Free Dining Promotion - What happened?

[disney1026]

Anyone have insight regarding why the free dining promotion for the Fall is so limiting? I fully understand that I am lucky I was able to get it (yay!). But I had to add park hoppers (which we tend not to do with little kids) and upgrade to a Pirate room. So I am not really saving as much as I have in the past.

Also, just trying to get any reservation during my time frame (mid-November) has been crazy. I keep getting a message online that no rooms are available. Is the system down the last 2 days? Is something going on that has made this normally low-crowd time very crowded?

Any input about these issues would be greatly appreciated!!!

[dnickels]

By offering free-dining so often during that time period the past few years Disney has made that slow period much less slow, but most of all Disney has just been cutting back on the amount of discounts in general. During the recession they had to deeply discount rooms and offer free dining to keep attendance up. They've stated in their conference calls that reducing discounts is something they want to do and that's what you're seeing. That means far fewer rooms at each resort eligible for free dining, additional required purchases like the park hoppers you mentioned, etc.

[mrte62]

We have seen over the past several years October has become much busier with the Food & Wine Festival and just more people going to WDW. In addition, we learned last year the early October has become fall break time much of the Midwest, like Jersey Week in November.

[Stu29573]

What I thought was weird is that I'm a Disney Visa member and I didn't get any advanced notice. Heck, I still haven't heard anything from them! I saw the announcement here on Monday and by yesterday had our rooms booked, but if not for Intercot and Karen at Magical Journeys, it would have been a disaster (including a very disappointed birthday boy!)

[mydisneygirls]

I am a Disney Visa cardholder also and didn't receive any notification.

I truly believe that if they continue to hike prices and cutting back on offer they are going to start seeing a decline in people visiting. It's getting way to expensive!

[i'm grumpy]

Yes. :(

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I think that many people are "expecting" free dining at this time of year, so they book their trips, plan for it and then flood the Disney system trying to switch their reservation.

Because so many have indeed booked, there are less rooms "available" for the discount, and Disney is able to limit it.

And, all of these people are rushing to rebook and it creates chaos.

I remember "back in the day" when "free" dining was new, it was still a surprise and it seemed much more straight forward to book, but now it is a yearly "scramble". We did bounce-back from last year, and are very glad we didn't have to worry about it this time.

[Figment104]

What I thought was weird is that I'm a Disney Visa member and I didn't get any advanced notice. Heck, I still haven't heard anything from them! I saw the announcement here on Monday and by yesterday had our rooms booked, but if not for Intercot and Karen at Magical Journeys, it would have been a disaster (including a very disappointed birthday boy!)

Also a Visa member and I didn't hear a peep about it until I came onto Intercot as well.

[4disneynuts]

I think that many people are "expecting" free dining at this time of year, so they book their trips, plan for it and then flood the Disney system trying to switch their reservation.

Because so many have indeed booked, there are less rooms "available" for the discount, and Disney is able to limit it.

And, all of these people are rushing to rebook and it creates chaos.

I remember "back in the day" when "free" dining was new, it was still a surprise and it seemed much more straight forward to book, but now it is a yearly "scramble". We did bounce-back from last year, and are very glad we didn't have to worry about it this time.

We wanted to book the bounce back from CBR but they only offered us the room discount. We were told we could not book a bounce back with free dining. We were there in November. I was a little surprised they didn't have a better bounce back offer.

[Stu29573]

Also a Visa member and I didn't hear a peep about it until I came onto Intercot as well.

I'm glad its not just me!

[WiltonJohn]

If they are cutting back on the discounting, that is almost for certain because "retail" occupancy / attendance is meeting their expectations ...... and the amount of discounted product they have to sell to "fill in the blanks" to hit revenue projections is going down.

They likely have studied the fact that the necessary percentage of the people attending can and WILL pay the higher prices if the discounts are not available. Or that the demographics of the people available to come to the resort (who have not yet) are such that they can support the higher pricing scheme also.

Or both.

Basic business sense.

Their stock is doing quite nicely.

best,

...............john

[Cinderelley]

I think that many people are "expecting" free dining at this time of year, so they book their trips, plan for it and then flood the Disney system trying to switch their reservation.



If they are cutting back on the discounting, that is almost for certain because "retail" occupancy / attendance is meeting their expectations ...... and the amount of discounted product they have to sell to "fill in the blanks" to hit revenue projections is going down.


So people are cutting themselves out of a deal because they plan ahead. They plan ahead because Disney's new system forces them to plan ahead. Nice little loop system Disney has going for them.

[azcavalier]

I think that many people are "expecting" free dining at this time of year, so they book their trips, plan for it and then flood the Disney system trying to switch their reservation.

Because so many have indeed booked, there are less rooms "available" for the discount, and Disney is able to limit it.

We totally planned ahead, hoping to grab free dining. We booked Caribbean Beach two months ago knowing that in the past Port Orleans either wasn't included or had severe restrictions. We gave Karen from MJ the go-ahead to change up our reservation to get the free dining. We already had Park Hoppers on our 8-day passes. So, we didn't have to scramble or do anything.

We're planning to do the same thing next year, but another family is going with us. There will be ten of us, and free dining, if it's offered, will save us a ton.

[Maddie]

You really have to do the math to see if this is a good deal for you and your family. Upgrading to park hopper etc. will be more expensive then just paying for our quick service meals, especially because we weren't going to go into the parks everyday. I was waiting for this deal for a long time, I am a bit disappointed with all the restrictions.

[mydisneygirls]

We wanted to book the bounce back from CBR but they only offered us the room discount. We were told we could not book a bounce back with free dining. We were there in November. I was a little surprised they didn't have a better bounce back offer.

I hope this is not a sign of times to come!

[Camaro305]

We totally planned ahead, hoping to grab free dining. We booked Caribbean Beach two months ago knowing that in the past Port Orleans either wasn't included or had severe restrictions. We gave Karen from MJ the go-ahead to change up our reservation to get the free dining. We already had Park Hoppers on our 8-day passes. So, we didn't have to scramble or do anything.

We're planning to do the same thing next year, but another family is going with us. There will be ten of us, and free dining, if it's offered, will save us a ton.

Are you going to try to get the bounceback?

[azcavalier]

Are you going to try to get the bounceback?

We'll just have to wait and see! I am actually returning for a conference in November, and our daughter's High School marching band (in which she plays saxophone) is coming back in February. We're thinking about upgrading to APs again at the tail end of this September trip. If that happens, we might not be able to get free dining next year.