Confused

[mcella]

My 180 day mark is approaching on March 7th and I am not clear how to handle dining reservations. If free dining is offered for our dates in September, we would take advantage of the one CS, one TS, one snack plan and we would need ADRs for each day for the TS meals. However, if free dining is not offered, we would probably only do one, maybe two, TS meals (character meals) and eat CS the rest of the time. So, do I go ahead on March 7th and make an ADR for each day and hope for free dining? If I make ADRs in March on our 180 day mark, do they count for free dining if it is offered, and we add it to our package? Or, are the reservations I make on the 180 mark not able to be changed to free dining? I don’t want to go to all the trouble of making ADRs if they won’t even be valid when we add free dining (if it is even offered, I know it is not guaranteed).

 

[txnana]

a resrvation is just that. The system doesn't care how you are going to pay for it, except to say that some require a credit card to back up the reservation. But adding free dining does not effect the reservation. You would just need to cancel the excess reservations if you don't get free dining, the ones that you don't want to pay for out of pocket. Be sure to do so in a timely manner to prevent being charged for them.

 

[summermac]

Yep, ditto PP. I made all my reservations at the 180 day mark in hopes of a free dining code. It didn't come so I cancelled the ones I wasn't willing to pay OOP for.

 

[mcella]

Thanks! You guys are quick!

 

[Mickeylivesinseattle]

But if you can get a good room discount offer and no free dining then you might as well keep your dining reservations because you really won't spend more in total.

Free dining isn't free because you have to pay the max room rate to get it. That's the marketing genious behind the so-called "free dining".

 

[TDC Nala]

If you're not going to go to one restaurant each day without free dining, you can make the reservations now, then cancel some later if you determine that you won't be getting free dining. Just make sure you cancel the reservations that require a credit card hold at least one full day prior to the reservation.

At the time you make reservations (with the exception of CRT and dinner shows, which you have to pay in full for when you book them) it makes no difference at all whether or not you are on a dining plan. Adding a dining plan later does not make your reservations "invalid," in fact it doesn't affect them at all. If you book CRT or a dinner show and then later add a dining plan you can get the cost of the meal refunded when you go and pay with dining credits.

 

[LynneyPooh]

If you book CRT or a dinner show and then later add a dining plan you can get the cost of the meal refunded when you go and pay with dining credits.

or when you add the dining plan if you want your money refunded prior to the trip. I did this last year by booking CRT as soon as I could, but waited until about a week before we left to add DDP. I had to make a phone call, and take some time working with CM's and managers, but once they confirmed I was on DDP they refunded my money and kept my ressie intact. I choose to do this for a few reasons:
1) to get my ressies ASAP!
2) to keep my money till the last possible minute, (we have AP's this year) so I had leeway on adding the dining plan
3) to have my refund in pocket @ disney, not after I got home: it can take 7-10 days to process refunds
4) to avoid any potential confusion with CM's when it was time to pay: I've read a couple of horror stories where folks had a mess to clear up when they got their bank statements and they were charged money and TS's because there was a mistake made...

 

[mcella]

Thanks for all your great replies. It is very intimidating planning this vacation - I had no idea. I have several different scenarios regarding the costs - we're currently booked at a value resort with no discounts of any kind. I've made a spreadsheet of various options: estimated dining costs if we pay OOP for all our meals, estimated costs to pay for the regular DDP, estimated costs if we get the free QS dining plan but pay to upgrade to the regular DDP, estimated costs to upgrade to a moderate resort and get the regular dining plan free, etc. Once our dates get closer, I can run the real numbers knowing if there are any room discounts or free dining offered and make the final decision. I'm not sure we want to be tied down to a TS reservation everyday, but we do want to do a character meal or two.