Free dining

[lizziewhan]

we went in nov last year after we booked free dining...which came out in july last year. anyways my sister keeps getting PINS to save 30-40% on rooms but id much rather have free dining. i talked to a disney rep and they said that there will not be anymore free dining deals for the rest of 2011...you guys think thats reall or they just saying that???

 

[Goofy22]

we went in nov last year after we booked free dining...which came out in july last year. anyways my sister keeps getting PINS to save 30-40% on rooms but id much rather have free dining. i talked to a disney rep and they said that there will not be anymore free dining deals for the rest of 2011...you guys think thats reall or they just saying that???

Theres already Rumors going around on these boards that there is another Free Dining deal in the works! We shall see! One would think no since they put out the free dining offere supper early this past yr but you never know! I do know that the current Promotion ends on the 28th so I'm thinking the begining of march you will see the new offer! Keep your eyes peeld if it's coming Im assuming it willsometime in march or April!

 

[Kimberle]

Free dining has expired. It was offered around last Aug - just before Christmas (for booking). I booked ours in Dec for our late August stay.

 

[jturling]

Last trip we did the % off pin for the room and payed for the dining plan.I`ve found no matter which promo they offer the total cost is usually around the same,% off or free dining.

 

[Missytara]

Last trip we did the % off pin for the room and payed for the dining plan.I`ve found no matter which promo they offer the total cost is usually around the same,% off or free dining.

Not always the case for everyone.

I go alone and pay almost full rate for double occupancy.

A room discount ALWAYS trumps free dining for me.

To the OP, you can keep an eye out for discounts on the discount and rates board.

 

[DaniB]

Last trip we did the % off pin for the room and payed for the dining plan.I`ve found no matter which promo they offer the total cost is usually around the same,% off or free dining.

Not always the case for everyone.

I go alone and pay almost full rate for double occupancy.

A room discount ALWAYS trumps free dining for me.

Yep, I agree with this. It is not the same for everyone, and each person/family needs to do the math to see what works for them.

Family of 4 stayed in moderate last year. Free Dining took $1,249 off our booked trip. The room discount would have taken off about $300 or so.

Hubby & I staying in POP this year. Again, for us, Free Dining gives the best price.

I understand for those staying in Deluxe the room discount is a better value. I never priced that scenario out for us as we cannot do Deluxe.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

we went in nov last year after we booked free dining...which came out in july last year. anyways my sister keeps getting PINS to save 30-40% on rooms but id much rather have free dining. i talked to a disney rep and they said that there will not be anymore free dining deals for the rest of 2011...you guys think thats reall or they just saying that???

I have no doubt that a CM told you that, but every year (heck, every week!) someone posts the exact same thing, that a CM told them that there would not be anymore free dining, but there always is . . . .

It simply comes down to numbers. Disney is in busniess to make money and that's exactly what free dining does for them. Free Dining is one of the best money making ideas those marketing geniuses at Disney have ever come up with. For example, look at the current crowd numbers for September and early/mid December. Those months used to be very low crowd periods - September even used to be described as a ghost town. With the introduction of the free dining discount Disney is now able to bring in tens of thousands of people to the Disney parks and resorts during those weeks that generate millions of dollars. Free Dining is going away anytime soon.

Personally, I think it's a pretty good bet that another late fall/winter free dining discount will be released this summer.

 

[pgumiela]

I'm sure this question has been asked and aswered a bunch of times, but if you go ahead and book from an existing offer or pin code and either a better offer comes out or you get a better pin code can you change your reservation and use the better offer or pin?

We are going in Sept, and I'm trying to decide if I want to go ahead and book with the kids stay and play free offer. It works out to be a great deal, but since we would be paying for the dining plan, I think a free dining offer might be about 150-200$ less? I have been getting a new pin code every two months or so for about half of the year, and after a pin code dry spell I got one for May dates only. I have no idea if I'll get another one and it kills me to know we are going but not to book.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I'm sure this question has been asked and aswered a bunch of times, but if you go ahead and book from an existing offer or pin code and either a better offer comes out or you get a better pin code can you change your reservation and use the better offer or pin?

We are going in Sept, and I'm trying to decide if I want to go ahead and book with the kids stay and play free offer. It works out to be a great deal, but since we would be paying for the dining plan, I think a free dining offer might be about 150-200$ less? I have been getting a new pin code every two months or so for about half of the year, and after a pin code dry spell I got one for May dates only. I have no idea if I'll get another one and it kills me to know we are going but not to book.

Yes, if a free dining discount is released later this year, you can call and add it to your existing reservation. Disney Reservations will modify your reservation will no problem and add the fd discount and credit you the difference.

 

[Allison]

A reservation CM has no way to know if a promotion will be offered again or not.

Have you done the math to see which works out better?

 

[lizabu]

Not always the case for everyone.

I go alone and pay almost full rate for double occupancy.

A room discount ALWAYS trumps free dining for me.

To the OP, you can keep an eye out for discounts on the discount and rates board.

I agree. We have a big family (5 kids over 9) so free dining saves us a ton while room discounts aren't as attractive to us.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Last trip we did the % off pin for the room and payed for the dining plan.I`ve found no matter which promo they offer the total cost is usually around the same,% off or free dining.

I think it also depends on if you go during value season and what type of resort you pick. We are planning to go value next time (Art of Animation, assuming it opens on time!) and I'm guessing free dining would save us more money than 25% off a value room.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Generally speaking, free dining is the better discount at Value and Moderate Resorts, even if it's a 40% off room discount. If you are staying at a Deluxe Resort then the 40% off room code is better than the free dining discount. If you are staying Deluxe and have a 25% - 30% off room discount it's pretty much a wash between free dining and the room discount - not much price difference.

 

[RMulieri]

If Disney needs to FILL the rooms they will offer it , if they have the bookings than they might not need to.Disney never does these things to be nice, they do things to be profitable

 

[njsmama]

Free dining has expired. It was offered around last Aug - just before Christmas (for booking). I booked ours in Dec for our late August stay.

I agree with the above. I haven't heard of any new free dining promo, but it would be cool if they did!

 

[MelissathePooh]

A reservation CM has no way to know if a promotion will be offered again or not.

Have you done the math to see which works out better?

Except that its announced to them prior to being publically released as they have to prepare for the new code/pin or whatever. May have changed, but when my mom worked at DRC she always knew what was coming at least week or so before it was released.

 

[Sue M]

That makes sense that the CMs would know a few days before, although usually they won't or can't tell you.
We did book the free dining for Aug at a mod. For 2 of us, it will be cheaper then % discount, but for our deluxe portion of the trip (split stay) the room discount is better.

They sure are doing discounts differently this year. We can't go by historical info, and have to keep checking.

I'm waiting for AP for Summer to come out so I can switch my deluxe to AP discount I hope! If not, at least we have the 35%

 

[Allison]

Except that its announced to them prior to being publically released as they have to prepare for the new code/pin or whatever. May have changed, but when my mom worked at DRC she always knew what was coming at least week or so before it was released.

It's different to know on Saturday that a code is coming on Monday than it is to know what the promotion plans are for the future year.

 

[sweetdana]

I think it will happen .. but I think they will wait. I bet it is not out until May. One thing FD does is make people who pay for the DP and even dining not have ressies. I have cancelled the DP on a DVC stay because FD was running, I couldn't get dinner where I wanted it until 8 PM or some places not at all.. It was a few months out, I got a room, but said skip it.. no DP, meaning 1 TBS for 6 nights, when usually I do 1 - 1.5 per day. If they are discounting FQ from 124$ a night room to FD but loosing 171$ from me (or a diff DVC member) THEY loose even if the room is full. .. They can loose $$ because someone paying trying to pay 171$ (DDP for 3 people like me) a night cannot get CRT or they cannot get Mickey's BBQ. They book 4 nights on DDP instead of 5, or reg DP instead of DDP, or skip it all together, and stop by the grocers.

I think waiting until the 180 day window is well under way make more business sense. The annual users of this promo had the option to book months ago... and the last min add ons will have to wait to make ressies behind people who paid rack rate/DVC/ lower pin disc. It also gives them an idea of how many rooms to offer at each resort. Maybe they do not need to offer any Suites at AS, or any rooms at FQ or any 1 bedrooms at BC, and no CL at AK cause there all maxed out or close to it already.

 

[MelissathePooh]

It's different to know on Saturday that a code is coming on Monday than it is to know what the promotion plans are for the future year.

They don't just throw promotions out on the floor a couple of days before - CM's get some time to prepare. At least they used to when my mom was there. Its not necessarily a year in advance, but its often several weeks to months. Depending on what the promotion involved there would often be additional training or system updates that CM's had to prepare for.