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

[kels420]

Here's one:

What is your least favorite TS?

Akershus

And I know I'll get flamed for this but Chef Mickey- went for dinner and thought it was gross.

 

[Icicles]

I didn't get the gc but if I had. 9 night x $75 = $675.

$200 for alcohol (only dh but some drinks $10-20 a piece)
$100 souvenirs
$25 for 1 mug we always buy this as our souvenir
$200 for tips
$40 for 1 new pin each
$110 1 meal OOP

Pretty easy. Once I get my package paid off I'll need about $1000 extra to pay those things above and to kennel the dogs. Lol!!

So it is a savings (at least for me) but not really off the room rate but has to be factored in as money saved. Now if you won't buy any souvenirs or drink at all. Then $675 is too much for just tips.

You can tip using GC??? I had no idea!!!

 

[KimBean]

You can tip using GC??? I had no idea!!!

I don't see why not. You can charge on your magic band and pay it off with gift card.

 

[kels420]

Ha ha maybe I am not in the minority after all with Chef Mickey

 

[Confederate Scott]

Akershus

And I know I'll get flamed for this but Chef Mickey- went for dinner and thought it was gross.

Never did Akershus or Chef Mickey dinner. The Dinner menu at Chef Mickeys wasn't appealing. We have had up and down experiences at The Wave. Last year we did Liberty Tree before the Halloween party and it wasn't as good as prior times.

 

[disorganizedchaos]

Here's one:

What is your least favorite TS?

Hands down...Garden Grill, which we got after a reservation change toward the end of our trip...and after following up after the likes of Tusker House, Narcoosse's, CRT, etc...very disappointing. Long wait even with ADR and bland mediocre food. Meeting Chip and Dale was nice but not worth it.

This is probably blasphemous but...Chef Mickeys breakfast. Its a pain in the butt to get to, the food is blah, and the character "visit" was far too rushed.

 

[amytaylor2]

While I still haven't managed to get my room rate fixed I did notice in the confirmation email they sent me at the bottom in the notes section there was a note that said
**ALERT** do not modify/contact guest services
Makes me wonder whether I should attempt to modify for free dining online or call.

 

[kels420]

Never did Akershus or Chef Mickey dinner. The Dinner menu at Chef Mickeys wasn't appealing. We have had up and down experiences at The Wave. Last year we did Liberty Tree before the Halloween party and it wasn't as good as prior times.

Akershus had great character interaction- but food was not good

 

[disorganizedchaos]

You can tip using GC??? I had no idea!!!

We used GCs (purchased at Target with 5% off using Redcard) to pay off our bill last trip! I don't see why this would be any different. It's what I plan on doing with the CBR GCs this time around.

 

[disorganizedchaos]

Akershus had great character interaction- but food was not good

Agreed. The food is just OK but the princesses are wonderful. It's one of the better character interaction experiences, in my opinion. We do it on night one since we only spend half a day at Epcot with littles anyhow.

 

[sharonabe]

How does everyone figure the OOP expenses? On the WDW app it says $34.99-$59.99 do you go with the highest price? And how do you know children's prices per buffet. Other ones I can see their prices for. Also, I know it's meal, soft drink and desserts for dinner with FD but do meals come with a salad? Let's say at Tony's. I'm trying to figure OOP vs Upgrading AND I feel clueless

I believe prices fluctuate based on season - value season sees lower end of the prices, and peak season the higher ones.

There is a sticky over on the regular restaurant board with ALL buffet and AYCTE pricing. It's kept up-to-date and very reliable. I would trust this list over anything else you find online. I've provided a link below, but you need to find it yourself at some point, so you know how to return to it.

As to salad included with a meal, no they usually are not. Most entrees do come with some sides on the plate. It's usually a starch and a vegetable, but not a salad.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/buffet-character-shows-aycte-pricing.3108466/

 

[Marianm]

This is why the DP is so important to us. This time around my kiddos are 6, 5 and 2.5. EVERY TS meal is a character meal. We definitely get our money's worth.

Same. I wouldn't go without getting dining plan (free or not) this time around.

 

[Confederate Scott]

Akershus had great character interaction- but food was not good

I am a steak eater so most times I'd rather book somewhere I can get a filet mignon. Based on price alone the character buffets are good uses of dining credits but more often the food leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Marianm]

It is almost always cheaper to book a RO offer than FD when talking Deluxe.

Not the case for us. We would save a TON more with FD than a RO. We're staying at CR.

 

[momto4obkids]

Here's one:

What is your least favorite TS?

Hands down...Garden Grill, which we got after a reservation change toward the end of our trip...and after following up after the likes of Tusker House, Narcoosse's, CRT, etc...very disappointing. Long wait even with ADR and bland mediocre food. Meeting Chip and Dale was nice but not worth it.

I know this is probably blasphemy, but Ohana was just ok. The meat was good, the rest of it was pretty bland, the bread was to dry. Their bread pudding dessert was OK, but we had the one at Raglan Road on our previous trip and it blows Ohana's dessert out of the water! No comparison.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I used to love Chef Mickey's but in 2014 my sister and I both ate the same foods there and then 2 hours later were at our hotel waiting for each other to get out of the bathroom and holding garbage bags until 4am when we had to get up at 6am to get ready for MK.
I don't think I can take the risk again.

 

[squirrel]

It does just default to Canadian tickets, but I think another poster reported earlier that for the limited free dining offer for the summer they were unable to stack the Canadian ticket offer with that limited free dining offer... I was curious if anyone had any luck stacking the Canadian ticket offer with a BB FD offer, but I don't think anyone responded which made me think it did not happen...

I'm almost 100% sure my TA checked about switching my tickets from that Savory Summer Offer (1 CS meal per night per person) to Canadian Tickets and we couldn't. Not to mention that those ticket prices were before they increased in price.

 

[kels420]

I am a steak eater so most times I'd rather book somewhere I can get a filet mignon. Based on price alone the character buffets are good uses of dining credits but more often the food leaves a lot to be desired.

Oh most definitely! You're definitely doing a character meal for the experience and not the food

 

[Avalon_toon]

Here's one:

What is your least favorite TS?

Hands down...Garden Grill, which we got after a reservation change toward the end of our trip...and after following up after the likes of Tusker House, Narcoosse's, CRT, etc...very disappointing. Long wait even with ADR and bland mediocre food. Meeting Chip and Dale was nice but not worth it.

I got one of the worst migraine headaches of my life while eating there - not sure if it was the motion or the food, but I haven't had the courage to go back. I can't even remember what food I ate!

 

[KNovacovschi]

It does just default to Canadian tickets, but I think another poster reported earlier that for the limited free dining offer for the summer they were unable to stack the Canadian ticket offer with that limited free dining offer... I was curious if anyone had any luck stacking the Canadian ticket offer with a BB FD offer, but I don't think anyone responded which made me think it did not happen...

When I go in and check for September it does not default to the CDN tickets for me when I choose a package or room only. No one would have been able to use the discount tickets with the FD BB as the FD BB would've ended before the CDN discount tickets, unless they went on sale before the end of October.