Free Dining 2014 Discussion

[RedheadRinger]

Not today

 

[donp]

"Lisa" says no FD for Visa today

 

[JamieLM]

No FD today

 

[Ava]

Boo. Thanks to everyone who called!

 

[LoveSplashMountain]

Thanks for checking.

 

[nikkyluvsmickey]

 

[evcollins]

Just called...nothing today.

 

[Misjanuary1]

Thx for calling and reporting back....back to bed for me!

 

[rkakka06]

Not today

Booooo

 

[lillieandlilahsmommy]

No new offers today. Nothing for the general public, nothing for Disney Chase cardholders .

 

[ciera321]

Thanks for checking!

Too bad it didn't come out yesterday, I was up at 4AM with a dog that's scared of thunderstorms. Today I could have slept in....

 

[LoveSplashMountain]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm struggling with the fact that this is our first family trip to Disney world and I want my girls' first trip to be magical. I also don't know when we'll be able to make it back to WDW, so I'm trying to squeeze everything into one visit. This is all so overwhelming.

It's good to know that you've experienced both and enjoyed the quick service.

We've only been to Disney twice, but for what it's worth, we love having 1 table service meal per day. It's so relaxing - and counter service areas can be crazy busy and stressful at times. With a table service, you have one meal per day where you can sit down in the air conditioning and let someone else wait on you (except buffets). And for us - as a family of 4 - it will only cost us about $100 more to stay at a mod (for 8 nights) with free DDP than it is to stay at a value and upgrade. But gratuities will cost more when you are in park. Just my $0.02. You know best with you and your family will enjoy.

Disney is a magical trip any way you go!!

 

[5bound4wdw]

 

[Ava]

Thanks for the reply! I'm struggling with the fact that this is our first family trip to Disney world and I want my girls' first trip to be magical. I also don't know when we'll be able to make it back to WDW, so I'm trying to squeeze everything into one visit. This is all so overwhelming. It's good to know that you've experienced both and enjoyed the quick service.

You could always do the quick service plan and then pay out of pocket for one or two character meals. With the table service dining plan, tips are not included so you'll still have some OOP cost at each meal. Depending on the prices of your TS meals, tips for the week could run you a couple hundred dollars.

It all depends on the size of your family and how you like to eat. You can find menus and prices for all the restaurants on property at allears.net; I used that to figure approximate cost of tips for all our TS meals. You may find that tips for a week's worth of TS meals is about the same as paying OOP for a couple character breakfasts.

 

[ARAITHEL]

We've only been to Disney twice, but for what it's worth, we love having 1 table service meal per day. It's so relaxing - and counter service areas can be crazy busy and stressful at times. With a table service, you have one meal per day where you can sit down in the air conditioning and let someone else wait on you (except buffets). And for us - as a family of 4 - it will only cost us about $100 more to stay at a mod (for 8 nights) with free DDP than it is to stay at a value and upgrade. But gratuities will cost more when you are in park. Just my $0.02. You know best with you and your family will enjoy.

Disney is a magical trip any way you go!!

Do the upgrade and stay at the moderate! The rooms are nicer and the CMs at the resort do a better job. As far as the DDP, the TS meals are much better than the CS meals and the kids would love the character dining. I'd suggest Ohana and 1900 Park Fare. Ohana might be kind of dicey on getting a reservation if you haven't already scored one for the fall, but it's worth trolling the site if you have to get lucky and score one when someone cancels. The wings are worth the work, if nothing else.

 

[TennesseeGirl]

We've only been to Disney twice, but for what it's worth, we love having 1 table service meal per day. It's so relaxing - and counter service areas can be crazy busy and stressful at times. With a table service, you have one meal per day where you can sit down in the air conditioning and let someone else wait on you (except buffets). And for us - as a family of 4 - it will only cost us about $100 more to stay at a mod (for 8 nights) with free DDP than it is to stay at a value and upgrade. But gratuities will cost more when you are in park. Just my $0.02. You know best with you and your family will enjoy. Disney is a magical trip any way you go!!

I have a slightly different perspective after doing both. We stayed at a value one year/quick service and a moderate last year/dining plan. I am sooo glad we did the regular dining plan last year but next time we go I am going to go with quick service and pay for a couple of table service meals out of pocket. We enjoyed almost every table service restaurant we went to but I discovered I value the flexibility counter service offers over the food and atmosphere of ts restaurants. I can think of at least three instances when we had to stop in the middle of doing something fun in order to make it to our reservation. So that part was the opposite of relaxing for me. That was probably due to poor planning though.

Having said that... If you are already planning on doing some character meals I would go with the regular dining plan, especially if you think it will be a while before you go back.

 

[brownierose]

No new offers today. Nothing for the general public, nothing for Disney Chase cardholders .

Thank u all for calling!!! I totally forgot that I was supposed to call this morning until
Just now! (Slept late)

 

[jhaig]

So is everyone still looking at Thursday for the DV offer?

 

[Foofergirl]

Can anyone confirm that AofA suites WERE or WERE NOT included LAST year in the late fall (November) FD promo? Thanks!

 

[scard192]

Can anyone confirm that AofA suites WERE or WERE NOT included LAST year in the late fall (November) FD promo? Thanks!

from last year:

Free dining will be extended beyond September.

Bookings for these dates will begin August 1, 2013.

The dates are below:

September 29 - October 2
October 18 - November 2
November 11 - 23
December 12 - 22


Some Resorts are excluded. These include: Art of Animation, All Star Movies, Port Orleans French Quarter, Campsites at Ft. Wilderness, and 3-bedroom villas. A 3 night minimum stay (14 night maximum) and two day minimum park ticket is required for each person in the party.

Disney Value Resorts ~ Quick Service Dining Plan Included
(can be upgraded to regular plan)
All-Star Music Resort
All-Star Sports Resort
Pop Century Resort

Moderate Resorts ~ Regular Dining Plan Included
Carribean Beach Resort
Coronado Springs Resort
Port Orleans Resort Riverside

Deluxe Resorts ~ Regular Dining Plan Included
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Yacht & Beach Club Resorts
BoardWalk Inn
Contemporary Resort
Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Polynesian Resort
Wilderness Lodge

Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts ~ Regular Dining Plan Included
Bay Lake Tower
Animal Kingdom Villas
Beach Club Villas
BoardWalk Villas
Old Key West Resort
Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
The Villas at Disneys Wilderness Lodge
Fort Wilderness Cabins