Free Dine 2014- please advise

[Kristina]

Hi , I hope perhaps some of you kind people can give me some advice! I live in Sweden but am thinking of booking the free dining offer from Disney International, UK for Nov. 10, 2014.

We are 3 ladies who have decided on booking POR with free QS dining, although we are still considering things and may add on regular dining, unsure. I'm just wondering if there's anything I should be thinking of before we book? I always book using a travel agent and if I only knew for sure that the US site would offer free dining next year I'd wait. That's just so familiar to me, all the rules and such. I've always gotten FD but now with New Fantasyland almost finished I'm worried. I just feel so much responsibility because I'm the 'Disney' person of our group!

Although there are 3 of us these are my cousins and we are very close, and one of them is just a little thing so sleeping 3 in 2 queen sized beds will work out fine. I hope ! I've been dreaming of staying at Riverside so I'm beyond excited. I was dreaming of staying at Beach Club as well but the cousins nixed that idea .

Also they will only be staying a week, maybe they'll add 2 additional nights or so. Me I'm not leaving until my two weeks are up ! The tickets and free dining we will have regardless right, so if we tell Disney at check in, because our ME will be different, would that be enough notice? Or would I have to let them know somehow when I book online?

Anyway any advice would be great, thanks .

 

[dabootie]

If you book through the UK site the deal will include meals for all people in the room for the duration of the booking. If you upgrade your meals you have to all be on the same upgrade for the duration of the booking also....if you are reserving the room for two weeks then you will get 2 meals per person per day of the booking....UK bookings include ultimate tickets which will be valid for the entire 2 weeks also.

What you need to decide is whether you are booking one room for a week for 3 people and a second reservation for a week for one or if you are just making a single reservation with 2 people possibly leaving early. If you are going to upgrade your free dining plan I would go for the first option, upgrading your dining plan will cost £15 per person per night (approx). If you book 2 separate reservations you will only be paying an upgrade fee for your own meals after your cousins leave, however if you decide not to upgrade then the first option of just booking a room for 2 weeks then you will have extra meals to split between you as meals will be allocated for 3 people for 14 nights!

As for the Magical Express it may just be as easy for your cousins to book a return trip with Mears.

 

[scoobydooby]

I don't think you will be able to book from the UK site without a UK address This is because to qualify for free dining you have to book a package which includes tickets and the Ultimate tickets are only available to residents of UK and Ireland. I assume therefore they check your address.

 

[chmurf]

I don't think you will be able to book from the UK site without a UK address This is because to qualify for free dining you have to book a package which includes tickets and the Ultimate tickets are only available to residents of UK and Ireland. I assume therefore they check your address.

the UK "resident only" is just an odd way to say "european resident"

Actually WDTC-UK sells to any EU country. Only exception being Switzerland which is in Europe but not in EU.
But I can confirm that I booked successfully from France on several occasions. Friends from Belgium did the same. There is no reason to believe that Sweden would pose a problem. As long as you pay in £££ and your country is listed in the country list on the checkout page, you're good to go.

 

[scoobydooby]

the UK "resident only" is just an odd way to say "european resident"

Actually WDTC-UK sells to any EU country. Only exception being Switzerland which is in Europe but not in EU.
But I can confirm that I booked successfully from France on several occasions. Friends from Belgium did the same. There is no reason to believe that Sweden would pose a problem. As long as you pay in £££ and your country is listed in the country list on the checkout page, you're good to go.

Oh OK I didn't know that. I assumed it meant what it says!!!! That's good news for the OP

 

[chmurf]

Oh OK I didn't know that. I assumed it meant what it says!!!! That's good news for the OP

Absolutely

I assumed the same when I first booked. I tried my luck with an email to WDTC-UK and that's how I was told (from WDTC) that "uk resident" really meant "EU resident". I was quite relieved and happy

I don't know why they keep that "misleading" wording ... maybe there is an issue with the other disney travel company which sells disneyland paris packages and they want to keep WDW as much as possible on a UK target population.
It's the same with all the "uk only" tickets on attraction tickets direct for example, EU is OK too, but they state that it's for UK residents only when it really isn't (only restriction is that it can't ship to US or CA adresses)

 

[Kristina]

the UK "resident only" is just an odd way to say "european resident"

Actually WDTC-UK sells to any EU country. Only exception being Switzerland which is in Europe but not in EU.
But I can confirm that I booked successfully from France on several occasions. Friends from Belgium did the same. There is no reason to believe that Sweden would pose a problem. As long as you pay in £££ and your country is listed in the country list on the checkout page, you're good to go.

Yes, I did book once before with them in 2007 but then had to cancel so although things could have changed since then I'm glad to read that I can still book ! My concern was the cancelation policy and how difficult it is to make changes since before I'd just pop an email to my TA. Also we could hold out and hope for regular free dining from the US site but every time I visit with the plan, I wish I handn't had it so I could eat more snack food! So, if all is well I'm sure we'll book in a week or so.

 

[Kristina]

If you book through the UK site the deal will include meals for all people in the room for the duration of the booking. If you upgrade your meals you have to all be on the same upgrade for the duration of the booking also....if you are reserving the room for two weeks then you will get 2 meals per person per day of the booking....UK bookings include ultimate tickets which will be valid for the entire 2 weeks also.

What you need to decide is whether you are booking one room for a week for 3 people and a second reservation for a week for one or if you are just making a single reservation with 2 people possibly leaving early. If you are going to upgrade your free dining plan I would go for the first option, upgrading your dining plan will cost £15 per person per night (approx). If you book 2 separate reservations you will only be paying an upgrade fee for your own meals after your cousins leave, however if you decide not to upgrade then the first option of just booking a room for 2 weeks then you will have extra meals to split between you as meals will be allocated for 3 people for 14 nights!

As for the Magical Express it may just be as easy for your cousins to book a return trip with Mears.

Oh wow, now that I hadn't thought of haha! Although even though I always wish I could, there's no way I could eat much more in Disney so there's a good chance they'll be riding the ME back regardless !