Category — p. News and Changes

DO YOU HAVE A FREE DINING PIN CODE? ARE YOU SURE?

Since the September Disney World Free Dining deal was announced, Disney has been emailing lotsa people with “pin codes” for free dining for other dates in 2013.

According to one of my readers (the mysterious “B”), the eligible arrival dates are…

• 8/25 – 10/2
• 10/18 – 10/31
• 11/11 – 11/23
• 11/30 – 12/4
• 12/15 – 12/22

..and these deals need to be booked by August 15.

Lots of you have asked how to get one of these pin codes emailed to them and my answer has been consistently that I have no idea.*  Crack commenter Jennifer emailed Disney to find out, and the canned response she got was that these “are offered randomly.”

But then I got a curious report via email–crack emailer Rachel called Disney to book her dates, and, according to Rachel,  the reservationist “said ‘let me see if you have any pins.’ Then she told me there was a pin tied to my account!”

Rachel ended up moving her arrival dates so she could get the offered free dining in early December!

So the moral of the story: even if nothing has been emailed to you, you might have a 2013 free dining pin for Walt Disney World after all!

Does this mean free dining will come out for the general public for those dates? Honestly, I have no idea* on that either…but I still do doubt it.

Update:  Nichole just posted this on the Facebook page:

“I just called and they did say it was random to some extent, but that it was more likely to be offered to those that have had a recent visit.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a pin associated with my reservation.

At the end of the call she told me to watch the website closely though because if they were to extend the offer to include October reservations they would probably announce it very soon.

That gives me hope that they may extend it!”

*Oh, I have lots of ideas, but none I have any confidence in…

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

GREAT DETAILED ADVICE FROM DANNY

If you look on the lower right sidebar “Latest Comments” section, you’ll see links to a million comments by Danny (or you will until other more recent comments push them off the sidebar).

Danny raised some questions a while ago about the practicality of my Epcot itinerary–which I’m gonna test and fix next week–and earlier this week asked if I’d welcome his other observations on opportunities to improve the itineraries.  Of course I said yes, as I’m always looking for ways to improve the site.

And so Danny has offered dozens of ideas!  Thanks so much, Danny!

A few I flat out disagree with; a few are judgment calls; but there’s a whole lot that I’ll take very, very seriously!

Any changes I make as much as humanly possible will preserve the park days and table service meal times, since those–if done properly!–have five to six month lead times.  But I’m gonna think about everything, and make the needed changes!

Thanks, Danny!!

And while I’m on the topic of thanks…thanks also to

• The Mysterious J and the Mysterious B, for the heads up about free dining, and to
• Sarah at All Things with Purpose  for her link that’s brought so many of you to this site!

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

DISNEY WORLD FALL 2013 FREE DINING DEAL

As expected, Walt Disney World announced today a free dining deal good for most arrival dates from September 2 through September 25. You need to book this deal by July 31.

Savings vary by resort, and not resort hotels are included in the deal.

Here’s the basics of what’s available:

Deluxes, Disney Vacation Club, and Moderates:

• Free “regular” dining plan, which gives you credits for one table-service meal, one quick-service meal, and one snack per night of your hotel stay.

Values:

• Free “quick service” dining plan, which gives you credits for two quick-service meals and a snack per night of your hotel stay.

For more on the dining plan, including how/when you can use these credits, see this.

The best-loved dining venues will book very quickly, so make your dining reservations as soon as you can!  See this for ideas, and also this.

While I’m widely booed for saying so, I expect this to be the only free dining offer for US residents in 2013.  For why, see this.

Oh, well, gotta call em as I see em!  And at least I’ll get a free breakfast out of this!

For more, see Disney’s page on this deal here.

Also today Disney World announced a room rate deal covering most arrival dates August 15 through September 28

Many smaller families aimed at more expensive hotels will save more with the room rate deal than with the free dining deal.  See this for more on this room rate deal.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

DISNEY WORLD FALL 2013 ROOM RATE DEAL

As expected, Walt Disney World announced today a room rate deal good for most arrival dates from August 15, 2013 through September 28, 2013. You need to book this deal by July 31.

Savings vary by resort, and not all are included in the deal.

Here’s the basics of what’s available:

Deluxes and Disney Vacation Club:

• 30% off: Animal Kingdom Lodge Standard and Pool View rooms; Beach Club and Villas; BoardWalk Inn and Villas; Contemporary Standard and Lake View rooms; Old Key West; Saratoga Springs; Wilderness Lodge and Villas; Yacht Club
• 20% off: Polynesian and Grand Floridian

Moderates: 25% off: Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Cabins at Fort Wilderness, and Port Orleans Riverside

Values:

• 20% off: All-Star Music, All-Star Sports, and Pop Century
• 15% off: Art of Animation Family Suites

For more, see Disney’s page on this deal here.

Also today Disney World announced a free dining deal covering most arrival dates September 2 through September 25.  See this for more on this deal.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

Disney released its Q2 2013 results (covering December 30, 2102 through March 30, 2013) yesterday, and discussed them with analysts.

(The earnings report and 10q are herehere.)

I haven’t made my way through the 10Q yet, but based on the earnings release and call, a couple of observations:

• The key component of MyMagic+, Fastpass+, may not even open this year
• MyMagic+ will indeed have special perks for guests staying at a Disney-owned and -operated resort
• I’m even more convinced we won’t see any 2013 free dining for US residents other than the September offer that will come out tomorrow

THE TIMING OF MYMAGIC+

An analyst specifically asked CEO Bob Iger when MyMagic+ would open.  Prior statements had implied it would open this spring—which has been unlikely for a while now. This time, Iger said that “the goal is to roll it out at some point this year.”  When later asked if it would have an impact on earnings “by” fiscal 14 (that is, October 2013) Iger said it would have in impact on earnings “in” fiscal 13.

I forecast more than a month ago that the earliest we’d see a general roll out of My Magic+ and Fastpass+ would be October 1.  I’m sticking by that as the earliest date, but can now easily see this date slipping to November 1 or January 5.

EXTRA MYMAGIC+ PERKS FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT HOTEL GUESTS

It’s been long assumed by thoughtful observers that MyMagic+ will provide extra perks to those staying in a Disney-owned and operated resort, for obvious business reasons.

But yesterday’s call was (so far as I can remember) the first confirmation of that.

Iger (or CFO Jay Rasulo, I forget which) said in response to an analyst’s question that MyMagic+ will continue the tradition of providing perks to on-site guests not available to off-site guests and “encourage people to stay more on property than off property.”

There’s no credible scoop on how this might unfold.  Because of the high value to Disney of people pre-planning their park visits (and hence limiting those darned spur-of-the moment choices to see Harry Potter) the offer may be more complicated than people have been predicting.

For example, the simplest approach is to offer more Fastpass+s per day (OK, what’s the right plural of Fastpass+?) to on-site guests than to off-site guests.  But this doesn’t keep them in Disney World on their off days.  Adding extra Fastpass+ to the later days of a visit based on how many earlier days are scheduled (or more simply but less effective, on how many ticket days are bought…) would both drive ticket sales and keep people on property.

Just a thought…

MORE FREE DINING IN 2013?  MY FORECAST IS STILL “NO WAY”

Disney’s domestic parks and resorts really shot out the lights this quarter.

While a big part of the improvement (about $70 million of a $161 million operating income improvement compared to a year ago) came, as I’d noted it would in my comments on the Q1 call, from differences in the timing of Christmas and Easter school breaks vs. Disney’s fiscal quarter timing, another big part came simply from increased attendance and increased spending per attendee.

There’s no way to tease out how much of this came from Disney California Adventure and a full quarter of the Disney Fantasy cruise ship, vs. Walt Disney World itself.

But Disney did note that resort hotel bookings in the current (April-June) quarter were running 7% ahead of last year, at rates comparable to last year.*  These rooms are overwhelmingly at Disney World, so they are a cue to ongoing strong performance.

This performance, and these booking levels, means that Disney simply doesn’t need to discount to bring people in the way it had to in 2007-2012.  So it won’t.

I expect we will see continuing room-rate discounts for the slower periods, but, other than the September free dining deal that will come out tomorrow, I’m even more convinced we won’t see any more Free Dining in 2013.  Free dining is just too expensive to Disney to offer—and too complicated to administer—compared to the value it creates for the company.

MORE ON THIS CALL

Jason Garcia does a nice job with the Disney World-related facts of this call here.

*When asked why rates weren’t higher and if Disney was discounting too much, Rasulo noted that Art of Animation was added to the inventory in 2012, and, as a value resort, it necessarily drives overall average realized prices down.

Not quite true. Because so much of Art of Animation is pricey Family Suites, average rack rates at the resort are well over $200.  A much bigger driver of Q3 2012 vs. 2013 rate oddities is the different timing of the Easter price season—entirely in Q3 in 2012, and only half in Q3 in 2013.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

FREE DISNEY WORLD DINING

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

The Chase Disney Visa Walt Disney World Free Dining offer for the fall of 2013 came out this morning.

It notes (see the bottom of the image, in the red square; click it to enlarge) that this Disney World 2013 Free Dining offer will come out to the general public on May 9.

Arrival dates include September 2-25 2013; as usual in recent offers, value resorts get “Quick Service” Free Dining, and moderate and deluxe resorts get the regular Dining Plan for free.

Some resorts are excluded–particularly the Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation.

A room rate deal for August 15-September 28 came out for Chase Disney Visa cardholders today as well, and this Disney World fall 2013 room rate deal also should open up to the general public on May 9.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!