Free dining dates

[DaisyD]

We are going to the world Sept 27-Oct 4. Can anyone tell me if that is a free dining time? Please tell me it's not! LOL!

 

[curlz2tite]

DISNEY VISA MAGIC YOUR WAY FREE DINING PACKAGE

Rates low as:

$63 per person per day for a family of four in a standard room at a select Disney Value Resort
Includes Complimentary Magic Your Way Dining
Travel Dates:

September 28 - October 11
November 9 - November 22
December 14 - December 20
Booking Code: QXZ

NOTE: You must use your Disney Visa to book this package. If you wish to upgrade to the Deluxe Dining Plan, the Booking Code is OXS

 

[DaisyD]

Well that's just great. My luck! LOL!

 

[Rebelmom67]

I hope you have ADRs!!

 

[DaisyD]

I hope you have ADRs!!

Oh yes. I make all those 180 days out. I just can't stand the crowds.

 

[Rebelmom67]

Oh yes. I make all those 180 days out. I just can't stand the crowds.

Totally with you on that. I hate the crowds too. We made our reservations at 180 days out and now we are going during freakin' free dining too. Maybe it won't be stupid crowded crazy.

 

[disneyin2008]

The "original" free dining is going on right now and there are threads with photos of pictures from this week that show it darn near empty in the parks.

Of course that doesn't mean the week you're going will be the same, but it sure doesn't seem like free dining equals huge crowds right now. Not sure if it's the heat/humidity, the hurricanes, the economy or just everyone was at a different park, but if we have crowds like that when I go in Nov/Dec I'll be

 

[englishrose47]

Do they do this $63 deal every year !!? We were planning next Sept for free dining but earlier in Sept 1 Would chnge dates for this deal but don't have the card so would have to see id I could get one !

 

[DaisyD]

I know I've been there the last 3 times during free dining around this time of year. It wasn't pretty. Between all the irate people complaining about what they deserved on the meal plan and those that didn't prepare and make ADRs, it was a mess. The crowds were horrible in the parks too. I certainly hope not many took advantage of FD for my week that I'm there!

 

[RMulieri]

I think with Disneys new extended free dining promo, it will probably be busy in the restaurants pretty much thru the end of the year.Personally, I am having a hard time understanding this....the resort bookings are down and restaurant adrs are hard to come by..so Disney couldn't come up with a better discount strategy than free dining "The Ts places are already jammed, so let's add more free dining so people really can't get a decent adr" Like maybe disney execs could have sent more of the 30 and 40% off resort discounts to fix the low resort bookings.

 

[LadyOmega]

I think with Disneys new extended free dining promo, it will probably be busy in the restaurants pretty much thru the end of the year.Personally, I am having a hard time understanding this....the resort bookings are down and restaurant adrs are hard to come by..so Disney couldn't come up with a better discount strategy than free dining "The Ts places are already jammed, so let's add more free dining so people really can't get a decent adr" Like maybe disney execs could have sent more of the 30 and 40% off resort discounts to fix the low resort bookings.

Exactly my thoughts on WDW's choice of discount offer. They might have got our last-minute-vacation bucks if they had offered us 40 % off, but just for free dining? Nuh uh.
However, I'm not sure the new free dining dates will have a big impact on either ADR's or crowd levels. If you look over on the codes/rates page on the resort board, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who booked solely because they were offered free dining. Almost everyone who mentions that they are taking advantage of it was already booked for those dates. So they would have been there and had ADR's anyway.
So hopefully it won't have as bad an effect as it seems it would.

 

[englishrose47]

A ?? if you get free dining can you upgradeto Dlx ????

 

[disneynuts777]

Yes..you can upgrade to the deluxe plan for an extra 33.00 per adult per night of the plan. I did this when we had the free dining in August. It was amazing. We ate at all the places we wanted to and I did not find any of the restaurants any busier than when we were there on spring break.

 

[Bev in Chgo]

DISNEY VISA MAGIC YOUR WAY FREE DINING PACKAGE

Rates low as:

$63 per person per day for a family of four in a standard room at a select Disney Value Resort
Includes Complimentary Magic Your Way Dining
Travel Dates:

September 28 - October 11
November 9 - November 22
December 14 - December 20
Booking Code: QXZ

NOTE: You must use your Disney Visa to book this package. If you wish to upgrade to the Deluxe Dining Plan, the Booking Code is OXS

Hi everyone

I have a question and hope that someone can answer it.

We booked our vacation through Dreams Unlimited the last week of august, it is for:

2 adults, 8 nights (Nov. 8 - 16, 2008), Magic your way plus dining pkg. Pop Century

I do have a Disney visa credit card, but I paid for this vacation with my Chase bank card. Now I see that a code is out for free dining.

** my question is, do you think I can get an adjustment and get some type of refund for our dining? I didn't pay with my disney card, but this promtion is being sponsored by Disney and Chase Bank.

Another reason why i am wondering if it is possible because on Dreams Unlimited website it says something like this - if you pay with Disney or Bank One card that Dreams Unlimited will look out for discount that may become available and apply it. Bank One has become Chase and i did use my Chase card to pay for our vacation.

see below, I copied and paste the sentence in red below from the Disney Rewards website.


Offer made by Disney. Chase Bank USA, N.A. and its affiliates are not affiliates of Disney and are not responsible for offer fulfillment.

Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated. I tried to find out from Disney but they wouldn't deal with me because I didn't make my reservation through them. I did email Dreams Unlimited last night trying to see if it is possible.

 

[curlz2tite]

You may have to cancel & rebook with the visa card to get this . Also you didn't say where you had booked for , but it does say a value resort. I am bummed because we did use a disney visa , but our trip is from 12-02 thru 12-11 we are smack in the middle with free dining all around us , but not for us

 

[disneyin2008]

Hi everyone

I have a question and hope that someone can answer it.

We booked our vacation through Dreams Unlimited the last week of august, it is for:

2 adults, 8 nights (Nov. 8 - 16, 2008), Magic your way plus dining pkg. Pop Century

I do have a Disney visa credit card, but I paid for this vacation with my Chase bank card. Now I see that a code is out for free dining.

** my question is, do you think I can get an adjustment and get some type of refund for our dining? I didn't pay with my disney card, but this promtion is being sponsored by Disney and Chase Bank.

Another reason why i am wondering if it is possible because on Dreams Unlimited website it says something like this - if you pay with Disney or Bank One card that Dreams Unlimited will look out for discount that may become available and apply it. Bank One has become Chase and i did use my Chase card to pay for our vacation.

see below, I copied and paste the sentence in red below from the Disney Rewards website.


Offer made by Disney. Chase Bank USA, N.A. and its affiliates are not affiliates of Disney and are not responsible for offer fulfillment.

Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated. I tried to find out from Disney but they wouldn't deal with me because I didn't make my reservation through them. I did email Dreams Unlimited last night trying to see if it is possible.

You have to have a DISNEY visa from Chase...not just a Chase credit card. I know it sounds like they should be the same thing, but they're not. I have both and they're two different cards and the numbers to call for customer service are actually different as well.

If you have a Disney VISA, then yes, let your agent know this (because if you didn't pay with it originally, they of course won't know what else is in your wallet, lol).....and they should then be able to change your reservation.

But if what you have is a Chase VISA...without the Disney logo on the card, then unfortunately you don't have what is required for this offer. But, there is hope by many that the free dining will be offered to the general public, so keep watching DIS for that announcement if it happens. BUT...if it is released to the GP...you need to jump FAST, as those will go in a heartbeat, I'm sure.

 

[disneyin2008]

Exactly my thoughts on WDW's choice of discount offer. They might have got our last-minute-vacation bucks if they had offered us 40 % off, but just for free dining? Nuh uh.
However, I'm not sure the new free dining dates will have a big impact on either ADR's or crowd levels. If you look over on the codes/rates page on the resort board, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who booked solely because they were offered free dining. Almost everyone who mentions that they are taking advantage of it was already booked for those dates. So they would have been there and had ADR's anyway.
So hopefully it won't have as bad an effect as it seems it would.

Your math only makes sense if you only stay at deluxe resorts....then a 40% off room rate would likely be the better deal. But for those that stay at moderates (where a rack rate is in the $130 range) or a value (where the rack rate is around $100). So 40% off $130 is around $52....but dining is $38 per adult and $10 per child...so if you only have 2 adults going it's a better deal to get free dining....throw in a kid or two and it's a downright bargain. The values would give you about $40 off, so even a single adult would about break even.

The deluxes where the rooms start over $200 a night (and most over $300 or more), only larger families would find the free dining a better discount. But, if you were thinking of going anyway....definitely a positive deal to get something as substantial as your food free. Even if you weren't sure where you wanted to go....free gets people all the time, lol....because most don't do the math to see that sometimes free isn't really as free as you thought. In my case, since we were already booked with a discounted room, switching to the free dining was a big savings for me.....our room rate went up only slightly and we're getting free food our entire trip. Since I had budgeted $700 for that week, I figure that's what I saved. Now, if they would just offer it for the rest of our trip (early December) I'd be overjoyed, lol.

 

[englishrose47]

We are planning on going next Sept and were hoping for free dining as in the past!! Now I see this deal for $63 anight at a vlue and free dining for certain dates in Oct,Nov & Dec. Is this likely to be repeated next year !/? Also if we got free dining can you upgrade to deluxe dining!!?

 

[disneyin2008]

We are planning on going next Sept and were hoping for free dining as in the past!! Now I see this deal for $63 anight at a vlue and free dining for certain dates in Oct,Nov & Dec. Is this likely to be repeated next year !/? Also if we got free dining can you upgrade to deluxe dining!!?

Realize that $63 a night is PER PERSON for 2 adults, 1 junior, 1 child. Your rates will vary depending on who is in your party. Basically it's rack rate plus you have to purchase tickets (you can purchase as little as 1 day if you already have tickets or an AP, they can be saved for a future trip so long as you don't use them).

I think it safe to assume that they will be offering free dining to the general public again next year....the folks that are getting free dining this year (right now) are getting bounce back offers. You have to book and pay your deposit for next year before you check out. They are getting a room discount in addition to free dining next year. Those not staying this year typically are offered free dining starting in about April, and usually the offer requires you to book before late June. Since they sell out quickly, book early for the best room choices as they only allow a certain number of rooms per resort to be free dining rooms. As you can imagine, the value resorts are the first to sell out, and usually by the last few weeks all that is available is the very expensive rooms.

The bounce back folks are being offered the basic plan, but you apparently can upgrade to the deluxe plan for $33 per adult per night (I don't recall the upgrade cost for kids). There was some worry that with the new Quick Service dining plan starting January 1, 2009 (2 CS credits and 2 snack credits per day, no TS), that this was the plan that would be offered for free dining. Because the bounce back folks got the basic leads most to believe that the general public will also....but of course that remains to be seen next spring, but it makes sense.

We know from the bounce back folks that the free dining will be Aug/Sep and a little bit of October I believe.....whether they'll also do November/December remains to be seen.

 

[LadyOmega]

Your math only makes sense if you only stay at deluxe resorts....then a 40% off room rate would likely be the better deal. But for those that stay at moderates (where a rack rate is in the $130 range) or a value (where the rack rate is around $100). So 40% off $130 is around $52....but dining is $38 per adult and $10 per child...so if you only have 2 adults going it's a better deal to get free dining....throw in a kid or two and it's a downright bargain. The values would give you about $40 off, so even a single adult would about break even.

The deluxes where the rooms start over $200 a night (and most over $300 or more), only larger families would find the free dining a better discount. But, if you were thinking of going anyway....definitely a positive deal to get something as substantial as your food free. Even if you weren't sure where you wanted to go....free gets people all the time, lol....because most don't do the math to see that sometimes free isn't really as free as you thought. In my case, since we were already booked with a discounted room, switching to the free dining was a big savings for me.....our room rate went up only slightly and we're getting free food our entire trip. Since I had budgeted $700 for that week, I figure that's what I saved. Now, if they would just offer it for the rest of our trip (early December) I'd be overjoyed, lol.

You're absolutely right, for your situation. We've purchased the DDP a few times before and had "free dining" once, so I've done the math many times, and it used to save us a little as 2 adults (although we always purchased it more for the convenience factor). We have a 14 month old now, so a trip to WDW for us currently would involve paying more for comfort than worrying about price. Meaning, we would need something on the monorail, which for us would mean that 40% would be a better deal financially. Moreover, the more we think about it, we don't even want to attempt WDW with a 14 month old. So we're gonna stay closer to home this year.