1st week of December 2013 Support Group

[DonnaDuck]

Can I join?!?

Headed down November 27th - December 7th. Celebrating our 15 year wedding anniversary & my oldest DS 14th B-Day.

To see the dates was shocking to say the least. I am still sick over it.

However, I'm not changing our dates until I hear it confirmed from Disney.
I also agree that having Free Dining during the major holidays is unheard of! Can you imagine what a mad house free dining during Thanksgiving & Christmas at WDW would be like???

Vacation is booked ... scheduled off work ... IF those dates end up being true, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I will be sitting on pins & needles until then!

 

[Lexcon]

I want to join too. We booked earlier this year in anticipation of what has occurred in previous years. I just changed jobs and can only take the time we originally planned, plus we already have airfare. Guess it's just a lot less for Christmas this year.

This is a definite bummer :-(

 

[Viva Las Disney]

Joining the pity party. I'm booked for Dec 1st to 7th to celebrate my 40th birthday so I'm going that week no matter what. I thought it sounded to good to be true when I found out my birthday week just happened to be rated the best week of the year to go based on low crowds, nice weather, affordability, and the previous few years all got free dining. I guess it was to good to be true, I just hope this doesn't mean it's also going to be busier than usual.

I'd rather have a slow week with shorter lines than any discount they might offer. I'm going solo so free dining would be great but isn't a deal breaker since I'm only paying for one person.

I just called and talked to a really nice CM who said I didn't have any PINs but said there is a lot of time before my vacation and to keep checking and not to give up hope. I'm sure it's what they tell everyone but honestly it worked and gave me a little hope again.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

I'm not changing my dates. I'd rather pay full price than deal with crowds.

BUT-I am happy for those folks who are getting the FD. I can't be bitter or can I?

I'm in complete agreement, even down to questioning whether or not it's okay to be bitter at those that are getting free dining. We're human.

 

[stephm0188]

I'm a smidge concerned about crowds. I'm having the toughest time finding a room. So many are already unavailable. It makes me a little worried about the crowd level for the week. :\

 

[blfbrat]

Did you try calling Disney to see if you have the FD PIN? A lot people never got an e-mail but did have a PIN. My sister had one that we used over 2 months ago and she has never received an e-mail about it.

did she just called Disney and they will tell you that you had a pin#?

 

[meredith1]

Steph-I've been researching all day. There isn't a moderate to a villa that isn't booked from Halloween through the New Year. When Disney decides to announce dates for the free dining, things will open up.

Honestly, at this point, I'll take rack rate over any free dining. It'll be a mad house during those dates.

After this trip, it'll be a very long time before I'll think about or discuss a Disney trip with my husband or young children. It's to expensive and limited choices within that expense. There are way to many great places to go during the holiday other than Florida.

I've already committed to my kids and my parents this year. No more. Never again.

I honestly wish that I hadn't built this trip up as I have. I'd be so happy to just nix and void and plan a grand trip to New York or California.....

 

[jaybee1026]

I hope there's a massive migration of people away from our dates. We can console ourselves in an empty park.

 

[ambiancetc]

Count DD and I in the pity party. I budgeted for DDP because I need to try it at least once. So, it's not the end of the world, but FD would have been nice to have so I could pad the shopping budget more. This is a surprise birthday trip for A (before she turns 10!) and we're doing CRT, CM & O'hana. We have AP's and TiW so I could just do OOP and try DDP another time but I booked before the tickets went up so I'd have them for future AP's. Not sure I want to mess with the reservation now unless a RO came out. Which if it does then I'll rebook and add MVMCP
Edit to add: We'll be there the 3rd - 6th.

 

[bas71873]

I hope there's a massive migration of people away from our dates. We can console ourselves in an empty park.

Me too

 

[scard192]

did she just called Disney and they will tell you that you had a pin#?

I read about the PINs here and called to see if I had one which I didn't but asked about Sis as we are vacationing together and she had one.

Its probably a long shot, but at this point worth making the call? Quite a few people had Pins and never got an e-mail.

 

[acceber32]

I hope there's a massive migration of people away from our dates. We can console ourselves in an empty park.

I hope this is true!! We've already booked all our ADRs and won't be changing them (table service meal for every dinner is just how we like our vacations). It's going to cost more than what we currently have saved for our vacation without FD but we have a few months to save it up. I've told DH this whole time not to count on FD so we aren't completely bitter about it. Just shocked our week isn't included with the others around us being (like others have mentioned Thanksgiving and Christmas, just seems crazy!).

 

[sharadoc]

I'll join you all too. We were all set on Bonnet Creek, then the potential dates for free dining came out, and we were all excited that we were going to stay in a cabin at Fort Wilderness (the greatest Christmas Resort on property).

Now we have to decide - spend more and still stay at the Fort (if a RO discount covers our dates) or go to BCR. DD says "but it won't be all Disney all the time" which is all she has ever known.

We are crushed, like all of you. I called about a pin a couple of weeks ago but nothing. I still have a number of someone who had called me back after I did a survey about our stay a few years ago. The question is - am I willing to call her and see if she can do something for me? Or does that feel too "entitled?" We are not ones to demand or expect special treatment, but in the past year my mother died, we moved to a new house and lots of things were turned upside down. We haven't been since August 2012 which is a long time for us, so we really want this trip to recharge and get back together as a family.

 

[blfbrat]

I read about the PINs here and called to see if I had one which I didn't but asked about Sis as we are vacationing together and she had one.

Its probably a long shot, but at this point worth making the call? Quite a few people had Pins and never got an e-mail.

Does someone have the phone #?

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

I don't really understand why people are getting upset that FD won't be during their week when Disney has not released dates! Some guy on the board mentions dates and people are changing vacation plans???????

 

[mmullena70]

We budgeted for the DP but were hoping for FD. We'll most likely change some of our souvenir budget and won't go to the MVMCP, but we're still going Nov. 30-Dec.7. Yeah, it's a little disappointing.

But I've learned my lesson about getting my hopes up and from now I'll be waiting until Disney releases the official dates.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I don't really understand why people are getting upset that FD won't be during their week when Disney has not released dates! Some guy on the board mentions dates and people are changing vacation plans???????

One of the problems is that somebody posted a thread about "potential free dining" dates a few months ago. This was based on historical data and the pin that was going around. The bounce back offer also included these dates for a RO discount. The "guessers" felt strongly that the dates of Nov 30 to Dec 4th were almost guaranteed to be free dining. I remember this clearly because I had a huge argument with a travel agent who insisted that free dining would be offered. I knew that the first week of Dec was getting filled up with lots of rooms sold out. I told them that they could not be sure about the first week of Dec. Well, some people went ahead and booked the first week of December with hopes of getting free dining. Now they are really disappointed. The "guessers" were wrong. Disney decided not to release free dining for the first week of December. The rooms were booking up and Disney didn't need to offer free dining after all. This is why people should never make changes based on what some "guessers" says. And to be fair, people were advised not to make any changes until the official dates were released.

That being said, the latest leak of information is only two weeks before the release date, so my guess is that it has a better chance of being a "good guess" than the "guess" that happened a month or more ago.

 

[Don Disney]

I don't really understand why people are getting upset that FD won't be during their week when Disney has not released dates! Some guy on the board mentions dates and people are changing vacation plans???????

Not just"some guy".... Black and Danny happen to be 2 VERY reliable sources!

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

Not just"some guy".... Black and Danny happen to be 2 VERY reliable sources!

They are top executives for Disney? Or do they look at he pins and bouncebacks offered and make educated guesses? Or they know someone who leaks them the info?

 

[Don Disney]

They are top executives for Disney? Or do they look at he pins and bouncebacks offered and make educated guesses? Or they know someone who leaks them the info?

I don't think so...But I do know that our family has done FD for 4 years in a row,and these guys have been right each time....no reason for me to doubt em'.Don't know where they get their info;just glad they are willing to give us all a "heads up".