FREE DINING UPDATE- RUMOR and SPECULATION / Update Page 80 !

[Belle_princess]

I stand by the very unpopular view that you should not book a room and hope for free dining, it is counter productive for everyone.

I'm with you on that!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I stand by the very unpopular view that you should not book a room and hope for free dining, it is counter productive for everyone.

Unless you are going no matter what and willing to pay the rack rate, of course.

I don't know why this is an unpopular view. It makes perfect sense.

What Disney should do is lock people into contracts along with their deposits. No switching to a promo once you've already booked a specific deal.

 

[CanadianGuy]

I don't know why this is an unpopular view. It makes perfect sense.

What Disney should do is lock people into contracts along with their deposits. No switching to a promo once you've already booked a specific deal.

hahah .. yeah right.. Have you noticed how antsy folks are about not booking ahead of the promo?

What you're suggesting..

WOW.. good luck..

And Sign Here _______________x


And Initial Here ______________x


Rights to your first born _______x

Press hard - third copy is yours. This is a legal contract. Talk to a lawyer before signing

. HAHA

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

hahah .. yeah right.. Have you noticed how antsy folks are about not booking ahead of the promo?

What you're suggesting..

WOW.. good luck..

. HAHA

Yeah, I know, completely implausible. But it would sure make people think before the booked a room that they weren't going to use.

 

[Don Disney]

Don.. I'd agree with you if "all rooms" at WDW were available on any given promo. It's not. We've been tossing out numbers like 25% of non-booked rooms.. but it may even be less than that.

And I'd agree with you.. if I hadn't seen - year after year - everybody complaining about zero F/D availability at Pop Century (or a couple of other favorites that experienced heavy pre-book) .. and grumbling over having to switch resorts, change dates, switch ADRs and the rest of it.

And yet again =-> I'd agree with you if it gave ANY benefit to the person booking now.

It guarantees the person making the booking absolutely NOTHING. It does guarantee Disney an interest free loan of the money you put on deposit. So that's kinda good I guess... for them.

There is NO net gain for the person making the booking. There is in their head.. but not in reality.

So.. when you know all that..

1. Limited rooms on a promo
2. Booking now reduces the limited rooms further (even if just by 1)
3. Booking now guarantees you nothing.
4. It increases call center costs with zero benefit to you the consumer.

Why bother?

Not saying that "pre-booking is good,or guarantees anything-just saying WE here are not so many that we have much sway on "whatever" as far as WDW.We have never had a problem booking FD at Pop I guess it's a simple case of the early bird getting the worm! As regards to the "interest-free" loans all of the "pre-bookers" are giving Disney,lets hope they make some money off of them to pay for FD for those who want it!!

 

[canadianmommyof2]

So I was just looking through DH's email account for an email from Disney and when I did the search (because he NEVER deletes any messages) I found an offer for free dining from disney for last year and it wasn't sent to him until May 7th, 2009 and it was buy 5night/6day package with accommodations and park tickets and get free dining for the dates of 8/16/09 - 10/3/09. Was there a free dining offer before that??

 

[daisyyy]

Excuse me for being oblivious.... I haven't been on the boards in a while, and check every once in a while to see what's coming up. I know I booked our trip last March for September F/D.., and since I haven't heard / seen any advertisements about the F/D for this year , I thought I better check the boards... SO I guess we're still waiting on the F/D....?? Just curious though... we always go in the fall.... and don't usually pay attention to the rest of the promotions... what promotions do they typically offer for January??? can anyone tell me?

 

[dizneeat]

What Disney should do is lock people into contracts along with their deposits. No switching to a promo once you've already booked a specific deal.

Well, that's exactly what they do in the UK! You book it, you can't change without a fine! No changing from one promo to another.

 

[ShhhQ]

I stand by the very unpopular view that you should not book a room and hope for free dining, it is counter productive for everyone.

Unless you are going no matter what and willing to pay the rack rate, of course.

This is easier said then done... I decided back in Sept. that this year we are going to Disney (we had to skip a year, so no bounceback possible). I started saving as much as possible, and eagerly awaited getting my W2 so I could file taxes...yes I just said that! That is because a lot of my trip is funded with my tax refund. (not trying to open a can of worms, just stating a fact) I tried to hold off booking, but once I actually had the money in my account,I couldn't help it. I HAD to book... I keep telling myself, you are going either way... so its no big deal. However, I still think in the back of my mind... if I get FD, the trip is paid for and all I have to worry about is getting there... I still owe $700+ on the trip... but FD will save me around $500. Since we drive, I had to figure out the travel money we need... gas, hotels, food and misc. that comes to about $900 or so... plus I want to have $200 ready in case of a bounceback offer (so I won't have to worry about this madness next year). With FD (or some other great offer) my trip is more affordable. Can I wait a month for it to come out... yes... but will my sanity hold that long? who knows........ I am just glad I have DU to keep me in line. Not to mention my fellow DISers waiting along side me.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Well, that's exactly what they do in the UK! You book it, you can't change without a fine! No changing from one promo to another.

Wow I did NOT know that.. what are the 'change charges' etc?

Everyone is always saying "Wow, I wish we had those UK discounts" - maybe if they knew the fine print they'd feel differently.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Not saying that "pre-booking is good,or guarantees anything-just saying WE here are not so many that we have much sway on "whatever" as far as WDW.We have never had a problem booking FD at Pop I guess it's a simple case of the early bird getting the worm! As regards to the "interest-free" loans all of the "pre-bookers" are giving Disney,lets hope they make some money off of them to pay for FD for those who want it!!

Awesome thinking - Disney - you reading this?

Seriously tho - even if just 1% of DIS members pre-booked a promo.. that's 2500 people for anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 room/nights. It adds up in a hurry.

 

[dizneeat]

Wow I did NOT know that.. what are the 'change charges' etc?

Everyone is always saying "Wow, I wish we had those UK discounts" - maybe if they knew the fine print they'd feel differently.

It's 50 Pounds if you change something and if I remember correctly you loose your deposit if you cancel at all. But I can dig out my contract and look it up!

I like being able to take advantage of the UK deals - the Euro is still good at the moment compared to the Dollar and the Pound, but you really need to make your mind up and be sure what you want or it might cost you more than you gain!

 

[maggiew]

I wonder if they are trained to confuse or mislead customers on purpose? Disney cast members are using Jedi mind tricks on us.

These are not the PIN codes you seek ...

Maggie

 

[CanadianGuy]

It's 50 Pounds if you change something and if I remember correctly you loose your deposit if you cancel at all. But I can dig out my contract and look it up!

I like being able to take advantage of the UK deals - the Euro is still good at the moment compared to the Dollar and the Pound, but you really need to make your mind up and be sure what you want or it might cost you more than you gain!

Given the resort 'flip floppers' here on the boards (hey - they have their own THREAD!) ... I'll be surprised if Disney doesn't add a change fee with more 'teeth' than their current change fee.

That would certainly cut down on the book now - change later.. stuff.

 

[Don Disney]

Awesome thinking - Disney - you reading this?

Seriously tho - even if just 1% of DIS members pre-booked a promo.. that's 2500 people for anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 room/nights. It adds up in a hurry.

Never was good at math!1% of DIS members is 2500 people!? This,I don't beleive!! You ever consider that I MIGHT be working for Disney!!?? I am, every time we take our vacation there!!!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Given the resort 'flip floppers' here on the boards (hey - they have their own THREAD!) ... I'll be surprised if Disney doesn't add a change fee with more 'teeth' than their current change fee.

That would certainly cut down on the book now - change later.. stuff.

Well, resort flipping is another story. They do charge you to change your resort, I believe, although not so much if you're upgrading, which most resort flipping is. And that's good for Disney, because you're paying MORE for the resort, and allowing someone else to come in at your lower price point.

 

[mking624]

Awesome thinking - Disney - you reading this?

Seriously tho - even if just 1% of DIS members pre-booked a promo.. that's 2500 people for anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 room/nights. It adds up in a hurry.

Yes, but not everyone is traveling at the same time, which definitely needs to be factored in.

 

[pooch]

We're all booked at Pop for FD on a Bounceback from 9/4 - 9/11 (I NEVER leave without booking one, just in case!) Now I remember a couple of years ago Pop was overbooked for the week of Labor Day and Disney was upgrading people to OKW and SSR. Does anyone remember (and by anyone I of course mean you CanadianGuy ) why Pop was overbooked and what do you think the chances of it happening again might be?

 

[CanadianGuy]

Never was good at math!1% of DIS members is 2500 people!? This,I don't beleive!! You ever consider that I MIGHT be working for Disney!!?? I am, every time we take our vacation there!!!

From the homepage of the DIS:

Threads: 2,196,915, Posts: 33,896,815, Members: 257,072
Welcome to our newest member, Mstymay

2.2 million threads.. 34 million posts and over a quarter million members.

Crazy hey?

 

[CanadianGuy]

We're all booked at Pop for FD on a Bounceback from 9/4 - 9/11 (I NEVER leave without booking one, just in case!) Now I remember a couple of years ago Pop was overbooked for the week of Labor Day and Disney was upgrading people to OKW and SSR. Does anyone remember (and by anyone I of course mean you CanadianGuy ) why Pop was overbooked and what do you think the chances of it happening again might be?

I do remember the overbooking at Pop from 2007 or 8 .. forget exactly which..

But I think it was 2007.. Anywho.. I can't honestly tell you how it got overbooked.. Not sure I ever knew..