Split stay and free dining?

[Heidi K]

For those who have stayed with free dining recently (pre-pandemic), how does it work? Can we do a split stay with free dining? If the promotion starts partway through our trip, then we know we would need a split stay in order to access free dining for the second part of the trip, but would we need two sets of park tickets?

We've never had free dining, so any other tips are appreciated!

 

[Jess.stw]

I had a stay backwards of yours planned for this September (the free dining coincided with the first part of the trip not the second). I could get a longer ticket that extended into the second part of the stay and a room only for that leg. I am not sure if that would work the other way around (longer ticket that activates sooner?)

 

[kaytieeldr]

There's a Tickets thread pinned under Theme Parks Advice and Strategies. If the updated response isn't already there, ask.

 

[sharonabe]

For those who have stayed with free dining recently (pre-pandemic), how does it work? Can we do a split stay with free dining? If the promotion starts partway through our trip, then we know we would need a split stay in order to access free dining for the second part of the trip, but would we need two sets of park tickets?

We've never had free dining, so any other tips are appreciated!

Your tickets must be with the free dining portion of your trip. In the past, you could activate those tickets early, but see the thread katieeldr directed you to for the most updated information.

You would only have dining for the nights you stay with that promotion, so the rest of your stay whether before or after, would not have dining privileges.

 

[vinotinto]

Disney doesn’t have split stays. A split stay is simply two separate reservations.

Pre-pandemic, these were the usual requirements for a reservation to get the free dining plan:
1. Minimum stay (usually 3-4 nights).
2. Required ticket purchase, with minimum number of days (usually 4) and usually PH or PH+ option (note that the recovery offer only required a 2-day base).
3. Check-in during a valid promo date.

Note that not all room types and resorts were included or had availability under the promo. If you already had a reservation and wanted to switch to free dining when it became available, you would need to switch to a resort and room type that has availability under the promo. Also, when Disney switched to date-based tickets, TAs were told guests would not be able to access tickets early. Definitively check out the ticket stickie thread in the TPAS board.


Edit to add, you can see previous discounts offered as bouncebacks, including free dining bouncebacks by clicking on the link in my Signature. Past FD Bounceback requirements were:

Offer: Free QSDP for values and moderates and regular DDP for deluxes/deluxe villas

• Must check *in* within the following dates in 2020:
  • May 26 - June 2, 2020
  • June 26 - September 12, 2020
  • December 9 - December 24, 2020
• Must stay a minimum of 4 nights
• Must purchase a package with a minimum of a 4-day park hopper for every person above the age of 2 on the reservation.
• This offer was available to be booked from August 1, 2019 - October 31, 2019.
• Value & Moderate bookings get free QS dining plan (QSDP).
• Deluxe & Deluxe Villa bookings get free regular dining plan (DDP).
• You can pay the difference to upgrade your plan. For example, the cost to upgrade from QSDP to DDP per night, for each adult, is $23 and $4.50 for children
• This is a package promo. As such if you check-in during an eligible date, you receive FD for your entire stay.
• Excludes - All Star Movies, French Quarter, Bay Lake, Little Mermaid rooms, Grand Floridian Villas.
• If you want to book a Free Dining BounceBack, and you already have a ticket or AP, you will have to purchase a minimum of a 4-day PH.

And here is the thread that had all the info from the 2020 free dining general public offer:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/o...able-first-post-updated-with-details.3779166/

 

[Heidi K]

Disney doesn’t have split stays. A split stay is simply two separate reservations.

Pre-pandemic, these were the usual requirements for a reservation to get the free dining plan:
1. Minimum stay (usually 3-4 nights).
2. Required ticket purchase, with minimum number of days (usually 4) and usually PH or PH+ option (note that the recovery offer only required a 2-day base).
3. Check-in during a valid promo date.

Note that not all room types and resorts were included or had availability under the promo. If you already had a reservation and wanted to switch to free dining when it became available, you would need to switch to a resort and room type that has availability under the promo. Also, when Disney switched to date-based tickets, TAs were told guests would not be able to access tickets early. Definitively check out the ticket stickie thread in the TPAS board.


Edit to add, you can see previous discounts offered as bouncebacks, including free dining bouncebacks by clicking on the link in my Signature. Past FD Bounceback requirements were:

Offer: Free QSDP for values and moderates and regular DDP for deluxes/deluxe villas

• Must check *in* within the following dates in 2020:
  • May 26 - June 2, 2020
  • June 26 - September 12, 2020
  • December 9 - December 24, 2020
• Must stay a minimum of 4 nights
• Must purchase a package with a minimum of a 4-day park hopper for every person above the age of 2 on the reservation.
• This offer was available to be booked from August 1, 2019 - October 31, 2019.
• Value & Moderate bookings get free QS dining plan (QSDP).
• Deluxe & Deluxe Villa bookings get free regular dining plan (DDP).
• You can pay the difference to upgrade your plan. For example, the cost to upgrade from QSDP to DDP per night, for each adult, is $23 and $4.50 for children
• This is a package promo. As such if you check-in during an eligible date, you receive FD for your entire stay.
• Excludes - All Star Movies, French Quarter, Bay Lake, Little Mermaid rooms, Grand Floridian Villas.
• If you want to book a Free Dining BounceBack, and you already have a ticket or AP, you will have to purchase a minimum of a 4-day PH.

And here is the thread that had all the info from the 2020 free dining general public offer:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/o...able-first-post-updated-with-details.3779166/

Thanks for the information. Do you know if we had free dining for only part of our vacation, would we need to stay in the same hotel for the entire stay? Basically, I'm trying to figure out if having two separate reservations (free dining for our last 6 days but nor our first 6 days for example) affect our tickets or not? Could we as a family buy 10 day, park hopper plus tickets that cover us for the entire vacation and then be eligible for the free dining promotion on the back end of our vacation?

 

[vinotinto]

Thanks for the information. Do you know if we had free dining for only part of our vacation, would we need to stay in the same hotel for the entire stay? Basically, I'm trying to figure out if having two separate reservations (free dining for our last 6 days but nor our first 6 days for example) affect our tickets or not? Could we as a family buy 10 day, park hopper plus tickets that cover us for the entire vacation and then be eligible for the free dining promotion on the back end of our vacation?

You need to purchase tickets as part of your package to be eligible for free dining. Stand-alone tickets or passes don’t meet the eligibility requirements.

There are two scenarios:
1) your free dining package with tickets comes first and then you have a non free dining reservation at another hotel.
2) your free dining package with tickets comes second, after a non-FD reservation.

Scenario #1 is not a problem. Just include more days of tickets in your package to cover your second reservation. So, for example, include a 10-day ticket in your package instead of a 5-day ticket.

Scenario #2 is problematic because of the new date-based package tickets not being able to be activated prior to your stay. You can purchase stand-alone tickets that covers both of your stays, but you will still need to buy tickets as part of your FD package. You could use the value of the unused FD tickets to purchase tickets in the future, but note that those tickets will disappear from MDE once your stay ends, and you need to keep track of your reservation number, etc. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it to keep track of thousands of dollars in tickets to purchase tickets in the future, and I’ve done a split stay once and don’t love being orphan during transition day. So, if there is a choice, I would choose between having a split stay or FD and I would probably choose FD (4 Disney adults).

The real question is whether the dining plans will return and if FD will return too. It seems the parks are empty....that bodes well for the return of FD.

 

[Heidi K]

You need to purchase tickets as part of your package to be eligible for free dining. Stand-alone tickets or passes don’t meet the eligibility requirements.

There are two scenarios:
1) your free dining package with tickets comes first and then you have a non free dining reservation at another hotel.
2) your free dining package with tickets comes second, after a non-FD reservation.

Scenario #1 is not a problem. Just include more days of tickets in your package to cover your second reservation. So, for example, include a 10-day ticket in your package instead of a 5-day ticket.

Scenario #2 is problematic because of the new date-based package tickets not being able to be activated prior to your stay. You can purchase stand-alone tickets that covers both of your stays, but you will still need to buy tickets as part of your FD package. You could use the value of the unused FD tickets to purchase tickets in the future, but note that those tickets will disappear from MDE once your stay ends, and you need to keep track of your reservation number, etc. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it to keep track of thousands of dollars in tickets to purchase tickets in the future, and I’ve done a split stay once and don’t love being orphan during transition day. So, if there is a choice, I would choose between having a split stay or FD and I would probably choose FD (4 Disney adults).

The real question is whether the dining plans will return and if FD will return too. It seems the parks are empty....that bodes well for the return of FD.

Thank-you.