I GOT A FREE DINING PIN CODE!! now what??

[tammz]

I was SO excited to hear free dining pin codes are out I couldnt believe when I opened my E-mail and found a PIN!!!
HOWEVER.... the first words "when booking a NON_DISCOUNTED" Oh oh!! I have the spring 20% off room ppackage does that disqualify me or will they now take back that discount to add the free dining???
If its the later I dont know what to do!! Me and my son both arent huge eaters I planned on getting some meals off the kids menu or sharing meals between us My discount works out to almost $300 and I do have some table service meals booked wich will still be oop!!
I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!
Im gonna call Disney tomorrow but I needed to tell SOMEONE and I have no "disney friends" to call
any imput/advice would be appreciated

 

[mutantstar]

Same here, sorta, I'm interested in any of your replies We have a party of 17 @ ASMu with the Quick Dining already arriving 1 day before the PIN is for. My FIL has already booked and paid for the plan through his travel agent, and I'm not sure if it included the room-only discount or was a "package" (think I need to talk to his TA). On ours it says for 3-night/4-day stay but we're already doing 7 nights so I wasn't sure if it could be applicable or possible to utilize it still. I've never gotten a PIN before, it went to my SPAM folder...luckily I check it before it gets deleted for good.

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Congrats on getting the code. Always exciting!

So you're already booked using a 20% off code and it's just you and your son going. But you haven't mentioned how long you are going or where you are staying. Just that your 20% saves you about $300.

I'm going to guess that for 20% off you are staying at a value since you mentioned with the free dinning you would still have to pay out of pocket for table services. Have you done the math to move up to a moderate? Free dining for the moderates includes table services and would save you $67.56 a day (51.54 per adult a day and $15.02 per child a day).

I think you might want to do some more disney math to figure out if the free dinning is a better option. It often beats a 20% room discount.

 

[brettcw23]

I was SO excited to hear free dining pin codes are out I couldnt believe when I opened my E-mail and found a PIN!!!
HOWEVER.... the first words "when booking a NON_DISCOUNTED" Oh oh!! I have the spring 20% off room ppackage does that disqualify me or will they now take back that discount to add the free dining???
If its the later I dont know what to do!! Me and my son both arent huge eaters I planned on getting some meals off the kids menu or sharing meals between us My discount works out to almost $300 and I do have some table service meals booked wich will still be oop!!
I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!
Im gonna call Disney tomorrow but I needed to tell SOMEONE and I have no "disney friends" to call
any imput/advice would be appreciated

This is tricky b\c it's ultimately one discount or the other (which you've figured out already)

You have to do some real number crunching unfortunately. We always do the meal plan b\c we do zbout 6 character meals a trip. So those can be kind of costly (Tusker House, Crystal Palace, Cinderella's Royal Table, Fantasmic dinner show, Chef Mickey's...) You should probably sit down and figure how many meals you're going to do there. You can also find the menus and such on a nu,ber of web sites to see costs. So you can really come up with a decent figure based off of that and see which is the better deal.

If you're not planning on doing many character meals or none at all, then you may want to take the 20% room discount.

 

[tammz]

I guess I got excited and didnt give all my details
I am staying 10 nights at POP
I have some table service meals planned
Chef Mickeys breakfast, 50's prime lunch, and Whispering Canyon Lunch

I read the pin code AGAIN and it says quick serve for value AND moderate and regular dining for Deluxe and Deluxe Villas so upgrading to a delux from a value probably wouldnt fit into my budget although I would love to do more sit down dinners its a HUGE jump from value to deluxe especailly with no room discount

So you are saying I cant combine the 2?? and I will have to choose?? I have some serious thinking to do! Not sure what is going to be the better deal for us

and it is just me and my 5 yr old non-eater () son

 

[momlee4]

Hmmm... I think you will have to do the math yourself. There are menus online, go through a typical day and see how much you would spend on meals. Although you say you don't eat much, you still must eat something and drinks aren't cheap either. Will you be treating your son to some snacks too? Usually, the savings from free dining will be more than a 20% discount. Or, look at it this way: if you're saving $300 already, can u survive on a $300 budget for food ($30/day) not including your table service dinners? If not, go with free dining. I like to use the menus on allears.net, and figure out the pricing.
Good luck

 

[Disney Addicted]

Honestly for this you need to do the math for both discounts and see what works out cheaper for you.

From what I understand, it's you & your 5 year old son, staying 10 nights at POP standard room from April 23 to May 3. Is that correct? I put you down for 10 day MYW tickets (no hoppers or waterpark).

This is what I get if you took the free QSDP - $1,935.30
Upgrade to DDP an extra $195.80 (non-peak) = $2,131.10

When I run the same data through the Spring 20% off room rate, I get a cost of $2,029.74. (Had to select preferred rooms for this - standard was gone)

So, based on 1 adult, 1-5 yr old, 10 nights on those dates & ticket selection, QSDP is $94.44 cheaper than Spring 20%
Upgrade to DDP costs $101.36 more than Spring 20%, but I'm sure you would spend more than that on food.

Personally, I would go for the free dining and upgrade to the DDP since you have TS meals booked!

The PP is correct and for FD savings is better than room discount for values.
If you were staying at deluxe, then usually room discount is better savings in that case.

 

[disneydreamgirl]

I got this same code in my personal and my work inboxes...unfortunately both are in my MIL`s name. We took them to WDW the December before last and ever since then I never get an offer...she does!!! Drives me batty. I may try to call and see if they will extend it to us but I`m not hopeful.

We have done the free dining a number of times and it has worked out well for us each time. This coming trip we are planning to use the 2-day base tics that we had to purchase for last October`s trip (we already had YES tics, but when I ran the numbers it was a good deal for us). I agree with others that this would likely be a good deal for you. for your decision making and number crunching.

 

[dancin Disney style]

My DH got the free dining PIN this morning. He's pretty lucky and gets them often.

I've got to crunch the numbers now. We are going to a convention at the Swalphin(will check in on June 30th) but didn't really want to stay there. So this gives us another option but my feeling is that it will cost the same or more than staying offsite and paying OOP for food. If we stay offsite we will have breakfast and some lunches in....only eat out for one meal a day and most likely at offsite places.

 

[tammz]

Honestly for this you need to do the math for both discounts and see what works out cheaper for you.

From what I understand, it's you & your 5 year old son, staying 10 nights at POP standard room from April 23 to May 3. Is that correct? I put you down for 10 day MYW tickets (no hoppers or waterpark).

This is what I get if you took the free QSDP - $1,935.30
Upgrade to DDP an extra $195.80 (non-peak) = $2,131.10

When I run the same data through the Spring 20% off room rate, I get a cost of $2,029.74. (Had to select preferred rooms for this - standard was gone)

So, based on 1 adult, 1-5 yr old, 10 nights on those dates & ticket selection, QSDP is $94.44 cheaper than Spring 20%
Upgrade to DDP costs $101.36 more than Spring 20%, but I'm sure you would spend more than that on food.

Personally, I would go for the free dining and upgrade to the DDP since you have TS meals booked!

The PP is correct and for FD savings is better than room discount for values.
If you were staying at deluxe, then usually room discount is better savings in that case.

WOW!! that makes it way clearer! and I never thought about upgrading to the regular dining! I only have 3 meals booked but they will probably run $150 or more I am estimating plus my son asked to go to rainforest and T rex I havent booked but it was an option if we have the dining plan we could easily fit them in *I* want to do chrystal palace my son isnt a Pooh fan BUT if it were an "included meal" its another option! (providing its available ) I am going to call today and hopefully get the free dining and upgrade it may make more sense with the meals I already have booked!!

I just wanted to ask it says you get a drink an entree and a desert do they have many "to go" dessert options at QS places?? this may save me extra cash on snacks

I am going to DISNEY so I am sure there are no BAD choices I hope I make the most cost effective one for us!! If I was a family of 4 it would be a no brainer with just 2 its a harder decision


THANX to all of yous all the advice is great I love getting peoples opinions

 

[disneydreamgirl]

WOW!! that makes it way clearer! and I never thought about upgrading to the regular dining! I only have 3 meals booked but they will probably run $150 or more I am estimating plus my son asked to go to rainforest and T rex I havent booked but it was an option if we have the dining plan we could easily fit them in *I* want to do chrystal palace my son isnt a Pooh fan BUT if it were an "included meal" its another option! (providing its available ) I am going to call today and hopefully get the free dining and upgrade it may make more sense with the meals I already have booked!!

I just wanted to ask it says you get a drink an entree and a desert do they have many "to go" dessert options at QS places?? this may save me extra cash on snacks

I am going to DISNEY so I am sure there are no BAD choices I hope I make the most cost effective one for us!! If I was a family of 4 it would be a no brainer with just 2 its a harder decision


THANX to all of yous all the advice is great I love getting peoples opinions

We enjoyed Crystal Palace with our tween son (at that time) a couple of trips back...he didn't think he'd enjoy it but he did. As for desserts, we often would take our dessert 'to go'. You'll just have to determine which ones travel well, or ask the server and they will tell you. We found that more often than not we didn't have room for dessert so would enjoy it while waiting for or watching fireworks.

 

[tammz]

So my update I just got off the phone with Disney my cost was $1,700 ish with tax to add the FREE dining with upgrade it would cost $2,334 so its a $665 difference! Ok as far as Im concerned even with my 3 booked TS meals and even if I added a meal I still cant see us spending $665 on food!! OMgosh a FREE code with an upgrade Im actually quite confused and a bit dissapointed

I also asked about how much it would cost for the FREE QS code without the upgrade I assumed they would take the 20% spring room discount off She said all the PIN codes have been used up for the value resorts for the FREE QS so she could add QS with my 20% and it would still cost almost $300 more than I am already paying :'(

Im a little ticked off at this "FREE" dining its REALLY expensive isnt it!!!

 

[Daisy-J&D]

OP - The thing about the $665 is that you have to factor in how much money you'll spend on food and subtract that.
When we booked "free dining" we number crunched and figured that we be financially breaking even if we looked at the dining plan as a pre-paid meal plan (not free). The bonus was that we would be getting A LOT more food (plus snacks) without needing to budget to stay within that set amount of money. Then we upgraded to DDP for roughly the same cost as the 3 table service meals we had booked (Whispering Canyon, Ohana and Hollywood and Vine Character meal).
So, at that point we were BREAK EVEN (but with more food) and we were able to book a bunch of TS meals at no additional charge.
This was well worth giving up our 30% off code.

Btw, our experience was roughly $70 per meal at the TS restaurants. Expect to pay $150 for just Chef Mickey's and Whispering Canyon (if you get the skillet, drinks and dessert) and then about $50 for 50's.

 

[Daisy-J&D]

I should add... IF you are on a set budget that if you do get DDP that adding 7 more TS meals also adds TIPPING for those 7 extra meals. We are 2 adults (should have mentioned that in my example above) and tips are 18-20% of the meal. We were paying about $13-$18 OOP.

 

[Disney Addicted]

So my update I just got off the phone with Disney my cost was $1,700 ish with tax to add the FREE dining with upgrade it would cost $2,334 so its a $665 difference! Ok as far as Im concerned even with my 3 booked TS meals and even if I added a meal I still cant see us spending $665 on food!! OMgosh a FREE code with an upgrade Im actually quite confused and a bit dissapointed

I also asked about how much it would cost for the FREE QS code without the upgrade I assumed they would take the 20% spring room discount off She said all the PIN codes have been used up for the value resorts for the FREE QS so she could add QS with my 20% and it would still cost almost $300 more than I am already paying :'(

Im a little ticked off at this "FREE" dining its REALLY expensive isnt it!!!

(bolded parts are mine)

Please, it's not fair to say FD is really expensive. I think the CM was not clear enough for you. That quote is NOT for free dining. She is NOT charging you more money to add free dining. She is not even adding FD!

The CM told you the FD codes have been used at the values. Each resort allots a certain # of rooms that can be booked under the FD code. So they are gone.

What she quoted you was for your original Spring 20% discount plus your paying for the DDP. I ran the same dates, same tickets, etc under the Spring 20% discount, added the DDP and got the same rate she quoted you.

You can phone back daily (or more) and see if a room becomes available under the FD offer. It will save you more money. And, it could be she was even incorrect and another CM will tell you yes, there is still FD rooms available. (Me, this is what I would be doing! For our family of 4 (3 adults, 1 child) - it saved took $1,250 off our cost for 10 days. In 2010 we were originally going to pay for the DDP until FD came out).

Or, if none become available - run the number's & decided if you would rather pay out-of-pocket for food, or the extra $665 for the DDP (which again, is not under the free dining plan).

www.allears.net has all the menus for each restaurant at each park and resort. You can look at them to figure out how much you would be spending OOP at the restaurants you want and add it up. If it will end up costing you more than $665 OOP - you would want the DDP. But if you think you will spend less than the $665 - don't take the DDP.

 

[KNovacovschi]

How do you get pins emailed to you?

 

[networktek]

congrats on the pin code