Free Dining???

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I have noticed that several people on the board have "free dining". How did you get this? Is it a perk for returning guests?

Also I remember seeing a commercial earlier in the year for Free Disney Dining if you book by a certain date. Does anyone remember these dates? We will not be going until next November or December but I'm hoping we can catch the Free Dining offer if they do it again next year.

[Dizneydaz]

Typically for Aug and Sept. they make the announcement in April. It's not exactly a perk for resort guests, but you do have to stay on property and book a package (min. of a one day base ticket.)

They usually offer a Bounceback offer that if you book for next year while you are there you can get free DDP. This is offered in Aug/Sept. for the following Aug./Sept. (hurricane season).

We've used free DDP 5 times now and love it!

They also offered free DDP again this year for the winter, inc. into Dec. I believe the deal is no longer available.

Keep an eye on the boards to see when they announce it again for next year. Chase Disney Visa usually gets to book the offer first if you use your card.

[Faldred]

Sorry for the canned answers, but you'd be surprised how often these questions come up. ;)

[FREE01]
Q. What is free dining? Is it really free?

A. Free dining is a package discount for Disney resort reservation packages that include park tickets and a dining plan. Since Disney does not allow discounts to stack, it is a full rack-rate room reservation plus a regular price minimum 1-day MYW ticket, with the specified dining plan for each person in the room included at no additional cost. Typically, a free dining package is the basic DDP; however there have been occasions where free dining at certain resorts (typically value resorts) has offered the QSDP instead of basic DDP.

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[FREE02]
Q. When is free dining typically offered?

A. Historically, free dining is offered from roughly mid-August through Septermber, also known as hurricane season. Disney makes the offer to fill resorts, parks, and restaurants at a time of year where there are typically fewer guests booking vacations. Free dining may also offered at other times of the year, depending on how bookings are going; sometimes the offer is open to the general public, other times it may only be through individual offers sent to people on certain marketing lists.

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[QUOTE=Dizneydaz;34345842]

They usually offer a Bounceback offer that if you book for next year while you are there you can get free DDP. This is offered in Aug/Sept. for the following Aug./Sept. (hurricane season).

QUOTE]

The Bounceback offer is what I have been seeing! Thanks!

I will just talk to my TA and keep my eyes open for the free DDP!

[ajcolorado]

Free dining was released early this year - March 27th, I think - for travel in late Aug. - late September. The offer for Oct - Dec was new this year and came later. Free dining has usually been released in early April.

There's usually a free dining thread on this forum that you can subscribe to - as you get into March you see a lot of "Any rumors?", "I can't wait" type posts. Give the updates a quick glance before deleting so you don't miss it.

Another site has a free dining alert list that you can join - they only send info related to free dining so you only get a few messages each year. It doesn't sort for UK or Disney Visa Free Dining offers so you'll get those too. See: http://www.*********************.com/freedining.php#fdal

Mousesavers always sends a hot deal announcement for free dining to their newsletter subscribers. They don't flood your inbox with a lot of stuff either - you'll probably get 2 messages a month.