2018 Free Dining Watch Thread V3

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

I really really want to do Ohana for dinner one night and I am super worried I'm gonna get a 9 or 10 pm reservation

Don't fret, you WILL NOT likely get it in the beginning of your booking window, but the best day to try? The day of final payment and the rest of that week. Many people have big hopes when they book a Disney vacation and love the idea of paying monthly...and then they just don't...before they know it, final payment arrives and they have to cancel their trip altogether or drop it down BY A LOT! You will be able to pick up a lot of reservations that week if you are willing to wait.

 

[minniesBFF]

Well, I thought that I was actually going to save money by booking a new reservation, but I think I actually am OK with my current, modified reservation.

It turns out that the offer that I clicked when testing a new reservation was the room discount, not free dining. When I changed the offer to free dining, there was only a price difference of $169 between my current package (w/ free dining) and the new package I was making. THEN I realized that I didn't add memory maker to my test package. So it ended up matching the price of the package that I currently have booked, so I'm not going to mess with it. My reservation says I have free dining and I am going to believe it and stop freaking out!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

I was going to try for POP, but after reading your experience with the room checks, we decided to go with a moderate instead. I'm sorry you had such a horrible time with housekeeping! Sure hope they get their act together soon!

I really hope so too!! Smart move on the mod!!!

 

[fairestoneofall]

Congrats to all that were able to get the free dining promo.
My daughter will be 10 years old when we go and will be charged as an adult when dining. For the non buffet table service, will they let us opt out her table service credit and just pay for a kids meal? I know she will not like the food from the regular menu and she can't eat that much. She only likes Mac and Cheese!!!! The kids meal are for 9 year olds...are they strict?

From my experience, they have allowed my 10+ child to order off the kids' menu OR order a larger size of an item on the kids' menu (he has some food allergies though). I don't believe you'll have to pay OOP for that if you have DDP.

 

[Ahmne]

Yes....yes.....and YES!!!!! It's our favorite resort when we don't have the full gang! I prefer being in the main building than Kidani and with 3 kids we get put in Kidani, so we prefer the other deluxe resorts in those instances but when it's just the husband and I or we have 1 less kid, due to something else going on, we choose AKL EVERY TIME!

$160/night more?

 

[Stasieki]

Congrats to all that were able to get the free dining promo.
My daughter will be 10 years old when we go and will be charged as an adult when dining. For the non buffet table service, will they let us opt out her table service credit and just pay for a kids meal? I know she will not like the food from the regular menu and she can't eat that much. She only likes Mac and Cheese!!!! The kids meal are for 9 year olds...are they strict?

They will let you - we did this too last year for my 11 year old.

 

[MAF]

Wow so I just was able to update my reservation with FD and the price went up by $700. Are they insane? I'll just pay OOP for my dining if that is the case.

There must be some glitch because I checked the price for 2 adults for the dining plan it said $735 if you buy the plan separately. Obviously the site isn't subtracting the dining plan after selecting the FD package. Frustrating!

 

[wendylovesdisney]

Congrats to all that were able to get the free dining promo.
My daughter will be 10 years old when we go and will be charged as an adult when dining. For the non buffet table service, will they let us opt out her table service credit and just pay for a kids meal? I know she will not like the food from the regular menu and she can't eat that much. She only likes Mac and Cheese!!!! The kids meal are for 9 year olds...are they strict?

In the past I paid for Kids meals OOP and saved the credit. And anyone could buy a kids meal.

 

[heathermm]

It took us forever to decide on POR and now it isn't included. Debating between CSR or AKL...my heart says AKL but is it really worth the extra $$?

We had POR booked for 8-11 to 8/18 and switched to AKL with free dining. If you plan on doing Table service meals regardless of free dining - it will actually turn out cheaper to stay at AKL. POR was $4028 (no dining plan) and AKL pool view was $5300 (with dining). We would have ended up paying close to $6,000 after meals at POR.

 

[B. Shoe]

Don't fret, you WILL NOT likely get it in the beginning of your booking window, but the best day to try? The day of final payment and the rest of that week. Many people have big hopes when they book a Disney vacation and love the idea of paying monthly...and then they just don't...before they know it, final payment arrives and they have to cancel their trip altogether or drop it down BY A LOT! You will be able to pick up a lot of reservations that week if you are willing to wait.

Our ADR window opens tomorrow, and this is exactly what I needed to hear since I’m sure some of my requests will likely be unavailable tomorrow morning!

 

[Ahmne]

Wow so I just was able to update my reservation with FD and the price went up by $700. Are they insane? I'll just pay OOP for my dining if that is the case.

It's an extra $700 for us too but I know I will spend more than that at table service restaurants alone for 4 people in 10 days so worth it for us.

 

[tesslor]

Dining Plan: 2018 Disney Dining Plan 1 Quick Service Meal (TBX), 2018 Disney Dining Plan Table Service Meal - Child (TBX), 2018 Disney Dining Plan Table Service Meal - Adult (TBX)

This is what my Boardwalk reservation with free dining shows under the dining plan. My son (the child in this situation) is 14. I understood that he is a Disney adult and orders from the adult menus. Why would it say "child" where the meal plan is listed?

 

[MAF]

It's an extra $700 for us too but I know I will spend more than that at table service restaurants alone for 4 people in 10 days so worth it for us.

If you buy the plan separately it's $735, there's literally no savings whatsoever. This is for the CS one though that you get with POP Century, not the TS.

 

[Ahmne]

We had POR booked for 8-11 to 8/18 and switched to AKL with free dining. If you plan on doing Table service meals regardless of free dining - it will actually turn out cheaper to stay at AKL. POR was $4028 (no dining plan) and AKL pool view was $5300 (with dining). We would have ended up paying close to $6,000 after meals at POR.

This is how I've been trying to justify it to hubby. If we paid oop for the dining plan at POR it's about the same as AKL free dining. But CS is $160/night cheaper with the same dining plan. Not sure if the amenities are worth it, but I would much prefer interior hallways, a balcony and perhaps sending the big kid on their own when they want a snack at a restaurant.

 

[Jarmo]

Dining Plan: 2018 Disney Dining Plan 1 Quick Service Meal (TBX), 2018 Disney Dining Plan Table Service Meal - Child (TBX), 2018 Disney Dining Plan Table Service Meal - Adult (TBX)

This is what my Boardwalk reservation with free dining shows under the dining plan. My son (the child in this situation) is 14. I understood that he is a Disney adult and orders from the adult menus. Why would it say "child" where the meal plan is listed?

That's just the way the dining plan shows on MDE, whether you have kids or not.

 

[JenniferYoung44]

Dining Plan: 2018 Disney Dining Plan 1 Quick Service Meal (TBX), 2018 Disney Dining Plan Table Service Meal - Child (TBX), 2018 Disney Dining Plan Table Service Meal - Adult (TBX)

This is what my Boardwalk reservation with free dining shows under the dining plan. My son (the child in this situation) is 14. I understood that he is a Disney adult and orders from the adult menus. Why would it say "child" where the meal plan is listed?

I think that’s just a glitch. Mine used to say the same thing when I had the full cost dining plan reserved.

 

[Ahmne]

If you buy the plan separately it's $735, there's literally no savings whatsoever. This is for the CS one though that you get with POP Century, not the TS.

For us adding the plan was an extra $2k+ over 10 days

 

[tesslor]

That's just the way the dining plan shows on MDE, whether you have kids or not.

thank you!

 

[tesslor]

I think that’s just a glitch. Mine used to say the same thing when I had the full cost dining plan reserved.

Thank you!

 

[SDDisneyFan]

Hi everyone, I’m new here! We booked our trip back on Christmas Day, we are going Dec.4-11,2018!!!! So very excited!! I see that they are offer the free dining plan Dec.7-23, my question is would will be able to take advantage of this for some of the time we are there and just pay for the other days? We did already add and pay for the dining plan. We have the 1 quick service meal, 1 Sit down and the two snacks a day.