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

[Leeesa]

Originally had reservations for CBR in the preferred room. Well for the FD they said they only had the pirate room available and to upgrade to the PH would have moved me to 2,400.00 approx. for my family and the amount of time we will be there.... sooooo decided to go ahead and book Pop Century and do the PH with FD and upgrade to the Dining plan from the free quick service coming out to be 2,037.00. I am good with that. Was on hold for about a hour and 45 minutes not as bad as last year. I hope everyone got what they needed !

 

[FoxC63]

I got free dining at Pop for Sept. 4-10. I saw a link for Disney Visa free dining and just checked that to see if there was a price difference. There wasn't and it was showing that there is still availability

What link please?

 

[sharonabe]

I'm sure this has been asked and answered already, but I'm overwhelmed and my eyes hurt. not only that but I had to actually work today. LOL. boo.

Booked in a FD Cabin 2 parties
one of 4 "adults"
one of 4 "adults" one "child"

Free QS. Trying to see what the upgrade cost is. I am actually thinking I'd prefer QS. our party includes 4 girls - ages 7, 10, 11, 14 - all fairly light eaters, a 13 year old boy (very heavy eater but very picky) and the 4 parents. I'm tying to come up with a comparison sheet for my DH that shows why it might be advantageous to keep QS and not upgrade. The only sit down meal he wants is Ohana breakfast. We were also considering Akershus but I'm not sure if those 2 alone make up the difference or not, but then we're stuck with 4 more table service to figure out and we lose 6 QS. I'm almost thinking QS is better for us this trip.

Anyway, anyone have those numbers off the top of their head on what it takes to upgrade? my memory wants to say like $21 per person per day?

Ohana breakfast is $34.08A, $20.24C
Akershus is $50.06A, $29.82 (B), $60.71A, $36.21C (L) and (D)

Do you have two rooms? If so, you might want to do the math for upgrading just one room to the regular DDP and sharing the credits. Just don't do it for the room with the child because their credits can only be used for kid's meals. So add in the kid's OOP price to your calculations.

Do the get to choose from any of them or only a certain one(s)?

Choose from any thing on the kid's menu. The "Mickey Check" meals are Disney's attempt to offer healthy meals to kids. You can mix and match the entrees and sides from all of them.

 

[LiaNWillsmom]

I can't really help on that but we ended having to get Boardwalk too!! We were trying for Yacht Club but it was only $100 less than the package we have booked now with the dining plan so I am not sure how that would have equaled to free dining. Boardwalk was about $2000 cheaper, so we booked it. We are holding on to both reservations at the moment. Also we are booked for the exact dates you are

I have never stayed at Boardwalk, but my In-laws have and loved it! I was really trying for Wilderness, because I think my son who is turing 5 on the trip would love it there. I know there are going to be room only discounts dropping for these dates, but i have no idea when they will (hoping for some input ) . So that is why I'm holding both reservations Just in case! (dates are 11/26 or 11/27- 12/2 or 12/3) .
Anyway I keep pulling the pages up and checking!

 

[Leeesa]

I've been on hold on the phone for 30 minutes. They were playing music. Now it is silent. I'm worried I've been disconnected and will sit here forever on the phone. Has anyone else had their "on hold" music go away?

Actually the first 45 minutes I was on hold the music was not playing totally silent and I thought hmmmm should I hang up heck no!!! So then the music started playing... they said they were having tech problems. The first few times I called I got on hold and got disconnected. I was not overly happy...

 

[kandb]

I've been on hold on the phone for 30 minutes. They were playing music. Now it is silent. I'm worried I've been disconnected and will sit here forever on the phone. Has anyone else had their "on hold" music go away?

Look at your phone. Is the time still registering? If it is, you should still be on hold

 

[tinkerbell1112]

Does anyone else feel like the room prices are inflated on the FD plan? I priced my package out several times and I just can't figure out why there's an extra almost $400 in there. I even included tax, still $400 more. The site won't let you break down the package to see how much the room costs.

I personally don't think mine is. Checked mine as just a regular package and it truly is the same cost with the same tickets and nights.

 

[wenpop]

I noticed that some CBR opened up for the week of Sept 10th

 

[purple figment]

Does anyone else feel like the room prices are inflated on the FD plan? I priced my package out several times and I just can't figure out why there's an extra almost $400 in there. I even included tax, still $400 more. The site won't let you break down the package to see how much the room costs.

Did you include the tax rate on resort rooms of around 12 or 13%, insurance is added to packages, parkhopper add on price varies with the number of days on your tickets, room rate varies depending on the day of the week and season.

 

[Princess23]

I've been on hold on the phone for 30 minutes. They were playing music. Now it is silent. I'm worried I've been disconnected and will sit here forever on the phone. Has anyone else had their "on hold" music go away?

I'd take the on hold, I can't even get that far to be placed on hold!! =)

 

[Leeesa]

Another post of encouragement.

I was unable to get FD for my CBR reservation with the gift cards. I tried for hours online and was in the phone queue for over 2 hours this morning - all to no avail. Needless to say, I went to work all kinds of sad this morning.

I tried to modify at least 50 times throughout the morning. After lunch my eyes were starting to cross from looking at a spreadsheet so I decided to check one more time. Lo and behold - there was the pixie dust I needed! I was able to book FD for CBR standard AND keep the gift card.

If you're still hunting, don't give up!! Just check obsessively and hope for some pixie dust!

They did tell me this morning that the FD had to be a standard room. we wanted the preferred so I ended up changing to pop century this way I was able to afford to upgrade to the reg dining plan and not the quick service. I was surprised at a moderate that they were doing the quick service. I ended up saving myself almost 500.00.

 

[MoxieBadger]

Has anyone been able to snag FD at Pop for early September? I have a hard time believing that it filled up almost instantly.

I got it for September 6-16th in a pool view room. I wanted a standard view to be honest, I'll try and modify it later and see if I can an save a few beans...

 

[PrincessMommy75]

WaHOO!!!!!!!Just added the QSFD to our reservation @ CBR standard room and kept our $75 GCs!

Congrats! What were your dates?

 

[tinkerbell1112]

Ohana breakfast is $34.08A, $20.24C
Akershus is $50.06A, $29.82 (B), $60.71A, $36.21C (L) and (D)

Do you have two rooms? If so, you might want to do the math for upgrading just one room to the regular DDP and sharing the credits. Just don't do it for the room with the child because their credits can only be used for kid's meals. So add in the kid's OOP price to your calculations.



Choose from any thing on the kid's menu. The "Mickey Check" meals are Disney's attempt to offer healthy meals to kids. You can mix and match the entrees and sides from all of them.

Thanks for the prices! that was my next step

 

[12disneybee]

I am in shock that AsSp or AsMu standard or preferred rooms are not available for our dates. I am fortunate, I was booked bounce back FD for CBR and was switched with NO CHARGE to a
2 bedroom Villa at the SSR KEEPING my REGULAR free dining plan because it was booked last year bounce back
We have 2 additional family members wanting to go now (no, we are not fitting them into our 2 Bedroom Villa at SSR, lol) I cannot believe that AsSp is NOT available for 9/6-9/19.....thought, might as well book AsSp and get at least the QSDP for free, NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol Will keep checking for them....just really really shocked.

 

[HumblePie]

Actually the first 45 minutes I was on hold the music was not playing totally silent and I thought hmmmm should I hang up heck no!!! So then the music started playing... they said they were having tech problems. The first few times I called I got on hold and got disconnected. I was not overly happy...

Look at your phone. Is the time still registering? If it is, you should still be on hold

I'd take the on hold, I can't even get that far to be placed on hold!! =)

Thanks. I am definitely still connected, there is just no sign that there is any connection on their end - just silence. I definitely don't want to hang up if I'm still somehow connected. Would just be my luck to be paying long distance charges after I got disconnected though.

ETA: Am now talking to a human! So glad I didn't hang up! Thanks again!

 

[robinb]

Am I understanding correctly that you're saying its possible to get a 2-day PH ticket and then add on extra days that are not Hopper days? And this costs less than the $75 to make the entire ticket PH? Or maybe I totally misread that, if so sorry!

No. I'm saying that you can buy a 2-Day PH to qualify for FD. You can then upgrade it to a 3-Day or longer Base ticket once you are at WDW. The cost of the upgrade depends on the difference in price from the cost of the 2-Day PH ($275) and whatever the gate price is of the pass you're upgrading to. AFAIK, you can upgrade most tickets to any other more expensive ticket as long as you have not used any of the special features. If you use a special feature like the hopping capability or plus feature then then pass is stuck as that type and you can only upgrade to that same type of pass. So, you can't hop for two days and than upgrade to a base ticket for the rest of the time. Sorry!

I have a question out to the pros on the Theme Park forum right now and will report back.

 

[winepeople]

I had a garden room booked and I was lucky enough to be able to modify it to include free dining. Keep calling, don't give up!

I had a garden room booked with a TA and she was unable to change it. I tried myself with my husbands account starting at 5:38. No luck. All day I have not seen one room open there. My dates are 8/24 - 8/30. I'm booked at the Yacht Club right now with free dining - it's awesome there but way over budget... I'll keep trying.

 

[tinkerbell1112]

Ohana breakfast is $34.08A, $20.24C
Akershus is $50.06A, $29.82 (B), $60.71A, $36.21C (L) and (D)

Do you have two rooms? If so, you might want to do the math for upgrading just one room to the regular DDP and sharing the credits. Just don't do it for the room with the child because their credits can only be used for kid's meals. So add in the kid's OOP price to your calculations.



Choose from any thing on the kid's menu. The "Mickey Check" meals are Disney's attempt to offer healthy meals to kids. You can mix and match the entrees and sides from all of them.

isn't it true that we can get 10% off with our Disney Visa at these restaurants oop?

 

[scrappinginontario]

I haven't scrolled through to the end, so if already answered, forgive me.

Cost of 2-day PH is $275.84

Cost of a 3-day PH is $371.69, but cost of a 3-day BASE is only $307.79.

So if someone really didn't want the PH, they can purchase the 2-day PH minimum and then upgrade to X-day BASE ticket once they get there. As long as the number of days is 3 or greater, it will be a savings.

However, the upgrade can't be done until you get there, so you'll only be able to do FP+ for two of your vacation days until you get your upgraded ticket.

In order to get FD you are required to purchase the PH option. I would be leary to remove the PH option once you're there or you may very well end up paying for the dining since you didn't fulfill the requirements for 'Free Dining.' For the sake of $70/ticket you could end up paying for food the entire length of your visit. Is it really worth it to try this?

I don't think they would allow you to change a 2 day PH ticket to a 3 day base ticket.