can someone explain free dining to me?

[anniemae]

I keep hearing that a lot of folks are waiting for some free dining promotion to come out before booking their trip. I thought you could get the dining plan no matter when you go to disney? Is the dining plan and free dining plan two different things? When would the free dining apply? Is it specific dates?

 

[disney world dreamer]

usually you have to pay for a dining plan.
during the free dining promotion you get a free quick service dining plan if you stay at select value resorts and a free regular dining plan if you stay at select moderates and select deluxes.
you can pay the difference if you want to upgrade to a more expensive dining plan.

generally free dining is offered for dates near the end of august to the end of september or beginning of october and then the dates are usually extended into certain weeks in october, november, and december.

free dining is usually released between late march and early may.
this year it looks like it will be early may.

 

[bookgirl]

Yes anyone staying on site can purchase a dining plan.

FREE DINING is a promotion where you pay rack rate for you room and buy at least two days of tickets for everyone on your reservation, but they give you the dining plan for free (depending on the level of stay you either get the QS plan, the Reg Dining Plan, or you can upgrade to a Deluxe dining plan).

They may not apply Free Dining if you have a pre reserved stay with a purchased plan. The free dining offer may not include your hotel or even the room level at your hotel. It may not include the dates that you are going. So you cannot always transfer the FREE DINING to your reservation.

Sometimes you have to book a new reservation then cancel the old. (expecially if you have a room only reservation and want to change to a package)

FD is usually offered in the late summer and fall.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Everyone can get the dining plan (if you are staying on property). 'Free' dining is a promotional offer (sometimes a bounceback offer- this is how we keep getting it each year). By getting free dining (not paying for your dining credits) you end up paying rack rate for your room. Opinions vary greatly on its' value. We love getting free dining but are also aware that we pay rack rate for the room. In our case, we stay in a moderate hotel with 2 adults and 2 Disney adults (DD's 13 and 16), so $180/night hotel gives us all the food we can eat and a nice room on property. Of course, the convenience adds value to us. As I said, opinions vary and to each their own
Free dining is offered during times of lower attendance to boost room reservations.

 

[vinotinto]

Here is some information about the promotions and dates for previous discounts, including "free" dining and special room rates:
http://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/

Last year, Free Dining was offered for arrivals 8/31/14-12/23/14. Black out dates included arrivals on the following dates: 10/4-10/25, 11/2-11/8, and 11/21-12/11. While there's no guarantee it will be the same in 2015, this should give you an idea of what Disney can offer if they need to sell more rooms.

 

[HopperFan]

Carefully crunch your numbers if you think your dates will fall into traditional offering time:

"FREE" = full price rooms and two day tickets for EVERYONE in room. As PP stated Value only gets QSDP so if you want DDP you pay difference. Calculate your hotel, number of folks in your room etc. We did if for 8 years but when our numbers dropped from 4 to 2, the cost did not work for us anymore. We did better with a room only discount and eating how we normally would.

 

[anniemae]

Thank you everyone! I guess I will have to do some number crunching!

 

[LaurenT]

Yeah .... There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Free dining means that the Disney Dining Plan will be included in your room, but you'll pay full price for the room. So it's really just another kind of discount.
That doesn't mean its a bad thing - if you have four "Disney Adults" in the room and your dining habits are a good match, free dining could be the right promotion for you.
I'm not a fan of the DDP, I don't like the restrictions, but it works well for a lot of people.

 

[larryz]

My estimate: 4 "full eaters" in a room makes it a good deal. 2 "full eaters" and two "picky eaters" and it's a toss-up (no pun intended). Just 2 "full eaters" is probably not cost effective unless they eat premium meals every night.

 

[smitch425]

Here's an article all about it. I did not choose the title. Lol!

http://**************.net/2015/03/31/the-best-ever-free-dining-faq-in-the-history-of-the-world-2/