I hvae NO expereince in the travel industry so am wondering how and why teh UK could/would prevent Disney from making an offer.. this is very interesting to me..
Can UK resident not pick up the phone and call disney to book Like I can?
Okay, even though I posted the info, I'm not quite sure how that worked myself. I only remember reading something about that - and I actually thought it was here on the DIS boards, but I can't seem to find the thread with that info. It was in one of the
Free Dining threads.
However, going by memory, this is what I think were the reasons - but someone correct me if any of this is wrong.
First, it seemed as though the initial UK Free Dining offer was heavily promoted in the UK through a couple of their major travel companies - Virgin being the biggest player. So, was there some discussion between Disney and these companies to determine dates and details prior to the offer? It's possible.
Second, the UK offer is considerably longer in duration that either the bounceback or what many think will be offered to the public. Was there some consideration that to get a longer booking window, the resorts were restricted? Again, from what I read, no one can be certain that this was a factor, but it was offered as a possibility.
Third, UK packages differ from those in North America to begin with. For example, their tickets are priced differently. Check out mousesavers for info on the 5, 7, 14 and 21 Day Premium Tickets. They appear similar to our Base + Hopper, Waterparks and More passes, but apparently at a better price.
Fourth, considering the cost for visitors to come to Disney from the UK (airfare being considerably more expensive) the total hit to a package price due to requiring at least a moderate resort won't look as large in comparison. For example, look at Disney's rack rate "Affordable" ads - 6 nights at a Value from $1,600, 6 nights at a Moderate from $2,000. That's a 25% increase.
On the other hand, I went to the UK Disney site and booked a rack rate vacation for the Free Dining period - for a 7 night, 7 day premium ticket package (no dining added here, since it would have been included), I used the same family type quoted by Disney for their $1,600 ad - 2 adults, 1 junior, 1 child. For the UK, this is roughly £3,050 for a value and £3,430 for a moderate. At current exchange rates, that is roughly equivalent to $6,050 USD for the Value and $6,805 USD for the moderate - which is roughly only a 13% increase in the price.
So, the room rate is really only a small portion of the cost for visitors from the UK. Granted, many visitors from North America have to fly to Disney too, but for those who don't, the 25% price difference is really noticable.
Fifth, and finally, since Disney limited the Bounceback to only September (basically) and gave the UK a longer booking window but excluded the Values, did they do so to keep the Value rooms open for possible 2008 late summer to fall value season promotions?
Anyway, most of the fears regarding a Public Free Dining for 2008 are slowly being eliminated.
First, there were all the statements that it wouldn't happen at all - now it pretty much appears to be a go.
Then, (and this has been going on for a while), fears that it would only be for the same dates as Bounceback. While this hasn't been resolved, there are some compelling reasons to think that at least the last week of August will be included, such as the total lack of ANY Public Discounts for that time period - which is still one of the slowest weeks at Disney.
Now, even though many are accepting that August dates are a good possibility, we have rumours that Values will be excluded, just like it was for the UK. Sure, it's possible - but there are a number of very good reasons why that won't happen.
Let's reamain hopeful... and...
Please, STOP POOPING ON THE RICE KRISPIES!
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