Free Dining

[Cassie Dean]

Ok forgive me if this has already been addressed. Tell me how you are getting free dining plans. We are a family of five and I would love to find free dining. I have seen it on peoples signatures and have read a few posts with it, but no real info on it. Any help is greatly appreciated. TIA

 

[thelionqueen]

It is offered by Disney (usually in April or May) for certain resorts during certain times (usually August into September). No one will know what, if any, free dining promotion will be offered in 2009, but it is usually "leaked" here on the DIS around March/April...stay tuned

 

[DjdBrit]

The Brits are already booking Free Dining so I figure its coming

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Ok forgive me if this has already been addressed. Tell me how you are getting free dining plans. We are a family of five and I would love to find free dining. I have seen it on peoples signatures and have read a few posts with it, but no real info on it. Any help is greatly appreciated. TIA

Since 2005, Disney has been offering the Free Dining promo for Magic Your way packages with a 3 night minimum and a 14 day maximum (Basic Dining Plan; 1 TS, 1 CS, 1 Snack per person per night) during the last part of August until the end of September, give or take a few days. The free dining offer is usually announced during the first week of April. The first couple of days it will only be open to Disney Visa holders and then will open up to the general public. The booking dates for this year for the general public were August 24 through September 20 and you had to book by June 22 to receive the FD offer.

If you were staying on-site during the WDW fall promo you could have booked a free dining "bounceback" for next fall by calling WDW dining from your resort room and putting down a $200.00 deposit.

In September Disney Destinations sent out some emails that offered free dining pin codes for select dates in October, November and December. These emails were random, not for the general public, and the codes were non-transferrable. A few weeks after that Disney Visa send out a free dining code for their card holders for the same select dates in October, November and December. These pin codes are not part of the Fall Dining promotion.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

It is offered by Disney (usually in April or May) for certain resorts during certain times (usually August into September). No one will know what, if any, free dining promotion will be offered in 2009, but it is usually "leaked" here on the DIS around March/April...stay tuned

It has already been offered as a bounceback for next fall with the dates of August 23 - October 2. The general public announcement will come out around the first of April, most likely with a shorter booking window if you go by past FD offers.

 

[Cassie Dean]

Thank you all so much for the info. I really appreciate it. You all are really quick and certainly know your stuff

 

[happymommy]

We just booked last month for December - with the Disney Visa free dining promotion (which I was told yesterday by the cast member that was assisting me to change our resort) that ended now. It was for Disney Visa holders - and we got a slight room discount as well!

I think having such as the Disney Visa is a good thing! Plus they gave me an additional $40 off the first use - our package!

I think most of the time it is some sort of "bounceback" promotion - book while at Disney - never done that but sounds like a nice deal.

Good luck! Happy Dining!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

We just booked last month for December - with the Disney Visa free dining promotion (which I was told yesterday by the cast member that was assisting me to change our resort) that ended now. It was for Disney Visa holders - and we got a slight room discount as well!

I think having such as the Disney Visa is a good thing! Plus they gave me an additional $40 off the first use - our package!

I think most of the time it is some sort of "bounceback" promotion - book while at Disney - never done that but sounds like a nice deal.

Good luck! Happy Dining!

There's a complete explanation of free dining in post #4.

 

[wintermom]

I would say having the Disney Visa will help your chances.
I got one when they first came out and there is no fee
so I kept it. I really don't use it except for when they offer
deals. Thats how I got the free dinning this past Thanksgiving
trip. Sweet deal and at the holiday time too!
We had more food that we could use and it was free!

 

[Suz D]

We just booked last month for December - with the Disney Visa free dining promotion (which I was told yesterday by the cast member that was assisting me to change our resort) that ended now. It was for Disney Visa holders - and we got a slight room discount as well!

I think having such as the Disney Visa is a good thing! Plus they gave me an additional $40 off the first use - our package!

I think most of the time it is some sort of "bounceback" promotion - book while at Disney - never done that but sounds like a nice deal.

Good luck! Happy Dining!

Sorry to hijack. Were you able to change your resort? We've been trying to change since we booked and haven't had any luck.

 

[happymommy]

Sorry to hijack. Were you able to change your resort? We've been trying to change since we booked and haven't had any luck.

Yes, I just changed a few days ago from POFQ to CSR. I did so, as the possibility of a queen bed versus a double really appealed to me! I am apprehensive of the size of the resort, but the queen beds really sealed the deal. They didn't charge me anything to change, as the lady said it was a lateral move.

I am going Dec 17 - 22nd. It sounds like there was plenty of availability for our timeframe.

I don't know your dates, but you can always call back and check. I think the only thing we couldn't get was a value resort, but if I could have, I probably would have been tempted. I was trying to keep this trip as inexpensive as possible! We are paying only $1100 for the package, including one day tickets. I found that very reasonable, considering all we'll need to do is upgrade our tickets and spend on incidentals.

I am excited that our meals are pretty much paid for! That is very cool. My kids (especially my son) love to get little snacks, so that will be covered!

 

[Wendi2000]

I got a PIN for our trip next week. It was for free dining plus a package discount so we ended up upgrading to deluxe and still got out cheaper than just a basic package w/o dining. I couldn't pass that up, could I??? Plus I had a 40% off room only pin that I am using for our arrival night since our package doesn't start until the following day (since we come from California we never get there early enough to do anything anyway).

 

[mbanks21]

It has already been offered as a bounceback for next fall with the dates of August 23 - October 2. The general public announcement will come out around the first of April, most likely with a shorter booking window if you go by past FD offers.

Free dine bounceback went until oct. 8

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Free dine bounceback went until oct. 8

Didn't the 3rd - the 8th have a higher price though?

 

[mbanks21]

Didn't the 3rd - the 8th have a higher price though?

It was still free dining wasnt it:] 3-8 the resorts go into regular season vs. value season but the dining is still free

 

[jmsvss]

We just booked last month for December - with the Disney Visa free dining promotion (which I was told yesterday by the cast member that was assisting me to change our resort) that ended now. It was for Disney Visa holders - and we got a slight room discount as well!

I think having such as the Disney Visa is a good thing! Plus they gave me an additional $40 off the first use - our package!

I think most of the time it is some sort of "bounceback" promotion - book while at Disney - never done that but sounds like a nice deal.

Good luck! Happy Dining!

The "free" dining with Disney Visa has not ended and is available at least through Dec 20th. I had a room only reservation that I upgraded to a pkg yesterday, Dec 7. They tried to keep me at Pop but I ended up having to change resorts because there were no rooms available at Pop using the free dining code. However, there seemed to be plenty of availablity at the AS resorts, POR and CBR - I didn't look at the deluxes.

FWIW - I am not saving any money with "free" dining but I am hoping to break even. I was booked under the DMK room only code and lost it when I booked under the "free" dining QXZ code. However, I was able to get ADRs at higher end restaurants that I had originally not intended to go to so I should at least come home with a few extra pounds (and I'm not British). DMK is still available thru Dec 20th as well.

 

[happymommy]

Thanks - the cast member that told me ended must have been wrong.

I just upgraded to AKL. I got 30% off the room plus the dining was free. So excited - only am spending $400 more than I was at a moderate.

 

[serene56]

Whats the chances of Free dining being one for the Quickie Service instead of the regualr DIning?

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Whats the chances of Free dining being one for the Quickie Service instead of the regualr DIning?

The bounceback is for the basic dining, just as in previous year. I would think that will be the offer for the general public in April.

 

[PirateDad]

We received a PIN for free dining for 2009 dates (4/19 through 6/27). I'm not sure exactly why. We have a Disney VISA but it was not mentioned in the mailing. We also had our last trip in Feb. 2007 so maybe they thought we were due. And we were! We saved quite a bit booking the free dining vs. the pay for 4, stay for 7 deal.