Free Dining anytime soon?!

[monorailrabbit]

Hi everyone! My first post as a member of this forum...really hoping for September 2013 free Disney dining. Good luck to all!

We are wishing too! (Spread some love to the Value folks too!)

 

[boundfordisney]

Im hopeing for free dining for September as well as I have just finished booking our flights september 26 and return October 4th, much cheaper then the room discount when I worked out the numbers, thats providing we were to purchase the dining plan with the room only discount!

 

[Marsheliz]

hope so too!
The last two times we went (February 2011 and September 2012) we have gotten the free dining and I think it works out better than the room discount.

I have my fingers crossed too- Last year they announced it in April and you had to book by May 31.

Meals can be sooo expensive. We did three character meals that were over $100.00 each time. YIKES

 

[mickey2000]

I'm at BLT right now and the bounceback is 35% off deluxe & villas, 30% off moderates. Remainder of the year, blackout dates apply.

Guess TOO MANY are holding room and dummy dining reservations for Disney to offer FD to the public !

 

[LikeSeriously]

You're better off with a room discount. Free dining is far from being free...

How is free dining "far from being free"? Even if there were a 30% room discount, I don't think it would be close the the amount I'm paying for our dining plans. Am I missing something?

 

[vacation_junkie]

You're better off with a room discount. Free dining is far from being free...

Far from true...

The regular dining plan for the 3 of us....Myself, DH & 12 yr old son is approx $165 a day ($55 a person approx) for the regular dining plan.

Moderate Resort- CBR $162 a night in January - 30% discount = $114 approx a night. Savings of approx $48.

Room discount would save us about $48 a night x 7 nights = $336.
Free dining would save us $165 a night x 7 nights = $1155.00
I would say Free dining is a MUCH , MUCH better promo/discount.

 

[DandSx2]

Far from true...

The regular dining plan for the 3 of us....Myself, DH & 12 yr old son is approx $165 a day ($55 a person approx) for the regular dining plan.

Moderate Resort- CBR $162 a night in January - 30% discount = $114 approx a night. Savings of approx $48.

Room discount would save us about $48 a night x 7 nights = $336.
Free dining would save us $165 a night x 7 nights = $1155.00
I would say Free dining is a MUCH , MUCH better promo/discount.

I am always wondering the same thing, but maybe they see something we don't? Or maybe the time of year makes a difference. I have only gone in September. I still think FREE Dining would be the best option for my family

 

[Svhadden]

Room discount is the best value when staying in a deluxe, right? Our fam chooses to stay in a moderate, or a value for longer stays. FD saves us over $1K every trip. Not sure how a room discount could top that.

FWIW, we get FD every year by doing Bounceback. It's only NOT been offered once in the last 4-5 yrs, I think. We have never paid for dining .

 

[mm1971]

Anyone else watching ticket prices go up? We are waiting to buy based on if FD comes out (dates can be flexible in September) and they have gone up $100 in last week!

We have it booked and are going regardless but want full advantage if FD is released. Opinions on whether I should continue to wait or sucked it up and buy?

Do you have a SW airlines where you are? No change fees! I would book the flights if they are going up. If you spend hundreds more for flights than you needed to, doesn't that cancel out the FD? Just a thought.

Far from true...

The regular dining plan for the 3 of us....Myself, DH & 12 yr old son is approx $165 a day ($55 a person approx) for the regular dining plan.

Moderate Resort- CBR $162 a night in January - 30% discount = $114 approx a night. Savings of approx $48.

Room discount would save us about $48 a night x 7 nights = $336.
Free dining would save us $165 a night x 7 nights = $1155.00
I would say Free dining is a MUCH , MUCH better promo/discount.

It really depends on how you eat. You are comparing the cost of the dining plan vs. the room savings. What if your family doesn't spend $165 a day on food. What if paying OOP is only $75/day? You also need to take into account that you have to purchase tickets in order to be eligible for the dining plan. tickets that someone may or may not need. I'm not saying your family doesn't save money, but there are a lot of calculations that go into deciding if you are saving money or not.

We have booked for August, flights booked, ADR's booked and have the DDP for now. Not sure if we will keep it or not. Waiting to see what discounts, if any, they will offer and what is the best for us. If no discounts are offered, we are going anyway, but it sure would be good to see something for two reason (both selfish of course). First, I could save $$. Second, if they have sufficient bookings where they feel no offer is needed the parks are going to be crazy busy.

I'll end by saying good luck to all in finding a the right deal for you.

 

[skier_pete]

I would bet money that there will be Free Dining in Aug/Sept. Exact dates are harder to predict, but they have done it for 7 straight years now. It's still a slow time of year and without FD it would be even slower. They may change to QS at the mods as its rumored, but that isn't certain as there is still no hard evidence of that happening.

Most likely the announcement will come sometime in April, but it has gone as late as early May.

We are hoping for Oct-Dec FD, though they have only been doing that for the last 4 years. The Jan-May FD only occurred these last two years. I think they did send targeted PINs out for it this winter, but not to the general public.

 

[kcwiak]

Do you have a SW airlines where you are? No change fees! I would book the flights if they are going up. If you spend hundreds more for flights than you needed to, doesn't that cancel out the FD? Just a thought..

SW has NO change fees? So I can really buy now and if FD or room discount does not mesh with the time we have booked, we can change everything? No extra money? I have never flown SW but this may be my new fav carrier!

 

[dadofgoofy]

When do October discounts typically get released?

 

[skier_pete]

SW has NO change fees? So I can really buy now and if FD or room discount does not mesh with the time we have booked, we can change everything? No extra money? I have never flown SW but this may be my new fav carrier!

One (minor) catch on SWA. If you change your booking and you have extra money leftover (the new price is cheaper) then you get a credit that has to be used within 1 year. And not just SPENT within one year. You have to have a flight that occurs less than one year from the PURCHASE DATE of the original ticket.

However, barring that caveat, yeah there's no change fees. My personal take, if I see a price that's good on a date I MIGHT want to travel, I book it. If I need to change to a different date and the price is higher, I'm good.

SP

 

[ccgirl]

The end of June starts their busy season. I doubt there will be free dining. Late August/Sept things slow considerably as the kids are back in school.

As to if "free dining" is better for your family, it depends. My family does not stay in value and my family is two adults and 2 children. Typically, for us, a room discount is much better than free dining.

 

[kcwiak]

One (minor) catch on SWA. If you change your booking and you have extra money leftover (the new price is cheaper) then you get a credit that has to be used within 1 year. And not just SPENT within one year. You have to have a flight that occurs less than one year from the PURCHASE DATE of the original ticket.

However, barring that caveat, yeah there's no change fees. My personal take, if I see a price that's good on a date I MIGHT want to travel, I book it. If I need to change to a different date and the price is higher, I'm good.

SP

I spoke to SW and they said unless I bought the refundable ticket, I would have to pay the difference if the price is higher on the dates I want to change to. While that may not be a bad thing, I worry that I could find something cheaper at that time instead. Arg Disney!

 

[Hoodie]

I spoke to SW and they said unless I bought the refundable ticket, I would have to pay the difference if the price is higher on the dates I want to change to. While that may not be a bad thing, I worry that I could find something cheaper at that time instead. Arg Disney!

You pay the price difference, like you would with any airline, but they don't charge you a fee on top of it and if the price is lower, you do get a credit. Oh - and no baggage fees. I love SW.

 

[mom2faith]

You're better off with a room discount. Free dining is far from being free...

Comments like this make me very upset.

Free Dining is FREE. There is no hidden cost, no increased rate for other part of the packages, just FREE DINING.

There may be other discounts that work better for you, your family or your travel plans, but Free Dining is FREE.

I really do not understand why people say it is not.

 

[mm1971]

SW has NO change fees? So I can really buy now and if FD or room discount does not mesh with the time we have booked, we can change everything? No extra money? I have never flown SW but this may be my new fav carrier!

Yes, for the most part. You would only pay(or get a credit) for the difference in the ticket cost, but yes, no charge to make the changes. For example: You book a flight for $100. Then you decide you need to change to a month from that date. The new ticket is $110. You would only pay the additional $10. If your new ticket was $90, then SW issues you a credit for the $10 that can be used on your next flight up to a year from your original booking date.

That is one reason we love SW. I have already rebooked my same flights for August a few times (again this morning and saved $84 more). It not only allows you to change if your plans change, you can take advantage of price drops without paying any fees.

 

[mm1971]

One (minor) catch on SWA. If you change your booking and you have extra money leftover (the new price is cheaper) then you get a credit that has to be used within 1 year. And not just SPENT within one year. You have to have a flight that occurs less than one year from the PURCHASE DATE of the original ticket.

However, barring that caveat, yeah there's no change fees. My personal take, if I see a price that's good on a date I MIGHT want to travel, I book it. If I need to change to a different date and the price is higher, I'm good.

SP

It was horrible. I rebooked flights last year and had a good credit. To make sure I didn't lose out, I had to go on vacation again.

 

[skier_pete]

I spoke to SW and they said unless I bought the refundable ticket, I would have to pay the difference if the price is higher on the dates I want to change to. While that may not be a bad thing, I worry that I could find something cheaper at that time instead. Arg Disney!

Correct, if the price is higher, you have to pay the higher price. But that is no different than if you WAIT to buy the ticket.

And Southwest no longer gives out its best fares right when they open, unless its a popular flight that sells out quickly. You have to wait sometimes for the best rates.