Free Dining Announcement by April 12

[Mickey&Donald]

www.disneyrewards.com

I'm sure their number is on the website.

 

[Disneyfamfan]

I am sooooo sad ! We are still going to WDW, of which is a happy thing. But, we don't get any resort discount or free dining. We will be there Aug 9 - Aug 19.

 

[ImagineMeDisney]

Ok, I know there are different oppinions on this but. If we get a disney visa tomorrow You can book a package tomorrow right? We would be approved instantly. We just need to know if we can book the same day. I heard you could apply over the phone and be offered a package to book right then.
Can someone give me the # for the Chase disney visa card?
Thanks
Heidi

I thought it was limited to cardholders, but according to mousesavers it should be made available to the public on April 12th, so you may want to wait it out and see. i'm sure it'll be made public eventually. you could do what I did: I called them today and booked my package (w/o dining), and told the CM I'd call back in a few days to add on the dining plan. he was completely clueless about the 'free dining' thing, he kept saying "I can't believe I haven't heard about this". I told him to start reading the boards!!

 

[lizzytizzy]

Does anybody know if there was a Free Dining Plan in December in the last couple of years?

 

[silmarg]

I am sooooo sad ! We are still going to WDW, of which is a happy thing. But, we don't get any resort discount or free dining. We will be there Aug 9 - Aug 19.

A 10 day stay... You should think about having one person in your party getting an Annual Pass. While it will cost more than the 10-day pass you may plan to buy, you will get a room discount which can easily make up for the added Pass price (esp if you are staying in a mod or deluxe). And if table service restaurants are your thing, you can also get a Disney Dining Card if you are a Annual Passholder to get a 10% discount at nearly all table service restaurants. The combination of these two discounts makes getting an AP a no brainer for us... and it gives you more justification to plan the next trip withing the 12 month window!!!

 

[DisneyBugs]

Per mousesavers.com:

A special "free dining" vacation package at Walt Disney World (for check-ins 8/26/07-9/22/07) is scheduled to be released for Disney Rewards Visa cardholders on Monday, April 9. The same package is expected to become available to the general public on Thursday, April 12. If the new package is similar to the one offered for the past two years, it will require you to purchase at least 3 consecutive hotel nights at an official Walt Disney World resort, plus at least a one-day theme park ticket, and you will get a FREE dining package (one counter service meal, one table service meal and one snack, per person, per day) for the length of your stay. This has been a very popular promotion in past years, so I expect rooms to sell out fast. Check back here on Monday for full details.

 

[bicker]

... according to mousesavers it should be made available to the public on April 12th ...

I'm going to be a bit careful about the information we're being provided right now -- we should all be sure to read the conditionals provided in the first-hand information available, very carefully. Mousesavers is reporting, "The same package is expected to become available to the general public on Thursday, April 12." There is a slight difference, but one that might make a difference.

Please don't be disappointed (at Disney, Mousesavers, or the DIS) if things don't work out quite that way.

I've just reworded the info in the Dining Plan FAQ because I had worded things there a bit more concretely than the information we have available would tend to support. I don't want to mislead anyone astray....

 

[Madformickey]

We have gone a few times in september and i know 2 years ago we wre ther anmd didnt even know about free dining. So this year i wont miss it, in fact we are taking 10 days to enjoy it all, cant wait. 9/1-9/9

 

[aubriee]

Does anybody know if there was a Free Dining Plan in December in the last couple of years?

No, Free Dining has been offered the last two years only during August and Sept to encourage people to come down during peak hurricane season. Dec is usually pretty busy, so there is no reason to offer an incentive to come down during that time.

 

[hulagirl87]

we went in september 2005 and then in september 2006. 2006 was way more crowded in my opinion. we are going september this year, but are missing the dates by 2 days, which may be a blessing. I'm ok with paying if it means missing the crowds a bit...

 

[nicknamy1996]

I wish I could convince my DH to go w/ free dining. I miss those onsite themed restaurants, character meals and staying on property. We have AP passes, so he doesn't want to spend any more money.

It wasn't hard for me to convince my wife... not that I'd have to, she LOVES Disney too... it's a dangerous combination!

We have APs too so we don't need tickets, but we know we will go back someday.

So here's the way I look at it...

Hotel= $79/nt x 8 nights x 1.125 (to add tax) TOTAL $711.

That's it! How do we not go? We will do value hotel, no preferred view, nothing else. We will have to buy 4 one day tickets (I think I'm hearing around $70 apiece) So $280 on top of the 711, but that is not money spent on this trip. Yes it is money spent, but really it's money spent for a future trip (or more likely future AP) but it is being invested for later, again not spent on this trip.

So $711 for 8 nights on property, 8 days in the parks for 4 ppl, 32 snacks, 32 CS, and 32 TS! How can we not go????

 

[bicker]

Well we'll finally know something for sure by this time tomorrow.

 

[DisneyBound2007]

Anyone know what time the reservation center opens up tom?

 

[ImagineMeDisney]

"The same package is expected to become available to the general public on Thursday, April 12."


Isn't that what I said? I don't know....should be and expected to be kind of have the same meaning to me.....and no, I won't be disappointed at anyone. its just that historically, these things have always been made public after starting out for only Florida residents or cardholders, etc. but if its not, it's not...what can I do? I'll just keep my room only reservation. everything tends to work out in the end.

 

[bicker]

I suppose they could mean the same thing depending on how you read them. I think we're dealing with a lot of assumptions right now -- that's my own concern. I just don't want someone reading something here (or especially reading it in the FAQ) to take it as gospel and then be disappointed later in the week.

 

[battricia]

Does everyone really think it's going to book up that fast?? I'm sort of surprised. Last year I booked the day it came out, and I kept asking my parents to go but they didn't think they'd be able to swing it. In june they decided they COULD swing it, so they called (I think it was after the extension) and booked with no problems at all. Now we did go the week after labor day so it seems like that might have been a slower week - too early for mnsshp and after schools were back in, but a lot of people on these boards went at the same time.

This year I wasn't sweating it at all, since last year they even extended it, and we aren't going to know for sure this week if we can go (my SO is going to be starting a new job soon) but with this post it seems that everyone THINKS it's going to book fast, so now i'm sort of worried. AAhhhh. What do i do?!

tricia.

 

[annie1995]

Hurry up.......Monday can't get here any faster!!!! I can't believe I just said I can't wait for Monday I hate Mondays

 

[bicker]

Does everyone really think it's going to book up that fast??

Hard to know. I do suspect, though, that some of the prime slots will book up fast, especially for check-ins at the end of the promotional period, and perhaps even for check-ins at the beginning of the promotional period. Just like last year, I bet some resorts/room classes will book up before others, and perhaps some won't even book up at all. (Free dining tends to have less impact on bookings at deluxe resorts, since the "discount" amounts to a much smaller percentage. Indeed, folks will probably have been much better off with the 40% PIN code discount at the deluxe resorts than with free dining.)

 

[momandseandodisney]

so what is the update on this?

Are they giving free dining again?

 

[bicker]

Seems that way. We'll know for sure tomorrow.