Help.....Please

[sauronthepowerful]

This site is always my first stop (even before WDW) when planning the logistics of a trip. I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer, so please bear with me as I'll attempt to be as detailed but brief as possible.

1) I know this may sound like a reduntantly silly question, but does anyone know when Disney plans on beginning the free dining promotion? I know its meant to be a surprise but can anyone tell me based on past practice what the typical dates are for the actual promotion and when they first are available. The reason I ask is that some of the times I have seen free dining begin in the 3rd week of August and go to October but then there have been years where they will not start until Sept 28 or so. I know this may sound selfish but free dining may be the difference between going and not going this year for us (first time homeowner stuff has creamed us)

2) Does Disney still offer a length of stay option on the park tickets. I could only find the no expiration option in the ticket section on this site site, but am looking for the trip length option instead.

3) I have had friends go in the past 6 months that have secured Port Orleans extremely cheaply due to the economy. Is this still the case and if so how can I research this. If not I'll probably book Pop Century which I also quite enjoy.

4) Will I end up paying full price (ie peak) in a free dining promotion as the company looks to compensate for the package or will the room rates remain at value according to date instead of package. Also how will a AAA discount apply (in the past its been about 5-10%)

5) Please tell me that the rumors I hear about Snow White's ride are not true. Please someone, offer me a glimmer of hope on this.....

So Sorry for the length of this post but if anyone would be so kind as to help me with these items it would be very much appreciated. Thank You for your time.....

[forever a child]

Welcome to Intercot!:welcome:

No one knows when any promotions will be listed. So to answer your question about free Dining, we can only go by past history of when/if Disney offers these promotions. However, Disney has stated that they are going to reduce their promotions offered this year. That could change do to resort occupancy though.

Magic Your Way packages are avail for tickets for the exact length of stay or you can do Disney tickets for up to 10 days (or less) to coincide with number of days for your trip.

I have now forgotten your other questions...so I guess I'll see if someone else can come along with answers for you. Have fun!:tink:

[DizneyRox]

1. I don't think Disney wants to offer Free Dining, but considering that bookings are down again this year, it will probably happen.
2. Nope, it's Magic Your Way, max 10 days. Anything more and you have two tickets (10+x) or an AP.
3. Best bet is to call and ask Disney. They don't olunteer information, but if you ask, they will answer. There is a summer promotion going on currently.
4. They don't allow stacked "discounts". And in the past, "free" dining has required rack rate on the room. I've never paid rack rate for a room (anywhere). I don't think it's "free" dining if you pay through the nose for the room.
5. Not sure what you mean by Snow White. Maybe you're referring to the Fantasyland refurb. I don't spend much time in MK, so whatever happens is unlikely to bother me.

And finally, a lot of this is my opinion. Until you actually book (and check-in at your resort) things may and probably will change. Except stacked discounts. That won't change, that would mean it's a real discount and that hardly happens at Disney.

[Strmchsr]

:ditto: to everything above. Just to add - I agree 100% that WDW does not want to offer "free" dining again but if they do it's full rack rate on the rooms so it's only a good discount with the value resorts. The others a room only or package discount is the better discount. IF "free" dining is offered it's usually announced right around the first of April/end of March so you'll know something in a couple of months. Personally, I'm expecting them to do it since occupancy is supposedly down, but on the tiered system like last winter - values get the counter service and moderate/deluxes get the regular DDP "free."

Best bet is to book with Magical Journeys as they can help you navigate the (often) confusing world of Disney discounts and help you save the most.

If your friends saved a lot on PO it was probably one of the "buy 4 get 3 nights free" promotions or one of the others they did last year when things were way down. On those, though, you paid full rack rate, too. So, it was some discount but it's never as big as it sounds. All discounts are just marketing. They end up pretty close to the same price.

As for Snow White, there has been some rumors of the Snow White ride being done away with/re-done as part of the Fantasyland Forest addition. However, I haven't heard anything about that in a while. I would assume it will be left as-is like the rest of Fantasyland (except Dumbo).

[faline]

1) I know this may sound like a reduntantly silly question, but does anyone know when Disney plans on beginning the free dining promotion?

As noted, only Disney knows when and if a promotion will be announced.

2) Does Disney still offer a length of stay option on the park tickets. I could only find the no expiration option in the ticket section on this site site, but am looking for the trip length option instead.


Their ticket options have changed since the old Length of Stay options were offered. Basically, if your trip is 10 days or less in length, you can buy tickets for the number of days you plan to be in the parks for your trip. The new tickets do not even allow you to park hop unless you pay extra for that option. If you want to go to the water parks etc, that's another option you would need to pay extra for. Want the tickets to stay good forever? Yep - another option you'd have to pay for. I'd suggest buying tickets for the number of days you plan to be in the parks. If you've planned a couple of non-park days and then decide to go into a park on one of those days, you can add extra days to your ticket within 14 days of first use and as long as the extra days don't exceed a total of 10 (in conjunction with the days you already purchased).

3) I have had friends go in the past 6 months that have secured Port Orleans extremely cheaply due to the economy. Is this still the case and if so how can I research this. If not I'll probably book Pop Century which I also quite enjoy.

It was probably on a promotion as Chris mentioned. To get the best discounts available,I'd suggest booking through Magical Journeys (http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com/) If a discount comes along - or a better discount comes along - they'll make sure you get it!

4) Will I end up paying full price (ie peak) in a free dining promotion as the company looks to compensate for the package or will the room rates remain at value according to date instead of package. Also how will a AAA discount apply (in the past its been about 5-10%)

Yes. You pay full price for the room when specials such as "free dining" are offered. Sometimes, you may be better off booking a room only discount and paying for dining.

5) Please tell me that the rumors I hear about Snow White's ride are not true. Please someone, offer me a glimmer of hope on this.....
Haven't heard any rumors!

[sauronthepowerful]

Thank you everyone for the quick and informative answers. I booked 2 years ago w the discount but paid for the dining plan. They allowed the discount off of the value rate but I wasn't sure if they would up the rate to peak in order to compensate for the dining.

It seems to me that Disney is backing off of the dining plans which would seem strange given the economic situation that they are even feeling.

Here's to hoping that a good promotion comes up.

Thank you again for all of the info.

[DizneyRox]

Disney tends to squeeze every last dime out of those that show up than provide ample incentive to boost bookings.

The same old, same old "discounts" seem to not be working. That is if the rumors are true about bookings. The last quarterly report seems to indicate they are flat over last year this time, and flat is not good (but like I said, many businesses would LOVE flat in this economy). Disney (shareholders) wants double digit growth, regardless.

Expect ticket price increases, food price increases, room price increases and also a reduction in services compared to last year.