free disney dining?????????

[curlgirl71]

On the podcast the week, something was being talked about free dining.
When did Disney do this last year? Is there a chance they will do it again in September? That is what I got from the podcast.
If there is a chance , I already have a reservation which include dining.
What will happen with that? Will I get a refund? Will I have to call and change things? Any advise from anyone would be appreciated

 

[Just People]

What really is just terrible about free dining is everyone already booked all the top restaurants during the possible free dining dates. As much as I'd like to save the money with free dining, i'm not going to be stuck eating at the not so desirable restaurants. We'll pbbly just go early august to avoid the insanity!

 

[wilde_oscar]

in 2004 Florida was hit with 4 hurricanes in a row... Sept bookings in 2005 were um...
non existent... so in early summer it you were willing to book for Sept. they would add DDP to the package for no cost. this has continued with slight variations every year since.

Folks have not only caught onto the pattern, they have started making ADRs in anticipation, and booking rooms during Sept. in hopes that once in the offer comes out, they can add Free DDP to the package. But the Free DDP package is not a bolt on offer, as there are limited rooms and those rooms are spread across resorts equally... So if it is offered, it is likely the people booking in anticipation will not get the dates or the resort they originally booked.

Also at this point, every morning as we hit the 180 day mark, ADRs are getting filled to capacity by people anticipating Free DDP.

So all of this impacts things how? Well, if you are booking a reservation, yeah there will be some fall out if free DDP is not offered of people canceling, but a lot of people need a lot of lead time to request the time off. if ya already have the request in? and the lowest airline rates are in general 6 months lead time... So Disney might just be looking at how many people have booked, how full the ADRs are and make the Free DDP more limited than in past years.

 

[carelo]

But the Free DDP package is not a bolt on offer, as there are limited rooms and those rooms are spread across resorts equally... So if it is offered, it is likely the people booking in anticipation will not get the dates or the resort they originally booked.

So, if I'm already booked at POFQ (and POFQ has rooms offered/available for free dining) do I get first dibbs (for lack of a better word) on the availble rooms or do they just add it on to my existing reservation? How does that work?

 

[wilde_oscar]

on the first day that the offer comes out, you'll wanna be on the phone with everyone else that is trying to book. They do not add it automatically. And more or less you are in the same line with everyone else to get Free DDP. They have to rebook you under a different code... they can cut and paste your info from your existing reservation but it really is like starting from scratch.

in another thread kaytieeldr and I were trying to explain to someone that asked about how the free DDP booking works, that was dead set telling us we were wrong and they just add it to an existing reservation... well, A. kaytieeldr and I agree on nothing that requires an opinion. B. The free DDP when it comes out really is a rebook of a reservation. C. a lot of people chimed in how in order to get the resort they wanted they had to change dates, or to get the dates they wanted they had to change resorts.

So the short answer is , nope, no dibbs... you stand the same odds as someone/anyone calling in on the first day it is offered.

 

[DisneyDeeva]

on the first day that the offer comes out, you'll wanna be on the phone with everyone else that is trying to book. They do not add it automatically. And more or less you are in the same line with everyone else to get Free DDP. They have to rebook you under a different code... they can cut and paste your info from your existing reservation but it really is like starting from scratch.

in another thread kaytieeldr and I were trying to explain to someone that asked about how the free DDP booking works, that was dead set telling us we were wrong and they just add it to an existing reservation... well, A. kaytieeldr and I agree on nothing that requires an opinion. B. The free DDP when it comes out really is a rebook of a reservation. C. a lot of people chimed in how in order to get the resort they wanted they had to change dates, or to get the dates they wanted they had to change resorts.

So the short answer is , nope, no dibbs... you stand the same odds as someone/anyone calling in on the first day it is offered.

I'm not sure that is always the case. We've had FD three years in a row now. After the first year, I figured chances were good they would repeat the promo. Since we always go for F&W and MNSSHP anyway, we booked a package in '07 at rake rates with DDP and one day tickets (I put the one day ticket towards my AP).

The morning the FD promo opened for booking, I was on the phone with CRO. After being on hold for only a couple minutes, the CM came on the line. I told her I had a promo code to apply to my ressie. Less than a minute later, she had an updated balance for me, asked me if I need to make any ADRs (already did that) and we said our goodbyes. Maybe, I'm the exception to the rule. But, I know she didn't have to start the booking from scratch.

This year, no worries - we booked the bounceback promo from 9/23 to 10/5.

 

[wilde_oscar]

The morning the FD promo opened for booking

This would be the key part of it being easy for you. Even more so if you were doing this during the Disney Visa card only offering period.

I think I mentioned that they can cut and paste... and the early bird gets the worm on these. There are also a lot of folks that called to get it added, a week after the promo started, that were getting shuffled around on dates and resorts.

The folks that booked bounceback are getting the better deal this year. 'cause you don't have to try to call to get anything, it is already a done deal.

 

[Regina]

What really is just terrible about free dining is everyone already booked all the top restaurants during the possible free dining dates. As much as I'd like to save the money with free dining, i'm not going to be stuck eating at the not so desirable restaurants. We'll pbbly just go early august to avoid the insanity!

That's not true. Two days ago I booked all of our dining for our stay which begins on 8/27 and ends on 9/11. I had no problem getting California Grill, Narcoossee's, Brown Derby, Jiko, etc. for dinner, all at perfect times. The only concession I made was for Le Cellier where we had to book lunch instead of dinner.

Will the restaurants fill up? Some will but from my experience, it wasn't a problem. (And we're not doing the dining plan. I use the DDE card.)