******Official 2017 Free Dining Plan Watch, Wait, and Dream

[VillainFavs]

It says they have pretty reliable information that their predictions are correct.

Check-in dates:
13/8-30/9
14/11-20/11
25/11-27/11
3/12-23/12
No free dining in October

Min of 4 nights, max of 14 nights.
Must purchase hopper or hopper plus tickets.

And POR is excluded.

 

[KimBean]

So any reason I can't do this... If I go to Target and get gift cards using my Red card, I will get 5% off the gift card. Then load those into a Disney Vacation Account and get 3 - $20 cards for ($3000.) If so that could save me $220. Which would put me $230 away from having the $$ for my trip.

 

[momto4obkids]

HOw much is it to upgrade to the regular dining plan per person? I need to crunch some numbers again

$21 per adult per night. I'm not sure what the kids price is.

 

[mary219]

A room at POP must be available for FD in your category, it is considered a new reservation. Just because you already have a room there does not give you a leg up. Just an FYI.

thank you . So it's a new reservation . So keep The old and see if I can get new one . Seems like best option at this point .

 

[houseful of boys]

So, my sister and I have been taking our crew of 11 to Disney annually for the last 15 years. Last year we sacrificed our Disney for a chance to do mission work with our kids in the Dominican Republic instead. So, this year is a "return to Disney" year for us. We are going Aug 15-25 and are 2 couples with 7 kids between us ranging ages 20-9. We've done free Dining in the past and as you can imagine it's a huge savings for us. This year we were going to upgrade to AP's and make it a "year of Disney." Last week, we made the decision to give up on free dining because our dates fell within the Labor Day agent exclusive deal previously mentioned and booked 5 nights at Grand Floridian ($1471) and 5 nights at Beach Club ($1271). Both resorts are places we never thought we would be able to afford. I got another room at ASSp with the RO offer for my DS's aged 20 and 17 and my nieces aged 16 and 15. We booked our flights with points and figured up our OOP food costs for our current ADR's. We will eat breakfast in the room and have water, pop, and snacks in the room. I'm BEYOND excited with the current FD rumor because it means I can apply the FD deal to my son's room of 4 at ASSp and get 80 CS credits and 80 snacks to use amongst us which will be a huge savings. So, I feel extremely lucky because I feel like I may be staying in my dream resorts and able to "eat my cake too!"

 

[vever]

Thanks wasn't sure exactly Finally got a it too translate on google

 

[lovemy2girls4eva]

Silly question regarding the parkhopper ticket option you have to get for FD. If I am getting a 5 day ticket do I have to add that parkhopper option for all the 5 days or can I get lets say for 3 of the days.

 

[Disneygurl84]

Ugh I do not like those dates for free dining. We arrive october 1 - but what's more disappointing is if you only get a quick service at a moderate resort. That really stinks

 

[tomeaine]

20.96 per adult and 4.04 per child
in the end it really depends if you get your value out of a TS meal to justify the additional cost.
if you plan to utilize your TS for character meals / show packages then I guess you will come ahead..but some normal restaurants maybe not so much..if it is truley QS for mods I plan to upgrade..I see it this way..my vacation is not planned around FD..however I can justify paying only $66.92 per day to have 2 snacks,1qs, 1ts per day for my family of 4.

 

[Disneylover99]

We're actually going in August and already have a room booked with a great discount.

I think you'll find not having a dining plan quite freeing. We're going to the Poly late August and we'll live off of counter service kids meals, dole whips, and bread pudding from the Tambu Lounge.

 

[momto4obkids]

Silly question regarding the parkhopper ticket option you have to get for FD. If I am getting a 5 day ticket do I have to add that parkhopper option for all the 5 days or can I get lets say for 3 of the days.

It is added to all days, no option to do only certain days.

 

[Disneylover99]

Does anyone know if free dining effects crowds levels much? We are staying AOA LM, so not FD eligible. Not switching to POP if it's just QSFD. So thinking about switching weeks to a non FD week if this verifies since we are currently checking in on Nov. 26. Not sure if enough people pay attention to FD for it to matter.

I don't find it makes a difference.

 

[brooke789]

Can you pay the $200 deposit with a Disney GC? If so we're going to go ahead and pick up $400 at Sam's to save a little more!

 

[lovemy2girls4eva]

It is added to all days, no option to do only certain days.

ah ok......so all these little things are adding up..upgrading to reg dining plan plus upgrading our reg base ticket to parkhopper. This is going to cost above my budget. ugh

 

[Disneylover99]

So, my sister and I have been taking our crew of 11 to Disney annually for the last 15 years. Last year we sacrificed our Disney for a chance to do mission work with our kids in the Dominican Republic instead. So, this year is a "return to Disney" year for us. We are going Aug 15-25 and are 2 couples with 7 kids between us ranging ages 20-9. We've done free Dining in the past and as you can imagine it's a huge savings for us. This year we were going to upgrade to AP's and make it a "year of Disney." Last week, we made the decision to give up on free dining because our dates fell within the Labor Day agent exclusive deal previously mentioned and booked 5 nights at Grand Floridian ($1471) and 5 nights at Beach Club ($1271). Both resorts are places we never thought we would be able to afford. I got another room at ASSp with the RO offer for my DS's aged 20 and 17 and my nieces aged 16 and 15. We booked our flights with points and figured up our OOP food costs for our current ADR's. We will eat breakfast in the room and have water, pop, and snacks in the room. I'm BEYOND excited with the current FD rumor because it means I can apply the FD deal to my son's room of 4 at ASSp and get 80 CS credits and 80 snacks to use amongst us which will be a huge savings. So, I feel extremely lucky because I feel like I may be staying in my dream resorts and able to "eat my cake too!"

Make sure you upgrade to your AP when you get there so you can take advantage of the 10 and 20% discounts at TS and even many CS restaurants.

 

[sharonabe]

My initial plan was arrive the 8th return the 14th or 15th. Only real problem with that is Pop Warner is there until 9th so not sure that would increase crowds my first day or two.

By the end of Pop Warner, those who are "out" of the competition are in the parks, so yes, that weekend will be busy. Personally, I'd do the Sunday to Sunday (10-17) or Monday to Monday(11-18).

We're booked sept 23-30 so dining should be covered. Staying at cbr. With the gift card deal. Two adults and two paid children. One two year old. We only booked mod because we wanted the character dinners. With the gift card would it be better for us to stay where we are and upgrade dining plan or go to a value and upgrade? What do you so all to crunch number

Okay, until FD is actually here and you see if the room you currently have is allowed FD, you need to just stay where you are. One problem you're going to have is you really have 5 in your room. Moving to a value will make that room very crowded if your 2 yr old need a pack n play. If they are sleeping in one of the beds, remember values only have doubles. Your room at CBR has queens.

IF, and that is a BIG IF, the only CBR rooms that have FD are the pirate rooms, those rooms also only have double beds, and they are much more expensive than the room you have. There should be some available, so you should be able to go online and see what that price is. Figure that into your CBR possible costs. Then move over to one of the values and price the rack rate of ALL room categories there. My guess is the upgrade to pirate room will negate those gift cards, but you will have a much smaller room at the values.

One other thing to consider where the gift cards are concerned. You don't get them until you arrive. If you have FD, what are you going to buy with the GCs? You may actually have the best deal right where you are and use the GCs to buy your food for the week. And if a room only also comes out, there's a chance you could get the room discounted which gives you even more for your OOP food budget.

 

[minniemous]

Hello, Silly question.

I plan to stay at Wilderness Lodge 09/24-09/29

I am going to stay if I get FD or not..I will just cut down on park days if I do not get FD.

I had purchased rack rate for those dates a few months ago hoping if FD become available I can try and pick that up and switch. So right now I have the the rack rate $314 a night I think with purchased dining plan and 6 day park tickets with no park hopper.

I just saw there was a standard room with the percentage of the room only offer.

If I switch to that I save $200 with room only discount just in case I do not get FD...does that somehow mess up my availability to switch to the FD or is it the same and I might as well at least get the discounted standard room?

 

[scard192]

I have exactly one experience with free dining, but here's what I experienced:

We went in November of 2015, and historically November was low. However, when we went, we had 10/10 crowd levels on days that were predicted to be 3, 4, or even 1 out of 10. I don't know if this was because of Free Dining, or due to a shift of Fall becoming more and more popular (I remember going Thanksgiving week in the 90s, and WDW was a ghost town! Hah!).

Anyone else have insight to this, or did I just go on a flukey busy week? (It was Nov. 11th through the 18th of 2015.)

we were there last year Nov 12-19. no FD. set our park days in April using EasyWDW estimated crowd calendar (our park days were supposed to be 3-5's). The parks did not seem that crowded. We went to MK on the days were it closed early for MVMCP and another event. FD started up again on 11/15 and did not notice much change in the crowds. we got all the FP+ we wanted for the headliners at 60 days out. We were also able to get 4,5 6 FP+ day of for things like EE, RnR, Test Track, Splash.

our flight out on 11/26 was late and we went to MK. it was PACKED, but expected that.

 

[KimBean]

Can you pay the $200 deposit with a Disney GC? If so we're going to go ahead and pick up $400 at Sam's to save a little more!

How much is it off at Sams?

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

What site do you use for Windsor Hills? I think I saw them on VRBO but can you negotiate prices there? Thanks!

Www.windsorhillsrent.com