Free Dining 2008 Watch

If you choose the deluxe dining plan you pay the price difference between the regular dining plan and that one. I think its somewhere around $32 per person.
The free dining package only counts with the regular dining plan, however you can upgrade by paying the difference between the two.
 
For those staying at All Stars that are worried, don't be. I am staying at Pop this year because I like to stay at a different resort each year. I have stayed at all 3 All Stars and enjoyed them all. They have all been recently renovated and the rooms are very nice. As for the buses, I have never had a problem. When I have been there they have always had their own dedicated bus for morning pickup and for return from the parks at night. The only time I ever remember sharing was when we came back to the resort in the middle of the day. The Magical Express bus also stopped at all 3 when coming from and leaving for the airport.

I agree although we stayed at the ASMov in March of 2007 and we shared a bus always, but it was never unmanagable. There was always lots of room and the people were always very nice to give up seats for parents with kids. It was never a big deal to us, the sharing of the buses that is.
 
I am starting to think the samething. I booked at ASMO. I have never been to WDW so I would not know what the big deal is.

We stayed at ASMov last year and I loved it. If you have kids it is great. It is a good unisex resort, as Sports may be more for boys. My kids loved it. We stayed in the Dalmations building and it was close to everything and quiet. The rooms are decked out in Dalmation themes with pics/wallpaper and comforters and I assume the other themes on the resort would be the same. I wouldn't worry about your choice. The shared buses are not a problem in the value season, they may be in the summer but not in September. On busy nights, ie. after wishes or Fantasmic! gets out you have your own bus for each resort so it is not too crazy. :scared: Hope this helps. Enjoy.

Oh ya, the only building I found really far away was the Herbie buildings, the Fantasia buildings face the pool so they may be abit louder if noise is a factor for you. The Toy Story buildings are close to the park and kids pool area. And the Mighty Ducks is close to the small pool. Dalmations is close to the main pool but the side of the building faces it so it is abit more quiet and is closest to the main building and buses. :cutie:
 
My issue with the buses is mainly because my DM is going to be using an electric wheelchair, I am renting an ECV and my friend who is traveling with us for most of our trip is also planning on using an ECV.... since they only allow 2 per bus to begin with, we already have to take 2 seperate buses... now if we were at a resort that shared buses with other resorts, we would feel bad if we were already on and someone else had to wait for yet another bus, or vice versa.... where we would have to wait for a bus to accomidate us. :moped:
 


Can anyone tell me what kind of Food Hoop Dee Doo review has????? Never been there ever maybe when I was kid but have no clue! This is family's first visit to H D D R ! Any information would be appreciated! :thumbsup2

I have a question about HDDR...I know that the gratuity is no longer included in the Dining Plan, but I thought I read that the tip is already included in the HDDR "price". Is this correct?
 
My issue with the buses is mainly because my DM is going to be using an electric wheelchair, I am renting an ECV and my friend who is traveling with us for most of our trip is also planning on using an ECV.... since they only allow 2 per bus to begin with, we already have to take 2 seperate buses... now if we were at a resort that shared buses with other resorts, we would feel bad if we were already on and someone else had to wait for yet another bus, or vice versa.... where we would have to wait for a bus to accomidate us. :moped:
The bus picks up at Sports first and the goes onto Music and Movies if it needs to. Do you and your friend need the ECV at the resort itself? Maybe you can rent one at the park when you get there.
 
The bus picks up at Sports first and the goes onto Music and Movies if it needs to. Do you and your friend need the ECV at the resort itself? Maybe you can rent one at the park when you get there.

It is cheaper to rent offsite... as a matter of fact already got mine rented... my friend is waiting to see if she can "borrow" one from a relative.

I was stating why we chose not to stay at the All-Stars and chose Pop instead! Not for or against any resort just like the bus system better there.
 


It is cheaper to rent offsite... as a matter of fact already got mine rented... my friend is waiting to see if she can "borrow" one from a relative.
Yeah, I know it's cheaper. My mom rents one when she goes and keeps it in her room. I was just commenting on the PITA factor needing to wait for 2 buses every time you want to go to/from the parks. Renting an ECV at the parks might be more expensive, but you would save almost an hour a day in waiting. That is ... if you don't need it at the resort. My mom does, so we really didn't have a choice. One more thing ... are you all three going to share one room at POP? I don't think a wheelchair and 2 ECVs will fit! Will they allow you to park one or two on the sidewalk?

I was stating why we chose not to stay at the All-Stars and chose Pop instead! Not for or against any resort just like the bus system better there.
No worries. I personally like POP better too :).
 
Yeah, I know it's cheaper. My mom rents one when she goes and keeps it in her room. I was just commenting on the PITA factor needing to wait for 2 buses every time you want to go to/from the parks. Renting an ECV at the parks might be more expensive, but you would save almost an hour a day in waiting. That is ... if you don't need it at the resort. My mom does, so we really didn't have a choice. One more thing ... are you all three going to share one room at POP? I don't think a wheelchair and 2 ECVs will fit! Will they allow you to park one or two on the sidewalk?

No worries. I personally like POP better too :).

Actually, there are 7 of us in our party.... Mom, me, my brother... my friend, her husband and their 2 teens.... so actually a total of 3 rooms....

BTW I don't have to have mine at the resort and would probably have opted to rent one at the parks if there was a guarantee that one would be available for rental... but since they are first come, first serve I don't wanna chance it.
 
OK, guys. Quick question. Is there a minimum on the number of park ticket days you need to purchase in order to get free dining? For example, can you book a 5 night package with one day tickets and still be eligible? I'm not real clear on this from the examples I've seen. My sister's homeschool association is going during free dining, and she can get greatly discounted tickets thru them, so I am trying to help her crunch some numbers for the best deal!
Thanks:worship:
 
OK, guys. Quick question. Is there a minimum on the number of park ticket days you need to purchase in order to get free dining? For example, can you book a 5 night package with one day tickets and still be eligible? I'm not real clear on this from the examples I've seen. My sister's homeschool association is going during free dining, and she can get greatly discounted tickets thru them, so I am trying to help her crunch some numbers for the best deal!
Thanks:worship:

Yes, you only need to purchase 1 day ticket.
 
I'm so happy! saving over $400 on our trip. I read on a non Disney board that free DDP was offered for my trip's time frame (first week of Sept). So called Disney today, asked if I could take advantage of the offer and the rep was, like, "sure! Let me put it on your reservation" Didn't need a code or anything. Had actually spent the day thinking that I was gonna cancel the reservation, thinking we should prolly vacation to a different destination, as we had been to WDW Mar of 2006 and DL in 2007. But getting free DDP is the cherry on the sundae, so WDW here we come ! :)
 
OK, guys. Quick question. Is there a minimum on the number of park ticket days you need to purchase in order to get free dining? For example, can you book a 5 night package with one day tickets and still be eligible? I'm not real clear on this from the examples I've seen. My sister's homeschool association is going during free dining, and she can get greatly discounted tickets thru them, so I am trying to help her crunch some numbers for the best deal!
Thanks:worship:

Yes, you only need to purchase a one park, one day base ticket per person to get the DDP. I have done this for both the free and regular DDP. I had a situation where some of my family members had days left on passes from prior trips and it did not make sense for me to purchase everyone a big ticket. I purchased the one day/one park tick and then when I got to the hotel, I went to guest relations and "customized" each ticket to suit my needs. Hope this makes sense! enjoy!
 
I read on this thread many pages ago that Southwest was opening their air for September on April 18? Does anyone know what date they will be opening their air? As of now, it is only through August 22? Looking to make those Disney Free Dining air reservations! SMILE!
 
It supposed to be today and in the past it usually happens about 10am PST. I believe they are opening the schedule up thru the end of October...so you should be able to check out the airfare within a few hours. Keep checking their website though in case they released it sooner.
 
I read on this thread many pages ago that Southwest was opening their air for September on April 18? Does anyone know what date they will be opening their air? As of now, it is only through August 22? Looking to make those Disney Free Dining air reservations! SMILE!

It is today!! I just got my tickets for August 24th.
 
Booked our SWA flights for September this morning using free tickets! :woohoo:

Plus we upgraded to AP's at the end of last September, so my dh says our park passes are "free" this year. (I have schooled him well in the fine art of Disney math! :teacher:)

Free park passes + free dining + free plane tickets = :cloud9:
 
I knew that SW was going to release new dates today so I kept a lookout all morning. :surfweb:

At about 11:00 I got online and saw that my travel dates were available to book.

While I was on SW website I heard the famous "ding".
I click on the icon and there was a special for fall travel. The special was 15% off round trip tickets for certain dates. I was so happy to see that my dates fell within the special. :woohoo:

My family (Me, DH, DS-10, DS-4) were booked for Disney Wednesday September 17 thru Sunday September 28. I found that flying back on a Sunday would be about $350.00 more even with the 15% discount than flying back on a Monday. (I already knew flying anywhere on the weekends would be more than flying during the week).

So I called my husband to let him know what I found out. He said lets just fly back on a Monday since it would save us $350.00. So I called my TA to see if I could add another night to our reservation. We could....:banana: :banana:
It only was $93 more adding another night. :thumbsup2

So now we are staying for 12 nights!!!! With FREE DINING.....:cool1:

With the SW discount and flying back on a Monday I got 4 round trip tickets for $580.00 (Raleigh/Durham ---> Orlando) :thumbsup2

I am so happy!!!!:banana: :banana:
 
One more thing ... are you all three going to share one room at POP? I don't think a wheelchair and 2 ECVs will fit! Will they allow you to park one or two on the sidewalk?
Interestingly, yes! Of course, you're responsible if it rains during the night and the ECV develops system problems, or if somebody puts in in free-mode and walks off with it...
 

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