split stay and free dining

[renae3]

Hi everyone, I have a question that I hope someone out there can answer. if we do a split stay, 4 days at por and 4 days at wilderness lodge and want to upgrade to the deluxe plan, how does that work? Do you still get free dining for 8 days? Thanks so much.

 

[safetymom]

Each resort stay is a separate reservation. If you want free dining on both you would have to purchase tickets for everyone on each reservation.

 

[tinka-belle]

You would have 2 completely different reservations, and would have to get at a minimum 2 day base tickets for everyone for each reservation for FD, or at least a one day base ticket for paid dining plans. This is for the normal reservations, military, AP, and DVC have different rules for some plans, but not for the FD.

Do the math. Since ticket prices are front loaded this may not be a cost effective way of doing your vacation.

One option is to get all your ticket days with your first reservation, and the DDP. Admission tickets expire 14 days from first use, so those can be carried forward to your second reservation. Then use a % off promo for a room only res for the second stay. Your dining plan would expire at midnight on the day you check out of your FIRST resort though, so no DDP for the second resort.

The FD promo doesn't work well with split stays with the ticket purchase requirement.

 

[Cafeen]

They would be 2 seperate reservations. For each you will have to meet the requirements of free dining, and this year, that means buying at least 2day park tickets for everyone on the reservation. This could erode the savings of the free dining pretty quick. (If it's 3 nights, you'd average about 120$ savings per adult for FD, while spending about 150$ per adult for the tickets)

You could book the WL portion with a room discount (There's a 40% on deluxes during the same time period as free dining) and choose to buy the dining plan if you wish, though you'd still have to buy 1 day park tickets for each person (requirement for dining plan) for the 2nd reservation, which would cost about 80$ per person.

Lastly, you could book a room-only with the same discount above for the 2nd stay, and just extend the first stay's park tickets to cover both portions. This would leave you paying OOP for meals though.

Depending on how you're planning to eat, either the 2nd or the 3rd would be the best bet.

 

[TDC Nala]

Yep, you could not book free dining on both reservations without buying at least a two-day park ticket for everyone on each reservation. These are considered completely separate reservations and you can't carry over the dining plan from the first stay beyond the first day - you'd have to get an entirely new plan with the second reservation.

Because Disney tickets get cheaper the longer you buy them for, this isn't a cost-effective way to purchase tickets and may negate any savings you would get on the free dining.

If you are booking MYW packages, you can't even get paid dining on the second reservation unless you buy at least a one-day park ticket for everyone.

The best dining deal for you would be to forego the split reservations and stay in one resort the whole time with free dining. If you must split the reservations, consider no dining plan for the second stay, or consider a room discount while buying the one-day tickets with the second stay, paying for the dining plan, and using the one-day tickets for admission or upgrading on a future trip.

To upgrade free basic dining to deluxe, it would cost $30 per night per adult and $9 per night per child.