Offical free dining watch 2008

[mirmartinez]

hello,
Is it crowded in dw during free dining. I only been to dw once and that was in feb, and that was the perfect crowd.

 

[crystalcml]

hello,
Is it crowded in dw during free dining. I only been to dw once and that was in feb, and that was the perfect crowd.

The parks aren't that bad but the restaurants are packed.

 

[mirmartinez]

The parks aren't that bad but the restaurants are packed.

alls i have to go on is feb., can you tell me if the parks are more full then that. The average wait for a ride was 10 mins or less (mostly less) Sorry to be a pain.
One more question. I requested a certain building does disney frequently honor request would I have a better chance if I changed our arrival date from saturday to a tuesday.
Thanks for the head up on restaurants made our reservations last week and a few restaurants already had very limited resevations left.

 

[crystalcml]

alls i have to go on is feb., can you tell me if the parks are more full then that. The average wait for a ride was 10 mins or less (mostly less) Sorry to be a pain.
One more question. I requested a certain building does disney frequently honor request would I have a better chance if I changed our arrival date from saturday to a tuesday.
Thanks for the head up on restaurants made our reservations last week and a few restaurants already had very limited resevations left.

I have never been in February so my guess would be yes. Ride wait times are usually 10-20 min depending on the ride. Some like Soarin, are 40 min.

As for a certain bldg, Disney will add your request to your reservation but they don't make any guarentees. Which resort are you staying at?

Some of the restaurants can be a zoo especially if you are going to a fun one like 50's Prime Time Cafe. Most of the others are a bit more calm but busy.

 

[mirmartinez]

I have never been in February so my guess would be yes. Ride wait times are usually 10-20 min depending on the ride. Some like Soarin, are 40 min.

As for a certain bldg, Disney will add your request to your reservation but they don't make any guarentees. Which resort are you staying at?

Some of the restaurants can be a zoo especially if you are going to a fun one like 50's Prime Time Cafe. Most of the others are a bit more calm but busy.

i originally booked por asked for 27, then fw, now back at por (which is what i want) However, dh said he be very grumpy if we got put way in the back again,

 

[jenseib]

There has been a rumor for quite some time that Values will not be included in the free dining this, but only time will tell.

I have read mixed reviews on how busy it is at the parks. Some say it is crazy busy, while others say it is OK. I would guess with free dining it would be busier than your Feb trip. 10 minute waots are nice ,but not the norm. We went the same week last year and this year. (in March) Last year was very busy, and this year was considerably slower, so you never know.

For those who go in Sept. What air prices do you uaally get? Part of the deciding factor of what days of the week we go and time of the motnh is airfare. But booking this early would make me wonder what my arifare would be. We aren't going this Sept as we did a last minute trip this March, but I am just curious if airfare is any cheaper in Sept, and when do you book it?

 

[crystalcml]

i originally booked por asked for 27, then fw, now back at por (which is what i want) However, dh said he be very grumpy if we got put way in the back again,

Try doing this, this suggestion was taken from the Pop Century thread but it should work for you:

In addition to having your special request(s) on your reservation, many guests have also faxed their requests directly to Pop Century 4-10 days prior to arrival; it's rumored that room assignments are made 5 days prior to arrival

Port Orleans Riverside Fax: (407) 934-5777

 

[crystalcml]

There has been a rumor for quite some time that Values will not be included in the free dining this, but only time will tell.

I have read mixed reviews on how busy it is at the parks. Some say it is crazy busy, while others say it is OK. I would guess with free dining it would be busier than your Feb trip. 10 minute waots are nice ,but not the norm. We went the same week last year and this year. (in March) Last year was very busy, and this year was considerably slower, so you never know.

For those who go in Sept. What air prices do you uaally get? Part of the deciding factor of what days of the week we go and time of the motnh is airfare. But booking this early would make me wonder what my arifare would be. We aren't going this Sept as we did a last minute trip this March, but I am just curious if airfare is any cheaper in Sept, and when do you book it?

We paid $240 roundtrip Sun Country out of Minneapolis. The next week it went down to $200 so you really have to watch and if you see it for cheap grab it cause it won't last. Now it's up to $280! We booked air about 3 weeks ago through Disney.

 

[esdras]

As to the question of busy...

I'll generally agree with the previous posters, the parks don't seem to be that bad, but the restaurants can fill up - especially character dining!

There are a few tips to make it seem less crowded.

If at all possible, go just after Labour Day. That's when schools start back in Canada (and some places in the U.S.) - going the week after Labour Day virtually guarantees that every kid in North America should be back in school. Sure, some parents will take their kids out for a week very early in the school year (that's what we did), but most don't.

Book your ADR's for the EARLIEST possible seating for Lunch and Dinner. Sure, you might have to eat lunch at 11 am, or dinner at 4:30 pm - but the restaurant will be a lot less crowded. It takes a little planning, but it is workable for most families.

Additionally, by eating at 11 am, you are getting away from the rides in the park just as things are getting busy. Of course, this means being at the park as soon as it opens.

I should say that all of this info is based on a Sept. '06 Free Dining trip - it may have been busier in '07.

Our longest wait for ANY ride that trip was about 20 minutes for the Speedway (and that was our own fault for trying to get on at 10:30 am)

Seriously, we were doing rides like Test Track and Soarin' back to back with no waiting - simply by starting early, leaving for afternoon breaks, and coming back to the parks at about 6 pm for a couple of hours AFTER our 4:30 pm ADR. At 6 pm, everyone else was trying to use their Free Dining in the restaurants, while we were enjoying line-free rides!

If you know some of the tricks, doing Disney in September should make you feel almost as if you own the place.

 

[tiger4me2]

I have never been for free dining or used the DDP, but I am determined to go this year if free dining is offerred.

I have a Disney Visa and was wondering - do they notify you about the free dining offer or do you have to keep checking the web site. I had the Disney Visa last year and was never notified but I hadn't been using the card.

I have a Disney visa as well & wasn't inform about it last year. I kept checking the Chase web site who owes Disney visa & nothing. i found out by reading allears & mousesavers. But then again I had the bounceback that we booked in Dec of 2006 but was looking to come ahead of DH for a solo trip. I got the resort I wanted when it came out so I had 7 nights solo & 7 nights with DH

 

[beachgrl001]

There has been a rumor for quite some time that Values will not be included in the free dining this, but only time will tell.

I have read mixed reviews on how busy it is at the parks. Some say it is crazy busy, while others say it is OK. I would guess with free dining it would be busier than your Feb trip. 10 minute waots are nice ,but not the norm. We went the same week last year and this year. (in March) Last year was very busy, and this year was considerably slower, so you never know.

For those who go in Sept. What air prices do you uaally get? Part of the deciding factor of what days of the week we go and time of the motnh is airfare. But booking this early would make me wonder what my arifare would be. We aren't going this Sept as we did a last minute trip this March, but I am just curious if airfare is any cheaper in Sept, and when do you book it?

Hi I was there last year the week before labor day, to me it was crowded, now that said, I am used to going around Sept 10th and basically having the parks to myself This year Im going sept 10th -17th(ds will miss school)
As for air fare I got mine for 49.00 ea way (from Philly) I think it was around the end of april. Im not expecting it to go that low this year though.

 

[Heathr6913]

If I bought my airfare right now it is $89 per person each way. That is through Southwest. I went to free dining in Sep 12-18 '06 and it wasn't busy at all. The longest wait we had for a ride was 15 minutes. Most of them were either walk ons or 5 minute waits at most. The restaurants were pretty busy.

 

[MousekaMaddi]

I hadnt heard that the values might not be included this yr......rats

 

[esdras]

I hadnt heard that the values might not be included this yr......rats

That is not going to happen.

The UK restriction on values for Free Dining was apparently not a Disney decision, but the UK travel industry - or so I've read.

I can't think of any occasion where Disney eliminated an entire resort category on a promotion - selected resorts or room types yes, but not a whole category.

And the UK being limited to non values means that they didn't take any rooms, Bounceback is ONLY for September, and ONLY bouncebackers.

There's no way that the values are so booked that Disney will restrict them from this Public Free Dining.

 

[thunderbird1]

That is not going to happen.

The UK restriction on values for Free Dining was apparently not a Disney decision, but the UK travel industry - or so I've read.

I can't think of any occasion where Disney eliminated an entire resort category on a promotion - selected resorts or room types yes, but not a whole category.

And the UK being limited to non values means that they didn't take any rooms, Bounceback is ONLY for September, and ONLY bouncebackers.

There's no way that the values are so booked that Disney will restrict them from this Public Free Dining.

What (s)he said. Seriously, even if you can't get your first choice of resorts during the first couple of days, nearly everybody (if not everybody) was able to switch to their first choice in the weeks following the announcement of the promotion. The first wave of availability hit 14 days following the initial offering (when the non-cc payments were due) and the final wave hit 45 days prior to the checkin date (when final payments were due).

My point being, don't give up hope that your first choice will become available eventually. And if there is something available in your budget, BOOK IT! You can always change locations (or cancel) later, but you can't make a new reservation after the deadline has passed.

 

[tmills]

I'm new at posting on the boards & I've read through almost ALL 28 pages of this thread & I want to make sure I have this right, if you have a Disney Visa you can check the website for information on free dinning, right? It's not a sure thing that they will contact you, right? I'm planning my family's first WDW trip for Sept 21-27 & already have reservations at WL, so can I still get the free dinning if I have a Disney Visa card?

 

[Goofy22]

I'm new at posting on the boards & I've read through almost ALL 28 pages of this thread & I want to make sure I have this right, if you have a Disney Visa you can check the website for information on free dinning, right? It's not a sure thing that they will contact you, right? I'm planning my family's first WDW trip for Sept 21-27 & already have reservations at WL, so can I still get the free dinning if I have a Disney Visa card?

Yes! It is normally offerd to Disney Visa Card holders first then to the general public so say Free Dining opens on April10th as speculated that will be for Disney Visa Card holders then apprx 3 days later anyone who does not have a disney card will be able to book! So eventually yyou will be able to get it!

 

[lugnut33]

Is it possible they will just offer a 30% discount on DDP like they did for the Annual Pass holders? That would be fine with me if it's just an add-on as I already have 30% off my room rate (yeah, wish it was 40%).

 

[aubriee]

Is it possible they will just offer a 30% discount on DDP like they did for the Annual Pass holders? That would be fine with me if it's just an add-on as I already have 30% off my room rate (yeah, wish it was 40%).

AP holders did not get 30% off the DDP. I have an AP discount for my room in May, but had to pay full price for the DDP. The only deal with AP holders is that we can now buy the DDP, without having to purchase a one day ticket to go with it.

 

[mkycrzy1971]

There has been a rumor for quite some time that Values will not be included in the free dining this, but only time will tell.

I have read mixed reviews on how busy it is at the parks. Some say it is crazy busy, while others say it is OK. I would guess with free dining it would be busier than your Feb trip. 10 minute waots are nice ,but not the norm. We went the same week last year and this year. (in March) Last year was very busy, and this year was considerably slower, so you never know.

For those who go in Sept. What air prices do you uaally get? Part of the deciding factor of what days of the week we go and time of the motnh is airfare. But booking this early would make me wonder what my arifare would be. We aren't going this Sept as we did a last minute trip this March, but I am just curious if airfare is any cheaper in Sept, and when do you book it?

We booked our airfare on Airtran for Sept 4-9th about 2 weeks ago (from Indy)...got $79 each going down and $69 coming back!