ginalawton
New Member
I was surprised to see that there was no "Free Dining" in September when you book a trip. Does anyone know why they are not doing it this year?
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Free Dining in September?
- Thread starter ginalawton
- Start date
smk
Well-Known Member
I think I read that last year "free dining" was not announced until April. If you have a trip booked with the dining plan it should work out nice for you if they announce they will have it again this year. I was just thinking it would be a good idea to book a trip just in case. Once they announced free dining last year they booked up fast and I was sad I didn't at least plan to go and back out later if I had to should there have been no free dining.
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wannabeBelle
Well-Known Member
Booking a trip without Free Dining will NOT guarantee you a room WITH the Free Dining offer attached. There is a limited number of rooms that are made available for these types of promotions and once they are gone, they are gone. Also if your hotel doesnt have any rooms available with that promotion, the fact that you have a reservation without the promotion wont help. You will either have to change your resort to one that is available for the Free Dining promotion, Change your dates to get the resort you want or potentially both!!!!! This is all assuming that the offer will be made at all. We have received no official word regarding this. Belle
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JPVonDrake
Well-Known Member
Thank you wannabeBelle, you are 100% correct!
As magical as Disney is, remember we are a for-profit business. Like any other hotel/resort company, discount offers are designed and offered to fill unoccupied rooms.
When a discount offer is released we will gladly modify your reservation based on the availability of the discounted rooms. If there are no discounted rooms available for your travel dates and resort, then the discount offer simply cannot be applied.
How Discount Offers Work...
When any discount offer is released, the number of rooms available for the discount is based on a percentage of the un-occupied rooms on the date the offer is released.
For example: Let say marketing decides to release a new discount offer on June 1st travel dates January 1-31 and is assigning 10% of all available rooms in this offer. If on the morning of June 1st there was 100 standard rooms available at Disney's Pop Century Resort for arriving on January 3rd, then 10 rooms would be available for the discount, and 90 rooms would be sold at rack rate. If there was 50 rooms available, then 5 rooms would be discounted. If there was 10 rooms available, then 1 room would be discounted. If there was 8 rooms available, then no rooms would be discounted.
Once this number of discounted rooms sell out, they are gone. When a guest cancels a reservation that room will be resold at rack rates. Individual guest cancellations will not increase then number of discounted rooms.
The best rule of thumb...
If you wish to enjoy a Disney vacation regardless of if a discount is offered or not, you should book in advance to ensure availability at the resort you desire.
If you will only vacation if and only if you get a discount, wait until a discount offer is released before you book. Booking in advance at rack rate only decreases the number of rooms available when and if a discount offer is released.
Hints on when you call...
Please remember, Disney calls discount offers, "Marketing Offers" meaning you must see or know of the marketing to take advantage of the offer. With very few exceptions, Disney Reservation Casts Members cannot offer you a discount, you must ask for a specific offer by name or by its offer code.
If you call and simply ask "is there any discount available for June" we cannot answer that question as we have no idea what offer you may qualify for. If you ask "is there any Passholder discounts for June" we would be happy to check for passholder offers for you.
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raven
Well-Known Member
Nope, they started taking reservations on March 12th last year. It was my mother's birthday and I remember it vividly because I wasn't going to call her until I knew for sure I had a room in September!
This is very true. They will not offer a discount to you unless you ask for it by name. It's just their policy and most guide books state this as well. So be pushy if you have to. Do your homework and ask questions. If you don't you'll never know that you couldn't have gotten a better deal. :wave:
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DisneyGigi
Well-Known Member
I agree, even if you are calling any Disney Line including Disney Store, you have to specify clearly the discount that is offered. It took me 20 minutes to get a price adjustment on a sale online that occured one day after I ordered to get the adjustment offered. They will not tell you of any special, you have to ask for it to be applied. If they do offer free dining, it is my understanding that it will be offered in April. You can have it applied to a previous regular booking.
They just do not, per standard, offer any additional information regarding discounts.
Hope this helps. :wave:
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Computer Magic
Well-Known Member
I think this is especially true. If people are booking as they wait for a discount, Disney will see this as rooms booked. Then the chances of discounts are less. Why would Disney offer a discount if their system sees rooms reserved?
Wait for the offer and then call.
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DisneyGigi
Well-Known Member
I should have specified if it is offered in April it is for late August through Mid September usually. You have to book by June. (previously)
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Rob562
Well-Known Member
I hate to disagree, but Free Dining was released to the general public on April 12th last year, not March, with it going out to Disney Visa cardholders three days earlier on the 9th:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=168104
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=169398
I was one of the MANY people who called on that first day it was available to the public (or maybe I booked it online, I don't recall). Unfortunately, we had to cancel that trip.
-Rob
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wannabeBelle
Well-Known Member
I hate to disagree, but Free Dining was released to the general public on April 12th last year, not March, with it going out to Disney Visa cardholders three days earlier on the 9th:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=168104
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=169398
I was one of the MANY people who called on that first day it was available to the public (or maybe I booked it online, I don't recall). Unfortunately, we had to cancel that trip.
-Rob
Rob you are absolutely correct!!!! And they year before the Visa offer came out on April 1!!! I remember that one really well as I had to convince a bunch of people I wasnt messing with them for April Folls Day!!!!! I wouldnt EVER do that regarding this type of a great discount to anyone, that is just downright mean!!!!!!
Thanks for your input JP!!! As alwaysm the duck with the best information!!!!! :kiss::kiss::kiss: Belle
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raven
Well-Known Member
I hate to disagree, but Free Dining was released to the general public on April 12th last year, not March, with it going out to Disney Visa cardholders three days earlier on the 9th:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=168104
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=169398
I was one of the MANY people who called on that first day it was available to the public (or maybe I booked it online, I don't recall). Unfortunately, we had to cancel that trip.
-Rob
It might be possible. And maybe I missed my mother's birthday
But the first link above is the dining plan for the Disney Visa Card holders, not the general public one that I am talking about.
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wannabeBelle
Well-Known Member
Hey Raven the General Public offer was released a few days after the Visa offer. Belle
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lebeau
Well-Known Member
I have a question. I have a Disney Visa and I am thinking about taking advantage of this offer if it is made again this year. I saw the following post from Pam last year:
Now, I've got about $1,000.00 in points on my Visa right now. If I book with the offer that is only available to cardholders, can I apply my points to the vacation or do I have to charge everything to my card?
Obviously, I realize I can't make payments under these terms using anything but my Disney Visa. But I wasn't sure if points could still be redeemed.
Thanks!
Kingdom Konsultant said:
Now, I've got about $1,000.00 in points on my Visa right now. If I book with the offer that is only available to cardholders, can I apply my points to the vacation or do I have to charge everything to my card?
Obviously, I realize I can't make payments under these terms using anything but my Disney Visa. But I wasn't sure if points could still be redeemed.
Thanks!
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