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

[Kudmani]

I saw some posts about the food at Akershus not being so great. I have 2 boys (4 and 5.5) so I feel like I'm running out of time to eat at a princess meal before they totally throw a fit! Haha we're also going close to my birthday so I figured I could use that to negotiate with my husband! However, if the food isn't so great I don't know if it will be worth it so a 36 year old can take pictures with princesses! Thoughts?

I have eaten dinner there a couple times for my girls and it wasn't bad (ordered the beef both times). I read reviews to get an idea of the entrees that were often recommended. I enjoyed the food and atmosphere more at CRT, but that's 2 dining credits.

 

[Crissi M]

I don't mean to be negative or against this post....but unfortunately this is incorrect. Getting connecting rooms is a big deal for families and I don't want anyone going into a 2 room situation with the wrong anticipation.

Disney will not guarantee connecting rooms for any family. They will admit that a party with 2 booked rooms and only 1 adult will most likely receive connecting rooms. Any party with 2 adults is absolutely not guaranteed a connecting room. I've asked multiple TAs, CMs, and Disney experts this question in the past week. Additionally, I personally did not receive connecting rooms in 2014 at BC, we had a reservation for 2 rooms w/ 2A and 6C.

I wish everyone the best in their quest for connecting rooms, as I will be in the same situation this year.

The original post was actually correct based on you staying at a resort that does not have rooms that will allow for your family size. For instance, if you are a family of 5 (2 Adults/3 Kids under the age of 17), Disney will guarantee two connecting rooms at a Value resort. It does have to be called in to book, it is booked under one reservation number, but will be 2 separate rooms. It also requires just one deposit as well.

It does depend on your family breakdown, but if you are a large family, you need to call and check again. I am able to do this all the time for clients, and the confirmation comes through as guaranteed connecting as well.

 

[TeamBlack]

Again,
One day closer!

 

[notrub98]

Well.... no announcement from Disney Visa this am...

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

I am doing the DxDP this time around and we have it plan out and spaced at least 6 hours a part for meals. We are doing a lot of 2 TS credit dining along with 1 TS dining per day. My TA got all the places I wanted including BOG dinner and Cinderella Royal Table. I have been trying to get Dinner at BOG since they first open and this will be our first time getting it. We were able to get Lunch the first time but could never get it again.

Congrats on scoring the BOG dinner. As you probably know that's the only meal that The Beast makes an appearance.

We used the same 6 hour rule as you described and it worked perfectly. Most days we did a 2-credit signature for dinner and another 1-credit for either breakfast or lunch and were glad we did. For us, 3 sit-down meals wasn't too much food for one day. Especially when considering that DxDDP includes appetizer and dessert. Just an FYI in case you weren't aware, when using DxDDP, and only DXDDP, there is no distinction between adult credits and child credits. This means that a child can order from the adult menu at TS restaurants. This was a huge perk for us because we had two children ages 8 and 2. The 2 year-old did not qualify for dining credits and the 8 year-old was charged the lower child price for DxDP (a huge savings!). They would sometimes share on every adult entree. Other times, it gave our 8 year-old the opportunity to venture out of her normal comfort zone as far as food choices go. In fact, when we returned from our trip the first thing she told her teacher when asked about her vacation was, "She ate ostrich at California Grill and bison at Artist's Point." LOL. I've read reports on other threads here that some were told kids must order from children's menu. We never encountered that at any of the restaurants we visited. Both 1 and 2 credit meals, both in the parks and at resorts. YMMV. Perhaps there was confusion as to which meal plan was being discussed as the acronyms often get mixed up here on The Dis. Have a great trip.

 

[ParryOttertheChosenBoy]

Good morning everyone.

Hoping for a little extra excitement today!

 

[smallworldnh]

Right.......Go Cowboys!!!!!

I'm a Go PATs gal myself!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Question....

If a resort shows no availability for a certain time frame, will it be the same when the FD is released, or will there be a block of rooms reserved for the special?

Trying to figure out if I should even consider a resort that currently shows no availability or plan for something else.

Highly unlikely that they are holding back rooms for the discount. If they can book rooms at full price, they will. Most likely the availability you see is the availability they have. However, some people have reported more availability by calling vs what is being shown online.

 

[VillainFavs]

The original post was actually correct based on you staying at a resort that does not have rooms that will allow for your family size. For instance, if you are a family of 5 (2 Adults/3 Kids under the age of 17), Disney will guarantee two connecting rooms at a Value resort. It does have to be called in to book, it is booked under one reservation number, but will be 2 separate rooms. It also requires just one deposit as well.

It does depend on your family breakdown, but if you are a large family, you need to call and check again. I am able to do this all the time for clients, and the confirmation comes through as guaranteed connecting as well.

Nope, absolutely not guaranteed. I personally know someone this happened to. The thought process is that as long as there are two adults in the party, they can be split. One adult with kids in each room.

As the PP mentioned, the ONLY way it will even come close to guaranteed is if there's only one adult and multiple children. They can't put a bunch of kids in a room by themselves.

Of course, they will try to keep families together. But if they have more requests for connecting rooms than they have actual connecting rooms, someone doesn't get it! And those rooms will go to the single adults first.

Chances of someone not getting a connecting room? Maybe it's slim. But I would never tell someone to count on having the connector.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

We did Free Dining last year... It was my first trip, so I made a big rookie mistake... I bought a starbucks every day as I entered the parks. It wasnt until the last day of my trip that I realized a Starbucks is a snack credit... So, I will be using mine on some Starbucks for sure

And you can get any size you want and it's still 1 snack credit!

 

[notrub98]

I have never cancelled a booking before so I don't know the answer to this. What happens to ADRs if you cancel a hotel reservation? I assumed if you are past 180 days for every reservation you are ok but figured I would ask. That would help someone who books something now and cancels later to change to a new hotel with new ressie number for example.

 

[lizaisabel]

We arent 100% sure on our date of arrival yet. Talking about a day more than planned, but not sure if we can.

In terms of FD is it easier to add a day or remove a day after the initial booking is made?

In my experience is easy to remove than add

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I have never cancelled a booking before so I don't know the answer to this. What happens to ADRs if you cancel a hotel reservation? I assumed if you are past 180 days for every reservation you are ok but figured I would ask. That would help someone who books something now and cancels later to change to a new hotel with new ressie number for example.

Nothing happens to them. ADRs are not tied to your hotel reservation.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

I have never cancelled a booking before so I don't know the answer to this. What happens to ADRs if you cancel a hotel reservation? I assumed if you are past 180 days for every reservation you are ok but figured I would ask. That would help someone who books something now and cancels later to change to a new hotel with new ressie number for example.

Correct. Your ADRs are not tied to your resort reservation. Except for the fact that a resort reservation allows you to book 180+10 days all at once vs. not having a resort stay would mean you have to book 180 days each day. If it were me, I would wait until 179 days from the last of my ADRs to cancel my resort stay just to be safe.

ETA:
In fact when cancelling a resort reservation, there is a page that reminds you that you would have to go in and cancel any unwanted ADRs separately in order to avoid the $10 per person no-show charge.

 

[scard192]

I'm a Go PATs gal myself!

Me To! we were at Disney last November on the day the Pats played Seattle on Sunday night. Could not believe all the Patriots shirts we say at MK that day.

 

[Elle23]

Highly unlikely that they are holding back rooms for the discount. If they can book rooms at full price, they will. Most likely the availability you see is the availability they have. However, some people have reported more availability by calling vs what is being shown online.

Makes sense. Thanks!

 

[smallworldnh]

Me To! we were at Disney last November on the day the Pats played Seattle on Sunday night. Could not believe all the Patriots shirts we say at MK that day.

That is so cool!!

 

[notrub98]

Correct. Your ADRs are not tied to your resort reservation. Except for the fact that a resort reservation allows you to book 180+10 days all at once vs. not having a resort stay would mean you have to book 180 days each day. If it were me, I would wait until 179 days from the last of my ADRs to cancel my resort stay just to be safe.

ETA:
In fact when cancelling a resort reservation, there is a page that reminds you that you would have to go in and cancel any unwanted ADRs separately in order to avoid the $10 per person no-show charge.

So... is this what people do to get the "+10"? They book it, make ressies plus 10, and then stay offsite or book different dates? I've read about throwaway rooms but that's a slightly different concept. Note - not endorsing this practice as it eliminates legit chances for someone else. Just asking out of curiosity.

 

[sharonabe]

But they have a package with tickets now so why would they no longer want tickets?

I know we have over 500 pages, but if you had read upthread, you would have seen the OP actually already has tickets from an outside source.

Even though it's a little more than the package we already booked at FQ, with free dining, a deluxe resort is finally within our budget!

This line caught my attention. Many are saying Disney is going to miss out on money if they only offer QSDP at the mods. That MAY be true, but I doubt it will hurt their bottom line all that much. There will still be people eating in their restaurants. However, what they will accomplish is exactly what we see here. They have found a way to get at least a few more (possibly quite a few) into their deluxe resorts for the first time. Free dining allowed people who normally never ate at Disney restaurants a taste of that. Now many people can't imagine a trip to WDW without eating at the TS restaurants; they are as much a part of their vacation as the parks. Now Disney is getting some to taste what it's like to stay at a deluxe resort, and it may be harder for them to go back to their old way of doing things.

 

[Neeky78]

My kids met Mickey and Minnie on their very first trip. Mickey took my son's hand and Minnie took my daughter's hand and they walked over to Dumbo with them. They went through the exit of the ride and then rode Dumbo together. They felt like celebrities. My husband and I just dumbly followed. After the ride, my kids escorted Mickey and Minnie back to Cinderella castle and we waved goodbye. Even now it seems like a dream.

Alice 1984 Disneyland. Me in yellow with my fingers in my mouth.