No free dining last week of August

[ptmmg]

so the rumor is no free dining then its starts 9/2 for those of us who planned on the the last week of August what type of deal will they make to get you to go during the peak of hurrican season and and high temps?? or will you just cancel?

 

[chell2013]

That's a good question.

 

[Marionnette]

so the rumor is no free dining then its starts 9/2 for those of us who planned on the the last week of August what type of deal will they make to get you to go during the peak of hurrican season and and high temps?? or will you just cancel?

I saw the thread that you're talking about on the Codes and Rates forum ( http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3101228 ). Danny25 is usually on the money with his information. The good news is that it looks like the value resorts will be included in Free Dining. There was speculation that they wouldn't be. The bad news is, as you have pointed out, Free Dining will not include the last two weeks of Aug. According to Danny25, it will be for arrivals from Sept. 2 - 25.

Disney must think that they don't need to offer Free Dining in late August in order to attract guests. I wonder if they will be extending the current offer or if the Free Dining dates are wrong? Or, it's possible that they feel that they don't need to have any deals for those last two weeks of August. Hotel rooms may be booked up enough that they don't need to have any deals.

Whatever the reason, it won't affect me. We've got DVC and Free Dining is not a deciding factor for us. But we have friends for whom I have been watching the Free Dining threads. They want to go to Disney at the same time that we are going. Our trip begins just before Free Dining is rumored to end, so it looks like they will be able to make it.

For those who made plans to go in late August, don't give up hope yet. Late August isn't like Christmas or Easter. There should be some kind of discount available.

 

[wendow]

We rent DVC points so free dining doesn't affect us either. But thinking about last year, didn't they release the September dates first and then add late August and October later?? I may be remembering that wrong. At any rate, I say hang in there. They will give some kind of discount for that time period. I know some parts of the country haven't started back to school yet, but many have already started back.

 

[jojo0612]

Yes, I'm very bummed about the last week of August not being included in the FD promo. I'm hoping that they offer some sort of discount for that time.

 

[Marionnette]

We rent DVC points so free dining doesn't affect us either. But thinking about last year, didn't they release the September dates first and then add late August and October later?? I may be remembering that wrong. At any rate, I say hang in there. They will give some kind of discount for that time period. I know some parts of the country haven't started back to school yet, but many have already started back.

I think that they added more Free Dining dates under the same code in Oct and then another Free Dining offer came out for Nov-Dec but the late-summer offer included check-in dates from Aug. 25 to Sept. 29. 2012 when it was announced in March, 2012. This is according to Mousesavers.com and Mary is pretty accurate with her info.

There were no package deals last summer until Free Dining was announced, although the room discounts could also be booked as packages. This summer appears to be no different. There were also room-only discounts that ran concurrently with Free Dining last year. So, I would expect that there will be some sort of room-only discount that covers those last two weeks of August this summer and it will probably overlap the Free Dining dates.

 

[bartleby1]

I'm bummed and although I haven't canceled our trip altogether, we will be moving offsite and shortening our stay. While I love staying onsite, I can't justify the added cost of the rooms. Even with a discount, they are still overpriced, IMO. So, while it will be a bit of an adjustment, we will still have a great trip but disney has priced us out of the way we used to do our disney trips. Perhaps the economy has recovered in their eyes, but it hasn't in ours. Between the huge room, ticket, and food price increases in the past few years and now the lack of discounts, we will be returning to our offsite cheaper vacations that we took over 10 years ago.

Maybe this will be the start of the recovery of the offsite, surrounding area. Whenever we left the disney property the last 5 years or so, it was like a ghost town. We always commented that we wondered how the businesses stayed open since disney was doing such a great job of keeping everyone onsite.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

It seems like FD promos are getting shorter and less frequent. Or is it just me?

 

[sweetdana]

Until DVC (and learning about transferring in points), (for years) I was the last 10 days before labor day for yrs, always with FD. ..Though you cannot get a seat to eat, without a ressie, the parks were empty.

I cannot imagine if these dates are right, they will not change next yr.

From a school aged kid mom.. I guess I would still go, but I'd move my trip to June/July or Nov.. all the pros of Aug ... were MNSSHP and FD.. both gone from that week..


I really doubt they will change it/add dates once it comes out, but I am certain they will regret it.

Once moving to DVC, we pick better NON hurricane, non OMG HOT dates instead, as it is not enough savings to pick that week or 2.

 

[wendow]

I think that they added more Free Dining dates under the same code in Oct and then another Free Dining offer came out for Nov-Dec but the late-summer offer included check-in dates from Aug. 25 to Sept. 29. 2012 when it was announced in March, 2012. This is according to Mousesavers.com and Mary is pretty accurate with her info.

There were no package deals last summer until Free Dining was announced, although the room discounts could also be booked as packages. This summer appears to be no different. There were also room-only discounts that ran concurrently with Free Dining last year. So, I would expect that there will be some sort of room-only discount that covers those last two weeks of August this summer and it will probably overlap the Free Dining dates.

This sounds right and you are correct, there was a room only promo running concurrently b/c we used that for the first part of our trip at POR.

 

[pigletto]

Until DVC (and learning about transferring in points), (for years) I was the last 10 days before labor day for yrs, always with FD. ..Though you cannot get a seat to eat, without a ressie, the parks were empty.

I cannot imagine if these dates are right, they will not change next yr.

From a school aged kid mom.. I guess I would still go, but I'd move my trip to June/July or Nov.. all the pros of Aug ... were MNSSHP and FD.. both gone from that week..


I really doubt they will change it/add dates once it comes out, but I am certain they will regret it.

Once moving to DVC, we pick better NON hurricane, non OMG HOT dates instead, as it is not enough savings to pick that week or 2.

We've been the last 10 days of August for 4 years now. It's not empty by any stretch. It's gotten noticeably busier every year. It's not a madhouse, but moderate to higher end of moderate crowds last year anyway.
I suspect there's no free dining for August because they have the bookings they need for that time period. I do think a room only % off deal will come out, possibly an extension of the current one, but you are correct. Late summer is not the empty parks it once was.

ETA) For example Touring Plans is predicting a 9 on Labour Day weekend. I was there last Labour Day weekend and I believe it. We waited 45 minutes for Pirates. That was never the case in the previous years.

 

[pixidust1976]

I didn't cancel my plans, but I amended them. I am arriving on August 31st and planned on staying onsite for all 9 days and then just catching a shuttle to/from Universal for one or two days in the middle of the week. Now I will proceed straight to Universal (and a Universal partner hotel) for the first two days and THEN check into Disney on September 2.

This is the ONLY week we could attend and it took a lot of finagling just to make this trip possible to stay on the schedule of going to Disney once every three years like we promised the kids we would do. I know that the kind of money spent by someone like me who "needs free dining for my once every three years trip" isn't much in Disney's eyes, and therefore the parks aren't all that worried if I would have cancelled my trip, but the kind of memories I am trying to give my kids are so very valuable.

Free dining did what it was supposed to for Disney in my case. I got it for the first time in 2007 and loved it so much that I paid for the dining plan when I went back in 2010. I really needed this time of free dining to make the trip possible and hope to be able to pick my dates for May of 2016 and pay for the dining plan on the next trip!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I am really hoping they offer something for those weeks in August. Our friends are taking their two kids on their first Disney trip during those dates. They had originally planned to go over Easter vacation, but we convinced them to go in August, partially based on the expectancy that discounts would be offered. They chose dates just after the cutoff for the summer discount that's already been offered. If I offered bad advice I'll never forgive myself.

 

[Marionnette]

I am really hoping they offer something for those weeks in August. Our friends are taking their two kids on their first Disney trip during those dates. They had originally planned to go over Easter vacation, but we convinced them to go in August, partially based on the expectancy that discounts would be offered. They chose dates just after the cutoff for the summer discount that's already been offered. If I offered bad advice I'll never forgive myself.

Check the Codes and Rate subforum. There was a post by Black562 that there is a room-only discount due to come out for stays beginning between Aug 15 - Sept. 28.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=48220427#post48220427

It's possible that booking may begin May 9 for the room discounts.

 

[danceintherain]

I am really hoping they offer something for those weeks in August. Our friends are taking their two kids on their first Disney trip during those dates. They had originally planned to go over Easter vacation, but we convinced them to go in August, partially based on the expectancy that discounts would be offered. They chose dates just after the cutoff for the summer discount that's already been offered. If I offered bad advice I'll never forgive myself.

Even if they don't get a fantastic discount, their trip will still be less expensive than it would have been over Spring Break (especially Easter Week) so I don't think you gave them bad advice.

Disney has been consistently offering discounts this year, just not as good, for some people, as free dining.