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

I've never had a problem booking Signature dining the day before, with the exception of Cali Grill, which is a little trickier. I just booked a trip 40 days out and it took me about 3 days to find a suitable Cali Grill time, but I did find it. Plenty of people make plans and then the day before do not feel like it and cancel to avoid the $10 pp charge.
 
Since I signed up for “free dining” what is the tipping protocol for a “free” meal?
 
Since I signed up for “free dining” what is the tipping protocol for a “free” meal?
For table service meals, I would tip 18%-20% of the total bill before tax. The server will present a bill to you at the end of the meal with a suggested tip.
 


If there are 6 at your table (includes those 3 and under who may not be ordering a meal), an automatic 18% is charged to your bill.

Even with Free Dining, it’s easy To see the cost of the meal snd tip based in that.
 
The same as you would tip if paying out of pocket for the meal, 18-20%. The fact that your meal was paid for by a dining plan should have no impact on the amount to tip your server.

I wasn’t sure how the billing is done. So you would get a receipt that shows what you would have paid out of pocket but then it is credited or something by your dining plan?

Thanks, never done this before.
 
I wasn’t sure how the billing is done. So you would get a receipt that shows what you would have paid out of pocket but then it is credited or something by your dining plan?

Thanks, never done this before.
Exactly right. Your bill will show what the meal costs, suggested tip and dining credits used.
 


With Disney closing the loophole of children ordering adult QS meals by separating them I was wondering If you would be able to request that a child QS meal be converted into 3 snacks? Or will they make you use an adult one? With most child meals under $10 this would be a good way to get more bang for your “free” buck! EspeciAlly during the F&W festival. Anyone know?
 
With Disney closing the loophole of children ordering adult QS meals by separating them I was wondering If you would be able to request that a child QS meal be converted into 3 snacks? Or will they make you use an adult one? With most child meals under $10 this would be a good way to get more bang for your “free” buck! EspeciAlly during the F&W festival. Anyone know?
There have been reports that a child QS meal cannot be converted into snacks any more. And there have been reports that it is still being done. I’m not sure what is true or for sure at the moment.
 
With Disney closing the loophole of children ordering adult QS meals by separating them I was wondering If you would be able to request that a child QS meal be converted into 3 snacks? Or will they make you use an adult one? With most child meals under $10 this would be a good way to get more bang for your “free” buck! EspeciAlly during the F&W festival. Anyone know?
There was quite the thread about these changes but it was shut down. Reports have been mixed from:
- you can no longer convert a child's QS to a snack
- you may convert 1 child's QS to 1 snack
- you may convert 1 child's QS to 3 snacks

So, basically we're not sure. This has never been a published option by Disney, just something that was offered (at least that I could find) so there isn't any official place to check. Sorry!
 
Just to add another wrinkle. We had the dining plan on our recent trip. At breakfast my adult daughter wanted to downgrade to a kid meal (she wanted the crepes at BOG) but they could not accommodate. Not only can kids not upgrade, but adults cannot downgrade.
 
So we ended up rebooking our trip and cancelling our free dining. At first I was a little sad about not having the dining plan but honestly paying out of pocket I have a lot more freedom. We were also only doing the quick service plan so it's not a huge loss. I'll still book free dining if it's available with our preferred dates.
 
The conversion of allowing 1 qs credit into 3 snack eligible items, has always been at the discretion of the location where the transaction takes place. It has never been a part of the original Disney Dining plan "rules". It was done as a couretsy.

Disney has always stated: "subject to change at any time".
 
Whenever the next free dining offer becomes available, will it be on this thread or should I be following another thread also. I am hoping to get free dining in early December 2020.
 
Whenever the next free dining offer becomes available, will it be on this thread or should I be following another thread also. I am hoping to get free dining in early December 2020.
IF another 2020 General Public Free Dining offer becomes available I'll include details here.

If it's a Bounce Back Free Dining offer, those details will be in a different thread.
 
Can you book two restaurants in the same time block? Then cancel one when I decide? Thanks for the advice, I agree that to get CG etc, I’d need to try at 180 days.
If you set up a Disney account for someone else in your party and then link your trip together, you can each book dining reservations for the same time frame (don't have to make sure they are spaced a certain amount apart). So you can hold two reservations at once and then decide what to cancel later.
 

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