2010 Free Dining Discussion-Free Dining released for everyone (see 1st post)

[jenseib]

Just have your child wait at a table with your hubby. That's what I did. Once I went to a Quick service with all my family and the lady was like kids order off kids menu. Then next time I went up alone and ordered all adult items since my kids weren't there the lady didn't say anything. Only at the restaurants they ordered off kids menu. But most restaurants are buffets so I had no problem.

You aren't allowed to post that here. I know becuase someone did a year or 2 ago and I asked about it and it all got deleted. It's "trying to get around Disney rules".
I will say that the card is marked at what you have. WE have 2 adults and 1 child. If we are buying 3 meals, one has to be a childs. Though if you eat at different times of the day, you do and will lose track of how many adults verses child meals have been eaten. So sometimes we may have gotten an extra adult meal, because we lost track. Also for us, sometimes we got an adult meal for breakfast and DD and I shared, and then an adult meal at lunch time and shared as well. But another time I went and got a sandwhich I wanted, but that was on the kids meal plan. LOL

 

[Evan&Kimberly]

So people who are booking prematurely and hoping for the Free Dining are actually shooting themselves in the foot?

May I ask why you are saying that!

 

[Tony0212]

A lot of things at Disney are based on the honor system..unfortunately..there are always those people who will try to get something for nothing or try to out smart the system.

I know when we stay at Pop we always see people with mugs that are from years ago...as far back as 10 yrs ago even. Once I asked an employee about this..she stated that it is wrong to do...mugs clearly are to be used only during your stay in which you purchased the mug. However, she went on to say that a Disney employee will never embarrass someone who is using an outdated mug.

It's stealing..people know this. And we all pay for it in the end with less specials and higher prices.

 

[StacyMarie]

May I ask why you are saying that!

Because if too many people prebook their vacations now in anticipation of FD, Disney will not release as many rooms that are offered in the FD promo. Disney only releases so many rooms under the promo based on how many empty rooms there are at each resort. If the resorts are full or close to full, then the less rooms at that resort will be offered for FD and more rooms with the free dining promo will be released at the resorts with the least rooms filled. Does that make sense?

All the people that are prebooking their vacations now in anticipation of FD are not increasing their chances of getting the FD promo when it comes out, they are actually decreasing the number of rooms that will be released for the promo. If you prebook and think that you have a better chance at getting FD, you are wrong. You have to stand in line just like the rest of the people waiting for free dining. If FD is released and you call to have it added to your package, if too many people have prebooked at your resort, there are less rooms available on the package and you may have to switch resorts to get the FD.

When people prebook in anticipation of FD, it is bad for all waiting for it because then the number of rooms offered for the promo are decreased all around because Disney thinks their resorts are already full or filling up.

 

[disneymeces]

May I ask why you are saying that!

I have always booked ahead, and prayed for FD, and I have never had a problem, I didn't even have to switch motels, so I'm not sure why they would say that but It would be interesting to know why it is such a big deal If I waited for them to announce (like this year) we may not get the motel we want (which is why I booked in Feb) FD will just be a bonus!

 

[gigi1313]

I have always booked ahead, and prayed for FD, and I have never had a problem, I didn't even have to switch motels, so I'm not sure why they would say that but It would be interesting to know why it is such a big deal If I waited for them to announce (like this year) we may not get the motel we want (which is why I booked in Feb) FD will just be a bonus!

first of all, they are resorts, not motels!

secondly, just because you have been lucky in the past guarantees nothing for the future...

thirdly, having a non-promo reservation at a resort does not guarantee you that same resort if/when FD is announced... disney does not actually "add" the promo to your reservation but cancels one and creates another (sometimes using the same ressie number, making it look like it's the same)... if there are no rooms for the FD promo left at that particular resort, then you are out of luck...

adding to what a PP said... booking now in hopes of FD (and planning to cancel if it doesn't come along) does not help your chances of anything excepting giving disney a false sense of "security" where occupancy levels are for a given time period... and if occupancy levels look promising, they won't need to offer any discount at all!

however, if you are planning to go FD promo or not, then you are right to book when you did...

 

[StacyMarie]

May I ask why you are saying that!

I have always booked ahead, and prayed for FD, and I have never had a problem, I didn't even have to switch motels, so I'm not sure why they would say that but It would be interesting to know why it is such a big deal If I waited for them to announce (like this year) we may not get the motel we want (which is why I booked in Feb) FD will just be a bonus!

It is all based on resort occupancy. The resorts with the lower numbers have more rooms available for the FD promo. The resorts that are full or near full, do not get as many rooms released for the FD promo and the people that prebooked do not have a better chance at getting a room with FD, they just decreased the chance of FD for everybody else who wants it and wanted to stay at that particular resort, all based on occupancy of the resort of course.

 

[metsno1]

I have always booked ahead, and prayed for FD, and I have never had a problem, I didn't even have to switch motels, so I'm not sure why they would say that but It would be interesting to know why it is such a big deal If I waited for them to announce (like this year) we may not get the motel we want (which is why I booked in Feb) FD will just be a bonus!

This has been the topic of about a thousand posts so far this year!!

Disney allocates a certain percentage of their rooms at each resort for the FD promo; it's not FD for everybody!

Chances are, you'll be absolutely fine. But there have been posts where people indicated that they did, in fact, have to change either their dates or their resort in order to take advantage of FD. You're not guaranteed a room WITH FD at the resort you've pre-booked. All you're guaranteed by pre-booking is the room itself.

 

[StacyMarie]

This has been the topic of about a thousand posts so far this year!!

Disney allocates a certain percentage of their rooms at each resort for the FD promo; it's not FD for everybody!

Chances are, you'll be absolutely fine. But there have been posts where people indicated that they did, in fact, have to change either their dates or their resort in order to take advantage of FD. You're not guaranteed a room WITH FD at the resort you've pre-booked. All you're guaranteed by pre-booking is the room itself.

You are so right about a thousand posts this year on this topic. I bet over half this thread is about this VERY thing.

 

[jenseib]

A lot of things at Disney are based on the honor system..unfortunately..there are always those people who will try to get something for nothing or try to out smart the system.

I know when we stay at Pop we always see people with mugs that are from years ago...as far back as 10 yrs ago even. Once I asked an employee about this..she stated that it is wrong to do...mugs clearly are to be used only during your stay in which you purchased the mug. However, she went on to say that a Disney employee will never embarrass someone who is using an outdated mug.

It's stealing..people know this. And we all pay for it in the end with less specials and higher prices.

Probably not a good idea to bring up the refillable mug here either. It is a very heated debate. If you want to talk about that look for a thread about that, if you can find one that hasn't been closed.

I have always booked ahead, and prayed for FD, and I have never had a problem, I didn't even have to switch motels, so I'm not sure why they would say that but It would be interesting to know why it is such a big deal If I waited for them to announce (like this year) we may not get the motel we want (which is why I booked in Feb) FD will just be a bonus!

Read the post above yours.

 

[metsno1]

If you are doing FD, I highly recommend registering your 8 yr old as an adult, you will pay a little more for his ticket but she can order enough food to fill her up. Our 9 yr old would starve & be bored to tears with children's menus. Most CS do have a child's menu, and they are required to order off it if the are a child. Check out allears.net for menus. HTH!

Two things:

1. I completely agree. We've done this twice for our two DD's. Just paid the difference between the kids park ticket and the adult park ticket. This was at the direct suggestion of a Disney CM when I made the reservation for the first trip, and confirmed as OK when making the ressie for the second!

2. I'm surprised we haven't seen one of the "But you're taking advantage of the Great God Disney when you do that! It's dishonest. Just because a Disney CM suggested it to you and then confirmed that's it's totally OK doesn't mean that it's REALLY OK! You should be ashamed!!"

 

[-Hope-]

You are so right about a thousand posts this year on this topic. I bet over half this thread is about this VERY thing.

Yep, and the other half are about the merits of QSDP vs. DDP

 

[Sortin]

If you are doing FD, I highly recommend registering your 8 yr old as an adult, you will pay a little more for his ticket but she can order enough food to fill her up. Our 9 yr old would starve & be bored to tears with children's menus. Most CS do have a child's menu, and they are required to order off it if the are a child. Check out allears.net for menus. HTH!

Thank-you for the tip! I will have to crunch the numbers and see if it would be better to upgrade her to an adult of just pay oop for extra food. My friend must have been lucky enough to hit ONLY those CS places with no child's menu? I'll have to check with her again about that.

 

[teedee]

I have always booked ahead, and prayed for FD, and I have never had a problem, I didn't even have to switch motels, so I'm not sure why they would say that but It would be interesting to know why it is such a big deal If I waited for them to announce (like this year) we may not get the motel we want (which is why I booked in Feb) FD will just be a bonus!

Same with me. I understand what others are saying, but that just has not been my experience. This is especially true for us here on Dis since we will be watching for the free dining and most likely be calling the first day it's offered to try and get it. That being said, last year I booked a December trip not expecting free dining that time of year. The offer had been out for a couple ofweeks before I became aware of it since I hadn't been watching for it and I still was able to upgrade to FD with no problem. Obviously there's no guarantee, but then there's no guarantee they will even announce FD but I'm going regardless, FD will just, hopefully, be a nice bonus.

Terri

 

[Sortin]

Just have your child wait at a table with your hubby. That's what I did. Once I went to a Quick service with all my family and the lady was like kids order off kids menu. Then next time I went up alone and ordered all adult items since my kids weren't there the lady didn't say anything. Only at the restaurants they ordered off kids menu. But most restaurants are buffets so I had no problem.

Ahh - another great tip! So, just to make sure, there is no difference between adult and child credits on the card? It would be better to have one adult order for us all anyway - instead of 4 kids in the line for no reason.

 

[micknpluto]

My plan is to wait it out, fingers crossed FD announced asap. hoping i can grab a room at Pop with FD I will book as soon as its announced. I only remember one year not being able to get Pop had to go with an ALL Star. this year is important for Pop cause we already have a room there and we all want to be at the same resort.

 

[gigi1313]

Ahh - another great tip! So, just to make sure, there is no difference between adult and child credits on the card? It would be better to have one adult order for us all anyway - instead of 4 kids in the line for no reason.

the card reads the number of people in your room based on age, so when my kids were littler, our cards read: 2A/2C, now that they are teens and we had another child our cards read: 4A/1C...

now, CMs are not supposed to permit you to order more than the allotted meals on your card... so, if you want 3A meals, you cannot have it on a card that says 2A/2C... you can have any combination up to but not exceeding 2A/2C...

 

[Sortin]

Ahh - another great tip! So, just to make sure, there is no difference between adult and child credits on the card? It would be better to have one adult order for us all anyway - instead of 4 kids in the line for no reason.

I've read the rest of the posts about this now

I'm thinking either ,
a. I state that my dd is 10 instead of 8 and pay up for her tickets, or
b. Figure out if there are any CS locations that don't have a child's menu and go there,
c. OR just share - I doubt everyone in my party will be able to finish all of their food, especially with dessert tacked on the end.

I think I'll go for sharing and see how that goes. Since we've never been there before (I'm not counting my childhood trips since I don't remember much , I think it will be fun to live and learn. Plus, if we do get FD it's not going to break the bank if we have to purchase more food for her oop.

 

[metsno1]

I've read the rest of the posts about this now

I'm thinking either ,
a. I state that my dd is 10 instead of 8 and pay up for her tickets, or
b. Figure out if there are any CS locations that don't have a child's menu and go there,
c. OR just share - I doubt everyone in my party will be able to finish all of their food, especially with dessert tacked on the end.

I think I'll go for sharing and see how that goes. Since we've never been there before (I'm not counting my childhood trips since I don't remember much , I think it will be fun to live and learn. Plus, if we do get FD it's not going to break the bank if we have to purchase more food for her oop.

Both times we've been with FD, we've ended up with a ridiculous number of counter service credits left over at the end! My wife can't STAND to waste food-free or otherwise-and I agree! So we end up sharing meals a LOT, and our family of four has never spent one minute feeling super-hungry!

In fact, we've spent a huge percentage of our time feeling exceptionally bloated!!

So pace yourselves, eat when you're hungry, don't eat when you're not, share meals, and try as much of a variety as you can. You'll have a blast!!

 

[ShhhQ]

Since most people DO eat meals 3 times a day at home... I expect having a CS lunch and a TS Dinner really isn't a whole lot of food!!! We usually do that, and some days don't even get a snack. So we use up our credits for meals no problems...... but usually have a couple snack credits left and buy some treats to take home.