People - please listen to this

[Sammie]

I personally think that more people are traveling - like back before the terrorist attacks in NY. With more people traveling Disney is selling more rooms to the avegare Joe who unlike us savvy DISsers know nothing about codes and rates. So the rooms are filling up and they need not offer as many discounted rooms.

I think we will be going back to the days when a discount was way out of the norm....

But remember this is JMHO!

I would say you are correct. For those of us you have gone for over 25 years, prior to 9/11 and even before that, discounts at Disney were few and far between. They did not need to discount to fill rooms and it seems that trend is back.

Actually I do know how they allocate rooms for free dining. It is strickly based on occupany rates and yes they make last minute decisions. I spoke with someone last week, on the team that decides, yes we have it, no we don't

He said they are evaluating the current level of bookings and at this time, with bookings being so high, that if they do offer it, it will be for a much shorter time period than in the past.

He said the Bouce back promotion and the UK promotion were very successful and bookings at rack rate were up over last year due to the Dreams promotion and package bookings were up.

So yes booking rooms on speculation does hurt your chances of getting free dining. If you plan to cancel if you don't get free dining, then that contributes to the lack of the very thing you want.

Discounts are given to fill empty rooms.

 

[tortoni]

I think another factor here is that Disney sells blocks of rooms to sites like Expedia and Travelocity. When I called Disney about the recent promo for 4/07, the CM could only offer me regular price rooms and said the promo rooms were sold out. I told the CM that I had seen availability on Expedia. He advised me that Expedia takes blocks of rooms and Disney could not match the price. Hence, I booked thru Expedia. I always prefer booking directly through Disney, but if the on-line sites get blocks of rooms, that is another way to get the discount.

 

[n2mm]

I am amazed at resorts already being fully booked for my week..I tried to book CSR for the end of August (8/24-9/2) NO availability...I am going to have to wonder if this convention resort has a MAJOR convention or if everyone is catching on! HAHA

The Tom Joyner Black Family Reunion (an annual event) has been held during Labor Day weekend for several years now. CSR is one of the resorts that participants can book. Past years registration has been held at CSR and some of the social events. (Other events include a concert at MGM). Last year participants could also book the BC in addition to CSR. This could add to the fact that part of your trip is Labor Day weekend and this event could be tieing up a block of rooms at CSR. Of course some of the rooms could be released later is not needed.

 

[TDC Nala]

I appreciate your insight but it has been proven that some hotels have been filled and not available with the discount. People have had to be flexible with hotels or just keep what they have without the discount.

Can you tell us why there won't be any discounts for May 24 until August 25? I think it is because the hotels are pretty full and Disney doesn't need to offer a discount. The same thing happened last year

It doesn't seem necessary for WDW to offer discounts in summer anymore. Vacation travel is resurgent. The dining plan, ticket structure and Magical Express are drawing them in. And the discounts offered in spring proved quite difficult to get for some.

There is also the bounceback booking offer for free dining (for reservations beginning August 5) and the UK/overseas guest offer (for reservations beginning August 12) which probably got things going in the first half of August, which is still before a lot of districts start school.

The Tom Joyner Black Family Reunion (an annual event) has been held during Labor Day weekend for several years now. CSR is one of the resorts that participants can book. Past years registration has been held at CSR and some of the social events. (Other events include a concert at MGM).

They tend to rent out the Adventurers Club too.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Can somebody please pull the horse carcass out of the sun it is starting to smell.

 

[Chrissie-riel]

Well - I am going free dining or not! I called today and made my resort reservations and inquired about the free DDP. The very nice CM who handled my call told me that they still have received no information, nothing is official, yada yada yada. However, she suggested that if I was going no matter what, it would be a good idea to book the resort, room type, MYW tix, DME and DDP now and then chance it to call back if/when the free dining is offered and change the reservation. OK, I wasn't born yesterday, so I know that her job is to get me booked before I hang up the phone, but she seemed very sincere and very "tongue in cheek" about everything. It seemed like she was sincerely trying to help me as much as possible without stepping over some imaginary line of information. Like I said - it's a family trip with the IL's so we're going with or without free DDP - but I am sure hoping for some !

 

[Momto8]

Can somebody please pull the horse carcass out of the sun it is starting to smell.

 

[kdzgon]

I think another the reason why they are not doing the free dining during August is because I heard Florida schools are not going back until 8/20 this year. I think that might have more to do with it than people booking and then hoping for a free dining.

That being said, we are going whether there is free dining or not. I booked our rooms because I didn't want to lose out on the resort of our choice. We have a Grand Gathering with 22 people going and this is why we booked early. I am not going to cancel just because they don't have free dining. We have the 40% off discount but even if we didn't, we would still be going.

DITTO, except our group is somewhere between 20 and 26 (still a "maybe" or two who might cancel).40% is better than most discounts I've seen, except free dining would be better for those in our group staying in the values.

 

[kaytieeldr]

They put P&P back in early august to do the same thing.MNSSHP for late fall,

Early fall. Actually, late summer. Last year the first MNSSHP was around September 15; they're rumored to be starting around the same date this year (based on the reopening date of a then newly-refurbished, Halloween-related attraction which shall remain nameless )

 

[disneyjunkie]

They tend to rent out the Adventurers Club too.

GREAT NEWS I can't wait to go.

Of to check Tom Joyner's site.

 

[shawn68]

Why would Disney "give" something away like free dining when people are still on summer vacation.
We booked yesterday for our trip in September, and I am ready to go!

 

[PamNC]

I worked in marketing and I can tell you without a doubt the discounts ARE a direct reflection of the resorts' bookings. It has everything to do with it so I agree with the OP. It's best not to book it up at rack rate and wait for a discount.

Trust me - we worked directly on this stuff...

PamNC

 

[disneyjunkie]

Why would Disney "give" something away like free dining when people are still on summer vacation.
We booked yesterday for our trip in September, and I am ready to go!

The same reason they offered 40% resort discounts during Christmas.

I don't know why they do it, but I'm glad they do.

School doesn't start here until after Labor Day so a late August trip works out great for us.

 

[DNSDisney]

I talked with a CM yesterday , she said they had a meeting yesterday...
seems they are having trouble with the system not putting discount rooms back into the discount room pool, don't know if it is the computer system itself or if it is because at certain times they are being un-discounted (not sure if that is a word lol )because bookings are up.

Either way I have noticed a change in the CMs at reservations, before this year i have never had any of them try to sell me on booking a room NOW and this year every time i call they are pushing hard to get me a reservation before I hang up. Sorry without a discount i am not booking. I am wondering why the change though, from friendly CMs that help you out to , hard core (some softer than others) sell this room now type mentality?

I had this one guy the other day that was using scare tactics with me, saying there may not be any rooms left if you wait.....
big deal... i love staying on property and am spoiled by the deluxes but I can always go back off property and get the same treatment other than the transportation. It is making me sick thought to deal with pushy CMs.

 

[thunderbird1]

I worked in marketing and I can tell you without a doubt the discounts ARE a direct reflection of the resorts' bookings. It has everything to do with it so I agree with the OP. It's best not to book it up at rack rate and wait for a discount.

Trust me - we worked directly on this stuff...

PamNC

Thanks for the insight, Pam. That was what I expected to hear, but let me ask you another question. Some have theorized that making ADR's in advance will make the restaurants appear full, and that WDW will be looking at those to help decide whether or not to offer free DDP. Like, maybe they'll offer a different promotion (say, free hoppers/water parks and more) instead of free DDP if they think the restaurants will be too busy. Do you think there's any validity to that theory?

 

[nurse.darcy]

As a DLR AP holder and someone in the "know" I find all this "talk" hilarious. . .keep it up, it has great entertainment value.

 

[disneyfan551]

What's so hilarious about it?

 

[CanadianGuy]

I suspect that much like bellybuttons.. we all have theories about this and we take it all so seriously.

If you step back from it a bit and stop and think about how seriously we all take certain things on these message boards..

It is kinda funny sometimes I mean.. Vacations are serious business around here.

Knox

 

[MelanieC]

I think most people books rooms before an anticipated discount because no matter what they are going during those dates. If a discount comes along - Yeah! You can rebook it, if not.........your still going on your vacation. If you waited till a discount came out, the rooms you wanted my be booked in the first place.

 

[nurse.darcy]

I suspect that much like bellybuttons.. we all have theories about this and we take it all so seriously.

If you step back from it a bit and stop and think about how seriously we all take certain things on these message boards..

It is kinda funny sometimes I mean.. Vacations are serious business around here.

Knox

That's exactly what I was thinking. . .no matter what they are all just theories. That is what makes it so funny. In my opinion and from what I know of the travel industry, there will always be discounts of some type offered. Why do you think the bounce back program is successful? Because many loyal Disney people knew they would visit again in a heartbeat if there was a discount involved. So voila, Disney creates a perfect way for them to visit - give them a discount. Now, here comes the "value" season again, Disney still has rooms to book and they still have thousands of loyal customers that did NOT book the bounceback program so how do they entice those loyal customers to come back? Offer discounts. In the hotel industry empty beds = lost revenue. If they are not overbooked at the values for the "value" season then they will need to entice people with a discount to book more rooms. Free dining is one way, discounted rooms is another way. It remains to be seen what they will offer, but I enjoy reading all of this speculation while I wait and see like everyone else.