2016 Bounce Back offer - summer blacked out

[thornton0511]

What if you arrive June 4th 2016 and stay for 8 nights? Will you get free dining for the length of stay?

Yes I believe as long as your check in day falls within the window you are good. So as long as your check in day is by June 7th your will be able to book a free dining package for your stay. There is a limit to how many days in your package though and I'm not sure how many.

 

[georgina]

I am hoping that is true. We are going oct 27 this year, but hoping for November 2016 free dining, so maybe while we are there they will have the Nov/Dec free dining bounce backs available.

I could be wrong, but I don't remember seeing free dining bounce backs for Oct/Nov the last few years. For 2015 the dates were Aug 20 - Oct 2. After that fall offer, the BB offer changed to room discounts for certain dates in 2016. I though the Oct/Nov free dining promo was a separate thing, not a BB.

 

[Disfan1968]

This is also great for those of us in the north east. The first day of school for NYC public schools is the Wednesday or Thursday after Labor Day. (Teachers return the day after Labor Day) We do not get out for the summer until the end of June.

So this bounce back allows us to take advantage of free dining and low crowds.

I teach in the northeast too, but this spells disaster for many of us as many teachers are contracted starting Sept 1 and will therefore need to report Sept 1 & 2 for staff days, kids reporting after labor day. An August 20 date, like the bounce back is this year, allows us to take advantage, but pushing it back to the 25th is very problematic. C'est la vie.

 

[rotlex]

Read about these dates the other day as well. We have booked a free dining bounce back for August for probably the last 5-6 years worth of trips. Not that I didn't see it coming though. It seems each year they push the dates back further and further into August. We arrive for a 13 day stay on the 23rd of this month. It will be the first year we won't be booking a bounce back for the following year in a LONG time.

I know there are other discounts offered, but nothing comes close to the free dining savings for us. Dining is like 50% of our trip enjoyment, and getting that free is a huge plus. Our trip this year is $3800 for 12 nights, park tickets and food. Having to pay for dining, even with a 20 or 30% room discount, pushes that cost a LOT higher than I'm willing to go.

 

[DisneyFive]

I know there are other discounts offered, but nothing comes close to the free dining savings for us. Dining is like 50% of our trip enjoyment, and getting that free is a huge plus. Our trip this year is $3800 for 12 nights, park tickets and food. Having to pay for dining, even with a 20 or 30% room discount, pushes that cost a LOT higher than I'm willing to go.

Same here. To put it plainly, we won't go to WDW without FD. It's all we've done since we started going in 2010.

The price is just too high otherwise. We've gotten far too used to having the dining plan as part of our vacation. It's as integral as Splash mountain and Mickey Mouse for us. Two of our three kids are now considered Disney adults on the plan, which puts our total cost for the regular dining plan at over $2000 just for food for 8 nights. Just crazy. No other discount comes close to FD for us (we stay in Mod or value, so room discounts don't help much)

Dan

 

[oceanmarina]

I teach in the northeast too, but this spells disaster for many of us as many teachers are contracted starting Sept 1 and will therefore need to report Sept 1 & 2 for staff days, kids reporting after labor day. An August 20 date, like the bounce back is this year, allows us to take advantage, but pushing it back to the 25th is very problematic. C'est la vie.

Yep, I agree, it's a shame because now a lot of teachers in the northeast can't go - some districts in NY even have staff reporting the last days in August.

Read about these dates the other day as well. We have booked a free dining bounce back for August for probably the last 5-6 years worth of trips. Not that I didn't see it coming though. It seems each year they push the dates back further and further into August. We arrive for a 13 day stay on the 23rd of this month. It will be the first year we won't be booking a bounce back for the following year in a LONG time.

I know there are other discounts offered, but nothing comes close to the free dining savings for us. Dining is like 50% of our trip enjoyment, and getting that free is a huge plus. Our trip this year is $3800 for 12 nights, park tickets and food. Having to pay for dining, even with a 20 or 30% room discount, pushes that cost a LOT higher than I'm willing to go.

I agree, they have been pushing the bounce back further and further in August. Stinks for us as now we can't take advantage of the offer.

 

[lwc]

What are the ticket requirements for the FD bounce back?

 

[Disfan1968]

The only hope is that Disney finds their tipping point here and has some trouble in late August next year with guest numbers. If they do, they may scooch the bounceback free dining date back more toward the 20th again. But if the numbers work for them, then goodbye late summer FD. As people have pointed out elsewhere, in general, Disney seems to want to really scale back on free dining offers. If room discounts fill the rooms during the slow times, that's way preferable to them, especially for values and moderates.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think it's because of the relatively late Labor Day, they feel like they can push it later. If you came on August 25th, you can still get a week vacation in before Labor Day.

 

[hicksnichols]

Do you know if the Caribbean Beach was excluded? Hoping to check in Oct. 1 2016. Since thorton said we'd get free dining as long as we check in by the last day of the offer. Yay! Thanks everyone for the info.

 

[Malibustyle23]

What are the ticket requirements for the FD bounce back?

I would also like to know this. Are park hoppers or the wpm feature required?

I assume it will be again next year when the offer goes to the general public but I hope not.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Many school districts across the country started school too early to be able to use these late August offers. Now that Disney has added a week at the end of May and beginning of June for the 2016 FD BB, families in those schools districts can finally get a chance to use the free dining BB. It is really good news for us.

 

[Wood Nymph]

What are the ticket requirements for the FD bounce back?

You have to buy park hoppers or WP&M.

 

[lwc]

You have to buy park hoppers or WP&M.

1 day...2 day...length of stay?

 

[oceanmarina]

No only for the 4th - 7th since the 8th starts the blackout period

 

[oceanmarina]

What if you arrive June 4th 2016 and stay for 8 nights? Will you get free dining for the length of stay?

No only for the 4th - 7th since the 8th starts the blackout period

 

[LorrieAnn5]

No only for the 4th - 7th since the 8th starts the blackout period

In the past you could check in on the day before the first black out date and stay for up to 14 nights and still get Free Dining so you could stay June 7-21 and have free food. Are you saying they changed this policy?
*Side Note: If you were talking about % off room discount then you would be correct that they discount would only apply to June 4-7 and not any black out dates.

 

[elle325]

I could be wrong, but I don't remember seeing free dining bounce backs for Oct/Nov the last few years. For 2015 the dates were Aug 20 - Oct 2. After that fall offer, the BB offer changed to room discounts for certain dates in 2016. I though the Oct/Nov free dining promo was a separate thing, not a BB.

You are probably right. This year we were involved in the amazingly crazy free dining promotion in order to get free dining for late October and last year when we were there in December the only bounce back offered was a room discount. I just wish we could secure free dining in a bounce back instead of going through the stress of booking the free dining offer. It would be so nice to leave Walt Disney World with a future trip already booked!

 

[jakeybake]

Read about these dates the other day as well. We have booked a free dining bounce back for August for probably the last 5-6 years worth of trips. Not that I didn't see it coming though. It seems each year they push the dates back further and further into August. We arrive for a 13 day stay on the 23rd of this month. It will be the first year we won't be booking a bounce back for the following year in a LONG time.

I know there are other discounts offered, but nothing comes close to the free dining savings for us. Dining is like 50% of our trip enjoyment, and getting that free is a huge plus. Our trip this year is $3800 for 12 nights, park tickets and food. Having to pay for dining, even with a 20 or 30% room discount, pushes that cost a LOT higher than I'm willing to go.

Exact same situation for our family and I totally agree about dining. Dining is a HUGE part of our trips and just as important to us as the parks are. The free dining made the trips doable. Without it, it just didn't seem doable. Looks like 2015 will be our last trip for a while. Too bad!

Jay

 

[MomForFrozenAddicts]

My original plan for next year was to do the Bounce Back followed by a Disney Cruise in the last 2 week of August. I already booked the cruise for the last week and was expecting to doing the 3rd week with BB FD. Free Dining was the main reason I spent the last three years doing week long WDW vacation. Hopefully, there will be room discount. Probably will stay for a few days before the cruise using my left over non-expiry tickets.