Free Dining Fall 2015? (and a whole lot more)

[DisMom829]

Question: I booked a package for Sept. I'm waiting for the 30% discount offer to come out. I wanted to start putting money on the reservation. Pay it off monthly until the deadline. If I start now and put more than the 200$ down will that affect me being able to add the room only discount when it comes out?

It will not affect you. I did this last year, had my trip paid off (was going regardless of discount) and then called and had the CM apply the discount. It was nice to get a little extra spending money.

 

[smitch425]

Question: I booked a package for Sept. I'm waiting for the 30% discount offer to come out. I wanted to start putting money on the reservation. Pay it off monthly until the deadline. If I start now and put more than the 200$ down will that affect me being able to add the room only discount when it comes out?

Not at all. If you have a Disney Visa, put at least $200 down with that if you want to take advantage of a potential early booking date. You can completely pay off your package if you want to, and they can just refund you any overage when a discount is applied. You will have to pay the new ticket rates, but it shouldn't be much compared to the room discount.

 

[lauraleh]

If I book tonight for Sept before the ticket prices go up, will I have to pay for the ticket prices if/when I add free dining? Or will they honor the prices I purchased at? Thanks in advance!

 

[LouFapp]

If I book tonight for Sept before the ticket prices go up, will I have to pay for the ticket prices if/when I add free dining? Or will they honor the prices I purchased at? Thanks in advance!

Since FD is considered a change to your package you will have to pay the price increase, but its not going to be much. Increase on a 1 day ticket is expected to be $5 so at worst for a 10 day ticket it shouldn't be more then $50

 

[PammyPoppins]

Does anyone know what resorts are usually not included in free dining? Is Bay tower villas ever included? I am not a vacation club member but we stay at Villas sometimes.
Thank-You,Pammypoppins

 

[lauraleh]

Does anyone know what resorts are usually not included in free dining? Is Bay tower villas ever included? I am not a vacation club member but we stay at Villas sometimes.
Thank-You,Pammypoppins

These were the exclusions last year. All-Star Movies, Port Orleans Resort Riverside, Port Orleans Resort French Quarter, Fort Wilderness campsites, Grand Villas at all resorts (3-bedroom Disney Vacation Club rooms), Art of Animation Little Mermaid Rooms, and the Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort

 

[lauraleh]

Since FD is considered a change to your package you will have to pay the price increase, but its not going to be much. Increase on a 1 day ticket is expected to be $5 so at worst for a 10 day ticket it shouldn't be more then $50

Thank you! I won't bother to rush and book then.

 

[LouFapp]

Does anyone know what resorts are usually not included in free dining? Is Bay tower villas ever included? I am not a vacation club member but we stay at Villas sometimes.
Thank-You,Pammypoppins

Bay Tower Villas is not an "official" disney resort, is it? Only Disney resorts are eligible. Most of the Disney resorts have been included in the past, not sure about all that were excluded however POFQ is one that has been excluded in the past.

 

[LouFapp]

These were the exclusions last year. All-Star Movies, Port Orleans Resort Riverside, Port Orleans Resort French Quarter, Fort Wilderness campsites, Grand Villas at all resorts (3-bedroom Disney Vacation Club rooms), Art of Animation Little Mermaid Rooms, and the Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort

I didnt go last year but I thought I heard riverside ended up being offered at a later date?

 

[ThistleMae]

So I'm confused. I see a lot of people posting that the room discount saves them more then free dining. When I crunch the number (assuming I am correct in thinking that the 30% off is ONLY for the room rate and not park tickets as well) for 13 days at POR I would save like $688, but if I get a DDP free that's a savings of $1686.12!!! Even if I add park tickets to the 30% off it's still only around $1143 so I would still save quite a bit more with free dining. Am I figuring this out wrong, or are they figuring out how much they end up spending on dining and not what the dining plan cost's?

It's different for everyone. It depends on how many you are feeding. My daughter has a family of five, it's way cheaper for her to get free dining over the discount room rate. For me, I'm a party of two, it's cheaper to get discount room rate.

 

[ThistleMae]

So does that mean if you book through a TA with a convention rate and add the dining plan, can they also convert your booking to free dining when that comes out so you essentially get a discounted rate on the room and the free dining?

Hmmm....I was told no...but perhaps she misunderstood what I was asking and assumed I was asking for free dinning. I'll ask her again. Thank you.

 

[smitch425]

I didnt go last year but I thought I heard riverside ended up being offered at a later date?

Riverside was included in the UOC (formerly called PIN codes) that was released around the same time as the public offer. The UOC also had more dates.

 

[MamaJessie]

So, I have gone through a TA before but it was years ago. Would I have to book my ADR's and spwcial events through them too or will I be able to book myself at 180+? I just looked around Google. Every agent wants my info and then they will provide a quote. I hate that. Why can't they just give me an estimate or tell me what they have to offer. I don't want 20 agent bombing my inbox.

There are so many variables imo it is impossible to just ballpark a Disney vaca with zero info.

Question: I booked a package for Sept. I'm waiting for the 30% discount offer to come out. I wanted to start putting money on the reservation. Pay it off monthly until the deadline. If I start now and put more than the 200$ down will that affect me being able to add the room only discount when it comes out?

Yes you can pay more than the $200 and still switch to a discount. You could also put the money in a Disney vacation account (I haven't tried that yet but plan on starting one!)
.

 

[G719]

I went online and priced out the same package I have and the package is still the same price as when I booked it in August. I wanted to see how much it would increase if I add a discount to it in the future. I guess they haven't updated everything to reflect the new prices?

 

[LouFapp]

Riverside was included in the UOC (formerly called PIN codes) that was released around the same time as the public offer. The UOC also had more dates.

Riverside was included in the UOC (formerly called PIN codes) that was released around the same time as the public offer. The UOC also had more dates.

Hopefully with CSR now offering rooms for larger families, similar to POR's Bayou rooms, that will spread out the ressies and open up the opportunity for POR to be included again. If not I'll have to hope CSR is offered.

 

[LouFapp]

Just FYI, I got a quote from an agent and its exactly what it would be booking myself. I called Disney to see if there happened to be an offer attached to my account and the nice CM said offers should come out around the end of April or beginning of May. Not new info but hopefully some reassurance for some. Again, that is all based on Disney's needs. The less rooms to fill, the less offers there will be.

 

[MissMaryQC]

I went online and priced out the same package I have and the package is still the same price as when I booked it in August. I wanted to see how much it would increase if I add a discount to it in the future. I guess they haven't updated everything to reflect the new prices?

The web site has been glitching all day; I've been trying to price out the increase as well. We will likely see the increase by midnight on all resorts packages, I'd think.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Hopefully with CSR now offering rooms for larger families, similar to POR's Bayou rooms, that will spread out the ressies and open up the opportunity for POR to be included again. If not I'll have to hope CSR is offered.

CBR is the resort that just added the rooms for 5 like POR, not CSR

 

[LouFapp]

CBR is the resort that just added the rooms for 5 like POR, not CSR

Really? Awesome. I wouldn't mind staying at CBR. Any chance they changed to queen beds too?

 

[pinkle]

Really? Awesome. I wouldn't mind staying at CBR. Any chance they changed to queen beds too?

I believe so, we are staying there in August.
so.......prices are going up today?? A lot?