Free Dining 2014 Discussion

[Jazzerfan]

Ok, I've been on this post back and forth for the last month. I always go last week of August and typically get FD. This is best and cost effective way for us to do. I find the Room Discount not really worth anything for my group and doesn't really add up to much once you add tickets, DP, Memory Maker and trip insurance. The same trip I took back in 2011 is now costing me about $1800 more when pricing out for this year.

• Should I continue to wait?
• Book and suck up to the extra cost?
• Cancel my trip entirely?

Since the current Summer Room Discount promo ends on August 28th, I am not hopeful that FD will even be offered and start the end of August.

Any thoughts?

 

[LoveSplashMountain]

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

 

[trixiemuffin]

This from the web-
Free Dining Dates 2013:
September 2 to September 25, 2013
September 29 to October 2, 2013
October 18 to November 2, 2013
November 11 to November 23, 2013
December 12 to December 22, 2013

Hmm, looks like August is not happening. Where did this come from?

 

[scard192]

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.

we got free DDP (PIN) last year at POFQ; the resort I always dreamed of staying at. My niece was turning 3 and had never been so we wanted to do as many character buffets as possible. We enjoyed it but rushing to ADRs and FP+ was somewhat stressful. And we spent more time at the resort because my niece was still napping.

Next trip (Fall 2016) we have decided that we will stay at POP as the kids will be older and want to spend more time in the parks and less time at TS meals. Very excited about not being so tied down to ADRs.

 

[lazer]

Hmm, looks like August is not happening. Where did this come from?

That's from 2013.

 

[smitch425]

Hmm, looks like August is not happening. Where did this come from?

Those are last year's dates.

 

[scard192]

Hmm, looks like August is not happening. Where did this come from?

I think this is the combined dates from last year, September FD and Falll.
in 2013 August was not included in FD; the feeling right now is that the last few days might be included this year; no way to know until FD is released.

 

[LittleDisneyLovers]

Excuse my ignorance, but I have read pages and pages of this thread, and done multiple searches and can't find the answer to my question, which is - Can I book the free dining online? And what time will it go live? Midnight? 7am?
I am from Australia and do not have a Disney Visa, so I'll have to wait for it to be available to the general public. I'd rather book online if I can, rather than spend hours on hold on an international phone call!
I have a 2 week period to play with dates, but only want to stay 1 week, so hopefully I can make it work.
Fingers crossed!!

 

[trixiemuffin]

Those are last year's dates.

Phew! That got me scared for a minute. I am still hopeful...this year's UK offer is better than last year's, and sounds like one CM hinted at possible earlier FD dates, so I am not giving up!

 

[scard192]

Ok, I've been on this post back and forth for the last month. I always go last week of August and typically get FD. This is best and cost effective way for us to do. I find the Room Discount not really worth anything for my group and doesn't really add up to much once you add tickets, DP, Memory Maker and trip insurance. The same trip I took back in 2011 is now costing me about $1800 more when pricing out for this year.

• Should I continue to wait?
• Book and suck up to the extra cost?
• Cancel my trip entirely?

Since the current Summer Room Discount promo ends on August 28th, I am not hopeful that FD will even be offered and start the end of August.

Any thoughts?

at this point why not wait and see when FD starts; if the May 1 date holds, you will know on Thursday whtat the dates are even if you don't have DVisa and need to wait for the GP Offer.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Excuse my ignorance, but I have read pages and pages of this thread, and done multiple searches and can't find the answer to my question, which is - Can I book the free dining online? And what time will it go live? Midnight? 7am?
I am from Australia and do not have a Disney Visa, so I'll have to wait for it to be available to the general public. I'd rather book online if I can, rather than spend hours on hold on an international phone call!
I have a 2 week period to play with dates, but only want to stay 1 week, so hopefully I can make it work.
Fingers crossed!!

It will be available online to book when it goes live to the general public.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

at this point why not wait and see when FD starts; if the May 1 date holds, you will know on Thursday even if you don't have DVisa and need to wait for the GP Offer.

Agree there is no need or hurry to do anything now.

 

[BigMommaMouse]

It will be available online to book when it goes live to the general public.

Not sure if it is the same IT people when the UK free dining came out the was a couple of hours before it showed on line. Most likely because thousands of us were on their page and hitting the reload button over and over.

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

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.

This is what we're going to do, but we're in a different boat. I've had the dining plan for at least the last 5 visits and we LOVE Disney table service meals. Now that my oldest is a Disney adult, it'll cost nearly $450 to upgrade, so it's not really worth it. We've decided to pick 2 TS (Ohana and Cali Grill) and pay out of pocket. I'm actually really evicted about the flexibility we'll have, not having to rush back to hotel to get ready for dinner (we like to dress up a bit when we dine at the deluxe resorts). I never thought I'd be excited about skipping TS meals. I will miss a few of our regulars, esp Biergarten, but my kids eat rolls and desserts there only, so not at all worth going.

 

[scard192]

This is what we're going to do, but we're in a different boat. I've had the dining plan for at least the last 5 visits and we LOVE Disney table service meals. Now that my oldest is a Disney adult, it'll cost nearly $450 to upgrade, so it's not really worth it. We've decided to pick 2 TS (Ohana and Cali Grill) and pay out of pocket. I'm actually really evicted about the flexibility we'll have, not having to rush back to hotel to get ready for dinner (we like to dress up a bit when we dine at the deluxe resorts). I never thought I'd be excited about skipping TS meals. I will miss a few of our regulars, esp Biergarten, but my kids eat rolls and desserts there only, so not at all worth going.

My feelings exactly! we have Disney Visa rewards and will ask the kids to pick one TS and use the rewards to pay for it.

 

[BStew]

This from the web-
Free Dining Dates 2013:
September 2 to September 25, 2013
September 29 to October 2, 2013
October 18 to November 2, 2013
November 11 to November 23, 2013
December 12 to December 22, 2013

Hmm...so if we are planning to arrive Nov. 5 or 6 it doesn't look that great for us.

 

[Wdwvacationdad]

Anyone heard from Joe/Black lately? This is our first year joining in the FD MADNESS, and my nerves are shot. A little reassurance from the Dis Whisperer would be great right about now

 

[lisafab]

Hmm...so if we are planning to arrive Nov. 5 or 6 it doesn't look that great for us.

We arrived November 4th in 2012 and our dates were excluded. It seems Jersey week is the culprit. Even doing a split stay we couldn't make it work. Back to September for us this year!

 

[StarDreamer]

You know what? When you talk about wanting your girls to have a magical trip, I feel like you should do the table service, so you can book some wonderful character buffets.

That's an important point. I'd like my girls to meet a lot of characters if they can since it's their first trip and I know character meals would really help.

The same thing came to mind for me when i read this family's post. Also, i found when my DD was younger meals were more 'stressful' at the quick service locations as there was the added challenge of one person getting the food while the other found a table, and high chair, and a place to park the stroller, etc.

My DD is 5 and absolutely LOVES the character meals but also the non-character meals such as Coral Reef and Teppan Edo. We find it a nice break to sit down in a more relaxed setting and enjoy our meals being brought to us or, the options of buffets.

My thoughts for you are Table Service but I know you'll be happy with either.

Yeah the breaks would be nice, especially in the air conditioning.

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!!

It's the gratuities that's putting me on the fence. I had factored in the upgrade cost and didn't think about the $160 in tips. So it would be $480 instead of just the $320 upgrade. It would then be about $320 more to stay at a mod. Things add up fast. I do really want the table services, though.

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.

If I do stick with quick service, that's what I'd like to do is keep one table service. Of course it had to be the most expensive one. And yup tips would be $160 for what we would order and one TS would be $180.

 

[Camaro305]

Anyone heard from Joe/Black lately? This is our first year joining in the FD MADNESS, and my nerves are shot. A little reassurance from the Dis Whisperer would be great right about now

I haven't seen him lately, but the next date to look at is rumored to be May 1.