Free Disney Dining

[Lunae]

I know that free DDP is not a new thing. My family has been coming to WDW faithfully every year for a long time now. Last year we made a trip at the end of Sept through the beginning of October. We decided to make the trip the day I saw the free DDP offer. Otherwise, we were not going to make the trip. I thoght it was new, but I guess I had just missed it before.

Anyway... my question is... Does anyone have any insight, information, or educated guesses on wether or not there will be another similar free DDP offer during 2010? We are hoping to plan a trip during Dec 4th - Dec 17th.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! I know lots of families are finding their usual WDW trip funds taking a hit. So getting free DDP is big for our family.

Thanks!!

 

[emer95]

I thought it was almost always late August/September. I could very well be wrong though. We're planning a huge family trip in August 2011 and we're praying for free dining then. I hope you get it when you want it too!

 

[Lunae]

I found out that they extended it last year. When we booked, you could only get the free DDP through Oct 3rd. Then... they extended it:

Disney - Free Dining Extended - 10/1-11/24/2009 and 11/29-12/17/2009

I guess they have been running it the middle of August through the middle of December with a few black-out dates in between.

I'm just hoping to hear if there will be a free DDP by the end of May... so I have a glimmer of hope in getting some reservations at Le Celliar. LOL

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I know that free DDP is not a new thing. My family has been coming to WDW faithfully every year for a long time now. Last year we made a trip at the end of Sept through the beginning of October. We decided to make the trip the day I saw the free DDP offer. Otherwise, we were not going to make the trip. I thoght it was new, but I guess I had just missed it before.

Anyway... my question is... Does anyone have any insight, information, or educated guesses on wether or not there will be another similar free DDP offer during 2010? We are hoping to plan a trip during Dec 4th - Dec 17th.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! I know lots of families are finding their usual WDW trip funds taking a hit. So getting free DDP is big for our family.

Thanks!!

A bit of free dining history:

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 mid to last part of August until the end of September, give or take a few days. It has already been offered to UK visitors for this fall and to those of us who were there at WDW during Free Dining this past fall for the dates of August 15 - October 2, 2010. The fall free dining offer is usually announced during the end of March/beginning April. The first couple of days it will only be open to Disney Visa holders and then will open up to the general public.

In September 2008 Disney Destinations sent out some emails that offered free dining pin codes for select dates in October, November and December. The only December dates were December 14 - 20. If you checked in by the 20th you could get the free dining offer through the 31st. These emails were random, not for the general public, and the codes were non-transferrable. About two weeks after that Disney Visa sent out a free dining code for their card holders for the same select dates in October, November and December. Those pin codes were not part of the regular Fall Dining promotion and there was no general public fd code offered for any of those dates.

Last October, Disney once again offered a free dining promotion for dates in October - December. Once again, this was a separate offer and had nothing to do with the traditional fall free dining dates. Also, for the first time, the value resorts were only offered the Quick Service Dining Plan (2 CS and 2 Snacks per person, per day).

There's no way to know if Disney will offer any late fall or winter free dining dates, it will totally depend on the economy.

 

[palpluto]

Can you ever get a room discount and free dining?

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Can you ever get a room discount and free dining?

No. You can never stack discounts. You have to pick one discount or the other - Free Dining OR room discount. If you are staying at a value or moderate the Free Dining is almost always a better discount. If you are staying at a deluxe resort, the room discount is usually better.

 

[Tiffer]

& if you are a DVC member you get nothing.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

& if you are a DVC member you get nothing.

I'm not sure what you mean. I thought the point of buying into DVC was so you got a discounted trip every year? Are you not liking DVC? Just wondering, because we've discussed it before, but the numbers never come out that good for us.

 

[jenseib]

I heard a rumor it could be announced early March this year.

 

[tinkmom2]

We had free dining when we went in November. We aren't going unitl Oct 2011 so I hope we can get it then too! It was a great budget extender.
I originally paid full price for my dining and was able to get the free dining plus one TS. It saved us a lot of money!

 

[catrax]

If you really want to get the current news on Free Dining, you should check out the Resorts: Codes and Discounts board. There's a lot of info sharing on that board. For example, right now there is a pin code out there for free dining (Quick Service for Values and Regular for other resorts) - you can call the WDW reservations to see if the code is attached to your address. Also, there was a bounceback being offered in the fall so for August 15th - October 2nd for Free Dining.

We're all just hoping that an announcement will come out in the next couple of months for Free Dining! There's no way to tell for sure if they'll have offer Free Dining this fall, but it's looking like there's a good chance.

 

[YukiPhnx]

I'm not sure what you mean. I thought the point of buying into DVC was so you got a discounted trip every year? Are you not liking DVC? Just wondering, because we've discussed it before, but the numbers never come out that good for us.

I think what Tiffer meant was that DVC members don't get offered free dining or room discounts.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I think what Tiffer meant was that DVC members don't get offered free dining or room discounts.

I know that. But why would you even worry about free dining or room discounts if you own DVC. Isn't the point of having DVC, so you have a discounted trip to Disney every year.

 

[jenseib]

I know that. But why would you even worry about free dining or room discounts if you own DVC. Isn't the point of having DVC, so you have a discounted trip to Disney every year.

I don't think it's really all that discounted.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I don't think it's really all that discounted.

Then why do people buy into it?

 

[Mrs D]

I know that. But why would you even worry about free dining or room discounts if you own DVC. Isn't the point of having DVC, so you have a discounted trip to Disney every year.

I think DVC is more like "pre-paying" your resort room.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I think DVC is more like "pre-paying" your resort room.

I'm totally not trying to be snarky and am saying sorry to the OP for this being off-topic, but why do most of the DVC members on hear rave about DVC ownership, if it's not really a good deal and you are just pre-paying for your resort. And why do I see many of them complain that they don't get any discounts? What is the upside of DVC ownership?

 

[Elmo007]

When I called last year to reserve my Dec 09 trip, they upgraded me to full dining even though I stayed at the POP. I recall they said something about a promotion, but I had never recieved one in the mail.

For the record free dining is nice. We stayed 6 nights but ended up doubling up each of the Table service meals (Flying Fish, California Grill and Epcot Holiday Processional Package).

We made up for that with a "free" meal at Columbia house during the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, which is highly recommended.

 

[iheartjacksparrow]

I heard a rumor it could be announced early March this year.

Yes, I heard this too.
Actually, I'm impatient and have been calling Disney about once a week to see if they're doing it.

They told me that any deals/promotions that they are having for the summer will be announced in early March.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed!!!!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

When I called last year to reserve my Dec 09 trip, they upgraded me to full dining even though I stayed at the POP. I recall they said something about a promotion, but I had never recieved one in the mail.

For the record free dining is nice. We stayed 6 nights but ended up doubling up each of the Table service meals (Flying Fish, California Grill and Epcot Holiday Processional Package).

We made up for that with a "free" meal at Columbia house during the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, which is highly recommended.

I'm not sure what "full" dining is, but yes, in December, you could upgrade to the basic dining plan from the quick service, which was offered at the values, for $10.00 per adult and $2.00 per child, per day.