need some advice

[East coast Gal]

Hi all, early planning stages for DW in Sept.2014 could use some advice,just hubby and me(ages 60 plus)hubby is retired air force, so will take advantage of ticket and resort discount,would like to receive FD. Can get vouchers for tickets at base.Is it better to wait for FD announcement and then make reservations at FD resort or make reservations now? I understand the MYW package but does that work with ticket vouchers?Would prefer to stay at POFQ but also know from stalking(oops sorry READING) dis. boards that resort is not likely to offer FD. Thanks

 

[jimandami]

If you book with free dining, you have to buy a package which includes a minimum of 2 day park tickets at regular Disney price. You cannot buy discount military tickets or use a military room discount and also book with free dining. I am not 100% sure, but I think you would be better off just using the military discounts and then paying OOP for food.

 

[danceintherain]

Hi all, early planning stages for DW in Sept.2014 could use some advice,just hubby and me(ages 60 plus)hubby is retired air force, so will take advantage of ticket and resort discount,would like to receive FD. Can get vouchers for tickets at base.Is it better to wait for FD announcement and then make reservations at FD resort or make reservations now? I understand the MYW package but does that work with ticket vouchers?Would prefer to stay at POFQ but also know from stalking(oops sorry READING) dis. boards that resort is not likely to offer FD. Thanks

Unless something has changed in the past year, you can't do Free Dining with the military tickets. You may be able to take the 2 day ticket you receive with a free dining package and "upgrade" it to a military salute ticket, but I'm not 100% sure, and you would lose out on the possibility of getting the tickets tax-free as upgrades of the sort can only be done at the parks.
You definitely cannot do free dining AND get the military percentage off the resort price.
The exact availability won't be known until Free Dining is released. POFQ has had limited availability in the past.

You can go ahead and book a room-only with a military salute discount now, and put down a deposit, but keep in mind that should you opt to switch to Free Dining, they will cancel your original reservation, and book you a new package reservation with a new deposit. (the two types of reservations are handled by different systems)
That said, theoretically, if you book at POFQ with a room-only, you could technically be reducing the likelihood that it will be available for Free Dining later on.

 

[katt789]

We stayed at POFQ last Sept with the free dining promotion!

The last two years, the FD had to be booked with a package. in 2012, it only needed to be with a one day ticket, so I (with an AP) just gave my extra day to the bff with me. In 2013, it had to be something like a 3 or 4 day ticket package in order to recieve the free dining.

Sept's an awesome time to go, and POFQ is an amazing resort!!

I suggest that you book the hotel/pkg now and then once the promotion comes out, add it onto your reservation!

 

[danceintherain]

I just looked at the prices, and the 2-day ticket cost is higher than that of the 4 day military salute, so if it's even possible to upgrade to, you would have to add-on the second option to make the ticket cost enough for the upgrade.

2-day ticket is "worth" $184
4-day military salute with hopper OR water parks = $169
4 day military salute with hopper AND water parks = $198

If they don't allow this "upgrade" then the cost of a regular 4 day ticket could cut into any savings you'd receive by doing free dining (around $100/person depending on which choices you make)

Free Dining would probably be the better option at a moderate resort, but it will may be close with only 2 people in the room.

 

[sharonabe]

I just looked at the prices, and the 2-day ticket cost is higher than that of the 4 day military salute, so if it's even possible to upgrade to, you would have to add-on the second option to make the ticket cost enough for the upgrade.

2-day ticket is "worth" $184
4-day military salute with hopper OR water parks = $169
4 day military salute with hopper AND water parks = $198

If they don't allow this "upgrade" then the cost of a regular 4 day ticket could cut into any savings you'd receive by doing free dining (around $100/person depending on which choices you make)

Free Dining would probably be the better option at a moderate resort, but it will may be close with only 2 people in the room.

It would mean a lot of reading, but there is a thread about the military tickets on the promotions forum.

To save you a little time, yes, you can do the 2-day ticket and upgrade to the hopper AND water parks Salute. It gives you more days to enjoy more of Disney.

However, to get free dining, you will NOT be able to use the military room discount, You will have to pay full price for the room, so you need to do some number crunching to see if it is worth it to you.

 

[East coast Gal]

Am booking room only @ POFQ room only,purchase tics on base,save some money and hopefully some calories doing OOP for dinng.