Booking ahead for the Free Dining... Question?

[Tammy296]

Ok, we're thinking of putting off our trip plans until the fall when we "might" get the free dining.

Do you suggest that if we do so, we book now and book without the dining plan on our package or with the dining plan on our package?

How does this work if we book that far in advance and a deal comes up?

Thanks!
-T

 

[TheLittleRoo]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think holding a room reservation now for the dates you hope fall within free dining will help you. Reason being, the availability for free dining is a different allotment. So, you'd have to call in and have them "change" your ressie to free dining, but in reality what they're doing is checking availability for free dining on your dates. In essence, it accomplishes nothing that you couldn't do yourself by waiting and POUNCING into action the morning that free dining releases to the public, or to the Disney VISA cardmembers if you have one.

Plus, booking a pseudo-reservation has the unintended consequence of filling up a resort, giving management the false impression that the resort has a fuller booked rate than they "really" do if you took out all the other psuedo-bookings. Then management decides that resort doesn't need as much help filling up during free dining, and it gets fewer slots for free dining reservations.

It pretty much doesn't help you, and if everyone did this, it would shoot us all in the foot. Hope that helps!

 

[Tammy296]

That makes "perfect" sense to me....thanks!!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think holding a room reservation now for the dates you hope fall within free dining will help you. Reason being, the availability for free dining is a different allotment. So, you'd have to call in and have them "change" your ressie to free dining, but in reality what they're doing is checking availability for free dining on your dates. In essence, it accomplishes nothing that you couldn't do yourself by waiting and POUNCING into action the morning that free dining releases to the public, or to the Disney VISA cardmembers if you have one.

Plus, booking a pseudo-reservation has the unintended consequence of filling up a resort, giving management the false impression that the resort has a fuller booked rate than they "really" do if you took out all the other psuedo-bookings. Then management decides that resort doesn't need as much help filling up during free dining, and it gets fewer slots for free dining reservations.

It pretty much doesn't help you, and if everyone did this, it would shoot us all in the foot. Hope that helps!

Well put, TheLittleRoo. And exactly the reason we are holding off to make our reservation for the end of August.

Here's a little for all of us waiting (and hoping) for free dining!

 

[Disneynut5]

I am going ahead and booking now so I can start planning. I need a long time to do this. Also I want to get my ADRs done 100 days out since that is as close as I can get. I am using a travel agent though (Magic for less) and she is being very helpful. She had a customer last year that booked and then went for free dining when it was offered also. If the dining falls through for some reason we we the 40% off military discount to fall back on so we are okay either way.