Free Dining Watch 2009 - Dates Released!! Update post 1

[Funnyguy]

Last year when Free Dining was offered, does anyone know if you could get it if you just had resort reservations, but did not have a "vacation package"? Just asking because everytime I price up my trip with the "vacation package" with the hotel and tickets its much more expensive then if I price the hotel and tickets seperate. I'm just not sure if they gave free dining if you didnt sign up with the tickets and hotel together?

 

[KKB]

Last year when Free Dining was offered, does anyone know if you could get it if you just had resort reservations, but did not have a "vacation package"? Just asking because everytime I price up my trip with the "vacation package" with the hotel and tickets its much more expensive then if I price the hotel and tickets seperate. I'm just not sure if they gave free dining if you didnt sign up with the tickets and hotel together?

You only have to order a one day ticket for each person to receive free dining (days based on the number of nights you are staying)

 

[penjen]

Funny guy- I think you would need the hotel and atleast one day passes for each person to get the FD.
hth

 

[lilys.mom]

We have gone the last three years and have stayed at Poly each time but decided for a chance this year. I picked CBR b/c its the closest to Poly in theme (tropical, beachy). I hear good things about it so I hope its good. Have you booked already? I am just waiting for free dining to appear so I can book

Good Morning! I went ahead and booked my room and ticket package! Hoping it will be easy/ok to add free dining when the big announcement comes!!!! I am just hoping I will be able to get DD2 away from the pool at CBR

 

[Funnyguy]

But do you have to purchase the hotel and tickets together?


When I figured our hotel and tickets together under the vacation package it came up about $300 more than if I bought the hotel and tickets both seperate. I know I've heard one reason is Disney automatically figures in vacation insurance on the "vacation package"....which I don't need and didn't even know I had last year.

 

[LuccaDrake]

But do you have to purchase the hotel and tickets together?


When I figured our hotel and tickets together under the vacation package it came up about $300 more than if I bought the hotel and tickets both seperate. I know I've heard one reason is Disney automatically figures in vacation insurance on the "vacation package"....which I don't need and didn't even know I had last year.

Yes it must be booked together as a package (assuming FD is offered with the same Terms as previous years). If you do not want the vacation insurance simply decline it.

 

[IDoBelieveInFairies2]

Subscribing and hoping for a deal!

 

[DisneyMom5]

But do you have to purchase the hotel and tickets together?


When I figured our hotel and tickets together under the vacation package it came up about $300 more than if I bought the hotel and tickets both seperate. I know I've heard one reason is Disney automatically figures in vacation insurance on the "vacation package"....which I don't need and didn't even know I had last year.

YES, you have to purchase them together. Don't know why you are getting such a descrepancy. Should be the same. Packages include tax, do rooms only? If not, it's the taxes. Quotes for packages do not include the insurance unless you get to that point in the system.

I have never found a difference when pricing it out separately from Disney, only if you are buying tickets from a discounter.

ETA: One additional thought - The WDW website automatically adds preferred room to value hotels, and you have to unclick it, as well as including all the ticket options, and you have to unclick that also. Try that when you price.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

But do you have to purchase the hotel and tickets together?


When I figured our hotel and tickets together under the vacation package it came up about $300 more than if I bought the hotel and tickets both seperate. I know I've heard one reason is Disney automatically figures in vacation insurance on the "vacation package"....which I don't need and didn't even know I had last year.

You can take the insurance off. Packages used to be more than buying it all seperately, but now they are actually almost identical. Within a few dollars of each other.

If your package came out $300 more, it was probably because of insurance, and maybe an extra day got added in, or park hoppers, etc.

I'm almost certain you will have to buy a package to get free dining, but don't worry, it really shouldn't cost you any more.

 

[ZeroToHero]

If you want to compare your 40% off pins and free dining, you can get a pretty good idea now.

Take the total of your 40% off package. Add in the cost of the regular dining package for your family if you have not already.


Then price a Magic Your Way package of the same length. NOT a buy 4 get 3 package, price a regular Magic Your Way package. Make sure you have the same options included as your 40% off package i.e. insurance or not, park hoppers, water parks, number of ticket days, etc. Do NOT add in dining.

Now compare the two and see which is a better deal for your party.

I also wanted to add that for some people, they might not do the DDP if they don't get free dining (people like me ) because they're cheap.
So for them, I would assume 15-20$ per quickservice meal, and 30$+ per tableservice, depending on where you're eating (I tend to price out about how much it would be at each restaurant, depending on what I'm interested in eating).

You would then multiply that by number by number of people eating, numbers of each type of meal eaten for the entire trip.. etc.

Sorry I'm making you all do math!

I know for myself, I have a TS each night of the trip if we get free dining, but if we don't, I have us going to one TS the night of our anniversary, and the rest is quick service. (I suppose you could also look at the QSDDP too... so many numbers!)

 

[mermaid&cinderella]

Okay looking at this thread I am now thinking September will be fairly busy. Is September during free dining usually busy?
I was hoping to go september to have less crowds, thinking kids are back in school so the parks will be somewhat empty, will they be

 

[ZeroToHero]

Okay looking at this thread I am now thinking September will be fairly busy. Is September during free dining usually busy?
I was hoping to go september to have less crowds, thinking kids are back in school so the parks will be somewhat empty, will they be

The main place you will notice the difference will be the restaurants... they'll be packed. Definitely need ADRs.

And keep in mind that busy for Disney is not the same as busy for the average person. There will still be lines, but they'll just be shorter... not sure if it will be noticeable or not, however, with the economy the way it is - maybe it will be.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Okay looking at this thread I am now thinking September will be fairly busy. Is September during free dining usually busy?
I was hoping to go september to have less crowds, thinking kids are back in school so the parks will be somewhat empty, will they be

Unfortunately, there really isn't an "empty" time at Disney anymore. September is still a slower time to go, but don't expect the parks to be empty - there will still be plenty of people there. Thousands and thousands of people take their kids out of school for this offer - including us. When we went in 2007 for free dining. I found the crowds to be more medium-ish than low.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I also wanted to add that for some people, they might not do the DDP if they don't get free dining (people like me ) because they're cheap.
So for them, I would assume 15-20$ per quickservice meal, and 30$+ per tableservice, depending on where you're eating (I tend to price out about how much it would be at each restaurant, depending on what I'm interested in eating).

You would then multiply that by number by number of people eating, numbers of each type of meal eaten for the entire trip.. etc.

Sorry I'm making you all do math!

I know for myself, I have a TS each night of the trip if we get free dining, but if we don't, I have us going to one TS the night of our anniversary, and the rest is quick service. (I suppose you could also look at the QSDDP too... so many numbers!)

Very true! Before the dining plan came along, we only did one or two table service meals a trip to save money. So, strictly from a financial standpoint, if you wouldn't normally eat many table service meals, you might come out better with the 40% off and your regular way of eating.

Not nearly as fun though!!

 

[ZeroToHero]

Not nearly as fun though!!

I agree! It's so much cooler to come back from summer vacation and tell people you ate around the world and with princesses than tell them you had the best pulled pork you've ever had... not that Flame Tree is bad.. just not as cool as TS.

 

[arielmomma]

When we went last year from 9/9-9/17 and we felt that it was very slow compared to what we were used to (we have primarily gone in the summer). They were very little lines. Of course, the restaurants were packed. We were very pleased with going in September and will be going back again. Hurray!

 

[mom2rtk]

Don't let the potential crowds scare you off. It won't be dead, but it won't be bad either. We were there in December with Free Dining and it was manageable. Just know that GETTING your ADR's will be challenging. Know what you want early on, especially since it's only 90 days out now. I kept trying to make a couple of changes to our ADR's for the December trip and things just never opened back up. I called every day for a long time, even as the economy tanked, thinking things would open up. Nope. But we had a great time and the parks were quite manageable. And fortunately we had the other ADR's we had made in June (6 months out!)

 

[PrincessTiffany]

When we went last year from 9/9-9/17 and we felt that it was very slow compared to what we were used to (we have primarily gone in the summer). They were very little lines. Of course, the restaurants were packed. We were very pleased with going in September and will be going back again. Hurray!

Of course, there were at least 5 major named storms during last year's FD promo and three of those storms were actual hurricanes, so I think that's why the crowds were a little bit lower in '08 than in '07.

 

[lilys.mom]

Okay looking at this thread I am now thinking September will be fairly busy. Is September during free dining usually busy?
I was hoping to go september to have less crowds, thinking kids are back in school so the parks will be somewhat empty, will they be

Since this is my first time. I have no idea, but I have seen pictures where it seems to look a lot less crowded in September!!! So maybe it wont be too bad!

 

[mom2rtk]

You have to understand the reason Disney has offered this promotion this particular time of year is because the crowds are thinner than in the summer when kids are out of school. It's the same reason they started the Halloween party years ago. It's the same reason they did the Pirate & Princess Party the past couple of years. If there's a special promotion going on, it's probably NOT peak time in the parks. It will work somewhat, bringing in more traffic, but still won't be as busy as summer, spring break or Christmas.

The truth is that there is NO such thing as a really slow time at Disney, even in a down economy...........