OMG! I almost lost my Free Dining!

[Dizneydaz]

I can't beleive I (almost) did this! I got my reservation documents out this a.m. to call and pay my balance for Sept. trip. I had written it on my calendar-circled with a big mickey face-as due July 28th. I figured I'd go ahead and pay it a day early since I get 6 months to pay it with Disney Visa card anyway. Good thing I did!

When I looked at my confirmation it said balance due July 26th-that was yesterday! I checked another confirmation I received-and it said July 28th so I wasn't crazy just possibled screwed! What I did was I had added days to my original reservation and hadn't noticed the balance due date had changed. Originally we were going Sept. 11-16th. We changed it to Sept. 9-19-mostly to get the best air fair deal. Soooo, that moved my balance due date up 2 days and I never noticed.

My heart was pounding when I called to pay since I figured I really messed up and would really have to beg and plead to keep my ressie (and FREE DINING!). Luckily it wasn't a problem and my ressie is safe and secure (and paid for) Though I have to admit that it took me awhile to get my heart rate back to normal.

I was so worried that most of my ADRs would go unused since if we had to pay to eat, like we usually do, we would do less Disney Dining and more eating in our room and at local eateries (like McD's and Bahama Breeze). I am sooooo relieved that I just had to post it here -I knew my fellow Disboarders would understand how I felt-thanks for listening!

Oh, and more good news, we are less than 45 days out!

 

[momrek06]

WOW...you must be so relieved...

Now, can I ask you a question and hopefully I am not being OT w/this...

I have seen sooo many people on the DIS talk about FREE DDP. How exactly do you qualify for it? I am understanding that it is around Sept-ish! Would you be able to just give me a quick idea of how one comes to getting FREE dining at DISNEY?

TIA.

 

[munchkin bunchkin]

That's right ... this is the place to vent -we are always ready to lend an ear,shoulder or hand !Glad you got it under control !

 

[munchkin bunchkin]

WOW...you must be so relieved...

Now, can I ask you a question and hopefully I am not being OT w/this...

I have seen sooo many people on the DIS talk about FREE DDP. How exactly do you qualify for it? I am understanding that it is around Sept-ish! Would you be able to just give me a quick idea of how one comes to getting FREE dining at DISNEY?

TIA.

It's part of a package deal that Disney was offerring (can't remember exact date) - but the it is no longer available .Disney doesn't offer it often so when it comes out -packages go quickly.I'm sure more info will be provide by other Dis'ers.

 

[Dizneydaz]

They offered it back in April for stays during Sept/Oct. ish time period (hurricane season) They also offered it last year and we did it then too! The offer expired, I think, around June 25th. We booked ours back in April during the Disney Visa early booking window.

Now they are offering reduced rates on lodging during the time we are going. Now $64 a night, we're paying $79/night. So, really our free dining is now costing us $150 ($15 for 10 nights). I'm saying this so you won't feel too bad about not getting free dining but we are happy to pay rack rate to get free dining. We have done DDP twice now. Jan. 05 paid for it, and Sept. 05 for free. We prefer the for free deal!

Hopefully they'll offer it again next year. If they do, we'll be back too!

 

[Belle_20]

Yeah Disney offered the free dining around May or June and the packages did go by quick. We didn't exactly get the resort I wanted for the week, but hey we're going!! woo hoo!

 

[ntsammy5]

I can't beleive I (almost) did this! I got my reservation documents out this a.m. to call and pay my balance for Sept. trip. I had written it on my calendar-circled with a big mickey face-as due July 28th. I figured I'd go ahead and pay it a day early since I get 6 months to pay it with Disney Visa card anyway. Good thing I did!

Mine wasn't due until early August, but I just paid it after reading this. I don't want to miss free DDP either. Especially for 5 adults for 10 days!

 

[momrek06]

They offered it back in April for stays during Sept/Oct. ish time period (hurricane season) They also offered it last year and we did it then too! The offer expired, I think, around June 25th. We booked ours back in April during the Disney Visa early booking window.

Now they are offering reduced rates on lodging during the time we are going. Now $64 a night, we're paying $79/night. So, really our free dining is now costing us $150 ($15 for 10 nights). I'm saying this so you won't feel too bad about not getting free dining but we are happy to pay rack rate to get free dining. We have done DDP twice now. Jan. 05 paid for it, and Sept. 05 for free. We prefer the for free deal!

Hopefully they'll offer it again next year. If they do, we'll be back too!

SO let me get this straight....every single meal B, L, D is FREE. Any restaurant at WDW you can just walk into and bingo FREE!!!!!!! YIKES, that is a great deal. I cannot even imagine the savings w/o paying for any meals...that is fabulous. Le Cellier, JIKO, two of my fav's!!! Is there a limit at each meal or do you just eat away...no stopping...this is too good to be true!!!

 

[missmun52]

SO let me get this straight....every single meal B, L, D is FREE. Any restaurant at WDW you can just walk into and bingo FREE!!!!!!! YIKES, that is a great deal. I cannot even imagine the savings w/o paying for any meals...that is fabulous. Le Cellier, JIKO, two of my fav's!!! Is there a limit at each meal or do you just eat away...no stopping...this is too good to be true!!!

Not really.

Your getting the Plus dining feature added for free which gives you one table service, one counter service, and one snack credit per day per person on the plan. It is not all but most resturants. (those that participate in the plan)

To add this plan to my Packet it would cost about $400 of me and DH and paying OOP for food would have cost us more.

So its like getting Lunch And dinner for free although you can use the credits any way you want at any time and however many you want any given day.(Ie: if we go 7 days we each have 7ts 7cs and 7 sancks we could use all seven of each the first day if we wanted or just use one a day) and for signiture resturants like jiko and such they take 2 of your credits.

 

[robinb]

SO let me get this straight....every single meal B, L, D is FREE. Any restaurant at WDW you can just walk into and bingo FREE!!!!!!! YIKES, that is a great deal. I cannot even imagine the savings w/o paying for any meals...that is fabulous. Le Cellier, JIKO, two of my fav's!!! Is there a limit at each meal or do you just eat away...no stopping...this is too good to be true!!!

I wish! The way it works is that you get one credit to use at a Counter Service restaurant (like Cosmic Ray's), one credit to use at a Table Service restaurant (like Le Cellier) and one snack credit to use for most stuff under $4 (like a Mickey ice cream bar) per person per day. You can use your credits for breakfast, lunch or dinner as you choose. Your credits are pooled so you can eat at two (or even three!) table service restaurants one day and two counter service restaurants they next. "Signature" restaurants like Jiko's are 2 table service credits. It's not as good as you think, but still an awesome deal! If you have more questions, go over to the Dining Plan sub-group under the restaurtants board .

 

[momrek06]

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REPLIES

 

[Evil Queen]

I'm a bit worried about my reservations too, I just got off the phone with Disney and they told me not to worry.

I went to pay the majority of what was left to be paid yesterday. My bank put the funds on their authorized hold, and Disney site shows it paid.

Went to look at my bank balance this morning (to make sure there was enough to finish paying it off) and the hold was gone and nothing posted to my account. The money was back in my account.

I called Disney and she said wait a couple of days to see if it still gets pulled out of my account. But was assured it wouldn't mess up my reservations. Thank goodness I have until Wednesday to get it paid off.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

I wish! The way it works is that you get one credit to use at a Counter Service restaurant (like Cosmic Ray's), one credit to use at a Table Service restaurant (like Le Cellier) and one snack credit to use for most stuff under $4 (like a Mickey ice cream bar) per person per day. You can use your credits for breakfast, lunch or dinner as you choose. Your credits are pooled so you can eat at two (or even three!) table service restaurants one day and two counter service restaurants they next. "Signature" restaurants like Jiko's are 2 table service credits. It's not as good as you think, but still an awesome deal! If you have more questions, go over to the Dining Plan sub-group under the restaurtants board .

Aren't they offering this again? It's the Magic Your Way package with Dining, right? My fiance just booked our vacation for over New Years at Pop Century and we added this option.

 

[Dina]

SO let me get this straight....every single meal B, L, D is FREE. Any restaurant at WDW you can just walk into and bingo FREE!!!!!!! YIKES, that is a great deal. I cannot even imagine the savings w/o paying for any meals...that is fabulous. Le Cellier, JIKO, two of my fav's!!! Is there a limit at each meal or do you just eat away...no stopping...this is too good to be true!!!

Not exactly. It's good, but not that good. You get one counter service meal, one table service meal and one snack (something $4 and under) per night of your stay. There are a few signature restaurants (Jiko, Artist Point, California Grill, Cinderella's Royal Table, Narcoosee's, Hoop Dee Doo and Coral Reef) which require two table service credits.

EDITING-- SORRY, I DIDN'T SEE THAT PEOPLE ALREADY RESPONDED TO THIS QUESTION.

 

[robinb]

Aren't they offering this again? It's the Magic Your Way package with Dining, right? My fiance just booked our vacation for over New Years at Pop Century and we added this option.

The "Free Dining" and the MYW Dining Plan are the same thing. The dining part was offered for free for MYW packages during half of August and all of September, but it had to be booked before mid-June (I think).

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

The "Free Dining" and the MYW Dining Plan are the same thing. The dining part was offered for free for MYW packages during half of August and all of September, but it had to be booked before mid-June (I think).

Ahhhh that's awesome! I'm quite happy to pay for it though... gives us one less thing to worry about!

 

[lovetoscrap]

Any restaurant at WDW you can just walk into and bingo FREE!!!!!!!

Also, for the TS meals you may have a lot of trouble finding a restaurant you can "just walk into" Free Dining or not! But, I suspect that during Free Dining there will be a lot of "nonDisers" that find out they can't use all their TS credits because there are no ADR's available and they didn't know they needed them, or didn't think it was important. Especially for the Signature places and Character meals.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I can't beleive I (almost) did this! I got my reservation documents out this a.m. to call and pay my balance for Sept. trip. I had written it on my calendar-circled with a big mickey face-as due July 28th. I figured I'd go ahead and pay it a day early since I get 6 months to pay it with Disney Visa card anyway. Good thing I did!

When I looked at my confirmation it said balance due July 26th-that was yesterday! I checked another confirmation I received-and it said July 28th so I wasn't crazy just possibled screwed! What I did was I had added days to my original reservation and hadn't noticed the balance due date had changed. Originally we were going Sept. 11-16th. We changed it to Sept. 9-19-mostly to get the best air fair deal. Soooo, that moved my balance due date up 2 days and I never noticed.

My heart was pounding when I called to pay since I figured I really messed up and would really have to beg and plead to keep my ressie (and FREE DINING!). Luckily it wasn't a problem and my ressie is safe and secure (and paid for) Though I have to admit that it took me awhile to get my heart rate back to normal.

I was so worried that most of my ADRs would go unused since if we had to pay to eat, like we usually do, we would do less Disney Dining and more eating in our room and at local eateries (like McD's and Bahama Breeze). I am sooooo relieved that I just had to post it here -I knew my fellow Disboarders would understand how I felt-thanks for listening!

Oh, and more good news, we are less than 45 days out!

I can't believe you broke the first cardinal rule of Disney packages... ALWAYS count your days and highlight your calendar!! Tsk tsk! To be fair, I have used the 'calendaring error' excuse myself, but only in legal proceedings, never for anything as important as my WDW package ressies!

Glad you're back on track!

 

[winterman]

Now, can I ask you a question and hopefully I am not being OT w/this...

I have seen sooo many people on the DIS talk about FREE DDP. How exactly do you qualify for it? I am understanding that it is around Sept-ish! Would you be able to just give me a quick idea of how one comes to getting FREE dining at DISNEY?




To answer your question - last April Disney began offering the free dining package on their website and in ads in the travel sections of major Sunday newspapers. (We saw it in the BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE but not in the Maine papers) This is the second year in a row although last year it started as an offer not available to the public. ( We got an e-mail from Disney) This year the offer was extended for 2 or 3 weeks, but expired late in June. We loved it last year and changed our vacation plans to do it again this Sept. I highly recommend it. I would suggest that next April you start watching the papers and Disneyworld.com. Hopefully they will do it again !!!

 

[mickeyfan2]

Glad all worked out for you. This type of senario is why I never pay on the last day but pay way early. No chance to screw up my reservations.