******Official 2017 Free Dining Plan Watch, Wait, and Dream

[pigletto]

I've heard in the past that when Disney is "preparing" the site for a new offer part of that is blocking out available rooms, this goes with the missing "modify" button and probably soon Stitch will be very hungry. There are I believe 3 more current offers that expire by the end of this month and 2 that already expired on the 5th I believe. They allocate so many rooms maybe they know the # of rooms they plan to include in any offer maybe months in advance but need to block them now?

Interesting you should say that, because I encountered Stitch twice today .

 

[ThistleMae]

Well, I can only say I booked mine because it's what I want and what I will use. If Free Dining comes out , great. But I want to have something booked because I am going regardless of free dining. Colette might have also pointed out that CBR is sold out of Standard rooms because they are offering $75 a night gift card to stay there. They are currently sold out of anything that isn't a pirate room for my dates. I think it has way less to do with anticipating free dining for CBR at this point and is more about the offer they are giving everyone. $750 off for me is a good discount.

Exactly! And...you need to book early if you want a room where you want one!

 

[ThistleMae]

Usually end of April however some people are saying sooner. However the official rumours haven't even begun yet. Once Black starts giving information then you know the official rumours have begun. He is our FD guru and is usually pretty spot on.

Good to know!

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

it is pretty certain, CBR will not have any availability for the FD promotion.

Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't CBR about a 2000 or so room resort?

 

[dznygrl70]

Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't CBR about a 2000 or so room resort?

yes. It anyone's guess what will be available where. But it's fun waiting and guessing!

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

yes. It anyone's guess what will be available where. But it's fun waiting and guessing!

Tapping these keys with infinite amounts of joy!!!!!

 

[ThistleMae]

I'm not even eligible for free dining this year, staying off site. I'm giving myself a generous budget of $ 100.00 a day for food for myself. But...I'm stalking this thread because next year we will be staying at POP...hopefully...so curious to see what's up!

 

[dznygrl70]

Tapping these keys with infinite amounts of joy!!!!!

Oh yeah...I'm one of those people who ddoesn't care where I stay. I'm out for the best deal and just really thankful I get to go at all. But I'm always out for best price. We aren't picky. As long as nothing is crawling in the rooms and there's no yellow crime tape anywhere we can make it work.

 

[ThistleMae]

How much money do you all budget for food for each day, if you had to pay?

 

[dznygrl70]

How much money do you all budget for food for each day, if you had to pay?

Depends for us on when we go. I can eat like a hot dog contest contestant when it's cool out, but when we've gone and it's hot, my appetite is nonexistent. I would think it also depends on where you eat. We always like to price our meals using the menu prices online and plan accordingly day by day.

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

Family of 5, with 3 boys,16,14,8, we typically do 3 meals a day and it can easily be about $400 daily, now fortunately it's been a while since having to do that but CRT alone I believe the last time we ate there out of pocket was a little over $300 alone.

 

[Disneylover99]

How much money do you all budget for food for each day, if you had to pay?

$100 per day for the four of us without the dining plan. We enjoy some kids meals.
We save the buffets and more expensive restaurants for FD.

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

Oh yeah...I'm one of those people who ddoesn't care where I stay. I'm out for the best deal and just really thankful I get to go at all. But I'm always out for best price. We aren't picky. As long as nothing is crawling in the rooms and there's no yellow crime tape anywhere we can make it work.

IMO I think all the resorts should start with "Grand" not just Grand Floridian or Grand Cally, but maybe the Grand Pop Century or the Grand Beach club because any of the resorts Disney offers are typically "Grand"...lol!!!

 

[dznygrl70]

IMO I think all the resorts should start with "Grand" not just Grand Floridian or Grand Cally, but maybe the Grand Pop Century or the Grand Beach club because any of the resorts Disney offers are typically "Grand"...lol!!!

Agreed!!!!

 

[Disneylover99]

IMO I think all the resorts should start with "Grand" not just Grand Floridian or Grand Cally, but maybe the Grand Pop Century or the Grand Beach club because any of the resorts Disney offers are typically "Grand"...lol!!!

Except that they'd probably up the price to a grand per night if it becomes the Grand Pop Century.

 

[dznygrl70]

Except that they'd probably up the price to a grand per night if it becomes the Grand Pop Century.

HA! Also , Agreed. And we would probably still pay. I have decided I have a bad addiction to DW. Every year we come home exhausted and say, Ok....that's it for a while. Going to go somewhere else next year....and then, around 4 months later.....here we go again. Husband says they put something in the water there.

 

[pigletto]

I'm with you all. Family of four here, Dh and I and the kids who will be 19 and 13. If we don't get FD we will budget approx $2000 for 10 days of dining which will be all breakfasts in the room and mostly counter service with a few of our favourite TS thrown in. I ran the numbers for dh today (he's a spreadsheet guy and needs to see figures) in every possible configuration and Free Dining beat out anything I tried (travel agency offers, renting DVC points, projected room only discount, offsite etc). And we have 5 day tickets that I earned this year through airmiles. Even with having to buy the two day tickets and waterparks and more.. I'd still come out around $3800 plus tips for Free Dining. The next cheapest option would be to rent a studio at OKW, upgrade our 5 day tickets to 7, no hoppers, no waterparks, no mugs and scale the dining way back. And that comes in at $4400.
So while we will still go and make it work and have a great time without Free Dining, I would far prefer to have the hoppers and waterparks and the mugs and all the Table Service meals we haven't done in years.
This is occupying all my thoughts these days. How in the world am I going to survive another month of this?

 

[goldnvalli]

I just looked through the 2016 thread. It seems many people did get what they wanted but others had to either upgrade their room or try for another resort that was included. Many mentioned how limited the supply of rooms were for the offer. So....it is a toss of the dice every time! Did anyone in here book the "half dining plan" offered last summer?

Last year I stalked the free dining thread for weeks. The morning it came out I was up at 4 AM. I was only able to book the resort I wanted at the Waterview level. I ended up booking another resort at the Gardenview level. I had two reservations at one time. I continued to check the Disney website daily and they updated the availability of the resorts on the dining plan. A few weeks into the promotion I was able to get the resort I wanted at the room level I wanted with the free dining plan. So my advice to you is if your resort preference or room preference is not available the day the free dining comes out keep checking.

 

[KNovacovschi]

Last year I stalked the free dining thread for weeks. The morning it came out I was up at 4 AM. I was only able to book the resort I wanted at the Waterview level. I ended up booking another resort at the Gardenview level. I had two reservations at one time. I continued to check the Disney website daily and they updated the availability of the resorts on the dining plan. A few weeks into the promotion I was able to get the resort I wanted at the room level I wanted with the free dining plan. So my advice to you is if your resort preference or room preference is not available the day the free dining comes out keep checking.

I agree with keep checking but I don't agree with booking 2 reservations unless you are staying at both, that's taking away from someone else being able to get it, just like people that horde ADRs because they don't know where they want to eat. This isn't meant to start any arguments so don't take it as that.

 

[goldnvalli]

I totally understand your point.