Free Dining Oct-Dec Is Here!!

[smitch425]

Just wanted clarification: Only check in days count? We actually check out on 12/12, which is the first day of the FD offer. Would we qualify, or would we have to rebook?

It goes by check in date only, so if you want the FD deal, you will have to move your trip to an available date when the deal is released. Good luck!

 

[darnheather]

So the week before thanksgiving is a free dining week but you can't get ANY adrs you want?

Sorry to be confusing. The week in September that he can go is also free dining and I can't get any ADR's. I've already booked ADR's for the November week just in case FD arrives.

I originally booked in early June for the 3rd week of September. Despite the deal being live for several days I got my first room choice and all of my ADR's. Found out Monday he can't go that week so tried for the 4th week of September. Upgraded room view available but no ADR's. I'm super bummed because the crowd levels for September were mostly in the 1-3 band. For November they are in the 4-6 band. Hoping that doesn't make a huge difference for us as we don't do the thrill rides.

 

[kddisney502]

Just wanted clarification: Only check in days count? We actually check out on 12/12, which is the first day of the FD offer. Would we qualify, or would we have to rebook?

Yeah so you won't get FD. You'd have to arrive sometime between 12/12 and 12/22 to get FD.

 

[JenniD44]

Glad for those of you this is helping...kind of depressing for me

So confusing how they determine discount dates...that I could travel on some of the busiest weeks of the year and get free dining, but plan for the lowest season and can't. I mean, I could have free dining the entire week of Thanksgiving OR the week of Christmas all the way through New Years if I booked it right. Unfortuately, DH will *NOT* travel on those dates due to how busy Disney is then (ironically, since they are giving discounts for those time periods). Ugh...sorry just venting. Wish changing dates was a possibility for us!

I'm with you. I originally was going to go Thanksgiving week, checking in on the 23rd. We switched to the 30th - Dec 7 and now we can't get the free dining. I'm actually thinking about switching back. I know it will be more crowded, but we'd save so much money and there are some things that have come up here that are making Thanksgiving look like a better bet for us.

 

[zamboniman333]

Awsome!!

 

[sunset7132]

Smitch will probably know this one....



So last year we went same dates but FD was offered earlier in November. Is it odd to start a FD offer on a Monday? (Nov 11th)??? Thats Veterans day! I know that is the last weekend of FNW festival at Epcot but it that not weird? Aren't most checkin's on Sat or Sun!?

So I guess Dis VISA holder should prepare to call that Monday huh?

Yup we r checking n fri nov 8 th And we have to do a split stay Last year it was earlier That's the free dining was offered in November

 

[babydoll65]

Sorry to be confusing. The week in September that he can go is also free dining and I can't get any ADR's. I've already booked ADR's for the November week just in case FD arrives.

I originally booked in early June for the 3rd week of September. Despite the deal being live for several days I got my first room choice and all of my ADR's. Found out Monday he can't go that week so tried for the 4th week of September. Upgraded room view available but no ADR's. I'm super bummed because the crowd levels for September were mostly in the 1-3 band. For November they are in the 4-6 band. Hoping that doesn't make a huge difference for us as we don't do the thrill rides.

Make sure you check easywdw for crowd levels. I'm going November 10-17 and except for the 10th still being crowded the rest of the week drops down considerably. So that week and the week your looking at the crowds are low. The weather is great I would say even better than Sept. And you shouldn't have any problems getting the adrs you want.

When you get a chance, I sent you a pm

 

[sjs314]

I'm with you. I originally was going to go Thanksgiving week, checking in on the 23rd. We switched to the 30th - Dec 7 and now we can't get the free dining. I'm actually thinking about switching back. I know it will be more crowded, but we'd save so much money and there are some things that have come up here that are making Thanksgiving look like a better bet for us.

Besides it being more crowded, remember to qualify for FD you are paying Rack rate for your room, plus if your flying air fares are costly near the Holidays. All considerations to take into account as whether FD will be worth switching dates.

 

[HBGdancermom]

This.....

Full disclosure: already booked and paid for and going no matter what.....but i will take DDP for free if its offered.

CM says FD can be applied to existing ressie, BUT if your not booked, and want to increase tour chance at FD , DO NOT book yet. Wait for after the 1st so you have the whole story.

Great advice! We are already booked and have been since April. We are going no matter what and don't want to change resorts so that's why I wanted to make sure I secured my ressie early on.
Now just on to hoping some pixie dust will be added on July29th. Good luck to all!

 

[HBGdancermom]

YES! It happened at the end of May. I had read that more PINs were being sent out, and I thought I would just call to see if I got lucky, and I did! The kids and I took a bunch of cutout letters and placed a trail of them from the garage door (where DH comes in after work) leading up to the upstairs hallway. They spelled out "WE GOT FREE DINING". Our stairs have a 180 turn half way up, so "dining" was on the second half. The kids and I were sitting at the top of the stairs with big goofy grins on our faces. Basically looking like this----> I could see the weight lift off his shoulders when he realized what was going on. His furlough letter was due any day (he works for the federal govt), so the timing could not have been better. DH thought he would starve himself if he didn't have the QSDP, so now he gets to eat. As I suspected, though, our dates are covered by the public offer, but we got lucky with getting the PIN right before the ticket increase by just a few days.

Whoop! Love that story!

 

[momofkids]

Be careful with this. I have seen other posts on this exact same subject and there were a few people saying they weren't able to pick up their park tickets early. Others say you definitely can if you know where/how to do it. I wanted to do the same thing in October '11 and the cm said I couldn't pick up tickets early...which I have read is a pretty common response but not exactly 100% true.

It seems like the people having trouble are doing online check-in. I would suggest waiting on the reservation with the tickets. From what I have read, the resorts are printing their packages early and this is causing the problem. If you wait to do check in at the resort, the tickets shouldn't be printed in advance. I had an online CM confirm that you can get your tickets early. It is well known that the phone CMs aren't always correct.

 

[CaraMiaBelle]

The week before Thanksgiving. Thanks for the reply. We really can't go without the free dining. We were supposed to go during the September free dining but spouse now can't get the time off for the week I first reserved and the week he can get off no ADR's are left.

I REALLY would not worry about ADRs. really think a lot of people make too big a deal about this. Something almost always opens up. I think right around 45 days for some reason. People must be making a lot of changes to finalize their plans. That's when my sister books every year and she has never had any trouble getting what she wanted.

 

[babydoll65]

It seems like the people having trouble are doing online check-in. I would suggest waiting on the reservation with the tickets. From what I have read, the resorts are printing their packages early and this is causing the problem. If you wait to do check in at the resort, the tickets shouldn't be printed in advance. I had an online CM confirm that you can get your tickets early. It is well known that the phone CMs aren't always correct.

OMG, you found a KNOWLEDGEABLE cm. So if you have a pkg with park tickets that you need to pick-up early you should not do early check in. I will need to do this in November and I'm a bit nervous about it. So I assume you would still need to go to any guest relations to get you early ticket pickup?

 

[KathieSmallwood]

I noticed some talking about a split stay? What is a split stay?

 

[babydoll65]

I noticed some talking about a split stay? What is a split stay?

Some people do a split if there trying to apply a discount or the ability to try out a couple of different resort's. For me, I'm arriving one day before fd and want to take advantage of this so I will to a room only the first day at any resort then move to POR on the 11th. To start the fd portion of my stay.

 

[glenpreece]

Did you feel dumb? What did you do?

I just tried another cm or if I had the code they magically knew about it then. it's like they aren't supposed to tell you about the specials. They must be trained to try and sell full price unless told about the offer by the client.

 

[AwayWeGo]

So night #2 of tossing and turning and trying to figure out how to make this work.
We know our travel dates cannot change due to the plane tickets being bought.
During the night, as I am in and out of consciousness I come up with a plan. I lie there trying to count our dates on my fingers and keep forgetting what number and date I'm on, lol. So, when the alarm goes off this morning I remember my idea.
The last day of free dining before we are scheduled to get there would be Nov 23rd.
Here's what I'm thinking. Book a room for the last day FD is offered and the room will just be empty until we can get there. Then, once we arrive we "switch" to resorts and go on with our planned vacation. It would be 14 days total so even though we would be at our max day for FD, it would cover us. (I know it's dirty and the wrong way to do this and I would be taking up someone's spot for their vacation. I'm just trying to figure out a way not to cancel our trip that we have already bought plane tickets for. I normally wouldn't do this, but I'm thinking the "last resort" "out of options" plan here.)
All Star check in on Nov 23-Nov 28 Room Only
Then POFQ Nov 30-Dec 7 with our 6 day base tickets...no dining purchased because we would qualify for free dining.
I'm thinking that paying for the room for a week is $900. We are spending $1643 for dining right now, so by renting a room for a week before we arrive we would spend less money. (Even though I don't know where the $900 is going to come from yet.)
I called Disney and asked my question: Do I have to be present to check in or can I just rent the room and no one be there. (Worth a shot, right?)
Nope. You have to be present or its considered a no-show. So that round about way isn't going to work in case anyone else may have thought about doing that.
However, the CM said that I should watch because there will be "something" to come out when the free dining dates come out. Maybe room discount or older kids paying child price, something called kids play free?? She said some of those come to just about the same price as the FD! I told her that I believed that our dates were not going to be included on free dining. She said she would be surprised if they weren't, and that's when she told me about the different discounts that Disney can do.
I don't know if she could see anything, but she told me not to worry. I have called and called trying to luck up with some pixie dust, and just about every time I speak with a CM they tell me not to worry and to check back 1st of August. It makes me think they may know or see something...or they are just trying to get me off of the phone before I start crying, lol.
Maybe they won't forget about the after Thanksgiving/1st week of Dec people.

edit: (forgot to add)
Also, she said she was "pretty sure that all Free Dining PINS have been sent out by now".

 

[KathieSmallwood]

Some people do a split if there trying to apply a discount or the ability to try out a couple of different resort's. For me, I'm arriving one day before fd and want to take advantage of this so I will to a room only the first day at any resort then move to POR on the 11th. To start the fd portion of my stay.

Okay, I get it.

 

[momofkids]

OMG, you found a KNOWLEDGEABLE cm. So if you have a pkg with park tickets that you need to pick-up early you should not do early check in. I will need to do this in November and I'm a bit nervous about it. So I assume you would still need to go to any guest relations to get you early ticket pickup?

Yes. We had good luck at AK, but the manager was floating around helping CMs. Maybe that was why. If it doesn't work for you, ask for a supervisor or manager. You can also try another CM or location.

 

[ALD85]

So night #2 of tossing and turning and trying to figure out how to make this work.
We know our travel dates cannot change due to the plane tickets being bought.
During the night, as I am in and out of consciousness I come up with a plan. I lie there trying to count our dates on my fingers and keep forgetting what number and date I'm on, lol. So, when the alarm goes off this morning I remember my idea.
The last day of free dining before we are scheduled to get there would be Nov 23rd.
Here's what I'm thinking. Book a room for the last day FD is offered and the room will just be empty until we can get there. Then, once we arrive we "switch" to resorts and go on with our planned vacation. It would be 14 days total so even though we would be at our max day for FD, it would cover us. (I know it's dirty and the wrong way to do this and I would be taking up someone's spot for their vacation. I'm just trying to figure out a way not to cancel our trip that we have already bought plane tickets for. I normally wouldn't do this, but I'm thinking the "last resort" "out of options" plan here.)
All Star check in on Nov 23-Nov 28 Room Only
Then POFQ Nov 30-Dec 7 with our 6 day base tickets...no dining purchased because we would qualify for free dining.
I'm thinking that paying for the room for a week is $900. We are spending $1643 for dining right now, so by renting a room for a week before we arrive we would spend less money. (Even though I don't know where the $900 is going to come from yet.)
I called Disney and asked my question: Do I have to be present to check in or can I just rent the room and no one be there. (Worth a shot, right?)
Nope. You have to be present or its considered a no-show. So that round about way isn't going to work in case anyone else may have thought about doing that.
However, the CM said that I should watch because there will be "something" to come out when the free dining dates come out. Maybe room discount or older kids paying child price, something called kids play free?? She said some of those come to just about the same price as the FD! I told her that I believed that our dates were not going to be included on free dining. She said she would be surprised if they weren't, and that's when she told me about the different discounts that Disney can do.
I don't know if she could see anything, but she told me not to worry. I have called and called trying to luck up with some pixie dust, and just about every time I speak with a CM they tell me not to worry and to check back 1st of August. It makes me think they may know or see something...or they are just trying to get me off of the phone before I start crying, lol.
Maybe they won't forget about the after Thanksgiving/1st week of Dec people.

edit: (forgot to add)
Also, she said she was "pretty sure that all Free Dining PINS have been sent out by now".

Can't you change your flight for a fee? Surely FD for 4 of you would outweigh the cost of changing 4 tickets? I think the airline I'm using is $75 a ticket but I bought insurance so it's no cost if I had to.