Category — e. What to Budget for Walt Disney World

Update 5/9/13: This deal is now out! See this.

The mysterious “B” (a different person than the mysterious “J”) just messaged me that travel agents are beginning to receive their informational packets for “September free dining” at Walt Disney World…

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Frequent readers of my disclosure page 🙂 will have noted that over the weekend I inked a deal to partner with Undercover Tourist.

Undercover Tourist has all kinds of tools and tips, but they are best known for being one of the few legit sources of discounted Walt Disney World tickets. (They also have discounted tickets for other Orlando area attractions.)

The Disney World discounts often aren’t that big–Disney will discount hotels frequently, but very rarely tickets. But for larger families or those who need to squeeze every penny that they can, the savings can be meaningful.

Undercover Tourist reached out last week with the following kind words:

“We just recently discovered your blog over here at Undercover Tourist and we’re quite impressed with the level of detail and unique point of view you’re providing.  Looks like your consulting days at McKinsey are being put to good use as you are effectively solving the “first visit to WDW” enigma. ;)”

So after that, how could I not partner with them?

I’ve known about them forever–they are highly recommended by some of the writers about Disney World that I most trust. So I’m honored that we have a relationship, and we’re already talking about other stuff we could do together that would help all of you even more!

And as a result of the partnership, if you buy stuff from Undercover Tourist via a link from this site, then they share a little pixie dust with me, which helps compensate for all of the time I put into it…

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OVERSEAS ROOM RATE DISCOUNTS FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD HINT AT U.S. DEALS TO COME?

Update 5/9/13:  This deal is now out!  See this.

The mysterious “J” let me know this morning that room rate discounts for South American and European residents will come out May 9 as well–this on top of the Disney World Free Dining deal that she says also will come out on May 9, 2013.

Here’s the scoop so far as “J” knows now:

• Booking window: May 9 till September 15
• For stays: from August 15 till September 28
• Includes: all rooms except Little Mermaid and 3 bedroom villas
• Room rate discount amounts: Still no details about the percentage of the discount

I’ll post more as I learn more, but for now U.S. residents should view this as a hint about what might be offered to them.

SOME US RESIDENT WILL GET AT LEAST SOME DISNEY WORLD FREE DINING IN AUGUST OR SEPTEMBER!

Lots of feedback and concern continues to come in about Tuesday’s news that Free Dining may open for overseas visitors for visits in September 2013. I’ll catch up with the comments soon.

Perhaps most importantly, Dad’s Guide accepted my Free Dining SmackDown. He thinks there will be no August or September free dining for US residents, while I’m forecasting that there will be.

Whoever is right on this prediction will have breakfast at Disney World bought by the other–so at least one of the two of us will get at least some free dining out of all of this!

By the way, I’ve gotten a ton of private messages that split evenly into two claims: there will be no U.S. resident free dining in August or September 2013, or that I’ve already won my breakfast!  So nothing profoundly useful in the mail…and I’m sticking with my forecast.

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TRADITIONAL FREE DINING IN 2013: WILL THEY OR WON’T THEY?

Update 5/9/13: This deal is now out! See this.

My bud Carl Trent* has taken issue with my continuing forecast that we will see some free Disney World dining in the traditional August-September period–which for reasons noted here I repeated as recently as Tuesday. His post is here.

Well, only one of us can be right, so we’ll see!  I do have to note though that when Carl and I disagree on something…he’s right more often than I am.

In my “day job,” I’m a strategist, and so deeply study how to forecast.

The basic rule of forecasting is that tomorrow will be like today unless there are differences in structure, conduct or performance that will lead the relevant actors to do something differently.

I don’t see such enough such differences to agree with Carl’s call.

We both agree that Disney is (and, from a business point of view, should be) cutting way back on free dining compared to recent years.

But I see this cutback as related to coming out of the recession–and the August/September free dining program well precedes the recession. 

So actions related to coming out of the recession can’t on the face of it be related to August/September free dining deal…or at least that’s my call in making the forecast I’ve made!

So one of us will be right, and the other wrong!  Free Dining Smackdown 2013!

(*Carl runs Dad’s Guide to WDW, which has been on this site’s list of Recommended Sites for years.  Check it out if you haven’t seen it.)

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NEWS ON FREE DINING AT WALT DISNEY WORLD IN 2013…SORTA

One of my crack sources–the mysterious J–just emailed me to let me know that free dining for the fall of 2013 will be out shortly for South American and European visitors.

The booking window will open May 9, and the offer will cover arrival dates of September 2 through September 25.

At the values, the offer is the quick service dining plan for free, and at the moderates and deluxes,  the offer is the regular dining plan for free.

I refuse to read too much into the arrival dates right now, so my takeaway is that since this offer will soon be out for much of the rest of the world, we’ll see an August/September free dining deal out for US residents visitors in May as well.

Well, I hope it includes August…

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NEW DISNEY WORLD SUMMER 2013 ROOM RATE DEAL

As expected, Walt Disney World has released a new deal for the summer of 2013.

The new Disney World deal covers most arrival dates from June 13, 2013 through August 14, and needs to be booked by June 14.

The deal follows Disney World’s recent pattern of different discount levels based both on starting price and demand, and also excludes what has typically recently been excluded:

• Save 30%: Animal Kingdom Lodge (standard view), Bay Lake Tower, Beach Club, Beach Club Villas, BoardWalk Inn, BoardWalk Villas, Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Old Key West, Polynesian, Saratoga Springs, and Yacht Club
• Save 20%: The Cabins at Fort Wilderness, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans Resort Riverside, The Villas at Wilderness Lodge and Wilderness Lodge
• Save 15%: All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, Art of Animation Family Suites and Pop Century
• Explicitly excluded: Campsites, 3-Bedroom villas, suites, Art of Animation Little Mermaid
• Possibly available at low (e.g. 5%) discount some dates: All Star Movies, Port Orleans French Quarter, other unlisted resorts

For more details, see Disney’s page on this offer.

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