Free Fall Dining?

[cindala]

Going 11/9-11/13. From everything I looked at with past FD promotions I am hoping it will be offered that week (it has been the last couple years)..

We are hoping to be going during that time as well, but that is Jersey week this year. The last few years, the Teacher's Convention in NJ has been the previous weekend. This year it is later and is being held 11/9-11/10. All NJ public schools are closed then. I don't know how big a phenomenon this is at WDW, but I noticed in jlundeen's post with past years dates, that Teacher's Weekend dates were excluded.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

We are hoping to be going during that time as well, but that is Jersey week this year. The last few years, the Teacher's Convention in NJ has been the previous weekend. This year it is later and is being held 11/9-11/10. All NJ public schools are closed then. I don't know how big a phenomenon this is at WDW, but I noticed in jlundeen's post with past years dates, that Teacher's Weekend dates were excluded.

Based on the vile New Jersey calendar...that means the soonest they would do a "free dining" promotion if they do at all would be starting 11/14.

Beware the Jersey Devils !!

 

[scrappinginontario]

IMO requiring the purchase of park hopper or water parks further erodes the value of the "free dining" offer. It seems once people were hooked they've been decreasing the value, upping the price, & requiring more & more add ons in order to qualify.

This may be the case for some people but for our family even this addition is completely worth it. It costs me an additional $65 to add the Water Parks to each of our tickets. There is no way we could eat for even 2 days let alone the 10 days we are there. For us Free Dining is a huge incentive. Thankfully we booked the bounceback offer when we were there last September so already have free dining secured for this year.

Requirement or no, I personally would never do a trip without park hopper. I always split parks on basically every day of my trips. The waterparks ticket wouldn't work for me, though.

You're quite right that the park hopper works in most cases. The one time I've found it doesn't seem to work to our advantage is when we travel in September because the parks close so early due to lower crowds. I'm still tempted to add the Park Hopper but so far haven't done so because many nights the streets are rolled up by 7:00 or 8:00.

The funny thing is - a LOT of people book windows in hopes that they'll turn into free dining windows. Since they use Free Dining and other promotions to increase bookings, these type of bookings may potentially inhibit such a promotion from occurring.

This is so true and yet still many people choose to book which unfortunately decreases the likelihood that the will offer Free Dining at all. I'm curious to see if the 'Free Quick Service Meal' offer gets extended in place of the entire Free Dining offer? I hope not but can't help but think Disney is testing out the uptake right now.

 

[Spacedog1975]

This is so true and yet still many people choose to book which unfortunately decreases the likelihood that the will offer Free Dining at all. I'm curious to see if the 'Free Quick Service Meal' offer gets extended in place of the entire Free Dining offer? I hope not but can't help but think Disney is testing out the uptake right now.

They are most certainly testing limits and restrictions on this program. If guests bite, they'll press forward. I'm 90% sure that my next package will be a room discount and I'll go a la carte on the dining. I just can't finish all the food.

 

[slbgnb]

Best bet is to stay away from Labor Day weekend

I thought when I looked at last years free dining that Labor Day was actually included. Is that not the case? I just moved my trip up a week to include Labor Day

You're quite right that the park hopper works in most cases. The one time I've found it doesn't seem to work to our advantage is when we travel in September because the parks close so early due to lower crowds. I'm still tempted to add the Park Hopper but so far haven't done so because many nights the streets are rolled up by 7:00 or 8:00

I hadn't thought of this. As of now, I'm going Labor Day week and DO have the Hopper added to my package. I've never used a Park Hopper before and maybe that's because I've always gone in Sept. Hmmm...now I'm just confused and don't know if I should keep it!

 

[Bubblegum1286]

Is it true that Ft. Wilderness is almost never included in these "free" dining promotions? We went to DL this past summer and are planning our next trip to DW for next year. I think we want to stay at the fort to get that whole experience. But if I remember correctly, it's one resort area that's always excluded from the promotions.

 

[rteetz]

Is it true that Ft. Wilderness is almost never included in these "free" dining promotions? We went to DL this past summer and are planning our next trip to DW for next year. I think we want to stay at the fort to get that whole experience. But if I remember correctly, it's one resort area that's always excluded from the promotions.

It all depends on availability.

 

[twinsmama]

Values are always quick service. But it was still available to book. It's still free dining.

You can then pay to upgrade it to regular DDP, it is quite cheap and worth it to do so.

Is it true that Ft. Wilderness is almost never included in these "free" dining promotions? We went to DL this past summer and are planning our next trip to DW for next year. I think we want to stay at the fort to get that whole experience. But if I remember correctly, it's one resort area that's always excluded from the promotions.

I stayed in the cabins twice on free dining, 2013 and 2014. I highly recommend them! They go very fast because they are the cheapest option for 6 people that includes regular dining. But the campsites at FW are always excluded.

 

[Disneylover99]

You can then pay to upgrade it to regular DDP, it is quite cheap and worth it to do so.

We don't find it worth it at all to upgrade to the regular dining plan when we stay at a Value. If we want the regular dining plan, we stay at a moderate. By the time you factor in the difference to upgrade your meal plan for a family of four at a value, you realize, it only costs a bit more to stay at a moderate. Plus, when we stay at a value, we prefer to do quick service. It's nice to have free quick service dining, and not be tied down to any ADR's.

 

[merry_nbright]

And I got to agree that the ludicrous idea that "I booked for_____...hoping for free dining" is self defeating.

Um, I booked early last year and the whole reason I was able to get the promotion was because of that. So, it's not defeating. If I wouldn't have booked early, I wouldn't have gotten the dates and resort I wanted because it's all done through AAA for me. So, maybe it doesn't work out for some people, but for me, it did.

 

[merry_nbright]

I stayed in the cabins twice on free dining, 2013 and 2014. I highly recommend them! They go very fast because they are the cheapest option for 6 people that includes regular dining. But the campsites at FW are always excluded.

We have 5 people going down next year, do you think the cabins would be decent? How does the busing work? Pricing it out, it would be cheaper for us to stay there, but we were worried about how the bus system worked with the cabins being so spread out.

 

[twinsmama]

We have 5 people going down next year, do you think the cabins would be decent? How does the busing work? Pricing it out, it would be cheaper for us to stay there, but we were worried about how the bus system worked with the cabins being so spread out.

I LOOOOOVE the cabins! We are always MK heavy so we request a loop that is closest to the campsites (the bottom of FW is cabins, then campsites, then where you go to board the boat to MK) and each year I requested close to a bus stop. The first year we were right next to it, the next year we were 1 cabin away and across the (very easy to cross) street.

Going in December I have really enjoyed the cabins at Christmas time (though we go 2 weeks before) and seeing tents and cabins decorated with lights.

Buses run great, to get to MK you take a bus to the dock, to get to the other parks you take a bus to the front and then wait for the park bus. I love love loved taking the boat to MK. We only had trouble with transportation one time when we waited 40+ minutes for a bus to AK and in that time 4, I kid you not, 4 buses to downtown disney came, not to mention buses to the other parks...each time no one got on them. After the 2nd bus there was a hoard of us waiting for AK, the drivers that pulled up said they'd call for an AK bus.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Um, I booked early last year and the whole reason I was able to get the promotion was because of that. So, it's not defeating. If I wouldn't have booked early, I wouldn't have gotten the dates and resort I wanted because it's all done through AAA for me. So, maybe it doesn't work out for some people, but for me, it did.

You are not following...there's a reason why they release promotions 2-5 months out (give or take)...it's because they look at the forecasts in central res and allocate the MINUMUM amount of rooms they think it will take to to fill the rack.

They've been doing this a long time and they're very good with numbers. So by "booking early", it throws the forecast off as to how many rooms they think they need to offer on a promotion.

I know people do it and that travel agents jump on the codes when they release...but if enough people do that, it could lower rooms available on the promo. That could eventually shrink it down to where the promo doesn't exist anymore.

 

[jlundeen]

Last year we didn't do a dining plan at all (first time for that, we had always done DDP in the past, and sometimes Deluxe). On the two trips we did NOT do a dining plan, we ended up paying less for food that what the plan would have cost. We still ate at least one sit-down meal a day, but if you are NOT on a plan, you can split meals between people, and order only what you want. in the future, unless we stumble in to it, we probably won't buy a dining plan. I really preferred that. But as others have stated, you have to work the math and find what is best for you and your family.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

You are not following...there's a reason why they release promotions 2-5 months out (give or take)...it's because they look at the forecasts in central res and allocate the MINUMUM amount of rooms they think it will take to to fill the rack.

They've been doing this a long time and they're very good with numbers. So by "booking early", it throws the forecast off as to how many rooms they think they need to offer on a promotion.

I know people do it and that travel agents jump on the codes when they release...but if enough people do that, it could lower rooms available on the promo. That could eventually shrink it down to where the promo doesn't exist anymore.

I've been wondering if the "free" QS offer this summer is a test to see how little they can offer. Might be the beginning of the end of "free dining."

 

[kipperdog]

For the people that booked a bounce back offer. Could you give me an idea of the cost. How much is a deluxe hotel with park hoppers and free dining? We are going with 2 adults and 2 kids. One is considered a Disney adult. Trying to get and idea of what the cost might be.

 

[Disneylover99]

For the people that booked a bounce back offer. Could you give me an idea of the cost. How much is a deluxe hotel with park hoppers and free dining? We are going with 2 adults and 2 kids. One is considered a Disney adult. Trying to get and idea of what the cost might be.

Just go to the website, plug in your dates for a room at rack rate at a deluxe (without any discount), put in the number of people and the kid's ages and select the number of days on your tickets with hopper. That will be the cost of free dining.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

When I first saw the thread title, I thought it referred to eating while riding the Tower of Terror.

 

[CounselorX]

When I first saw the thread title, I thought it referred to eating while riding the Tower of Terror.

Hahah. Dining while free-falling.

 

[manning]

I would prefer cheaper room rates over free dining. Someone has to pay for it and one way is to factor the cost into the room rate.

Nothing in this world is free.

Amazing what the word "FREE" does. I know a store owner who was selling something at 33 1/3 off. It didn't move so he repriced to buy 3 and get the 4th one free it flew off the shelf. The owner had the last laugh. The customer got a 25 percent discount instead of 33 1/3 percent discount. and they didn't even realize it.