2013 Free Dining Watch

[DWMan]

Honestly, probably not that many people would do what you are suggesting. Truth is, Universal is pretty expensive, and not all Disney lovers are a fan of Universal. Many people go to Disney discount or not. A lot of people book with hopes of getting a discount, but that is not wise unless they plan to keep their trip without one. If you (general you, not you specifically) book a room with no intention of keeping it unless you get a discount, you are doing yourself no favors. Disney offers discounts to fill rooms. If the rooms are already booked, there is no reason to offer anything.

Bottom line, don't book anything usless you are going regardless of a discount or not. If you won't go without a discount, wait until the discount is released and then book it.

I totally understand why someone would get their room booked before any deal comes up. Disney pushes people to do so. I get asked if I would like to book my vacation everytime I go to check for discounts.

The fact is, I can't do it without the Free Dining and I worry that if people book with the idea of cancelling if the free dining doesn't get offered, that it won't get offered because there are no rooms to make sure get filled.

Kind of a Catch-22 situation.



Good luck all.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

Every time we have gone, I have read on these boards that there aren't going to be offers made, because too many people book in the hopes they will be. Everytime offers have been made, so I wouldn't worry too much. If you can't afford the trip without the offer, it is smart not to book until it is announced, but if you are going one way or the other, you will not likely be stopping Disney from announcing any offers.

I will not rely on any particular offer being announced, because they often come up with new promotions. However, I would pretty much bet that some type of offer will be made. That being said Free Dining has been the best deal for us in the past.

 

[theEncode]

We booked for the simple fact that we wanted our resort during a particular time frame. We are going wether free Dining is provided or not. We will simply change our plans to remove the dining plan if it is not free. We are still going, still staying on site, and will still have a great time!!!
The prices this year are CRAZY!!!

 

[redoschi]

Every time we have gone, I have read on these boards that there aren't going to be offers made, because too many people book in the hopes they will be. Everytime offers have been made, so I wouldn't worry too much. If you can't afford the trip without the offer, it is smart not to book until it is announced, but if you are going one way or the other, you will not likely be stopping Disney from announcing any offers.

I will not rely on any particular offer being announced, because they often come up with new promotions. However, I would pretty much bet that some type of offer will be made. That being said Free Dining has been the best deal for us in the past.

Thinking about the same thing. We are going to Orlando (plane tickets bought already!) and our plan was always to spend at least some of our vacation on an on-site hotel to use the EMH and transportation. We'll be in Orlando for 16 nights (and 16 days as we arrive in the evening of Jan 20th and leave in the evening of Feb 5th) and at least the first couple nights will be off-site

If FD gets offered I'll make a 14 nights reservation, but if not I'll make it into a just 8-9 nights reservation.

I'll still wait a bit before making the reservation, but if the offers will only show up in November I'll probably not be able to hold myself until then (specially since its best for us to make payments along the way instead of all at once!)

 

[ttcl516]

Wishing and hoping for FD for the first week in March. Our 180 day mark will be here in two days. This hurry up and wait game is driving me crazy .

 

[makingplans4WDW]

Hoping for 1st week of March too. Fingers crossed!

 

[TheRatPack]

Hoping for May and October 2013. Last year was the last year for our oldest son as he moved out and on to adult hood. This upcoming year might be the last trip for our oldest daughter as she's approaching that stage herself. Each year is bittersweet....looking forward to 2013 and crossing my fingers that they offer FDing again.

 

[reelmom]

Joining in for the watch.

 

[hitomi04]

hello, i will buy my stay at Disney in despegar.com.ar in argentina, the waiting for the free dining is driving me crazy and we are having a lot of problems here with dollar increasing too much and restrictions to make trips so i need to pay all now.
I will go in febraury/march 2013, could someone tell me which date do you think is most probable to have free dining???? i can make the check in the 2/25 3/2 or 3/3 one week in all options, thank you so much

 

[Zipears Fan]

Hello all! Now that it's September, and my DW and I are going down September 2013, it's time to join the watch!

It's been since June 2010 that I was on here. Does everyone still believe we will not know about next fall's deals until April/May? What are other's thoughts on getting FD if we stay at AoA's Little Mermaid room?

Either way, it is SOOOOOOO good to be back on here (because that means teh Disney trip countdown begins).

 

[disneyfantotheend]

I have a feeling, although that is all it is, that AoA rooms will be very limited if offered at all.

 

[Suziewan]

I'm on watch as well...

 

[BuzzandWoodyMom]

Hello all! Now that it's September, and my DW and I are going down September 2013, it's time to join the watch!

It's been since June 2010 that I was on here. Does everyone still believe we will not know about next fall's deals until April/May? What are other's thoughts on getting FD if we stay at AoA's Little Mermaid room?

Either way, it is SOOOOOOO good to be back on here (because that means teh Disney trip countdown begins).

The January - March 2013 free dining disocounts should come out at the end of the month. The August/September 2013 free dining discounts won't come out until the end of March/first of April, as they have every year for the last 9 years. I highly doubt the Little Mermaid rooms will be included in any general public free dining offers for a long time. The AoA resort is 3/4 suites and only 1/4 standard (Little Mermaid) rooms, so they will not have any problem filling up those cheap standard rooms, so little need for deep discounts to fill those rooms.

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

For our September 2011 trip free dining was actually released early. We were booked and had free dining in August 2010. It was great having it released that early. I won't count on that happening again though.

 

[jcamacam]

We are crossing our fingers for free dining for the first week of March 2013. I don't know if there was FD last year or not but it seems possible???

Yep there was! We were there - great week, low crowds and free dining!

 

[DisneyFEB2013]

Yep there was! We were there - great week, low crowds and free dining!

I noticed in your signature that you were at Disney the last week of February 2011. How were the crowds that week? We will be there 2/23/13-3/2/13 and are curious about the crowds!

Thanks!

 

[Sherrkel]

I noticed in your signature that you were at Disney the last week of February 2011. How were the crowds that week? We will be there 2/23/13-3/2/13 and are curious about the crowds!

Thanks!

We'll be there 2/21-3/2/13. This will be our 4th time going in February since 2007. The crowds are pretty manageable the week that follows President week. Another crowd factor is Mardi Gras and as long as that doesn't fall on the last week of February than it only makes that crowds that much less! We've gone twice during the week that follows Pres week, and once during Pres Week itself - there is definitely a huge difference in park attendance, the latter being very busy. Hopefully we'll all be lucky and again experience low crowds.

 

[hitomi04]

i was having the same question XD i have to decide between 2/25 to 2/3 or 2/3 to 3/9 but i think the first week of march is less crowded and hopefully they will give free dining plan there.

 

[jcamacam]

I noticed in your signature that you were at Disney the last week of February 2011. How were the crowds that week? We will be there 2/23/13-3/2/13 and are curious about the crowds!

Thanks!

It definitely can be depending on how the "last week" falls - I just checked your dates and it looks like the President's Day week crowds should be leaving when you're arriving (President's Day falls on the 18th next year). Anyway, we've gone the last two years and it was great! Crowds were low - comparable to when we've gone the first week in December (after the Thanksgiving crowds and before the Christmas crowds).

Also just a heads up that the Princess Half Marathon is 2/22-2/24 next year but it really doesn't add to the crowd levels in the parks. You may see some people walking around with their medals or shirts .

We'll be there 2/28-3/9 and all signs point to a good week

Have a great trip!

 

[oiralinde]

We are hoping to go in September 2013. Would it be wise to book the room/tickets now and add on the DP later if they don't offer it free? I have no idea what to do, whether I should wait until the spring to book everything, or to do the booking earlier and then add on later. Thoughts?