Free Dining 2014 Discussion

[Corrie76]

Last year for sept it ended on a Wednesday. In 2011 in ended on a Thursday. when I booked our sept 2013 trip I booked our first day being the last Thursday of September, come to find out when FD was finally released the last day was the last Wednesday in September 2013 so we had to change our trip by adding an extra day to get it. No complaints tho an extra day in Disney

Thanks for answering so quickly. The FD would save us a lot of money. So just debating whether to hold off on flights for November until the offer comes out.

 

[SPOERLX3]

A marketing executive somewhere is getting a big pat on the back; who knew the Memory Maker promotion would be so popular. Bookings over the past month are through the roof!

What are you basing this on (inquiring minds want to know)

I don't think anyone thinks the MM is a great promotion. IMHO, I believe the reason the bookings are up over the past month is due to everyone "hoping" for free dining and wanting to book with a promo/discount, just in case free dining doesn't happen, they will at least have some sort of discount. Is the marketing executive smart, you bet and it is working! The sad thing about this is, Disney offers promo's to book rooms and if rooms are booking without promo's or with promo's like MM, there is no reason for them to offer another promo. Booking early is what causes room categories, resorts and dates to be excluded. So we will just all have to wait all is truly affected.

 

[jhaig]

What are you basing this on (inquiring minds want to know) I don't think anyone thinks the MM is a great promotion. IMHO, I believe the reason the bookings are up over the past month is due to everyone "hoping" for free dining and wanting to book with a promo/discount, just in case free dining doesn't happen, they will at least have some sort of discount. Is the marketing executive smart, you bet and it is working! The sad thing about this is, Disney offers promo's to book rooms and if rooms are booking without promo's or with promo's like MM, there is no reason for them to offer another promo. Booking early is what causes room categories, resorts and dates to be excluded. So we will just all have to wait all is truly affected.

I sense a bit of sarcasm with that blockbuster MM promo....

 

[SPOERLX3]

I sense a bit of sarcasm with that blockbuster MM promo....

That is not my intentions at all
I just believe that the MM is one of Disney's "phishing" promo's just to see how many of us they can "catch" with a mediocre promo in an attempt to exclude dates, rooms and/or room categories.

 

[tinklvsu]

That is not my intentions at all
I just believe that the MM is one of Disney's "phishing" promo's just to see how many of us they can "catch" with a mediocre promo in an attempt to exclude dates, rooms and/or room categories.

I believe thats what TheGreatGafsby meant. Joking that while they think the MM promo went great (with rooms booked) ..It's really people booking with anticipation of FD. Or thats how i read it

 

[CaraMiaBelle]

I'm not sure how old your girls are, but we took our first Disney trip last September when our girls were 3, 5.5, and 8. We had such an amazing time! We went during free dining and were on the regular dining plan. Our girls loved the character meals. We ate at Chef Mickey's our first night, and we heard about how much they loved it every time the monorail passed through the contemporary. They also loved Akershus, Crystal Palace, Hollywood and Vine, and 1900 Park Fare. I think character meals were a wonderful part of our first trip. We definitely got to meet more characters that way, the food was usually very good, and it was a nice break too.

I also had no idea if we'd ever be able to afford to go back (or if my husband would ever agree again!) and we're planning our second trip for this November--definitely using the regular dining plan again.

You sound just like my family last year! I definitely loved having the dining plan. I knew I wanted the kids to have as many character meals as possible while they were young since I wasn't sure I'd ever talk DH into going again. Yes, we could do all those meals without, but I didn't want DH thinking about how much each meal cost while we were on vacation.
I did get him to commit to going back sometime, but, as you see by my ticker, we are not sure when that will be.
So excited you are able to go again this November. It would be wonderful to be able to go back this November, but I just can't see that happening. : (

 

[sbecker517]

I got excited for a second... Got an email about a 'special offer' I was about to receive from DV.

 

[tinker&belle]

I got excited for a second... Got an email about a 'special offer' I was about to receive from DV. dde14

I got it too... I think it is for Disney store

 

[sbecker517]

I got it too... I think it is for Disney store

Seems like it... Had my rewards balance wrong...

 

[StarDreamer]

I'm not sure how old your girls are, but we took our first Disney trip last September when our girls were 3, 5.5, and 8. We had such an amazing time! We went during free dining and were on the regular dining plan. Our girls loved the character meals. We ate at Chef Mickey's our first night, and we heard about how much they loved it every time the monorail passed through the contemporary. They also loved Akershus, Crystal Palace, Hollywood and Vine, and 1900 Park Fare. I think character meals were a wonderful part of our first trip. We definitely got to meet more characters that way, the food was usually very good, and it was a nice break too.

I also had no idea if we'd ever be able to afford to go back (or if my husband would ever agree again!) and we're planning our second trip for this November--definitely using the regular dining plan again.

My girls are 4 and 6, so the perfect age to do character meals. I think we'll keep them, there's no way we'd meet so many characters otherwise. We are planning to do chef mickey's, akershus, hollywood and vine, so it's good to know they are good choices.

 

[itsjustryan]

You sound just like my family last year! I definitely loved having the dining plan. I knew I wanted the kids to have as many character meals as possible while they were young since I wasn't sure I'd ever talk DH into going again. Yes, we could do all those meals without, but I didn't want DH thinking about how much each meal cost while we were on vacation.
I did get him to commit to going back sometime, but, as you see by my ticker, we are not sure when that will be.
So excited you are able to go again this November. It would be wonderful to be able to go back this November, but I just can't see that happening. : (

But on the plus side, tomorrow is the two year mark for your worst case date!!! WooHoo!!!!!

I like to celebrate the little things

 

[SPOERLX3]

I believe thats what TheGreatGafsby meant. Joking that while they think the MM promo went great (with rooms booked) ..It's really people booking with anticipation of FD. Or thats how i read it

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! got it!

 

[2009CAN]

My girls are 4 and 6, so the perfect age to do character meals. I think we'll keep them, there's no way we'd meet so many characters otherwise. We are planning to do chef mickey's, akershus, hollywood and vine, so it's good to know they are good choices.

Those were some of the meals we did last year with our young kids, and the character interaction was well worth it. They were too young to stand in very long lines to meet their friends. I’m planning on meeting the characters again this year by doing the same thing so we can use our FP+ for rides.

 

[SPOERLX3]

My girls are 4 and 6, so the perfect age to do character meals. I think we'll keep them, there's no way we'd meet so many characters otherwise. We are planning to do chef mickey's, akershus, hollywood and vine, so it's good to know they are good choices.

You are soooo right! The best way to get characters signatures is at the character meals. You won't have to waist time standing in so many of the character meet 'n greet lines

 

[BigCatEars]

Thursday can't get here fast enough!

 

[squirrel4569]

My girls are 4 and 6, so the perfect age to do character meals. I think we'll keep them, there's no way we'd meet so many characters otherwise. We are planning to do chef mickey's, akershus, hollywood and vine, so it's good to know they are good choices.

Those were some of the meals we did last year with our young kids, and the character interaction was well worth it. They were too young to stand in very long lines to meet their friends. I’m planning on meeting the characters again this year by doing the same thing so we can use our FP+ for rides.

You are soooo right! The best way to get characters signatures is at the character meals. You won't have to waist time standing in so many of the character meet 'n greet lines

I love the character meals for all of those reasons. Last year we saw 25 different characters at meals during a week and a couple of them more than once. You've got to eat anyways so it makes sense to kill two birds with one stone.

 

[Ava]

I hope this actually happens on Thursday because the more it drags on the more times I re-run numbers and think maybe I should change our plans! We're already booked at POR and can't change our dates, so we're going whether we get FD or not, but now I'm thinking it might be better for us if we do get FD to switch to POP and get the free QSDP, then pay OOP for the 3 TS meals we really want to do. Especially if we pay the ~$20 dollars to upgrade my DD to an adult for QSDP, we'd have 42 adult QS credits to use for our 7-night stay. I haven't fully run the numbers yet, but when you factor the cost of tips on 7 TS meals, it's probably about a break-even scenario.

I have the DDP added to my package right now, and booked ADRs assuming we'd have 7 TS credits each to use, but there are only 3 ADRs that I'd be really bummed to lose and would pay OOP for if we don't get FD. I just want to confirm everything already! Part of me is almost hoping our dates are excluded because planning all the meals out is

 

[lazer]

I hope this actually happens on Thursday because the more it drags on the more times I re-run numbers and think maybe I should change our plans! We're already booked at POR and can't change our dates, so we're going whether we get FD or not, but now I'm thinking it might be better for us if we do get FD to switch to POP and get the free QSDP, then pay OOP for the 3 TS meals we really want to do. Especially if we pay the ~$20 dollars to upgrade my DD to an adult for QSDP, we'd have 42 adult QS credits to use for our 7-night stay. I haven't fully run the numbers yet, but when you factor the cost of tips on 7 TS meals, it's probably about a break-even scenario. I have the DDP added to my package right now, and booked ADRs assuming we'd have 7 TS credits each to use, but there are only 3 ADRs that I'd be really bummed to lose and would pay OOP for if we don't get FD. I just want to confirm everything already! Part of me is almost hoping our dates are excluded because planning all the meals out is

I feel the same way. We've gone and done both plans in the past. Last year, in September it was really hot for my youngest (very fair, very blonde, blue-eyed) son, and then he got sick the last few days, so we ended up canceling some meals. While I enjoy a good sit down meal, the character ones are what we'd miss the most, so we'd pay for at least 1 OOP. Planning meals is totally exhausting, because it also means planning what park you'll be in when...and I miss the days of hopping all day and not having any real "commitments".

 

[Cintijen]

So I was just online crunching some package numbers, and suddenly the standard rate at CSR is $217 for late September/early October?? It has been $187 for the past couple of weeks. Has anyone else noticed price changes?

 

[SPOERLX3]

So I was just online crunching some package numbers, and suddenly the standard rate at CSR is $217 for late September/early October?? It has been $187 for the past couple of weeks. Has anyone else noticed price changes?

I just looked at 9/27 thru 10/3 and it is $185 per night for standard and I explanded it to 10/7 and it shows $187 per night for standard
Not sure what dates your looking at but I don't see anything at $217. The closest I see is a Preferred room at $213