Glad I was wrong....

[captain america 2003]

I have to say that all evidence is pointing in the direction of NO MORE FREE DINING ! And for that matter no more free anything . Disney is in full , all out cash grab mode , make no mistake about it . Yes , I know they'e a business that has stockholders to answer to BUT , enough is enough ....what's next ? Can you imagine them expanding the Wishes Dessert Party and/or the Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party to the areas currently used for guests with FP+ ? I can . And once the new Star Wars fireworks show starts you can be sure they'll have a dessert party area for that as well . Rivers of Light has already begun accepting reservations for "a $pecial viewing area " for those who purchase the $pecial dinner package . Do you see where this is going ? Premium parking spots coming soon to EP , followed soon after most likely by AK & HS . Oh , I forgot to mention the rumored $15 per night resort fee that is expected to be implemented soon . All the while more and more cuts , reductions , and less amenities are taking place every day it seems . Most of us can and do accept price increases every year but it's gotten ridiculous these last few weeks and I don't see anything but more money grab moves coming . I love going to WDW with my family , and it's never been cheap , but moving forward we will look to cut our spending there wherever and however possible . I hope I'm wrong but this is , for the forseeable future what I feel Disney execs have decided to do to keep the gravy train rolling at record speed . Hope the train doesn't jump the tracks . Hey ' I've got an idea for their next advertising campaign...."Disney Parks , where less costs more !"

Free Dining is alive and well ! Despite much evidence suggesting that the days of this promotion were over Disney has decided to keep this extremely popular promotion going for this year . We jumped on it this morning when we got up around 6:30am EST and had no trouble booking POP for our December dates . As I stated in an earlier thread I started on this subject we have scaled back our trip to 5 days and 4 nights (from 8 days 7 nights last year) and dropped down to a Value resort from a Moderate because of all the crazy price increases instituted in recent months . We will also cut back on spending within the parks . Hope everyone was able to take advantage of this promotion or the Room only discount for their trips this year .

 

[Baptist]

Glad to see it's still around too. It's a nice discount.

 

[AshleeH]

I wish you had been right - fall used to have such good discounts and now that's a thing of the past.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I wish you had been right - fall used to have such good discounts and now that's a thing of the past.

Each year it is more limited. So glad I had a better discount than both FD and RO, because it just doesn't seem like any fun anymore like it used to be when discounts and codes came out. Read so many horror stories today and people holding for hours, only to be told they couldn't get anything. Or their TA's did not work early enough for them to get anything. Sorry, but I have to agree with you, wish he was right lol.

 

[AshleeH]

Each year it is more limited. So glad I had a better discount than both FD and RO, because it just doesn't seem like any fun anymore like it used to be when discounts and codes came out. Read so many horror stories today and people holding for hours, only to be told they couldn't get anything. Or their TA's did not work early enough for them to get anything. Sorry, but I have to agree with you, wish he was right lol.

I agree - I have read hundreds of people complaining about the average 4 hour wait time (those with 2 hour waits were complaining too, but they seemed to get the better end of the deal). And there were so many who waited that long only to find out they weren't eligible for FD, or they would end up spending hundreds (or in a few cases - up to $1800) more for "Free" dining than their original booking.

And I'll be selfish and say I'm sick of the parks being packed on these dates, when it would've previously been moderately crowded.

 

[Mikie]

So glad you got it! Of course it's impossible to guess numbers, but from some threads on the discount board, it looks like maybe the offer is alive and well, but maybe very limited quantity (even more than in the past). Although there aren't a large number of resorts completely excluded, it seemed like I was seeing a lot of people unable to actually get the FD, even though their dates and resort were in the offer.

When did you write the original post? Looks like you totally called the Wishes FP area being used for dessert party!

P.s. It was quite big of you to come back and announce, hey I was wrong!

 

[Sevey13]

P.s. It was quite big of you to come back and announce, hey I was wrong!

Agree. When the news broke this morning, I actually thought of that previous thread specifically and wondered what they must be thinking now.

 

[captain america 2003]

Agree. When the news broke this morning, I actually thought of that previous thread specifically and wondered what they must be thinking now.

Thanks , I still think that the future of this promotion gets more and more questionable every year and thought the writing was on the wall for it to end this year . It's only fair and right to admit when you're wrong ...and I was wrong . It is my hope that I will always be wrong when it comes to predicting anything that is negative or takes something away from all of us loyal Disney fans . Unfortunately I wasn't wrong about the expansion of the Wishes desert party into the former FP+ areas .

 

[Huff]

Larger summer discounts than in years prior? If any of this were true would you expect free dining over Thanksgiving weekend?? Or free dining over Christmas?

 

[kdisser]

Then again how many people were already pre-booked hoping to get FD but still stated they are going either way. How many people were locked into the dates they selected and expected something to be given? How many people who called and waited for hours on end were already booked and were hoping to get FD for the room that they already selected, knowing full and well that might not be an option...? I agree that Disney is limiting it more and more, but with us who know that, we should also know that flexibility is key getting FD. Flexible dates, flexible resorts, even flexible room categories. I had a list of 7 resorts each different room categories and went with what I could get off of my list, but I DID NOT spend any more then I wanted to get "FD".

 

[captain america 2003]

Larger summer discounts than in years prior? If any of this were true would you expect free dining over Thanksgiving weekend?? Or free dining over Christmas?

Not sure that this summers discounts are any larger than in years prior...and as far as the free dining goes the answer is both yes and no . You can get free dining for Thanksgiving weekend as long as your trip starts no later than 11/21/16 and for Christmas it's the same situation , begin your trip no later than 12/21/16 and you can have it for Christmas .