CM just told me possibly no free dining this year

[justplaingoofy]

I just called Disney to see if they had a pin code for me & I asked if she has heard anything about free dining promo coming up & she said and I quote "We've been hearing that it will not be offered this year". Not sure if she is accurate, but thought I'd pass it along.

 

[arielmomma]

Bummer. I wasn't going to take advantage, but a lot of people were counting on it. I really hope the CM is wrong!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[chocovrdmicears]

I am not sure I would put much into that - My unofficial opinion (based on things I have read ) - is that there will be some sort of Free Dining this year - but not the same type we have seen in years past. Disney knows that a LOT of folks book vacations during that season because of Free Dining - I don't think they will eliminate it entirely - but it may be a different size/shape than years past. Only time will tell..

 

[disnut8]

That's kinda like saying someone heard something from their best friend's cousin's son who knows someone's husband who is a Disney bus driver.

 

[dansdad]

That goes along with what has been said by a poster on the discount board whose predictions have been spot on in the past.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

That goes along with what has been said by a poster on the discount board whose predictions have been spot on in the past.

 

[nkereina]

I just called Disney to see if they had a pin code for me & I asked if she has heard anything about free dining promo coming up & she said and I quote "We've been hearing that it will not be offered this year". Not sure if she is accurate, but thought I'd pass it along.

Are you booked yet? If not, I'd be suspicious that the CM told you that in hopes of getting your booking. The call center agents have goals and may even work on commission, or at least get a kick back.

 

[minnie mum]

The discount board has had threads about this for months now. There have been quite a few posters claiming inside info who have said that Free Dining (as we have known it in the past) is not going to be offered. Time will tell, but so far it hasn't been offered yet this year. A new, dumbed down version may be offered. Or nothing. And so we wait.

 

[Sue M]

It wouldn't surprise me. The January discounts usually have free dining, but didn't this year. Instead they put out the Stay/Play & Dine promo where both room & DDP were discounted.

 

[Missytara]

If you check on the discount codes and rates board, you will see a great deal of info regarding free dining changing over to the stay/play/dine.

 

[VACamm]

Thats a shame... I used Free Dining last August and it really saves our family of 4 a LOT of money!!

 

[lmhall2000]

It boils down to who wants my money...the value for dollar at rack rate is just not there..we can book a week offsite at a resort and visit a restaurant each night for $2700 less than we could do it on property...free dining is the only thing that made it a consideration...so Disney will get $2000 of our vacation dollars instead of $3500...that is their call...but would never pay a couple grand extra to stay onsite. Couple of a hundred? Sure!

 

[wiigirl]

That's kinda like saying someone heard something from their best friend's cousin's son who knows someone's husband who is a Disney bus driver.

 

[bluejasmine]

While discounts have been slim I pray this isn't true, Ill have to cancel this yrs trip.. and be heartbroken.. Im a TA and haven't heard any rumors of coming FD codes BUT ive spoken to a few CM that believe it may still come..

 

[grimley1968]

Personally I hope there is no "free dining", in favor of room-only or package discounts. With the declining value of FD, combined with having to pay rack rate for rooms to get it, I feel a straight discount on rooms or packages, and then paying for meals out of pocket saves us more.

Usually when there is FD, other discounts on rooms or packages tend to be not very generous. Before FD, you could regularly find discounts of 40% off a package, including tickets. Not so much since FD has been offered. I don't mind the dining plan itself, as it can be not a bad deal for people who like to eat in the way WDW sets the plan up, but I feel FD has been offered in the last several years at the expense of other discounts.

 

[bluejasmine]

Personally I hope there is no "free dining", in favor of room-only or package discounts. With the declining value of FD, combined with having to pay rack rate for rooms to get it, I feel a straight discount on rooms or packages, and then paying for meals out of pocket saves us more.

Usually when there is FD, other discounts on rooms or packages tend to be not very generous. Before FD, you could regularly find discounts of 40% off a package, including tickets. Not so much since FD has been offered. I don't mind the dining plan itself, as it can be not a bad deal for people who like to eat in the way WDW sets the plan up, but I feel FD has been offered in the last several years at the expense of other discounts.

That's not actually true we had 40% off room codes while they also had FD out in 2010 & 2011 i know b/c we chose the room only code over FD that time since we were staying deluxe it saved us more money but for the families staying value or mod it's a bigger discount than RO..

We stayed at BC CL last yr & only got 30% off but that's b/c each resort has a different percentage off.. Like a few months ago the RO discount said UP to 35% off when I booked AKL for a client I was told it would only be 30% & there was no FD offered for that time frame that could be blamed..

ASMU/POR Dec 16-22, 2012 & POFQ Sept 8-15, 2013

 

[wyurm]

I don't see this as a problem especially if the trade is close or even. For those looking for savings I would think the total value would matter more than just the word "free" being present. so if free dining saved 500 bucks but the stay, play, and dine discount saves 800 bucks wouldn't that be much better? All I'm saying is wait until the discounts are available then do the math rather than making the snap decision that if they don't give out free dining this year you aren't staying at all.

I think they are just mixing it up a bit. If this rumor is even what becomes reality.

 

[grimley1968]

That's not actually true we had 40% off room codes while they also had FD out in 2010 & 2011 i know b/c we chose the room only code over FD that time since we were staying deluxe it saved us more money but for the families staying value or mod it's a bigger discount than RO..

We stayed at BC CL last yr & only got 30% off but that's b/c each resort has a different percentage off.. Like a few months ago the RO discount said UP to 35% off when I booked AKL for a client I was told it would only be 30% & there was no FD offered for that time frame that could be blamed..

ASMU/POR Dec 16-22, 2012 & POFQ Sept 8-15, 2013

Note that I mentioned you could regularly find discounts of 40% before FD. I think I got the same 40% discount in 2010 (I didn't see it for my dates in 2011). But that wasn't a broadly available 40%. We got it in 2010 only by using a bounceback code and missed it entirely in 2011 because it wasn't offered for our dates, and this was in a terrible economy.

Now with an improving economy, they're not likely to offer anything better than 30%, and for an increasingly limited time period with lots of blackouts. I feel there's a better chance of even this happening if FD is not offered.

Before FD came out, it was much easier to find 40% discounts on RO or packages for a much broader range of dates.

 

[bluejasmine]

They actually started FD in 2005 I cant remember the RO codes then can you John? What were they like before 2005? I think 2010 was the first time I used RO but that's b/c it was my first Deluxe as well. I was originally on FD bounceback at CSR and wanted to stay Poly so someone messaged me here and told me the RO code would save me considerably more money and it did! So much so we stayed CL!

wyrum I think your right as long as some type of discount comes out Ill be happy I may have to change resorts but as long as my DH and I can go for our anniversary Ill be happy..

 

[Kristibo42]

I figured it out for our December trip. If they offer only room it saves us about $145 if it's free dining we save $265 per person which is over $500 for my room. I want free dining!!!