Free Dining Fall 2015? (and a whole lot more)

[purple figment]

So does that mean if you book through a TA with a convention rate and add the dining plan, can they also convert your booking to free dining when that comes out so you essentially get a discounted rate on the room and the free dining?

You cannot add free dining to a discounted room rate so it cannot be added to a convention rate package. Free dining requires room at rack rate, minimum 2 day park tickets and minimum 3 night stay. Also, since you cannot stack discounts you would have to do the math to figure out whether the convention room rate OR free dining would be the better value for you.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Really? Awesome. I wouldn't mind staying at CBR. Any chance they changed to queen beds too?

Yes they did! My husband and I have always wanted to check out CBR, but were turned off by the double beds. All of the rooms were (or will be) upgraded to queen beds and select ones have the murphy beds. I know they have a permit in for the refurb to the pirate rooms, but idk if that refurb includes upgrading to queen beds.

 

[HappyCoder]

We are booked for November and were hoping that we would be able to add Free Dining to our package when it became available. Starting to wonder if it won't be available for WL. Was doing some price testing and noticed that Standard rooms were already sold out for the week we booked. Any one taking bets on whether the Free Dining plan will be available for your resort this year? We really love WL so unlikely to switch resorts for Free Dining...

 

[vrajewski10513]

We are booked for November and were hoping that we would be able to add Free Dining to our package when it became available. Starting to wonder if it won't be available for WL. Was doing some price testing and noticed that Standard rooms were already sold out for the week we booked. Any one taking bets on whether the Free Dining plan will be available for your resort this year? We really love WL so unlikely to switch resorts for Free Dining...

Depending on your party size, you might be better off getting a room discount. If WL is excluded from FD, that may be an option to look into.

 

[pinkle]

I made all my ressies this morning!!! We have a party of 10 and i don't even like whispering canyon but the majority do, we couldn't get in until 7:10, we wanted 530 who would have thought they would be that busy. I expect that from 'ohanas but I got my time there easier

 

[siskaren]

Bay Tower Villas is not an "official" disney resort, is it? Only Disney resorts are eligible. Most of the Disney resorts have been included in the past, not sure about all that were excluded however POFQ is one that has been excluded in the past.

Of course it is. It's a DVC resort.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Bay Lake Tower is a Disney resort. It is a DVC resort. Disney makes rooms at DVC resorts available for booking by the general public just like any other resort room, based on inventory they have after DVC members switch out their interest during the year to trade for another timeshare elsewhere (one of the programs DVC offers.) How many DVC members trade out at any given time have an effect on how many rooms they have to offer to the public, or when. But it doesn't mean they are not eligible for discounts; if they have trouble filling up those rooms, they will discount them. OKW and SSR are DVC resorts, and they are so massive that they are usually included in general public discounts and may be offered for special discounts.

The only time I ever heard of anyone being able to combine free dining with a room discount was an offer made to residents of Great Britain who agreed to stay at least two weeks at SSR or OKW at certain times.

Here's a list of historically excluded resorts for general public free dining:

2014 exclusions were Fort Wilderness campsites, AOA Little Mermaid, Port Orleans (both FQ and Riverside), All Star Movies, all three-bedroom villas and Villas at Grand Floridian.
2013 for the late fall offer - post September (in 2014 there was no late fall offer, all dates for September - December were released at once) the exclusions were Fort Wilderness campsites, AOA (apparently all of it), All Star Movies, POFQ, all three-bedroom villas, and Villas at Grand Floridian (which had just opened).
2013 September - excluded were Fort Wilderness campsites, AOA Little Mermaid and 3-bedroom villas.
2012 late fall offer - Fort Wilderness campsites and AOA Little Mermaid were excluded. There's not anything written for 2012 or prior about the 3 bedroom villas.
2012 September offer and all offers before that - only Fort Wilderness campsites were excluded.
This was just for the general public offer - I believe free dining access to everything except Little Mermaid, Fort Wilderness campsites and 3 bedroom villas has been offered to selected guests via PIN code even though they were excluded from the general public offer. And those are just full resort exclusions. Within the included resort, there could be limited access on the promotion to certain room categories or types.

 

[Estella]

Hi - I've never done free dining before. If the free dining offer is available the first part of your trip, can you sign up and have it for the full trip (i.e. trip 12/1-12/8, free dining offer ends 12/5)? I don't have any reservations yet, but trying to educate myself if the free dining becomes available.
Thanks!

 

[LindseyLou2222]

Following along.

 

[FFMickey]

Hi - I've never done free dining before. If the free dining offer is available the first part of your trip, can you sign up and have it for the full trip (i.e. trip 12/1-12/8, free dining offer ends 12/5)? I don't have any reservations yet, but trying to educate myself if the free dining becomes available.
Thanks!

Yes, if FD is offered on your check in day, you will have FD for the duration of your trip. If FD starts in the middle of your trip, you would need to do a split stay to get FD on the days available.

 

[sahm2two]

Joining in, and making y'all feel better.... I'm hoping for free dining in late Sept/early Oct of 2016 Just watching here for more information to go off. We're definitely going, but can only justify the expense of staying on-site if FD is offered. Otherwise we'll be staying off-site and packing snacks and lunches to cut costs. We also have a family of 5 which is pricey when you either have to book 2 rooms, a suite or now CBR (and one other I forget). CBR is the cheapest since we'd have to book a suite at the all-stars.

 

[lyndeah]

i forgot about that -- free dining -- LOVE IT

 

[luvmylatte]

That is soo sad - I was soo appreciative of all his insight and hard work last year. His information was spot on the majority of the time but his dedication to helping us out was much appreciative from my end. Thankfully I do see his posts on his FB page which off good insight but it's a shame he was attacked :-(

I too enjoyed his insight. Would you be able to share his FB page so I may follow him there?

 

[LouFapp]

Of course it is. It's a DVC resort.

Ohhh, not up to speed on the DVC resorts. Sorry, my bad.

 

[TriciaTurnerRN]

Joining in, and making y'all feel better.... I'm hoping for free dining in late Sept/early Oct of 2016 Just watching here for more information to go off. We're definitely going, but can only justify the expense of staying on-site if FD is offered. Otherwise we'll be staying off-site and packing snacks and lunches to cut costs. We also have a family of 5 which is pricey when you either have to book 2 rooms, a suite or now CBR (and one other I forget). CBR is the cheapest since we'd have to book a suite at the all-stars.

POR also will work for a family of 5. So glad CBR will work too Last year we waited and waited for free dining. I had already booked our package because we had a total of 16 people traveling with us but this year we are holding out until the release. Really no need to book ahead since our 180 days will be after the possible release of FD. Holding out hope

 

[MakiraMarlena]

the only day that matters for free dining is the day you check in. If that date is within the promotion dates, you get the free dining for your entire stay (up to 14 nights, 21 if you are British). If the check-in day is not a promotion day then you are not eligible for free dining for any part of your stay unless you split the stay into separate reservations.

 

[Dawn Dis]

Question... I know that when you have the dining plan that you are unable to use a cs credit towards a ts meal. But can you do the opposite? So if I have a ts credit left can i use it towards a cs meal? TIA for any help

 

[smitch425]

Question... I know that when you have the dining plan that you are unable to use a cs credit towards a ts meal. But can you do the opposite? So if I have a ts credit left can i use it towards a cs meal? TIA for any help

Yep!

 

[Dawn Dis]

Yep!

Thanks Smitch

 

[LouFapp]

Question... I know that when you have the dining plan that you are unable to use a cs credit towards a ts meal. But can you do the opposite? So if I have a ts credit left can i use it towards a cs meal? TIA for any help

Its a waste but you could also use both for snacks, however last time I had 2 qs credits left and the nice cashier at POR help me figure out that I could get 2 bottles of water, 2 pieces of fruit and a couple other snack items and that equalled my 2 qs credits. Made for great plane snacks.