Nov. 2011

[OhMomPlease]

I hope to find a Nov disount, too. This is our first trip.

 

[jamiesmom07]

OH MY! I thought that all my planning was over and that I had everything figured out. We are checking in on 11/25 and staying til 12/3. If this deal does come through it seems like it's going to be a headache trying to figure it all out We are staying at POFQ, have adr's already booked...

 

[happygirlagain]

Hi all, 1st post here, I'm staying 11/14-11/19 at WL with MYW package with Dining. If I am understanding this correctly, Disneys new offer will help me out?

congrats on first post!!

 

[happygirlagain]

I hope to find a Nov disount, too. This is our first trip.

congrats on first post!!

and on your first trip

 

[tmfranlk]

Well, I thought I'd be taking advantage of free dining if it came out, but maybe not. I just went back and looked at my numbers and I think the change in ticket prices may affect my decision. If I'm calculating correct, I'll save about $50 with free dining, upgrading to basic from QS as ASMo (from my pin code early in the year). Part of that will be changing from the current booking of a preferred room to a standard. I was going to change to save a little money, but maybe I won't after all. Maybe that $50 is worth the closer room when it's just me and the two girls (8 and 1).

I'll probably still call and price out a deal if and when it becomes official just to make sure I'm not missing anything, but right now that's what my spreadsheet is looking like.

 

[Don Disney]

All of the FD talk around her got me thinking"why don't I call and see if anything is attached to our name?" And sure enough the CM said she would check to see,and lo and behold,there WAS something!!!! Free Quick Service Dining eligible from May-December,no black out dates!!!! I did'nt ask ANY questions,and booked a trip for 11 nights in November(11-22)!!!!! The pixie dust was flying around us today!!! I have no idea why they didn't send a code,and the CM said they would not have sent it anyway??? I'm not sure how they go about it,but today was our blessed day! Maybe it had something to do with us cancelling our 10 night FD in September,and the felt sorry for us.

 

[blueshog2001]

With the free dining option, can you upgrade regular dining to DD for a little extra money?

 

[tmfranlk]

With the free dining option, can you upgrade regular dining to DD for a little extra money?

Yes, you just pay the difference between the two plans. For example, our 1 adult and 1 child in late Nov/early Dec would be $77 more for the 7 nights.

 

[mom2rtk]

With the free dining option, can you upgrade regular dining to DD for a little extra money?

Depends on your definition of the term "little". I believe the upgrade from quick service to adult is around $12 per night per person right now, but they have structured it so that jumps to $16 or $17 a day in 2012. If you want the deluxe plan.........

 

[lovesdumbo]

With the free dining option, can you upgrade regular dining to DD for a little extra money?

Do you want to upgrade regular dining to deluxe dining? You pay the difference. $33/night per adult; $10/night per child.

 

[hivemama]

We are going nov. 28-dec. 3, which qualifies for the free dining. My FIL booked through a TA though. Can I still call to change it, or do we have to have the TA do it?

 

[DisKris+fam]

I sooo hope you got some good inside info here Danny25!! This will work perfectly as we will check in on Nov 19th! If what I've read from others is true, that means we'll have free dining for the entire week of Thankgiving too! Whoop whoop! It also means we get to stay on site instead of having to opt for an off site hotel to save money. I've done the math and with the free dining for 3 adults & 1 child to have at least one nice or character meal a day, we can't beat the free dining deal by staying elsewhere.

Does anyone know how they usually announce? Is it automatically available (via the promo code) first thing that morning? Or will something be posted on Disney's website first before we could try for the discount?

We've already got our room reservation and tickets booked. All I'll have to do is have the free dining offer added now.

Today is my anniversary- I couldn't think of a better gift than having this to look forward to.

Happy Late Anniversary I<3theMouse! We share the same anniversary! We celebrated 11 yrs on Friday.

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

We are going nov. 28-dec. 3, which qualifies for the free dining. My FIL booked through a TA though. Can I still call to change it, or do we have to have the TA do it?

Your TA has to make the change

 

[alizesmom]

I'm waiting for my heart to start again. We arrive on Nov 5th! Do I have to call with the code or will it automatically be added to my reservations? Will they credit me what I already paid? Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus!!!!!

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm waiting for my heart to start again. We arrive on Nov 5th! Do I have to call with the code or will it automatically be added to my reservations? Will they credit me what I already paid? Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus!!!!!

Heavens no! Disney's not going to go around just applying codes to discount reservations. You'll have to call in and do that, and yes they will refund if you have already paid more than the final total.

I'm pretty sure that if they thought they could get away with it, they'd make existing reservations exempt!

 

[T Morrows Child]

I'm pretty sure that if they thought they could get away with it, they'd make existing reservations exempt!

The biggest factor there is that Room Only reservations have 5-day cancellation windows. That makes it less of a hassle to change existing reservations upon request . . . otherwise they'd get flooded with bookings immediately followed by cancellations. Their forecasting would be wacky for at least a week after the announcement of a new deal . . . to the point where they would first think they were overbooked, only to see them wide open at the end of the day!

It gives me some comfort, though, to know that I have until 5 days out to find the best possible deal.

 

[jenniferreich]

This is exciting about the possibility of free dining being announced Aug 3, and I hope it works out! We're going to Walt Disney World November 11 to 17. In hindsight I wish I would have shifted it back a day or two, since free dining looks to be blocked out Nov 11 and 12. I hope I can change my AAA reservation! But I'm a veteran and psyched to go to WDW on Veteran's Day!

Anway if I understand this right, I can change our reservation for Nov 11 and 12 to room only. We probably wouldn't have gone to a park anyway on Nov 11, just check in, get settled, go to downtown Disney. We like Rainforest cafe, so we'll probably eat there for supper Nov 11 since we won't have the dining plan. Then Nov 12, my plan was to go to the Animal Kingdom, not sure how we get those tickets ahead of time, but I'm sure it'll work out, from other people's descriptions here. We'll just eat out of pocket--that'll be only 5 meals out of pocket total, not bad. Then hopefully we can get a new reservation Nov 13-17 on the dining plan, and upgrade to the regular plan which will be 15 meals on the dining plan (yes I know I'm cheating and considering the "snack" a meal.) That's great! Does that mean you get one table service, one quick service, and one snack a day, even on your checkout day? Since we're flying around noon, maybe we'll do a table service breakfast that day!

I have an email to my AAA agent to make sure he can make this happen if they do indeed announce this! Any thoughts/comments/ideas? Thanks!

 

[tmfranlk]

This is exciting about the possibility of free dining being announced Aug 3, and I hope it works out! We're going to Walt Disney World November 11 to 17. In hindsight I wish I would have shifted it back a day or two, since free dining looks to be blocked out Nov 11 and 12. I hope I can change my AAA reservation! But I'm a veteran and psyched to go to WDW on Veteran's Day!

Anway if I understand this right, I can change our reservation for Nov 11 and 12 to room only. We probably wouldn't have gone to a park anyway on Nov 11, just check in, get settled, go to downtown Disney. We like Rainforest cafe, so we'll probably eat there for supper Nov 11 since we won't have the dining plan. Then Nov 12, my plan was to go to the Animal Kingdom, not sure how we get those tickets ahead of time, but I'm sure it'll work out, from other people's descriptions here. We'll just eat out of pocket--that'll be only 5 meals out of pocket total, not bad. Then hopefully we can get a new reservation Nov 13-17 on the dining plan, and upgrade to the regular plan which will be 15 meals on the dining plan (yes I know I'm cheating and considering the "snack" a meal.) That's great! Does that mean you get one table service, one quick service, and one snack a day, even on your checkout day? Since we're flying around noon, maybe we'll do a table service breakfast that day!

I have an email to my AAA agent to make sure he can make this happen if they do indeed announce this! Any thoughts/comments/ideas? Thanks!

You'll get one of each for each night of your stay so you'll have 4 of each since 13-17 is a 4-night stay. You can use them until midnight of your check out day so you'd be able to use them for a TS breakfast on departure if you wanted.

 

[jenniferreich]

Hi TmFrankLK, whew, thanks so much for correcting my math--I really appreciate it! If Nov 11 and 12 are blacked out, we might just buy the dining plan those nights. We find it's so freeing to just enjoy ordering what we want, without so much looking at the price! Jennifer

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

Hi TmFrankLK, whew, thanks so much for correcting my math--I really appreciate it! If Nov 11 and 12 are blacked out, we might just buy the dining plan those nights. We find it's so freeing to just enjoy ordering what we want, without so much looking at the price! Jennifer

I think if you add the dining plan to those two nights (Nov 11 and 12) you will also have to add park tickets ..... might be more cost effective to just pay out of pocket for those meals.