Should I book now, or wait for free dining?

[Brooknwdw]

HI,

I hope I'm asking this in the right forum..
We are going to Disney Sept. 20-27th counting on (fingers crossed) free dining to be announced to the General Public around the first of April...

here's my question: Should I book a ressie NOW, without the dining plan, at the resort we want (Pop) and then when the code comes out (assuming it does), call and have it added to my ressie?

OR, wait and book the whole package as soon as free dining is announced...

TIA!

 

[Ilovestitch]

I would book now and then wait for a discount. That way if no discount is released you at least have a room and you can cancel up to 45 days prior and get your deposit back if you don't want to go. What if you wait and then the hotel you want is sold out?

 

[Brooknwdw]

I would book now and then wait for a discount. That way if no discount is released you at least have a room and you can cancel up to 45 days prior and get your deposit back if you don't want to go. What if you wait and then the hotel you want is sold out?

Thanks. I find it hard to believe an entire resort would be sold out in September. We have been five times, and I've never had trouble getting a room as late as two weeks before arriving (in June!)

I think I may do that..go ahead and reserve a room at Pop (we've never stayed there), and hope to apply the code to my existing ressie..that would be ideal!

Thanks again, Brook

 

[RMulieri]

You can TRY to book it now and add the discount later.However, you may have to cancel and rebook.Disney only has a specified block number of rooms per resort for the free dining promo ,and they book fast , especially POP. Last year I called late the day free dining was announced and Pop rooms were gone,gone ,gone...and they would not just let me add on the free dining(already had a ressie),becuase the alotment of rooms were gone...I ended up at As movies instead...

 

[ShellyLynn3630]

We too are going to be there from Sept. 20th-28th and hoping for free dining. But I am not exspecting to get POP with free dining. I am just gonna go ahead and book with All Star Sports. I will be making my ADRs on the
21st of March. I really did want to get the POP, but I really do think with all the bounceback offers and such the chance of us getting it, even with Disney Visa is slim. I am also betting that Sports will probably be less crowded than POP? I guess I could be wrong though.

 

[raven69david]

We always book a year or so in advance at rack rate and wait for the codes to come out. This has worked 100% of the time and we always receive a good rate. Availability is the biggest reason we book early. It's hard to get a standard room at a Deluxe hotel during last week of value season in December. Once we get to the resort, we've received a free upgrade to savanna view room 100% of the time.

 

[n2mm]

HI,

I hope I'm asking this in the right forum..
We are going to Disney Sept. 20-27th counting on (fingers crossed) free dining to be announced to the General Public around the first of April...

here's my question: Should I book a ressie NOW, without the dining plan, at the resort we want (Pop) and then when the code comes out (assuming it does), call and have it added to my ressie?

OR, wait and book the whole package as soon as free dining is announced...

TIA!

As others have said, booking does not guarantee that you will get your ressie at the resort you want if free DDP comes out. Last year my DIL had booked rooms at Pop in hopes of the free DDP. It got announced and she called and there was no availability left at Pop (no you can't just get it added to your existing reservation, as others sometimes say). There actually has to be room availability then you can get it applied. She had to give up her reservations at Pop with no free ddp and move to the A/S Music to get the free DDP. So booking in advance does not really help you at all. It actually hurts you. However, if you plan to stay at Pop even if it means not getting the free dining, then yes book. Remember in order for a resort to be available for free ddp, there has to be rooms available to book. If the resort appears full (because of folks booking up the rooms they don't intend to keep if the promotion is not offered), then that individual resort will not be part of the promotion. Flexibility is the key to getting a promotion or code.

 

[Brooknwdw]

I just saw all the responses, and I thank you all for the advise.

My first choice is Pop, so I will book now and hope that when the Free dining code comes out, I can just apply it to my exisiting ressie. And yes I did do that last year (had a ressie at movies already booked with ddp..and applied the code to the ressie, didn't have to rebook). Hope it'll work again!

Brook

 

[Sandy321]

plus you get to make your dining adr's in the 180+10 with a ressie number -

I've done it this way, but when I call they cannot apply the code to my existing ressies, I had to rebook where they had availability - and none at POP - but I kept calling back till POP became available with the free dining!

 

[marciagms]

So can you go ahead and book your ADR even though you are still waiting on the free dining? We are DVC members and have never used the free dining. I would love to stay at Pop and have free dining. I am going to go ahead and book our room and I guess I can go ahead and book our dining reservations. Does this look like the normal for everyone? When the Free Dining comes available to everyone just call and get them to change to rack rates for that time so we can get Free Dining. I am so excited, we have never taken advantage of the Free Dining!!