Adding Free Dining to a reservation made from the UK

[Barry5385]

Hi Guys

Apologies if this question has been asked previously.

I have already booked and fully paid for a trip to WDW for my family at the end of August this year, staying in the yacht club.

There was no free dining available until recently. So does any one know how to, or even if it is possible to add free dining to an existing booking that was made through Virgin Holidays here in the UK.

Virgin are not much help here to be honest, just saying it's only available for new bookings. I'm not sure i believe this as i have seen various posts about adding free dining.

Having 3 kids, 2 of which are teenagers obviously free dining will save me a fortune so any help or advise will be greatly appreciated.

 

[chmurf]

I'm not sure i believe this as i have seen various posts about adding free dining.

adding free dining to an existing booking is only available on US bookings, not UK

you have the option to cancel current booking (depending on the cancellation fees) and rebook the US offer, direct with Disney.

note that US tickets are limited to 10 days, and do not include water parks or memory maker (they can be added as ticket options)

make a simulation on the US site to see if the Free dining is really worth it.

10 days US tickets, full option will be around £2400 for the 5 of you, when they're only £1900 for 14 days tickets as part of your current package.
so make sure it's really worth it.

 

[Sam1]

The UK free dining available at the moment is for next year, not this year. It's usually offered between April and November for bookings for the following year. Depending on when you booked, you might've had a room discount (free nights) instead. If you're meaning can you add US free dining onto a UK booking, then no you can't.

 

[Barry5385]

The UK free dining available at the moment is for next year, not this year. It's usually offered between April and November for bookings for the following year. Depending on when you booked, you might've had a room discount (free nights) instead. If you're meaning can you add US free dining onto a UK booking, then no you can't.

Thanks, this is the clarification i was looking for. In future i will book directly with Disney, rather than a package from the UK.

 

[disneyholic family]

Thanks, this is the clarification i was looking for. In future i will book directly with Disney, rather than a package from the UK.

the UK free dining packages are actually better than the US version if you're planning on visiting for more than 10 days.
however, they must be booked a year in advance, whereas the US free dining plan becomes available a few months in advance.

by the way, you can also book the UK free dining package "directly with disney" - just that it's with disney uk....
i booked our upcoming august free dining package directly with disney UK....

 

[Happygrump]

I too have a virgin hol to Disney world booked for Late next year. I'm staying in a Disney world resort.

I saw the new uk offer, advertised by virgin for new bookings of 'free dining' but virgin are not budging (made some complaint) and will not 'bolt on' the offer of free dining to my existing booking.
I did ring Disney but told only virgin can apply this to my booking.

Reading above if I contact Disney uk are they able to help me with free dining to my existing virgin booking? Or will they only deal with bookings with them?

On a side note - I have not yet purchased my park tickets. I was hoping to jump onto the offer of ultimate passes (14 for 7) but again virgin will not entertain it and only applies to new bookings.

Thanks for reading and replies.

 

[Wakey]

Free UK dining can sometimes be a decent offer, but the package cost has shot up for 2018.

 

[chmurf]

Reading above if I contact Disney uk are they able to help me with free dining to my existing virgin booking? Or will they only deal with bookings with them?

you booked with Virgin, they own your reservation. Any amendment must go through Virgin

On a side note - I have not yet purchased my park tickets. I was hoping to jump onto the offer of ultimate passes (14 for 7) but again virgin will not entertain it and only applies to new bookings.

you can't add dining to a reservation without tickets.
so that may be the reason why Virgin will not add free dining, since you need to add the tickets as well

in any event you can buy the ultimate tickets direct with Disney, it won't make any difference. Just link them to your MDX along with your virgin accomodation reservation

 

[Elise79]

I too have a virgin hol to Disney world booked for Late next year. I'm staying in a Disney world resort.

I saw the new uk offer, advertised by virgin for new bookings of 'free dining' but virgin are not budging (made some complaint) and will not 'bolt on' the offer of free dining to my existing booking.
I did ring Disney but told only virgin can apply this to my booking.

Reading above if I contact Disney uk are they able to help me with free dining to my existing virgin booking? Or will they only deal with bookings with them?

On a side note - I have not yet purchased my park tickets. I was hoping to jump onto the offer of ultimate passes (14 for 7) but again virgin will not entertain it and only applies to new bookings.

Thanks for reading and replies.

Unfortunately the T&Cs for the UK Free Dining offer is for new bookings only.

What it may be worth doing is pricing up switching your existing Virgin booking to a fly drive (will have to pay an amendment fee) and then book the hotel, tickets and free dining separately. Whether it is worth will depend on your party size, make up and resort.

You need to price up the hotel stay first then call Virgin for the amendment fees and see if it is worth it to you.

 

[MarkE83]

I too have a virgin hol to Disney world booked for Late next year. I'm staying in a Disney world resort.

I saw the new uk offer, advertised by virgin for new bookings of 'free dining' but virgin are not budging (made some complaint) and will not 'bolt on' the offer of free dining to my existing booking.
I did ring Disney but told only virgin can apply this to my booking.

Reading above if I contact Disney uk are they able to help me with free dining to my existing virgin booking? Or will they only deal with bookings with them?

On a side note - I have not yet purchased my park tickets. I was hoping to jump onto the offer of ultimate passes (14 for 7) but again virgin will not entertain it and only applies to new bookings.

Thanks for reading and replies.

The problem here is that whilst I can't knock you for trying, you're attempting to get 3 distinctively different discounts applied to 1 booking; when you're only ever going to get 1.

In order to obtain the U.K. Free dining package, no matter who you book with, you MUST book the hotel, tickets and dining plan all at once. You end up paying the rack rate for the room, and the standard price for the tickets, but get the dining plan free.

Alternatively you can (as you have done) book the room at a discount of some sort, then sort out tickets and food yourself.

Neither Virgin nor Disney are being particularly difficult here- you're simply asking for something neither of them have ever offered.

If you've only paid a deposit so far, figure out what a new booking including tickets and the free dining comes out as-As Elise recommends, it may be worth it to amend your virgin booking, or cancel your existing booking and start again, and lose the £100 non refundable deposit...