2016 Free Dining Watch

[TigerlilyAJ]

First week in December is already heavily booked at many resorts. It's also Pop Warner.

Yes, but Pop Warner is not until that first December weekend. My thought is that someone upthread said you need only to check IN during the FD dates, but you might check out later and still get FD for your entire stay. Is that true? Because if it is, think about that Sat-Mon, Nov 26-28. If you want a week's stay in early December, but Disney wants you out to make room for Pop Warner (or at least, they're not giving you FD when they have an influx of people), you could check in, say, Sunday, Nov 27. Thanksgiving people have gone home, and you have a good 5-6 days before Pop Warner invades, so you could get FD for Nov 29-Dec 2 too, as long as you check in during that tiny Nov 26-28 window. Is that right?

BTW, Canadians, FWIW I called my local CAA and spoke with the TA there. She knows Brazil gets their FD dates earlier, and she's still waiting. But she hopes to have them by the end of this month.

 

[aloha517]

The rates for rooms during free dining should be the rates from the dis chart I posted earlier. It is the rates for each category of room, at each resort, by dates and weekday vs weekend. I don't think disney raises the room rates, I think they just charge the full price for the room. Which if you get free dining is a wonderful deal, for most families in value or moderate categories.

We are paying full price for our room bc our dates weren't included in the Awaken the summer deal.. So free dining would save us $1900!!

 

[wilkeliza]

We often have AP's and we just get two day tickets and use them whenever we book room only. Works great!

How do you make sure the shorter ticket isn't used?

 

[Mickeycrocs]

Just in case anyone didn't have time to translate that article

In the last hours, several web portals United States replies that had leaked rumor possible dates for the promotion of free meals.

No other certainty that reference, I reproduce below dates circulating as probable:

August 23 to October 1
November 15 to November 21
November 26 to November 28
December 10 to December 21
Some additional thoughts:

If the promotion is still the norm in previous years, the only relevant issue is the date of check in. In other words, if the above dates were correct, a stay that starts for example on October 1 would free meals throughout its length but most nights are not included in the promotion.
It is striking smallness of dates during October (only on day 1)
It is possible that local travel agencies have some additional period (in previous years occurred in weeks of August)
No other leaks such as hotels included, minimum nights or tickets required
It is syndicated as probable date of promotion announcement next April 25 (probably with an advance for those who are holders of the Disney Visa card).
Clarification: In the past we have had the certainty of the launch of the promotion and their dates in advance of publication by direct information we receive. In this case we only reproduce what flows from a few hours ago on American sites.

 

[BigCatEars]

Does anyone think there will be a room discount for the other dates during the fall? Like Oct.

 

[LM0601]

When we eat at the resort with our refillable mugs we grab a bottled drink to go for later. You have to use it when you redeem your credit. Same thing with the dessert. A lot of places have things like cookies, chips, etc that you can take for later.

Awesome ideas. Thanks so much!

 

[LM0601]

Portions of the meal are use or lose. So if you don't order a drink or dessert for QS or no dessert at TS then you lose those.

Thanks for replying. Good to know.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Thanks for replying. Good to know.

But it's my understanding that dessert credits can be used for a second side, if you request it while ordering the rest of your meal. Like, you're getting a QS burger combo with fries, but you could use the dessert part of your credit to get a side salad, a fruit cup, an order of onion rings, or even more fries.
My Type I diabetic DH is hoping that he can get a second side salad, or else he's just getting a dessert to hand over to the kids. ;-)

 

[Disneylover99]

How do you make sure the shorter ticket isn't used?

There are a couple of different ways.....

We've gone to guest services before entering our first park and had them remove tickets from MDE and put them on hard tickets for us.

You can also go to guest services and have them prioritize which tickets should be used first. Although we've done that in the past and the tickets we didn't want used, got used anyways. It was a PITA to fix.

You can also add another profile to your MDE and assign tickets to that profile and then reassign them to yourself when you are ready to use them. I think that's how it works. I've never done this yet, but I think I'm going to try it next time.

 

[BTDTGB]

Ok, these dates stink. We really wanted to check in Oct. 30 and stay through Nov. 4th. If these dates turn out to be correct then we would not get free dining. We are flexible and can move our dates, but we were planning on upgrading our tickets to annual passes while there. So, the question is do we buy AP’s now and use those to get a room discount. Does anyone know what the discount is for value and moderate resorts? Would like to do some number crunching to determine which route would be best for us.

Edit: Never mind I found them.

 

[elle325]

Is anyone saying anything about park hopper being required this year? I haven't translated the Spanish blog post yet so I don't know if hoppers are mentioned.

We have a bounce back booked for September and we had to add park hopper.

 

[G719]

But it's my understanding that dessert credits can be used for a second side, if you request it while ordering the rest of your meal. Like, you're getting a QS burger combo with fries, but you could use the dessert part of your credit to get a side salad, a fruit cup, an order of onion rings, or even more fries.
My Type I diabetic DH is hoping that he can get a second side salad, or else he's just getting a dessert to hand over to the kids. ;-)

Yes that is how it works at QS. Anything that is a snack credit on the menu can be substituted for the dessert. At TS, you can ask about substitutions but it will vary by restaurant as to what they may allow.

 

[CandiceF]

We often have AP's and we just get two day tickets and use them whenever we book room only. Works great!

Can you get AP's if your Canadian? We are from Canada but never thought to look into it because we usually can't go every year.

 

[CJK]

Can you get AP's if your Canadian? We are from Canada but never thought to look into it because we usually can't go every year.

Absolutely! We get them every year. Make sure it makes sense financially though, since you said you don't usually go every year.

 

[CandiceF]

Absolutely! We get them every year. Make sure it makes sense financially though, since you said you don't usually go every year.

Do they make sense if you only go once during the year? Where do find out info about it?

 

[CJK]

Do they make sense if you only go once during the year? Where do find out info about it?

How long are your trips usually? You'd have to compare the price of a 10 day ticket to an annual pass (I don't have those numbers in front of me). The general rule used to be that you'd have to plan to use your annual pass for 14 days at a minimum to make it worth your while. One thing people often do is to try to do 2 trips with an annual pass. For example, if you bought your annual pass for a trip starting in late September one year, you could return to Disney again the following year in early September to use the annual pass again before it expires. Warning though.......when you have an annual pass, you're tempted to go a lot more often!

 

[sweetcarolinamoma]

I'm excited, I definitely respect the opinions and knowledge of the few bloggers who have posted so it makes me feel a little better about these dates. Alas, nothing is official until I hear it from Disney directly!

I agree! My dates are included in those rumored dates and i hope it stays that way!

 

[CandiceF]

Okay thank-you. It is worth checking into if we did late November one year and early November the next. Can you still try for Fd or room only discount if you have AP's?

 

[wilkeliza]

Okay thank-you. It is worth checking into if we did late November one year and early November the next. Can you still try for Fd or room only discount if you have AP's?

Not usually as there is a minimum ticket purchase. You would end up having to buy 2 day park hoppers for everyone and either save those for another trip or eat the cost.

 

[CandiceF]

Not usually as there is a minimum ticket purchase. You would end up having to buy 2 day park hoppers for everyone and either save those for another trip or eat the cost.

I thought I read somewhere that you could still get a room discount with AP's is this correct?