Free Dining Released

[cm8]

I'm at 3 hours and 40 minutes

that’s crazy!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

What good are these offers if you can't log on to take advantage of them. I have been trying all day without any luck...Disney really needs to do something about their site crashing ALL THE TIME!!!!

 

[Tomchuk]

Agreed,

I have been trying to call in and getting a "we're sorry all circuits are busy right now" So I can't even be placed in the queue.

 

[Disfan1968]

Got through. Three hours. Fourteen nights free dining! Glorious. I figure for my family of four that'll save us over two grand. : )

 

[Jenny Sanders]

I'm frustrated because I have a reservation during these offers and I can't modify the current one to save some money...

 

[sharonabe]

I'm frustrated because I have a reservation during these offers and I can't modify the current one to save some money...

If the website ever opens up, just book a new reservation with the promo and then go and cancel the one you have.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

If the website ever opens up, just book a new reservation with the promo and then go and cancel the one you have.

The problem is that there are a limited amount of rooms per offer...

 

[KMarston]

Thank you for the heads up! I booked five days for September. Took a while as it kept telling me it was unable to process the transaction. Finally went through. I got Yacht club! Now I just have to figure out how to tell my husband! I think I'll wait until after our trip in a few weeks! Anyone know if it's difficult to add someone to the reservation if we decide to take our grandson? Really looking forward to an all adult trip though. We've never stayed in the EPCOT resort area, nor have we ever been able to try V&A. I hope he'll agree to it!

 

[Tomchuk]

Finally got through, now lets see what the wait time is like

 

[Kevin1281]

We will be going for a week this coming August. I have a friend who has offered us her 40% Friends & Family Resort Discount. We are planning on staying at Port Orleans Riverside. We will be 5 adults and 3 children; 2 rooms.

Do you think we are better off sticking with the 40% resort discount, or going with the Free Dining???

 

[holden]

We will be going for a week this coming August. I have a friend who has offered us her 40% Friends & Family Resort Discount. We are planning on staying at Port Orleans Riverside. We will be 5 adults and 3 children; 2 rooms.

Do you think we are better off sticking with the 40% resort discount, or going with the Free Dining???

You’d have to crunch the numbers, but I bet the 40% off will save you more money.

 

[Starwind]

The problem is that there are a limited amount of rooms per offer...

But existing reservations [before the offer drops] are not included in the "pool" of rooms available for the new offer. So having an existing reservation makes you no more or less likely to be able to get the offer -- there has to be an offer room available and you either make a new reservation for it or they apply it to the existing reservation. But if there is an offer on and you have an existing reservation but there are no offer rooms available anymore at your resort, they can't apply the offer to your existing room. We ran into this for our last trip -- there was so little availability at the resort we wanted to stay at [and had had a reservation since it was possible to make one at] we were never able to find availability. Since we were unwilling to change resorts, we paid rack rate.

SW

 

[hereforthechurros]

Reeeeeally wish I would have know about this a couple weeks ago. Would have saved our group of 10 quite a bit of money while still staying at Poly.

 

[lynzi2004]

I’ve never booked free dining before. Booked today for Pop with quick service. Dh and I were talking about upgrading to full dining plan. Do I have to do that now or can I do it later?

 

[sharonabe]

Reeeeeally wish I would have know about this a couple weeks ago. Would have saved our group of 10 quite a bit of money while still staying at Poly.

Is your planned trip during the dates of the promo? You can still go online or call to see if there is any availability during your stay. It won't cost you anything to change if it's available.

 

[Micharlotte]

I’ve never booked free dining before. Booked today for Pop with quick service. Dh and I were talking about upgrading to full dining plan. Do I have to do that now or can I do it later?

Definitely do it later. The phones will be crazy and you have plenty of time to upgrade. Congrats!

 

[gharter]

Makes you wonder, does Disney expect the summer to be that quiet (due to SWGE opening late fall? ) that they have to offer this for the summer ( a normally busy season for them)?

 

[samsteele]

I booked last night for late Sept/early Oct. I don't know if I am truly committed to the trip as watching the Cdn dollar exchange rate. But worth putting down my refundable deposit to make a place marker.

This FD promotion has really flown in under the radar. If you and your family are serious about FD for late Summer or very early Fall and you don't care enough about the new Star Wars/Galaxy Edge to have it dictate your vacation date, then this may well be your best bet. Put another way, if the Food & Wine Festival and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party are just as important or more than Galaxy Edge, and you really want Free Dining after crunching the numbers and have considered Summer Room Discount only, then take a hard look at this offer. Maybe there will be a smaller second wave of FD released in late spring for dates in Nov or Dec but there is no guarantee and never has been.

My pkg total was actually a few hundred dollars cheaper than for similar dates last Fall but I also dropped from POP down to an All Star. I suspect (but no guarantee) that the rooms at AS Music will be redone by late Sept. My understanding of the construction schedule is AS Music before AS Sports. But if this is a deal breaker for you, then def check out the dedicated All Star threads as they usually have the most up to date info.

Good hunting for the dedicated FD fans on the Boards. If you really want FD, look hard at this promo.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Is your planned trip during the dates of the promo? You can still go online or call to see if there is any availability during your stay. It won't cost you anything to change if it's available.

Rented DVC points so no option to change. Would if I could

 

[Riss]

I was just scouring the Disney page thinking about our next trip when I saw this offer available and I was totally surprised since it's definitely earlier than they released it before. I wish we could go again this year but I think it'll be a little difficult with everyone's schedules. We had gone in September with the FD last year and it was amazing! Even though we had to add another day of park tickets, we still saved over $600 for a group of 6 adults and one 2-year-old child staying in the AoA Finding Nemo family suites.