2016 Free Dining Watch

[Wood Nymph]

Can someone help me out? I know we are all looking for the Free Dining..but can I book a trip with dining plan and if they announce FD change it to free? Its been 7 years since I have been to Disney..I'm really trying to get my kids their this year...DH and I went for Honeymoon with FD and it was fabulous!

Thanks in advance!

Don't make a reservation ahead of time. It doesn't help and may reduce the inventory of available rooms. It will be easier to make a brand new reservation when the free dining offer is released, anyway. Anyone who has an existing reservation will be able to modify their reservation only if there is availability for their dates. They also run the risk of having to wait on hold for long periods of time to try to modify their existing reservation while countless other people are able to go onto the website and book a new reservation in minutes.

Long time lurking, first time posting here.

Thanks everyone for all of the great info! Currently planning a surprise trip for
Wife, G(8), B(14 mo.) for Dec. '16. Impatiently waiting for FD like everyone else. Got my DV in the mail a few weeks ago so hopefully that will help my chances.

Wife has no idea I'm doing this. Our last vacation was about 3 years ago to WDW for a week with our then-5y.o. daughter and we had a blast! Wife has been dropping subtleties that we are due for another vacation soon. I figure she has given me a healthy baby boy since then so she's definitely earned it. I'm going to wait and surprise her and the kids about 2 weeks before we leave.

***question to any/all wives and moms out there***:
Would you appreciate being surprised only 2-weeks before a vacation? Or would it be more of a stress-inducing situation? She is self employed and getting time off from work is not an issue for her. I am secretly handling everything from calling her clients and rescheduling them for before or after we are away, got the DV without telling her because I don't want to raise suspicions, booking and planning resort, 180 day ADR, 60 day fast pass, packing lists, dog sitter, etc.

Thanks for reading.

I would want to know about the trip at least a month ahead of time. Half the fun of a trip is in the planning. I think the surprise is wonderful and she will appreciate the fact that you have done this for the family, but there will be things she will want to do, too. You already mentioned how she felt about not getting certain ADR's, so you already knows that she has things she would want to do. Tell her ahead of time and let her help plan the surprise for the kids. Don't keep all the fun for yourself.

Do the CMs usually drop hints? Whenever I've called and it wasn't released they would apologize or tell me to call the following week. The CM I spoke to on Tuesday said they haven't released their fall promotions yet when I asked about FD. Not really that big of a hint.

CM's aren't told ahead of time about these offers.

 

[chewysmom]

The rumor mill never addresses a Visa release. It's always a "wait and see". Chances are, if they don't release it to Visa tomorrow, and Monday's date remains solid...then it will likely just go to the public all at once. Only one time did they actually move a Visa release from a Thursday to a Friday (which many claimed to be because of the rumors).

So it sounds like a bunch of folks will have an alarm set to 6:50am tomorrow morning.

Never mind, I found an old post of yours.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Okay, I'm jealous. What have I been missing, aka, anything good??
I am on the special offers page at least once a week and have never had more than 5. They must not like me.

Maybe you can't see the passholder offers?

 

[JillFranP]

I spoke to a really nice woman at 7AM who told me that the past few releases did not have a preferred early release for Disney Visa cardholders and that it will most likely be general population and that it would be released on a Monday.

 

[CaraMiaBelle]

So, don't shoot me for asking *again*, but is the rumor that it all goes live 4/25 for everyone or disney visa holders?

I've seen so much speculation that I'm getting confused-which isn't that hard to do.

Okay, I'm jealous. What have I been missing, aka, anything good??
I am on the special offers page at least once a week and have never had more than 5. They must not like me.

lol! No loss. None of them do me any good anyway since they aren't even for fall!

 

[mctoffee]

Do they only ever release it in the morning or could they surprise us and release it mid day?

 

[CaraMiaBelle]

Passholders can see special offers that the general public can't see.

Nope. I'm not a pass holder and I see 9.

 

[Confederate Scott]

I've had nine for a while.

I also see nine offers and that has been for about a week now.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

So hard to read things on my phone!! So the rumor is (trying to catch up) Monday's release maybe to GP maybe just to visa cardholders (last year when straight to gp and three me off!) and the beginning dates are August 23? Trying to go the 28-4th. Any rumored hotels not part of the deal?

 

[CaraMiaBelle]

I'm considering this AMs call as my trial run!

Also- totally agree about the downfall of Visa. The other perks aren't enough compared to my Discover or Southwest cards. I've kept it for cases like free dining... Hmmmmm.

That's how I'm thinking of it. I did well axtually considering I have 3 young kids to get to school!

Yup. Thinking of canceling my Disney Visa. Not worth the fee since this is the third year I tried to book early with it and it didn't pay off.

 

[crazymomof4]

So, my bff texts me, "the last time I booked FD, I did it at 11:59pm on the night the promo was ending!" She is "last-minute Lucy" and laughs at my anxiety over my keeping up with the latest rumors, getting up early, etc etc (you know obsessive planning).
Can I kill her now?

 

[Hope2016]

Passholders can see special offers that the general public can't see.

I'm not a pass holder, or military, or Visa card holder. I have awaken summer, kids sized package, pass holder Spring rates, 4 day family vacation, pass holder 30% off summer, $200 visa statement, la numba, 2 military discounts. Searching from Australia but on u.s site.

 

[CaraMiaBelle]

Do they only ever release it in the morning or could they surprise us and release it mid day?

That would be perfect!

 

[TraceyL]

1. Awaken summer
2. Kid size vacation package
3. Passholders :spring
4. 4night/4day package
5. Passholders:35%
6. $200 visa statement credit
7. Passholders la nouba
8. Military :tickets
9. Military: hotel savings

 

[My Disney Dream]

My CM said, current promotions end June 10th so, you will not see any new promotions before June 11th.

Yeahh... see that is what i was wondering when i look at thei special offers page... i was thinking how many offers do they run at the same time and for how long? I am starting to think they would wait until one of the current promotion expires before they release FD... ALL I KNOW IS I NEED FD AND SLEEP

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

This is me too, I'm following to support everyone and join in the excitement! We already have our free dining BounceBack booked, but I'm wishing the best to everyone! Normally we are in the craziness but got to do our first BB deal this time, we normally cannot as we don't usually go back to back years.

Do you remember starting dates for our bounce back offer?

 

[rsbh00]

1. Awaken summer
2. Kid size vacation package
3. Passholders :spring
4. 4night/4day package
5. Passholders:35%
6. $200 visa statement credit
7. Passholders la nouba
8. Military :tickets
9. Military: hotel savings

That is the same special offers I have been seeing for over a week too!

 

[RedWolf95]

Okay, I'm jealous. What have I been missing, aka, anything good??
I am on the special offers page at least once a week and have never had more than 5. They must not like me.

Check your filters in the upper right, you may have one of them turned on which would hide some of the offers.

 

[tinkerone]

So, my bff texts me, "the last time I booked FD, I did it at 11:59pm on the night the promo was ending!" She is "last-minute Lucy" and laughs at my anxiety over my keeping up with the latest rumors, getting up early, etc etc (you know obsessive planning).
Can I kill her now?

Only once have I ever booked opening day and that was because I had family I was booking for and I didn't really know any better. I'm not last minute but I do wait a week or two now as a rule.
Having said that, this thread is so much fun, you guys rock! I'm really enjoying how everyone is helping each other and were all in this together. Best thread on the DIS!!

 

[Attracted to Beasts]

Yeahh... see that is what i was wondering when i look at thei special offers page... i was thinking how many offers do they run at the same time and for how long? I am starting to think they would wait until one of the current promotion expires before they release FD... ALL I KNOW IS I NEED FD AND SLEEP

I don't buy that at all...last year everything was overlapping. They had a lot of offers!