Free dining for Dec. 2013?

[jgperkin]

Has anyone heard of any free dining promotions for Dec. 2013? DH finally got the time for next December to do a xmas trip.. I am looking early December. Maybe 5th - 10th? So excited we can finally see the magic kingdom decorated for the holidays!

 

[TheDisney411]

Has anyone heard of any free dining promotions for Dec. 2013? DH finally got the time for next December to do a xmas trip.. I am looking early December. Maybe 5th - 10th? So excited we can finally see the magic kingdom decorated for the holidays!

The October - December free dining discounts aren't usually released until July or August. And really the first week of December is usually blacked out for discounts, including free dining, because that's the week for Pop Warner. The last few years the December free dining dates didn't start until December 8 or 10 and your check in date has to fall within the free dining dates to apply it to your vacation package.

 

[Tropics]

I am by no means an expert so take this as you want but from what I have been able to determine it looks like Pop Warner might be the second week of December in 2013 because Thanksgiving is so late. The first Saturday of December 2013 isn't until December 7, which would be a week after Thanksgiving. This is of course speculation until there is something official.

From what I can tell there is usually a discount from the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving until Pop Warner.

I'm counting on Pop Warner starting late in 2013 as we will be there Dec 1-7 and are hoping for discounts that week.

 

[Tropics]

From another thread it looks like Pop Warner will be the second week of December in 2013 (I can't link to it in a post). I would guess that there will be limited discounts during your dates of Dec 5-10 because Pop Warner will be taking place during that time.

 

[MMS1125]

PW activities will start Saturday Dec 7 with the competition the 8-13 or so I believe. Anyways their room block is the 5-15 of December

 

[Daphne W]

Praying for free dining or a great room discount as well. We are currently booked for November 29 - December 7, 2013. We are willing to move our date back to Saturday November 30 if we can get free dining! Keeping our fingers crossed!

 

[atcNick]

Any updates on free Dining for Dec 2013?

 

[TheDisney411]

Any updates on free Dining for Dec 2013?

October - December free dining dates won't be released until July, possibly August. My prediction, looking at past FD info and this years December events, I would say the December FD dates will be around Nov 30 - December 5 and December 14-19, give or take a day.

 

[raeolight]

What is pop warner?

 

[TheDisney411]

What is pop warner?

Very large cheerleader and football championship/convention and they take up huge blocks of rooms at the resorts.

 

[poohbear13]

The October - December free dining discounts aren't usually released until July or August. And really the first week of December is usually blacked out for discounts, including free dining, because that's the week for Pop Warner. The last few years the December free dining dates didn't start until December 8 or 10 and your check in date has to fall within the free dining dates to apply it to your vacation package.

Pop Warner is confirmed for 12/7 - 12/14

 

[TheDisney411]

Pop Warner is confirmed for 12/7 - 12/14

Yes, I know. This thread is old and the post you quoted me in is from about 7 months ago, before this years official Pop Warner dates were released. I've since come back and adjusted the possible early December discounts based on that info.

 

[trouttigger]

October - December free dining dates won't be released until July, possibly August. My prediction, looking at past FD info and this years December events, I would say the December FD dates will be around Nov 30 - December 5 and December 14-19, give or take a day.

DH teaches college, and the semester runs late this year. I'm a little worried that he can't finish the last exam in time to take advantage of free dining. So, if it runs through those late December dates, we could swing it.

 

[Wood Nymph]

DH teaches college, and the semester runs late this year. I'm a little worried that he can't finish the last exam in time to take advantage of free dining. So, if it runs through those late December dates, we could swing it.

I would not count on Disney offering free dining this December. The holiday season that comes between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one week shorter than last year, thereby compressing more people into a shorter window. The economy is getting better, the stock market has been up, and job reports indicate that those people who have jobs feel more secure in them then they have in recent years. And it seems like half the people who post in the December 2013 thread are traveling to WDW te first week of December.

It would be nice if Disney offered free dining but I really have major doubts about it. September is a really bad month to go to WDW so free dining makes sense for them. But December is really popular and the higher room rates reflect it. We were hoping for free dining in Feb and didn't get it. So historical trends don't mean a lot in this changing economy, in my opinion.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[TheDisney411]

DH teaches college, and the semester runs late this year. I'm a little worried that he can't finish the last exam in time to take advantage of free dining. So, if it runs through those late December dates, we could swing it.

I work for a large Internet travel site and write a family discount travel blog for them, I haven't seen anything or heard anything from other travel industry friends that make me think they are totally canceling Free Dining for this timeframe yet. If they offer FD this year, those dates should be pretty close.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I work for a large Internet travel site and write a family discount travel blog for them, I haven't seen anything or heard anything from other travel industry friends that make me think they are totally canceling Free Dining for this timeframe yet. If they offer FD this year, those does should be pretty close.

What did the industry predict for January and February of 2013? I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just really curious.

 

[TheDisney411]

What did the industry predict for January and February of 2013?

That they would offer deep discounts. And even though FD wasn't offered for Jan - Mar, they did offer the Stay/Play/Dine. SPD was not as big a discount as FD for most, but it was close and still a much better discount for most staying at the mods and values as compared to a room only discount.

Every single year on this board, since 2006, people have been claiming the Disney is not going to offer deep discounts like FD again and that FD is over, a flash in the pan, if you will. Not only did they continue to offer it, they added many more FD weeks in 2009. Free dining has been a financial coo for those marketing geniuses at Disney. Free dining has allowed them to fill their resorts and parks during historically low crowd weeks and has made them millions and millions of dollars since 2005. Anything is possible, and they could end free dining discounts tomorrow, but within a year or two those resort and park numbers would once again plummet during those historically low crowd weeks. I mean, really, what is the incentive for me (and the thousands of other parents out there) to take my kids out of school during Veterans Day/Week, for example, if I'm going to have to pay full price or settle for a 15% discount at All Star Movies which saves me about $15 per night? I can go during the summer with a measley 15% off discount during June and not have to take my kids out of school. Anyway, like I said, anything is possible, but I don't think the end of free dining is in the cards just yet. Of course, that is just my opinion

 

[Tigger969]

I've been keeping my emails from Disney and have noticed that for 5 years running I've gotten a PIN for free dining in June. The last email (from 2012) lists the dates as:
09/30 - 10/04/12, 10/19 - 11/01/12, 11/09 - 11/15/12, 11/23-11/29/12 & 12/10 - 12/13/12.

I didn't use it last year since I took my daughter to London so I'm hoping that we will get it again.

 

[TheDisney411]

I've been keeping my emails from Disney and have noticed that for 5 years running I've gotten a PIN for free dining in June. The last email (from 2012) lists the dates as:
09/30 - 10/04/12, 10/19 - 11/01/12, 11/09 - 11/15/12, 11/23-11/29/12 & 12/10 - 12/13/12.

I didn't use it last year since I took my daughter to London so I'm hoping that we will get it again.

The December free dining dates last year actually ended up being extended to December 20. I guess they thought they could "get away" with not including the third week of December, a historically lower crowd week, but resort occupancy rates were so low, they extended the FD offer by another week.

In 2011 they came back, after the initial announcement of December FD dates, and added 2 days during the first week in December. What's really strange is that in all the years of free dining, those are the only time they have "added" additional dates to a FD offer and it's only happened in December. Of course all of this info is for general public offers. It will be interesting to see what they do this year

 

[tinka-belle]

We were there the third week of December 2012 for FD and the bounceback offer was just a room discount for December 2013. I jotted down the dates for BB as 11/30 through 12/4 and 12/15 through 12/19/13. Most likely not huge discounts like FD due to Pop Warner being late in 2013 as well as Thanksgiving at the end of November. One less week between the holidays.