Free Dining Watch 2009 - Dates Released!! Update post 1

[commdoc]

I got the email on Friday as well.

 

[jen22984]

I booked online this morning at around 6:45am. Sept 19-26th at POP for my parents. I got our reservations changed through our travel agent around 1pm, same dates same resort.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

My TA called me today at 10:00 to let me know that she was able to convert my existing trip over the FD, so we'll be Preferred at CBR 8/15 til 8/23. We'll be celebrating our DD's 10th birthday!!

 

[NJRA]

It seems as though a LOT of people are doing FD the week of Sept.20th. Which just so happens to be the week we chose to go down to WDW also.... Did I pick the most crowded week in Sept to go on vacation??? I'm starting to FREAK OUT

 

[splashmtnfan]

My TA called me today at 10:00 to let me know that she was able to convert my existing trip over the FD, so we'll be Preferred at CBR 8/15 til 8/23. We'll be celebrating our DD's 10th birthday!!

Hey Neighbor! We are going to be at Fort Wilderness Cabins 8/16-23 celebrating our daughter's 10th B-Day also!!!! When is her actual B-Day? Madison's is 8/23 so we will leave Sunday night as she starts school the next day. Any special plans yet?

 

[PrincessTiffany]

It seems as though a LOT of people are doing FD the week of Sept.20th. Which just so happens to be the week we chose to go down to WDW also.... Did I pick the most crowded week in Sept to go on vacation??? I'm starting to FREAK OUT

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=31092035#post31092035

According to this poll, yes, the week of the 20th will be the busiest.

 

[splashmtnfan]

As far as her meds, she does take Claritin daily and she has a nebulizer for when her allergies act up... because it usually leads to a upper respiratory infection and she's had RSV two times this winter already Its been a mess! But she's finally seeming like she's doing better than she did a year ago.

That is something I will have to get done then. I had no idea they would even do that! WOW! We have all ceramic tile in our home, hepa-filter vac, no curtains, stuffed animals are washed weekly per doctors orders... it goes on and on... she is on Singlulair & Zyrtec and Flovent & Albuterol (this only when needed) and she has had RSV and was critically ill in ICU with it the last time. So scary I know! I am soo glad to hear that Disney goes the extra mile to help with these conditions as well. I learn something new every time I log on. Gotta hand it to whoever started this site, it does help plenty!

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Hey Neighbor! We are going to be at Fort Wilderness Cabins 8/16-23 celebrating our daughter's 10th B-Day also!!!! When is her actual B-Day? Madison's is 8/23 so we will leave Sunday night as she starts school the next day. Any special plans yet?

Emily's birthday is 8/17, for the past 3 years we have gone in Dec. and Taylor's birthday was during the trip, and Em just kept asking if we could just once go for her's. I never thought we'd be able to do it, until they made the announcement that FD was going to be the week of her birthday. So, now we have it all planned, its a huge surprise. Neither of the girls know anything about it. They think we are going to my DH's mom's house for vacation this summer. Boy will they be surprised when we show up at the airport! I can't wait, I don't know how I'm going to keep it all a secret, but DH has sworn me to secrecy!!!

Have a great trip and a great time planning!! Now the fun part begins!!!

 

[DisneyMom5]

It seems as though a LOT of people are doing FD the week of Sept.20th. Which just so happens to be the week we chose to go down to WDW also.... Did I pick the most crowded week in Sept to go on vacation??? I'm starting to FREAK OUT

It will not be a problem. The restaurants will be busy, but they parks won't be too bad. A high percentage of DISers are going to be there, but not everyone knows about the DIS. LOL

It's one of the lowest times of year, if you check out recommendations like Touring plans and what not.

It will be fun to look for all the Lime Green Mickey Heads of all the DISers!

See you there!

 

[mermaid&cinderella]

It will not be a problem. The restaurants will be busy, but they parks won't be too bad. A high percentage of DISers are going to be there, but not everyone knows about the DIS. LOL

It's one of the lowest times of year, if you check out recommendations like Touring plans and what not.

It will be fun to look for all the Lime Green Mickey Heads of all the DISers!

See you there!

I find that hilarious when people say the parks arent too busy but the restaurants are......does everyone just eat FD?

 

[gssmks]

We are celebrating tonight. We got the FD added to our reservations, two of them, Aug 22-28 at Pop Century.

Thanks to everyone on the Dis for keeping us informed on all these great deals. You guys are wonderful.

For those who saw my earlier post about wanting QSP instead of standard plan, I asked and was told that only the standard plan was free and that we could upgrade to deluxe, but could down grade to quick service. She wasn't sure why. She did say that if we go and are not able to get into the table service restaurants that we would be given the coupon to use the table service credits at counterservice places. What scares me is that if we don't make ADRs and we get there and the information was wrong, we are stuck not getting use the free dinning.

 

[splashmtnfan]

Emily's birthday is 8/17, for the past 3 years we have gone in Dec. and Taylor's birthday was during the trip, and Em just kept asking if we could just once go for her's. I never thought we'd be able to do it, until they made the announcement that FD was going to be the week of her birthday. So, now we have it all planned, its a huge surprise. Neither of the girls know anything about it. They think we are going to my DH's mom's house for vacation this summer. Boy will they be surprised when we show up at the airport! I can't wait, I don't know how I'm going to keep it all a secret, but DH has sworn me to secrecy!!!

Have a great trip and a great time planning!! Now the fun part begins!!!

It is a secret for us too! We were supposed to go last year for FD and MNSSHP but Hurricane Ike stopped us, so then we went for FD in Dec. getting home Dec.23 which was really cool because we celebrated a cousin's first trip and 13th B-Day there, now we get to celebrate Madison's! She has been several times too, so she does not need to get the books, go over maps etc, just show up. It will be great! we are flying in and we sometimes take trips on a whim so she won't even expect anything, because we are driving to New Orleans on Friday and flying out on Sunday. She will be sleeping when we get to the airport at 4:30AM!

 

[ZeroToHero]

hey, I'll be looking for you... as far as the upgrade?? who knows. It was my friends first time there and the ressie was in her name. that was the only thing we could figure out. I know they overbooked POP that summer, and alot of people got upgrades. we were upgraded to SS. it was nice, but so spread out and not like the food courts at the values. Last year, when our TA tried to apply the FD.. we had to switch resorts to keep a preferred room, which we wanted for my mom.
Where are YOU staying???

We're POPing as well! I'm so excited for the tie-dye cheesecake!

OH yeah, I got my email from my TA. we're IN and no changing resorts. My kids will be thrilled. I don't really care, but My son ( who is the designer of this trip) wanted to stay at POP and we're bringing his girlfriend. he wants to show her around Disney the RIGHT way. she's only been once several years ago and didn't do too much there. My kids have become experts . So He wanted to take her ( he's 19, she'll be 19 when we go) and I'm the "chaperone" and my 16 yr old is coming along to make it more fun for all of us. The funny thing is that my 19 yr old and I don't do the rollercoasters, but the 16 yr old and the 19yr old's girlfriend do, so they will probably be riding together. My oldest Son and his girlfriend wanted to come along but can't because of college schedules and finances. My oldest son was in The College Program 3 yrs ago. He spent 7 months as a custodian on Main St. in the MK.
I can't wait for August!!! whoopee!!!

This is actually my condolence trip, since I didn't get into the College Program.. haha. I'm taking DBF (19 on next Monday!) because he promised if I didn't get in, we'd go. And since I'm the planning one, I'm arranging everything, and he's just handing me the money, now that he got a job. We're both going to school for free, so that helps a lot.

He hasn't stayed onsite since he was 6, and he's only been twice (once in 1996, and once in 2007, where he stayed by Sea World). And in 2007, he only visited AK and MK! He missed out so much... so we're doing the parks MY way this time.
ADRs, schedules, etc.

And I'm packing my LGMHs.... and maybe making shirts. "ZeroToHero" & "ZeroToHero's DBF" sounds catchy... Kidding, kidding! (Maybeeee...)

I'm so excited for August too! I can't wait to pay off the trip and have my ADRs booked. Once that happens, I'll finally feel like I'm ready.

 

[norestneeded]

Hey everyone!

Could someone confirm that travel needs to be completed by October 3rd? For instance can I book October 2nd -9th and get the free dining for the duration of my trip?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mom2rtk]

Check-in just needs to be done on the 3rd.

Have fun!

 

[Teapot123]

I find that hilarious when people say the parks arent too busy but the restaurants are......does everyone just eat FD?

I heard that it's because during FD everyone uses the restaurants, but during regular dining only about 60% ( i think that is the percentage) uses the DDP

 

[DISNEYNY]

Hey everyone!

Could someone confirm that travel needs to be completed by October 3rd? For instance can I book October 2nd -9th and get the free dining for the duration of my trip?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, you can do that. As long as you arrive by Oct 3rd you can have FDP for your entire stay. You will be fine.

 

[KKB]

It seems as though a LOT of people are doing FD the week of Sept.20th. Which just so happens to be the week we chose to go down to WDW also.... Did I pick the most crowded week in Sept to go on vacation??? I'm starting to FREAK OUT

Realize that poll is less than 200 people--a drop in the bucket for WDW guests! Free dining is offered at this time of year because it is a very slow time for Disney (otherwise what is the point?) I took a look at the crowd calender and the crowds are expected to be very managable....4-6; was surprised to see a 7 level expected on the Thurs. before your trip. Our Oct. trip was 5-7 levels; we were at parks at opening (DS8 is a human alarm clock...7AM daily...HOW he managed to change that to a different time zone is beyond me!). We never waited more than 20 min. on any ride being their early, using touring plans as a guide and fastpasses (OK, there was one bizarre incident at Dinosaur when there was a rush on fastpass holders...) And the 20 min. wait was rare.

BUT DO make your ADRs right on the 90 day mark, as restaurants will be very busy. Have your list of favs, be flexible on your dates and times, and maybe even have some backup choices.

NO WORRIES!

 

[wvdislover]

I find that hilarious when people say the parks arent too busy but the restaurants are......does everyone just eat FD?

I guess if you look at how many people the TS restaurants will hold, that's not a WHOLE lot of people, compared to how many people the parks will hold Besides, if everyone is free dining, that means the rest of us visit the attractions while they eat

 

[mom2rtk]

Realize that poll is less than 200 people--a drop in the bucket for WDW guests! Free dining is offered at this time of year because it is a very slow time for Disney (otherwise what is the point?) I took a look at the crowd calender and the crowds are expected to be very managable....4-6; was surprised to see a 7 level expected on the Thurs. before your trip. Our Oct. trip was 5-7 levels; we were at parks at opening (DS8 is a human alarm clock...7AM daily...HOW he managed to change that to a different time zone is beyond me!). We never waited more than 20 min. on any ride being their early, using touring plans as a guide and fastpasses (OK, there was one bizarre incident at Dinosaur when there was a rush on fastpass holders...) And the 20 min. wait was rare.

BUT DO make your ADRs right on the 90 day mark, as restaurants will be very busy. Have your list of favs, be flexible on your dates and times, and maybe even have some backup choices.

NO WORRIES!

So where to do you find the crowd calendar? We're arriving 9/26 and I'd like to check out our days that next week!