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

[Disneylover99]

I was here and stayed up all night last year to secure free dining for the end of August. Going the same time this year and kicking myself for not booking a bounceback.

Repeat after me.....I will book the FD BB in August, even if I'm not sure I'm going back.....

 

[Taylor F.]

I was here and stayed up all night last year to secure free dining for the end of August. Going the same time this year and kicking myself for not booking a bounceback.

In terms of free dining -- If you have a room booked, how spastic do I have to be about calling about free dining? We booked our tix and room and a dining plan. The CM said to call back to apply any promo that gets released. He didn't make it sound urgent. :-/

Do I have to set up an alert on my phone for a Disney email? Lol.

 

[Attracted to Beasts]

We stayed in standard rooms at CBR the last 2 years with FD. I booked a bB with FD at WL last August when I was there and I was told at that time CBR was included in FD BB but only pirate rooms were available. That's why I chose WL standard....it's not much more than a pirate and it has queen beds and a better location to MK (where we spend a lot of time)

 

[Disneylover99]

We are trying to work around my teaching schedule to plan a trip during the holidays this fall, which is when we normally enjoy going. In the ideal world, we would like to go right after New Year's as the decorations are still up for a bit and the prices go down (for a bit). I was thinking back to when we went in 2011 for my birthday and I remembered that free dining was offered during that time. I know that someone had brought it up earlier, but I wonder/hope in the back of my mind if attendance is still a problem, would they extend a dining offer into January? That would be.....magical.

It would be nice, but unfortunately I don't see that happening. We arrived a few days before New Year's and stayed the first week of January this year for the first time. Crowds didn't die down and then it was marathon weekend. From what I read, crowds didn't really start to die down until mid January. And even then I remember the threads of people complaining about the crowds.

 

[scard192]

My wife's cousin is so insane about 'free dining', she has 4 room reservations under her name, husband, her mom and dad. When dining gets announced they all call and whoever confirms booking first tells the others to cancel. I cant even.

Disney offers FD to fill rooms, the more rooms that are already booked in anticipation of FD makes it less likely that Disney may offer it.

 

[scard192]

This is the first time Ive ever purchased a dining plan. We are going sept 17-23 and staying at Poly. I honestly don't know where I can eat or exactly how they work, but I'm going to try and research and muddle through.

run the numbers for your family and how you like to eat, a RO discount is often a better deal at a Deluxe.

 

[sharonabe]

In terms of free dining -- If you have a room booked, how spastic do I have to be about calling about free dining? We booked our tix and room and a dining plan. The CM said to call back to apply any promo that gets released. He didn't make it sound urgent. :-/

Do I have to set up an alert on my phone for a Disney email? Lol.

Disney will not email you if there is a promotion for your dates; you're going to have to check in here every now and then.

IF free dining is important to you, yes it is urgent. You may have to change rooms in order to get it. It's not as simple as just calling in and asking for it to be applied to your existing reservations.

 

[Attracted to Beasts]

I thought I was smart by finally booking the BB last year but here I am! (I always got the room I wanted for FD for the previous 3 years-standard sports and standard CBR 2x) DH might take a new job in a state that starts school before Labor Day so I might have to change my late August dates to a little earlier. I'm here stalking because I think if FD comes out to the public I'm just going to make a new reservation for the week before then cancel the one I'm not going to use. DH won't know more about the job until April/may! I'm afraid if I wait to change my BB nothing will be left if they announce FD to the public! Ahh FD is never easy for me! Haha

 

[Disneylover99]

In terms of free dining -- If you have a room booked, how spastic do I have to be about calling about free dining? We booked our tix and room and a dining plan. The CM said to call back to apply any promo that gets released. He didn't make it sound urgent. :-/

Do I have to set up an alert on my phone for a Disney email? Lol.

There are a limited amount of rooms available for FD. The standard rooms will book up first. Most people want FD with the cheapest rooms possible since they are paying rack rate. It makes sense. The FD promotion becomes less of a cost savings when you have to book the most expensive room category at a moderate or you're booking deluxe.

Last year I booked CSR standard at 4am the day it was released. I never saw standard availability again for my dates. Booking a preferred would have have roughly cost me an extra $50 per night. We go for two weeks so that would be an additional $700 if I didn't snag it when I did.

If you are flexible with your dates/resorts/room category, you will get FD.

 

[VillainFavs]

It seems that a lot of people are confused about having an already existing reservation or not and modifying or adding when the Free Dining is released.

If you have a current vacation booked, it means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as far as getting free dining! You're no further ahead or behind anyone else who's trying to book the Free Dining as well.

The Free Dining rooms are a set number of rooms per resort and per category. That's it. Whether you already have one booked or not has nothing to do with whether you'll be able to get one of these designated FD rooms.

Some people book ahead because they know they're going one way or another and want to guarantee their room. That's fine.

Others book ahead, thinking it will give them an edge when free dining comes out. It DOESN'T. You still need to go online or call to make the modification or make a new reservation. And if the FD rooms are gone before you do that, they're gone. Doesn't matter if you already have a reservation or not.

And even others wait until the FD promo comes out because they're flexible in dates/resorts so they might as well wait and see what's available. That's fine too.

Just understand that having a pre-existing booking does not increase/decrease your chances of getting Free Dining.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

Last year I booked CSR standard at 4am the day it was released. I never saw standard availability again for my dates. Booking a preferred would have have roughly cost me an extra $50 per night. We go for two weeks so that would be an additional $700 if I didn't snag it when I did.

Same here. Booked CSR standard for December at 4am and never saw any standard availability after that.

 

[Disneylover99]

I thought I was smart by finally booking the BB last year but here I am! (I always got the room I wanted for FD for the previous 3 years-standard sports and standard CBR 2x) DH might take a new job in a state that starts school before Labor Day so I might have to change my late August dates to a little earlier. I'm here stalking because I think if FD comes out to the public I'm just going to make a new reservation for the week before then cancel the one I'm not going to use. DH won't know more about the job until April/may! I'm afraid if I wait to change my BB nothing will be left if they announce FD to the public! Ahh FD is never easy for me! Haha

That's why I'm here too. I have a FD bb booked, but I'm unsure about my dates, I'm waiting on these new FD dates. I also had a FD bb booked last year, but dates were better for me when FD was announced so I made a new reservation and cancelled my BB offer.

 

[Taylor F.]

It seems that a lot of people are confused about having an already existing reservation or not and modifying or adding when the Free Dining is released.

If you have a current vacation booked, it means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as far as getting free dining! You're no further ahead or behind anyone else who's trying to book the Free Dining as well.

The Free Dining rooms are a set number of rooms per resort and per category. That's it. Whether you already have one booked or not has nothing to do with whether you'll be able to get one of these designated FD rooms.

Some people book ahead because they know they're going one way or another and want to guarantee their room. That's fine.

Others book ahead, thinking it will give them an edge when free dining comes out. It DOESN'T. You still need to go online or call to make the modification or make a new reservation. And if the FD rooms are gone before you do that, they're gone. Doesn't matter if you already have a reservation or not.

And even others wait until the FD promo comes out because they're flexible in dates/resorts so they might as well wait and see what's available. That's fine too.

Just understand that having a pre-existing booking does not increase/decrease your chances of getting Free Dining.

This makes sense of it. Thank you! Ok. So I'll just be on stalker mode next month then I suppose and regularly check back in here - which I see myself doing regardless Hahah.

 

[Disneylover99]

It seems that a lot of people are confused about having an already existing reservation or not and modifying or adding when the Free Dining is released.

If you have a current vacation booked, it means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as far as getting free dining! You're no further ahead or behind anyone else who's trying to book the Free Dining as well.

The Free Dining rooms are a set number of rooms per resort and per category. That's it. Whether you already have one booked or not has nothing to do with whether you'll be able to get one of these designated FD rooms.

Some people book ahead because they know they're going one way or another and want to guarantee their room. That's fine.

Others book ahead, thinking it will give them an edge when free dining comes out. It DOESN'T. You still need to go online or call to make the modification or make a new reservation. And if the FD rooms are gone before you do that, they're gone. Doesn't matter if you already have a reservation or not.

And even others wait until the FD promo comes out because they're flexible in dates/resorts so they might as well wait and see what's available. That's fine too.

Just understand that having a pre-existing booking does not increase/decrease your chances of getting Free Dining.

This should be a FD sticky.

 

[Attracted to Beasts]

I still think we have some time because they haven't even released the summer promos yet! I feel like those will come out this week or next then the fall/free dining probably April again!

 

[Marianm]

As much as I would love free dining, Id be nervous about hitting that modify button on my reservation.. I'd be so paranoid I would mess something up!

 

[Rusty2rules]

I still think we have some time because they haven't even released the summer promos yet! I feel like those will come out this week or next then the fall/free dining probably April again!

They've historically announced fall discounts the last week of April. Patience isn't one of my virtues. It's just about going to kill me having to wait that long!

 

[memma05]

They've historically announced fall discounts the last week of April. Patience isn't one of my virtues. It's just about going to kill me having to wait that long!

Me too! Me too!!

 

[Rusty2rules]

This is the first time Ive ever purchased a dining plan. We are going sept 17-23 and staying at Poly. I honestly don't know where I can eat or exactly how they work, but I'm going to try and research and muddle through.

Here's a list of all the restaurants that participate in the Dining Plan. There are plenty to choose from.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-dining-plan-restaurants.htm

Something to watch for, your dates are usually included in the free dining plan for the fall. Make sure you watch for that! If you catch it right, and your resort and room type are included in the free dining promotion, you can apply that promotion to your existing reservation. Then, if you've already paid for your reservation, I believe they refund you the dining plan money. Somebody will correct me on that if I'm wrong. Regardless, you'll get your dining plan for free...if you catch it in time and get it applied to your reservation before they run out. They only allow a certain number of rooms to have the free plan, so you'll have to be on top of it.

The way the dining plan works is really quite simple IMO. The number of choices you have depends on which plan you purchased. You're going to love it!

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

Disney offers FD to fill rooms, the more rooms that are already booked in anticipation of FD makes it less likely that Disney may offer it.

This exactly! We have a room booked only because POR last year was not available for FD in November only until September. The family wants POR so I am always cautiously optimistic it will be offered in November.