Was anyone else surprised by the dates for the new Free Dining offer?

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Just wondering if anyone else was surprised at the dates WDW selected for the new Free Dining offer? The previous general public offer is scheduled to end on September 29, 2011 and this new general public offer only goes from 8/28/11-9/24/11. I had thought they would extend the offer into November or December 2011, because this new one basically crosses over with the dates from the previous Free Dining offer.

 

[fairymommy]

maybe they will still offer fd for those dates. they will have to have discounts to get people there with gas prices being so high.

 

[jsgrand0]

While I WAS disappointed, I was not surprised, at least not after I looked at historical release/offer dates. You can find them on Mousesavers and they have done this in the past! Then offer for later dates...in mid-August or so. I am hoping for free dining at the end of October/beginning of November! I'll be waiting with you. I'm guessing we will see it (or some other offer for that time period) release between mid-August and mid-September. Again, you can check out past trends on Mousesavers.com.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I was a little suprised but not much, attendance seems to be picking up and the CFO's announcement of weaning us all off discounts seems to be dead on. The discounts are getting fewers and ruther in between. I think something will open up for Nov/Dec but that they will wait and see how these offers go over first. I do not think we will get much of anything for Oct this year based on last years attendance even with the scarce discounts then. We want the first week of Oct but are moving back to last week of Sept so we can check in on the last day for free dining so we at least get some discount.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

I was surprised by how long the book by date is. It's basically until the day before the promo starts. That makes me think this will be the last offer for those dates. The next promos to come out will probably be for dates after 9/24 or at the very least will not include the dates in this promo. Disney rarely has more than 1 GP promo offered for the same dates at once.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

I think there just waiting to see how things go with gas prices.

 

[TheRatPack]

Well with 8 states hit by a tornado last week I'm sure a lot of people have changed vacation planning this year. I know that's not even 1/2 of the US but still much of it was in the South and I can't imagine Disney won't feel something from that disaster. Not to mention gas prices have went up here just because of the increased need now (chainsaws, 4wheelers, generators...etc).

We were hoping for October dates, but I guess we'll stick with September if that's all we're given. If they don't release October dates until August many of us booked for September will have had to pay our full balance by then....so changing would be pointless.

 

[KELLY]

We only happened to move our trip up by a week. Since SW had awesome fares. We were booked under the kids free promo. So I just swithced yesterday to the FD. I didn't book last fall since we were going to go to Atlantis but things came up. In the end Disney was the way more affordable option for us. So I kicked myself but it all worked out in the end.

I wasn't all that surprised. Since they had already offered FD for those dates in the past. They probably only included the weeks that they weren't happy with. I know for us the weeks in August they didn't offer this time around are still summer vacation for us. I think they were happy with the bookings from the last time around.

 

[Tess'smom]

Maybe it's me, but I couldn't find the free dining offer on the Disney Website this morning. I saw it last night, but only the 30 percent off of Deluxe resorts is showing up now. Am I not looking in the right place?

 

[beachclub]

they did say this year they were going to phase out the discounts.
Now that we are into may it does appear that the discounts offered
are smaller in sizes than previous years. I know alot of people are in denial and think it will happen but the cards being played this year show the tables are indeed turning on what they are doing with discounts.

Something we just all need to get used to. We cant sit in a recession forever as this is what the deep discounts were for.

Its been a good run, though my family has happily survived the recession these discounts allowed us to take more trips to disney than ever before.
Now its time to re think our future way of thinking and prob phase out how many times we go down.

Just wondering if anyone else was surprised at the dates WDW selected for the new Free Dining offer? The previous general public offer is scheduled to end on September 29, 2011 and this new general public offer only goes from 8/28/11-9/24/11. I had thought they would extend the offer into November or December 2011, because this new one basically crosses over with the dates from the previous Free Dining offer.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I'm surprised by the dates, but only by the start date. I fully expected this offer to start on either 8/14 or even 8/21 because those dates had been used for other earlier promotions. I guess those promotions booked up more rooms than I realized and they don't feel the need to offer anything more for then, though my non-existant crystal ball still says there will be something more for those dates. Not including November or December doesn't surprise me in the least. The Aug/Sept promotions never include Nov/Dec. Those promotions have always come later.

 

[dltnboz3mom]

I also have gone every time with some type of a discount. I know that I will not be able to go as often in the future if the discounts are phased out. I am really thankful for the memories that I have thanks to those deals! Im going to miss them.

 

[pigletto]

I'm not suprised. They offered it for more dates earlier in the year, and just finished a promo that offered deep room only discounts over the same time frame. My guess is that they are as full as they need to be except for the month they offered and we will see discounts for Oct/Nov/Dec if and when they decided those months aren't as full as they need.

 

[Colleen27]

I was surprised by the fact that they left that two week gap where there are no discounts at all being offered, but I don't expect we'll see Oct-Dec discounts until later in the year. They don't seem to be releasing discounts as far in advance as they had been.

 

[Tyme4wdw]

I would have to ditto Clan Mcculloch. I was surprised to see such a late start date.

 

[Lumiere Lover]

I know they were talking about cutting back on the discounts. There seemed to be fewer dates this year. Maybe they will take a wait and see approach, and add more if needed for the fall.

 

[Bete]

I think the deals will be there but they will be much closer to the times you go. You won't get such advanced notice.

What is getting to me is that you don't get the 180 plus 10 day advantage for dining reservations if you wait for a deal lately. I've always liked locking in those hard to get dining reservations and this way doesn't help with late discount deals.

I've never been one to do the vacation package ahead of a deal and then applying a code later. Now, I'm starting to rethink this approach. I've always felt that it hurt the possible deals from coming out if you booked knowing you were going to apply the code later. If bookings were up then Disney may hold back on deals.

Anyway, at least there's a deal. I'm hoping for a December deal.

 

[mb_uh]

I am really surprised at the late start date. Makes me wonder if so many people had book during August they figured they did not need the discount

Otherwise it will be a very goodtime to go- if you can afford to go without fd, and no hurricanes.

 

[Sammie]

Not surprised at all. When free dining first came out these were the dates, right after school starts and hot as heck and hurricane season.

Not peak time for bookings. And we must all remember free dining is not about making guests happy about it being offered; but about filling empty rooms.