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

[momto4obkids]

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!

You sure can!

 

[brooke789]

How much is it off at Sams?

$500 is $480. So, that is a 4%? Just slightly less than Target but we don't have red card!

 

[houseful of boys]

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.

Yes! Thank you. We have taken the discount into account when calculating our OOP expenses. We may also get TIW since we are hoping to squeeze 4 trips in this year and that would give us consistently 20% off TS and include alcohol.

 

[agassizsmile]

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.

I like your thinking I feel same for our family of five at CBR I will upgrade to the reg dp but I'm so tempted to try deluxe !Does anyone have a spreadsheet they can share?need to crunch numbers

 

[thatsAniceName]

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.

This intrigues me... Could you explain it to a Gift card discount noob?

 

[mousefan73]

Good idea about the TA!

Right now if we stay at CBR with the GC offer for 2 adults 2 kids with 5 day tix (no PH) we are at ~$3100, but will get $525 back in GC. If we can stack with a RO discount (fingers crossed!) that will likely be our best financial bet. Staying off site + parking costs definitely add up. We can do a grocery order for fruit, milk, granola bars, etc. and pare down the dining options. This just may work...

Is there a thread for RO discounts? I've typically not paid any attention to them in the past

In the past there was usually a RO also for fall. They only released the latest RO for summer. Mods usually were 20%. Values 15 delux 25.

 

[ParryOttertheChosenBoy]

Yay for FD dates!

I am a little worried about changing my reservation though. Still having problems with the change reservation button, which is currently just a spinning wheel on my MDE page. I sent an email about it a week ago. This morning I called in and changes my dates (we were going to anyway before FD dropped) and the lady at Disney couldn't even change the reservation. Then she got Guest Services to fix it and all is well with the dates, however my button is still not working. Grrrrr.

Looks like I'm going to have to try and book a whole new reservation when FD drops.

 

[Disneylover99]

Yes! Thank you. We have taken the discount into account when calculating our OOP expenses. We may also get TIW since we are hoping to squeeze 4 trips in this year and that would give us consistently 20% off TS and include alcohol.

TIW would definitely be worth while if you like to order alcohol with dinner.

 

[LucyBC80]

According to info published by a Brazillian TA it POR is not excluded only POFQ. I dont have the link to the website who posted the info but its in this thread somewhere. I read through the exclusions carefully and POR is not listed so wither one TA is wrong or the other is.

Here's anoter TA website and it excludes POR: http://www.viagensworld.com.br/2017...ey-gratis-a-promocao-mais-esperada-por-todos/

 

[sharonabe]

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?

It won't mess up anything with the possibility of FD. If you do get the FD, you'll just lose that discount. DO IT!!!

 

[mousefan73]

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!"

For your group I'd look into a Tables of the World card. Think annual pass qualifies. With that many people you'd recover the 200 membship fee. Believe it's 20% duscount

 

[heath92681]

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 the same time, and while I wouldnt say it was 10/10, it was significantly more crowded than expected.

 

[Haneyman]

I think Disney Visa holders should cross their fingers and hope for something extra to come our way this year. Although it came out a few hours after the deal dropped last year, it was the only way I could get a room at POP because they were all gone in the first 30 min.

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

We are currently booked at POP 8/26-9/5 and really want to stay there but are willing to move to All Stars if we have to in order to get free dining. Hopefully we will get to keep it at POP but will admit a little worried.

 

[Sharongal74]

I have been thinking if FD goes away or changes like this, I am going to work on crunching numbers on buying annual passes. Booking ap discount rates, free memory maker, discount on meals and plan 2 trips in that year.

I would say overall the crowds just seem larger. Wait times are shorter, probably due to the fp system. But even on 3 and 4 days I felt overwhelmed with the amount of people.

 

[kels420]

Ok new here- have read through the last 30 or so pages and have a question- so I apologize if this has been discussed before. We typically use a Disney travel agent Through Mousekatrips and in 2015 we went and ahead and booked our trip before FD was announced. then when FD came out- had it changed over but it was a major fiasco and nightmare. Our TA is also not convinced FD will even be offered. Saying just so much less incentive to offer it now- that rooms are selling like crazy in the fall.

This year our TA advised me to just wait and book if and when it comes out- I've also read this on other boards too bc if people are booking now then Disney won't see the need to offer many FD rooms. But it seems like everyone here has the mentality to book now and modify later?

This is so stressful!

 

[CK1734]

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.

No reason you cannot and we do something similar.

I live in Pittsburgh and here is what we do to save money as every penny counts. This actually adds up as well and is based on a $5000 trip for 3 adults and 3 kids.

We use out AMEX card to buy the Disney gift cards at Giant Eagle. By doing this we get 5% cash back at grocery stores ($250 back). We also get 20 cents off per gallon of gas at GetGo per $50 spent. When we are done we end up with almost $20 we can use for gas where we can get 30 gallons per. That gives us $600 worth of gas that we get as well. Overall we save around $850 dollars.

 

[pooch]

So as long as there's an AP holder in my room, we are eligible for the AP room discount? And is the TIW card really $200??

 

[tallen5466]

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.

Yes you can I do it now I use my red card debit card by disney gift cards and throw the gift cards on my disney vacation account.

 

[melissa bottorff]

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).



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.

Thank you. THus is my first ever trip and am so overwhelmed. Picked cbr for the pool