Free Dining 2008 Watch

[The Brain]

I have to wonder with all of these people reserving rooms in anticipation of the free dining if it will be self defeating in the end. Think about it - the more rooms that are reserved, the less likely they are to offer it. If they are at or near capacity and they aren't offering anything free, then why offer it at all? I tried to search for availability at the Contemporary pretty much all of Sept. and there are no rooms available for any of the weeks during the window of my visit (6 nights.) I wasn't booking, just looking.... I'm not trying to be "Debbie Downer" but I think we may be harming "the cause" by booking in anticipation of the free dining - and I want it!!!! So stop reserving people!!!! LOL

I agree with you, but every time I've said that some whiny person comes in and yells at me and tells me "Disney knows we're doing it only wanting free dining"

Just a heads up to you. Most people here are nice, but some are a bit well lets say "special".

 

[mickey2000]

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

I'm not whining and I'm not yelling. I am trying to look at it from all perspectives. If you are going to go in Sept no matter if free dining is offered or not, then more power to those who go ahead and book and make their adr's at the 180 day mark. If you're booking solely on the speculation of free dining and will cancel your ressie if it's not offered then you are messing up the free dining availability. Surely Disney is smart enough to realize (especially with the two prior years of everyone changing their ressies to free dining) that a large portion of the current bookings are going to switch over. They KNOW and I am sure they are sitting back laughing at all of the hoopla and uproar in anticipation of free dining!

 

[megan722]

Thanks for the head's up! I'm new but waiting for the free dining too. We did it 2 years ago and it was great. I want it again but I am afraid they will not offer it... there was not a huge selection of available hotels when I did a test look during the normal free dining periods recently...

 

[megan722]

I'm not whining and I'm not yelling. I am trying to look at it from all perspectives. If you are going to go in Sept no matter if free dining is offered or not, then more power to those who go ahead and book and make their adr's at the 180 day mark. If you're booking solely on the speculation of free dining and will cancel your ressie if it's not offered then you are messing up the free dining availability. Surely Disney is smart enough to realize (especially with the two prior years of everyone changing their ressies to free dining) that a large portion of the current bookings are going to switch over. They KNOW and I am sure they are sitting back laughing at all of the hoopla and uproar in anticipation of free dining!

Yeah I may not go if they don't offer the free dining.. so I am one of those waiting for the free dining this go around. So I really really want it because I love Disney!!

 

[mickey2000]

I have the "clock" bounceback info:

I booked the bounceback in Jan, but still want free dining-it's a better deal!

Thanks for the clock!
Now I can see that there were already 3 Bouncebacks + mailed discount codes for the August September 2008 period. Lots of offers.... Only one more to watch for
less than a week away

 

[kimsuenew]

there's no absolute to what you are supposing... yes, most promos have an end date, but that may not be the same for free dining... i've spoken w/a salesperson for wdw and he indicated that it would be available for the entire stay based on check-in date... FD is different than a room rate i was told...

We received bounceback free DDP for 2008 however we were NOT allowed to book past the date range given (8/30-9/27). We were basically told "when it's over, it's over". We tried three different times. Some people that bounced back were allowed to extend it into October, some were not. If (when) the free DDP is announced to all it will be interesting to see the terms!

 

[The Brain]

I'm not whining and I'm not yelling. I am trying to look at it from all perspectives. If you are going to go in Sept no matter if free dining is offered or not, then more power to those who go ahead and book and make their adr's at the 180 day mark.

I agree 110% with this.

If you're booking solely on the speculation of free dining and will cancel your ressie if it's not offered then you are messing up the free dining availability.

And 100% with this. These were the people that I was talking about when I mentioned it before. If you're going anyways, sure go ahead and sign up. Its a BONUS if you get free dining. Shoot I'd do this myself if it were me, just so I could be assured my ADRs. But those that are signing up in hopes of holding a room and have no intentions of going without free dining are hurting the chances. In my opinion if you can't go without free dining you need to help off until its announced. If you're going anyways, enjoy your trip, and HOPEFULLY the rest of us will see you down there.

Oh and FWIW I don't mean to single you out. You were the first to answer. As a matter of fact I don't even think it was you that commented before.

 

[bdiddy]

megan722 - I think you've made a good point. I am waiting to book because if it is not offered we will go late October instead. I don't want the hassle of booking hoping to get it and then if we don't cancelling and rebooking a month later. Plus, like you said the more people booking ahead of time maybe they won't be hurting as much to offer it in the first place.

But what do I know? LOL...I've never even been to Disney!

 

[jhoshowski]

We are hoping for Aug 23 to be the start date. How accurate has Mousemisers been in the past?

He just admitted in the forum on his site (check it out if you like) that his "rumored dates" are pure speculation on his part.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Oh and FWIW I don't mean to single you out. You were the first to answer. As a matter of fact I don't even think it was you that commented before.

I didn't think it was singling me out. I just wanted to respond because I'm nosy that way!

 

[mom2faith]

I'm not whining and I'm not yelling. I am trying to look at it from all perspectives. If you are going to go in Sept no matter if free dining is offered or not, then more power to those who go ahead and book and make their adr's at the 180 day mark.

I am one of those going either way, and I do think it is a bit unfair that some of the prime ressie times have been "taken" by those who possibly will cancel. I have been pretty lucky, but certainly did have to make some changes because of times being taken.

If you're booking solely on the speculation of free dining and will cancel your ressie if it's not offered then you are messing up the free dining availability.

I am with you on this one as well. Why mess with it. If you are not going, don't ruin the chance of free dining for those of us who are going. When I called today to see if the CM I got would let anything slip, she said that IF free dining was offered it would likely be for certain resorts only. I am taking this as "sorry ma'am you are at the all stars and those resorts are already booked up so....". She was pretty clear, IMHO. I gotta say, I think it is because of the above situation.

Surely Disney is smart enough to realize (especially with the two prior years of everyone changing their ressies to free dining) that a large portion of the current bookings are going to switch over. They KNOW and I am sure they are sitting back laughing at all of the hoopla and uproar in anticipation of free dining!

I am LMAO!! You are right!! This has caused me so much stress!! And for what? We are going either way. I check daily, call often, rework the budget, check online again, call again, etc. I di dnot even know about free dining when I booked and now it is consuming me!!!

I just want the 6th or the 10th or the whatever to happen and then I can relax and start enjoying the planning process!!

Amy

 

[tinawv]

Subscribing and keeping fingers, eyes, and toes crossed for free dining.

 

[Brooknwdw]

Well, I am booked at POFQ on sept 20-27 in hopes of free dining. I have all my ADR's booked as well. I would never go at this time of year (hurricane season) if it were not for the $1100 savings for my family that FD offers.
Let me say that I have done it this way twice, and I've never had to cancel/change my dates. At most, I would be moving it up one week, if it ends on the 22nd as some have been told. I will only completely cancel if its not offered to the general public at all.
Then of course I would cancel my ADR's and make new ones.

My reasoning is, that it does not "hurt" chances for free dining being offered for the relatively few educated-by-the-disboards group to have done as I have.
Disney has hundreds of rooms and people on the DISboards are only a tiny percentage of people who go to disney. People cancel/rebook ALL THE TIME, not just because of codes & discounts.

Also, it is not a one day promotion! The offer is usually good for quite a few weeks (till early June I think??) or until the rooms are full.
I, like many others I am sure, will cancel as soon as I know the dates if it conflicts with my exisiting ressie. So that room, if canceled, will go back into the "pool" of available rooms.

That is the way I see it anyway.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I have to wonder with all of these people reserving rooms in anticipation of the free dining if it will be self defeating in the end. Think about it - the more rooms that are reserved, the less likely they are to offer it.

I agree with you, but every time I've said that some whiny person comes in and yells at me and tells me "Disney knows we're doing it only wanting free dining"

I, and wildeoscar (who usually agree on NOTHING!) are right there with you - see the quote in my signature

We received bounceback free DDP for 2008 however we were NOT allowed to book past the date range given (8/30-9/27). We were basically told "when it's over, it's over". We tried three different times

If your travel plans are still flexible (example: I've booked my outbound, but not my return, airfare), try again. Ask to be transferred to Guest Services.
I was able to book beyond September 27; after the booking period ended, I was still able to change my dates and keep the promotion; and just last week, I was able to change my dates yet again - all while keeping the DxDDP.

 

[pskelly]

From mousemiser discussion

On 03.31.08 Terry said:
I hope those dates are going to be accurate. The first year we went we were able to get the dining plan during the food and wine festival, which just makes Epcot so much fun. It looks like they have shrunk back the dates each year since then. Howevere it looks like if the above dates are true, then it will overlap for the first 2 days of the Food&Wine. So my question is, since a plan I am formulating is to overlap the free dining with the 2 days it looks available during the Food and wine. let’s say I planned a 7 night vaca, with 5 of it being on the meal plan, 23rd through the 29th. I imagine I will only get the free dining until the 27th, (since I read they are compartmentalizing each day now instead of in the past where you could get the same rate on your first day, locked in for your whole stay, same I miagine with dining plan?) If I get the 5 free days worth of meal tickets, do I have to use them all before the 28th? Or since I will have them could I use them any day? Not sure if the free ones would exprire when the offer does.

On 03.31.08 Keith said:
Terry

While Disney has changed the pricing based on the nightly cost of the room, they have not done that with the discounts, so as long as you check in by the last day it is offered, you will get the discount for your entire stay. Since the dining plan is based on the number of nights you stay, there is no way for Disney to break up the dining plan, and only give it to you for a portion of your stay. If you are staying 7 nights, you will get 7 nights worth of dining plan. Please do not let the end date of the promotion make any difference in your planning, as long as you check in on that date or before, you will be fine for your entire stay.


Hope springs eternal.

 

[mickey2000]

Subscribing and keeping fingers, eyes, and toes crossed for free dining.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

My reasoning is, that it does not "hurt" chances for free dining being offered for the relatively few educated-by-the-disboards group to have done as I have.
Disney has hundreds of rooms and people on the DISboards are only a tiny percentage of people who go to disney. People cancel/rebook ALL THE TIME, not just because of codes & discounts.

Never underestimate the number of people here on the boards and other websites. I think it's more than a tiny percentage. Especially those that go during the off season.

 

[ShhhQ]

I am one of those going either way, and I do think it is a bit unfair that some of the prime ressie times have been "taken" by those who possibly will cancel. I have been pretty lucky, but certainly did have to make some changes because of times being taken.



I am with you on this one as well. Why mess with it. If you are not going, don't ruin the chance of free dining for those of us who are going. When I called today to see if the CM I got would let anything slip, she said that IF free dining was offered it would likely be for certain resorts only. I am taking this as "sorry ma'am you are at the all stars and those resorts are already booked up so....". She was pretty clear, IMHO. I gotta say, I think it is because of the above situation.



I am LMAO!! You are right!! This has caused me so much stress!! And for what? We are going either way. I check daily, call often, rework the budget, check online again, call again, etc. I di dnot even know about free dining when I booked and now it is consuming me!!!

I just want the 6th or the 10th or the whatever to happen and then I can relax and start enjoying the planning process!!

Amy

I too am going either way and booked way back in feb. in my excitement about being able to go... totally wasn't even thinking bout FD just wanted to get my trip booked. NOW I am totally obseessed with it! I check the boards about 20 times a day... would be just awesome to save money!!!

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Also, everyone FWIW I want you to know I booked a free dining trip last year on June 26th!!!
That's more than 2 months after it was announced. So those that are worried about missing the booking on the very first day...calm down! If they announce it you will get it no problem (you may have to be flexible with your resort choice)!
Godd luck everyone!