Free Disney Dining Plan 2009??

[heatherbelle]

I booked the free DDP through Virgin Holidays last year but didn't see this offer. The offer I saw (and booked) was 2 free nights at any moderate resort.

Yes, that was it with the free nights. We are staying at Old Key West which VH doesn't normally sell, but it was available on-line when the free dining offer was on.

This time if it's offered, we are hoping for another DVC, if not, then Riverside.

 

[Lannin]

Yes - if going by past years sometime around middle to end of August 'Free Dining' will be offered in the UK to booked for stays next year - this will travel companies such as Virgin Holidays, Thomas Cook, First Choice, TCD etc and will also be available on WDW Uk website. Last year it was restricted to Moderate and Deluxe resorts. It also had to be a single resort stay although you could get round this by booking with WDW UK as you were just booking the room.

Around next spring April/May it will be avaliable to book in with WDW US either directly or through a Specialist travel agent such as Dreams Unlimited. It covered all classes of resort but in limited quanties. The values sell out very quickly on this offer!

If you want to do a split stay (booked either in the UK or US) to get free dining you need a package and you would need to book a ticket for each resort E.G. if you do 2 resorts you would have to buy two tickets.

Hope this is clear!

Hey thanx for this, I never knew it was just Moderate or Deluxe resorts!! We had this last year and it was brilliant loved it. I phoned Disney to enquire about booking and quizzed them about the dining plan offer however no information was forthcoming - held off ow to the end of August before I book.

 

[gadgetboy1980]

I'm getting married in disney world next year and i'm waiting for the free disney dining plan to come available for 2009. I just have a question. If I go to Disney on 19th September for 3 weeks and the free disney dining plan ends at the end of september, will I still recieve the free plan for the remainder of my holiday as it will go into October?

I work for thomas cook but have no details yet on the free plan, will let everyone know as soon as i get details through...

 

[paulh]

Based on previous years, there are two ways in which you can get the free dining.

1) - Around mid August, the UK travel agents will offer free dining, providing that you book by a given date, you stay between certain dates (usually mid August until the end of Sept), and you do not have a split stay holiday. You must also purchase Disney tickets for the full duration of your holiday. Last year it was only available for a moderate or better.

2) Around May/June time, may be earlier, WDW will offer free dining to guests staying between certain dates. For this year, I think it was available for all types of property. Someone will correct me if I am wrong. So the chances are that if the UK TA's offer it this summer for next summer, then Disney will offer it late spring next year for the same period. Peeps who book DIY holidays, usually book a hotel room anyway, then when the offer comes along, they cancel and re-book the room with Disney, so they get the free dining.

Hope this helps. I've never booked with Disney myself, so I'm only going on what I've read.

Most of us on this thread re hoping and waiting to see if free dining is offered by UK TA's. I havemy Tesco points converted and I am waiting to see. The only thing is we fly on 22/08 and I have a feeling they will go on sale then. Due to state of the economy both here and in the US, I think bookings will be down and Disney will be wanting to tempt us.

Last year, with VH there was also get three nights free when staying at Port Orleans/Riverside too, and both offers could be combined.

mised out bounceback,so if your there end of aug/sept this year,they could offer it if your staying onsite to book for next aug/sep
Paulh

 

[meryll83]

If I go to Disney on 19th September for 3 weeks and the free disney dining plan ends at the end of september, will I still recieve the free plan for the remainder of my holiday as it will go into October?

Yes you will, last year we travelled out on the last day the dining plan offer was bookable, but because our first day had the dining plan offer, it was valid the whole stay.
I think the way it's worded is that as long as you depart between the set dates, the plan lasts the duration of your holiday.

 

[orangetiggs]

how does the bounce back work?? we are flying out on 28th of august and missed out on free dining but are looking to do it next year hopefully

 

[Elise79]

how does the bounce back work?? we are flying out on 28th of august and missed out on free dining but are looking to do it next year hopefully

There will be a flyer in your room with the offer on - you have to book and put down a deposit (Usually $200) before you check out. You are booking with Disney US so you will need to arrange your own flights/car hire.

If you are flying out on the 28th August you should know before you go what offers are around as UK free dining will probably have been released and if there is a bounceback free dining offer it will be around on the US part of the boards!

HTH

 

[Shooby doo]

Just to put a dampener on everybodies Free plan,there are strong rumours on the US Dining thread that the Free dining offer for next year will be the new basic plan: 2xCS & 2x snacks per day!So for us this is a non-starter & we will be going back to Off-site & Off-site restaurants,we don't have breakfast everyday so to use up these credits we would need to use them for lunch & Dinner but not enough variation between the CS restaurants.Also if we were having a sit down meal every night then it is a whole lot cheaper to eat off-site.
SD

 

[Cinderella2006]

Just to put a dampener on everybodies Free plan,there are strong rumours on the US Dining thread that the Free dining offer for next year will be the new basic plan: 2xCS & 2x snacks per day!So for us this is a non-starter & we will be going back to Off-site & Off-site restaurants,we don't have breakfast everyday so to use up these credits we would need to use them for lunch & Dinner but not enough variation between the CS restaurants.Also if we were having a sit down meal every night then it is a whole lot cheaper to eat off-site.
SD

A bit disappointing but it is still free! This will be in addition to the 'standard' dining plan so there is the option to upgrade if this does if fact replace the old offer.

 

[paulh]

Just to put a dampener on everybodies Free plan,there are strong rumours on the US Dining thread that the Free dining offer for next year will be the new basic plan: 2xCS & 2x snacks per day!

What it might be
Value resort -ddp light
Moderate resort-normal ddp
Delux resort-delux ddp
Paulh

 

[heatherbelle]

That would be good Paul.

We'll have to wait and see, what they do.

 

[dooledoo]

Can someone clarify something for me? We want to stay 3 nights Beach Club, 12 nights AKL and 7 nights Polynesian (yipee, how exciting) and I think I read that to get the free dining plan for each hotel I would have to buy a separate park ticket for each hotel duration and if I did I would get the free DDP. Is that right or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

 

[heatherbelle]

Can someone clarify something for me? We want to stay 3 nights Beach Club, 12 nights AKL and 7 nights Polynesian (yipee, how exciting) and I think I read that to get the free dining plan for each hotel I would have to buy a separate park ticket for each hotel duration and if I did I would get the free DDP. Is that right or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

you will not be able to get the free dning plan, from a Uk tour operator if you want a split stay.

You will have to book your accomodation direct wih Disney, when and if they announce the offer next spring.

The offer is normally only available on a 1 stay hotel, but to be sure, we need to see what the terms and conditions are on the 20th.

 

[Shooby doo]

Doodle to get the Free DDP for the duration of your stay you will need to wait for the US offer & basically do 3 seperate bookings,each of which you will need to buy a minimum of a 1 day ticket for each person.If you wanted to buy the 21 day Ultimate from the UK you would still need to buy the 3x1 day passes as it must booked as a package.Hope this makes sense.
SD

 

[dooledoo]

Thanks for the clarification. Can you not book the 3 different resorts with Disney UK and do a 1 day ticket with Beach Club (which is all we want for that hotel) and then do a 21 day ticket for AKL and then booka 1 day ticket with the Poly (which will be wasted as we will carry on using the 21 day ticket from AKL). Or is it not possible to book a 1 day ticket via Disney UK?
Another idea is that we book through Disney UK and then if Disney USA can give us a better deal, could we cancel the Disney UK and take up the better offer through Disney USA or would there be cancellations charges??
This is sooooo complicated, who would have thought planning your holiday would be so fiddely

 

[heatherbelle]

If you are booking with Disney, then it may be a completly different ball game and you may be able to book a split stay.

As far as we know the UK tour operators do not allow free dining and split stays.

We will have to wait and see what the 20th will bring only 2 more days to go. It seems like forever.

 

[dooledoo]

But the 2 days seem sooo long. I could be either very happy or back planning variables of how to get the free DDP. It hass taken me 18 months to come up with these ideas

 

[Elise79]

Thanks for the clarification. Can you not book the 3 different resorts with Disney UK and do a 1 day ticket with Beach Club (which is all we want for that hotel) and then do a 21 day ticket for AKL and then booka 1 day ticket with the Poly (which will be wasted as we will carry on using the 21 day ticket from AKL). Or is it not possible to book a 1 day ticket via Disney UK?
Another idea is that we book through Disney UK and then if Disney USA can give us a better deal, could we cancel the Disney UK and take up the better offer through Disney USA or would there be cancellations charges??
This is sooooo complicated, who would have thought planning your holiday would be so fiddely

Minimum ticket you can buy from Disney UK is a 5 day Premium (which is the same price as a 7 day ) £169 adult, £149 Child.

With disney Uk the deposit is £50 pp and you would lost that if you cancelled- that would be per resort as well.

Booking the DDP (either free or paid) on a split stay is costly when booking in the UK as we don't have a 1 day ticket. These are better booked through the US but then you are taking a chance on the exchange rate.

 

[Claireybear]

We had been planning on doing 21 nights at Beach Club with free dining next year (buying the utlimate ticket) then go to Universal for 4 nights. Does not allowing split stays mean we can't do this? We want to go for 25 days but you can only stay in a disney hotel for 21 nights? I'm confused - the ultimate ticket is only 21 days too - does this mean we can only go for 21 nights to get free dining? So many questions ....

 

[angel659]

I have just a few quotes for August. Its around £7,000 for us to go without the disney tickets. It will be 2 adults and 3 children. Even at that price I am sure its not worth it. Having found fly drives and accomodation it still worked out cheaper. Maybe I am wrong. The prices were so high.