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

[Amunet]

Thanks. She's been helpful and I definitely want to give her credit. I'm type A and just forsee myself sitting around internally freaking out because FD dates are released and I'm not doing anything about it. I didn't know you could transfer to a TA-- also good to know!

Yup, as long as it's within 30 days of booking and is not paid in full

 

[Amunet]

Man what on earth are we going to do with our time after they finally announce FD??

Plan our schedules and ADRs!

 

[krisfan]

This is my first time booking a trip to WDW so I'd love some advice on FD dates! We are on a budget so we're trying to figure out the best deal. We were originally going to do AoA (Little Mermaid because DD will love it) and only do 3 park days, but then we thought if we're making the drive we might as well get some more time there.

So now we are getting ready to book Pop for 6 nights and do 5 park days, but it will be SO helpful to get FD. We might not be able to stay that long without it. We were initially thinking 11/24 to 11/30 (not flexible), but then thought maybe 12/1-12/7 (flexible by a few days) would be better. A travel agent said she'd go with December, but when I look at the past FD dates it looks like November might work better? We want lower to moderate crowds and all of the December dates seem to be the week before DD's Christmas break at school, which I'd rather not do.

Any advice? We were told to book now and lock in some dates so we can then try to adjust with FD later, but I'm not sure what to do.

Even if you don't get FD that's not end of the world w.r.t to budget for value resorts and ur dates are not flexible.
If Park hopper is mandortory for FD than cost is around 80.. which will almost cover 2 days of QS for each person.
And room only discount we save atleast 30 dollars per day.
And most of times if we buy tickets from third party websites we can save around 40 dollars for each person on multi day tickets.
I think the best value for FD comes if we are booking for 7 days or more in moderate resort with at least 4 people.

 

[dznygrl70]

An earmarked agency agent that heard from reliable source.
That's the best I can share.

Again, rumor only

My person told me to have my decisions nailed down by that date as well .

 

[dznygrl70]

My person told me to have my decisions nailed down by that date as well .

Of course, nothing in writing, just what's being rumored in that circle...

 

[krisfan]

Man what on earth are we going to do with our time after they finally announce FD??

We will start discuss about planning the trip and next year FD

 

[Kiki_pa]

In your room there should be a page in the booklet in your room with what the bb offer is. If not there is a number you dial from your phone in the room and you can ask the,. In the fall it's typicallly FD for the next year. Other times it is discount room rates. You book and pay the 200 deposit. You secure FD and at this years rates instead of next years. I hear you can move the dates if you need to but I am not sure.

Thank you!!

 

[dznygrl70]

Plan our schedules and ADRs!

Honestly, after fd comes out and all our plans are pretty much squared away, I usually just get on with my Summer and put the trip on back burner until about 30 days prior. I just hate not having everything finalized. OCD.....

 

[JackieO]

I just heard a rumor of 4/17 FD drop

@black562 how does this sound to you?

 

[KimBean]

This is my first time booking a trip to WDW so I'd love some advice on FD dates! We are on a budget so we're trying to figure out the best deal. We were originally going to do AoA (Little Mermaid because DD will love it) and only do 3 park days, but then we thought if we're making the drive we might as well get some more time there.

So now we are getting ready to book Pop for 6 nights and do 5 park days, but it will be SO helpful to get FD. We might not be able to stay that long without it. We were initially thinking 11/24 to 11/30 (not flexible), but then thought maybe 12/1-12/7 (flexible by a few days) would be better. A travel agent said she'd go with December, but when I look at the past FD dates it looks like November might work better? We want lower to moderate crowds and all of the December dates seem to be the week before DD's Christmas break at school, which I'd rather not do.

Any advice? We were told to book now and lock in some dates so we can then try to adjust with FD later, but I'm not sure what to do.

The first thing that pops out at me is you don't want to go Thanksgiving day. Super busy. My plans right now is to come in that next Monday which I've heard is pretty good. That week in December will be nice for crowds.

 

[Neeky78]

I just heard a rumor of 4/17 FD drop

Easter Monday? Interesting. I'm trying to figure out if that is good or bad busyness wise. People may be away on the Monday still and not be able to get online/call early. Or, people are off work so more likely to get up early and try to snag fd. Doesn't affect me too much as it will be Monday night here in Australia (7pm here is 4am EST).

 

[Amunet]

Honestly, after fd comes out and all our plans are pretty much squared away, I usually just get on with my Summer and put the trip on back burner until about 30 days prior. I just hate not having everything finalized. OCD.....

Yeah, I feel the same way. Once knowing the exact money amount helps with saving and adding extras if the budget allows. Also, it would be helpful so we could put requests in for vacation time at work

 

[Amunet]

Easter Monday? Interesting. I'm trying to figure out if that is good or bad busyness wise. People may be away on the Monday still and not be able to get online/call early. Or, people are off work so more likely to get up early and try to snag fd. Doesn't affect me too much as it will be Monday night here in Australia (7pm here is 4am EST).

Yeah, I find it interesting too. I would prefer it to drop before that time because all this waiting is just excruciating!

 

[ParryOttertheChosenBoy]

The first thing that pops out at me is you don't want to go Thanksgiving day. Super busy. My plans right now is to come in that next Monday which I've heard is pretty good. That week in December will be nice for crowds.

Well, 11/24 is a driving day so we'd check in that evening and the plan was to do some strategic planning on 11/25 and maybe 11/26, then hopefully crowds will be low on 11/27, 11/28, and 11/29?

Ideally I'd rather go during the first week or so of December though!

 

[randye1]

An earmarked agency agent that heard from reliable source.
That's the best I can share.

Again, rumor only

Thank you, please let us know if you hear any eligible dates

 

[KimBean]

We have been fortunate enough to do free dining every time we've gone to Disney. We have always tried to "do the math", but it can be difficult. The last time we went, we saved the receipts for every meal, both QS and TS, as well as all of the snacks. We would have definitely spent more OOP for the food than we would have even if we had to pay for the dining plan. Hope that helps. Full disclosure though...we have two boys that can ea... and one of them we have nicknamed "market price" when it comes to eating out.

I can't find Jackie O's original post so replying to a reply.

To determine if buying the DDP would be good for us I planned restaurants and then went through each menu. My daughters enjoy planning so we put on Disney music and made popcorn and have a fun night looking through all the menus. For my husband, who wouldn't want to pick 8 months in advance what he was eating, I just picked either the no brainer dish or just budgeted the high end for him. I didn't compare what we would get on the plan (drinks and desserts) I planned it like if we were getting what we wanted but eating normally which for us is water to drink and maybe 1-2 desserts for the TABLE to share if we liked them. For 10 days/ 9 nights it was $1750. That did not include any coffees, waters, or snacks while we are waking around. The DDP would be $2100. Considering all 4 of us will get at least 1 food snack a day and some waters or coffees I think at best the DDP puts us within $50. That is close enough just to get the DDP and everyone can order what they want and have the luxury of two snacks. If I were to figure the dining plan all the desserts, the special drinks you get at signatures, etc I know that I will spend more than the DDP costs. So win win. Still hoping for free dining though!!

Just remember when you are at narcoosses and they say sparkling water and after dinner coffee is included get them if you want them but you'll have to tip on the whole amount so if you don't really want or enjoy it politely decline.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I heard (and posted on here) yesterday that FD would be dropping the week after Easter, which is the 17th, from a TA facebook account. So, if other people are saying that, it might be so.

 

[Attracted to Beasts]

This is a link that will be super helpful to you @JackieO !!

This is the greatest link ever!

 

[itsjustryan]

Is it even 30% off value?

It just said up to 30%. I didn't look too close at the actual offer since it doesn't work for our dates.

 

[WDW_Firefighter]

Since there's a rumored release date floating around, I wonder when the rumor of what dates and resorts it will be good for will be leaked.