september offer

[Mickey&Minnie]

It is getting closer and closer everyday: the date that last year free dining was offered to the public.
Is anyone else stupid out there? We were offered free dining last year during September for the bounceback offer and did not reserve our spot. Yeah we are dumb, but weren't exactly sure that we were able to make this year.
So now we are waiting ever so patiently for the offered again. So is there anyone else out there that is waiting with your fingers and toes crossed?
Has ayone heard any rumors of it being offered again this year and when this might take place?
Any news that is good news would be appreciated.....

 

[capecodhome]

Off subject....was it very busy last september with the free dining? We went in October last year when crowds were low, does the offer effect crowd levels?

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Thaks for the tip, but why is that? It shouldn't matter where I am staying really, i wouldn't think.....is the free dining only for the resort or in the parks?

JPVonDrake explained this really well in another thread. Here's what he said:




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.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

This is why we all love JP!

Pam

 

[disneytopdog]

could you please give a little detail about how the FREE DINING thing works... thank you

The free dining promotion is for people staying on property in a Disney resort hotel from late August to the end of September. I do not think The Swan and Dolphin hotels are included, but I could be wrong. Keep in mind nothing offical has been announced as of yet. It is the Disney Dining Plan that they sell normally throughout the year offered for free.

 

[Disneykidder]

is it late august? i thought it was just sept. we "may" be there in aug. we r still debating between aug or feb.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

is it late august? i thought it was just sept. we "may" be there in aug. we r still debating between aug or feb.

Last year it was late August through September 22nd. (We checked in the last day it was available) The bounceback offer was only for September. No word on if those dates will stick or be expanded like last year.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Off subject....was it very busy last september with the free dining? We went in October last year when crowds were low, does the offer effect crowd levels?

The crowds were not high last year. The restaurants on the other hand, will be packed. You won't be able to get in most places without ressies. Book 180 days out just in case!!

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

When the free dining started approx. 3 years ago and it covered from Aug.21-Oct.4th. In 2006 it was from Aug.13-sept.30th and in 2007 it ran from Aug.26th-Sept. 22nd.

It gives you the basic dining options for free. And in years past it only included the Disney owned and operated hotels.

I know that they did do the bounce back offers last fall and they already offered it to our UK friends a while back so not we will all watch and wait.

I know that KK has a lot of you already booked for September so we will of course be trying to get it for you IF it comes out to the Visa card holders and the general public on the anticipated dates. We have not recieved anything OFFICIAL as of yet. If we do, we will have all of the information posted at 7am on the morning of.

For those of you who cannot get through on the phones in case it does come out, please feel free to contact us with any of the following ways, at our toll free number 1-866-566-7858 or by filling out the quote form on our website www.kingdomkonsultant.com or by e-mail.

Pam@kingdomkonsultant.com
Marie@kingdomkonsultant.com
Elizabeth@kingdomkonsultant.com
Evan@kingdomkonsultant.com

Pam

 

[Computer Magic]

. Book 180 days out just in case!!

Good advice but 180 days out is already around Sept 23. So by the time the offer is announced (or if), the free dinning dates will be past the 180 day mark.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Good advice but 180 days out is already around Sept 23. So by the time the offer is announced (or if), the free dinning dates will be past the 180 day mark.

Yep, I know. But you can certainly still book at the 180 day mark (or now as the case may be) of your planned trip. Then you can cancel if it is not announced, or your dates have to change. We did this last year and I'm glad we did because I heard the dining reservation line was crazy the when it was announced. My family thought I was crazy booking before we had our trip confirmed but we got everything we wanted.

 

[Disneykidder]

I'm sure they must only set aside certain numbers of free dining rooms, too.

 

[Computer Magic]

Yep, I know. But you can certainly still book at the 180 day mark (or now as the case may be) of your planned trip. Then you can cancel if it is not announced, or your dates have to change. We did this last year and I'm glad we did because I heard the dining reservation line was crazy the when it was announced. My family thought I was crazy booking before we had our trip confirmed but we got everything we wanted.

True, but if everyone followed that lead and booked before free dining is offered, Disney would see everything filled up. Why offer the free dinning since that timeframe is filling up without the offer. :shrug:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Because getting more people to eat in their restaurants is not the goal of this promotion. Getting more people to stay onsite is. You know what I mean?

 

[CleveRocks]

Thaks for the tip, but why is that? It shouldn't matter where I am staying really, i wouldn't think.....is the free dining only for the resort or in the parks?

I already answered this in post #16, but I guess I'll explain it differently.

Let's say you own a fruit stand. You buy 300 pounds of green apples and 300 pounds of red apples. They will go bad at some point, and if they go bad, you don't make any money on them.

As they approach going bad, you take inventory. You have only about 10 pounds of red apples left, so you're pretty sure you'll come close to selling out by the time they go bad. But you still have 250 pounds of green apples. You panic. You think to yourself that you need to get more people to buy green apples, and fast! So you cut the price of the green apples, or you give away a free banana with every pound of green apples.

When someone comes by and wants red apples, you don't need to cut the price or offer free bananas. You'd rather they buy the green apples, that's why you're offering that incentive.

Hotel rooms, like fruit, go bad. If the day passes and the room is unrented, that's money lost just as if you had to throw away rotten fruit. If they can get some money for the room, it's better than no money at all. And they're not gonna give you something for free for renting a room that's already in high demand.

 

[Computer Magic]

Because getting more people to eat in their restaurants is not the goal of this promotion. Getting more people to stay onsite is. You know what I mean?

I'm talking about the resorts. Aren't you reserving a vacation package and then making ARP? If the resorts fill up why offer the free dinning?

Maybe I'm missing something :shrug:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I'm talking about the resorts. Aren't you reserving a vacation package and then making ARP? If the resorts fill up why offer the free dinning?

Maybe I'm missing something :shrug:

No, I'm sorry. Maybe I'm not explaining this well. I absolutely do not think you should book a room or a package before the promotion is announced.

Like JP explained in the post I quoted on the last page, all that will do is decrease the number of rooms that are offered, it will not help you get the room you want.

I was only talking about dining reservations. Dining ressies won't affect the number of rooms that are offered. But if you wait until the promotion is announced to make them, you might not get what you want. In fact you almost definitely will not get ressies at the very popular places at the times you want.

Does that make more sense?

 

[DisneyGigi]

I'm talking about the resorts. Aren't you reserving a vacation package and then making ARP? If the resorts fill up why offer the free dinning?

Maybe I'm missing something :shrug:

I don't think it is that the resorts will fill up but that there are only so many per resort that they offer with the free dining. Once that number set aside for the discount is expired you can't get the discount at that rate/offer. It is limited availabilty and bounce back gets first dibs.Right?? :shrug:

The resort wasn't close to being full when we went with free dining.

I agree with Disneyfalcon if you know that you are going to go whether or not they offer the free dining make your ADRs at the 180 day mark

 

[Computer Magic]

No, I'm sorry. Maybe I'm not explaining this well. I absolutely do not think you should book a room or a package before the promotion is announced.

Like JP explained in the post I quoted on the last page, all that will do is decrease the number of rooms that are offered, it will not help you get the room you want.

I was only talking about dining reservations. Dining ressies won't affect the number of rooms that are offered. But if you wait until the promotion is announced to make them, you might not get what you want. In fact you almost definitely will not get ressies at the very popular places at the times you want.

Does that make more sense?

So you just called and made ressies. That makes sense. Maybe I should call and just make ressies. I