I'm getting petrified for the Free Dining.

[Twinkler]

Why am I so afraid? I've been following the massive sticky thread about Free Dining and I'm still pretty new at this. The more people talk, the more scared I get that I won't get free dining for my family.

We have ressies at the Poly Sept. 17-23 and we have non-refundable plane tickets.

I have a Disney Visa.

So, I know that I can call 7 AM Eastern Time on Monday, April 7th. WHERE DO I CALL??

I already have my ADR's all made since my 180th day, so I think I'm set there.

What are my chances of getting free dining??

Can anyone make me feel a little better about this whole free dining thing? I'm in nervous knots here! PLEASE!

 

[The Brain]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1778771

 

[stepdisney]

Call the regular disney number (the 407 number). If SOME of your trip is during the free dining, you may or may not have to pay for the days at the end that are after the dining ends. Last year and the previous years you did NOT have to but some think you have to this time. If this is true, you will just pay for dining for the final 3 days of your trip, still a great savings.

 

[Twinkler]

How often do you have to change your ressie if you call right away (7 AM on Monday)?

I guess, what are my chances??

 

[n2mm]

How often do you have to change your ressie if you call right away (7 AM on Monday)?

I guess, what are my chances??

Your chances are good. It will be OK. However, just have a back up plan. If the resort of your choice is not available, be ready to choose another one. Keep in mind that you can continue to call back and try to get your first choice later. You'll be OK...relax.

 

[nononsensedisneydad]

If you can't free dining, could you downgrade to say a moderate or even one of the lower deluxes and pay for dining? You will probably save some $$ doing that than over Poly w/free dining.

I know it would be nice to stay at the Poly, but if free dining doesn't come out, I'd rather stay at another resort and pay for the dining than not go at all. Especially if you have the money set aside for the Poly.

 

[Twinkler]

Your chances are good. It will be OK. However, just have a back up plan. If the resort of your choice is not available, be ready to choose another one. Keep in mind that you can continue to call back and try to get your first choice later. You'll be OK...relax.

Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[septbaby]

Hmm, when does that stimulus payment hit? That would be the back up plan.

 

[christa112]

I totally think the wide spread panic of Free Dining is stressing everyone out and it is totally unnecessary. I have used it twice my 1st time I called and they just added it to my existing ressie, no resort change. It was easy as that. The second time I called got the resort I wanted, it was easy as pie.

 

[beroh2253]

Hmm, when does that stimulus payment hit? That would be the back up plan.

That depends on the last 4 digits of your ss # or if you had direct deposit for your tax refund. Direct deposit lucks out and gets it May, I already have my tax refund but didn't do direct deposit so for the stim. payment and my ss # gets me mine in July. I want to spend it now on Disney.

 

[stepdisney]

I totally think the wide spread panic of Free Dining is stressing everyone out and it is totally unnecessary. I have used it twice my 1st time I called and they just added it to my existing ressie, no resort change. It was easy as that. The second time I called got the resort I wanted, it was easy as pie.

Me too. The first year, 2005, I heard about it on Good Morning America and it had already started. I just booked my entire trip and they added it. Last year I had reservations and on the first day I just changed to the resort I had wanted to change to anyway. I didn't change because I had to, I wanted WL. I just waited until free dining to change. Don't panic if you don't get your resort the first day. A LOT of people change 3 or 4 times until they get the resort they want or time runs out. I would say its almost like black friday on the morning free dining comes out. A lot of pushing and shoving and then when you get to the register you find that there really are enough cabbage patch dolls for everyone.

 

[momof296&02]

My feeling is whether or not you get DDP it isn't worth the increase in your blood pressure. Try to think of it this way- if you get it it's a bonus & you will have a great vaca. If you don't get it you will still have a great vaca & can possibly do more as you won't be eating that many TS's.

 

[Huff]

I didnt book my trip last year till late May. Had no problem getting free dining. This was for a value. By early June all values were booked for free dining except All Star Sports.

 

[p2oh]

I called on the first day last year and couldn't get POP so I booked Movies. I called back after two weeks and was able to get it switched to Pop because so many people had switched or not paid the deposit. I wouldn't worry even if you don't get your first choice on the first call. Keep calling!

 

[beroh2253]

Same here but we were booked last year w/AAA and had room discounts and paying for DDP at the time free DDP was offered. We called AAA, they added the dining (which is a much better deal then room discounts w/AAA this wasn't the 40%) but lost POP for ASMU and lost room discount. But over the next week or so calling back Disney, POP had an opening and we swithced resorts back to POP. I think also besides people canceling reservations additional blocks of rooms open up (this helps keep all resorts being booked at the same rate and not having everybody all booked the most popular resort and less popular resorts left empty) at each resort so as mentioned above just keep calling if you want a particular resort and can't get it at first.
But please don't count on us as canceling the last week of Sept. at POP we will be there on the bounce back and hope everybody gets ther chance to join us and book next week.

 

[CraftyOtt]

I'm petrified, too!! Our popup camper was damaged a few weeks ago from a storm, and the insurance company has totaled it. We were going to stay at Fort Wilderness this Sept. We didn't get enough $$ to buy another camper (ours was a pretty old one), so we decided that since this may be our last trip to WDW as a family (oldest son soon headed to college) we'll splurge and use the $$ for the cabins at FW. We HAVE to have a kitchen because our youngest has SEVERE food allergies and I'll be preparing most of his food. I'm soooo hoping to get free dining to offset the extra costs of the cabins...... I didn't get my Disney Visa in time, when I called last week they said it would be about 14 days to get my card, and I can't make any ressies with the promo without it. We already have a ressie for the cabins, hopefully I can just add the free dining on the 10th. I just finalized my ADRs last week (in the hope of getting free dining) and got everything I wanted on the first try!

Thanks for telling us to "just chill" ........I was getting overly anxious while reading that massive thread!

 

[ElizabethB]

Don't worry. The deluxes are easy to book with free dining. The values go first, then the moderates. We booked the bounceback last fall at the very tail end of the promotion. There were no value resorts available on the promotion as the value resort allotments had been completely booked up, but we had no problem getting six(!) rooms for our group at GF on the promotion.

Since you must pay rack rate to get free dining, the promotion is a fantastic deal at a value. It's a pretty good deal at a moderate. For the deluxes, there are often other deals that will save you as much or more.

 

[CraftyOtt]

I have yet to receive any kind of promotion code. I am signed up for all kinds of info from WDW but haven't seen anything........Someone else mentioned that I should check out AAA for their discounts. Does anyone know if you sign up for the free dining package if you can change it to another package with a promo code?

 

[Bama_C]

We were going to stay at Fort Wilderness this Sept. We didn't get enough $$ to buy another camper (ours was a pretty old one), so we decided that since this may be our last trip to WDW as a family (oldest son soon headed to college) we'll splurge and use the $$ for the cabins at FW.

So sorry about your camper. That's a tough one. I'm not wanting to be a party pooper for you, but thought you should know... I don't think that the FW cabins have ever been a part of the free dining promotions before. I certainly understand about your needing to have a kitchen to prepare food for your DD, but I would have a backup plan if I were you. I've been the past 3 years and haven't seen FW on any of the offers.

 

[stepdisney]

Yes, the FW cabins were a part of the promotion last year. We considered the cabins but went for WL instead. The DVC's are even a part of the promotion unless you are an owner or buy on points. They are just considered I guess "super deluxe"