Free Dining Oct-Dec Is Here!!

[scard192]

I thought the line would be really long when we did it last year but we were the 2nd family in line. I hope we luck out again this year.

Any suggestions for the best time to go? My sis will likely take her 3 year old back to the resort for a nap around 1PM and we have a 6:40PM ADR at Akershus.

 

[lustergirl]

Someone should post here that they were able to get the deal sometime between 7:05am and 7:15am. It happens every time a discount is realease. The boards will be on overload with people reporting in.

True, so true. Usually you know on here before anywhere else!!

 

[CaliKT]

You can't bank enough QS credits to pay for a TS meal can you?

No, definitely not, although sometimes in the past they'd let you do the reverse -- use a TS credit for a QS meal, or a QS meal for snacks, although it was never officially allowed and was always at the discretion of the cast member. Now in the 2013 dining plan brochure, trading in credits for snacks is officially banned, so I assume it would be a lot harder to use a TS credit for a QS meal now.

 

[ALD85]

No, definitely not, although sometimes in the past they'd let you do the reverse -- use a TS credit for a QS meal, or a QS meal for snacks, although it was never officially allowed and was always at the discretion of the cast member. Now in the 2013 dining plan brochure, trading in credits for snacks is officially banned, so I assume it would be a lot harder to use a TS credit for a QS meal now.

I've read a lot of the exact opposite on here about trading a TS for a QS meal.

Can anyone else chime in on this? I was under the impression you very well could use your TS credits on QS meal.

 

[cgerdon02]

I've read a lot of the exact opposite on here about trading a TS for a QS meal.

Can anyone else chime in on this? I was under the impression you very well could use your TS credits on QS meal.

We were able to trade TS for QS no problem last time we were there!

 

[hsmamato2]

We were able to trade TS for QS no problem last time we were there!

of course you can....a QS meal is worth SO MUCH LESS than TS,they LOVE it if someone is silly enough to use it for qs...... have fun! but why waste it on QS? why not just get free QS? the only way I can handle the thought of dining,even if it's "free" is if we squeeze every last drop of value out of the DDP......(yeah,I know,it's just how I am )

 

[smitch425]

No, definitely not, although sometimes in the past they'd let you do the reverse -- use a TS credit for a QS meal, or a QS meal for snacks, although it was never officially allowed and was always at the discretion of the cast member. Now in the 2013 dining plan brochure, trading in credits for snacks is officially banned, so I assume it would be a lot harder to use a TS credit for a QS meal now.

In the early edition of the 2012 dining plan brochure, they specifically listed that as of Jan 1, 2012, you can us a TS credit for a QS meal anywhere on property. It was listed under the "Some Great Tips" heading, but that line was later replaced by a different tip. It is still an official policy, though. Definitely not only at the CM's discretion.

 

[HBGdancermom]

Thank you both!

Yeah. Unless we are planning to go TS crazy, it seems like the QS FD plan should be the better deal. Even if the RO was at the top end (for values, I'm assuming) 15%, we'd still save by going with FD. To upgrade, it would be $384. I think that comes to 4.5 table service meals we'd need to do to come out even. We wish we were foodies but our budget does not allow . DS would rather go go go than sit still for a meal, anyway. (Personally, I would LOVE to be able to try a lot of different restaurants!)

We will do one character meal, for sure. Right now, we are thinking Chef Mickey. Of course, I'm still reading up on all the various ones. CM seems to be the most expensive, unfortunately. Has anyone done that or Hollywood and Vine? Did you prefer one over the other? I've heard Cape May is good, too, but it seems like more characters are at CM.

I'm going to go search around for threads on character meals . Sorry to keep kind of going off topic here!

Amy, I wanted to tell you that there is a link on another thread in the disney dining plan forum that is a OOP vs DDP calculator. I love it. It leads you to a Youtube of a couple who made some sort of interactive spreadsheet where you can plug in your numbers and it analzyes it all for you. If you type in OOP vs DDP in the disney dining plan forum it should pop up in one of those threads.

For us, we are definitely shooting for RO dsct. We are not huge sit down eaters, do a lot of sharing, not a lot of character meals and not dessert peeps. Staying at the BC so I think the RO is a better dsct for out situation.

What I am going to do (which of course I learned from some wise peeps on the DIS) is put my food/tip budget on a gift card and pretend I have the DDP...That way it is already paid for. Just tricking myself...

Just edited because the thread is called "Dining Plan Calculator...Terrific tool"

 

[smitch425]

of course you can....a QS meal is worth SO MUCH LESS than TS,they LOVE it if someone is silly enough to use it for qs...... have fun! but why waste it on QS? why not just get free QS? the only way I can handle the thought of dining,even if it's "free" is if we squeeze every last drop of value out of the DDP......(yeah,I know,it's just how I am )

Some people that stay in a mod prefer to have the QSDP, but they are automatically given the regular DDP. Disney does not allow you to downgrade your free plan. We always stay value, but if for some reason I had to move up to a mod, I would use the free DDP as the QSDP because I think TS meals are a waste of time and not that tasty. Plus, I hate having people inhaling food in the backround of my character pics and I can't be in the pics since there are no Photopass people in the restaurant.

 

[HBGdancermom]

Some people that stay in a mod prefer to have the QSDP, but they are automatically given the regular DDP. Disney does not allow you to downgrade your free plan. We always stay value, but if for some reason I had to move up to a mod, I would use the free DDP as the QSDP because I think TS meals are a waste of time and not that tasty. Plus, I hate having people inhaling food in the backround of my character pics .

Love it!

 

[Kat016]

Any suggestions for the best time to go? My sis will likely take her 3 year old back to the resort for a nap around 1PM and we have a 6:40PM ADR at Akershus.

We went right at the time it started. But when we were done there still wasn't anyone in line.

 

[plutospalforever]

What I did to best figure out a comparison, was to look at the menus for the restaurants where we plan to eat and pick out what we would likely chose to eat if we were paying out of pocket, plus make some guesses about snacks and extras each day. Then I compared that to what would be covered on the DP. IMHO, that's the only way I can get a true value of the meal plan. If you wouldn't otherwise purchase the DP, the quoted "value" may not even be ballpark to what your true value would be.

It's a lot of work, but since we're all just killing time anyway... Plus, it was a fun pre-trip tease for the family to poke through the menus!

I did that and the total figure for 7 days was $1,205.08. We are paying $450 for "free dining" which is clearly a better deal for us, however, paying for the basic (plus) dining plan would cost us $1,521.60. So paying OOP would still be cheaper than PAYING for the plan. Oh, and I was not being conservative with the numbers either, although did not include desserts.

Amy, I wanted to tell you that there is a link on another thread in the disney dining plan forum that is a OOP vs DDP calculator. I love it. It leads you to a Youtube of a couple who made some sort of interactive spreadsheet where you can plug in your numbers and it analzyes it all for you. If you type in OOP vs DDP in the disney dining plan forum it should pop up in one of those threads.

For us, we are definitely shooting for RO dsct. We are not huge sit down eaters, do a lot of sharing, not a lot of character meals and not dessert peeps. Staying at the BC so I think the RO is a better dsct for out situation.

What I am going to do (which of course I learned from some wise peeps on the DIS) is put my food/tip budget on a gift card and pretend I have the DDP...That way it is already paid for. Just tricking myself...

Just edited because the thread is called "Dining Plan Calculator...Terrific tool"

Oh, great...now you tell me...lol...

 

[bookgirl]

It's nice to see that they have extended the hours. Now we have more time to take advantage during our trip. And more chances to avoid the line

We got our free pic for the first time last year and we really enjoyed the character interaction. It was one of our favorites for the trip. I took my mother last year and she hadn't seen Mickey (or Goofy) in 20 years. Her reaction was priceless

The free pic is the only character pic we really do. (don't do m&g or character meals). I got lucky the first year and had the big 3 in one shoot (Mickey/Minnie/Pluto or Goofy cant remember). I plan on going again on our Epcot day.

I think I may have to go look at that picture again.

 

[ALD85]

I don't think using your TS credits (that you got with FREE dining) on a QS meal is a waste, at all.... We are staying at a mod, so we will get the plan with TS credits. We are only planning on 2 TS meals and the cost of those 2 and the resort mugs totals near $200 give or take. If I did a room only at let's say 20% that's only a $280 savings for me. So it's still a larger savings for me to get FD and only use TS credits and use the rest on QS than a RO only would be.

 

[LouFapp]

Disney PhotoPass[/B includes unlimited photopass photos in your account, ability to customize your photos with Disney borders, magic shot photo (photograpers "magically" add Disney characters to your photos and can set up poses so they match up with the characters). Pre-order price is $119.95 (price at park is $169.95.
PhotoPass+ includes all photopass benefits plus photos from select dining locations (such as CRT), photos from select attractions, photos from other Disney experiences. Guests will also receive a PhotoPass+ card and lanyard and a CD with 400 stock gallery photos. Pre-order price is $149.00 if ordered at least 14 days before your vacation (price at park is $199.95).

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

 

[HBGdancermom]

I did that and the total figure for 7 days was $1,205.08. We are paying $450 for "free dining" which is clearly a better deal for us, however, paying for the basic (plus) dining plan would cost us $1,521.60. So paying OOP would still be cheaper than PAYING for the plan. Oh, and I was not being conservative with the numbers either, although did not include desserts.

Oh, great...now you tell me...lol...

Baaahaaaa!!! I figured you would have seen that. I love to play around with the numbers. It's a sickness.

 

[TheRatPack]

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

We got the CD with all our photos added to that (ordered once we arrived home). We also got the paper copies of our photos from Pirates League as well as having them added to the CD/account. You don't get paper copies of the ride photos or park photos with the plus option, but they add all of them to your account. With the regular option you don't get the ride photos added. We also got hard copies/paper copies at Akershus, not sure if that was a plus option or just came with our meal.

 

[FrugalFashionista]

Just ran our numbers. Because our two children are under 10 it is cheaper for us to stay at Pop and upgrade.

I'm perfectly fine with this because I like the bus system at Pop vs POR. Plus I think the kids will appreciate the decor at Pop more.

 

[sweetnjmom]

I am getting VERY anxious about this!!!!

The 29th can't come soon enough for me (yay Disney Visa)! We ran the numbers and free dining would save our family of 3 about $800. The week we're going is supposedly low crowds, so hopefully we'll be able to remain at POR in the room category we've chosen. I think Coronado Springs is too "adult" for my son (I stayed there once) and Caribbean Beach only has full sized beds, which is a deal breaker.

So I think I need to step away from this thread until next Monday. LOL

 

[tigerfan2012]

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.