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

[Tom P.]

Years ago you would get a round of mini golf included with the package.

I believe all Magic Your Way packages still come with vouchers for one round of mini golf (before 4 p.m.). If you have Park Hopper Plus, however, you can use any of your "plus" entitlements for additional rounds of mini golf.

 

[squirrel]

Years ago you would get a round of mini golf included with the package.

I think you still do. I got my booklet from my Savory Summer Offer (1 CS meal per person per night) and it says you get mini golf.

 

[sharonabe]

Someday I'd like to do a land and sea package, I think I'd have to do the concierge room on the cruise for sure!!! My cousin did and said it was awesome, they stayed at AOA

That's what we're doing, but not with concierge. It will be my second Disney cruise, and I don't see a need for concierge.
We're doing 4 days at the parks and a 3-night cruise. We do have the military discount for the land part, so for my family of four it will be right at $5000 for 5 nights at CBR, park tickets, and cruise. We'll still have to pay OOP for food while at Disney, but since we know we're getting GREAT food on the cruise, we're okay with just QS at the parks.

 

[vever]

If FD is not available at your resort/room category when you make that modification, yes, you could lose FD. WDW no longer simply let's you drop dates from an existing reservation. Those new dates actually have to be in current FD inventory in order to book them.


You won't need to transfer anything. ADR's aren't tied to a resort reservation.

So if I booked a reservation from the 11th to the 17th and free dining came out on the 14th I would not be able to modify my reservation online? I can't figure out if I'm better off modifying my reservation by starting it from the day free dining is supposed to apply and booking the previous days as room only or waiting till it drops to modify online...

 

[DisneyDreamers3]

We are already booked on a FD BB at Pop in September but I will be trying for FD for a friend who is hoping to join us. Now that it looks like a 4 day PH ticket will be required this changes things a bit. My friend was planning to upgrade her tickets to a Florida resident mid-week annual pass (if I am able to get her FD), but the cost of that pass will be quite a bit less than the 4 day PH ticket. Would she be able to get a credit for the difference?

Good luck everyone! April 24 will be here before we know it!

 

[agassizsmile]

Checked pirate rooms at CBR Aug 24/-Sept 2 and no availability.Do you think a Disney has them reserved for FD!How much are they usually and they only sleep 4 right?I hope they plan on offering some rooms for five it wouldn't make sense not to

 

[Mollymovacca]

We're booked sept 23-30 so dining should be covered. Staying at cbr. With the gift card deal. Two adults and two paid children. One two year old. We only booked mod because we wanted the character dinners. With the gift card would it be better for us to stay where we are and upgrade dining plan or go to a value and upgrade? What do you so all to crunch number

we are at CBR 20-27!! I am wondering the exact same things you are! Don't know if I did it correctly but with how I crunched numbers CBR was only about $200 more than pop. I really want the queen beds bc sharding a full with a 5yo that keeps crazy is no fun!

 

[Ybeads]

I have been looking at numbers all day today. If we stay inside Disney we will have to use the RO discount. We are Florida residents and the 4 day park ticket and add ons are just to high for us. It is way cheaper for us to buy the 4 day PH Florida residents tickets, RO discount and still looking at paying OOP or getting the CS dining plan. The OOP and CS dining plan are almost the same price. We will probably get the dining plan. I have a AP and can add the dining plan on to our reservations without having to add tickets. Why is nothing easy?

Lol! We probably loom

Oh I am so sorry I didn't mean to scare anyone! Just book FP and avoid MK on the weekends and you will be fine! From the 13th until the 19 it wasn't crowded at all and we had very little waits. We did not follow everyones advice to stay away from MK on the weekend.

We were there at the same time and at MK on the weekend. We really didn't find it bad at all! "Crowded" is a bit of personal perspective as well as obvious factual numbers. What is even more interesting is that according to a lot of Disney sites, MK is most crowded on a Monday since many people travel over the weekend and then head right to MK. Let's be realistic.... Disney is crowded all the time

 

[Disneylover99]

Checked pirate rooms at CBR Aug 24/-Sept 2 and no availability.Do you think a Disney has them reserved for FD!How much are they usually and they only sleep 4 right?I hope they plan on offering some rooms for five it wouldn't make sense not to

Pirate rooms are available for those dates. They are about $269 plus tax. If you're inputting your info. as a family of five, they do not come up as available.

 

[Icicles]

Planning first on-site stay at Disney... I'm currently booked at CBR with GC. If free dining comes out and I change my reservation to include free dining promo, would that be considered a new reservation and cause me to lose the CG? I know you can combine the 2, just want to make sure I can do it online without having to call in.

 

[uchi]

I actually have about the same dates so I was checking them yesterday (9/30-10/7) and I was seeing Very VERY little availability in deluxes and mods. With the mod getting only QSDP I shifted interest to the deluxes and nothing but the most expensive room categories anywhere. I choose not to vacation in a construction zone so CSR and CBR are not for me and POR didnt have anything for my dates either soooo.....It looks like me and free dining are not a match.

Exactly! What is going on with those dates though?

 

[KimBean]

Only if you book online. You can call or have a TA book a package for you with room and the ddp and no tickets at all. I have done this myself and we didn't need to buy any tickets and we are not AP holders either. We have done this multiple times. I just have my TA book it.

Great info thanks for clarifying.

 

[pixleyyy]

Sorry if this was discussed but don't want to go back over the last 50 pages. LOL Was there ever any rumor whether or not POR would be included with FD?

 

[Kindermouse]

Exactly! What is going on with those dates though?

I'm a little nervous that it is going to be wall to wall people. I had hoped that being the week before columbus day the crowds wouldnt be too bad but from the looks of availability its could be

 

[Kindermouse]

Sorry if this was discussed but don't want to go back over the last 50 pages. LOL Was there ever any rumor whether or not POR would be included with FD?

There seems to be conflicting info about POR-some TA websites day it will be included others say its out, while still others are saying its in but only for august and September. I guess we just cant know for sure until it drops.

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

Lol! We probably loom

We were there at the same time and at MK on the weekend. We really didn't find it bad at all! "Crowded" is a bit of personal perspective as well as obvious factual numbers. What is even more interesting is that according to a lot of Disney sites, MK is most crowded on a Monday since many people travel over the weekend and then head right to MK. Let's be realistic.... Disney is crowded all the time

Yes Disney does seem to be crowded all the time but on the 21st it was the worst we've ever seen! You are correct about Mondays the 21st was actually a Monday and it was way worse then the weekend. I kept thinking our last day was a Sunday but it was a Monday. We went in February once and it was so slow not busy at all. We do drive 18 hours to get there so we don't want to chance driving in a snow storm now that we have kids in school and can't go at the last minute anymore! Even if it's busy Disney is still fun!!!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

so all day I've been crunching numbers. Allstar music suit (7, 8, or 9 nights) pop standard and pop preferred (7. 8 or 9 nights) My DH has just started seeing the music suites as a possibility. He likes the queen bed for him and I, the extra bathroom, and the teenager having his own space LOL. I was very iffy with how old I though music rooms were but they look to have been updated recently. It is now in the figures and my notebooks full.

 

[jessiegirl1982]

We are already booked on a FD BB at Pop in September but I will be trying for FD for a friend who is hoping to join us. Now that it looks like a 4 day PH ticket will be required this changes things a bit. My friend was planning to upgrade her tickets to a Florida resident mid-week annual pass (if I am able to get her FD), but the cost of that pass will be quite a bit less than the 4 day PH ticket. Would she be able to get a credit for the difference?

Good luck everyone! April 24 will be here before we know it!

Disney will definitely not give a credit! She can upgrade her pass as long the ticket is more. If it is less, they might not let her do it, or if they do, she would lose out on the difference. We have DL AP's and will buy 7 day park hoppers, and will upgrade to the Premier pass (will have to pay $70 for the upgrade). If we have to buy the PH+ to get FD, we might have to buy the 6 day pass because I don't want to be in the situation where Disney owes me money.

 

[Felicis]

I know it will be buried somewhere in the pages, but much quicker to ask again - what is the cost per day to upgrade to TS if it is QS at the mod when FD comes out?

 

[JanelleB]

Maybe this will help-

Went last Christmas (2016) had rooms at Coronado, My room was December 9-15. Kids rooms were December 10-16. Free dining started December 10- so the kids rooms (these are young adults) I was able to modify online and they were done. Because December 9- did not fall under the free dining plan, I could not modify online. I ended up doing a room only for the 9th, then booked a new room December 10-15 to get the free dining.

The frenzy will be the first day the free dining goes live- I was on the phone for 3 hours on hold (as were many) and ended up being disconnected. I called again a day later and was able to get the 10-15 booked.

When we arrived- we did not use much of the QS credits thinking we would run out to soon-but really did well with the TS credits because we did heavy character buffets etc. Lesson learned- use it daily-ended up converting QS to snacks and used them for Mickey Mouse lollipops for the younger kids-100 bucks worth

The rapid refill mugs are excellent for morning coffee and when we did get breakfast at the resort- we made sure we got a bottled beverage that is included with the QS breakfast to take to the parks (use refill mugs for breakfast beverage)

Note- the resorts do fill up, but at full capacity on the resort side does not mean full at the parks.

If you do stay at the value resorts and get the QS dining plan- upgrade and pay the difference to get the dining plan- little money and 1 TS credit per person per day.

The free dining was a win for us as we had 7 people- big savings. If we did not have the kids and extra rooms- I would hunt for the room discount.

Lastly- The free dining plan offer- took quite a bit of time to run out of rooms. I do remember trying to add on an additional room in July-for some friends and it was still available.

My only concern is there is no availability at CBR. My TA said she h

Not necessarily. Two standard value rooms could be cheaper then a Pirate or Royal room.

I priced out 2 rooms at a value resort. It was $1000 more for our family of 5