Chef's de France). Jiko and Narcoossees were the BEST of the bunch. Kona was middle of the road as far as service, but food was wonderful. Neither Jiko or Narcoossese were overrun with patrons and the service was more than outstanding!! (can that be?!?!?!)

This year DS started school so we chose not to go during Sept. but I'm thinking next year we may go b/c DH enjoys the F&W festival (we go at the very end of Sept.

One thing we really did not like was once we started getting into the actual act of vacationing it was time to go eat! It was like our vacation revolved around meals and believe me I planned on where we'd be to be handy to the restaurant around our time of ADR's. We did not like being a prisoner to ADR's as many people don't. So that is another thing thats a pain.....the whole ADR process, but that's another post!

We're going in January and will be using the DDE card and I'm sure we'll have many great meals.......and without screaming "Brian" around us.....hopefully!

[lockedoutlogic]

I'm with the Scupper here...

I sure hope this is the last of the free dining periods...ever.

The cost is just displaced into the other parts of the packages...this is...and has always been...obvious.

September was dead...they throw the "free" term out...and the lemmings came. the public does what disney wants...again.

We have a 5 day-er this weekend and, being vacation club, are bothering to pay for the DDP....if I see College kids in Disney costumes standing in front of mobs of people on the steps of restaurants yelling that they are "completely booked for the night"....I may rethink my entire future of travel at WDW....

...enough of this crowd directing **** is enough....because no one seems to realize what they are doing to their high paying customers....they are herding you...as if you were in line for the tower of terror.

Now I'm all frazzled...:thedolls:

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . And no screaming children at ANY of my meals! . . .


You sure you were at Disney???

Now we KNOW they were in Fantasyland!

[gardenia]

We did not encounter service problems when we we dined around the World recently, but apparently we were seated next to "Brian" at Le Chefs de France, and his distant cousin "Taylor" was seated on the other side of us. Neither set of parents thought a thing about ruining a nice meal for hundreds of other people, as their children screamed and ranted and they shouted back. Shame on them.

[jszczur5]

We went last year during free dining and had great service all but one place. Coral Reef. No place we ate seemed overly crowded. We are going to WDW again in 5 days and I hope with my planning that we have similar experiences. I have planned most of my ADR's right when the resturants open for dinner. I have a DD5 and DD2 and they get cranky and tired early. I tried to take into account how the kids would be doing and also not having to wait past our ADR times because hopefully we will be first in line. We can always get our desserts to go or have a snack later. I would much rather have a pleasant and
hopefully much less crowded dinner a little early!

We went during free dining last year and again this year. I found a huge difference in the quality of food, the level of service and the length of wait this year. We repeated 3 restaurants from last year because of the great food and/or service. This year, not a single one measured up to last year. Except for Hoop Dee Doo which has a set start time, we waited at least 25 - 40 minutes past our arrival time to be seated. Almost every restaurant was over-booked this year, and all walk-ups were being turned away. If the tip not been included in the DDP (ie- as it won't be next year), there was not a single server who merited more than a fiver, with the exception of our server at Le Cellier. Mediocre food and mediocre service for the most part this year. I noticed that my husband was no longer singing the DDP praises as he did last September.

[mermaidmarian]

1) Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.
2) Goin' to Disney with Free Food.

3) Sorry, but there ain't no free lunch (or dinner).
4) You can get food & service three ways
. . . fast
. . . good
. . . cheap
5) You can get one.
6) You can get two.
7) You can't get all three at once.

It sounds like dining in steerage.

Can you imagine how guests who were dining OOP must have felt? Those poor poor souls. ;)

[crltkcagle]

We just got back and did the free dining plan also. We booked all of our dinner meals early like 4:00 or 5:00 that way i knew my kids wouldn't be cranky and the restaurant wouldn't be packed. we only had to wait for a table at crystal palace for breakfast but it wasn't that long of a wait. i found ALL of my servers to be wonderful. in fact i felt guilty for not tipping them so we always left a tip because we had such wonderful service. I am sorry to hear you had such a terrible experience. I LOVED the free dining plan. nothing but good reviews here.

[jsw123]

The free dining promotion seems great. You're getting a lot of value! I had the best time when we went in July. As the mother of a 90%-time-not -screaming toddler (DD3)---IT IS DISNEY WORLD!

From my non-child past, I really do get where you're coming from. When I go to a nice restaurant in CIncinnati, with my husband, I expect quiet. But, get where you are, too. Children are the rule, not the exception. They are the reason DW exists!:mickey:

[DaisylovesDonald]

I'm still stuck on someone being a vegetarian and eating salmon?!?!?! One of my dear friends calls herself a vegetarian......but she eats fish, turkey and chicken! We always tease her about it. :silly:

Back on topic: DH and I used the free DDP last year and had excellent service, but we were also on the tail end of it - last day in Sept, through the first week in Oct, so I bet that also made a difference. Or maybe we just lucked out!

Thanks for the review though! Definitely would make me think twice about using the free DDP again.

[cal5755]

We just got back and did the free dining plan also. We booked all of our dinner meals early like 4:00 or 5:00 that way i knew my kids wouldn't be cranky and the restaurant wouldn't be packed. we only had to wait for a table at crystal palace for breakfast but it wasn't that long of a wait. i found ALL of my servers to be wonderful. in fact i felt guilty for not tipping them so we always left a tip because we had such wonderful service. I am sorry to hear you had such a terrible experience. I LOVED the free dining plan. nothing but good reviews here.


My DH and I could not agree more!! We also left at least 5 dollars extra to our servers! We thought they were great especially since we had reservations for at least 9 people during most ADR's. At Nine Dragons we had all 17 of us together and everything was perfect. We were seated on time there and we never went more than 5 minutes at any adr. We also changed one reservation from the GF to Crystal Palace on our last day with no problems. I was pleasantly surprised we were able to do so and it saved us from having to leave MK on our last day. We already booked next years trip with the delux dining plan.