Rumor Roundup
Take these with a grain of salt. They could be completely wrong. So wrong, in fact, that your eyeballs may burst into flames simply by reading the next couple of paragraphs.
(1) We hear the current free dining offer (free dining for check-ins through December 17, 2009) will be extended from a PIN code to the general public in the near future.
(1b) The alternative offer we’re hearing about is the return of the “Buy-4-Get-7” deal from earlier this year. That seems to have been another PIN code offer, albeit to a more limited audience.
(2) We expect ticket prices to increase around August 2. My guess is that it’ll be single-digit percentage increases for one-day tickets and double-digit percentage increases for multi-day tickets, especially those in the 3 to 7 day range. Probably higher for kids than adults.
(3) I would not be surprised to see that Disney’s park attendance levels have dropped, year-over-year, since the end of the first “Buy-4-Get-7” offer in June, about 1% every week since then. Give or take. I’m just saying.
Just a hunch.
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Just an FYI. If you have a Disney Visa and are going to Disney anytime through Dec 17th a free dining deal just came through today. I called and was lucky enough to get it. I was not lucky enough to get a PIN and was thrilled when this came through.
me too just got the email and called to add it.
I found this on the SW website about how to book the plans.
http://collage.triseptsolutions.com/southwest/images/pdfs/FFFWDWhowtobook.pdf
“Room Types offering the Free Dining w/SALE rooms
Promotion or the Disney Friends Free Ticket – Friends Play for Free Promotion, require the purchase of Disney Magic
Your Way tickets with your vacation package.”
So I think that the “or” part of the statement messes things up for you.
Len et al,
Further on this topic…hooray I was able to call and get my pin code for free dining in the fall (after Oct 3rd)!
Now comes another question. Southwest Airlines Vacations is offering a “friends fly and play free” deal for travel through 12/15/09. I’m thinking of booking a 4 night, 3 day trip in early December and I’m wondering if I’d be able to take advantage of the Southwest deal and then basically “add” the free dining to it. Would this work? Do I have a chance? Anyone?
Thanks!!!
It changes every time you call. I called the other day and asked if there was any pin numbers for my household and the guy looked it up under my name and told me no not at this time but to call back. Today I called and a woman told me that they cant check those anymore, and that I need to call with a pin number. I honestly think some Cast Members know how to look it up and will do it for you, and others either dont want to or dont know how to. Its always been inconsistent when you call you Disney World.
I called again using (407) 939-6244 — I ended up speaking to a very nice woman and told her we booked yesterday and asked about the dining promotion pin etc. She asked when we were arriving and I said 8/27 which elicited an “Oh”. I said “I know – that’s the date the promotion begins.’ She asked for our reservation number and long story short, she added the dining plan on for our family of 5 for the entire stay. She was so pleasant and helpful in advice about different attractions as well.
I suppose the moral is to keep calling until you get the rihgt Mouseketeer. I think it helped that we were already booked.
Good luck and thanks for the tip — I never would have known about this — I asked the reservation person we booked through yesterday whether there were any promotions for the time frame we were staying and she said there were not (she didn’t even mention AAA, which she acknowledged only after I specifically asked about a AAA discount).
There is also this on the site —
Are the pins you are getting for all nights of the trip? We are going 8 days/7nights. Thanks.
FREE Dining For Your Family! When you purchase this 5-night/6-day Magic Your Way hotel and theme park ticket packages, your family will enjoy the Disney Dining Plan, Free. As low as $58 a day per person based on a family of four in a standard room at a select Disney Value Resort for stays most nights 8/27 – 9/20/09, 9/29 – 10/3/09.
Is the offer for just your family or the entire group. Ie can my inlaws use the offer us it if they go with us.
Just got the PIN Code by e-mail and got it added to our reservations! 😀 I thought they’d all gone out and if you didn’t get one you were SOL.
what was the offer for?
Just FYI, I did call the reservations number and asked to be directed to special offers. I asked the woman I spoke to about the free dining offer and she confirmed that they are sending out PIN codes for free dining. I volunteered to and see if I had a PIN, just asked for my name and address Unfortunately, I don’t have a PIN. So, I guess they can check and the offer is definitely out there. Just bummed I’m not on the list. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
I just called reservations and asked to be connected to promotions and special offers. The women I was connected to said there is no such department per se and that there is absoutely no way they can look up if I got a pin for dining. Maybe I will just try another reservation agent.
I called the reservations number, said “Special Offers” at the voice prompt, answered all the questions, and when I got someone on the phone, they said that the PINs are still being mailed out, but that there was no way to check on the system because they don’t see them on their system until the day it is mailed out.
So if you haven’t gotten one yet, keep waiting. It may be on the way!
I just called the following number (407-939-7603) to ask if they have a pin code associated with my household and if so would they give it to me. They told me that they’re not aware of any free dining offers past 10/3. This seems contradictory to the prior posts on this thread. Any ideas? Is there a different number I should call?
Hey Alex,
I’m not sure if there’s a different number to call, but I definitely received the free dining offer that ends on 12/17 – it came to my house with my brother-in-law’s name.
Len
If you already have a reservation, what is the likelyhood that you will receive an e-mail with the pin code. I did receive the 4 for 3 deal for Summer, but haven’t received a new deal. Anyway to increase your chances? Any chance they will open this up to the general public?
I assume that the ticket rate increase does not effect MYW packages that are already booked for dates after August 2. Can anyone confirm that? Or does the package/reservation have to be paid in full prior to August 2 to get the current ticket rate?
A good question, Elizabeth. I believe they have to be paid in full.
Thanks Len! I’ll definitely reprioritize my budget this month to get my trip paid off.
Thanks, too, for all that you do with the book, website and blog. I’m addicted!
Wow, so theoretically we could pay for our trip in full before the August 2nd ticket increase, then after August 2nd get a PIN mailer regarding Free Dining, and not be able to use it because we’ve made our final payment.
AAAGGGHHHH!!! Semantics.
Great… the 90-day window was a bit of a nightmare for my parents when they called for reservations during free dining. Now we’re going to be there when people are getting it by PIN code, and we won’t even have the benefit of free dining (unless it goes general public).
We received a free dining PIN code email recently as well. What’s interesting is that about a month or so before we received a PIN code email offering the buy 4 get 3 free for this fall.
Thanks George! Do you still have the B4-G7 offer?
Can anyone use the pin codes or they linked the the account that Disney has setup in their database for that email or address?
Each PIN code is tied to an individual household.
Len -have you heard if they will bring back the Buy 4 get 3 free? I want to go the first week of December and am looking for the best deal. So far, just the free dining.
Yeah, I still have it. I can forward it to you if you’d like to take a look.
would you mind sending it to me so that i can read it?
thanks
I got the email today with a code. It runs on certain dates between August 27- December 17th if you call to book using the PIN code.
Hey John, a PIN code went to more than a million people (“supposibly” as my sister Christina would say) with free dining offer.
Oh, got it. Thanks for the clarification. No such luck, unfortunately (unless my spouse tossed it thinking it was junk mail!)
You can try calling reservationss and give them your name and address; they will know if you have a PIN. This just happened to me where my mom got the offer and I didn’t. So, I called with her PIN, but they were able to look up whether I had one or not…and I did. So, I got the deal. BTW I did get one for the free dining for this fall.
How would this work if I’ve already made my reservations? Would they deduct the dining portion from my total or would I have to make a new reservation?
I hadn’t booked yet when I called for the PIN. However, since I book pretty far in advance I did ask the agent that if a better deal comes along would I benefit from it and the answer was as long as you haven’t made the final payment they would give you an adjustment. If I were you I would at least call and see what happens.
This is also assuming you indeed have a PIN that you didn’t know about.
I tried calling Disney Reservations to find more information regarding PINs, and they said they had no way of looking up that information. They said that the PINs are mailed or emailed, and they cannot look up to see if one was sent to me.
Did I just get an unhelpful agent, or is what she said true?
I don’t know…my experience was when I called with my mother’s PIN I told the agent that I was surprised that I hadn’t received one in the mail or via email since I was the person who made our family’s reservaions last year; and she asked for my name and address and looked it up. She told me I had one and I booked my trip for the end of Sept. using the PIN. Also, the PIN is connected to a household. I would have needed to put the trip under my mother’s name and credit card (she is going with us) if I didn’t have my own PIN. Hope that helps.
Got it in the mail. I am going 12/15-12/22, and they let me have the free dining the entire stay, even though promotion ended 12/17.
Have visited since 2005, every year during free dining. My sis-in-law, has too, but did not get offer. Aren’t I lucky!
What PIN code? I thought the free dining offer only went through October 3? Is this a DVC offer or something?
Currrently the free dining offer is only for Disney resort check-in through October 3. A PIN code offer is something sent via mail (regular mail or email) and is only good for the family to whom it is addressed. Disney has recently sent out PIN code offers for free dining for different dates. If you’re a lucky one that receives one, contact your Disney travel specialist to take advantage of the offer.
Thanks Denise!