2016 Free Dining Watch

[Confederate Scott]

The rumor mill never addresses a Visa release. It's always a "wait and see". Chances are, if they don't release it to Visa tomorrow, and Monday's date remains solid...then it will likely just go to the public all at once. Only one time did they actually move a Visa release from a Thursday to a Friday (which many claimed to be because of the rumors).

So it sounds like a bunch of folks will have an alarm set to 6:50am tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the information black562. It is much appreciated.

 

[kellyjeanie]

The rumor mill never addresses a Visa release. It's always a "wait and see". Chances are, if they don't release it to Visa tomorrow, and Monday's date remains solid...then it will likely just go to the public all at once. Only one time did they actually move a Visa release from a Thursday to a Friday (which many claimed to be because of the rumors).

So it sounds like a bunch of folks will have an alarm set to 6:50am tomorrow morning.

Thank you, we really appreciate your information!

 

[Jordyn1123]

The rumor mill never addresses a Visa release. It's always a "wait and see". Chances are, if they don't release it to Visa tomorrow, and Monday's date remains solid...then it will likely just go to the public all at once. Only one time did they actually move a Visa release from a Thursday to a Friday (which many claimed to be because of the rumors).

So it sounds like a bunch of folks will have an alarm set to 6:50am tomorrow morning.

Nevermind, I reread and answered my own question. Thanks for everything

 

[black562]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but is there any chance at all of it going straight to the general public tomorrow?

To be brutally honest, it's Disney's promo....they could change everything on a dime if they wanted. I mean it isn't likely, but nothing is ever set in stone. They could come out and say it's a stay-play-dine if they wanted, or just drop the whole thing and do something else. Again, not likely, but I always remind folks never make any concrete plans until official, because they have made last minute changes in terms of adding more excluded resorts many times in the past.

 

[Jordyn1123]

To be brutally honest, it's Disney's promo....they could change everything on a dime if they wanted. I mean it isn't likely, but nothing is ever set in stone. They could come out and say it's a stay-play-dine if they wanted, or just drop the whole thing and do something else. Again, not likely, but I always remind folks never make any concrete plans until official, because they have made last minute changes in terms of adding more excluded resorts many times in the past.

Thank you so much

 

[CaraMiaBelle]

I thought the phone lines for DV (or Disney in general on any day) open at 7:00 EDT (EST).?

So sorry, that was a typo. Yes, 7:00.

 

[Stephanie Isaacson]

So, I signed up for the DV yesterday and immediately booked and put my deposit on with the Disney Visa, but I don't have the physical card in hand. Am I considered part of the DV crowd if my deposit is with my new visa, but I have no card yet?

 

[Confederate Scott]

To be brutally honest, it's Disney's promo....they could change everything on a dime if they wanted. I mean it isn't likely, but nothing is ever set in stone. They could come out and say it's a stay-play-dine if they wanted, or just drop the whole thing and do something else. Again, not likely, but I always remind folks never make any concrete plans until official, because they have made last minute changes in terms of adding more excluded resorts many times in the past.

Guess that is why it makes sense to not book on projected dates for any speculated offers unless you plan to go with or without any offer.

 

[merry_nbright]

they have made last minute changes in terms of adding more excluded resorts many times in the past.

Do you think that Coronado Springs will be an excluded resort?

 

[Disneylover99]

Do you think that Coronado Springs will be an excluded resort?

I wouldn't think so. It's never been excluded in the past. POFQ will most likely be excluded and I would imagine POR is also a possibility.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

What is the central phone number for Disney reservations?

 

[rymahoney]

I can book another reservation even though I have a reservation booked through TA correct?

 

[damskipi13]

All this book/ don't book has me torn...
For us the low crowds are most important and dining is a great bonus. I thought free dining was low crowd times but last year proved me wrong and now I'm a bit worried about everyone not booking yet cause that means crowd predictions are probably wrong, correct?

I don't think the crowd predictions are based on resort bookings. I think they are based on historical numbers, and then they do some voodoo to figure out how EMH, special events, holidays, etc will affect things. Crowd predictions have been pretty reliable for me even though I looked at them MONTHS in advance of the trip. I do think crowds during FD vary wildly, so FD doesn't necessarily mean low crowds. If you can, pick a week that the crowd calendars all agree will have low crowds.

Warning, kind of off topic:
I know it's been said earlier in this thread not to trust the online crowd calendars. Is there any trustworthy source for this info? Has anyone been during Sept-Dec in the last couple years and found the crowds to not be very heavy, and if so do you know what week you went? Obviously there will always be crowds at Disney but curious if FD and the better economy in general translates to truly heavy crowds all the time now?

Somebody may have said that, but I love, appreciate, and trust the crowd calendars. I compare three of them and go with what is common between them, or if they all disagree I go with the one I trust the most. I've never been steered wrong. I went in Sept 2016 during F&W (something like the 15th-19th?) and following the crowd calendars, I was able to convince 3 Disney-haters that there is a way to beat the crowds. In fact at one point we were able to walk on Expedition Everest 3 times in a row at about 2pm, and we were on a virtual continuous ride at Space Mountain because we were basically the only people there one night. We went six times in one hour. There was FD going on during our trip. I'm not sure what effect the economy had on crowds.

Oh don't worry, plenty of people like All Star Sports. We just had a bad experience, which soured us on the resort but that can happen anywhere. Disney did make it as right as they could. So no worries! It's just not the resort for us, we missed Pop and kept comparing to our experiences at Pop.

Thank you! It'll be my first on-site stay since I was 10, so I won't have much to compare it too. But like I said...hopefully a good discount for Pop or AoA opens up

 

[Confederate Scott]

I can book another reservation even though I have a reservation booked through TA correct?

Yes I believe you can and then cancel your existing one with the TA. You should then be able to transfer a new reservation to your TA if you desire. I do not know how that works but your TA should.

 

[RedWolf95]

Well last year we got the thread up to 235 pages before FD went live so I guess ya'll better get busy, we need another 64 pages or so! lol

 

[Confederate Scott]

Well last year we got the thread up to 235 pages before FD went live so I guess ya'll better get busy, we need another 64 pages or so! lol

Now why do that. lol

 

[RedWolf95]

Well the fun has begun in the UK. The UK 2017 offer is on their website....

http://www.disneyholidays.co.uk/walt-disney-world/deals/

 

[Disneylover99]

Well last year we got the thread up to 235 pages before FD went live so I guess ya'll better get busy, we need another 64 pages or so! lol

If it doesn't get released until Monday, that should be no problem.

 

[5ofus]

I went in Sept 2016 during F&W (something like the 15th-19th?)

Can you tell me what the crowds were like, that's when we will be there and I don't have the ability to time travel. Yet.

(Said totally tongue in cheek, I'm sure we all figured you meant 2015).

 

[RedWolf95]

Well the fun has begun in the UK. The UK 2017 offer is on their website....

http://www.disneyholidays.co.uk/walt-disney-world/deals/

Nothing on the Canadian or Brazil websites yet (sometimes they have gotten the current year offer earlier than US)