2008 Free Dining Plan

[Candleshoe]

Go to wdwinfo.com and they have a nice itemization of all of the WDW hotel prices

Just hoping someone here knew Or do you have a link to the page with the rack rates? I actually looked there first, but didn't see rack rates listed. (Then again I spend most of my time there in the DVC section *s*)

How exactly do you do the AAA rate on the room and still get the DP?

You can NOT get the AAA discount and Free Dining. Free Dining can not ever be combined with any other discounts. It's one or the other.

I'm not certain that's spot on. Or maybe it is with the 'free' dining. I do believe in '05 or so reading about people stacking the two. I'm hoping someone with experience with AAA room discounts will weigh in on this one!

It's not for sure that we WILL go at the time period. If we cannot get the free dining, I'll more than likely either rent DVC points, or stay offsite and go another time of year. SO, with that in mind, is it important to book now and add the Free Dining? Or is it possible to just wait until it's announced and buy then?

You can book now and add the Free Dining code to your room when it comes out in April, but there is no guarantee that you won't have to rebook. Each resort is only allotted so many rooms for the FD promo. Pop and ASMo usually sell out first at the values.

How about the flipside of my question -- seeing how I don't WANT to book now? TIA, all!

You just have to put down a $200 deposit and pay off the balance 45 days before your trip.

T H A N K S, P.T.! I swear the older my daughter gets the more I forget.

 

[becky_AK]

Can't wait to hear if they are going to offer free dining again or not. We went last year & it was great. I think that even w/ the appetizer & gratuity gone it is a pretty good deal for us. I'm just counting down the days to April so that we will know for sure & I can make a ressie!

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

I was told by Mousesavers.com that if I placed a courtesy hold on a vacation package (room and tickets), we could go ahead and make our advanced dining reservations....we would receive a confirmation # with the courtesy hold which would enable us to call Disney to make ADR's.

My question: Since a courtesy hold lasts for only 14 days, will my ADR's be wiped out as well (since any new reservation will undoubtedly carry with it a new confirmation #)?

I know I can't call for ADR's before 180 days of our arrival........so I wanted to get a jump on our favourite restaurants in case free dining is offered the last week of August........I wanted to avoid the rush in April IF free dining is offered........just wondering if it's a waste of time if our expired courtesy hold on a vacation package wouls cancel our our ADR's

Anyone know for sure ?

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I'm not certain that's spot on. Or maybe it is with the 'free' dining. I do believe in '05 or so reading about people stacking the two. I'm hoping someone with experience with AAA room discounts will weigh in on this one!

We are AAA members and we could not get our AAA discount with Free Dining. Free Dining is not combined with any other promos.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I was told by Mousesavers.com that if I placed a courtesy hold on a vacation package (room and tickets), we could go ahead and make our advanced dining reservations....we would receive a confirmation # with the courtesy hold which would enable us to call Disney to make ADR's.

My question: Since a courtesy hold lasts for only 14 days, will my ADR's be wiped out as well (since any new reservation will undoubtedly carry with it a new confirmation #)?

I know I can't call for ADR's before 180 days of our arrival........so I wanted to get a jump on our favourite restaurants in case free dining is offered the last week of August........I wanted to avoid the rush in April IF free dining is offered........just wondering if it's a waste of time if our expired courtesy hold on a vacation package wouls cancel our our ADR's

Anyone know for sure ?

Anyone can make reservations for dining 180 days out - hotel stay or not. If you're within that window, you can call and make them. You don't need to stay onsite or anything.

The only thing you "lose" by not having a Disney hotel reservation is that you can't make your entire trip's worth of reservations on 180 days out from your first reservation. But honestly, unless you are trying to get V&As Chef Table or breakfast at CRT, you shouldn't have a problem waiting 1 more day to make yours.

 

[TDC Nala]

My guess is that the Labor Day upgrades last year occurred because the values were entirely full and space had to be freed up to accommodate a group. Just my guess.

I may or I may not have read on the DIS that people were able to get an AAA package discount with free dining if, and only if, they booked through AAA. Thought that was posted somewhere but of course the search doesn't work. Maybe that isn't free dining, but a regular dining plan that you pay for.

 

[corndog]

I guess I'm the lone voice of dissent. Everytime we run the numbers, the "free" dining is just not worth it. We were there for 10 days in September. We went to 4-5 character meals, HDDR, and other nice meals. Every way we ran the numbers, the room discount was a better deal.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I guess I'm the lone voice of dissent. Everytime we run the numbers, the "free" dining is just not worth it. We were there for 10 days in September. We went to 4-5 character meals, HDDR, and other nice meals. Every way we ran the numbers, the room discount was a better deal.

We have four children and stayed at Pop for 8 nights with 8 day hoppers and had a character meal every night we were there. We saved $1,300 with the dining plan. There is no way we would ever save that much money with a room discount. I wish!

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm not using free dining either. I am going from August 30-September 2 on DVC points. I could buy the plan but I won't. I could have bought the bounceback but decided it would be better to use points.

 

[Candleshoe]

TDC Nala --- Yep, yep and Yep on everything you said The only reason I'm investigating the whole Free Dining thing is its coinciding with Night of Joy. And I'm still not sure I've a hard time paying rack rate for anything!

Speaking of which! Does anyone know the rack rates on the Values and the Moderates? wdwinfo does not appear to list it. At least not here: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/disney-rates-2008.htm

Knowing if it's a good deal for ones family or not you have to take in all sorts of considerations! For instance, the fact that we usually spend ~$70/night for accomdations. Now, if the Values are $90/night (that's a guess) we have to add $20 to the cost of the meals. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a fact that I have to factor in. In Free dining of course, it's added in to zero so the math's pretty simple. LOL.

TIA for those RACK RATES, pretty please!

Time to go to

 

[DISNEYNY]

I guess I'm the lone voice of dissent. Everytime we run the numbers, the "free" dining is just not worth it. We were there for 10 days in September. We went to 4-5 character meals, HDDR, and other nice meals. Every way we ran the numbers, the room discount was a better deal.

I see that you stayed at the Poly last year. I have read that the FDP is only a better bargain if you are staying in value or moderate. The room discount is probably more beneficial if you are staying at a deluxe.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Speaking of which! Does anyone know the rack rates on the Values and the Moderates? wdwinfo does not appear to list it. At least not here: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/disney-rates-2008.htm

They're there. You just need to scroll down that page to the rate charts.

 

[Candleshoe]

They're there. You just need to scroll down that page to the rate charts.

Nope! I did that BEFORE I posted I also searched for "Rack" on the page and it only appears twice in headers near the top.

So does anyone know the Rack rates for the values and moderates or can you post a link to a website that has them?

MUCH appreciated!

 

[kaytieeldr]

No, really - the rates on this http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/disney-rates-2008.htm#value page ARE the rack rates. Rack rates are the full, or 'regular', or 'basic', or non-discounted, or whatever you want to call them - the PUBLISHED rates for a hotel's rooms.

The link you provided DOES show the rack rates for Value and Moderate resorts. Just scroll down the page to the rate charts.

Value first:
First you come to a section explaining what dates are included in each pricing 'season', and the holiday periods; then, right below that is a chart showing the rack rates for the different seasons/dates throughout the year.

Below that section is the same information for the Moderate resorts.

To get get comparable information for the Deluxe resorts, readers do need to click on the Deluxe link on that page - but ALL the Rack Rate information for the Value and the Moderate resorts is on that page.

 

[moopdog]

I am thinking I want to book my trip now, but not positive that it will be on-site, as I am waiting for a request via a timeshare. Anyway... if I book now and then get the request I want in the next couple of months, is there a penatly? Do I get my money back?? And lastly... remind how free dining went last time as far as the requirements. You dining lasts the length of your stay, but does that mean you have to have (for example) 7 nights of tickets to get 7 nights of dining? Or do you just have to stay for 7 nights on site, and buy 1 day of tickets but can still eat for 7 nights? Which is it?? Thanks.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The latter. Your dining plan nights are tied to your room nights, not your ticket days.

As long as you cancel more than 45 days in advance of your arrival, you get back all money you have paid so far.

 

[Joan1]

My guess is that the Labor Day upgrades last year occurred because the values were entirely full and space had to be freed up to accommodate a group. Just my guess.

I may or I may not have read on the DIS that people were able to get an AAA package discount with free dining if, and only if, they booked through AAA. Thought that was posted somewhere but of course the search doesn't work. Maybe that isn't free dining, but a regular dining plan that you pay for.

Untrue - Disney doesn't allow discounts to be stacked or combined. If they received the free dining they didn't get any other discount included

 

[Donold_Fan]

I was able to book Free Dining for this year for 8 nights beginning 9/27/08 (9/27 through 10/5). I had no problem getting these dates at all.

Same deal for me, same days. We didn't see a flyer or anything about it, but I read about it on the boards here and called while we were there and was able to book it. No problem checking in on the last official day and having the benefits extend thru the end of our trip (10/5).

 

[gismo1554]

The latter. Your dining plan nights are tied to your room nights, not your ticket days.

As long as you cancel more than 45 days in advance of your arrival, you get back all money you have paid so far.

Are you sure you get it all back? I just cancelled and they charged me £50 (basically my deposit) to cancel for September

 

[gismo1554]

Anyone remember what dates came up for free dining last year? Thinking of holding out until April/May to book but just wondering if FDDP is likely to cover the end of October start of November?