ANOTHER free dining question!

Disney Visa card members get a few days ahead to get free dining before it opens to the general public.

Keep in mind your date must match for at least the start date to get free dining.

We maximize our choices on the dining plan; so, we usually do better than the cost of the plan.
In other words, we choose the most expensive entree we can get. Of course, with buffet places that doesn't matter. We will get the Fantasmic dining package with the plan, too; so, again, it's a greater benefit.
 
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If I’m not mistaken, it’s 14 days. But it’s set up usually in the system to go from a weekend to a weekend date and usually a week since that’s the normal vacation length. We went 10 days and started on a Thursday sontge computer wanted us to have a split stay that both qualified for FD. It made no sense but that’s what their system liked, so we had to talk to IT to get the glitch fixed so we could book for 10 instead of 7+3
We never go from a weekend to a weekend and rarely book for a week. It's more to do with their computer systems and availability. If you do find that you can book for 9 days, but not 8 days (as an example), it's best to call them.
 
Disney Visa card members get a few days ahead to get free dining before it opens to the general public.

No. This hasn't been the case for at least a couple of years now. The past few years, free dining was available to be booked by everyone on the same date. Canadians and Disney Visa card members had an extra week in August that was bookable though.
 


I want to make sure I know what I am doing before free dining drops. If I go to My Disney Experience, I don't see where/how to modify my reservation. Where/how can I add the free dining code? Can anyone walk me through this? (I realize it might not be obvious now as there's no offer... but I want to be ready!)
What we did, a couple of years ago when our arrival date was eligible, was to call Disney Reservations and tell them we were coming on this date and wanted to know if our dining plan could be converted from paid to free, and they did it for us on the phone. Only thing was, ticket prices had gone up between the original reservation and the application of the free dining plan, so we had to pay the difference in ticket pricing, I think it was less than $100 for both of us, and then they applied the free dining and knocked close to 500 off our price. It's sure worth a try, if your date lines up with the promo! Good luck!
 
When we wanted to apply free dining to our reservation a couple of years ago it wouldn’t allow me to modify my existing reservation.

1) Sometimes, true.
2) They apply Free Dining ONLY to select resorts, and limit the amount of rooms per resort.
. . . at one time, it applied to all resorts
. . . at one time, it applied to all rooms
. . . at one time, it applied to all DDP levels
3) But, once the program got around the Internet, too many people got onto it.
. . . this cost the resorts too much money
. . . this cost the resorts too much profit
. . . this cost the resort General Managers bonuses which are based upon P&L
4) So, now it applies at the decision-discretion-whim of the resort General Manager (GM).
5) Once the GM decides his/her occupancy levels and P&L will be met, he/she can cancel the Free Dining Offerings, IMMEDIATELY.

NOTE:
Free Dining does not get paid by WDW "corporate", but by the individual resort (just like DME bus transportation).
So, the Resort GENERAL MANAGER decides how many rooms he/she wants to dedicate to Free Dining, or if they even want to participate.
Sometimes, the amount of Free Dining Rooms allocated are gone is matter of minutes or hours, after announcement, and the program is stopped.
The idea behind Free Dining is to fill vacant rooms and increase occupancy during slower periods, and once that goal is achieved, the GM can stop offering Free Dining.
If the rooms allowed for Free Dining are gone or close to being gone, the General Manger can halt the offer at any time, regardless how long the offer has been available.

That is why people jump onto the Disney website daily, or even several times per day, in order to get into the Free Dining for their selected resort.
 


I'm hoping this isn't the last year for free dining. My fear is that Star Wars opening in 2019 will bring in so many people that they won't need promotions.
 

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