2016 Free Dining Watch

[Mandoo]

With that being said, I hope it gets released to the GP Monday bc I can't take another week of this!!

I am with you on that! I don't think I can handle another full week of waking up at the crack of dawn anxiety! This is my first year joining in on the FD madness!

 

[Tammil]

I've been lurking here for the past week and thought I'd make my presence know. We are hoping to go to Disney this fall. I promised my 9 year old that I'd take her before she's 18 (figured that was a promise I could make happen) but I truly am hoping to take her this year. My oldest actually has a school trip to Disney this fall but we didn't sign her up because I was hoping to have a family trip and can't afford to send her 2x in one year. I have not booked anything but have played out many scenarios. To be honest, for us to afford this trip we need a FD offer or a great room discount. As a family of 5 we are limited so I have my fingers crossed. I originally wanted to go in October but have rethought that since the rumors seem to exclude that month. The last time we went we did take advantage of FD but I didn't book until August for a November trip. It was a quick turnaround and I was able to work my ADR magic and even got reservations to the castle for my DD's birthday (that happened last minute). Hopefully this discount will come soon and we can all book the trip we are hoping for!!

 

[markpenske]

So I have a Disney Visa card. Will I get an advance notice for FD via email? or will the Disney website (under special offers) show free dining for visa card holders?

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

So I have a Disney Visa card. Will I get an advance notice for FD via email? or will the Disney website (under special offers) show free dining for visa card holders?

Neither. You'll have to call at 7am and ask if it's available. Or wait for people here to tell you

 

[lancgirl]

My 2 cents on booking.

Please do not tell people to NOT reserve ahead of time so FD wil be offered. Its bad advice.

If you are planning on going to WDW no matter what , your best best is to book in advance . Many resort hotels get booked up 6 months out. (Poly has no regular rooms for many weeks in November already) . If you wait to book its possible all the rooms in you selected resort and room category will be unavaiable.
If you cannot travel UNLESS FD is offered then I suppose you have no choice. But to suggest other people should not book a major vacation just so we can have a better shot at FD is just over the top.

The avaiablilty of FD will always be dependent on the need to fill rooms, just dont put you magical vacation plans in jeopardy waiting and waiting and waiting for a deal that might be very limited at your choosen resort.

Again my 2 cents.....

THANK YOU for saying this. I kept my mouth shut bc I'm one who ALWAYS books in advance of any deal and I know many people frown upon that bc of the train of thought that it will lessen promo chances. However, we stay at the Poly or GF (this time Poly) and I just like to reserve the room and view I want as soon as we lock up our dates of travel. Many dates are in fact booked and not showing availability and I would hate to see someone hold out for a deal and then not have a room at the resort they want or only be left with higher priced options. If you are not changing dates or resorts regardless of a discount or promo, I would book and be done with it. I get what I get, whether it includes a bonus of a discount of some sort or not.

 

[xipotec]

So I have a Disney Visa card. Will I get an advance notice for FD via email? or will the Disney website (under special offers) show free dining for visa card holders?

Answered a few pages back, not in advance, the day its avaiable which is usually too late to mean anything....posts here first from the dedicated DISboard members!

 

[VACamm]

I am a DV holder .... so I will be calling at 7am for sure.... while I'm making eggs for my family and preparing for my HUGE meeting at work today. Ugh. I will report back here what I find out for sure

Sorry for the delay in my responding! I saw everyone elses response advising that there was no release yet so i didnt rush to report. Im in my office now so i can relax and report my experience to you all. Sooooo as we know there was no free dining this morning for DV holders. I called at 7:02am with a wait time of 60 minutes! However... my wait only ended up being 10 minutes. My CM said that there was no free dining released for Disney visa holder and that she didn't know who started the rumors, but that their phone lines were "going craaaazy". We were laughing because it sounded like the phone lines were complete chaos and they were taken by surprise this morning with us all calling due to an unfounded rumor... and she said that she wasn't sure when a discount would be released but that I should keep checking the Disney website or for an email from Disney Visa. So basically she had zero clue. My husband and I were laughing afterwards because we were so hyped up while I was calling on my cell phone and he was on my iPad trying to look for free dining release. We fell for the rumor trap! Or we can also look at it as our practice run for the actual release ..... we got it down pat now!

 

[kaymil]

Yeahh... see that is what i was wondering when i look at thei special offers page... i was thinking how many offers do they run at the same time and for how long? I am starting to think they would wait until one of the current promotion expires before they release FD... ALL I KNOW IS I NEED FD AND SLEEP

I don't buy that at all...last year everything was overlapping. They had a lot of offers!

I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that it drops on Monday but I'm going to go with logic and say it will drop the later part of May or June 10th That is the last day to book this current offer. I really do hope I'm wrong!!

If you google the historical discounts, you can see that last year at this time there was a summer offer very much like the one that is currently running. It didn't end until June 12th. Free Dining dropped on April 27th. You can look back through the offers and see many many instances of this. So I definitely don't think the comment from the CM that it won't be released until the current offer ends is warranted, since history shows that's not how Disney does their promotions.

 

[Atlanta WDW Fan]

The only other time I have gotten FD was during the Year Of A Million Dreams. We had reservations at the ASM and were totally psyched. When we checked in, the CM was just as sweet as she could be. She gave me the key card and told me we were in the Calypso section. I knew that was a preferred area I was thrilled to hear it. But, when we opened the door, not only had we been upgraded to Calypso, but to a family suite! It was an awesome vacation. Just thought I'd share a little Disney magic with the crew this morning since some are starting to wear thin on the FD watch. Hang in there everybody. Don't let the stress dampen your vacation planning. No matter what happens, we are still going to Disney soon! Enjoy the moment.

 

[hammie59]

So I have a Disney Visa card. Will I get an advance notice for FD via email? or will the Disney website (under special offers) show free dining for visa card holders?

Don't hold your breath. It's hit and miss with Visa. The times that they actually did send me anything, it was over a week past the pre booking date (I mean really???). I've always gotten my inside info from watching disboards

 

[Mickeycrocs]

This waiting is driving me bonkerrrrrrrrs!!!

 

[Vmp]

I have a question ? So Monday or whatever day that free dining is released for the public , is it released at 7 am. Or do travel agents get word earlier. Or do we get emails right away. My question I guess is how do we know it's been released. Do we just start calling at 7 am even when to be public to find out ? First time booking ! Nervous and super anxious !

 

[Elsaalltheway]

I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that it drops on Monday but I'm going to go with logic and say it will drop the later part of May or June 10th That is the last day to book this current offer. I really do hope I'm wrong!!

The only thing I would think that you were wrong with May or June is that people have already called and they said that things will drop next week that they will be able to add to their existing res.

 

[RigatoniFeline]

My TA encouraged me to purchase a Touring Plans subscription. This was before I knew about this place, so I did. Now I'm rather annoyed that I am trusting someone who spouts out unreliable rumors as if they are the truth. And I'm paying for the service!

 

[deakam]

I'm starting to feel like what's the point of having a Disney Visa if they aren't always giving DV holders the head start on promotions. That's the best perk they offer IMHO.

One of the reasons I gave up my Disney Visa card----that and Chase banks had the audacity to partake of the bank bailouts while raising my interest rate to 29.9% for no reason at all. I could no longer see any perks worth paying that rate. I really do not like being abused by big companies that think they own the world.

 

[DennisandAngel]

If you google the historical discounts, you can see that last year at this time there was a summer offer very much like the one that is currently running. It didn't end until June 12th. Free Dining dropped on April 27th. You can look back through the offers and see many many instances of this. So I definitely don't think the comment from the CM that it won't be released until the current offer ends is warranted, since history shows that's not how Disney does their promotions.

Do you have the dates it dropped years prior to last? I would be interested in seeing that. I thought last year was a glitch that they were stuck following through with? I do really hope they follow last years schedule.

 

[scard192]

I have a question ? So Monday or whatever day that free dining is released for the public , is it released at 7 am. Or do travel agents get word earlier. Or do we get emails right away. My question I guess is how do we know it's been released. Do we just start calling at 7 am even when to be public to find out ? First time booking ! Nervous and super anxious !

phone lines open at 7AM. If it's General Public offer it can be booked on line earlier, often at 6AM, last year people had success at around 4:30AM, one year it was not long after midnight

 

[vanjust14]

I'm starting to feel like what's the point of having a Disney Visa if they aren't always giving DV holders the head start on promotions. That's the best perk they offer IMHO.

There are still many other great points to having the Disney Visa. I think the no interest for 6 months is a great perk and definitely makes having a Disney Visa worth it. I also use my card all the time to get the reward dollars. I was able to use over $200 in rewards on my trip this past September.

 

[Vmp]

phone lines open at 7AM. If it's General Public offer it can be booked on line earlier, often at 6AM, last year people had success at around 4:30AM, one year it was not long after midnight

Oh wow. Thank u so much !!

 

[DennisandAngel]

The only thing I would think that you were wrong with May or June is that people have already called and they said that things will drop next week that they will be able to add to their existing res.

The CM I spoke with told me to start checking later this spring. They really don't know anymore then we do.