Free Dinning

[ilovecraigandcooper]

We're planning a trip for November and I'm trying to wrap my head around the possibility of free dinning. Can anyone tell me historically which resorts were excluded from this offer?

And is it better to go ahead and make reservations for resort and dinning (at 180 days) and then apply the discount or is it easier to start from scratch when/if the offer comes out?

And the last couple years, they announced the dates in May, correct?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Only working from last year:

The offer was released on April 27.

POR was excluded from dates after October. The fully excluded resorts were: POFQ, ASMovies, AOA Little Mermaid Rooms, Fort Wilderness campsites, Villas at Grand Floridian, Villas at Polynesian. All 3-bedroom villas were also excluded. Some sources, but not all, indicated that Bay Lake Tower was also excluded. Available discounted rooms at participating resorts were limited. Sometimes standard rooms were not available.

Free dining is a discount to fill unoccupied rooms. If enough rooms are occupied, they won't have to discount them. So if you won't go without free dining it is better to wait. If you're going anyway and you want a certain resort or type of room then maybe go ahead and book it, keeping in mind that you may have to change if your resort/room type isn't available with the free dining. If you book a package, you may just be able to add the discount onto your reservation if it is eligible.

There's a Summer Meal Offer, which needs the same as a free dining package to book but it's not a full meal plan; it works out to one free quick service meal per person per night. A full quick service dining plan is two quick service meals and one snack per person per night.

 

[mom2rtk]

They will offer free dining at the resorts that need more bookings. No way to know in advance which those will be. And they might offer it at some resorts in greater capacity than others. Also on some room categories but not others.