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

[KimBean]

Driving this year too, question about strategy. Do you park at one park, then use the transportation system from park to park, or do you drive from park to park? I wouldn't think you would move the car from MK to Epcot but use the monorail system, or maybe even the boat to HS, but drive to AK? Curious how you do it?

I can't help you here. Until this trip we've always been one park a day people. I don't know if this will change either but I'm going to work up touring plans. I find it less complicate SB to just pick a day using Josh's calendar book 3 FPs and dinner ADR at same place. But I'm going to see if t would work. My DH is all about efficiency don the know if he would like travel times.

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

Can we all make a pact that we won't post fake rumors on April 1? I don't think I could handle it!!!

Ok, nothing on April 1st.........

 

[AnnetteS]

2018 UK free dining is also much more limited than US free dining. They are only offering 1 CS meal/per person/per day at values, CS plan for moderates, and regular DP for deluxes/villas. That would be a large step down for US free dining, although it might be an omen for this fall if free dining does come.

There is a 200 dollar giftcard as an extra at maoderate and higher..
You'"ll have to book an ultimate length of stay pass.for 1,2,3 weeks.... the cost are 497,522,547 dollar pp.
Since last year the memorymaker comes free with it. For the period you booked..you can walk in and out as much as you want.

We have more choices of resorts too
And the choice of Disney USA of Disney UK

In basic it stayed the same for last years

 

[ThistleMae]

Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to care about whether free dining was offered or not?

 

[stayathomehero]

Driving this year too, question about strategy. Do you park at one park, then use the transportation system from park to park, or do you drive from park to park? I wouldn't think you would move the car from MK to Epcot but use the monorail system, or maybe even the boat to HS, but drive to AK? Curious how you do it?

When I was a kid, we hopped and would drive from park to park. There was that option of taking the park transportation, which is all well and good...but then if you finish out your day at another park, you have to then take the Dis bus back to your original park to get your car, to then drive back. If I was driving, I'd hop with my car along.

Staying on site and using the bus system was awesome.

 

[Jellybass]

I haven't looked at the summer deal but understood it was a QS only. So if that includes a dessert, does that mean it is a snack credit, separate from your CS, or do you just get a dessert wherever you eat lunch? We will be using this next summer if offered, so interested in the answer to this.

I honestly don't know, it stated dessert in the booklet as part of the meal for quick service but I don't know how it's going to play out until we get there.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

It's great to have a car if you have a res at another resort. If you take disney transpo it takes 90 min to get to another resort. Plus driving saves a ton of money, especially for 7 people.

 

[stayathomehero]

Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to care about whether free dining was offered or not?

This is Disney we're talking about! Don't you mean more like this guy?

 

[Elsaalltheway]

Last year was the first time we used the PH (thanks to it being a requirement for FD) and we loved it! The kids said the didn't want to go without it now.

Smart Kids.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

All the times we've been to disney, we've never used park hopper before. Just always did 1 park per day. I assume it will be required for FD again this year, and we're trying to figure out how to take advantage of it. Like maybe extra magic morning hours wherever, than switch to another park? MK during the day on MVMCP days, than hop to EPCOT at night? Is that how you all do it?

 

[dwalterpsu]

All the times we've been to disney, we've never used park hopper before. Just always did 1 park per day. I assume it will be required for FD again this year, and we're trying to figure out how to take advantage of it. Like maybe extra magic morning hours wherever, than switch to another park? MK during the day on MVMCP days, than hop to EPCOT at night? Is that how you all do it?

For our family, the key to the park hopper is that it offers flexibility. Without the hopper, you have to msake sure that your dining reservations are in the park that you plan to be in on that day....or a different resort. Obviously, without the hopper you can't go to another park for a reservation. My wife really tries to plan our park days based on the crowd calendars. With the hopper, we can do dining reservations based on what's available and what we want, not based on the park that we will be in.

 

[scard192]

All the times we've been to disney, we've never used park hopper before. Just always did 1 park per day. I assume it will be required for FD again this year, and we're trying to figure out how to take advantage of it. Like maybe extra magic morning hours wherever, than switch to another park? MK during the day on MVMCP days, than hop to EPCOT at night? Is that how you all do it?

we always do MK on parties days, its less busier as those who don't have hoppers tend to stay away. Where we hop to depends on what shows are going on those nights. ROL is now going on at AK, where was Jingle Jam last year at DHS and always Illuminations. Sometimes we hop based on what we can get for extra FP+s

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

All the times we've been to disney, we've never used park hopper before. Just always did 1 park per day. I assume it will be required for FD again this year, and we're trying to figure out how to take advantage of it. Like maybe extra magic morning hours wherever, than switch to another park? MK during the day on MVMCP days, than hop to EPCOT at night? Is that how you all do it?

Yup. We LOVE having park hoppers, though like others our first few trips we didn't have them. We typically try to get to rope drop for the park that has morning EMH (which is always good for getting in a bunch of rides), then we'll grab lunch either at the park once it gets busy (say around 11-1130) or head back to the resort around the same time and eat there. Spend a few hours at the pool/napping, then go grab dinner somewhere and head to a park for the evening. This works wonderfully for us - we generally get the rides done that we want to do while avoiding the midday crowd madness/heat. We also stay at an Epcot-area resort and will often walk over to Epcot for a drink or bite to eat.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

All the times we've been to disney, we've never used park hopper before. Just always did 1 park per day. I assume it will be required for FD again this year, and we're trying to figure out how to take advantage of it. Like maybe extra magic morning hours wherever, than switch to another park? MK during the day on MVMCP days, than hop to EPCOT at night? Is that how you all do it?

We have APs so can hop at no additional expense, but choose not to anymore. When we did, it was generally for food or fireworks. But we are more relaxed tourers now, and prefer to do one park/day.

FP+ makes it easier to hop if you are an early riser. Rope drop one park, ride while the lines are short, then head out near mid-day to the park with your FP+ reservations. Lots of options, but it can become a lot of work.

 

[ustasmom]

When I was a kid, we hopped and would drive from park to park. There was that option of taking the park transportation, which is all well and good...but then if you finish out your day at another park, you have to then take the Dis bus back to your original park to get your car, to then drive back. If I was driving, I'd hop with my car along.

Staying on site and using the bus system was awesome.

There is an Express transportation system now and it goes from inside a park to inside another park. It is AWESOME!!!! If you hop, this saves SO MUCH TIME!!!!

 

[Wojodis]

Yup. We LOVE having park hoppers, though like others our first few trips we didn't have them. We typically try to get to rope drop for the park that has morning EMH (which is always good for getting in a bunch of rides), then we'll grab lunch either at the park once it gets busy (say around 11-1130) or head back to the resort around the same time and eat there. Spend a few hours at the pool/napping, then go grab dinner somewhere and head to a park for the evening. This works wonderfully for us - we generally get the rides done that we want to do while avoiding the midday crowd madness/heat. We also stay at an Epcot-area resort and will often walk over to Epcot for a drink or bite to eat.

. Sounds just like we do it. Rope drop then back to the resort to relax. Back out to dinner and more fun. Offers a lot more flexibility with ADRs as well as with fast pass tiers. It's definitely an exercise in time mgmt though. If you're not careful you can end up losing a lot of time. The new park to park transportation makes it a lot quicker I hear so we may change our usual routine up this year and try that out.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

. Sounds just like we do it. Rope drop then back to the resort to relax. Back out to dinner and more fun. Offers a lot more flexibility with ADRs as well as with fast pass tiers. It's definitely an exercise in time mgmt though. If you're not careful you can end up losing a lot of time. The new park to park transportation makes it a lot quicker I hear so we may change our usual routine up this year and try that out.

Looking forward to trying the new park-to-park transportation this November, although we don't often hop from park-to-park but instead usually go park to resort, rest, then resort to park. On the time management issue, since we stay at an Epcot resort we can walk to Epcot/DHS, which is a time saver. We usually cab/Uber to AK or MK in the mornings so that we aren't waiting for a bus. We typically take the bus back to the resort from AK. We sometimes monorail over to Epcot from MK and then walk through (grabbing a drink on the way) to our resort, or if we aren't feeling the walk will bus from MK to the resort. I do everything I can to avoid Disney buses.

 

[Moocabn2258]

There is an Express transportation system now and it goes from inside a park to inside another park. It is AWESOME!!!! If you hop, this saves SO MUCH TIME!!!!

What?!?! What is this you speak of and where can I find more information on it? I don't think I've heard of this but it sounds awesome!

 

[Wojodis]

Looking forward to trying the new park-to-park transportation this November, although we don't often hop from park-to-park but instead usually go park to resort, rest, then resort to park. On the time management issue, since we stay at an Epcot resort we can walk to Epcot/DHS, which is a time saver. We usually cab/Uber to AK or MK in the mornings so that we aren't waiting for a bus. We typically take the bus back to the resort from AK. We sometimes monorail over to Epcot from MK and then walk through (grabbing a drink on the way) to our resort, or if we aren't feeling the walk will bus from MK to the resort. I do everything I can to avoid Disney buses.

I think I'm going to love it too. Staying at the poly so instead of the long bus ride to AK from there or the transportation center, just shoot over to MK then take the express bus. I think it will save lots of time and more importantly, aggravation.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

What?!?! What is this you speak of and where can I find more information on it? I don't think I've heard of this but it sounds awesome!

There's a thread on the theme park attraction/strategy page. Note that this is an extra cost (nothing is free at Disney any more) but I can't recall the cost. Basically a bus picks you up inside one park and drops you off inside another.