Any news on the Free DDP?

[HappyPappe]

What's the latest news on the Free Dining Plan for 2007. I haven't been on the board in quite some time and have lost all of my information. When will the code be available and when do you have to make reservations bye? We will be going around Sept 18, 07 for my twins 3rd birthday.

Any scoop you can provide would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks in advance,

 

[Cindy's Mom]

The only news I can report is that there is no news. Probably won't be any news for a while.

 

[Sammie]

Right now the only plan Disney is offering that includes free dining is one where you book a future stay while there at Disney. At this time there has been no mention of anything else.

 

[bicker]

And that "bounce-back" offer expires tonight AFAIK.

Last year, the free dining promotion was made available to the general public in April. If it is offered to the general public this year, I wouldn't expect to hear anything until thereabouts.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

The fact that they have already offered free DDP to guests from the U.K. and also as a bounce-back special has me hoping they won't as late as April to offer it to the general public.

 

[Allison]

The fact that they have already offered free DDP to guests from the U.K. and also as a bounce-back special has me hoping they won't as late as April to offer it to the general public.

Or could it mean that if they get enough participants using these 2 methods it won't be as widely available to others? I don't know the answer, just thinking of it from another perspective.

 

[bicker]

Well, I think the fact that they have offered it via these other two channels means that, at the very least, if they do make the offering to the general public, there will be less availability than there was last year (given that all indications are that Disney does NOT want to expand the number of rooms where free dining is available). However, I don't think we can conclude whether or not that means they will or won't make the offering to the general public: The old AP discounts were generally "extremely hard to secure." (I tried for many years and never managed to call in quick enough to book an AP discount when it was offered.) So, it could be that they will still offer free dining to the general public, but it will simply be very hard to book, unless you're very lucky, and call in very soon after the deal is announced. Alternatively (and this makes most sense to me), they'll continue to target the offering, to specific groups where they figure such targeting will do them "the most good". So if they haven't booked all the free dining they wanted to offer, they'll find another group (Disney VISA cardholders?) to make the (limited) offering to.

Has anyone read any indications as to whether the bookings from UK/Europe and/or the bounce-back program were biased towards deluxe versus towards value? That may come into play -- if the previous offerings were too heavily towards value resorts, then maybe subsequent offerings, if any, would be restricted to deluxe resorts. Also, maybe there was a bias last year that they want to change (perhaps directing free dining to higher margin bookings, i.e., those at the deluxe resorts). All these things (and more) are possible.

 

[CampbellScot]

Hmmm..."Honey I'm sorry, but if you want the free dining offer we are just going to have book a deluxe resort " I'm liking that idea!!!

 

[jtlover]

We were not restricted to deluxe resorts for the free dining but we had to book by a certain date. It was open to all the disney hotels for UK guests. I still believe it is being offered for those going for 7 nights or longer and our restriction was that you had to buy a 14 day disney pass.

 

[natalielongstaff]

We were not restricted to deluxe resorts for the free dining but we had to book by a certain date. It was open to all the disney hotels for UK guests. I still believe it is being offered for those going for 7 nights or longer and our restriction was that you had to buy a 14 day disney pass.

actually i booked here in the uk and managed to persuade my TA that i didnt need a 14 day pass, i only got the 7 day pass and will eat at resort restaurants on the days we wont be in the parks.

i also booked our stay at a value resort (pop)

 

[Marcy Mouse]

actually i booked here in the uk and managed to persuade my TA that i didnt need a 14 day pass, i only got the 7 day pass and will eat at resort restaurants on the days we wont be in the parks.

i also booked our stay at a value resort (pop)

When you change the pounds into us dollars I think the price was close to what us residents pay when they pay for the DDP.

Just curious?

Marcy

 

[aubriee]

target[/B] the offering, to specific groups where they figure such targeting will do them "the most good". So if they haven't booked all the free dining they wanted to offer, they'll find another group (Disney VISA cardholders?) to make the (limited) offering to.

Has anyone read any indications as to whether the bookings from UK/Europe and/or the bounce-back program were biased towards deluxe versus towards value? That may come into play -- if the previous offerings were too heavily towards value resorts, then maybe subsequent offerings, if any, would be restricted to deluxe resorts. Also, maybe there was a bias last year that they want to change (perhaps directing free dining to higher margin bookings, i.e., those at the deluxe resorts). All these things (and more) are possible.

I booked the bounce back program when I was down there Dec 9th-17th. The CM I spoke with at PORS seemed to be very well informed. He said there had been alot of complaints about the free dining plan for the last two years both from visitors and restaraunts and that Disney was "severely limiting the number of free dining pkgs for 2007". He also said that despite the bounce back program not being widely advertized that the turn out was still turning out to be more than they anticipated, because people were booking just one night stays to just come down to book the free dining. He said that the only way to get free dining for 2007 was either through the UK offer or the bounce back program.

When he asked me which resort I wanted for Sept he made a point of saying free dining was open for any level of resort. He didn't push a certain level, just made a point of saying it was open for any resort, but that each resort had a very limited number of pkgs assigned to it. He may have just been a good salesman, but he appeared very knowledgable, pulling up the dates that free dining had been offered for the last two years and even mentioned the numbers that had booked it for 2005 and 2006.