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

[micknpluto]

I cant believe theyre not releasing Sept park hours until June. right at the 90 day mark.

I want to plan my week based on hours and EMHs, and we cant plan ADRs without knowing everything else.

ok. now im rambling.

 

[enchantingodin]

I cant believe theyre not releasing Sept park hours until June. right at the 90 day mark.

I want to plan my week based on hours and EMHs, and we cant plan ADRs without knowing everything else.

THANK YOU!!!

I couldn't agree more!

 

[Tbelle1976]

I also agree.

I don't get to call until June 27 to make my ADR's for our Sept trip. I'm thinking that by that time the park hours should be our for Sept, however I'm afraid that with FD we won't get into some of the places we want or the times we would prefer.

 

[tnmomof4]

This is our first time doing free dining, so I'm getting kind of nervous too.

I didn't even think about how hard it will be to get ADRs...until now.

I guess that is good advice to have second and third choices, and be ready to be flexible with times.

I think now I'm not going to get park hopper tickets, and just take whatever times I can get for the restaurants we want. Since we will already be staying in that particular park, it really won't matter when we eat.

I wonder what times to eat are the most popular? Does anyone have any guesses?

 

[mbanks21]

The usual. 5-7ish are the most popular times

 

[Tbelle1976]

The usual. 5-7ish are the most popular times

I can deal with that, I have no problem with having dinner at 8 or a little after that. We upgraded to Deluxe, so with breakfast, lunch and 2 snack credits each day a 8:00 dinner will work out fine.

My dinner choices are:

Narcoossee's
Le Cellier
Ohana
Cali Grill
Jiko
Chef de France

I think that Le Cellier might be the only one that I may have luck with for dinner?...possible Cali Grill as well?

 

[PryncessChrysty]

We just got back from the World on Saturday with the 4/3 deal, we haven't even gone back to work yet from our vacation and already have our next trip booked ~ 5 nights at the Poly and 6 nights at AKL!!
With the FD, we decided to bump up our wedding plans now with an at home wedding in September and a long Disney Honeymoon!! We're going to make it a family trip and my parents will be joining us (but they'll be at WL & POFQ)
We're SOOO excited! (For DH2B and I, it'll be our 3rd trip, with our first just this last September! It will be our first time staying deluxe and we can't wait!)

 

[lsutiggergirl]

Le Cellier is now one of the hardest places to get...

 

[tnmomof4]

The usual. 5-7ish are the most popular times

Thanks!!

So it would be smart to use the TS credit for a late lunch or early dinner.
2-5ish.

Or a late dinner after 7.

 

[DisneyMom5]

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

Yes!
No, honestly, it's like others have said -- more people make ADRs during free dining. The restaurants aren't crazy nuts. They actually are just pretty full.
It IS almost impossible to get walk ups. When we were there in '07, there was a sign up front at MK at park opening that said "Only these restaurants are taking limited walk-ups today:" and I think the only one on there was The Plaza.

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.

Make the ADRs. You can always cancel them while you are there, or try to move around times, or trade in credits, but once you have them you KNOW you at least have those to fall back on.

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!

You have to have a membership at touringplans.com or have a current edition of the Un. Guide to access the calendars. They have never let me down. I believe Tour Guide Mike has some sort of best days also.

I also agree.

I don't get to call until June 27 to make my ADR's for our Sept trip. I'm thinking that by that time the park hours should be our for Sept, however I'm afraid that with FD we won't get into some of the places we want or the times we would prefer.

Have your list ready to go. When staying onsite, you may make up to 10 days, so have everything ready to go for up to 10 days of your trip.
If you say something like "I need Le Cellier, 9/26, dinner, earliest seating" that helps.
The problem comes when you don't know where you want to eat, and what time.
I have my list in hand, what time I want, and which days, and I can usually rattle it off pretty quickly. The CM said "Wow, you know what you want!"
LOL
I've had months to think about this, so, yes, yes I do.

Hardest to get into?
Chef Mickey's (sometimes they add a lunch seating during FD)
Le Cellier

Easy to get into, usually?
Biergarten
Marakesh
San Angelo

Of course that all depends on the day.

Happy planning everyone!

 

[maroo]

I cant believe theyre not releasing Sept park hours until June. right at the 90 day mark.

I want to plan my week based on hours and EMHs, and we cant plan ADRs without knowing everything else.

ok. now im rambling.

What makes us think they will wait till JUNE to get the Sept hours out?!?!? I have to call on June 6!!!!! HELP!!

With the FD, we decided to bump up our wedding plans now with an at home wedding in September and a long Disney Honeymoon!! We're going to make it a family trip and my parents will be joining us (but they'll be at WL & POFQ)

Ok...WOW on two fronts...

You are moving your wedding! Now that is some awesome Disney goodness right there!

And your parents are coming?!?!?! Run away!!! Run away!!!!

Oh...they are staying at WL/POFQ... Whew!

 

[sallyjane]

Thanks!!

So it would be smart to use the TS credit for a late lunch or early dinner.
2-5ish.

Or a late dinner after 7.

Dont the restaurants usually close between 3 and 5 to get ready for dinner? Is there a place that lists the restaurant times because I too would rather do a late lunch than a dinner.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Dont the restaurants usually close between 3 and 5 to get ready for dinner? Is there a place that lists the restaurant times because I too would rather do a late lunch than a dinner.

No, they do not close down.

 

[Kimmy2Disney]

They have been putting hours out now 3 months in advance. So it's March now and we have up to and including Junes hours. Tomorrow, for April we will (should) have up to and including July. May we will have up to and including Aug. June-- Sept.. and so on... There are plenty of projections out there on what the hours might be based on past years, but nothing official!
This presents a problem for me with my ADRs because my arrival date is Aug 27, so I can make ADRS for my entire trip starting May. 29th... BUT I'll only know Augusts hours then.. not Septembers - I'll just have to play it by ear and hope it works out (I'm mostly just worried about the Calif Grill and being able to be there during the MK fireworks.. so that will be tops on my list!) Yuck on this new 90 days for everything!

 

[mbanks21]

Some restaurants do stop serving lunch around 2ish and dont open again until 4 or 5 for dinner. Most are open for that period though

 

[hematite153]

Dont the restaurants usually close between 3 and 5 to get ready for dinner? Is there a place that lists the restaurant times because I too would rather do a late lunch than a dinner.

Some close, but, some pretty much keep serving.

I've found that if you start by booking the latest available lunch (or earliest available dinner--I've had "dinner" at 3 before), but, then keep checking every few weeks you'll often find that they open up more times as the dates get closer.

So, yes, if you go to the dining section above you'll find general hours for the restaurants. But, I've gotten ADRs that were more than an hour outside those hours when checking about a month before a free dining trip.

 

[Evita227]

I am so mad! Just so everyone one is aware..... If you book thru AAA as a member than you are not eligible for free dining because you can't combine the offers.

 

[faindrops27]

I am so mad! Just so everyone one is aware..... If you book thru AAA as a member than you are not eligible for free dining because you can't combine the offers.

Evita, book free dining yourself. You are eligable. Just cannot have two discounts. It is either or. I say book free dining.

 

[Evita227]

Evita, book free dining yourself. You are eligable. Just cannot have two discounts. It is either or. I say book free dining.

The AAA discount I recieved was 20% off the price of the package..... a little more of a discount than free dining.... I just booked free dining at a discounted rate being a AAA member.... so now I'm paying for free dining grrrrrrr

 

[faindrops27]

Evita, where are you staying??