Free Dining Questions

[steelerfan87]

Hello there disers. I know that when I need an answer then go to the experts.

We are booked for Oct. and will have free dining. This is a first for us and so I have some first timer questions I need your help with.

1. We will be staying 6 nights and 7 days. Does each person get 6 or 7 credits for our stay?

2. Can we order off the entire menu or is the free options limited?

3. I currently have Crystal Palace breakfast booked and Liberty Tree tavern booked for a dinner. Cant decide where to eat in the other parks though. HS is between 50's Prime Time and SciFi. AK between the Yak and Yeti and Tusker House. Epcot I really have no idea. Any help will be appreciated. We normally like to keep it more American and do not walk on the wild side much. I am leaning more towards Tusker and 50's.

4. I tried to book Hoop Dee Doo on line but it requires prepayment. How does that work if I am on the free dining?

5. When is the best time to have ADR at the Poly to see the Water Electric Parade and Wishes. Do they have the parade in Oct.?

 

[pooch]

DDP is based on # of nights so you will have 6 of each type of credit person. You order off the regular menu at all locations (there are a very few exceptions but given you're not "walking on the wild side", they will probably not apply to you)

Now as to where to eat...

The characters at Crystal Palace are Winnie the Pooh & friends, are your kids a little old for that? If so, IMHO, no reason to eat breakfast at CP. Same breakfast buffet you get everywhere on property (although many will disagree and love this place). If your boys are "boys", they might like the antics at Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge (a boat ride from MK). We do like Liberty Tree Tavern.

At DHS, we enjoy both SciFi and 50's Primetime. At SciFi, we love the cheesey 50's movie clips and, when the kids were young, eating in the cars, never having experience the drive-ins of my day. And the Pot Roast at 50's is fabulous (and I remember many of the TV clips there too!)

Yak & Yeti is "american-ish" Chinese-ish food & we have had good meals there, have not eaten at Tusker House.

Epcot - so many good places - our favorites are Le Cellier ( a 1 TS meal only at lunch now), Chefs de France, Rose & Crown (great IllumiNations viewing if you time it right) and Biergarten (German food but really a good meat & potatoes place - don't let the names of the foods scare you, the schnitzel is a piece of chicken, there's pork roast, roasted potatoes, pot roast, etc) communal tables and a fun show.

Keep posting your ideas & we'll help you tweak them!

 

[Cafeen]

Hello there disers. I know that when I need an answer then go to the experts.

We are booked for Oct. and will have free dining. This is a first for us and so I have some first timer questions I need your help with.

1. We will be staying 6 nights and 7 days. Does each person get 6 or 7 credits for our stay?

All levels of the dining plans are done per night, so in your each, with the DDP (Disney Dining Plan), you will each get 6 TS, 6 CS, and 6 Snack credits for the stay.

2. Can we order off the entire menu or is the free options limited?

Pretty much. Apps and specialty drinks and items will have to be OOP of course, as far as entrees and desserts, it's anything off the menu with a very few exceptions (Feast at Marrakesh requires a small surcharge, Kitchen Sink at B&C is excluded, and stuff like that). Sushi is also almost totally excluded as an entree with the exception of a few items.

3. I currently have Crystal Palace breakfast booked and Liberty Tree tavern booked for a dinner. Cant decide where to eat in the other parks though. HS is between 50's Prime Time and SciFi. AK between the Yak and Yeti and Tusker House. Epcot I really have no idea. Any help will be appreciated. We normally like to keep it more American and do not walk on the wild side much. I am leaning more towards Tusker and 50's.

For October it's pretty close, but...
MK - I prefer LTT lunch to dinner or Crystal Palace (or The Plaza, but I'd pay OOP or DxDDP for there, not a good enough deal on DDP).
DHS - I have no preference here. '50s will probably be your best bet.
AK - Tusker House breakfast is my limit of knowledge, but it is very good. I'll be hitting up lunch there next month too. I've also heard great things about Yak & Yeti lunch/dinner.
Epcot - Via Napoli, San Angel Inn, Hacienda de San Angel are all favorites. Le Cellier is also good, but ADRs may be tricky to come by at this point.

4. I tried to book Hoop Dee Doo on line but it requires prepayment. How does that work if I am on the free dining?

If doing this online, you should be able to "link" your Resort reservation to the Dining reservation. This should recognize that you're on an applicable dining plan. If, after this, it still says that there is an amount that will be charged today, you'll have to call. Alternatively, you can book and pre-pay, and then get a refund when you pick up the tickets for the show.

Also be sure to note the restrictions on seating when paying via DDP. It's Category 2/3 for the 2 early shows, or any category for the late show.

5. When is the best time to have ADR at the Poly to see the Water Electric Parade and Wishes. Do they have the parade in Oct.?

 

[steelerfan87]

Thanks, The Crystal Palace breakfast is actually for my my wife. She must be the biggest pooh fan I know and we will be celebrating her birthday.

I am seriously considering Biergarten at Epcot. What about the Garden Grill?

We have never done any Resort hopping and was worried we would loose too much time away from the parks trying to do resort restaurants. When I checked on a few of them they were all booked for time slots before parks open with only park hour slots open.

 

[pooch]

without taking tons of park time (at least for us). This is my method:

I first figure out which parks we will be in which days based on our touring style. We are night owls so I always pick the park open latest. If we park hop, we may start out at one park but dinner is always in, near or on the way to our evening park. I then look at which restaurants are in the vicinty of that park and decide which we want.

On our 2 MK days, we will be eating at Liberty Tree Tavern the night we're watching MSEP & Wishes. Our ADR time should put us outside the restaurant in time to get a good viewing spot for the parade away from Main Street. The other night is an evening EMH til 2am so we will take the boat to WL and dine at WCC as we have more time. We have also walked (5 min) to the Contemporary for a fabulous meal at the Wave and taken the monorail to the Poly and Kona's. None of these options take too long, WL being the longest.

On Epcot/DHS days, its fairly easy to get to Boardwalk & Yacht & Beach Club by boat. Boma at AKL is a quick bus ride from AK.

What takes too long, using WDW transportation is resort to resort. So to get to another resort from yours for a dinner reservation would, IMHO be a poor use of time. But we never go back to the resort during the day so not a problem for us.