Free dining 2014

[rmsdsp]

I got free dining a added to my 2014 resi a couple months ago. I have free dining from sept 16th-25th. I asked if they could apply a free dining bounce back that I wasn't able to take advantage of in the spring. It took 2 calls and an email.

 

[kcwiak]

I am glad you guys were able to add the FD from BB but it drives me nuts that the rules are never the same. Last day of our trip this past Sept I had to spend figuring out dates for next Sept in order to get the FB BB offer. If I had known I could just called/emailed after I got home to really plan the dates, I would have.

 

[Jlennox]

Hi, Does anyone know when they will release specials for May 2014?

 

[rmsdsp]

I am glad you guys were able to add the FD from BB but it drives me nuts that the rules are never the same. Last day of our trip this past Sept I had to spend figuring out dates for next Sept in order to get the FB BB offer. If I had known I could just called/emailed after I got home to really plan the dates, I would have.

I was offered a BB for our past Feb trip for similar dates in 2014, however, we didn't want to return till Sept of 2014. So I booked a September room only vacation and asked if they could apply the BB that I was offered in the spring. After a couple tries, they obliged.

 

[SoarinSC]

Just called no luck for my ressie in May, but was told to call back after the holidays and not give up. She joked that it's like the lottery.

 

[figment3258]

nothing for me she was kind of snippy about it

 

[travelingmom4]

My friend has ressies from January 11th-19th, they've booked already, can they add on the free dining at this point??

 

[kopmom]

Too early. A couple years ago, free dining was offered starting mid August. Disney has tightened the dates and in 2013 I believe it didn't start until the very end of August/first part of September. I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong.

UGH ! We are planning to go August 25th -29th and was hoping for free dining. Last time we went these dates they were offering it

 

[oldtink]

UGH ! We are planning to go August 25th -29th and was hoping for free dining. Last time we went these dates they were offering it

I was told by our travel agent, that if FD is offered during the trip, even if it starts mid trip, the FD is available for the WHOLE trip. So while it looks sometimes like it's every other week, it really can be for the whole time.

 

[Muddypaws]

I was told by our travel agent, that if FD is offered during the trip, even if it starts mid trip, the FD is available for the WHOLE trip. So while it looks sometimes like it's every other week, it really can be for the whole time.

Your travel agent is misinformed. In the past it has worked that if free dining starts before or on the first day of your trip that you would have it for your entire stay, up to 14 nights. If it starts part way through your stay, you would have to do a split stay and apply the free dining to your reservation after its start date and regular rates for the previous nights.

 

[doll1502]

They released % off for Visa card holders and they should go out to the public on Jan. 6. Not sure what they will be, but that's what i heard. I called a hour after I got my email from Disney Visa and got 25% off my room rate at Coronado for May 15.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Will this be the year when "free dining" as we know it ends?

The meal prices are a bullet they've had loaded up for years that they are waiting for...

If the economy continues to encourage people to charge up vacations (the mistakes of the past... Fueled by real estate)...then I think free dining is on it's last legs

We'll see

 

[Magic Fanatic]

Will this be the year when "free dining" as we know it ends? The meal prices are a bullet they've had loaded up for years that they are waiting for... If the economy continues to encourage people to charge up vacations (the mistakes of the past... Fueled by real estate)...then I think free dining is on it's last legs We'll see

If reservations increase and more rooms are filled then of course free dining will go away. Free dining is a perk to encourage bookings. If bookings increase there is no need to give away dining.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

If reservations increase and more rooms are filled then of course free dining will go away. Free dining is a perk to encourage bookings. If bookings increase there is no need to give away dining.

Well....yeah...

 

[beer dave]

If reservations increase and more rooms are filled then of course free dining will go away. Free dining is a perk to encourage bookings. If bookings increase there is no need to give away dining.

This is the only word in this post I question. Replace it with "should" and you are right on.

And we can only hope....

 

[minniemous]

So another question we are there for 9 days/8 nights is there a max of days?

We just came back from a 11 night Disney World vacation in which we stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside. We booked under a free dining pin mail offer. Our Disney Dining was free for the three of us for the entire 11 nights. It was a really good deal because we also received really good prices on our rooms. We booked for the last day in October the offer was available (29th) it was a great time to go because you are there for the Halloween party (I did not find it worth it, but the decorations are great) and then on December 3rd or 4th everything turns to Christmas decorations and the Christmas party started the 8th. We did not do the Christmas party because the Halloween was not great for us. I know many people love it so it is really a personal preference.
The Disney Dining saved us a ton of money and really pays off the longer you stay. 11 nights having to pay for food for three would have been well over $1,400. Also after I had booked under the free dining pin I received a another mail pin # for percentage of the room rate during the same dates. I priced that offer out and the percentage off only saved us around $150.00. So you do the math paying an extra $150 for 11 nights of free dining. Free dining is by far the best deal. Now if you are only staying a few nights perhaps it is not the best deal, I do not know I just know we got one heck of deal overall and I hope we continue to get pin offers. I have not received one since being back but we just went in November.
So that is my very long way of saying it did not matter how long we stayed we actually had it book for 13 nights originally but had to shave it down. In the past we had only gone for 6 nights at a time and all those extra nights made it an incredibly less stressful vacation because there was plenty of time to get it mostly done! I do not know how long you would have to stay to get it ALL done!! Good luck getting those Free Dining Pin #'s!!!!

 

[black562]

If reservations increase and more rooms are filled then of course free dining will go away. Free dining is a perk to encourage bookings. If bookings increase there is no need to give away dining.

Which is why I tell everyone not to book ahead of time if they want free dining.

 

[black562]

Your travel agent is misinformed. In the past it has worked that if free dining starts before or on the first day of your trip that you would have it for your entire stay, up to 14 nights. If it starts part way through your stay, you would have to do a split stay and apply the free dining to your reservation after its start date and regular rates for the previous nights.

This is correct. Free dining is all about your first night. If the first night has availability, then it applies to the whole trip. If the first night is the day before free dining starts, you don't get it for any of the trip. It's all or nothing based on the first night. This is also why if you check in the last day of free dining, your trip can carry it up to 14 days beyond the free dining dates.

 

[black562]

Will this be the year when "free dining" as we know it ends? The meal prices are a bullet they've had loaded up for years that they are waiting for... If the economy continues to encourage people to charge up vacations (the mistakes of the past... Fueled by real estate)...then I think free dining is on it's last legs We'll see

I wrote a magazine article on this topic a couple months ago.

I continue to see free dining for September. The reason is that September free dining was offered in the past for much different reasons than the other months. September is peak hurricane season, and all the kids are back in school, thus making September a historically low month. If free dining wasn't offered, Disney would have to come up with something just as good, and much better than the deals they run the rest of the season.

They only extended free dining into other months because of the economy creating low attendance. As you can see, those reasons have corrected themselves, while September still has the same situation. September will require the pot be much sweeter or else attendance drops rapidly. Even as popular as free dining is, which is to say the most popular promotion offered, the entire time I was there was like a ghost town. Splash and Space mountain with five minute waits, little mermaid and soarin with no wait. Imagine how it would look without the most popular promotion.

Look for it in September, but I don't look for it any other time.

 

[Laketravis]

Which is why I tell everyone not to book ahead of time if they want free dining.

EXACTLY!

Inflated bookings are a self-fulfilling prophecy for the end of free dining.