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

[Sharongal74]

Ok new here- have read through the last 30 or so pages and have a question- so I apologize if this has been discussed before. We typically use a Disney travel agent Through Mousekatrips and in 2015 we went and ahead and booked our trip before FD was announced. then when FD came out- had it changed over but it was a major fiasco and nightmare. Our TA is also not convinced FD will even be offered. Saying just so much less incentive to offer it now- that rooms are selling like crazy in the fall.

This year our TA advised me to just wait and book if and when it comes out- I've also read this on other boards too bc if people are booking now then Disney won't see the need to offer many FD rooms. But it seems like everyone here has the mentality to book now and modify later?

This is so stressful!

Some people do pre book, some don't think it's a good idea. To me I don't prebook. I don't want to take the chance of not being able to modify, or having to wait on hold for hours. And I can understand the thought of Disney limiting due to availability. I got up last year at 4:10 am and had no issue getting it for 10 days in a standard room.

 

[Marianm]

So any reason I can't do this... If I go to Target and get gift cards using my Red card, I will get 5% off the gift card. Then load those into a Disney Vacation Account and get 3 - $20 cards for ($3000.) If so that could save me $220. Which would put me $230 away from having the $$ for my trip.

I never even thought to load them into the Disney vacation account! Brilliant

 

[Disneylover99]

So as long as there's an AP holder in my room, we are eligible for the AP room discount? And is the TIW card really $200??

I thought it was $150.

 

[Cbtexan04]

Yes you can I do it now I use my red card debit card by disney gift cards and throw the gift cards on my disney vacation account.

Just to confirm 100%, we can use the target redcard to get 5% back, even on gift cards?

 

[babydoll65]

Some one can correct me but wasn't FD the last few years

I don't recall anyone coming completly empty handed. Many made changes. Upped a room catagory, added a day or moved dates, switched resorts. You need to ask what is more important FD or the resort, dates, catagory.

I was just asking about the minimum requirements for free dining. It has always been a three day stay with two day tickets. In 2015 they made the parkhoppers a requirement but someone posted that it now requires a four day parkhopper though that is not what was being rumored. Free dining has actually been around since 2005

 

[brooke789]

So any reason I can't do this... If I go to Target and get gift cards using my Red card, I will get 5% off the gift card. Then load those into a Disney Vacation Account and get 3 - $20 cards for ($3000.) If so that could save me $220. Which would put me $230 away from having the $$ for my trip.

Can we open a vacation club account t before we have a reservation and also pay our deposit from there?

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

I have exactly one experience with free dining, but here's what I experienced:

We went in November of 2015, and historically November was low. However, when we went, we had 10/10 crowd levels on days that were predicted to be 3, 4, or even 1 out of 10. I don't know if this was because of Free Dining, or due to a shift of Fall becoming more and more popular (I remember going Thanksgiving week in the 90s, and WDW was a ghost town! Hah!).

Anyone else have insight to this, or did I just go on a flukey busy week? (It was Nov. 11th through the 18th of 2015.)

We went last year from November 13 to 21 and the crowds weren't that busy until November 20 and 21. Those 2 days at MK were so crowded we ended up just doing FP and then shows to et out of the crowds. If you are not doing FD and are flexible with dates I would recommend trying to go when Fd is not offered.

Edited to add: The busy crowds on the 20th and 21st might have been due to FD and the start of some peoples Thanksgiving break. If you are flexible with dates and aren't doing FD, I would suggest starting you trip a day or 2 before FD. That will help in securing harder to get ADR's.

 

[babydoll65]

I am getting so anxious! I hope DH finds out about this job next week so I can try change my BB if needed before all the crazy happens! If not, talk to me about AKL....I'm afraid that it's so far from everything (currently have FD BB at WL) I'm thinking if FD drops before I know what I'm doing I may try to book FD at AKL since it's "only" a few hundred more than my current BB. Anyone stay here? Should I really splurge and go for FD at YC/BC or is AKL ok? I know its Disney and they're all great but we spend so much more time at MK that AKL being far makes me anxious!

I'm booked with the bb offer at wilderness lodge in September and I definitely wouldn't change it for AK lodge. If you make any resort changes at this point, you will end up paying the increased ticket prices.

 

[Causin_a_commotion]

Just did the math for several scenarios. I used a 20% RO discount for one, 25% for another, at CBR. Doing rack rate, with a 4 day PH ticket to get QS is literally the MOST EXPENSIVE scenario for us. ***. So ridiculous. I am hoping hoping HOPING that mods get the DDP and not QS... and if we do get QS at mod, hoping that the RO is 25% because we will do that and use the $450 gcs we are getting from Disney for our food instead. That would be awesome.

 

[minniemous]

I do not see a modify reservation button under my reservation..I see "change reservation". In the past It said "modify". Is this the same?

 

[TropicalDIS]

I have stayed off site before and honestly with planning it isn't all that bad - especially when you factor the bed and room is much nicer for a cheaper price. I stay at Hilton and earn points plus can walk over to DS they have buses same as on site the only draw back is fp booking is only 30 days and now they don't participate in emh - when I stayed last they still did. But if you plan for it it's totally doable and honestly I rather get my Disney fix and save money then risk over spending or possibly not going at all

I've never stayed on site and i've been going to Disney since i was a kid. We always stayed off-site and to me, it always will and always be the most magical place on earth.

Maybe it's because i've never stayed on site, and believe me i've wanted to, but i have never considered my vacation any less special because we aren't staying on resort. Never made a difference to me, but this is what i grew up with. I can totally understand how people who grew up with staying on resort might feel differently.

 

[momto4obkids]

I do not see a modify reservation button under my reservation..I see "change reservation". In the past It said "modify". Is this the same?

Yes, it's the same thing.

 

[tomeaine]

Just to confirm 100%, we can use the target redcard to get 5% back, even on gift cards?

Correct..make sure your buying disneyworld gift cards and not Disney store..I dont think they sell Disney store cards at target but just double check as they will not work at the parks.
In the glory days we would be able to flip cards..essentially buying target gift cards through ebay at a discount for target..purchase an ebay gift card with your new target gift card and apply your redcard for a 5% discount then rinse and re-peat..the fun began when you could also gain 10% ebay bucks for your purchase and flip those for more gift cards..in the end you would accumulate "free" money and make one last purchase for Disney gift cards.

 

[mary219]

A room at POP must be available for FD in your category, it is considered a new reservation. Just because you already have a room there does not give you a leg up. Just an FYI.

thank you . So it's a new reservation . So keep The old and see if I can get new one . Seems like best option at this point .

So does this mean a whole new reservation , or can i use the modify reservation link on the Disney page when i look at my current reservation?

 

[uchi]

Is everyone booking right now? Lots of rooms that were available yesterday are gone now. No availability at all for POR for our dates, 09/29 to 10/06. And almost all other resorts have only the most expensive categories available. Anyone know what's going on? And also, are those dates typically that crowded? According to different crowd calendars they were supposed to be moderate and low crowds, but is doesn't seem like that based on resort availability.

 

[menotyou21]

In regards to the Disney Vacation Account:
I believe they make it slightly confusing, but their ultimate business standpoint is to not give up $20 per $1K for someone at the last minute. Each $20 GC is tied to each $1K.

Let's create an example to make it clear:
1. Your trip will cost $5,200
2. You open the DVA on April 10th
3. Your 120 days (DVA being open) is August 8th
4. Your trip start date is November 28th
5. Your trip must be paid off by October 29th (estimate)
6. You put funds into your DVA between April 10th and October 25th
7. You pay your entire $5,000 ($200 deposit already paid) on October 25th, with all $5K coming from your DVA account. You could then turn around on October 26th and request DVA to send you your $100 in GCs ($20x5)


Here is what I'm doing. I opened the account and put the trip year as far out as it would let me. I then selected a "one time contribution" of $10 ($10 is the minimum contribution). The reason I did this is because you must have the account open at least 120 days prior to paying for your trip. For example, my trip is Sep 2-9, 2017. It must be paid for by Aug 3rd. My DVA had to be open at least 120 days prior to Aug 3. An important note: Do NOT pay on the actual vacation until after the account has been open 120 days or else you will not receive the $20 GC per $1000. I asked Disney about this 5 different ways because their literature is confusing on this aspect. Also, always remember, this is your money, and Disney allows you to do whatever you want with it. You can use it towards a trip next week if you wanted. You could also request them to refund the money, but note that it will be refunded in the form in which you've contributed.

Use the Target red card to get a 5% discount on Disney GC purchases. With the 5% instant savings at Target and the $20 per $1000 (2%) GC from Disney, I'm essentially saving 7% on the trip.

 

[babydoll65]

I have a quick rack rate question, as I want to make sure my comparison are correct as I look at FD vs RO.

We will arrive Sept 9th, so right now there are not any special offers for those dates. So the current online quote I am getting for our room in Sept should be the rack rate correct?

By my calculations...FD still prices out a little less, but I want to make sure I'm figuring the room only discount correctly. Thanks!

Yes, the rate your looking at now for September's dates are rack rate. I'm going the same time

 

[Ybeads]

No reason you cannot and we do something similar.

I live in Pittsburgh and here is what we do to save money as every penny counts. This actually adds up as well and is based on a $5000 trip for 3 adults and 3 kids.

We use out AMEX card to buy the Disney gift cards at Giant Eagle. By doing this we get 5% cash back at grocery stores ($250 back). We also get 20 cents off per gallon of gas at GetGo per $50 spent. When we are done we end up with almost $20 we can use for gas where we can get 30 gallons per. That gives us $600 worth of gas that we get as well. Overall we save around $850 dollars.

Just wanted to say from Pittsburgh too!

 

[FinnsMom7]

Is everyone booking right now? Lots of rooms that were available yesterday are gone now. No availability at all for POR for our dates, 09/29 to 10/06. And almost all other resorts have only the most expensive categories available. Anyone know what's going on? And also, are those dates typically that crowded? According to different crowd calendars they were supposed to be moderate and low crowds, but is doesn't seem like that based on resort availability.

Chances are now that rumors have surfaced people decided to go ahead and start booking with hopes to snag FD - what people don't seem to get is having an existing ressie means NOTHING for FD - in fact is just lowers chances of it even being offered at a particular hotel. I have gotten FD 2 times with no issue - in fact booked weeks later and other times last min trips with no availability issues, for some reason this year seems all off but there are 2 Mods under construction and a chunk of POP rooms out of inventory.

 

[Ybeads]

We went last year from November 13 to 21 and the crowds weren't that busy until November 20 and 21. Those 2 days at MK were so crowded we ended up just doing FP and then shows to et out of the crowds. If you are not doing FD and are flexible with dates I would recommend trying to go when Fd is not offered.

Edited to add: The busy crowds on the 20th and 21st might have been due to FD and the start of some peoples Thanksgiving break. If you are flexible with dates and aren't doing FD, I would suggest starting you trip a day or 2 before FD. That will help in securing harder to get ADR's.

We went in November 2015 and 2016 and were there the 15th-21st in 2016. We did MK the 19th and 20th (Saturday and Sunday) and had no crowd problems at all! Even had ADRs at BOG both days.