2013 Free Dining Watch

[cwnhokie]

Need an opinion of the experts. We are going Ausgust 30th, staying two nights off site, coming in late Friday and leaving early Sunday for a cruise. We are spending all day Saturday at the parks on old tickets. We will be on a Disney cruise until Thursday when we check into the cabins at Ft. Wilderness. My plan was room only discount because we plan to just go to Night of Joy and a water park (we have these left over on old ticktes too) have already bought those tickets, don't plan any other parks, so we don't need tickets for the package. My plan is to try to hang around Ft. Wilderness and relax and explore.

But then I ran into a friend and she was talking about how hard it would be to pass up free dining and reminded me that if we didn't use the tickets at all they would not expire and we could save them for another trip. So now I'm reworking the numbers and trying to decide if it is worth it. I don't want to spend the whole time running around eating, we'll be eating lots of the cruise I expect. But just a couple meals may make it worth it. We can cook at the cabin too, but Ohana, Kona, Whispering Canyon, Chef Mickeys, etc are all so close and beckoning. What would you all do? Our boys are 6, 10, and 12 so two of them will be adult prices.

[smitch425]

Originally Posted by cwnhokie

Need an opinion of the experts. We are going Ausgust 30th, staying two nights off site, coming in late Friday and leaving early Sunday for a cruise. We are spending all day Saturday at the parks on old tickets. We will be on a Disney cruise until Thursday when we check into the cabins at Ft. Wilderness. My plan was room only discount because we plan to just go to Night of Joy and a water park (we have these left over on old ticktes too) have already bought those tickets, don't plan any other parks, so we don't need tickets for the package. My plan is to try to hang around Ft. Wilderness and relax and explore.

But then I ran into a friend and she was talking about how hard it would be to pass up free dining and reminded me that if we didn't use the tickets at all they would not expire and we could save them for another trip. So now I'm reworking the numbers and trying to decide if it is worth it. I don't want to spend the whole time running around eating, we'll be eating lots of the cruise I expect. But just a couple meals may make it worth it. We can cook at the cabin too, but Ohana, Kona, Whispering Canyon, Chef Mickeys, etc are all so close and beckoning. What would you all do? Our boys are 6, 10, and 12 so two of them will be adult prices.

How many nights will you be staying on property after the cruise?

[cwnhokie]

Thanks, I just realized I left out that important info. Three nights, so Thursday we will get there moring to mid-day, thinking water park day. Friday and Saturday we'll go to MK at 4PM for Night of Joy, and Sunday we leave around 11 to head to the airport.

[smitch425]

Originally Posted by cwnhokie

Thanks, I just realized I left out that important info. Three nights, so Thursday we will get there moring to mid-day, thinking water park day. Friday and Saturday we'll go to MK at 4PM for Night of Joy, and Sunday we leave around 11 to head to the airport.

FD requires a 3 night minimum stay, so you are covered there. I suggest you run the numbers for a room discount and a sample of what you would eat if paying OOP for your meals. Once you have that estimate, compare it against the cost of what a free dining package (including a minimum two day base ticket for each person) would cost. You will want to do it as soon as possible because you are well past the 180 mark for dining reservations. You may want to see if you can even make any reservations for your timeframe before you decide. Good luck!

[NEANGIRL]

Does anyone think (specifically TheDisney411 or Smitch2345) that free dining could be extended to include 10/05/13 even though the current pins don't extend past 10/02/13?

[TheDisney411]

Originally Posted by NEANGIRL

Does anyone think (specifically TheDisney411 or Smitch2345) that free dining could be extended to include 10/05/13 even though the current pins don't extend past 10/02/13?

I guess anything is possible, but probably not. A pin code offer is going to have a better chance of offering more days for a FD or RO discount than a general public discount, unfortunately not the other way around. I originally thought they would take that FD offer through Oct 4 or 5, but they must have some pretty high resort occupancy rates for that time frame already if the pin code FD date ends on Oct 2.

[scottykristen]

I have the pin codes 8/25-10/2, 10/18-10/31,11/11-11/23, 11/30-12/4 and 12/15-12/22 book by 8/14 all in 2013 for free dining!

[smitch425]

Originally Posted by scottykristen

I have the pin codes 8/25-10/21, 10/18-10/31,11/11-11/23, 11/30-12/4 and 12/15-12/22 book by 8/14 all in 2013 for free dining!

Congrats! if you don't mind me asking, when was your email sent to you?

[scottykristen]

Originally Posted by smitch425

Congrats! if you don't mind me asking, when was your email sent to you?

Beginning of last week!!!! Thank you! Super excited!

[TheDisney411]

Originally Posted by scottykristen

I have the pin codes 8/25-10/21, 10/18-10/31,11/11-11/23, 11/30-12/4 and 12/15-12/22 book by 8/14 all in 2013 for free dining!

I think there is a typo here in your post, the first set of dates should be 8/25 - 10/2 and then pick up with 10/18 - 10/31. 10/3 - 10/17 is blacked out with the current FD pin code.

[scottykristen]

Originally Posted by TheDisney411

I think there is a type here in your post, the first set of dates should be 8/25 - 10/2 and then pick up with 10/18 - 10/31. 10/3 - 10/17 is blacked out with the current FD pin code.

Yes sorry! I corrected it!

[smitch425]

Originally Posted by scottykristen

Beginning of last week!!!! Thank you! Super excited!

Okay. Thanks! Just trying to keep track of their release dates.