In the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 30, 2014, pricing for 2015 Disney Vacation Packages was released and guests could finally start booking their trips for next year. I have noticed something. Through some research, asking around, and inquiries…I’ve learned that the Free Disney Dining Hoarders are already attacking the resort reservations for fall and winter of 2015.
I can’t take credit for that nickname. A friend of mine who called himself a Disney Dining Hoarder said he’d be more than happy to allow me to use it.
Let me explain.
When Free Disney Dining was released for 2014, there were a number of resorts excluded and a whole host of dates blocked out. I read a whole bunch of complaints that there were too many dates blocked out and too many gaps and resorts such as Port Orleans shouldn’t have been excluded.
Well, upon doing my research, using a bit of thought, and speaking with of my friends on the Disney inside…I learned exactly WHY all of those exclusions and block out dates happened.
1.) Some holidays and known busier times and more popular resorts (Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation) are blocked out for obvious reasons.
2.) If there are resorts that already have a lot of rooms booked up, then Disney doesn’t need a deal/special/discount to help fill those rooms. Therefore, there is no need to put a discount on it.
Read that second reason a bit more.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
A few CMs I know from reservations let me know that reason number two is a big part of why Port Orleans wasn’t included in the Free Disney Dining discount this year. Sure, there are other reasons as well, some of which we likely don’t know, but that’s coming directly from the mouths of those that dealt with it.
It is well known that many people book a room early in hopes of Free Disney Dining coming out so that they can simply switch it over once/if the discount comes out. It’s been said that it is a bit easier to make sure you get it, if you already have a reservation in place over just going in from scratch.
The percentages of that being true aren’t exactly known, but it’s what has been said.
Each resort included in the Free Disney Dining Promotion has a blocked set of rooms that can have the discount applied to it. Say that free dining is available in September and at Pop Century and you have a room booked at Pop Century…that doesn’t mean you’re going to get free dining.
There has to be rooms still available for the discount. You have to make sure the discount is applied to your reservation. You have to make sure your trip falls into all the stipulations (dates, length of stay, etc…) set forth by Disney.
If you already have a room reservation, then all you need to do is call in and “adjust” your reservation once and if Free Disney Dining is released. A lot of people are known to simply book a room for ANY time and ANY resort imaginable and just change it all later. At least they’ve got a room in place already.
Trust me, this happens. I’ve already spoken to eight people this morning that have done that very thing in the hopes of Free Disney Dining coming out. Six of them told me that if the discount doesn’t come out, they will cancel their trip and not go.
See? Free Disney Dining Hoarders.
After speaking with a number of travel planners from difference travel agencies this morning, there are a number of Disney Resorts that have limited availability, certain levels of rooms, and certain dates already booked up for fall and winter of 2015.
As of this writing, 2015 Disney Vacation Packages have only been out for less than eight hours.
I’ve got no problem with people wanting to book a trip, but don’t take the chance away from someone else that really wants to go to Walt Disney World…discount or not.
It’s going to be interesting to see just how the Free Disney Dining discount looks when it is released in 2015…if it’s released.
You missed the fact that residents of the UK get first crack at 2015 Free Dining, and many of them come and stay for 2 to 3 weeks, and get special 14 and 21 day tickets. Many of them had their rooms booked before today.
Why does uk get first free dining?
I agree. UK gets a much better deal than US…not fair. I did a comparison and booking a deluxe resort, with Base ticket and Disney Dining US paid 1600.00 more than UK. Why’s this. Please explain
Those people are fools. By the very definition you described above, if they book the rooms, Disney will be LESS LIKELY to offer free dining. Disney is using the promotion to fill rooms. If this people already make reservations, that will DECREASE the chances of Disney offering free dining. Especially at the resorts these people are booking up. Don’t be a fool, wait for the offer to come out, then book your room.
Is this why I can’t find a standard room at any deluxe nor at most of the moderates for the first week of October 2015?
More than likely, yes.
Do what I did! Book your room for time period you want to go where you think/hope free dining will fall. Make all your ADRs for length of stay at 180, then dump the reservation. You still have your ADRs which aren’t connected to your room reservation, but you’re not hoarding a room. Once/If free dining is announced, call and book what’s available. Have a plan in place so it’s not so stressful. Know what’s been excluded historically, pick a few favorites from the ones that haven’t been, crunch some numbers on them and be ready! Best of luck!
Wow, looking back at this post, there was a lot of foreshadowing of the Free Dining nightmare that occurred a few days ago!! I had a res booked last year – waited on hold for 3+ hrs to have it modified on the Disney Visa release day. This year, I thought better of it all and waited until release day to book my trip – called first thing, got right through to make a ‘new’ reservation and I lucked out it seems. Got the resort I wanted, room category (actually, called back 2 days later and upgraded my room category and was still ok). But yeah what a mess this year’s release was – begs the question : will it even be released next year?? (Oh and I’m not a fan of the park hopper addition – we don’t use it, but at over $400 for our family of 6, – we will find a way at least ONCE to use it!)
Super bummed that annual pass holders have to BUY tickets to get the free dining this year. I’ve gone in September the last 2 years for my son’s birthday and got the free dining (even with annual pass) when I called over the phone (I’m also a disney visa cardholder).
I called to make a res. at wilderness lodge this year and asked for free dining and they told me they changed it to a MIN 6 night/7 day stay and I had to buy a two day park hopper ticket!!!
I can only ever get 2 night/3 days off work and always got it before. Disney I’m disappointed 🙁
Annual Passholders and everyone needs to purchase tickets every single year to get free dining. A requirement is always that you purchase a Disney Vacation Package of room, dining, and tickets to be eligible for free dining. The park hopper requirement is new this year.
Now, that 6-night/7-day stay is NOT….it is NOT a minimum, no matter what that person told you. It is a minimum three-night stay to be eligible for free dining, but it is true that at least a 2-day hopper is required. My wife is a TA and has booked countless trips this past week and I know numerous other agents who have also booked trips that are less than 6-nights/7-days. That is not an absolute minimum requirement. It’s an up-sell…not a requirement, no matter what you were told.
Free dining is not all that great.
Depends on what your family plans to do when at Walt Disney World and the places you plan to eat. It actually saved us about $600 on our trip back in June so it was pretty great for us.