Free DDP coming to an end?

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by act1980

I think you're right there. I can imagine us not doing as many TS as sitting down for meals just eats into my holiday time (excuse the pun!)

I normally eat at Yak & Yeti QS but not tried the TS. I did say to OH that when we go back that is somewhere I would like to eat so it's interesting to know that the reviews are good at the moment! Will have to look into the Landrys card.

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The QS is totally different, the QS is run by Disney, inside it's run by Landry. Inside it's vastly superior although the QS isn't bad I agree it's a solid choice.

[BrightlyBob]

Dis unplugged is of course an American podcast so when it talks about the demise of Free dining its looking at it from the American perspective. In fact Disney’s perspective and reasoning for offering free dining differs between Brits and Americans.

Disney loves the Brits. No language difficulties and because Florida is a big ticket holiday we book looong in advance and for looong stays.

Our advance bookings and long stays are the key to this for Disney. Like all big companies they owe the banks a fortune and every year have a tranche of long term debt bonds to repay. Except rather than repay, like all big companies, Disney would prefer to refinance. Gaining that support requires good future projections and nothing strengthens such projections as real rooms booked up a year in advance! You may notice, free UK DDP is only offered between May and Oct one year for the entirety of the following one (exempting Easter and Christmas). Our bookings greatly help Disneys long term future cashflow. The free DDP only comes out of the bottom line at the end, after we've eaten it!

Conversely USA guests stay for shorter periods and book much later, as for them it's a domestic holiday. DDP is offered to US guests but on much shorter notice and used to entice bookings to fill up remaining inventory. This is what Dis was talking about, that with Star Wars and the 50th anniversary Disney vacancies will sharply reduce thereby reducing or even eliminating the need for free DDP.

Be under no illusion, FDDP is expensive to Disneys bottom line and it would dearly like to end the blanket UK DDP promo, but it's on a treadmill, it's early bookings are compared by bean counters year on year, so Disney either has to replace FDDP with another too-good-to-refuse offer to continue to entice the extreme early bookers or accept the hit to its figures and the inevitable extra finance costs that brings with it. And Disney is more highly leveraged than ever before with its massive Shanghai costs and the enormously expensive improvements they’re making to WDW for the 50th anniversary, Disney needs its financing more than ever.

That’s not to say they won’t do it to us, but that the motivators are different, American free DDP is about filling in gaps in demand. UK free DDP is about rolling over debt financing. Very different motivators drive the DDP offerings and it’s easy to see why Americans are nervous about the survival of the last minute gap-filler free DDP promo.

[sha9]

We can only see what April brings when we would normally expect the offer for the following year. The discounts on OKW and SSR are reducing year on year and as long as Disney keep them cheaper than the other deluxe resorts they can continue to reduce the discount.

[chmurf]

I can't remember a year, in the last 6 or 7 years, when there was not a rumour about free dining being ended.
so it went when they removed the tips from the DDP, changed from 2 snacks to 1 (now back to 2 but without dessert at CS)

long story short, each year there will be a rumour about no free dining soon ... makes me think of the critter yelling "we're all gonna die" in "the nut job" movies.

well if it goes away, it goes away, and we'll cross that bridge when we get there

now the considerations about SWL coming to town, and all, it's a good point
but you need to see the big picture.

Right across the I4 (so to speak) Universal is builiding thousands of new hotel rooms, and those rooms are all in the "value" range. (aventura across VB and 2 large hotels on the former Wet'n'Wild site)
That will hit hotels on Idrive and that will probably drive some offsite prices even further down.

so, yes, SWL will fill the Disney rooms, but there will also be a very large pressure coming from "the north" (or "beyond the Wall" if you will ...)

Disney prices are very expensive, and even with the appeal of Star Wars, let's not forget that Universal is building hard, and will offer accomodation at a lower price.
Disney will probably still need to give some incentive to fill their hotel rooms, and if the only incentive is being able to get FP+ (probably for just one ride, as tiering will surely be in effect) for a SW land ... it might not be enough to compete with prices that are "half off" compared to Disney rooms even after parking fees.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by chmurf

I can't remember a year, in the last 6 or 7 years, when there was not a rumour about free dining being ended.
so it went when they removed the tips from the DDP, changed from 2 snacks to 1 (now back to 2 but without dessert at CS)

long story short, each year there will be a rumour about no free dining soon ... makes me think of the critter yelling "we're all gonna die" in "the nut job" movies.

well if it goes away, it goes away, and we'll cross that bridge when we get there

now the considerations about SWL coming to town, and all, it's a good point
but you need to see the big picture.

Right across the I4 (so to speak) Universal is builiding thousands of new hotel rooms, and those rooms are all in the "value" range. (aventura across VB and 2 large hotels on the former Wet'n'Wild site)
That will hit hotels on Idrive and that will probably drive some offsite prices even further down.

so, yes, SWL will fill the Disney rooms, but there will also be a very large pressure coming from "the north" (or "beyond the Wall" if you will ...)

Disney prices are very expensive, and even with the appeal of Star Wars, let's not forget that Universal is building hard, and will offer accomodation at a lower price.
Disney will probably still need to give some incentive to fill their hotel rooms, and if the only incentive is being able to get FP+ (probably for just one ride, as tiering will surely be in effect) for a SW land ... it might not be enough to compete with prices that are "half off" compared to Disney rooms even after parking fees.

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All very good points. The reality is that everyone assumes Disney can afford not to have any deals on their rooms once SW land opens but unless you’re an insider at Disney and know all their finances everything is speculation. As you say, if it comes to an end we’ll all deal with it in our own way. Not much we can do about it anyway.

[3family]

Be careful about US articles about the DDP as it’s far more restrictive in terms of dates etc

Even on that DIS show mentioned, the very experienced people there seemed to think it was only for ‘quiet’ periods while in reality for Europeans, the plan is ‘free’ for all summer etc

Also the ‘rack rate’ argument isn’t strictly true. I tracked the figures for a year before booking and the best deal (if you wanted some sort of dining plan) was the free DP option

Prices can and do fluctuate but it’s still a good deal if you can get it at the right price

[act1980]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

The QS is totally different, the QS is run by Disney, inside it's run by Landry. Inside it's vastly superior although the QS isn't bad I agree it's a solid choice.

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I didn't know that! So all TS are Landry? The Landry card only gives you discounts on certain restaurants within Disney though doesn't it?

[sha9]

Originally Posted by act1980

I didn't know that! So all TS are Landry? The Landry card only gives you discounts on certain restaurants within Disney though doesn't it?

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Only Yak & Yeti, Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex are Landry restaurants.

[act1980]

Originally Posted by sha9

Only Yak & Yeti, Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex are Landry restaurants.

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Thank you!