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

[CanadianGuy]

Didn't the Visa deal also include FREE DINING? Unless I misread it, this doesn't even include that...it's literally just free tickets. IMO that's not so great? I know for us northern states, school doesn't even get out mid June...so this doesn't help many people?

Yup the Visa deal was 'free dining' + tickets for the kids.. *(you had to pay for the adults as I understand it) .. which was additional savings of maybe $10 a day right?

This saves you 192$ per kid for park tickets for four days. Two or three kids and that's a pretty healthy discount.

 

[sjs314]

Just throwing a thought I had out there ...since the Visa deal included FD and the one put out today by Disney did not, coppled with the fact of the short booking time frame, I think it is quite possible :

Disney will extended today's deal to include June 3 - August 14
and
Disney will put out a QS FD out to the GP for the same timeframe, since they have been sending out a second wave pin mailing to a select few for the QSDP which is good from now until Aug 14

I think the Fall deals will be forth coming early August for bookings in Sept till October.

I think , I think way too much

 

[ShellyShellfish]

Yup the Visa deal was 'free dining' + tickets for the kids.. *(you had to pay for the adults as I understand it) .. which was additional savings of maybe $10 a day right?

This saves you 192$ per kid for park tickets for four days. Two or three kids and that's a pretty healthy discount.

I wonder why they didn't include dining then? I'd think Disney would make out by having adults have to buy the dining plan so their kids could eat free.

edited to add: we'd probably be sucked into this deal if A) we had kids that were over 3 and B) it worked for our travel dates and C) the kids ate free.

But alas - we have 2 kids under 3 and aren't going until Oct or Dec. C'mon Disney!!

 

[Bridge203618]

I think it is quite possible :

Disney will put out a QS FD out to the GP for the same timeframe, since they have been sending out a second wave pin mailing to a select few for the QSDP which is good from now until Aug 14

If you mean....you think FQSD will come out for May - August all I have to say is...

from your mouth to mickey's ears

 

[maggiew]

Yeah.. I wonder if they'll move on to fall or stick with summer? Rumor has it June is SCARY empty right now. I guess if you wanted no lines and no wait.. June might be just the ticket..
.

Darn. We often go in June (or July) when the kids are out of school. This year my DD picked a June cruise as a present for her graduation.

Maggie

 

[disneyfantotheend]

So am I the only one who is wondering if June is so horribly and crazily empty, why does this discount end June 3RD? It makes no sense.

 

[Melanie230]

I agree, except I think it will only be through September 30, since that is the last day of value season and regular season starts on Oct. 1.

Well last year the FD promo ended on October 3rd not the 1st.

 

[doccoc2002]

So am I the only one who is wondering if June is so horribly and crazily empty, why does this discount end June 3RD? It makes no sense.

I think I read it was May that they are concerned about...When I was a kid we used to go the first week of May and it was dead...like September...we walked on everything, even Dumbo didn't have a waittime(at least not that I remember...if it did it was maybe 15mins nothing more)
I always thought May was a low booking month anyways...it nust be really LOW to keep offering these deals! Maybe I should go next month??? That is what Disney is hoping for anyways...but I like Sept weather.

FYI...by dead I mean that it is not CRAZY BUSY like summer/holidays...it is a medium type crowd. lol

 

[CanadianGuy]

So am I the only one who is wondering if June is so horribly and crazily empty, why does this discount end June 3RD? It makes no sense.

I agree.. but probably because they are more concerned with MAY right now.. because it's closer and apparently - equally empty - so much so as to warrant a promotion JUST for it.. When they limit the dates of these promotions so narrow - that's a good indicator there's something they are trying to address in terms of occupancy in that same window.

If they offered thru June/July - some people (probably many people) would just wait and go later. Thus not fixing the May problem.

Make sense?

I'd hazard a guess that we're into 'uncharted territory' for Disney and their marketing/promo team in terms of occupancy levels and looking at weak numbers like they are right now for the spring/summer. They are probably not exactly sure what to do.

Remember.. Disney is used to :

1. Having folks plan way out months in advance and everything going swimmingly for them.
2. Offering limited deals and getting tremendous response to each one.

Neither of those have proven true since fall 2008... and right now I'd say we are at the bottom of the dip for the travel industry generally and Disney particularly. Things will get better.. but this summer - does not look good right now.

So I would expect they are going throw everything at the kitchen sink at it, one month and one promo at a time till they get it where they want it.

Just a guess that part above there.

--

I know that my June trip this year.. I won't be occupying a Disney resort room - I'm trying the Swan/Dolphin this go around -- in part in a mini-protest over Disney's handling (or complete lack of handling) the sports groups at their resorts.

I know the $$ I won't spend at Disney's resorts this year won't be a drop in the bucket to them in the least. But - I told them I wouldn't stay there next time when I complained .. and I meant it.

Even tho - yes - I know - there won't be sports groups there when I go. And yes, I'll fold like a tent and book a Disney resort next time probably. But I really wanted to try the S/D for the first time.. so this works out lovely.

Who knows, maybe I'll become a Swanner? Swanee? Dolphiner? Dolphinite? How would you say that..?

I like Swanee.

 

[mking624]

It does seem like their bookings must be pretty low for them to be doing such a heavy focus on that time period...but I wonder just how many people are going to jump at it considering how last minute it is? It would be interesting to see their numbers to see if it really has the desired outcome for them, or at least somewhat near it.

 

[CanadianGuy]

It does seem like their bookings must be pretty low for them to be doing such a heavy focus on that time period...but I wonder just how many people are going to jump at it considering how last minute it is? It would be interesting to see their numbers to see if it really has the desired outcome for them, or at least somewhat near it.

My money says very few will jump on it.

That's my guess.

 

[gabriellyn]

I

I know that my June trip this year.. I won't be occupying a Disney resort room - I'm trying the Swan/Dolphin this go around -- in part in a mini-protest over Disney's handling (or complete lack of handling) the sports groups at their resorts.

I know the $$ I won't spend at Disney's resorts this year won't be a drop in the bucket to them in the least. But - I told them I wouldn't stay there next time when I complained .. and I meant it.

Even tho - yes - I know - there won't be sports groups there when I go. And yes, I'll fold like a tent and book a Disney resort next time probably. But I really wanted to try the S/D for the first time.. so this works out lovely.

Who knows, maybe I'll become a Swanner? Swanee? Dolphiner? Dolphinite? How would you say that..?

I like Swanee.

Inquiring minds want to know. What happened?

Not to hijack the thread or anything.

I agree w/your other stuff about Disney and May and stuff.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Just that same thing year after year..

Whatever the 'group' of athletes and it is NOT just limited to Pop Warner...

1. They are required to sign these contracts of behavior which contain very strong rules and threaten to send them home.

2. Then they come to Disney, misbehave making others guests trips miserable and..

3. Disney does nothing. They don't use the teeth in the contracts cause they don't want the headlines "Disney Sends Kids Football Team Home" etc.

Frankly, I'd like to see the headlines say "Spoiled Rotten Bad Behaving Kids Sent Home"



Seriously tho - there are problems with a few teams each year (by no mean all) .. Disney has laid out rules and they don't enforce them to the detriment of paying guests.

If Disney only sent one or two teams packing for their RIDICULOUS behavior.. it would send the message and everyone else would "straighten up and fly right" as my dad used to say.

Instead, nobody (not Disney, not the chaperones, not the sports leagues sponsoring the events) wants to be the bad guy -- so nobody is.

And I had finally had enough after this past year.

You see, I had complained to Disney a couple of years back about this same problem...

That was actually the one time they had done anything. They kicked a team out the night before they flew home. Big deal. So they sat at the airport for a few extra hours.

But there were signs earlier in the week that team was being a problem and Disney waited til a fight broke up to act.

Anyway.. it's a pet peeve of mine.

Gets my blood all angried up as Grandpa Simpson would say..

 

[gabriellyn]

Just that same thing year after year..

Whatever the 'group' of athletes and it is NOT just limited to Pop Warner...

1. They are required to sign these contracts of behavior which contain very strong rules and threaten to send them home.

2. Then they come to Disney, misbehave making others guests trips miserable and..

3. Disney does nothing. They don't use the teeth in the contracts cause they don't want the headlines "Disney Sends Kids Football Team Home" etc.

Frankly, I'd like to see the headlines say "Spoiled Rotten Bad Behaving Kids Sent Home"



Seriously tho - there are problems with a few teams each year (by no mean all) .. Disney has laid out rules and they don't enforce them to the detriment of paying guests.

If Disney only sent one or two teams packing for their RIDICULOUS behavior.. it would send the message and everyone else would "straighten up and fly right" as my dad used to say.

Instead, nobody (not Disney, not the chaperones, not the sports leagues sponsoring the events) wants to be the bad guy -- so nobody is.

And I had finally had enough after this past year.

You see, I had complained to Disney a couple of years back about this same problem...

That was actually the one time they had done anything. They kicked a team out the night before they flew home. Big deal. So they sat at the airport for a few extra hours.

But there were signs earlier in the week that team was being a problem and Disney waited til a fight broke up to act.

Anyway.. it's a pet peeve of mine.

Gets my blood all angried up as Grandpa Simpson would say..

Ugh. Well, let us know about the S&D - I am curious as well.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled FD wait/discussion thread...

 

[disneyfantotheend]

It just doesn't seem like that great of a deal to me. I think there has been better deals earlier in the year for that same time frame, but I didn't price them out, so I couldn't guarantee it.

I think your explanation for doing it one month at a time is a good one, but I also think it will backfire on them. Most people do not wait to book a trip until one or two months prior. I would guess the majority do it a minimum of 3 months prior, but I am thinking more like 6. This is all just my opinion though.

 

[Eeyore's Wife]

We have three kids and the free kids promotion would not help us at all. We have two teenagers also known as "adults" in the weird world of Disney booking and a baby, who gets to stay and eat free anyway. (We breastfeed, so she is almost free to feed all the time .

We actually have free dining via bounceback from last year, but we are doing the waiting game because our friends want to come with us. So, here I sit with free dining and I am still getting up every single morning to see if Disney has come to its senses and is offering free dining.

If they didn't offer free dining, then we would not be doing a Disney vacation this year. Between college expenses, braces, a baby in diapers, and paying off the delivery, our disposable income is limited.

My brother and his wife got tired of waiting and booked a cruise. They wanted to make sure they could buy inexpensive flights and since Disney hadn't released free dining, they firmed up their vacation plans with Carnival and purchased plane tickets which have since risen in price steeply.

I know Disney is trying to firm up Summer, but because of their work schedules they can't take a vacation in the summer and so their big break is always in the fall. The kids go to private school (A School of Tomorrow with paces) so the kids just work really hard the first few weeks of school and get ahead in their paces. If they need to take a few paces with them, they do, but usually they are further ahead than necessary when vacation time comes the third or fourth week of September.

I was really hopeful they would be there with us this year, but Disney's inability to firm up fall promotions sent their vacation dollars elsewhere. If we are offered bounceback this year I may just put my husband on one reservation and put myself on another. We would need to have a four hundred dollar hold, and if no one in the family wanted the other room we could release it and put the money over onto our room reservation.

We have found adding people to a room already in the promotion went without a hitch, but trying to get another room can be problematic.

 

[CanadianGuy]

It just doesn't seem like that great of a deal to me. I think there has been better deals earlier in the year for that same time frame, but I didn't price them out, so I couldn't guarantee it.

I think your explanation for doing it one month at a time is a good one, but I also think it will backfire on them. Most people do not wait to book a trip until one or two months prior. I would guess the majority do it a minimum of 3 months prior, but I am thinking more like 6. This is all just my opinion though.

Hard to say.. but for a couple with 2 kids under 9 .. who were thinking "Maybe we CAN afford to take the kids to Disney this spring.. it's been a rough couple of years.. but we're both still working *(or working again) and things are looking up a bit financially.. it'd be nice to do *something* for the family and the kids.. "

And then they see an ad or get an offer.. I dunno..

Hard to say..

Remember.. we DIS'ers who plan months in advance.. we are by FAR the minority of Disney parks guests in the aggregate. The folks behind the Unofficial Guide and TouringPlans tell the same story over and over in the book -- if you have even a rough parks plan and you get to the park at opening.. you are already ahead of 75% of Disney guests.

You know there are some people on the DIS even (lots of em) .. who don't even make ADR's! I know cause I am one. As much as I want to try Spoodles or eat at Le Cellier, I just can't bring myself to plan my lunch six months from now. Heck, I don't even know what's for dinner TONIGHT!?

When I want to eat a T/S at Disney.. I call the Reservations line and say "What have you got between 4 and 7:30 tonight.."

And you know.. I've eat at some amazing places I would have never even thought of.. just because I did the 'lottery' of dining.

Crazy hey? I know right!?

 

[disneyfantotheend]

Just that same thing year after year..

3. Disney does nothing. They don't use the teeth in the contracts cause they don't want the headlines "Disney Sends Kids Football Team Home" etc.

Disney is all about the money. After all it is a business. They make a lot of money off those sporting events. Especially when they are booked for usually slow occupancy times. They know we will all still come complain or not, so I think it is great that you are making a stand and not staying there. Even if it is only one year. Just think if we all made a stand what the results would be. But most of us just complain and go anyway.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Hard to say.. but for a couple with 2 kids under 9 .. who were thinking "Maybe we CAN afford to take the kids to Disney this spring.. it's been a rough couple of years.. but we're both still working *(or working again) and things are looking up a bit financially.. it'd be nice to do *something* for the family and the kids.. "

And then they see an ad or get an offer.. I dunno..

Yeah, but you're saving only, what, $200 per child? How many kids could you have between the ages of 3 and 9 that would make this worthwhile?

 

[mking624]

My money says very few will jump on it.

That's my guess.

That's my guess too...so I'm rather surprised that they released this promo at all.