Are you booked with a Free Dining Offer? Poll: Have you been contacted and what offer given?

[GirlDreamer]

LOL, they really don't know yet, do they? Didn't they first announce that all dining plans were cancelled through September 2021 (in the USA, we haven't been able to book dining plans for 2021 yet, so the 2021 dates were based on the plans allowed to be booked in Europe), only to then take out the 2021 date and leave it open-ended? When is your trip? And has no one in the UK gotten 35% off the room portion of their current stay,, in lieu of the free dining plan?

As a result of physical distancing, capacity in restaurants and availability of dining experiences is very limited and certain experiences such as Character dining cannot be provided. Because of this, we have also made the difficult decision to cancel and temporarily no longer offer Disney dining plans.

They really don't know. That email I quoted is all anyone in the UK have heard from Disney. From what I've seen so far they haven't even started removing the dining plan from anyones booking either. I just want to know what they're going to do so I know what to do with the trip.I would like to think we'll at least get offered the same as the US has been offered. We're going in September.

 

[Happy99]

My sister had a free dining plan for end of August. This morning her TA emailed her letting her know the dining plan was removed and the 35% discount was added. When I tried to do the math it wasn't working out but I think they added the 35% discount at current prevailing rates and not when they booked. So it seems they are treating this discount like all others where it is based off prevailing rates.

My sister's TA got the email from Disney late yesterday, at least based on the time stamp, and let her know this morning.

We have a regular reservation with dining, not free, also booked through the same TA, and no updates on our reservation yet. Seems they are updating free dine first.

 

[Amanda999]

I booked FD BB last August for late Aug. 2020 at Pop, park hop+ tix 10 days. I got the email saying dining plan removed and will get 35% off existing booking.
FYI: nothing has changed on MDE for this reservation - price is same, and the tix I don't need and wouldn't buy now (hopper and plus not needed) are still there and no mention of whether I can drop those tix and keep the resort reservation. (I have tons of existing unused tix.) I'm guessing not because they say park reservations will first go to those with 'existing' resort/tickets. (For me if the Pop pools are closed, I'm canceling - late August without hotel pool is my deal breaker.)

 

[tinkerbell1991]

I'm in the UK and we've only had a generic email saying not to contact them as they trying to figure out what the deal is for us. This email was sent out on Friday and we still haven't heard anything

I was told we would know by the 15th but this was by a cast member as we all know that their information can differ immensely so take it as you will

 

[Marthasor]

My original trip (booked through Dreams Unlimited) was for the last week of March this year- cancelled due to closure. I rebooked for the end of may, then the free dining offer was announced, so I rebooked for the second week of June to get free dining. June trip cancelled due to closure, lost free dining. Rebooked for October. Two weeks later, Disney announces a 35% discount for people who lost free dining. For some reason, I can’t get the discount. I realize the joy of booking dining, fastpasses, flights, and hotels 4 times should be reward enough on its own, but I would have liked the discount. Its far from the end of the world, and I’m not a serial complainer, but I may call the mouse tomorrow and see what’s up.

The sentence I bolded made me giggle. It's nice you've retained your sense of humor through all of this! As PP noted, they are only currently applying the 35% off to current reservations that have free dining attached and only for the dates that they currently have booked. Fingers crossed they may extend that 35% off to people who had it booked and were cancelled on or who want to move their dates further out - we just don't have any answers to that yet, unfortunately. You may want to wait until the reservation system comes back online to call. Unfortunately, the only thing phone CMs can do right now is outright cancel existing reservations. They don't have answers to anything else as of yet

 

[GirlDreamer]

My sister had a free dining plan for end of August. This morning her TA emailed her letting her know the dining plan was removed and the 35% discount was added. When I tried to do the math it wasn't working out but I think they added the 35% discount at current prevailing rates and not when they booked. So it seems they are treating this discount like all others where it is based off prevailing rates.

My sister's TA got the email from Disney late yesterday, at least based on the time stamp, and let her know this morning.

We have a regular reservation with dining, not free, also booked through the same TA, and no updates on our reservation yet. Seems they are updating free dine first.

Just curious, did the discount end up being higher or lower because of this?

I was told we would know by the 15th but this was by a cast member as we all know that their information can differ immensely so take it as you will

If that's true, that's still a long time away, I would've hoped they would have had it ready before. To be honest I already think it's ridiculous that they've left us hanging this long.

 

[cpfolk]

I just got off the phone with disney reservations. I was concerned that my PIF date was coming soon, but like many of you, I intend to cancel. I want to wait as long as possible to see if I can recoup the discounts I had for this trip - but I will not pay the balance of a trip I won't be taking. The cast member told me that the balance is now due on arrival.

Have any of you heard something similar?

 

[Happy99]

I just got off the phone with disney reservations. I was concerned that my PIF date was coming soon, but like many of you, I intend to cancel. I want to wait as long as possible to see if I can recoup the discounts I had for this trip - but I will not pay the balance of a trip I won't be taking. The cast member told me that the balance is now due on arrival.

Have any of you heard something similar?

This is not correct unless someone has a room only reservation with a 12 digit reservation number. When I asked my TA about balances due she said that all package reservations, until Disney says otherwise. Are due at a minimum 7 days prior to arrival date. If not paid the reservation auto cancels. My TA mentioned that she doesn't recommend waiting until the 7 days prior because if you forget then your res will auto cancel. She is asking that anyone looking to pay their balance, at least for her, do so at least 10 days prior so that there is a little buffer there for anyone who forgets.

 

[Racheldb]

I have a July 5-12 free dining reservation booked in Jan. I got the generic email but no changes to my reservation total or description. I did however get the “don’t forget to make your final payment” email. So that’s nice.

Ha, ha! I got the email this morning as well about making my final payment! Made me chuckle. Our trip is scheduled for July 5-12th

 

[Happy99]

Just curious, did the discount end up being higher or lower because of this?

Not sure what you mean by this. My sister had Free dine at Contemporary 5nts with upgrade to dlx dine. 3ad, 2 juniors. total was $6706.20 with memory maker. Now is $4762.35 with 35% discount.

 

[cpfolk]

Ha, ha! I got the email this morning as well about making my final payment! Made me chuckle. Our trip is scheduled for July 5-12th

This is exhausting.

 

[20yBWDW]

Not sure what you mean by this. My sister had Free dine at Contemporary 5nts with upgrade to dlx dine. 3ad, 2 juniors. total was $6706.20 with memory maker. Now is $4762.35 with 35% discount.

I think she was asking (and if she wasn't, I am) did your math show a lower price or higher price than what she actually got?

I'm curious because my current reservation has not been adjusted yet, but says Peak FD. I don't remember it saying Peak before, and now I'm curious how far off my actual adjusted price will be from what I'm calculating.

 

[Happy99]

From what I gathered the 35% was off prevailing rates and not the price the room was when the FD was added. I can't compare since the systems are down but when I tried to deduct the park tickets based on early 2020 prices before the increase, then add 35% discount it doesn't match what Disney said the new total was. it is a bit higher and I assume it has to do with higher ticket and room prices when they increased them in Feb 2020.

 

[Mamaof6]

Question for anyone with dates similar to mine. July 7 to 15th I noticed under my tickets on MDE that now it says "Valid 07/15/2020" is that standard to only be valid that day? Its weird , I dont remember ever seeing that before.

 

[Sandisw]

Question for anyone with dates similar to mine. July 7 to 15th I noticed under my tickets on MDE that now it says "Valid 07/15/2020" is that standard to only be valid that day? Its weird , I dont remember ever seeing that before.

Were they date based? Mine have been changed and give a 9/26/21 date which is the expiration.

I know they are changing things and I have two that have not been changed for August.

 

[Mamaof6]

They were not date phase they were five day park hopper plus tickets

 

[terrylily]

.

 

[wdw4rfam]

This is so crazy. Ours still say free dining in MDE. I want to keep the room, but drop the tickets completely. We are AP and had booked the bounceback because our AP’s expire in September anyways so we were going to use the hoppers towards our renewal, to get the free dining. But the AP’s we bought are still sitting unactivated because our spring trip got cancelled. So now that we are losing the dining- I don’t want the tickets. So waiting.... until they allow us to modify to see what I have to pay now. Plus not sure they will let us keep the 35% since we are dropping the tickets because it will be room only.

 

[krisp66]

Sept 21-27
ASMo
Recovery Free Dining (our original trip was scheduled for April)
Only email has been: We will be modifying your package to remove the dining plan. As an accommodation, the price of the package will be adjusted to reflect a 35% savings on the room portion. This modified package and price will be provided in a new confirmation. But that new confirmation has not arrived yet.

 

[Katrina Y]

I just got off the phone with disney reservations. I was concerned that my PIF date was coming soon, but like many of you, I intend to cancel. I want to wait as long as possible to see if I can recoup the discounts I had for this trip - but I will not pay the balance of a trip I won't be taking. The cast member told me that the balance is now due on arrival.

Have any of you heard something similar?

I wouldn’t trust that info, I just got off the phone with a cast member and he said it is due 7 days prior to arrival.