******Official 2017 Free Dining Plan Watch, Wait, and Dream

[Just Love Disney]

I am hoping ill be able to make a new reservation at 2 am in the morning.
I will be taking a nap after white princess on Sunday Night. I'll set all three alarms for midnight LOL. Just in case it drops at midnight this time.
Now one question. Must I upgrade to DDP from QS when I sign up or can I add the dining upgrade in a few weeks?
Also if you all were going between 8 or 9 nights. would you add the 9 nights with the fd drop and take a 1 night off if you decided later to go for 8 nights?

I would like to know this as well

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Has the 4 am EST drop time been consistent or was that just what it was last year?

 

[Disney Ron]

Thanks for all the info.

Welcome.

 

[ustasmom]

So, crunching all of my numbers again, I come up with $3800 for an 11 night stay at CBR. After I deduct $1300 for tickets with future use, that leaves me with $2500. I can deduct another $1050 due to the gift card so my actual OOP is $1450 for a QS meal plan when retail is $2640. While I would have liked TS, it is still a $1200 savings.

If I change resorts from CBR to the Poly, the difference in room cost is $3232 but then I actually receive $3814 in TS credits and I cancel my DVC poly stay and use those points in December. So while the discount may be a bit bigger than the CBR choice, I bump back to a hotel room from a studio.

But if I compare apples to apples, the CBR TS plan would now cost me $2613 instead of retail at $3814 with a room that I won't use. If I go with the Poly, my room and TS would cost me $5790. If I back out the actual cost of my DVC room, I will now be paying $4590 for Free Dining which retails at $3814.

This is why you don't do Free Dining at deluxe resorts. I have 5 adult meal plans and it still doesn't work for me.

 

[CrazyPhillyDisneyFamily]

So, crunching all of my numbers again, I come up with $3800 for an 11 night stay at CBR. After I deduct $1300 for tickets with future use, that leaves me with $2500. I can deduct another $1050 due to the gift card so my actual OOP is $1450 for a QS meal plan when retail is $2640. While I would have liked TS, it is still a $1200 savings.

If I change resorts from CBR to the Poly, the difference in room cost is $3232 but then I actually receive $3814 in TS credits and I cancel my DVC poly stay and use those points in December. So while the discount may be a bit bigger than the CBR choice, I bump back to a hotel room from a studio.

But if I compare apples to apples, the CBR TS plan would now cost me $2613 instead of retail at $3814 with a room that I won't use. If I go with the Poly, my room and TS would cost me $5790. If I back out the actual cost of my DVC room, I will now be paying $4640 for Free Dining which retails at $3814.

This is why you don't do Free Dining at deluxe resorts. I have 5 adult meal plans and it still doesn't work for me.

This is like a word problem in elementary school. It gave me a headache reading it LOL

 

[ThistleMae]

Omg I loved the white princess. Can't wait for this week's episode!!!

Never heard of white princess, what is it?

 

[Meeko5]

I am hoping ill be able to make a new reservation at 2 am in the morning.
I will be taking a nap after white princess on Sunday Night. I'll set all three alarms for midnight LOL. Just in case it drops at midnight this time.
Now one question. Must I upgrade to DDP from QS when I sign up or can I add the dining upgrade in a few weeks?
Also if you all were going between 8 or 9 nights. would you add the 9 nights with the fd drop and take a 1 night off if you decided later to go for 8 nights?

You can upgrade your dining plan later, just make sure you do it at least 72 hours before check in day. And probably makes sense to do it before your final payment is due as well

 

[JackieO]

I'm just thinking, I know we're not the "normal" Disney vacationer, but it seems that over all we know our budget and that we want to go to Disney, so we look to tweek here and there to get the best deal. Do you think all this really gets Disney more money? Or doesn't it seem that we'll just change where we spend it? Add an extra night, leave off the party, go down a level in resort and upgrade dining. Isn't it all kind of a wash to Disney? They're getting $5,000 from me in Sep, whether it's on my resort or dining or in the stores, that's my budget.

I'll rambling here with too much time on my hands, but do you guys know what I mean?

 

[jschoch8]

So, crunching all of my numbers again, I come up with $3800 for an 11 night stay at CBR. After I deduct $1300 for tickets with future use, that leaves me with $2500. I can deduct another $1050 due to the gift card so my actual OOP is $1450 for a QS meal plan when retail is $2640. While I would have liked TS, it is still a $1200 savings.

If I change resorts from CBR to the Poly, the difference in room cost is $3232 but then I actually receive $3814 in TS credits and I cancel my DVC poly stay and use those points in December. So while the discount may be a bit bigger than the CBR choice, I bump back to a hotel room from a studio.

But if I compare apples to apples, the CBR TS plan would now cost me $2613 instead of retail at $3814 with a room that I won't use. If I go with the Poly, my room and TS would cost me $5790. If I back out the actual cost of my DVC room, I will now be paying $4590 for Free Dining which retails at $3814.

This is why you don't do Free Dining at deluxe resorts. I have 5 adult meal plans and it still doesn't work for me.

I am booked at the beach club at 380 a night. When I price it out, I do save $228 with a hopper vs a 25% room off discount without hopper. Rumor is the max fall discount will be 25%.

 

[VillainFavs]

So, crunching all of my numbers again, I come up with $3800 for an 11 night stay at CBR. After I deduct $1300 for tickets with future use, that leaves me with $2500. I can deduct another $1050 due to the gift card so my actual OOP is $1450 for a QS meal plan when retail is $2640. While I would have liked TS, it is still a $1200 savings.

If I change resorts from CBR to the Poly, the difference in room cost is $3232 but then I actually receive $3814 in TS credits and I cancel my DVC poly stay and use those points in December. So while the discount may be a bit bigger than the CBR choice, I bump back to a hotel room from a studio.

But if I compare apples to apples, the CBR TS plan would now cost me $2613 instead of retail at $3814 with a room that I won't use. If I go with the Poly, my room and TS would cost me $5790. If I back out the actual cost of my DVC room, I will now be paying $4590 for Free Dining which retails at $3814.

This is why you don't do Free Dining at deluxe resorts. I have 5 adult meal plans and it still doesn't work for me.

Okay, I have to say I'm totally and completely confused by your first few paragraphs! But that just might be my mind being on overload at this point!

However, your last point stood out to me and I don't think I agree with it. We're a family of four Disney adults. For us, I've looked at CSR Standard Room, upgrading dining (assuming I can even get a standard with FD) - Total for six nights with PH and dining upgrade is $3,865. Standard room at WL with free dining (again assuming I can get it) is $4,172. So for a difference of only $300 I'm upgrading to a much nicer deluxe resort.

To me, it does work!

 

[draybook]

Will you please stop saying that. It is 72 hrs before unless you are DVC and none of these people are going to be DVC if they want free dining!!!!



They do NOT put aside rooms for promotions. Why would they??? They want as much money as they can get. If there are no rooms available, there are no rooms available.

You'll have to ask Disney that. It's been that way and we've had to make adjustments based on that fact. If you honestly think that certain resorts are selling out even though you hardly see anyone coming/going or empty parking lots.....well, that's your prerogative.

 

[lovi]

I was just going over my plans and noticed that I only need to park hop on two of the days. I'm not counting on anything but if the park hopper isn't included as a requirement for the free dining could I just add two extra days of the base ticket on my package instead of the park hopper option? Two extra days of the base ticket is $127.80 and the park hopper option is $319.52 so if this is possible it would be a savings of $191.72 Has anyone done this? TIA

 

[ThistleMae]

You have a very good point and it's probably pretty close for Disney in the end. But it does save families some money, and when you have a budget, it helps....and in some cases it makes the diff. between staying on Disney Property or staying offsite, and in the worse case scenario maybe they won't go as frequently, or not at all.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I was just going over my plans and noticed that I only need to park hop on two of the days. I'm not counting on anything but if the park hopper isn't included as a requirement for the free dining could I just add two extra days of the base ticket on my package instead of the park hopper option? Two extra days of the base ticket is $127.80 and the park hopper option is $319.52 so if this is possible it would be a savings of $191.72 Has anyone done this? TIA

No, you can't do that. You can't use 2 park tickets to enter different parks on the same day.

 

[KozFam]

How did you do that? Are you saying you actually booked through Visa? You called Visa or booked through a Visa website?
(That's me being a curious cat)

This is what last year's Disney Visa email looked like. It had codes you could use when calling or had a link in the email you could click on directly. This is LAST YEAR'S (don't want to create a ruckus!)

 

[Just Love Disney]

Dumb question but is the "Modify" button the same as "Change Reservation" button?

 

[draybook]

Think about it. Do you really think they'd hold back rooms to sell at a discount rate when they could be getting full price for them now? That's not how Disney--or any company--thinks! If there's nothing showing now, they won't magically appear at a discounted rate.

Take for instance, POFQ. We've been numerous times in September when there weren't any rooms showing available. Empty parking lots, empty room(visible from outside). Even had to make adjustments before based on availability PER promotions, ie bounceback, FD, etc... I know you guys here on the DIS like to argue but it's how it works. If you honestly think that all of the resorts are full year round, well, that's your opinion.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Dumb question but is the "Modify" button the same as "Change Reservation" button?

Yes

 

[Meeko5]

I was just going over my plans and noticed that I only need to park hop on two of the days. I'm not counting on anything but if the park hopper isn't included as a requirement for the free dining could I just add two extra days of the base ticket on my package instead of the park hopper option? Two extra days of the base ticket is $127.80 and the park hopper option is $319.52 so if this is possible it would be a savings of $191.72 Has anyone done this? TIA

Not allowed, park hopper must be purchased to be able to enter a 2nd park.

 

[Kelly014]

I saw some posts about the food at Akershus not being so great. I have 2 boys (4 and 5.5) so I feel like I'm running out of time to eat at a princess meal before they totally throw a fit! Haha we're also going close to my birthday so I figured I could use that to negotiate with my husband! However, if the food isn't so great I don't know if it will be worth it so a 36 year old can take pictures with princesses! Thoughts?

We went for breakfast and it was good. Nothing super special but I definitely wouldn't call it bad! Breakfast is a safer bet for restaurants where the food may be iffy, it's hard to screw up bacon and eggs. And the character interactions were wonderful