Free Dining 2014 Discussion

[black562]

Overtime is always an indicator.

Monday was definitely a date of interest and my most favorable date due to MM expiring the day before.

Which leads to the following as I suggested earlier, with two scenarios:

1. Monday is Visa day

2. Monday is public release, which makes Thursday Visa day.

I would tend to think the TA's would be all over Visa day as well, but it may not be a bad idea to still call Thursday to check...just one or two folks and report here. We don't want people flooding the lines if there's no offer....that makes them mad.

 

[trixiemuffin]

I'm not all that optimistic of my chances for free dining at the end of August. I'll be checking in on Aug. 27, it sounds as though it won't be available (if at all in August) until the 28th or 29th? It probably won't be worth it to do a split stay with the ticket/package requirements.

Your chances are better than mine...I'll be checking in Aug. 22 at the latest. Don't give up hope, though. Last year I got a FD PIN for stays starting Sun., Aug. 25, so I'm thinking Sun., Aug. 24 of this year has a chance. A split stay is definitely possible. We did that last year and picked up our park tickets 2 days early.

 

[BlackPearl695]

This week historically has been excluded - Jersey week and food and wine marathon. I have always wanted to go this week because our schools are closed 2 1/2 days but there are never any discounts. Have a fun trip !!

You mean there are no discounts of ANY KIND during this week?!

 

[donp]

Overtime is always an indicator.

Monday was definitely a date of interest and my most favorable date due to MM expiring the day before.

Which leads to the following as I suggested earlier, with two scenarios:

1. Monday is Visa day

2. Monday is public release, which makes Thursday Visa day.

I would tend to think the TA's would be all over Visa day as well, but it may not be a bad idea to still call Thursday to check...just one or two folks and report here. We don't want people flooding the lines if there's no offer....that makes them mad.

I will volunteer to call. Oh, and my above post a few posts up--I left out an important "not." The CM that I talked to said that they do NOT have overtime this week. With the other post about a CM stating they have OT next week, I thinks this bodes well. I will be posting at 7:03 if possible on Thursday, but my suspicions are Monday as well for Disney Visa . . . we shall see!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

I will volunteer to call. Oh, and my above post a few posts up--I left out an important "not." The CM that I talked to said that they do NOT have overtime this week. With the other post about a CM stating they have OT next week, I thinks this bodes well. I will be posting at 7:03 if possible on Thursday, but my suspicions are Monday as well for Disney Visa . . . we shall see!

So, if I have been reading everything correctly, it is looking like Monday for Disney Visa and next Thursday for the general public?

 

[shyjade]

IF FD is offered next week it will only be for August/September, right?

Looking for FD for my October 17th check-in...is it safe to assume at this point any FD for my trip will be released later in summer (like last year's August 1st release date)?

 

[black562]

I will volunteer to call. Oh, and my above post a few posts up--I left out an important "not." The CM that I talked to said that they do NOT have overtime this week. With the other post about a CM stating they have OT next week, I thinks this bodes well. I will be posting at 7:03 if possible on Thursday, but my suspicions are Monday as well for Disney Visa . . . we shall see!

If you remember last month, when I quoted the dates, the information I had was "mid-March". It was the same this time, quoted as "mid-April". The difference was, I didn't quite believe it. As I saw what those dates would be, which was this week, and knowing the MM expiration on Sunday, I felt Monday/Thursday of next week made much more sense, so I added those dates in.

Now just seeing that alone wouldn't indicate the type of promo...it could very well be a room discount, or anything. The second piece of the puzzle came as a direct statement of free dining being on....putting those two together helped solidify things a bit.

Of course now comes the harder part, trying to nail down the dates...specifically when it will end. I feel it will start around the 29 or 30, but will it run to the 17th or will it go on to the 24th? If it's out there somewhere, I'll do my best to find it. If not, we will know promptly at 7am Monday.

 

[SPOERLX3]

So, if I have been reading everything correctly, it is looking like Monday for Disney Visa and next Thursday for the general public?

That is one option. The other would be that DV advance offer would be available this Thursday and out to the general public on Monday. There is also the possibility that Disney Visa holders will not get any advance offer at all and it will just go live to everyone at the same time.

Last year the 9/2 thru 9/25 offer was offered to DV holders on Monday, May 6th and went live to the general public on Thursday, May 9th but when the extended offer that covered 9/29 thru 12/22 (with blackout dates) came out on 8/1 the DV holders got no advance offer, it went live to everyone at the same time.

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

That is one option. The other would be that DV advance offer would be available this Thursday and out to the general public on Monday. There is also the possibility that Disney Visa holders will not get any advance offer at all and it will just go live to everyone at the same time.

Gotcha. I just need to be ready to call for myself and clients!

 

[bella kate reese]

We are looking at going September 20-27. Should I be bumping my dates up a bit to give me a better shot at free dining? We don't have anything booked yet and are only going if we get free dining since we were just at Disney in February.

 

[hlemaire]

I am planning to go the week aft

 

[hlemaire]

Sorry hit the wrong button. Planning to go the week after Thanksgiving. What are my chances for FD?

 

[scard192]

We are looking at going September 20-27. Should I be bumping my dates up a bit to give me a better shot at free dining? We don't have anything booked yet and are only going if we get free dining since we were just at Disney in February.

at this point it's probably better to just wait until next week (hopefully) and see what the exact dates in September are covered.

 

[crazymomof4]

My daughter (19) and I are going September 11th. We have already booked a package at POP with dining and free MM. Now I am hearing that free dining might be offered. Am I correct that we would need to pay an upgrade to get the 1TS, 1QS and one snack dining instead of the Quick service dining? Would it be cheaper for me to do a moderate and get the regular dining free? What would be my best course of action at this time until free dining is offered? Is there a way for me to determine the different costs for different scenarios before the announcement?

Thanks
Stacie

Ask the CM to work up the numbers for both scenarios. When I booked Sept FD in March of 2012 the cast membered kindly offered to do this as well as giving me a price for CS resort w/ FD. It turned out for our group 1 week at POFQ with the free standard DP was only $100 more for the entire week than staying at POP and upgrading to standard DP. As the CM put it, "Thats a no-brainer".
Your mileage may vary as this was 2yrs ago. But it's def worth having the CM give you the bottom line for 2 or 3 scenarios.

 

[black562]

Sorry hit the wrong button. Planning to go the week after Thanksgiving. What are my chances for FD?

That may be tough. However, it isn't anticipated that October through December will release next week. Just the September timeframe at this point.

Note: I've updated the first post of this thread, as I will continue to do until all the pieces are in place.

 

[GigiDisneyfreak]

So true!! I am at the 150 day mark!! Yoo Hoo!

We will be there the same time. I am 151 days out

 

[2009CAN]

I have a question about split stays and FD. Assuming that your entire stay falls during a FD promotion, how does the ticket situation work? For example, if I’m staying 8 nights and want 5 days of park tickets, will a split stay be treated like two completely different stays (like hotel & 3-park day tickets, check out and then new hotel and 2-day park tickets) or do they book it under one master reservation where you can buy all 5 park day tickets with the multiple day-discount (does what I’m asking make sense?)

Also, would someone be kind enough to post which resorts are typically included in FD?

 

[spandulina]

and us! We hit 152 days today and made a 22 wk paper chain countdown to mark the occasion

 

[ifjf414]

How do they let Disney Visa cardholders know about the Free Dining. Do they contact them through email, or do we have to check the website?

I'm hoping to go 9/19-9/28 and can't wait for the announcement!

 

[SPOERLX3]

What is going on a POR and POFQ
There is not one king room available for even one day, the entire month of September. Simular with standard view rooms. Very, very, very limited dates any time during September. If I was trying to book at either of these resorts the most I could have booked in a standard room was 2-3 nights

Are they doing any type of transition/refurb of rooms in these 2 resorts or has everyone just already booked those 2 room types at those 2 resorts for September?

Since we only stay value, I was really just playing with room types and dates waiting for FD and trying to get an idea of how crowded it appears to be based on resorts and I was totally shocked that I couldn't find a standard view room for more than just a couple of nights in a row and no kings at all.

The silver lining that I found in all of this "Disney research" is that I didn't find this issue at any other resort.

I sure hope this is a glitch in the system cause if all these rooms are really booked at POR and POFQ for the month of September then I can surely see both of them possibly being excluded from a September promo.