2015 FREE DINING THREAD _ All Questions HERE!!

[Joe'sgirl]

Are you flying Southwest by chance? They don't charge change fees. I was able to change my flight a day earlier for $2.67!

Jetblue! I did look just to see if staying one extra day changed anything, still nothing available.

 

[eaf2063]

Im going Nov 14-22 also looking for a Moderate. Fingers crossed something will open up.

 

[ThistleMae]

I've been following this thread for weeks! I had no idea finding a desired resort, at the price you can afford, with the free dining would be sooooo challenging! For those of you, who can change your dates a bit.....hooray! My daughter and her family have to stick with their dates and did find something at the Contemporary....but are spending way more than their original budget. It will still save their trip however, so we are having a big yard sale to come up with the difference! Good luck to all of you still waiting and hoping that dates and resorts will open up! I am in your corner!

 

[RejoyceoverDisney]

I've been following this thread for weeks! I had no idea finding a desired resort, at the price you can afford, with the free dining would be sooooo challenging! For those of you, who can change your dates a bit.....hooray! My daughter and her family have to stick with their dates and did find something at the Contemporary....but are spending way more than their original budget. It will still save their trip however, so we are having a big yard sale to come up with the difference! Good luck to all of you still waiting and hoping that dates and resorts will open up! I am in your corner!

I know. I'm still following too and feeling a little discouraged that maybe the resorts are fuller than the past and that a RO might not end up happening for me. But thankfully I'm getting points on my Disney Visa that will make up the difference for this year. I was hoping to save points for a monorail visit in the future but.....

Well good luck with the yardsale.

 

[hurt817]

I'm cancelling my CBR Preferred room now - dates Nov 14-20.

 

[hurt817]

Im going Nov 14-22 also looking for a Moderate. Fingers crossed something will open up.

I'm cancelling CBR Preferred w/free dining now from Nov 14-20th if you want to try to check again.

 

[BuckeyeMickey]

Sounds like several folks were able to get fd or switch to a preferred resort - congrats! I have been checking every day, early and night to see if CSR or CBR become available. I think the week we are going is working against me, its the only week in Oct they offered fd and its Halloween week. I am thrilled we got fd (had to change from AoA to Pop) but can't help but check to see if either mod opens up. I am not sure whether I would even save money but I had to book a preferred pool at Pop and pay to upgrade to the Plus dining so it can't be too far off it we were able to snag one of the mods. I should just be happy with what we scored but I can't help think of those 2 resorts and how much my kids would love them. I also didn't get the one dining res I wanted, BOG for dinner on my daughters birthday so I am just hopeful that I get one or the other and truthfully I would rather get the BOG res!

For us the savings for 1 preferred CBR room over 2 pool view rooms at POP (we are a family of 5) is around $700, with the majority of that being the difference between upgrading the QS to TS dining packages and the rest of the difference between having two rooms vs. one. I'm with you, checking the site in every spare moment, just hoping to catch it! Good luck to you!!

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

I'm cancelling CBR Preferred w/free dining now from Nov 14-20th if you want to try to check again.

At this time, your offer has not been placed back into the FD inventory. I just checked for fun. On the other hand, perhaps someone has grabbed it already. Maybe it will show tomorrow morning.

 

[LouFapp]

I've been following this thread for weeks! I had no idea finding a desired resort, at the price you can afford, with the free dining would be sooooo challenging! For those of you, who can change your dates a bit.....hooray! My daughter and her family have to stick with their dates and did find something at the Contemporary....but are spending way more than their original budget. It will still save their trip however, so we are having a big yard sale to come up with the difference! Good luck to all of you still waiting and hoping that dates and resorts will open up! I am in your corner!

I was originally doing Old Key West with FD and ended up switching to a POR pool view and just paying for the dining plan and it is almost $1000 cheaper. Have they considered doing something like that?

 

[ThistleMae]

I was originally doing Old Key West with FD and ended up switching to a POR pool view and just paying for the dining plan and it is almost $1000 cheaper. Have they considered doing something like that?

You are right, sometimes it is less with a RO only...it did work for me...but they are a family of five and the food budget surpasses a room savings. But...thanks for the suggestion and taking the time to try and help. It is very much appreciated!

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

Sorry if this had been asked but I didn't read all 151 pages but does anyone know why FD doesn't start back up again till 12/15 after Thanksgiving? I looked at the past dates and they all seemed to start back up around 12/12 but not this year, 12/15 just will not work for us. I understand the "new" park hopper and 6 night/7 day ticket requirement but we just cant start our vacation on a Tuesday due to DW work schedule, it's driving me crazy and I can't let it go... ugh.

 

[Kristi113]

I wish I could but we already booked our flights (from CT) so I don't think adding a day is an option.

Hi. I live just over the border of CT in oxford,ma. Are you flying out of Hartford? If so, can you give me your opinion on that airport? My fil wants to fly out of worcester for convenience but Hartford is $400 cheaper and I am all for that. Any info would be appreciated. TIA

 

[Joe'sgirl]

Hi. I live just over the border of CT in oxford,ma. Are you flying out of Hartford? If so, can you give me your opinion on that airport? My fil wants to fly out of worcester for convenience but Hartford is $400 cheaper and I am all for that. Any info would be appreciated. TIA

Hello! We have never flown out of Hartford before - we are driving down from MA. I did this specifically because it was $50+ less per person to fly versus Logan. I went online to read reviews and there was nothing to dissuade me! I think from what I read it might be somewhat dated (I want to say someone wrote it was like a time warp to maytbe the 80s?). I could give 2 hoots about that, we just need a plane to get us to Dis! The parking is also MUCH cheaper for us. I am not sure about Worcester rates for parking but Logan is nuts. Our flights were about $167 a person. Even with the drive (1.5 hrs) it was worth it to me. In fact, I wanted to go the week before we leave but the rates were not as cheap. I had booked the trip before free dining came out so our dates were set. Lo and behold the one week in Oct for fd was our week. I knew then that I had made the right decision all around!

 

[Joe'sgirl]

For us the savings for 1 preferred CBR room over 2 pool view rooms at POP (we are a family of 5) is around $700, with the majority of that being the difference between upgrading the QS to TS dining packages and the rest of the difference between having two rooms vs. one. I'm with you, checking the site in every spare moment, just hoping to catch it! Good luck to you!!

Hey there, I just saw that CBR had availability for the first 4 days of my trip so I priced it out. The only rooms available were Pirate and I need 2 rooms as we are a party of 6. The total was $3684. That is already $201 over what we are paying and I would still need to book a room for our last night - so even with a RO discount on that we are well over what we are paying. I think that just settled it for me to stop looking and be completely content with what I got!

 

[Kristi113]

Hello! We have never flown out of Hartford before - we are driving down from MA. I did this specifically because it was $50+ less per person to fly versus Logan. I went online to read reviews and there was nothing to dissuade me! I think from what I read it might be somewhat dated (I want to say someone wrote it was like a time warp to maytbe the 80s?). I could give 2 hoots about that, we just need a plane to get us to Dis! The parking is also MUCH cheaper for us. I am not sure about Worcester rates for parking but Logan is nuts. Our flights were about $167 a person. Even with the drive (1.5 hrs) it was worth it to me. In fact, I wanted to go the week before we leave but the rates were not as cheap. I had booked the trip before free dining came out so our dates were set. Lo and behold the one week in Oct for fd was our week. I knew then that I had made the right decision all around!

Thanks a lot. I could also care less about the decor of the airport. Worcester is dated as well and the parking there is the same as Hartford. Worcester is only 20 min drive all back roads for us so it is really convenient but I don't feel it is worth the extra $400. Hartford is only an hour so not a big deal. I will just keep trying to convince everyone

 

[FourBees]

I fly out of Hartford (Bradley) all the time. It is a very easy airport to fly in and out of. Our drive there is also about 1.5 hours but is all highway and the airport is right off the interstate. Parking is good, plenty of options. They even often will have coupons on their homepage. Have a great trip

 

[RejoyceoverDisney]

Hi. I live just over the border of CT in oxford,ma. Are you flying out of Hartford? If so, can you give me your opinion on that airport? My fil wants to fly out of worcester for convenience but Hartford is $400 cheaper and I am all for that. Any info would be appreciated. TIA

Hello! We have never flown out of Hartford before - we are driving down from MA. I did this specifically because it was $50+ less per person to fly versus Logan. I went online to read reviews and there was nothing to dissuade me! I think from what I read it might be somewhat dated (I want to say someone wrote it was like a time warp to maytbe the 80s?). I could give 2 hoots about that, we just need a plane to get us to Dis! The parking is also MUCH cheaper for us. I am not sure about Worcester rates for parking but Logan is nuts. Our flights were about $167 a person. Even with the drive (1.5 hrs) it was worth it to me. In fact, I wanted to go the week before we leave but the rates were not as cheap. I had booked the trip before free dining came out so our dates were set. Lo and behold the one week in Oct for fd was our week. I knew then that I had made the right decision all around!

I fly out of Hartford (Bradley) all the time. It is a very easy airport to fly in and out of. Our drive there is also about 1.5 hours but is all highway and the airport is right off the interstate. Parking is good, plenty of options. They even often will have coupons on their homepage. Have a great trip

Ok the last quoted post answered my question. I have flown out of Bradley and I found it to be much like Providence in regard to parking.
It's not complicated (then again I just think Boston is complicated) as Boston.
I too am less than 1/2 hour from Worcester (North Central MA) and since it was only two of us flying I opted the extra $100 because that saves me the 1 hour plus drive AND the last two times I flew out of Worcester, security is super easy since it's the only flight and if everyone is checked in and through security being the only flight to leave they can get going sooner than scheduled.
The downfall of flying out of Worcester (but then again that was first year I don't know about since) there was some challenges with canceled flights to come home and they rerouted us to Boston or Providence.

Parking in PVD was $50. I don't remember Bradley as that was 5 years ago. BUT I do remember being able to look things up online.
Worcester.....I don't remember but I'm pretty sure it was less than $20. Again look online and weight that into your decisions too. Being so close we usually are able to get a ride to the airport and not pay for parking. (son is in college in Worcester and friends live down the road in Paxton)

$400 is a lot of money to save on flights. Not sure when you are flying but I know the JetBlue flights out of Worcester just went up last week when FD came out. I snagged flights just before the increase and saved $60. However I keep watching and there have been no further seats booked so who knows if the Worcester flights will drop. It appears that they are trying to get people to fill the flights in the bigger airports first. I know before the Worcester flights filled fast because they were less. I was one of the lucky ones that had vacation planned the same month the announcement of Jetblue starting flights out of Worcester. $59 flight was definitely Pixie dust.

Good luck with your flights. I'll be down there that last week of October into the first week of November.

 

[Kristi113]

We are going 9/23-9/30. I am stressing over what to do. I am not sure if there is a chance that Worcester might drop their prices. I would hate to wait and then have Hartford raise their price too. I hate the stress of buying airline tickets.

 

[ivgotahalo]

If I am arriving on 11/19/15 in the very late afternoon, will I be able to use my disney dining AoA for dinner the first night before I go to a park on the 20th?

 

[Kristi113]

If I am arriving on 11/19/15 in the very late afternoon, will I be able to use my disney dining AoA for dinner the first night before I go to a park on the 20th?

You can use your dining credits as soon as you check in. We usually arrive late afternoon or early evening, but just get a snack when we arrive the first night. We then use the extra dining credit at one of the signature restaurants. You can certainly use one for dinner that night though.