No Free Disney Dining for Campers?

[mobrien207]

I just made a reservation at the Wilderness Campground for the last weeks of August. They wouldn't give me the free dining option. Said it only applies to the Wilderness cabins. Have any of you run into this? If you have any advice I'd appreciate it. Thanks,
mob

 

[clkelley]

Every time they have offered the free dining the "campsites" have been excluded. (3 years in a row.)

Yes, the cabins are allowed for Free Dining.

 

[olbear]

That is really strange. When we booked our campsite for July 29-August 5, they offered us Free Dining. We passed because we knew we'd be doing alot of eating at our site. Plus we have the DDE card. So it wasn't worth it to us.

Blessings,
Winnie

 

[Rhonda]

The only reason I can come up with for not allowing Free Dining at the campsites is: The campsites are allowed up to 10 people. That would be a lot of people eating free!! People would be booking campsites, and not even using them, just to eat free!

 

[Colson39]

I've heard stories in the past of people not being able to get the dining plan, more so than people actually getting it.

Still not really sure what the official word is :/

 

[ftwildernessguy]

That is really strange. When we booked our campsite for July 29-August 5, they offered us Free Dining. We passed because we knew we'd be doing alot of eating at our site. Plus we have the DDE card. So it wasn't worth it to us.

Blessings,
Winnie

You were most likely offered the Disney Dining Plan, which can be purchased with a campsite, however the free dining is not available for the campsites.

 

[clkelley]

You were most likely offered the Disney Dining Plan, which can be purchased with a campsite, however the free dining is not available for the campsites.

I agree with that. Also, I don't think the free dining plan has ever been that early, I think the earliest date(s) with the Bounce Back was the first week in August. The general public offer doesn't start until 08/26.

 

[olbear]

Well, actually we has ressies to come a week earlier then we are now. At that time thay offered it to us for like $38 per person per day. Then I changed ressies to the next week, they still offered it, calling it "free dining" but it really wasn't as it shot our cost up way high!! I said no thanks at that point.

Anyway, as I said we like using our DDE card much better.

Thanks everyone,
Winnie

 

[Rhonda]

Yes, you were offered the Dining Plan for $38.99 per person, per day. It's not Free Dining (which is a special package that's offered in August/Sept). The benefits/restaurants are the same, it's just that you pay for it.

 

[mickeyluvr004]

i ran into that as i booked a room at WL and also one at ASMR and FWC and was told that the one at the WL was not on the FREE DINING list but they advertise it as book your stay at any WDW resort and get free dining so i changed this to another cabin so that the others in our party will also get it. i did try to fight it but got nowhere. good luck

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

i ran into that as i booked a room at WL and also one at ASMR and FWC and was told that the one at the WL was not on the FREE DINING list but they advertise it as book your stay at any WDW resort and get free dining so i changed this to another cabin so that the others in our party will also get it. i did try to fight it but got nowhere. good luck

More than likely all the rooms at WL that were alotted for the free dinning program were sold out.

 

[mickeyluvr004]

yeah but the thing is i booked these rooms back in dec06/jan07 and we didn't even know about the free dining, and i booked all the rooms all together, threw me for a loop thats for sure

 

[Gillian]

yeah but the thing is i booked these rooms back in dec06/jan07 and we didn't even know about the free dining, and i booked all the rooms all together, threw me for a loop thats for sure

It was most likely as stated, that there were no more rooms left at WL for the free dining promo.

A lot of people say you can call and change your existing reservation to "add" a promo, but I don't think that's really true. I have been told by travel agents and disney that they have to rebook you and cancel your old reservation. SO if there is no room available to rebook, you can't get the deal.

 

[Rhonda]

It was most likely as stated, that there were no more rooms left at WL for the free dining promo.

A lot of people say you can call and change your existing reservation to "add" a promo, but I don't think that's really true. I have been told by travel agents and disney that they have to rebook you and cancel your old reservation. SO if there is no room available to rebook, you can't get the deal.

You can definitely add a promo to an existing reservation! People have told you wrong.

The only time you have to cancel and rebook, is if you have a "room only" reservation and you want to change that to a package. They will cancel the room only reservation, and credit your deposit back to your card. Then they will book a new package reservation, with a new $200 deposit due. (with the balance due 45 days before arrival).

 

[bobbymac]

newbie here....what exactly is the free offer as opposed to the dining plan......may be a silly question

dad dw dd ds

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

newbie here....what exactly is the free offer as opposed to the dining plan......may be a silly question

dad dw dd ds

DDP or Disney Dining Plan is available to everyone staying onsite at any time, it includes 1 counter service meal, 1 table service meal and 1 snack per person per day. The Free DDP is offered starting in April or May(not sure, I never really paid attention) for the traditional "slow" time in late Aug through Sep. It is the same as the DDP which is about $38.00 per adult/day but is offered free as a way to fill rooms that would normally be empty, it has never been available for campsites.

 

[bobbymac]

Thank you