*Free* Dining Announced...dates for Fall thru December!

[Marionnette]

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/resort-stay-dine-package/

Some blackout dates and room exclusions. Minimum 2-day tickets w/park hopper required. Limited availability.

Glad that I have a great room-only rate during a week when *Free* Dining isn't offered!

 

[wendow]

Glad that I have a great room-only rate during a week when *Free* Dining isn't offered!

I have a great room only rate also but ugh, I am in the 'free' dining time :-/

 

[devalsam]

How bad will free dining make the crowds? Our dates are 11/25 to 12/2 and I see that free dining dates include 11/26-11/28. I was already expecting those first few days to be a little more crowded because it's Thanksgiving weekend but will this make the whole week unbearable?

 

[wendow]

How bad will free dining make the crowds? Our dates are 11/25 to 12/2 and I see that free dining dates include 11/26-11/28. I was already expecting those first few days to be a little more crowded because it's Thanksgiving weekend but will this make the whole week unbearable?

It won't make your crowds unbearable but, certainly, Disney uses the "free" dining promo to get more people into the parks at what is normally a slow time. So, your crowd levels will be higher to some degree.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

How bad will free dining make the crowds? Our dates are 11/25 to 12/2 and I see that free dining dates include 11/26-11/28. I was already expecting those first few days to be a little more crowded because it's Thanksgiving weekend but will this make the whole week unbearable?

We are in the same boat.

We are already booked Nov 26 through Dec 3. Dang it.

 

[jalpert]

It's a catch 22:

Free dining means the dates were so slow that they had attach a promo to bring crown levels up.

If the promo isn't available, that means they are expecting a decent number of people during those dates.

I would be shocked if any date that Disney needs "free dining" for is described as unbearable.

How bad will free dining make the crowds? Our dates are 11/25 to 12/2 and I see that free dining dates include 11/26-11/28. I was already expecting those first few days to be a little more crowded because it's Thanksgiving weekend but will this make the whole week unbearable?

 

[SABeasley98]

Have the RO discounts already been released for the fall? We are going the 12th-19th.

 

[Forum Jumper]

It looks like there are more resort restrictions than in the past. Or, am I misreading the info?

 

[Marionnette]

It looks like there are more resort restrictions than in the past. Or, am I misreading the info?

I don't see anything that has not been excluded from previous *Free* Dining with the possible exclusion of 3-bedroom villas (which are kind of hard to book unless you're staying on DVC points and then you wouldn't get *Free* Dining anyway).

LM rooms are always excluded from promotions. The Campgrounds have been excluded from FD ever since Disney realized that people were booking their entire family of 10 into a campsite for the dining privilege and staying offsite in a nice vacation home, leaving a campsite empty.

The Poly DVC Bungalows and studios are almost always booked up by DVC owners and don't need to be offered as a part of a promotion because they are in high demand.

 

[Forum Jumper]

I checked dates in December and All Star Music and Pop Century were excluded. I thought that seemed odd. Now I can't get the free dining offer to show at all. Maybe the site is goofy with the first day of the new offer.

 

[dadofgoofy]

If I have free regular dining, can I downgrade to QS? or use TS credits for QS?

 

[Marionnette]

I checked dates in December and All Star Music and Pop Century were excluded. I thought that seemed odd. Now I can't get the free dining offer to show at all. Maybe the site is goofy with the first day of the new offer.

It could be that there is no availability at those resorts for *Free* Dining for the nights that you put in. It's odd, but you can sometimes enter one more day (or one less day), or even shift your visit by a day or two and suddenly those resorts will open up. Disney doesn't just restrict the offer to certain resorts and date, they also restrict the offer to specific length-of-stays within the dates a the resorts.

 

[glm777]

Good Luck trying to get Free dining! Starting at 8:05 am, I called 207 times (dial, busy, hang up, dial again), finally got through at about 12:30 and waited 98 minutes on hold only to be told that there was no availability for the free dining at the resort I already had reservations for (POP). The cast member tried a few other resorts and nothing. Our reservations were for Nov15 - 23.
I'm very disappointed : (

 

[SydneyFalco]

It's a catch 22:

Free dining means the dates were so slow that they had attach a promo to bring crown levels up.

If the promo isn't available, that means they are expecting a decent number of people during those dates.

I would be shocked if any date that Disney needs "free dining" for is described as unbearable.

No dates are perfectly bearable anymore. But if common wisdom is correct, Disney's not exactly flooding the market with rooms. Look at all the resorts and dates they didn't even bother to offer -- Riverside past October, the Contemporary and Poly regular, all of October...

Those are my dates, too. No Food and Wine this trip.

 

[ceecee]

I tried for an hour and a half to get thru and they had nothing when we wanted except a Jr. Suite and a Boardwalk Villa! I wish they would let the Disney Visa get a few days before the general public like they used to. Oh well, we don't need all the desserts and we tend to overeat during free dining.

 

[MillauFr]

Why on earth to you have to call a live person to book this???? Why can't Disney let people book online???

 

[Marionnette]

Why on earth to you have to call a live person to book this???? Why can't Disney let people book online???

You don't need to call. It can be booked online.

 

[MillauFr]

You don't need to call. It can be booked online.

Thanks for the info. I guess I thought you had to call when two previous poster mentioned waiting 90 minutes onhold trying to get through to a live person.

 

[CookieGVB]

I think people who were calling already had reservations that they were trying to add the Free Dining offer...brand new reservations were working just fine online.

 

[Tmesser]

I had email about free dining come through around 9:15am and after calling for an hour I just decided to book online... We are going 5 nights in December (rather go in October) but the wife has been wanting to go during christmas break... I really don't like how they force you to buy a park hopper with the free dining promo.. I have 2 small children and I really don't see us trying to drag them from park to park... I did the min. amount of tickets for this reason since park hoppers add almost 60$ per day on our tickets. 120$ extra dollars we lose so I went for a value resort and upgraded to table dining... Really enjoy the free dining promo last time but really hate how they are forcing more expensive tickets on you when you already pay full price for park tickets anyway. We will probably just go to Mickey's Christmas 2 days and other parks for the other 2. I'm starting to wonder if staying in the park is really worth it anymore.