Mark your Calendars for ADRs

[Sammie]

Disney is reported by reliable sources going to extend free dining to the general public until December 17 so be sure and get ready to call for ADRs during that time period or plan to dine off property or eat in.

And everyone if this upsets you please do not kill the messenger.

I just know many of you don't read the other forums and you will need to make the necessary adjustments for this if you are going to be making ADRs.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I'm safe. Made mine yesterday.

MG

 

[Sammie]

I'm safe. Made mine yesterday.

MG

Man you flew in under that radar, good for you. I have to deal with the early December crowds, free dining, and Pop Warner.

I am thrilled to be going though, well if I have a job then.

 

[DeeCee735]

Can't make mine til August 10th!

 

[ACDSNY]

Can't make mine til August 10th!

Me too!

 

[kid-at-heart]

Oh Heck! I would use stronger language but that would be inappropriate.

 

[jguner]

I am good as we are not arriving until Dec 21 until 26th. It will be busy but not as busy as it would be with free dining.

 

[quirty30]

Well I make mine 8/1 and I only need a few tables for 1 (which I will make for 2 so the CM's don't question me about my solo trip and make me feel pathetic - lol.)

 

[bfrosty]

Okay...before I fly off the handle here...someone please read what I have to say and explain to me what is up with the free dining extension till Dec.

1st, I'm a DVC owner at VWL and we booked this October like we always do. Now, free dining has never been advertised during our stay (Late Oct.) Now, they are offering it thru Dec.

Now, you're telling me that if I'm a regular schmoo I can book and eat free in late October?

What about DVC members? Why can't we eat free? Are we not loyal enough or is that Disney thinks (Ha! We got them already).

What I'm trying to deduct is....basically, if I'm paying for the Dining plan in late October....part of my cost is covering a regular dudes dinner the he doesn't pay a dime for?

Ugh...please explain or enlighten me here on the subject.

Thanks for reading...flame suit on...proceed. =))

Bfrosty

 

[Sammie]

It is basically supply and demand and simple econ. Disney resorts needs to book rooms, occupany levels are way down and bookings for the next several months are lower than ever.

So free dining is a carrot thrown out to get people in rooms at full rack rate and purchase tickets. They are willing to give them food in order to do this.

It has no effect on DVC because they have your money whether you go to Disney or not. Yes Disney food and beverage would like your money but DVC is not a big market to them. Maybe it should be, but it is not.

We already get a discount on tickets and some discounts on dining and I sure they feel that is enough.

You have to also remember Disney is huge and while the name Disney is part of the Vacation Club, they are not always on the same page or thought process on what they need or want.

DVC at this point is all about sales. Believe me if Jim Lewis thought it would sell units to offer free dining we would probably get it. But until not having free dining affects DVC sales, it ain't never going to happen.

It truly is no different than sales incentives, some people got great ones when they bought in, others didn't.

Disney Resorts and DVC are two very different enities.

 

[thelionqueen]

OK so is the dining window now 90+10 as I understand it right? We are going 12/13-12/24 and I was planning on making my ressies at 90 days. I've read everywhere on the DIS that its 90 days but want to make sure I'm not missing my window. I always have to check 20 times that my keys are in my purse too
Thanks for the info!

 

[tjkraz]

It has no effect on DVC because they have your money whether you go to Disney or not. Yes Disney food and beverage would like your money but DVC is not a big market to them. Maybe it should be, but it is not.

I'm not sure how that's even relevant.

By my calculations it would cost over $300,000 per day to give the DDP "free" to DVC members. That's taking every WDW two bedroom villa and assuming a reasonable occupancy level (which would probably rise if every guest ate for free) at the current DDP fees.

As you pointed out, there's a financial incentive to the free dining credits given to cash guests. I don't care who is in charge of DVC or what they are "all about." DVC didn't give out $10 million worth free meals per month before Jim Lewis came on board and they aren't about to start today.

BTW, I made my ADRs this morning and got my first choice of time at every restaurant. So at least the Disney Visa people didn't have any impact on us. And I think there is hope that a general public announcement won't have an immediate negative impact. I think people have come to expect the free dining promotions in August and September (one reason I'm surprised Disney kept it up so long) and are prepared to call as soon as its offered. How readily they will jump at the offer for Oct - Dec remains to be seen. Could be more of a slow burn.

 

[Sammie]

I'm not sure how that's even relevant.

By my calculations it would cost over $300,000 per day to give the DDP "free" to DVC members. That's taking every WDW two bedroom villa and assuming a reasonable occupancy level (which would probably rise if every guest ate for free) at the current DDP fees.

As you pointed out, there's a financial incentive to the free dining credits given to cash guests. I don't care who is in charge of DVC or what they are "all about." DVC didn't give out $10 million worth free meals per month before Jim Lewis came on board and they aren't about to start today.
BTW, I made my ADRs this morning and got my first choice of time at every restaurant. So at least the Disney Visa people didn't have any impact on us. And I think there is hope that a general public announcement won't have an immediate negative impact. I think people have come to expect the free dining promotions in August and September (one reason I'm surprised Disney kept it up so long) and are prepared to call as soon as its offered. How readily they will jump at the offer for Oct - Dec remains to be seen. Could be more of a slow burn.

Just as Disney resorts never offered free dining until they needed to, I just think DVC would never be in a situation where they needed to, because they have your money whether you use your points or not. None of us are going to be excused from paying for our points or fees due to lack of use on the part of the member. DVC offers incentives to sell points. If those were not necessary they would not be offered. Those incentives cost money too. I just feel like if DVC felt it would sell units to offer free dining as a sales incentive they would offer it but I don't think they will ever offer it to existing membership for there is no monetary gain for them for the cost.

So there is no incentive for them to offer it. Maybe I did not make that clear.

Glad you got the ADRs you wanted and do agree that by spreading free dining out over a longer time period than just a month or so, will help diffuse the impact.

 

[Sammie]

OK so is the dining window now 90+10 as I understand it right? We are going 12/13-12/24 and I was planning on making my ressies at 90 days. I've read everywhere on the DIS that its 90 days but want to make sure I'm not missing my window. I always have to check 20 times that my keys are in my purse too
Thanks for the info!

90 days is correct and I do agree with TJ that for the most part as long as you call that day I think you will be fine. Certainly some places such as LeCellier and Chef Mickey will be impacted but not as much as when free dining is for only a month, instead of several months.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Bfrosty,
No flames. We also booked a trip "after" the free dining promotion to avoid the free dining crowd. Now we will be right in the mist of it. I guess we just need to stop going to Disney until the economy improves. The first year FD was offered we were at Disney (not on FD) and decided then we would never attend again during the promotion. Now it is too late for us to change our trip without losing points. Geeze...

 

[dvcnewgirl]

Bfrosty,
No flames. We also booked a trip "after" the free dining promotion to avoid the free dining crowd. Now we will be right in the mist of it. I guess we just need to stop going to Disney until the economy improves. The first year FD was offered we were at Disney (not on FD) and decided then we would never attend again during the promotion. Now it is too late for us to change our trip without losing points. Geeze...

Ditto! I could cry over this extension. Flame away, but I went during the free dining madhouse, and vowed to never go back.. Now 8 months after I booked my trip I get this news..

 

[DVCSAMNH]

The need to plan every meal three months in advance just doesn't work for us, so we find ourselves eating offsite more and more every trip. Sounds like we may be finding a few new restaurants for our October trip. To us it has been worth the cost of a car rental. Although, looking at the current car rental prices, we may have to someday revisit that theory.

With all these promotions(which started to appear before the economy went south) I am also missing being able to book at slow times of the year. There are no slow weeks any more! There's always a promotion. Now that our kids are grown, we enjoyed for a couple of years the ability to go when crowds were very light and the restaurants were empty. Those weeks don't seem to exist any more. If the quiet weeks continue to disappear, it will make us rethink how many trips we make. One crazy week with all the kids may make more sense.

 

[ead79]

I'm not super excited to have to compete with the free dining offer for my December trip, but oh well. Disney's gotta do what it's gotta do to try to fill those empty hotel rooms. Plus, I don't think this free dining extension will be as popular as the regular free dining time of Aug/September since people weren't counting on Disney offering it in advance. But I could easily be wrong about that. Either way, I'll be making my ADRs online at 6 AM 90 days out, LOL. I can't book until September, but I've got the date on my calendar!

I am good as we are not arriving until Dec 21 until 26th. It will be busy but not as busy as it would be with free dining.

I'm sure you probably already know this, but you should be sure to make your ADRs exactly 90 days out for your trip dates. While free dining will be over by then, that is a VERY busy time at WDW, and restaurant reservations will be very difficult to come by. The restaurants are likely to be just as busy as during free dining in my opinion. I just wanted to be sure you knew that so you can get those favorites places you might have!

 

[LIFERBABE]

Thank you Sammie for the heads up!

The offer went public this morning. This means that anyone can book not just Dis Visa holders. You can also book and check in by Dec 17 2009. The max stay is 14 nights so the competition for reservations can span all the way to Jan 1 2010. Thankfully we have a THV booked for Christmas trip and planned on cooking anyway so we wont have to fight the food crowds.

I have friends that we invited to join us for October. For some reason, Oct 11th is completely sold out for DVC. They reluctantly booked Pop Century this morning with the offer while we ride the waitlist.

With this latest offer, If you stay in a Value resort you get the QSDP free and can pay the difference to upgrade to the basic or Deluxe plans.

For the 2 of them for 4 nights at PopC, 1 day base, (military) and Deluxe DDP upgrade is 972.62. No insurance. This is an Adults only military homecoming trip

I dont think that is all that great of a deal, considering we are staying 4 nights at BLT in a MK view studio for 76 points (weekend points included) and will pay for the DXDDP (we are dining together) for $560.00 oop. We are not getting daily cleanings or the 1 day base tix is the difference nor do we want/need it.

If they were to stay at SSR studio for the 4 nights with DLXDDP and 1 day base it was over $2k.

So I feel my points are giving me a great value and allowing us to stay in a Deluxe with Deluxe Dining for half the price over Free Dining offer in a Deluxe. If we did not have DVC, we would stay at PC with our friends, but Im not giving up a MK view at BLT!

 

[gkrykewy]

Phew, counter service only. Crisis averted!

The bigger issue will be if they suddenly extend the ADR window out to 180 days again, as has been rumored. Hopefully there is sufficient advance warning.