OFFICIAL 2020 Free Dining WATCH Thread - FREE DINING No Longer Available. First Post Updated with Details

[ILovePixieDust]

Any thoughts about the possibility that there might be Free Dining for Canadians coming out with more extended dates? I noticed that some years that was offered too.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Any thoughts about the possibility that there might be Free Dining for Canadians coming out with more extended dates? I noticed that some years that was offered too.

I personally don’t anticipate that happening for 2 reasons.

1. They already gave a CDN ticket deal available where we get 4 day tickets for the price of a 3 day ticket, etc.

2. In the past when CDN FD dates were different from the US, they were announced the same day the FD offer started, not at a different time.

 

[Jaxs27]

I booked a free dining reservation at the Poly earlier today and now it shows Grand Floridian. Also, Poly is showing not available. Has this ever happened to anyone? I did not get a confirmation email and unfortunately I did not take a screenshot of the Poly reservation. I'm pretty upset, the trip is for my daughters graduation and she has always wanted to stay at the Polynesian Resort. Does anyone think they will switch it back? I don't have proof it was originally Poly.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I’m pretty sure every movement made can be seen on their computer screen probably forever...
I would definitely call them sooner than later to kindly explain the importance of Polynesian over a GF location.

 

[DisLiss]

The "free" dining dates line up with the more expensive holiday weeks.

Late August/Early Sept. is actually one of the absolute least expensive times to go to WDW.

One thing I always do before discounts drop is price out mock trips. My numbers were spot on. We always get hoppers though so that's not an additional cost for us. I ended up moving my trip to the week before I had priced out and I had a savings of about $50 over what I had priced out. lol

Same here---in fact, we already had our trip booked with full rack prices, knowing that we'd eventually plug in some sort of discount when they dropped. We already had hoppers (we adore hoppers!); we already had Pop rooms; so all we did was plug in free (yes, completely FREE) dining and save $1000.00. Works for me. No other discount would have saved us so much.

off subject i noticed you have been in sept. a few times we just booked for sept. for 2020 do you like that time of year now i am wonder should i just wait and go in dec. because of the weather although i would love to try food and wine.

Sorry you didn't have fun. But Sept is our favorite time to go, though we tend to go during the beginning and the middle. Yes it's hotter, but it also gives you time to slow down and enjoy what the parks have to offer. I guess we never really have waited over 20 minutes for a ride.

We adore going the first half of September. We live well north of Florida, but in an area that still has very hot, very humid Summers, so going to WDW in early Sept. doesn't feel very different to us than being home in August felt. Plus we find the crowds to be less that time of year than many other times. We take things nice and slow, we don't stress, we take lots of little breaks, and we always have a great time. And yes, it will rain every single day---but hey, at least then you don't feel as hot! And the crowds thin out even more, too. And because the crowds are a bit less, transportation takes less time, meaning we get more out of our hoppers. We're planning our 4th early September trip right now, and we're so looking forward to it.

 

[Jaxs27]

I’m pretty sure every movement made can be seen on their computer screen probably forever...
I would definitely call them sooner than later to kindly explain the importance of Polynesian over a GF location.

I called first thing this morning, they ended up transferring me to a Supervisor and they are researching the call. There were no notes on my account. This is really bizarre. Very shortly after making the Poly reservation it showed up in my experience and I'm kicking myself for not taking a screen shot. Never thought I would need to. I'm hopeful after they listen to the phone conversation they will honor it. Ugh

 

[curious_st]

I went ahead and booked a trip. I like going later in the year. Hopefully, some dates will open up for November/December with comparable prices to my booking, and I can switch. Otherwise, I will go and enjoy a hot sweaty time in September

 

[scrappinginontario]

I called first thing this morning, they ended up transferring me to a Supervisor and they are researching the call. There were no notes on my account. This is really bizarre. Very shortly after making the Poly reservation it showed up in my experience and I'm kicking myself for not taking a screen shot. Never thought I would need to. I'm hopeful after they listen to the phone conversation they will honor it. Ugh

Please keep us posted. Hope you get back to Poly!

 

[LaDonna]

Are the taxes already included in the rack room rate Disney World shows on their site? I was just trying to figure out why I added an extra night at $143 rate the price went up $182..... That would be over 25% in taxes which could be right I just never remember seeing this on any past trips i booked....... And I’ve double checked they are the right dates same amount of days on the tickets park hoppers etc. everything is exactly the same except for one extra night at 143

 

[Jacq7414]

Are the taxes already included in the rack room rate Disney World shows on their site? I was just trying to figure out why I added an extra night at $143 rate the price went up $182..... That would be over 25% in taxes which could be right I just never remember seeing this on any past trips i booked....... And I’ve double checked they are the right dates same amount of days on the tickets park hoppers etc. everything is exactly the same except for one extra night at 143

Maybe ? It says package total for me and there is no breakdown of prices so they might add on the taxes

 

[G719]

Late August/Early Sept. is actually one of the absolute least expensive times to go to WDW.

It is less expensive than other times but Disney resort rates vary week to week and day to day and varies when there is a marathon or a holiday. The charts on mousesavers lay out each resort and what the rates are for a certain time of the year. The free dining offer is around the 4th of July holiday and labor day which will have a higher room rate.
https://www.mousesavers.com/2020-disney-world-room-rates-season-dates/

 

[Luna81]

Maybe an aside question - I wasn’t for sure on if we were going to do free dining. And since I did book, I booked myself. Can I transfer my booking to a travel agent at this point, or is it too late/they would have had to make it.

 

[pooch]

Pop Century for the late Aug/early Sept time frame is listed on that chart as Value 2. Almost as low as it gets.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Maybe an aside question - I wasn’t for sure on if we were going to do free dining. And since I did book, I booked myself. Can I transfer my booking to a travel agent at this point, or is it too late/they would have had to make it.

Youmay transfer it to a TA but it will mean the TA will now need to make any changes or updates on your behalf.

 

[Luna81]

Youmay transfer it to a TA but it will mean the TA will now need to make any changes or updates on your behalf.

Thank you! I’ll think on it some

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

Well nothing available during the time frames we want to go, but we’re hopeful another round with more fall/winter dates will come available, the current offer is for a very short time so I’m confident that will be the case......just not sure when.....either way we will still go but it’s always nice to feel like we got some sort of deal!

 

[DisLiss]

It is less expensive than other times but Disney resort rates vary week to week and day to day and varies when there is a marathon or a holiday. The charts on mousesavers lay out each resort and what the rates are for a certain time of the year. The free dining offer is around the 4th of July holiday and labor day which will have a higher room rate.
https://www.mousesavers.com/2020-disney-world-room-rates-season-dates/

Pop Century for the late Aug/early Sept time frame is listed on that chart as Value 2. Almost as low as it gets.

Labor Day doesn't even get mentioned as an actual holiday for some resorts, and when it does it's still lower than several other holiday times. Typically, the more expensive holiday weeks would include New Years, President's Day, Easter, Christmas. For at least some resorts 4th of July is lower than all of those holidays as well.

 

[MickeyP]

This is really strange, but did anyone else ever have all the available rooms left specify that they were handicapped rooms? I'm not handicapped and the screen is only showing me rooms that are handicap accessible, which most are, right?

 

[pooch]

I don’t think MOST rooms are handicap accessible

 

[G719]

Labor Day doesn't even get mentioned as an actual holiday for some resorts, and when it does it's still lower than several other holiday times. Typically, the more expensive holiday weeks would include New Years, President's Day, Easter, Christmas. For at least some resorts 4th of July is lower than all of those holidays as well.

All I'm saying is that the summer free dining has been concentrated to the few weeks where there will be a few nights that are more expensive than the rest of the period. This happened with November free dining before. Weeks were slashed from the promo that used to be covered in prior years but the promo could be booked to cover the week of Thanksgiving.

One thing you can count on is if I plan to go a certain week that used to be covered in the promo it won't be anymore.

ETA: when I said more expensive holiday rates I meant as compared to the other summer weeks. A package over the week of 4th of July is more expensive than a july week without a holiday in it.