Making ADRs now - but hoping for free dining?

[sugabutt]

I've never done the free dining before, so I have a question - If I have in mind the dates I'm going in September, can I make my dining ressies now, but when the FDP comes out and I book my room at that point, can my dinner ressies be used under the dining plan? Even the ones that I have to pre-pay for (like CRT)?

[jlk806]

Absolutely, we have not booked our resort booked yet, but all of our dining reservations are made. The only difference is if you do have a Disney resort reservation, on the 180th day out you can make ressies for that day plus 10 days, whereas if you dont have a ressie you can only make res for exactly 180 days out or less (I went back on every day and made the ressies for the next day). I too am waiting for the offer, we will still go if they dont, but are hoping for some type of offer.

[TDC Nala]

You can make any restaurant reservation you want, whether you have a WDW resort reservation or not, as long as you are 180 days or less from the date you want to dine.

You do not need to link a future resort reservation to any of your previously made restaurant reservations if you do not wish to. It will make no difference whether you do or not. If you have already paid for CRT, unless you cancel and rebook the reservation, you can only get it refunded when you arrive and notify the restaurant that you will be paying with dining credits. If you do not want to prepay the CRT reservation you may want to wait to make it until you actually have a resort reservation with a dining plan attached (which, depending on the time you aquire the resort reservation, may limit your availabilty).

[Suellen]

Wanted to add that if you do have to pay for a meal in advance and then use dining credits it can take 30 days+ to get your credit back to your credit card. They say up to "two billing cycles"

When we were there in Sept we got our credit the next day. In December it took more than 30 days. When I called about the credit and was told two billing cycles (by the by not sure what that really means since it was a debit card and not a credit card) after pointing out that I had my Sept credit before our vacation was over I was told they had made some major changes to how credits are issued and it would now take the 30+ days every time. So I would warn against that if you want the credit.

[Denzbrujah]

We are also hoping for FD in Aug (we are going to upgrade to DxDP).
We made all our Ressies this morning and actually got everything we wanted for just about all the times we requested (no more than a 15 min differance in our original requests) which wasn't the case last year when everyone did the mad dash for the phone's the second they hit the 90 mark. I think many folks are holding out for FD and don't realize you can book as long as you fall within the 180. So book as soon as you can especially if you want optimal times at many of the more popular dining establishments.

[pauly's girl]

If you are going to go regardless of the FD then why not book your package....there will be some sort of discount even if it is not the FD. You only have to put 200 dollars down to hold your ressie and then make your ADRs. If you are unsure whether you are going to go if you do not get free dining then making ADRs may be taking availability away from those who are definetly going. Good luck....hope you get to go....we are heading there in Sept also!!! :banana:

[Tiggs14]

My only concern would be that they will offer the quick service dining plan for the value resorts (I see you're going to be staying at Pop). If this is the case all of your table service meals will be out of pocket as the quick service plan only includes counter service meals.

In order to get the regular dining plan you'll likely need to stay at a moderate or higher resort.

This is all speculation based on what has been previously released. No one will know for sure what's going to be offered until it's made public.

[TDC Nala]

In the past it has been allowed to upgrade the plan you receive free (on US reservations, although not on UK ones). The cost to upgrade the QS plan to the basic dining is $10 per adult per night and $2 per child per night (in non-peak seasons, and it's not anticipated that general public free dining will be offered in a peak season)

[Suellen]

We did free dining last year and it was regular dining for a Value resort. I have not seen the QS restriction before. When did they release that?

[TDC Nala]

The general public offer for check-ins from September 27 to December 17, 2009, included the quick service plan free for value resorts.

There are currently a number of 2010 PIN offers with quick service free for value resorts.

As for the terms of the 2010 August/Sept general public offer, we'll have to wait until Disney releases it, but it's a good idea to be prepared in case they do start offering QS at values.

[pauly's girl]

I guess I should have specified we are upgrading to the DXDP. My friend received a code for free QSD and was allowed to upgrade....as TC Nala said the cost to upgrade is only 10 dollars a day for adults and 2 for children....in my opinion it's more then worth it!!