Do you think they will bring back Free Dining, really? Really?

[DisneyRunner2009]

I know a lot of people want this promotion. But, lets take a minute and think about this. It was available for booking from late August 2010 to late December 2010. That is six months of window to book this deal. That is a long period of time. I took advantage of it. I put my $200 down to reserve my spot. I know it was a long way off and plans can change. Plans can still change, but at this point everyting is still refundable. Let the discussion begin.

 

[chrisw127]

I don't think it will come out for May through mid-August, but I do think it will come out for late August up until the week or so before Thanksgiving.

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

I know a lot of people want this promotion. But, lets take a minute and think about this. It was available for booking from late August 2010 to late December 2010. That is six months of window to book this deal. That is a long period of time. I took advantage of it. I put my $200 down to reserve my spot. I know it was a long way off and plans can change. Plans can still change, but at this point everyting is still refundable. Let the discussion begin.

Well, sometimes life gets in the way of vacation and you don't think you're going to be able to go, so you don't book. Doesn't mean you don't know how to plan ahead or anything. I do think there's a good chance it will be offered again. If not, I did book with split reservation - kids stay and play and room only.

 

[OatsZoo]

Ok I am alittle confused on your dates, do you mean 2011.

I am waiting for free dining for Sept 2011 and hoping I did not miss the boat. I just don't get why Disney has not announced anything yet, they still have the old offers that ended 2 days ago on their website. What the heck Disney????

They did offer via pin codes free dining for May-August already. And free dining for Sept back in Dec 2010 but I didn't know I could go back then, now I am kicking myself in the behind for not booking it anyways and cancelling if I couldn't go.

Please please Disney Gods if you are reading....we all really need a vacation with free dining! It is a $700 difference in pricing for me, which is my flights. PLEASE!!!

 

[ColoradoK]

Ok I am alittle confused on your dates, do you mean 2011.

I believe the OP meant that Disney DID offer free dining for 2011 dates if booked by a date in late December of 2010. Plenty of people think that was it...they won't offer it again. Others hold out hope that they will offer something again for later this year.

But, just to nit-pick OP, August-December is 5 months.

 

[mom2rtk]

Ok I am alittle confused on your dates, do you mean 2011.

I am waiting for free dining for Sept 2011 and hoping I did not miss the boat. I just don't get why Disney has not announced anything yet, they still have the old offers that ended 2 days ago on their website. What the heck Disney????

They did offer via pin codes free dining for May-August already. And free dining for Sept back in Dec 2010 but I didn't know I could go back then, now I am kicking myself in the behind for not booking it anyways and cancelling if I couldn't go.

Please please Disney Gods if you are reading....we all really need a vacation with free dining! It is a $700 difference in pricing for me, which is my flights. PLEASE!!!

Free dining for many 2011 dates up through the first couple days in October was announced last year. The deal was good up through late December. This was unprecedented, so no one knows if they will announce a free dining deal for that time period. My guess is that the next deal announced will be for free dining from Oct to December. It really just depends on how that first offer went and if they are happy with the occupancy rate that resulted from the first offering.

 

[waynesgirl]

I was discussing this with another friend who loves Disney the other day. Being in the industry, I think they might bring it back out but on a very limited scale. Here's my two cents (Aren't ALL DISBoarders walking around with 2 cents in their pockets at any given time?)

1. Hotel pricing is going up: it is evident in the stock market, in the higher-priced markets, and overseas with the EURO gaining as well as the Yen. This means that Disney can charge higher prices- and get them- and people will pay for the free dining.

2. Limited "free" options: as food pricing starts to soar, offering a full, wide-range menu for the free dining is not economically friendly for Disney. As many people like to point outm the quality of food and presentation has gone down hill in the past few years, especially for those who go more often and get the DP. In order to make sure that Disney protects its money, I see a specific menu for free dining participants, as well as people using the DP and DxDP. Maybe even a QSDP option only- everything else will be an upcharge.

3. Soda and sponsorships: this is also something they might not incorporate any longer. No more drinks on the plans at all, not even for snack credits. This, combined with sponsorship wars, could be very lucrative for Disney, especially in the end of summer, when it is still warm enough that people will pay $5 for a bottle of water or soda.

Just seeing it from the economic side. I don't use the DPs or free dining offerings. We generally tend not to eat enough to warrant spending the money and we generally get better room-only deals anyway. I sincerely hope that Disney finds a nice happy medium for their guests, regardless.

 

[Colleen27]

I think it'll come out for the usual (not last couple years, but going back to when it was the "hurricane season special" - last week of Aug through end of Sept) timeframe. No matter how much Disney would like to get away from the constant discounts, this is a very popular offer and that's a time of year when virtually all Orlando accommodations run special incentives to fill rooms.

I don't think it'll overlap Food & Wine or the holiday season this year unless is the scaled-back offer we've seen in PINs where it takes a deluxe resort stay to get the basic plan (and I think even that is unlikely). Disney doesn't have to give that much to fill rooms during those more popular months.

I think Disney has been experimenting with codes further in advance, more along an airline/cruise line model where getting the best rates means knowing your vacation plans well in advance. But I fully expect that will end up a failed experiment in this economy, because financial uncertainty makes last-minute (relatively speaking) travel bargains more attractive than needing to book months or a year ahead of time to get a good rate. I think we're going to see the gap between code release and included dates start shrinking again, so that discounts are more of a "clearance" sale to boost sagging occupancy for targeted periods rather than a year-round way of doing business.

 

[ChattaAlley]

I just received my free dining code via email. I had already received it via snail mail. I guess they really want me to go

 

[nicki.momof3]

My guess is that the window to book free dining for the summer is over. They offered it last year for that time frame.

I think the next offer we are going to see is going to be the Oct-Dec. offer.

We are going this year Dec. 16-25, 2011 on a 30% off moderate room discount. It is a good discount but free dining would be better for us.

We went Dec. 17-25, 2010 with free dining and LOVED it.

 

[ChattaAlley]

right now the offer is 4/23-8/13.

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

Speaking of them limiting offerings and such, did anyone notice that some of the restaurants (that did not previously) have a combined menu for lunch and dinner? So if you are paying OOP, you pay the same at lunch and dinner. It's streamlined and you have the same choices, or lack thereof, at both mealtimes.

 

[Sandisw]

I am not sure if free dining will show up again for the fall dates but if it does, I think it will follow suit with the pin codes that are out right now and it will only be the regular DDP for the deluxe resorts and quick service for the others.

I also think that Disney is slowly pulling back on what it offers so that people get used to having less. Just look at the free dining piece-I hear of a lot of people who upgrade to the DDP when staying at a value. For a family of 4, that gives Disney up to $40 per night more. On an average weeks stay, that could amount to $200 - $300 per room. Over all the resorts, that is a good bit back (not to mention that rack rate has gone up as well).

 

[TheRatPack]

Last years FD public offer cut off check in date was the last Thursday in September or something strange like that. We always book FD in October but sadly that wasn't an option this year unless we wanted to check in on Thursday and then check out on Wednesday since my husband can only get 5 days off at a time from work. We had to back it up to a Saturday check in in September so we could get a full week and 2 weekends. I really hope they bring it back out for some October dates....we really like that time better. Plus the F&W Festival starts the day before we check out so we'll only have one day to enjoy it....in previous years we've had multiple days we could check out F&W along with MNSSHP.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

I meant Disney offered Free Dining for mid/late August 2011 to the beginning of October 2011, starting in August of 2010. Perhaps a promotion will be made available for after October 2011.

 

[disneymotherof3]

I meant Disney offered Free Dining for mid/late August 2011 to the beginning of October 2011, starting in August of 2010. Perhaps a promotion will be made available for after October 2011.

Is this offer still available? A friend of mine is looking to go in early Sept.

 

[Cupmom]

Is this offer still available? A friend of mine is looking to go in early Sept.

The offer had to be booked by December 20, 2010

 

[smitch425]

the above poster meant Dec. 20, 2010.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

It's scary how we remember the dates promotions have to be booked by.

 

[skier_pete]

Here's what I know

Every year for 5 years now, these boards have been all atwitter that they won't do general public free dining this year.

Every year (for mid-August to 1st-October) they put out free dining.

They have offered more free dining than ever this year - even currently offering PINs for the SUMMER season.

I know they offered it in the fall, but look, while they haven't offered it in the fall before to the GP, they offered it as a bounceback for years, and they've offered it in the UK for years.

The VAST majority of people do NOT book their Disney vacations 9 months in advance. (This is just knowing the personality of the average human being - I know more people that plan their vacations with < 3 months before than those that plan them > 3 months, and we're the only people we know that plan them a year ahead.)

A lot of this is circumstantial, but I think regardless of how much they cut the deals back (which so far I see very little evidence of them doing) they will always have deals in late-August through early-September as the only way to keep the hotels full. I am confident enough that I would gladly bet $100 that they will have another GP free dining.

I am not so confident that we'll see 4th quarter free dining...but I am sort of betting my vacation on that too...