September 2014 Discount Watch!

[MmmSuite]

Like everyone else, I'm hoping for a discount. Free dining. I booked specifically at this time of year because I've read they offer free dining. I didn't know it would be a possible hindrance or that some hotels were excluded. I have never been to Disney before.

Now I feel nervous.

We're staying in POR in a royal room. Did someone saying they were excluded last year?

 

[FrugalFashionista]

Like everyone else, I'm hoping for a discount. Free dining. I booked specifically at this time of year because I've read they offer free dining. I didn't know it would be a possible hindrance or that some hotels were excluded. I have never been to Disney before. Now I feel nervous. We're staying in POR in a royal room. Did someone saying they were excluded last year?

Don't be nervous but be prepared to switch resorts or days if a discount is important to you. Discounts are always a crap shoot. It's part of the fun of Disney planning

 

[MmmSuite]

Don't be nervous but be prepared to switch resorts or days if a discount is important to you. Discounts are always a crap shoot. It's part of the fun of Disney planning

Okay! Thanks! I'll look into a few other hotels just in case. My hubby just said he can't believe how much work dining is! Since today was my 180 we've been up since 5:30. lol

Looking at all my reservations is fun though!

 

[littlelovebug]

I didn't mean to sound grumpy but rereading I guess it did! I agree that ADRs are better this time around. I actually got a BOG ressie at 5pm on my 180. And I have to say I am glad to hear you are willing to wait if the package isn't good enough. There were people last year that were down right ugly when their dates weren't included.

No worries! Yes I remember last year people getting really rude about Disney "needing" to offer free dining. It's definitely awesome when we can get it, but in the end it's their decision to make!

That's awesome that you got your BOG! That was my biggest accomplishment on our trip last year with a party of ten. I had to book a party of 6 & a party of 4. Then, my best friend's mom ended up in the hospital that day, so they decided not to go to dinner since they were so stressed out. Plus it rained all day and we were SOAKING wet. It wasn't exactly how I pictured our day... So, I don't have it planned for this trip, but I do want to go again so that we have a more enjoyable memory of BOG. We did have really good service and the CM's helped us find two hidden Mickeys!

So here's one kind of weird side note...tonight I went on Disney's website to see what a room only package would cost during my dates and there were no rooms available...at POR, or any resort for that matter. This has to be some kind of weird glitch with the website, right?? (Because that never happens...)

 

[mjohnson96]

I was up early today as well doing dining reservations but since we have a larger group I was able to get BOG but not until the last Saturday of our trip. My only concern is once htey release the dates for MNSSHP if for some reason they have a party that night (not on the expected date list yet) then I will be out of luck since we plan on doing the party on Friday night.

So here's one kind of weird side note...tonight I went on Disney's website to see what a room only package would cost during my dates and there were no rooms available...at POR, or any resort for that matter. This has to be some kind of weird glitch with the website, right?? (Because that never happens...)

I have had this happen to me several times latley, just have to clear everything out and start over again. I think what happens is that it is trying to apply a promotion that is not available.

 

[jamieluvsdisney]

We are planning a family trip 9 people and are very interested in staying at Port Orleans French Quarters. Dates are September 6th - 14th. Does this resort usually offer the free dinning and does it look as if free dinning will be offered for September?

 

[BigCatEars]

Looking at sept 23-30. I've looked at past dates for free dining and looks like sept 25 or so have been latest dates. I found great deal on airfare. Debating between buying airfare and then just hoping for free dining. Ugh, I hate the waiting!

 

[KimberlyE]

We're booked for 9/21-9/27 at CBR. It's our first moderate trip. We have always stayed at Value for FD and paid the upgrade to Deluxe Dining. With 2 kids, we need more room space and the 3 TS meals a day have become too much, hence the new strategy of Moderate + FD DP.

Praying for FD for our dates. If not, then we are back to POP so we can budget in the DP.

Booked our ADR's this morning. Was disappointed to not get a BOG but we did get all of our other wishes so guess we'll count our blessings. I will keep stalking to see if a BOG is freed up!

Our last trip was 2012 and the last day of FD was 9/29. We were planning to go the next week so we had to change our dates to check in on 9/29.

 

[scard192]

We are planning a family trip 9 people and are very interested in staying at Port Orleans French Quarters. Dates are September 6th - 14th. Does this resort usually offer the free dinning and does it look as if free dinning will be offered for September?

FQ is often excluded from Free Dining, it's a small and very popular resort that doesn't need FD to fill rooms. It was excluded from Fall (October-Dec) FD last year. It might have been included in the September FD last year. Even if the resort is part of the September FD promo the # of rooms might be extremely limited.

 

[Texas Barbie]

Yes, POFQ was included in September free dining last year. We had it, and stayed there.

 

[cmhguy]

I think I've resolved if we will try going in September this year... We have only been in last May/early June. The answer is no....I'm throwing up the white flag!

When we go in June, I get up at 7am and make my daily dinning reservations - Ohana and BOG are plentiful at the 180 day window.

I'm getting up at 7am - and guess what - they are all gone! Ohana will sometimes have a few or a really late opening. This morning -NOTHING

I have NEVER encountered this when planning for June. I'm inclined to believe there are enough people making a room rez in hopes of free dinning, and they are cleaning up on all of the popular rezs at the 180 +10. As pp's have noted, this plan of attack could kill free dinning - to have this many rez gone at 180 days would have to be a number of rooms sold at rack rate or the photo package - why offer an incentive?

I was up at 12:30pm a few days ago and thought I'd try for BOG - NO - system was down!

So frustrating!!!! I'm to the edge already with the advance planning, FP+ (I am one who used 5-8 fps per day) and increased costs, and this is the nail in the coffin for me......... Turning my energy to researching other nonOrlando destinations...

 

[wdw4rfam]

I think I've resolved if we will try going in September this year... We have only been in last May/early June. The answer is no....I'm throwing up the white flag!

When we go in June, I get up at 7am and make my daily dinning reservations - Ohana and BOG are plentiful at the 180 day window.

I'm getting up at 7am - and guess what - they are all gone! Ohana will sometimes have a few or a really late opening. This morning -NOTHING

I have NEVER encountered this when planning for June. I'm inclined to believe there are enough people making a room rez in hopes of free dinning, and they are cleaning up on all of the popular rezs at the 180 +10. As pp's have noted, this plan of attack could kill free dinning - to have this many rez gone at 180 days would have to be a number of rooms sold at rack rate or the photo package - why offer an incentive?

I was up at 12:30pm a few days ago and thought I'd try for BOG - NO - system was down!

So frustrating!!!! I'm to the edge already with the advance planning, FP+ (I am one who used 5-8 fps per day) and increased costs, and this is the nail in the coffin for me......... Turning my energy to researching other nonOrlando destinations...

Totally agree with all of this. I am so upset that the fun has been taken out of planning a trip. We have fun sitting down mapping out ADRs and getting up and booking on ADR day. Now I am not even excited, because we have all of ours mapped out, but I know there's a good chance we won't get them. If I can't get them I am going to cancel. I will just book October and pay more. Sounds crazy, but we enjoy dining as much as attractions. Now the 3 fp is really bugging me too. Disney is losing us quick. We have already cut our 12 day Disney trip in half and are going 6 Disney and other half universal. If this keeps up, were done.

 

[summerlady]

Yes, POFQ was included in September free dining last year. We had it, and stayed there.

Same here. Hoping for it again this year.

 

[2a4c]

Whilst we wait to see what is going to be offered, just thought I'd ask a question for those in the know. Looking at booking Southwest, is there a typical time before travel that specials are released? ie, how many months prior to departure?

 

[black562]

I think I've resolved if we will try going in September this year... We have only been in last May/early June. The answer is no....I'm throwing up the white flag!

When we go in June, I get up at 7am and make my daily dinning reservations - Ohana and BOG are plentiful at the 180 day window.

I'm getting up at 7am - and guess what - they are all gone! Ohana will sometimes have a few or a really late opening. This morning -NOTHING

I have NEVER encountered this when planning for June. I'm inclined to believe there are enough people making a room rez in hopes of free dinning, and they are cleaning up on all of the popular rezs at the 180 +10. As pp's have noted, this plan of attack could kill free dinning - to have this many rez gone at 180 days would have to be a number of rooms sold at rack rate or the photo package - why offer an incentive?

I was up at 12:30pm a few days ago and thought I'd try for BOG - NO - system was down!

So frustrating!!!! I'm to the edge already with the advance planning, FP+ (I am one who used 5-8 fps per day) and increased costs, and this is the nail in the coffin for me......... Turning my energy to researching other nonOrlando destinations...

What dates are you trying for? I had no issues at all for any of the ADRs I made for the last week of August. In fact, I had lots of times showing up as available to book.

I already have free dining for the end of August and booked my ADRs a while back.

 

[black562]

I think I've resolved if we will try going in September this year... We have only been in last May/early June. The answer is no....I'm throwing up the white flag!

When we go in June, I get up at 7am and make my daily dinning reservations - Ohana and BOG are plentiful at the 180 day window.

I'm getting up at 7am - and guess what - they are all gone! Ohana will sometimes have a few or a really late opening. This morning -NOTHING

I have NEVER encountered this when planning for June. I'm inclined to believe there are enough people making a room rez in hopes of free dinning, and they are cleaning up on all of the popular rezs at the 180 +10. As pp's have noted, this plan of attack could kill free dinning - to have this many rez gone at 180 days would have to be a number of rooms sold at rack rate or the photo package - why offer an incentive?

I was up at 12:30pm a few days ago and thought I'd try for BOG - NO - system was down!

So frustrating!!!! I'm to the edge already with the advance planning, FP+ (I am one who used 5-8 fps per day) and increased costs, and this is the nail in the coffin for me......... Turning my energy to researching other nonOrlando destinations...

I just checked several dates in September and I can pull up just about anything I want, even Ohana. Only thing I didn't see was BOG, but that's always a tough one to nail down. I checked dates right up until the start of F&W, which will of course draw more crowds.

I'm not sure what happened in your case, but I'm certainly not seeing all of them gone; in fact, they seem plentiful. Just because a couple of the most popular ADRs may be a bit limited, doesn't mean everything on property is unavailable.

Maybe you should try again...

 

[Murmur]

What dates are you trying for? I had no issues at all for any of the ADRs I made for the last week of August. In fact, I had lots of times showing up as available to book.

I already have free dining for the end of August and booked my ADRs a while back.

New to the boards and just recently booked our trip for Aug 30th-Sept 6th. First time back since 1977, so pretty much everything is new to me. We are staying at POP and have ADR made already but I've been trying to keep up with the FD thread and had a question - how do you have FD booked for the end of August? Thanks!

 

[black562]

New to the boards and just recently booked our trip for Aug 30th-Sept 6th. First time back since 1977, so pretty much everything is new to me. We are staying at POP and have ADR made already but I've been trying to keep up with the FD thread and had a question - how do you have FD booked for the end of August? Thanks!

I got it last year in a bounceback.

 

[KimberlyE]

I think I've resolved if we will try going in September this year... We have only been in last May/early June. The answer is no....I'm throwing up the white flag!

When we go in June, I get up at 7am and make my daily dinning reservations - Ohana and BOG are plentiful at the 180 day window.

I'm getting up at 7am - and guess what - they are all gone! Ohana will sometimes have a few or a really late opening. This morning -NOTHING

I have NEVER encountered this when planning for June. I'm inclined to believe there are enough people making a room rez in hopes of free dinning, and they are cleaning up on all of the popular rezs at the 180 +10. As pp's have noted, this plan of attack could kill free dinning - to have this many rez gone at 180 days would have to be a number of rooms sold at rack rate or the photo package - why offer an incentive?

I was up at 12:30pm a few days ago and thought I'd try for BOG - NO - system was down!

So frustrating!!!! I'm to the edge already with the advance planning, FP+ (I am one who used 5-8 fps per day) and increased costs, and this is the nail in the coffin for me......... Turning my energy to researching other nonOrlando destinations...

Made our ADR's yesterday for our trip at end of September. We were able to get everything except BOG. I even made changes last night and again this morning. There were plenty of O'Hana's, Le Cellier, and CRT times available. We booked two of those and had several times to choose from. I did call to see if BOG had any openings and while on the phone mentioned that I was also too late to score a before RD ADR at Play and Dine for HS. The CM found me the earliest ADR that they had. It wasn't showing up online but she found it. Have you tried calling, too? I agree with you that too many people booking rooms may limit FD offers. I pray that it is not the case but dining is part of our enjoyment so we go 180+10 just to be certain to get our faves.

 

[FrugalFashionista]

Is anyone besides me disappointed in the Southwest Airlines sale for September dates? I'm trying to decide if it's worth buying now or waiting it out. I got a great deal in flights for last December and was hoping for the same this go around.