Free Dining for the Fall tied to crowd predictions?

[draybook]

I recently watched a video from Pete and his crew and he was strongly predicting that Disney would be offering FD for the fall due to low forcasting as far as crowds/bookings go. Does this seem to be true? I know that the SW:GE crowds are light out west but what's the skinny down in Florida? Also, sorry if this is being discussed somewhere, I did a light search on it...

 

[Purduevian]

Source?
https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-storie...lt-disney-world-this-fall-and-holiday-season/

 

[bUU]

There's no way to know, because offering free dining could just as readily be a standard part of the business model now.

 

[Hakunamatata]

I think with the announcement that RoR will be opening shortly after Galaxy Edge that it could be a bit too soon to see how that is going to impact.

I bet the holiday break time periods will be insanely busy.

 

[cosmicgirl]

I saw the offer by coincidence this morning, it must've been minutes after it had been released and availability in late September, late November, and the second week of December was abismal to say the least. I wasn't looking to book, just looking out of curiosity. The cheapest room I could pull up with FD was a club level suite in Coronado tower. So maybe it's just an play to fill premium rooms/resorts.

The room discount has much better availability, although the supposedly discounted rate at the values in September was equal to rack rate. Maybe it was a glitch, maybe it wasn't.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

There's no way to know, because offering free dining could just as readily be a standard part of the business model now.

Exactly. You would need every data point to figure it out. I’m going for s little over 2 weeks at the end of October through beginning of November. That was book 8 months ago on DVC. I was just looking now and you can’t get a room for more then one night at any DVC resort. Does that mean it’s going to be crazy busy? Nope, just another point that needs to be added to the final figures.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

It's definitely an incentive they offer to increase bookings. If they don't feel they need help getting their occupancy up, then they won't release free dining nor room discounts. This is clearly what their mindset was for this fall at WDW as we are well past the date they usually drop discounts and incentives, and if the rumblings are true, they may be about to reverse course.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

There seems to be a common perception that once Galaxy's Edge opens there would be a mad rush of guests.

I don't buy that. Personally, my vacation plans are generally set towards the end of the year. I need to confirm vacation availability, and if I were planning a trip for GE specifically, I'd need to know the opening dates. By the time Disney announced the (partial) opening, my 2019 travel plans were pretty much set.

Many will still wait until the signature attraction is ready.

There may be a bit of an uptick in guests who want to visit in September, but I don't see demand being so strong that discounts will go out the window. There's reasons Disney consistently offers discounts for this period, including but not limited to many families not wanting their kids to miss the first week(s) of school.

I don't see GE as something that will draw guests RIGHT NOW! It will have an impact for years to come.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

There's reasons Disney consistently offers discounts for this period, including but not limited to many families not wanting their kids to miss the first week(s) of school.

Your post might be 100% correct, but there's a reason why Disney STILL hasn't released any discounts for the fall... they were thinking that they wouldn't have to. Seems like they were probably wrong.

 

[mguimond1990]

Your post might be 100% correct, but there's a reason why Disney STILL hasn't released any discounts for the fall... they were thinking that they wouldn't have to. Seems like they were probably wrong.

....huh? They released a couple discounts this morning. Not very good ones, but they are still there.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

....huh? They released a couple discounts this morning. Not very good ones, but they are still there.

Didn't see that they dropped some this morning.. point still stands. They waited a long time before dropping these compared to prior years.

 

[Missyrosek]

Exactly. You would need every data point to figure it out. I’m going for s little over 2 weeks at the end of October through beginning of November. That was book 8 months ago on DVC. I was just looking now and you can’t get a room for more then one night at any DVC resort. Does that mean it’s going to be crazy busy? Nope, just another point that needs to be added to the final figures.

Not exactly a reliable data point since, by definition, timeshares exist to be full booked year-round.

 

[mguimond1990]

Didn't see that they dropped some this morning.. point still stands. They waited a long time before dropping these compared to prior years.

Definitely agree..they were banking on galaxies edge bringing in the masses and it looks like that’s not happening. At least not until the land is fully complete

 

[monothingie]

The Free Dining package is extremely limited for this promo with a lot of blackout dates. The room-only discounts are also more crafted this go around. The design of this discount wasn't to fill the place up, it was to leverage the weakness SWGE created in bookings and ensure that the year over year numbers remained at worst flat.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

Not exactly a reliable data point since, by definition, timeshares exist to be full booked year-round.

That was my point exactly as I stated. As with the free dining package, it happens almost every year. All bad points when looked at separately.

 

[Hakunamatata]

The Free Dining package is extremely limited for this promo with a lot of blackout dates. The room-only discounts are more crafted this go around. The design of this discount wasn't to fill the place up, it was to leverage the weakness SWGE created in bookings and ensure that the year over year numbers remained at worst flat.

That is a good point. I think we need to keep in mind that when big name brands announce the big new shiny thing is going to be released they generally have to offer incentives for people to buy the old shiny thing.

People have known for a while that there was a big new shiny thing at Disney going to open in the fall. With the uncertainty of if it would be all of the shiny thing or just part, there was not the level of excitement that we might have thought it would generate. Had Disney waited and announced an opening say in late Spring 2020, I bet you would have seen record high bookings for the 2020 vacation season. I still thing 2020 is going to be a slam dunk for Disney but opening fall 2019 with a partial product burned them I think.

 

[monothingie]

That is a good point. I think we need to keep in mind that when big name brands announce the big new shiny thing is going to be released they generally have to offer incentives for people to buy the old shiny thing.

People have known for a while that there was a big new shiny thing at Disney going to open in the fall. With the uncertainty of if it would be all of the shiny thing or just part, there was not the level of excitement that we might have thought it would generate. Had Disney waited and announced an opening say in late Spring 2020, I bet you would have seen record high bookings for the 2020 vacation season. I still thing 2020 is going to be a slam dunk for Disney but opening fall 2019 with a partial product burned them I think.

It all depends on the discounts. As much as Disney has tried to spread the crowds around and eliminate slow periods via dynamic pricing, because it is still sooooo expensive, people don't get excited about booking en mass unless they know that there is free dining or a room discount. Let's see if they play the same game for 2020.

 

[tirian]

It all depends on the discounts. As much as Disney has tried to spread the crowds around and eliminate slow periods via dynamic pricing, because it is still sooooo expensive, people don't get excited about booking en mass unless they know that there is free dining or a room discount. Let's see if they play the same game for 2020.

Thank you for having common sense.

Meanwhile, people within Disney are suggesting there might be a “Trump Slump” in tourism*—because for some reason, they won’t admit admission and food are obscenely overpriced in California. DL rarely offers good discounts like WDW because the AP crowd drives the resort, and they don’t need further incentives to visit. Right now, most APs have summer blackouts.

*no politics here. That’s the American travel industry’s current label to explain soft international travel, as if the world’s population is too stupid to understand our resorts don’t depend on who’s sitting in the White House. Disney especially doesn’t want to admit they’ve finally overpriced themselves, and they’ve made vacation planning too complicated for the average Guest.

 

[bUU]

It's definitely an incentive they offer to increase bookings. If they don't feel they need help getting their occupancy up, then they won't release free dining nor room discounts.

So you're saying that Amazon would cancel Prime Day if they had already made enough money? Interesting.

 

[bUU]

Many will still wait until the signature attraction is ready.

This cannot be overstated.