free dining & weddings

[wonderlandaddict]

My daughter is planning a fall wedding and I was wondering if we would be able to take advantage of the free dining if it is offered during our time period??????

 

[lurkyloo]

Yes, but you will not be able to get it if you book through Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings special website/phone number for wedding groups. You would just book it through the main Disney reservations center.

Is she having an Escape wedding or a Wishes wedding? It isn't a big deal if she's having an Escape wedding because she won't have to worry about filling a certain number of hotel room nights. If she's having a Wishes wedding, you can still book with free dining, you just have to do it outside of the weddings department, and the room nights you book won't count toward the total needed to earn her a free hotel night.

Hope that's not too confusing...

 

[daisygirl902]

I called last week and was told that anyone booked as a part of the room block, or counting towards our "total nights booked" could not even have the DP, let alone free! I found that rather sad and confusing....but oh well, as an escape bride I was just trying to see if I could get the free room night for myself and DFi, as we have far more than the minimum nights booked. Sadly we are DP fanatics, and have already got our color coded dining schedules made, so it wasn't worth changing...

 

[acwinsett]

Did they change their policy recently?

For our wedding in December, we had several guests book room nights using the Free Dining offer and several that used the "room only" offers available to the general public since they were less expensive than our room block rates. Our group only had 16 room block nights (and 7 of those were the bride and groom's room) but our group had, like, 26 additional nights booked with public discounts. We just sent our wedding room coordinator their confirmation numbers and they just added their info to our lists manually. We showed 42 room nights booked and received our free comp night with no trouble.

 

[daisygirl902]

Well - first I was told that under no circumstances does an Escape Bride qualify for a free night. Then I kind of pushed back a bit and said, well I have been doing a lot of research and have definitely heard that some Escape brides DO in fact get a free night....she then kind of changed her story a bit, but then adamantly said "Well if you want your guests reservations to count towards a free night they cannot be book as a part of any package....this includes the Dining Plan...they will basically have to change all of their current reservations to cancel the dining plan and book through you." I am going to question this more when I talk to my actual planner this week. But I am not holding out much hope - if there is one thing that I have learned from a year on the boards researching is Disney can be fairly inconsistent. Which really, is a minor complaint as I am still VERY happy to be planning my DFTW - with or without the free room night!

 

[acwinsett]

Oh, yeah, now that you mention it, I do seem to recall they do the Escape wedding blocks differently. I think it's based on the number of rooms instead of room-nights. Given that - I can definitely imagine them saying those rooms have to be booked through Disney Weddings in order to "count".

If the public discounts are as good this year as they were last year, you and your entire group would probably be better off just booking the regular way. For example, our room block rate for Pop Century was $77 per night, but most our our guests were able to get $59 per night. We had one guest get it for $49 per night with the military discount. No guarantees that will be the case this year but the cool thing is your room block doesn't get released until 30 days before your wedding so you can use that as your backup plan if the regular discounts aren't that great.

 

[lurkyloo]

Did they change their policy recently?

Yes. Back when you booked your wedding, room nights at any Disney resort counted toward the free night. Now only the room nights actually in the block count toward the free night, but they all still count toward the minimum requirement.

 

[Legalmccoy]

I am utterly confused. If our guests purchase tickets/room nights through our room block can they still purchase the dining plan even if it not the free promotion? Also if my DFi and I use our annual passes can we still purchase the dining plan?

Thanks and sorry if this was really confusing!

 

[lurkyloo]

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

IIf our guests purchase tickets/room nights through our room block can they still purchase the dining plan even if it not the free promotion?

No, because using the room block means making a room-only reservation. You would have to buy a package with room and tickets to get free dining, and the wedding reservation center doesn't offer packages.

Also if my DFi and I use our annual passes can we still purchase the dining plan?

Yes. It is now possible for Annual Passholders to buy a "package" that includes dining but not park passes. But, again, this would have to be done through the Walt Disney Travel Co. and not through the wedding block.

Frankly, if you're going to have Annual Passes, you can probably save more on dining by purchasing the Tables In Wonderland card and using it for a 20% discount on all your table service meals and drinks than you would by purchasing the Dining Plan. It just depends on how many sit down meals you usually eat.

 

[Legalmccoy]

Thanks for the info!!