2018 Free Dining Watch Thread V3

[Lovetherodent]

Advice please: which would you choose
2 adults (including one 78 year old with a scooter) 2 children (4,6)
$2500
All Star Music
Dining plan
3-day base ticket
5 night

2185(my FD estimate)
All star Resort
2 day PH tickets (assuming that the requirement if a 2 day and not 4 day ticket for FD)
5 nights


Would love your input. This will be my 3rd trip, but first with children. I am worried that park hoping may be too much. Staying up all day may be a lot on the little ones. I also would just like to rent a scooter in the park which is easier if we don't park hop since scooter in the 2nd park is not guaranteed.

I wouldn’t want to give up the extra Park day

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Sorry I haven't been paying attention and now I need to know...
Are the ASMu family suites typically included?

 

[kdisser]

I am going somewhat the same time, and it is hard to not be bummed about a "missed" discount.

I just look at it .. I booked the time and okay with the price without knowing if ANY discount or promotion is available. So if I can't get one, no loss, if I can get one . .bonus.

Besides, as Pete says -- free dining isn't really free. You pay rack rate and are locked into certain restrictions that may require you to pay more than you originally planned (stay an extra day, stay at a higher tier room/resort). There may be RO discounts that are even better value. I just never look at free dining as a perk personally because I know I can't (or don't want) to eat all the food offered. Plus the restrictions and the hassle of trying to get it, just doesn't seem worth the "potential" savings.

I am more looking forward to those RO discounts or any other promotions for my planned days.

But to those vacationers who already plan on going for so many nights (ours is 8) and already are loyal park hoppers, it's not strict bindings. If you are staying just a couple days like in the past needing to stay 2 nights..no it's not going to be a deep discount. And you have to consider others travel situations. We have 3 adults and a child in our party going for 8 nights 9 days. Lets say we spend OOP $100 a day for all of us to eat (and that is QS only trying to find the cheaper menu options) That's still $800-$900, now if a RO discount can save me that much off of a value or moderate I might look into but as of right now I am looking at $3,678 for preferred POP (with hopper) and FD. Rack rate isn't always bad in different situations. I priced out RO for over the end of summer and including a dining package (ease of already having it paid for at the counter) at a value with QSD was over $5000.... so in our situation no RO does not offer us a decent discount. When we are already fans of the hopper and staying for a longer trip yes FD is FD. I am not spending over $2000 in add-ons. With our travel party consisting of 3 adults and a child that really comes into play of how well a RO discount works in our favor, which it doesn't.

 

[SPOERLX3]

I already have an alarm set on my phone for 3:05am on Monday then every 30 minutes after that until I get up at 5:30. I did this last year and it worked really well. Before going to bed I set the Disney page on the 'Special Offers' page and then when the alarm goes off I wake up and click refresh a few times. (Yes, I don't trust it the first time. ) If there isn't anything new I go back to sleep and repeat 30 mins later.

Rinse and repeat Tuesday morning if the offer does not drop Mon. Wed too if needed.

Once the offer drops I'm out of bed and down to my Disney set-up in the living room with laptop and iPad at the ready and begin seeing what I can book. I love Disney so the fun for me outside of my regular government job is helping family and friends book Disney trips. Normally I can get 3 or 4 trips booked before the phone lines open.

I know this has been asked before but I think it was on the last thread that got deleted and thank you for your expertise and generosity to help.
1) In your opinion, if I am needing 2 rooms at a value, and we are going with or without FD (taking my mimi for her 85th birthday!), hoping for POP, is it going to be easiest to book now and modify (if the button is there) or just book when it drops?
2) If I book now and just modify, When FD drops, if I have the modify button, once I click on it, where do I go from there?? And will I need to modify each room separately by logging in twice or if they are both under the same log in, can I just go into my MDE on each individual reservation #?
I hope this makes sense.
Thank you again, XOXO

 

[hope59]

No, you don't add dining now, it will not convert to free dining just bc you have it as a part of your package. If you have a package booked already, you will have to go in and modify your reservation to include FD when the offer goes live. You just have to be sure that your trip meets the requirements to get FD, whatever they may be, Park Hoppers, minimum number of days, certain resorts/type of room, etc.

Thanks for the info!

 

[SKYYCAMEL]

I went ahead and took the QSDP off my reservation. I guess the less I have to modify, the better.

 

[Annam3]

If I book now in hopes of modifying for FD can I add travel insurance later.

 

[RedWolf95]

What time did you get up to get your FD? I have been trying to find times but people have been saying things as early as 2am and as late as 5:30am. Anyone have any recommendations? Staying at AK Lodge if that helps

Disney has consistently dropped it at different times so there is no way to know when it will start and that never comes out in a rumor either, so you just have to keep checking throughout the night/morning. The last couple of times I have booked between 5-6AM and generally got what I wanted although I initially had to take a Pirate Room at CBR when I wanted a regular Standard (was able to switch later when one popped open). I will say that it is pretty likely (based on the last couple years) that by around 6AM the website will start struggling with all the traffic and you will start seeing Stitch quite a bit

We did AKL last year and it was great, but given that it is one of the least expensive Deluxe resorts and given that Moderates now only get the QSDP as part of FD, AKL will probably book quickly as folks will make the same decision we did last year, i.e. I'd rather pay $300 extra and stay at AKL vs. staying at CBR (upgrading from QSDP to DDP at a CBR made the difference between AKL and CBR only $300 for a 5 night stay).

 

[Ashleybritton]

That's a bummer, barely any November dates!

How does this work? If you wanted to go 11-24 through 11-30, would you not be eligible for free dining because it’s three days past the 27th, or is it for trips starting on the one of those dates in that window?

 

[Ashleybritton]

Also, it looks like AoA family suites aren’t included. That’s a major bummer.

 

[EllyBelly]

I am hoping someone can help. We have free tickets from a leaky roof on our last trip. Is there any way I can take advantage of some of them and still get free dining for December 2018? I have been racking my brain and cannot figure it out. They are free tickets with park hopper.

Same! I have 4 day park hoppers from an issue we had. I was going to do AOA Mermaid room & pay oop for dining.Especially since they’re usually excluded from FD. But if it could be used towards the FD That would be great. I don’t think they can be used to meet requirements for promos though.

 

[DisKaren]

How does this work? If you wanted to go 11-24 through 11-30, would you not be eligible for free dining because it’s three days past the 27th, or is it for trips starting on the one of those dates in that window?

FD is based on check-in date. So if 11/24 is part of the promotion, then you would receive FD for the whole stay.

 

[cdel73]

Can someone explain to me how you modify an existing reservation to add free dining? Do you just go in and click add dining and it’s free or do you need a promo code? I have a reservation and I think my date falls in time, but I don’t know how to modify to reflect free dining, plus the upgrade. To regular dp?

 

[goav2000]

I know this has been asked before but I think it was on the last thread that got deleted and thank you for your expertise and generosity to help.
1) In your opinion, if I am needing 2 rooms at a value, and we are going with or without FD (taking mom for her 85th birthday!), hoping for POP, is it going to be easiest to book now and modify (if the button is there) or just book when it drops?
2) If I book now and just modify, When FD drops, if I have the modify button, once I click on it, where do I go from there?? And will I need to modify each room separately by logging in twice or if they are both under the same log in, can I just go into my MDE on each individual reservation #?
I hope this makes sense.
Thank you again, XOXO

Hey there,
I seem to differ from a lot of posters this year. But, I've never pre-booked and done the modify after drop. I just can't imagine that helps availability.
With that said, we have booked within hours of free dining drop and always got want we wanted. Last year was Pop Standard in late Sept. The year before was CBR after Thanksgiving. I just woke up and checked before I got ready for work which was around 7:00 am central.

Best of luck to ya.

 

[goav2000]

Same! I have 4 day park hoppers from an issue we had. I was going to do AOA Mermaid room & pay oop for dining.Especially since they’re usually excluded from FD. But if it could be used towards the FD That would be great. I don’t think they can be used to meet requirements for promos though.

I agree w/your assertion that it won't count towards the promotion. Why would Disney do that? It would make zero business sense.

 

[FoxC63]

Thanks @Pumbaa_ for doing this.... wait for it.... AGAIN!

 

[Canadisney Fly]

I have 6 nights at pop. 4 days of park hopper tickets and the quick service dining plan all booked. Is there anything else I need to be ready.

Coffee. And an alarm clock set for each hour beginning with the first hint of rumours re: drop time. And a single track on a repeating loop so that years from now, whenever you hear THAT song, you’ll fondly remember the time you stayed up all night to get exactly what you wanted for the LAST Free Dining promotion ever offered by WDW!

 

[JenniferYoung44]

I’ve been faithfully following this board and devouring every scrap of info about free dining for months and tonight my daughter gets admitted to the hospital for a week. The really sad part is I’m not sure if im more upset she’s sick or that I’m going to have to try to book FD on the hospitals crappy internet. I might be slightly obsessed.

 

[FoxC63]

I am following along this year but not doing free dining as we are only going for 2 days.

Same. I'm only staying three nights so I'm out. I enjoy following as well. Last year someone opened a chat room for us to hang out in. I remember there was a truck driver "Dan"? Real hoot! I kept score for something, really cannot remember for what exactly. Question is... and yes, there is one; @Pumbaa_ are you going to open a chat room for us?

 

[FoxC63]

Okay all done. Read every single post and all caught up. EASY!