2018 Free Dining Watch Thread V3

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

Hi! First time forum poster/First time Disney World trip planner here. I have a question about the Park Hopper option. I already have a package to stay at WL in November. We have 4 day tickets to theme parks. I'm curious about adding the Park Hopper (as I'm reading it may be required to get FD). When it gives me the option for Park Hopper it states this: $239.64 (+79.88).
My question is, is that 79.88x each person, per day? Or just a one time per ticket fee? Trying to see if FD would even be worth it to us because we really have no intention to visit more than one park per day, or wait until the RO discount comes out and hope it applies to our stay.
We are staying for 6 nights with 2 girls (2 & 5) so we only purchased 4 tickets to the parks (figuring one day rest at WL in between and the arrival date at Disney Springs).

Thank you, in advance, for any insight ya'll can give.

The park hopper option would be a one -time charge of 239.64 and it would cover all your purchased ticket-days. So if you have 4-day tickets, you could park hop any or all of the 4 days you visit the parks.

 

[Life is good]

Oh

Do you know if it will mess up my reservation if I have to take a day off?

I was told here if you want to drop a day you have to drop the whole reservation and make a new one. And the kicker is the one you drop doesn't immediately get added to the inventory. So you may not be able to get a new reservation at all. So- I booked one day short and then will add one day later without tickets or free dining if necessary.

 

[Taylorshaudean]

We are going September 2-10 (Our first trip to WDW)
We didn't know about the FD until after we booked so we are currently booked at POP with 6 day park hoppers and the QS Dining Plan.

My question is how do we upgrade from the QS Free Dining plan to DDP - I understand we have to pay the extra, but is there an option on the page? Or do you have to call later and upgrade?

 

[Nakkira]

If you two are staying deluxe and don’t need parkhoppers do the math!!!! RO offer can be a better deal and paying OOP for food or DP .

We are value and have park hoppers booked already. We are in Movies and may have to rebook. It's not a deal breaker but could really use the quick service dinning plan to free up money for the Epcot Food and Wine festival. If not we will be packing breakfast and snacks as much as we can. Free dining will make it feel much more like a vacation

 

[IluvMGM]

I am going to try to modify my reservation if it will allow me, but I see you guys say sometimes you have to make a new one. Are we assuming there will suddenly be new rooms available tomorrow? I had a really tough time trying to get a single room of the same type for my entire stay, I can't imagine it happening tomorrow unless they throw a bunch of new rooms into the mix.

 

[Jewel3k]

Oh

I was told here if you want to drop a day you have to drop the whole reservation and make a new one. And the kicker is the one you drop doesn't immediately get added to the inventory. So you may not be able to get a new reservation at all. So- I booked one day short and then will add one day later without tickets or free dining if necessary.

Just an FYI it works the same for adding or dropping a day.

 

[Roy Disney]

Hello everyone. Unfortunately I couldn't get any info on the resort inclusions/exclusions for you. Since I don't deal in rumors, but only deal with facts, the news I supplied earlier today is all I have. I won't even begin to guess about resorts, because I wouldn't be giving you factual information.

Free Dining is dropping tomorrow and the dates I gave for the general public offer are correct. My source wasn't positive on how many days park hoppers are required but believed it was either 3 or 4. If I get anything else I'll be back later with it, if not, good luck to everyone and drink plenty of coffee tonight.

Thanks Ron.
I’ve never gotten the FD before.
Do you have to purchase park hoppers in order to get FD ?

 

[Curlylocks02]

Thank you Disney Ron for all your info!

 

[GenGen22]

We are going September 2-10 (Our first trip to WDW)
We didn't know about the FD until after we booked so we are currently booked at POP with 6 day park hoppers and the QS Dining Plan.

My question is how do we upgrade from the QS Free Dining plan to DDP - I understand we have to pay the extra, but is there an option on the page? Or do you have to call later and upgrade?

I would call later to upgrade after you try to modify your reservation to get FD. At least this is what I am going to do. Getting the free dining is more priority. I would call back after the free dining settles the phone lines down.

 

[mikesteffen]

We are going September 2-10 (Our first trip to WDW)
We didn't know about the FD until after we booked so we are currently booked at POP with 6 day park hoppers and the QS Dining Plan.

My question is how do we upgrade from the QS Free Dining plan to DDP - I understand we have to pay the extra, but is there an option on the page? Or do you have to call later and upgrade?

We have done that several times and all you do is call and pay the difference. I think it has to be done at least 4 days before arrival.

 

[nooneshome]

4:30 cannot come soon enough!

Is that 4:30 EST?

 

[RedWolf95]

Just an FYI it works the same for adding or dropping a day.

Except that with adding a day you can do it like a split stay and just book the one night by itself. You do not have to mess up your existing package and risk losing the whole thing.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Hi! First time forum poster/First time Disney World trip planner here. I have a question about the Park Hopper option. I already have a package to stay at WL in November. We have 4 day tickets to theme parks. I'm curious about adding the Park Hopper (as I'm reading it may be required to get FD). When it gives me the option for Park Hopper it states this: $239.64 (+79.88).
My question is, is that 79.88x each person, per day? Or just a one time per ticket fee? Trying to see if FD would even be worth it to us because we really have no intention to visit more than one park per day, or wait until the RO discount comes out and hope it applies to our stay.
We are staying for 6 nights with 2 girls (2 & 5) so we only purchased 4 tickets to the parks (figuring one day rest at WL in between and the arrival date at Disney Springs).

Thank you, in advance, for any insight ya'll can give.

you will probably find that 1 day is not enough to do what you want in the Magic Kingdom. You can save some things for another trip or you may want to consider adding a second MK day.

Number of people doesn't matter. From 1 to how ever many can fit into a room. Must stay on site, 2 day hopper ticket, 3 night minimum stay.

keep an eye on FD Rrequiremenrs. Rumor has it they may require a 4 day PH ticket this year.

So I'm debating on what to do. We are a family of six ( kids are 8,6,3, and 1) we plan to get a family suite at AoA or ASMusic. Trying for the AoA and if that doesn't work doing must music. Never been before and looking at all aspects of the trip. Are buses that much different at AoA and Music? Is it worth the extra money to stay at AoA? Really torn cause I know the free dining will save is a ton but I don't want a horrible but experience either. We are staying September 4-11th but the way

keep an eye on which resorts are/are not included. I’ve heard AoA may not be included this year.

 

[Mamaof6]

WDW newbie here - trying to game plan for the unfortunate scenario that AoA Suites are not part of the deal this time around.

Plan is for a 7 night stay 12/7-12/14
3 Adults (Me, Hubby & Mother in law)
Child - 4 yo
Infant - 3mo

We were at WDW last year and loved AoA suite and it worked great because of the price point, atmosphere for my daughter and separate space/bathroom for my MIL. Does anyone have an alternative hotel suggestion that is rumored to be included in the deal and at a similar price point? (I have a feeling we may just be waiting for RO discount if AoA suites are excluded).

Did you see the cabins are Fort Wilderness? They are included in free dining not sure on the dates. When we stayed I have myself my husband 4 kids ages 16-5 we fit in the cabin

 

[scrappinginontario]

Except that with adding a day you can do it like a split stay and just book the one night by itself. You do not have to mess up your existing package and risk losing the whole thing.

yes, more than once I have added a 1 night room only reservation to the front of our trip when I couldn’t add a night to my FD reservation.

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

 

[jessiegirl1982]

I have a FD BB booked 8/30-9/6 at Pop, but I was stalking free dining like crazy this time last year. Good luck everyone and I hope you are able to book exactly what you want tomorrow!!

 

[RedWolf95]

Hi! First time forum poster/First time Disney World trip planner here. I have a question about the Park Hopper option. I already have a package to stay at WL in November. We have 4 day tickets to theme parks. I'm curious about adding the Park Hopper (as I'm reading it may be required to get FD). When it gives me the option for Park Hopper it states this: $239.64 (+79.88).
My question is, is that 79.88x each person, per day? Or just a one time per ticket fee? Trying to see if FD would even be worth it to us because we really have no intention to visit more than one park per day, or wait until the RO discount comes out and hope it applies to our stay.
We are staying for 6 nights with 2 girls (2 & 5) so we only purchased 4 tickets to the parks (figuring one day rest at WL in between and the arrival date at Disney Springs).

Thank you, in advance, for any insight ya'll can give.

Another advantage of the PH is you don’t have to waste a whole day for DHS. There just isn’t enough there to spend a whole day in my opinion, especially with Little kids that can’t ride TOT or RRC. You could even do DHS in the morning, hit Toy Story, go over to Epcot for the afternoon and dinner, then head back to DHS to catch Fantasmic. All very doable and takes advantage of the PH. If you do that you can ride the boats from DHS to Epcot which is nice.

 

[MegSF1]

Did you see the cabins are Fort Wilderness? They are included in free dining not sure on the dates. When we stayed I have myself my husband 4 kids ages 16-5 we fit in the cabin

Thanks for the suggestion. I think having my mother in law along will nix this idea - 2 bathrooms are pretty important to us. But the cabins are definitely worth considering once my kids are older and we don't bring my MIL along for the extra set of hands!

 

[Koda]

We will be going 8/11-8/16. Unfortunately not during the rumored FD dates. I have a Disney Visa, so if our dates are valid for a Disney Visa offer of free dining, can I book online tomorrow morning, or do I have to call?