Free Dining Black Out Dates - Advice please!

[JungleCruze]

Hi guys! I'm hoping you might be able to help me wrap my head around this. The rumor of the free dining is giving my sister panic attacks. We are currently booked September 30th - October 9th at POFQ, room only reservations as we are Florida resident passholders who use Tables In Wonderland, NEVER the meal plan. Now that the dates for pending free dining have been released as:

October 2, 2011 - October 8, 2011
October 23, 2011 - November 5, 2011
November 13, 2011 - November 19, 2011
November 27, 2011 - December 3, 2011
December 11, 2011 - December 17, 2011...

My sister wants to change our vacation to October 14th - October 23rd. She is worried that the bookends of a marathon weekend and Columbus day weekend NOW combined with free dining will make Disney World WAY MORE CROWDED than she had hoped during the dates we have now. I ask you, what is the signifigance of the free dining black out dates? Is there something going on at WDW in between those dates that doesn't warrant offering free dining? Yes, we are hoping for room only discounts, but at this point my sister would prefer to pay a little more for the room if it means the parks will be less crowded.

Sorry to babble...But would you keep the September 30th reservations or would you switch dates???

 

[mlbeaver]

We are booked the 16-21st and can't change (have tickets to Halloween party on the 18th) and with work vacation time already in. I am hoping for some kind of deal for these dates, kind sucks that everyone else get a great deal but our week! So much for booking early!

 

[JungleCruze]

You are SO RIGHT!!! Booking early used to mean you could sit back and relax and wait for your vacation to arrive! I've never seen my sister in such a panic, but I get it. I'm so sorry you are locked in for those dates. Wouldn't it be so much easier if Disney just released a calendar of discounts along with park hours. A girl can dream, right

 

[n2mm]

I agree with your sister. I would avoid FD if that is possible, but will you be able to get your ADRs if you switch. I was thrilled today to see the dates of the FD. We are there Oct. 15-29, so I'm happy to have that first week of no FD folks -- though you do get some overlap. If someone checks in on Oct. 8th and books for 14 nights, they in turn could still be on FD while you're there. Of course I avoid all holidays, so would never be there during the Columbus day weekend. Other than Halloween night, that weekend will often see a sell out of the MNSSHP tickets too. Not only the things you've mentioned but we were there last year for the start of F&W and swore we will never do that again. The crowds were horrible. You could not move around EPCOT/WS on Oct. 1. Add to it that Oct. 1 is also the 40th birthday, it can only be worse. Unless being there during these events is important to you, I would certainly go mid-October when the weather should be better -- unless a hurricane comes in, but nothing we can do about that! Planning is FUN isn't it?

 

[TDC Nala]

Don't change anything right now. The free dining isn't official yet.

 

[sjs314]

Hi guys! I'm hoping you might be able to help me wrap my head around this. The rumor of the free dining is giving my sister panic attacks. We are currently booked September 30th - October 9th at POFQ, room only reservations as we are Florida resident passholders who use Tables In Wonderland, NEVER the meal plan. Now that the dates for pending free dining have been released as:

October 2, 2011 - October 8, 2011
October 23, 2011 - November 5, 2011
November 13, 2011 - November 19, 2011
November 27, 2011 - December 3, 2011
December 11, 2011 - December 17, 2011...

My sister wants to change our vacation to October 14th - October 23rd. She is worried that the bookends of a marathon weekend and Columbus day weekend NOW combined with free dining will make Disney World WAY MORE CROWDED than she had hoped during the dates we have now. I ask you, what is the signifigance of the free dining black out dates? Is there something going on at WDW in between those dates that doesn't warrant offering free dining? Yes, we are hoping for room only discounts, but at this point my sister would prefer to pay a little more for the room if it means the parks will be less crowded.

Sorry to babble...But would you keep the September 30th reservations or would you switch dates???

Your dates Sept 30 - Oct 9th fell under the first FD offer that had to be booked by 12/2010 with 9/30 being the last day of the promo so many booked extending into Oct to get FD.

The Gartner Symposium runs 10/16 -10/20, it is one of the biggest conventions thereby booking a large number of rooms.......FD is offered to fill room , so this is one reason FD is not offered during this time.

As Nala said nothing is official yet as far as the FD so I would sit tight until it is official and then if you are still worried about the crowds change.
/