When did the free dining plan expire?

[Lora]

I just told a friend who has WDW resort reservations about the dining plan. I didn't know much about it, but told her she should call and check about it. Now I'm reading about it being expired. Can someone fill me in on what it was and when it was offered? I'd like to email her and let her know what I find out. She thought it sounded too good to be true - and it looks like it is for her.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Your trip had to be, August 21or 24, not sure what date, until October 4. Travel between those dates. If you paid rack rate plus tickets, the MYW package , you got the dining plan for free. The time to book it, expired on July 3rd. We will be there the end of September.

 

[Beauty]

it really does sound to good to be true but our package with 4 adults and 9 nights at pop century, hopper passes to all the parks plus 5 plus passes for water parks and disney quest and all of our meals which includes one snack per person a day, one counter service meal plus dessert per person per day and one table service meal which includes appetizer, meal, dessert, drink and gratuity per person per day.

its amazing.......our cost was 2,046.72. our dates are also in september. we can't wait.

excuse the lower caps, my 13 year old has messed the computer up and i can't fix it.

 

[Cindy B]

We are doing a one week, late August, 2 adults, one jr., and one child. We added dining and did a ONE DAY pass. We are staying at CSR (upgraded from POP). AAA booked it for us.

The grand total cost was $1,100 and some change.

 

[Cookie55]

I have a friend who just told me about an upcoming vacation. When he told me the details I realized that his dates coincided with the free dining plan option and asked if he had taken advantage of that. He said that he had no idea it was offered so he called Disney. They told him that for his dates the free dining option had been sold out at the time of his booking. Does anyone know if this is accurate? Is it possible for the dining plan to be sold out for certain dates???

 

[BluOrchid2]

The last day to book this package was July 3rd. Sorry!

 

[Cookie55]

The last day to book this package was July 3rd. Sorry!

Yeah, I know..However he booked by that date and said that there was no mention of it on the website...He called yesterday to inquire about this and they told him that it was sold out for his dates...???

 

[ckret01]

Maybe at the time he originally booked this trip this offer may not have been out yet.

 

[GrumpyBa*D]

there were a limited number of offers. it wasn't every trip during those dates. I don't know if it was total number of reservations or a certain number per resort

 

[Beauty]

The last date to book the Free Dining was July 3rd. Even if you had a package booked prior to this time, the last date you could request the free dining add on was July 3rd.

 

[Cookie55]

I want to make sure I understand this as my friend is quite upset. Did you have to know about the offer to get it? In other words if you didn't request it they didn't have any obligation to mention it? And if so, I'm assuming that if you booked online there was no indication that the offer existed...Any one know for sure? Thanks!

 

[jeast]

In other words, if he booked it before the offer came out for those dates, he would have had to rebook it, requesting the free dining package, before July 3rd.

It is also possible that they no longer had packages left for his particular resort. My understanding is they offered a certain number of free dining packages per resort. Maybe that's what they meant by sold out.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

The free dining WAS listed on the website - it was listed on the main page and under "special offers" - the only place it was not listed is on the booking engine because you had to call.

 

[ckret01]

I don't really know for sure. But when I booked the free dining plan for my trip in Sept. I mentioned it to the CM and she asked me for a code b/c it sounded like she didn't know about it. So I gave her the code and she was like " ohhh free dining , sounds like a great deal" so in my opinion if I didn't tell her that is what I wanted she would have booked me regular. I do know to that when I booked, the amounts of rooms allowing for this deal were getting filled very quickly.

 

[PrincessAlina]

And if so, I'm assuming that if you booked online there was no indication that the offer existed...Any one know for sure? Thanks!

On the disney website there was a little square I came upon that said "Stay, Play, and Dine". I clicked on it to see what it was, and it described the free dining. If I went to the regular booking part of the site, there was no mention of it.

 

[aubriee]

Back in June shortly after it first came out, I called to cancel the room only ressie I had made using the AP code for that time in order to get the free dining. Just a week or so after it was first introduced people were posting that it was limited to a certain number/resort and that they were having to cancel their room only ressies and book at another resort in order to get the free dining plan.

 

[PrincessMommy2]

When I booked our trip, I asked the CM about the free dining special and she asked me if I had the code. My SIL experienced the same thing when she called. I only knew about the special because of these boards. I told SIL about it who was originally planning on going in November and pushed the trip up because of what they would save. She does not read these boards and would not have checked their website...she would have just called Disney directly. Unfortunately, she would never have known about this offer and I think a lot of people do it that way. I don't think Disney would be inclined to give away the free dining if someone was intending to book a trip anyway. That's why I love the info. I get from these boards.

 

[mommykds]

I heard about it on these boards as well. I had an Oct vacation already planned & when the promotion came out I switched to the package for free dining. There was a code but I didn't have to use it when I booked. (I saw the code on here & Mousesavers.)

There was also an add in the Sunday tarvel sections a few times..

 

[Ardenne]

I'm one of those people who booked a trip because of the free dining. We were planning to do one 'sometime' -- but we've been saying that for over a year, and always delayed b/c it's an expensive trip and there were always other things going on anyway. The free dining is what got us to stop procrastinating and go ahead and schedule it

I learned about it from a friend who reads these boards. Once she told me where to look, I found info about it all over, but I never would have known if she hadn't told me to go look. (And she only told me on July 1 -- so we had to move really fast! Luckily, we still got our 2nd-choice resort.)

 

[grimley1968]

I'm sorry your friend missed out, but Disney has to stick to a booking deadline. I was never told about it by Disney. I had to research things on their website and on here, like most others who got the free dining. This also highlights the advantage of booking your trip through a Disney specialist travel agent. I used Magical Journeys. When you book with a travel agent like that, they should automatically apply any discounts that come out after you make your ressies, without you having to do a lot of research. The free dining was automatically applied to my ressies. Mine did not have to be re-done, since I had already planned to pay for the dining package anyway. So, basically, I got a $630 credit to my reservation without doing anything.

I've made reservations before through CRO, and I was always able to get discounts, but I had to do quite a bit of research to get them. CRO would never just apply the discounts, unless I used some sort of code or told them about whatever special I saw on their website.