2015 FREE DINING THREAD _ All Questions HERE!!

[jlundeen]

The one thing I have learned with ADRs is to keep trying...

often, because folks can book the !80+10, they grab up everything that they THINK they may want, and don't release until they have had a chance to take a breath and think about their plan...then they keep the ones they want, and release the others...

sometimes, you may score some hard to get ones later in the day of your 180, and sometimes not until closer to the 60 day FP+ reservation, or the 45 day carved in stone date....just keep trying.

I'm doing that now for a BOG...we have one for late dining, and I'd love to switch it out for an earlier one...so will keep a look out for it....

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

I bought airfare Sunday on Delta. Today the flight is $50 more. My DD said Delta does not follow the Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 pm rule, as the best time to buy airfare. Southwest has a sale going on today. My DD purchased flights via Southwest yesterday. Today her fare has gone up $45. Granted here trip is in 12 days. I guess each airline does there own thing. I check airfare daily, so I know my prices and buy accordingly.

 

[ThistleMae]

I know this is random, but does anyone know when the best time to buy airfare is?

When I was checking prices last year for this year...three mos. out seemed to be best. I've read that Tuesday is the best date to check prices. Other folks in here feel that you should purchase as soon as flights are available for your dates.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We have actually never actually made a reservation for meals, we usually stay in our trailer so we eat quick service or in the trailer. The only time we have done table service is years ago when you could still walk up during the day and see what was available and then last year we decided at the last minute to go have a date night at Liberty Tree and were able to get a table after about a 30 minute wait.

Of course now we are doing the dining plan and my daughter has a set of restaurants she wants to try. Is it easier to get seating a party of 2? Either way we are pretty flexible so I am not too worried.

 

[kellief]

Anyway, thought I'd throw this out so those with Epcot dining favs know to make them a priority (right after BOG) when your ADR window opens.

Thank you. I was thinking it might be harder to get some of those reservation because of Food and Wine still going on for some of my vacation now with both FD and F&W it might be harder.

So is the week of November 14-21 going to be completely crazy town as far as ADR's go because of Free Dining?

I hope not! We'll be there then as well. I've gone with FD and without and managed to get the reservations I wanted each time. Maybe not exactly the time I wanted but we worked it out. Just keep trying and checking if you don't get what you want right away it may come up later.

 

[LouFapp]

It varies by airline and location. For us, we always book with Southwest the morning of the release. It never gets cheaper and the nonstop flights go quickly.

We fly southwest also but here it usually gets down to 200 pp roundtrip at the 3 month out point so we wait. If a flight fills up they open another too.

 

[vrajewski10513]

I'm not going to WDW until next year, but with all the talk about normally easy reservation restaurants filling up I just have a general question about ADR's...

We have a big trip planned, 12 adults and 1 child. Were getting 4 separate rooms, I was going to book 2, and my BiL would book 2. I really didnt want to book any rooms until free dining is released (to make sure our dates fall within), but now with the dates were looking at for next year our 180 day mark will be April 1st, which is probably going to be BEFORE any free dining would be released. I definitely want to take advantage of the 180+10 booking, but with all the issues this year I'd really rather not make reservations for 4 rooms then have to try and modify them all.

Hopefully that wasn't confusing.. But, my question is, am I able to make just ONE room reservation and make all of my ADR's for 13 people? or are you only allowed to book for however many people are on the reservation at the 180+10? I'd much rather only have to modify one reservation and make 3 new ones than have to modify 4 reservations.

If you were able to follow along with that craziness lol Does anyone know if this is allowed?

 

[verleniahall]

Heads up for those getting ready to make your ADRs. I was up at 6am to make mine (yes, lucky my 180+10 window opened up the day after I book my free dining pkg) and I found BOG availability for dinner and lunch. Believing that could be an issue, I made that ressie my first priority and so far so good. However, when making my Epcot ressies, I noticed limited availability already for places like San Angel, Coral Reef, Les Chefs, Teppan Edo and even Tokyo Dining (?) I really like Tokyo Dining but sushi & tempura isn't every family's cup of tea. While Coral Reef and Teppan Edo traditionally book quickly (along with Via Napoli), the mid-tier ones like San Angel don't usually begin to book this early. Tokyo Dining is a real surprise because it, along with Marrakesh, simply aren't that popular and so can be good walk up finds. Anyway, I needed to book dinners after 6:30pm for a couple of these. Why is this happening? Possibly my dates: going late October through first week November. But maybe the mandatory Park Hopper has led to some already starting to book Epcot restaurants hard rather than defaulting to table service at their home resort for some dinners. Anyway, thought I'd throw this out so those with Epcot dining favs know to make them a priority (right after BOG) when your ADR window opens.

Thank You for the heads up!! I will make sure those reservations are booked first

 

[ThistleMae]

I'm not going to WDW until next year, but with all the talk about normally easy reservation restaurants filling up I just have a general question about ADR's...

We have a big trip planned, 12 adults and 1 child. Were getting 4 separate rooms, I was going to book 2, and my BiL would book 2. I really didnt want to book any rooms until free dining is released (to make sure our dates fall within), but now with the dates were looking at for next year our 180 day mark will be April 1st, which is probably going to be BEFORE any free dining would be released. I definitely want to take advantage of the 180+10 booking, but with all the issues this year I'd really rather not make reservations for 4 rooms then have to try and modify them all.

Hopefully that wasn't confusing.. But, my question is, am I able to make just ONE room reservation and make all of my ADR's for 13 people? or are you only allowed to book for however many people are on the reservation at the 180+10? I'd much rather only have to modify one reservation and make 3 new ones than have to modify 4 reservations.

If you were able to follow along with that craziness lol Does anyone know if this is allowed?

 

[ThistleMae]

I had a similar question and I was told...yes...go ahead and book for the number in your party ( the number you are dinning with) even though the reservations are separate.

 

[BugsDaddy]

I'm not going to WDW until next year, but with all the talk about normally easy reservation restaurants filling up I just have a general question about ADR's...

We have a big trip planned, 12 adults and 1 child. Were getting 4 separate rooms, I was going to book 2, and my BiL would book 2. I really didnt want to book any rooms until free dining is released (to make sure our dates fall within), but now with the dates were looking at for next year our 180 day mark will be April 1st, which is probably going to be BEFORE any free dining would be released. I definitely want to take advantage of the 180+10 booking, but with all the issues this year I'd really rather not make reservations for 4 rooms then have to try and modify them all.

Hopefully that wasn't confusing.. But, my question is, am I able to make just ONE room reservation and make all of my ADR's for 13 people? or are you only allowed to book for however many people are on the reservation at the 180+10? I'd much rather only have to modify one reservation and make 3 new ones than have to modify 4 reservations.

If you were able to follow along with that craziness lol Does anyone know if this is allowed?

If you are all planning to eat together, you can book all of them together, I believe. ADRs are not connected to your resort reservation.

 

[vrajewski10513]

I had a similar question and I was told...yes...go ahead and book for the number in your party ( the number you are dinning with) even though the reservations are separate.

If you are all planning to eat together, you can book all of them together, I believe. ADRs are not connected to your resort reservation.

Thanks guys! I know theyre not linked to the room reservation, but I wasnt 100% sure about the rules with the "+10"

 

[cjbcam]

Can someone clarify this for me... I have booked Nov 8 for 8 nights. What is the day I can book dining? 190 days out? And can I book for my whole vacation? The last couple times we've gone to WDW I never booked that far in advance so just making sure I'm clear about the rules.

 

[5kidsmommy]

Can someone clarify this for me... I have booked Nov 8 for 8 nights. What is the day I can book dining? 190 days out? And can I book for my whole vacation? The last couple times we've gone to WDW I never booked that far in advance so just making sure I'm clear about the rules.

You can book 180 days out but you can book for your entire stay.

 

[cjbcam]

So it starts at 180 but can book up to ten days (the 180+10)? I always thought the 180 +10 meant you could book 190 days out lol.

 

[verleniahall]

Can someone clarify this for me... I have booked Nov 8 for 8 nights. What is the day I can book dining? 190 days out? And can I book for my whole vacation? The last couple times we've gone to WDW I never booked that far in advance so just making sure I'm clear about the rules.

If you look on your planning page it should tell you what date you can start makign reservations

 

[SarahMynah]

My family has been to DW several times but this is our first time taking advantage of free dining. We have a 10 day window in which we can travel and plan to stay at disney for 7 nights/8days but maybe more. Where those 7 nights will fall in the 10 day range depends on which flights we book, which I won't know for a few weeks. If I book the hotel/free dining plan now for the full 10 days and then end up modifying the reservation to cut a day or two off the beginning or end, will that have any effect on the free dining? Also, is it true that if the day we check in falls within the free dining dates, we get the plan for our whole stay even if we check out after the promotion is over?
Thanks for your help!

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

Are the phone lines still busy for anyone else? I'm trying to call and get all circuits are busy.

 

[verleniahall]

Are the phone lines still busy for anyone else? I'm trying to call and get all circuits are busy.

Yes - I had a 2 hr hold this AM

 

[RejoyceoverDisney]

Wow I hope you hard working/posting peeps are all breathing easier today and got a deal that meets your needs. When I got up yesterday morning and saw once again the DV promotion was bypassed I said to DH "I have to book at least RO and flights today cause now that this FD came out general the flights will be going up." So since POR was not in the FD offer I did RO rake rate for POR and will be watching obessively for a RO later in the Fall discount. And after yesterdays wahooo over FD, I was right. All of our flights went up $15 each so I saved $60 by booking in the morning. The airport we are using is small and these flights don't get too much lower because the bigger airports are more popular for the lower rates. But for us, between travel and convenience......gas and parking difference all works out. And like another poster said, I check the flight prices almost daily. And I could see a pattern. The part that has me a little confused is that some of the flights are high and therefore there is no one booked on them, but they raise the price even higher. I guess they are trying to wait to fill that flight last for this area.

Anyway, I'm definitely going! We have POR for Oct. 26-Nov 5. DH has never been to POR so I can't wait to hear how he likes it. For some dumb reason we never thought to walk down when we stayed at POFQ. I told him to think about the next resort he might like to stay at and we will do a resort touring day one of the days of this vacation.

ADRs open for us tomorrow. But the places I hope to get have openings for next week so I am not sweating we can't get something we like as we are only going to do a couple TS.

Ok rambling. I won't be going back to check the 20 pages I missed. Hope everyone is happy with your vacations and if you didn't get what you wanted yesterday, don't give up. People will move around over the next week. Keep trying.