Free Dining doubtful - travel agent says WDW bookings up by 50% for August this year

[stepdisney]

What do I do? What do I do?
I have been waiting for the free DD. We are booked at WL at full price for the room. Today I saw an advertisement across my home page for rooms at value resorts for a little as $58. I called instantly and asked for the rate for deluxe. The rep asked for a code but there was none posted. When I clicked on the banner, it lead directly to the disney official site! It had a list of offers for rooms up until october 3 BUT the lowest offer was for $72 per night. I asked her about it and she gave me the 40% off rate!!! Now, the hard part:

A. WL is not Available at the 40% off the week we are booked or any other sept week.

B. YC is but if I add DDP it is WAY over what we were going to pay for WL with the free DDP IF it becomes available; and, if the free DDP becomes available and we switch, we would be paying more than if we stayed at WL.

C. AKL is available in september but a different week and at the 40% and purchasing the DDP AND eliminating hopper, we are under what we are paying at the WL (perhaps by $300).

Here it comes. We would be saving more if we waited to see if the DDP was coming. Both my DH and I have B'days the week we originally booked and we want to be threre for that. BUT what if the free DDP does not become available??? What to do? What to do? Any help from anyone will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Albertan mom]

I asked her about it and she gave me the 40% off rate!!! Now, the hard part:

You just asked and she gave you 40% off???

 

[stepdisney]

YUP. I even called back and begged for WL the week we had booked but she couldn't do it. She did tell me that I was very LUCKY. It is definately a blessing for my family. When I spoke to the rep this evening, she suggested I put a deposit on the AKL and just hold it until I know whether they will be offering the DDP for free. At least we will have something to help out. We definately need some sort of discount in order to make this work.

 

[sunny_stace]

my nerves are officially shot!! Last year at this time the trip for september was totally planned and just waiting for free dining to come so I could book, this year...no go! I couldn't stand the "unplanning" anymore so I stopped in at my travel agent this afternoon and she said she hasn't heard anything yet about free DDP, but she would call me as soon as she heard anything (I do believe her as she is a personal friend and a Disney Specialist!) and that she would call and mention that she has clients wondering about specific fall offers. Lets all just keep our fingers toes and any other limbs possible crossed!

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

Well I will add to the good news side..

I just got off the phone with a cm talking about the 40% discount which I did not get. He asked when I was planning to come and I told him Aug 12-19 and he said there will probably be free dining then and that would be better than the 40% so to just hold out. He said he definately thinks it will be offered in a limited # again this year. I know everyone is getting different answers but he seemed pretty sure and that is enough to keep my hopes up!

 

[kmst719]

I am a little confused about the 40% discount you guys are talking about. Where can I find info on that? Thanks!

 

[shawn68]

Yeah, I'd like to know more about it too!

 

[Albertan mom]

Well I will add to the good news side..

I just got off the phone with a cm talking about the 40% discount which I did not get. He asked when I was planning to come and I told him Aug 12-19 and he said there will probably be free dining then and that would be better than the 40% so to just hold out. He said he definately thinks it will be offered in a limited # again this year. I know everyone is getting different answers but he seemed pretty sure and that is enough to keep my hopes up!

Now THAT'S the kind of news we want to hear!

 

[bicker]

I am a little confused about the 40% discount you guys are talking about. Where can I find info on that? Thanks!

Disney targets most of its deeper discounts at specific potential guests. Those folks are typically informed of the availability of the discount via email or postcard, though sometimes things get "crossed in the mail" and they find out by asking if there is an available discount for them via telephone. These discounts are typically PIN coded, i.e., available only to the guests to whom they've been made available -- they're not publicly available discounts.

 

[stepdisney]

Now THAT'S the kind of news we want to hear!

Please keep in mind I was just making an inquiry because I, like you, have been waiting for the free DDP. I didn't even know about the discount until I asked about an advertisement. We are still prayng for free DDP because it would save us the most.

By the way, she seemed to think that the plan would be coming out soon. I just wanted to know what to do because we didn't want to miss the opportunity to visit disney and needed a discount.

 

[kmst719]

Can't you get both the discount and the free DDP? Wouldn't you want to try and get the 40% off ad then hope the DDP comes out? Or can you not get both?

 

[bicker]

You cannot get both. The free dining promotion is only available with specific rates (generally, the rack rate).

 

[stepdisney]

She did tell me that I cannot get both which is why I needed some advice as to what to do. With the food being so expensive, we would rather stay at a lower priced deluxe at rack rate with the DDP free because it is less expensive than if we got the 40% off and had to pay for DDP which we want because we can eat well the entire trip. For us it is the matter of a few hundred bucks and an extra night of magic. Let's all just keep hoping. I have a good feeling about this plan becoming available soon and really don't want to change our vacation week or our resort.

 

[Reese]

Well I will add to the good news side..

I just got off the phone with a cm talking about the 40% discount which I did not get. He asked when I was planning to come and I told him Aug 12-19 and he said there will probably be free dining then and that would be better than the 40% so to just hold out. He said he definately thinks it will be offered in a limited # again this year. I know everyone is getting different answers but he seemed pretty sure and that is enough to keep my hopes up!

 

[bbump]

Dates for the Pirates and Princess Party are added for August, which may increase bookings as well (per DIS announcement)

This may entice us to go the last week of August....but we were really hoping for free dining....

Here are the party dates:

DATES for the Pirate and Princess Party:
August 11, 15, 18, 21, 24, 28, 31 and September 3, 2007

the suspense is killing me...... do you think there will be any rooms available in value resorts????

If no promotion is announced, I want to go to the party, so will probably look into staying offsite.

 

[jcemom]

So why not book with the 40% discount, and *IF* free dining is offered, and it's available for the resort and dates you want, cancel the 40% discounted booking and rebook with the free dining promo?

Am I missing something? Is that not possible? It's exactly what I'm doing, actually.

 

[stepdisney]

That's just it. My original date and resort is not available. I would have to change resorts and weeks. I did book the alternative week and resort with the discount just in case the DDP is not available. I glad to read that you are doing the same thing. I think that I just paniced because I had to make a decision right away or risk loosing this deal that just happened to fall in my lap.

Thanks for responding.

 

[mollygirl]

Lasy yearit was dates the same for everyone in august.
dates 12 august thru 29th september.

hope that heps xxx

Does that mean that if you check in on Sept 28 for 7 days, you would get free dining for all 7 days or only until Sept 29??

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Does that mean that if you check in on Sept 28 for 7 days, you would get free dining for all 7 days or only until Sept 29??

You get for your whole trip...if they offer it...

 

[MayLynn]

Well, I am all confused now.

I did get the flyer in the mail awhile back for the 40% off room rate for selected dates. And I made our reservations for Sep 27-Oct. 2. We will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside. Luckily we got the 40% off our rooms (grand gathering), but after I made the res. I noticed that the 40% should have been only for a value resort. So that worked out really well for us.

This is the thing, when I talked to one of the cm's, she told me that if the dining beacame available that it would be adjusted off of our packages. We did include DDP as part of our package. So who really knows what to expect??? There are so many conflicting replies and I guess it all depends on who you get on the phone at Disney. Hopefully you get someone in a really good mood.