Free Dining Oct-Dec Is Here!!

[OttawaDisGirl]

Loves this thread!

 

[disneyfantotheend]

It is so much easier for me, because whether the dining plan is free or paid, we get it. So all I have to do is subtract one price from the other to see our savings. No trying to figure what we will eat when. To me the plan is more of a convenience thing than a money thing. But getting it free makes it more of a money thing. We also like TS meals. Disney is not much of a relaxing vacation, but sitting down to eat helps us get some of that relaxing in. That is why I love that they offer multiple deals, because one size definitely does not fit all.

 

[plutospalforever]

I was actually able to get free dining assigned to my room! I called to pay my balance off for my stay Sept 26th - 29th (In that black hole of the general offer dates) After I paid my balance she asked if there was anything else. Then it hit me... Everyone here always says to ask about the PINS. So I did and she was able to add a free dining pin to my reservation that cost an additional 181. (didnt have a dining plan on the reservation before) Didnt have to change my room either (POR Royal Room Standard) Stayed on the line to do the survey for once because she did a great job however it never transferred me to the survey.

Yea!!!! Congrats!!!

 

[plutospalforever]

It is so much easier for me, because whether the dining plan is free or paid, we get it. So all I have to do is subtract one price from the other to see our savings. No trying to figure what we will eat when. To me the plan is more of a convenience thing than a money thing. But getting it free makes it more of a money thing. We also like TS meals. Disney is not much of a relaxing vacation, but sitting down to eat helps us get some of that relaxing in. That is why I love that they offer multiple deals, because one size definitely does not fit all.

I just hit my "like" button!

 

[pjew]

Ok so I was one of the lucky ones to get free dining pin. I originally had nov. 30-dec 8 at POP reserved with the free dining then recently switched to Nov 15-24 due some confusion BUT I may have to now switch back to nov 30 cus other family going with us cant go nov 15 but no more pop available only movies resort. Im totally confused on which dates to attend...
Reading all this stuff about the first week of dec being almost totally booked scares me crowd wise. But now seeing that free dining will be open to public for dates nov 15- dec 24 scares me too.

Soo which date would u pick and why?

 

[disneyfantotheend]

Ok so I was one of the lucky ones to get free dining pin. I originally had nov. 30-dec 8 at POP reserved with the free dining then recently switched to Nov 15-24 due some confusion BUT I may have to now switch back to nov 30 cus other family going with us cant go nov 15 but no more pop available only movies resort. Im totally confused on which dates to attend...
Reading all this stuff about the first week of dec being almost totally booked scares me crowd wise. But now seeing that free dining will be open to public for dates nov 15- dec 24 scares me too.

Soo which date would u pick and why?

I truly do not think crowd wise one will be worse than the other. How badly do you want to stay at Pop? How badly do you want to go with the rest of your family? I think those two things are more of a factor than crowds.

 

[Sylkie31]

Ok so I was one of the lucky ones to get free dining pin. I originally had nov. 30-dec 8 at POP reserved with the free dining then recently switched to Nov 15-24 due some confusion BUT I may have to now switch back to nov 30 cus other family going with us cant go nov 15 but no more pop available only movies resort. Im totally confused on which dates to attend...
Reading all this stuff about the first week of dec being almost totally booked scares me crowd wise. But now seeing that free dining will be open to public for dates nov 15- dec 24 scares me too.

Soo which date would u pick and why?

As Disney is going to make FD offer available, it's because they don't have as many resort bookings as they want. Holiday weeks are usually more crowded than other non-holiday weeks.
Disney website had some 'issues' recently while updates were being done. Others have posted that there was no resort availability online before update. Availability was there after update. When did you last check availability?

 

[jcarwash]

...About an hour after you do the meet, you will take the voucher they give you to the photo center and choose your free 5x7...

If this helps anyone with the Disney Visa photo, a couple of weeks ago I was able to leave the meet and go almost immediately (certainly we went directly after) to the photo center to get the 5X7 photo printout. You don't have to go right away, but there was little-to-no waiting period in my experience.

 

[Kat016]

Does this include hard copies of photos or just having the photos in your account?

You get the actual 5x7 along with the photopass pics.

 

[plutospalforever]

Ok so I was one of the lucky ones to get free dining pin. I originally had nov. 30-dec 8 at POP reserved with the free dining then recently switched to Nov 15-24 due some confusion BUT I may have to now switch back to nov 30 cus other family going with us cant go nov 15 but no more pop available only movies resort. Im totally confused on which dates to attend...
Reading all this stuff about the first week of dec being almost totally booked scares me crowd wise. But now seeing that free dining will be open to public for dates nov 15- dec 24 scares me too.

Soo which date would u pick and why?

I truly do not think crowd wise one will be worse than the other. How badly do you want to stay at Pop? How badly do you want to go with the rest of your family? I think those two things are more of a factor than crowds.

As Disney is going to make FD offer available, it's because they don't have as many resort bookings as they want. Holiday weeks are usually more crowded than other non-holiday weeks.
Disney website had some 'issues' recently while updates were being done. Others have posted that there was no resort availability online before update. Availability was there after update. When did you last check availability?

Totally agree. If crowd levels are a big concern, it looks like both weeks are pretty even. It looks like predicted really high crowds on Nov 30 and then Nov. 23 and 24, but the rest of the days have parks between a 5 and 1. It looks like some of your other factors may be more important to take into consideration. Good luck!!!! It's never an easy choice.

 

[smitch425]

If this helps anyone with the Disney Visa photo, a couple of weeks ago I was able to leave the meet and go almost immediately (certainly we went directly after) to the photo center to get the 5X7 photo printout. You don't have to go right away, but there was little-to-no waiting period in my experience.

Good to know!

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

Just out of curosity...where is the date July 29th coming from for DV ?

Is it just because it's the Monday before the GP ? Or is it just because it's 3 days before ?

Or is it just some magical date somebody came up with and now everybody's repeating it ?

 

[pjew]

The last time i checked on availability was last night - thats when CM told me Movies was available whereas last week there was nothing. The only reason we wanted POP was because we could easily walk over to AOA.
I do however have until Aug. 14 to make the switch with the PIN code i have right now. Maybe there will be availability at POP once they open the fd to the public for the other weeks, maybe ppl will switch there dates around.

I guess i can sit and wait till the first week of aug to see if POP opens up and or i can keep calling everyday to check

How about the weather is there a difference in 2 weeks - hot vs cool - in Orlando?

 

[camgenemmysmom]

This is a question and a little bit of a vent I e-mailed my TA a few days ago with our flight change info and also included in the letter that I was excited to hear that FD would possibly be ready to book on the 29th. She responds by basically saying don't get your hopes up that it will be the 29th because there are a lot of dates being rumored for this promotion release? She was talking about the actual booking date not dates related to the promo. This is not the first time she has just been negative i.e. she told me I probably wont get a BOG reservation because they are always booked with in the first minutes of opening! Which I know has some truth but why not encourage me that she will at least try! I ended up doing all my ADR's and got a BOG! I could give a few more examples but you get the idea. Side note she is a TA from a very popular Disney specific travel agency. Anyway has anyone else heard another release date? I have only seen the 29th for DV and August 1st for GP...

P.S. Thanks for letting me rant a bit!

 

[FrugalFashionista]

This is a question and a little bit of a vent I e-mailed my TA a few days ago with our flight change info and also included in the letter that I was excited to hear that FD would possibly be ready to book on the 29th. She responds by basically saying don't get your hopes up that it will be the 29th because there are a lot of dates being rumored for this promotion release? She was talking about the actual booking date not dates related to the promo. This is not the first time she has just been negative i.e. she told me I probably wont get a BOG reservation because they are always booked with in the first minutes of opening! Which I know has some truth but why not encourage me that she will at least try! I ended up doing all my ADR's and got a BOG! I could give a few more examples but you get the idea. Side note she is a TA from a very popular Disney specific travel agency. Anyway has anyone else heard another release date? I have only seen the 29th for DV and August 1st for GP...

P.S. Thanks for letting me rant a bit!

Glad you got BOG reservations. We weren't so lucky so we are going to BOG for lunch.

I also had rotten luck with a TA from a large disney specific company so I canceled and switched to a smaller one. I am so much happier with my experience.

 

[plutospalforever]

This is a question and a little bit of a vent I e-mailed my TA a few days ago with our flight change info and also included in the letter that I was excited to hear that FD would possibly be ready to book on the 29th. She responds by basically saying don't get your hopes up that it will be the 29th because there are a lot of dates being rumored for this promotion release? She was talking about the actual booking date not dates related to the promo. This is not the first time she has just been negative i.e. she told me I probably wont get a BOG reservation because they are always booked with in the first minutes of opening! Which I know has some truth but why not encourage me that she will at least try! I ended up doing all my ADR's and got a BOG! I could give a few more examples but you get the idea. Side note she is a TA from a very popular Disney specific travel agency. Anyway has anyone else heard another release date? I have only seen the 29th for DV and August 1st for GP...

P.S. Thanks for letting me rant a bit!

Go ahead and rant away! Sorry your TA is not very magical!!! And congrats on scoring that BOG; there is ALWAYS a chance. Maybe not the first time, but persistence has paid off for many just reading the September Cancelled ADR thread. And, no, I have not heard of any other dates being thrown around either. Good luck and I hope for only magical experiences for you from here on out!

 

[tigerfan2012]

FWIW it seems like they are not tacking on the added cost of the ticket increase if you booked prior to the price jump.

When I look at POR for my dates with a Standard Royal room the price is 1326 today. However the invoice I paid off with the free dining pin added was 1277.12. So there is almost 50 dollars difference there that I have to assume is from the ticket increase. (3 night stay and 4 day tickets)

 

[HBGdancermom]

I was actually able to get free dining assigned to my room! I called to pay my balance off for my stay Sept 26th - 29th (In that black hole of the general offer dates) After I paid my balance she asked if there was anything else. Then it hit me... Everyone here always says to ask about the PINS. So I did and she was able to add a free dining pin to my reservation that cost an additional 181. (didnt have a dining plan on the reservation before) Didnt have to change my room either (POR Royal Room Standard) Stayed on the line to do the survey for once because she did a great job however it never transferred me to the survey.

It is so much easier for me, because whether the dining plan is free or paid, we get it. So all I have to do is subtract one price from the other to see our savings. No trying to figure what we will eat when. To me the plan is more of a convenience thing than a money thing. But getting it free makes it more of a money thing. We also like TS meals. Disney is not much of a relaxing vacation, but sitting down to eat helps us get some of that relaxing in. That is why I love that they offer multiple deals, because one size definitely does not fit all.

So true!

This is a question and a little bit of a vent I e-mailed my TA a few days ago with our flight change info and also included in the letter that I was excited to hear that FD would possibly be ready to book on the 29th. She responds by basically saying don't get your hopes up that it will be the 29th because there are a lot of dates being rumored for this promotion release? She was talking about the actual booking date not dates related to the promo. This is not the first time she has just been negative i.e. she told me I probably wont get a BOG reservation because they are always booked with in the first minutes of opening! Which I know has some truth but why not encourage me that she will at least try! I ended up doing all my ADR's and got a BOG! I could give a few more examples but you get the idea. Side note she is a TA from a very popular Disney specific travel agency. Anyway has anyone else heard another release date? I have only seen the 29th for DV and August 1st for GP...

P.S. Thanks for letting me rant a bit!

That would drive me insane! UGH! Vent anytime.

 

[HBGdancermom]

Alright, where is Black?? Joe, you in here....

Just wondering if you or anyone has heard anything more concrete on a RO dsct? Travelling Sun-Tues and plan to have all my stuff ready to go to jump on phones Mon am.

Thanks!

 

[Mom22girls56]

If you have booked through a travel agent do they have to call to get FD or can I call? And does anyone know if you can get away from the travel agency and do everything on your own without any reservations being affected?